[PB59] Charriu welcomes all the townfolk

[Charriu]

T138:

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Good things happened on the west of my empire. With the discovery of Divine Right Islam was founded in Amn, which is my potential 3rd culture city. Great. I also chopped 3 forests into Spiral Minaret dropping it from 10 turns to 6 turns. Now I admit I could and should have waited a few turns with chopping the lumbermill forests as I could have used the additional hammers from them. Slight misplay. Reason for why I opted for chopping the forests is that I do not want forests near my city for defensive purposes.

As you can see from the log GKC declare war on Ramk again and I bet his galley in my waters is now harassing GKC's island cities. Ramk also dropped his workers on the Zeal island building me some roads. Thanks buddy. Buildings are being whipped and done almost everywhere, but I see some dark clouds in the east.




Lazteuq overtook me in power this turn, which was a small spike in the graphs and he's starting to chop or road the jungle near our border. Are these signs of a potential knight rush. On the one hand this is concerning or at least annoying for my future war plans. On the other hand chopping the jungle for me will enable me to attack the border city on the turn of war-declaration. Lazteuq is also still running Barbarism and Serfdom instead of Vassalage. If he is trying to knight rush I would have expected him to switch into at least Vassalage. Not switching into Slavery is understandable as his economy is fully geared towards that civic.
But just in case Lazteuq really comes along with knights I moved some phalanxes across my empire into the eastern direction. Better safe then sorry.

Snowdin Town in the north expanded borders without much effect on the borders overall. But the tiny detail I wanted to shine the spotlight on in the screenshot are the fireworks on top of New Nobilia in the lower left. That's my first WLTK day in this game. When I grew and whipped my cities and tried to keep my cities at 8 pop or higher in order to trigger some of those WLTK days, just as a small boost to the economy.

[Charriu]

Just for the record. If the game ends because players are just too annoyed to continue then I refuse to concede or declare anybody the winner. That's just a bad precedent

[Charriu]

Bye the way I never gave you feedback about the map, Lewwyn, did I? I can prepare something if you are interested.

[Charriu]

T139:

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Shocking event on the other side of the continent. It looks like GKC ran into a brick wall named Ramk. Meanwhile on my side Lazteuq is working on giving me an answer weather he has guilds, meaning he is building a workshop in visibility of my cities. He's also removing the jungle in our border region. His power hasn't risen as much as last turn and he double moved me. So he's not trying to attack me soon? 

[Charriu]

T140:

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I love what people are doing with their unit names. By the way Karakorum is not GKCs capitol, that's BarbarCentral

On a more serious note. I'm impressed at the devastation that Ramk is causing to all his enemies.    I think he already razed 10 cities this game mostly from Mjmd. Remind me not to fight him.

This unfortunately leaves me in a weird spot as to who of my two neighbors to attack on the one hand there is

Lazteuq:

- Only other player benefitting from the war on our continent
- Seems to be well equipped for an upcoming war
- Northern neighbor is strong, but most likely won't joing the war
- Great borderlands to start the war. I may be able to capture up to 3 cities in the first two turns of the war.
- The other neighbor Mjmd most likely won't attack me and much rather wants to leave the war with Ramk and rebuild

Mjmd:

- Weakened by the devastating war with Ramk
- Left a weakened border area for me to attack, but...
- Due to his culture and the jungled area it's not that easy to surprise him there.
- Northern neighbor will joing the war happily, but is weak
- The other neighbor Lazteuq will be a constant threat on my eastern border limiting what I can do in the west.

I'm still tending towards a war with Lazteuq. Maybe not to capture him completely, but to weaken him so much that all of my neighbors are no longer a threat to me.

EDIT: Lurkers, please ask Ramk to screenshot his statistics and the raze counter before he dies.

[Charriu]

T141:

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I'm ready to drown in money next turn. I chopped another forest into Amn and the Spiral Minaret, which will finish this turn. I looked up how money temples and monasteries I already built and I have 21 at the moment (don't forget the shrine also counts as a religious building. That's 42 extra gold next turn. But that's not all of it. I will also finish a market in Crysta, my holy city, which will net me additional 19.75 gold. And the cherry on top of all of this. I will be able to switch civics next turn and:

- I have units that will finish in the first turn I have Vassallage and Theocracy running in quiet a few cities
- Moai will also finish this turn in Figaro
- as does a forge in Snowdin Town

I have to say I started really loving SPI this game. Switching civics like crazy was never more enjoyable.

A good tech rate is secured for the foreseeable future, as is investing in a huge military and incorporating more cities.

[Charriu]

Since Mr. Cairo was eliminated this turn, I had to go back in and check if I still get Horseback Riding this turn (because of the reduced KTB). I still get it but just to be sure if more players die this turn I added some more scientist.

The bad news and the reason why I write here is that Lazteuq's workshop has 3 hammers, which means he has researched guilds and therefore knights are available to him. This is bad for any invasion plans of mine, but good thing I moved phalanxes west in time. The big question of course is in which direction will the Lazteuq horde ride to? And should I abandon my move towards guilds and go to Construction for elephants or even further to Engineering for pikes.

[Charriu]

I've been thinking on and off about the gamestate. I think it's clear that Lazteuq's recent increase in power is caused by knights. Therefore I tested how further how phalanxes, elephants and pikes perform against them so as to determine which unit to use. Pikes are obviously the best in every regard, but Engineering is far away. Elephants are doing very well against knights in the offensive especially because they will receive 7 XP from the get go with the civic changes. They are excellently supported by my phalanxes on the defenses. As far as I saw it the only way for knights to get >50% odds against the phalanxes is if the knights have Combat 1 and Shock and the phalanxes are on flat ground assuming my phalanxes also are at Combat 2. As soon as my phalanxes are defending a hill - like Freeja - the knight doesn't stand a chance. The phalanxes are also way cheaper and easier to mass. I think since I do get Horseback Riding this turn it will be a good idea to get Construction next, just so that I have the elephants too. It's also very much possible that Lazteuq forgot about the increased strength of phalanx in his calculations.

Now this only covers the defensive side. The question is can I go into the offensive against Lazteuq. Now I do believe that he hasn't pikes, but even then the knights will be able to trade equally with mine. But what Lazteuq might lack is a navy. In case of war I need to find out how big his navy is. Maybe I can threaten, take or raze some of his coastal cities in our border region to enforce a peace and a better border for me. There are two bigger cities just behind his border city that might be good targets.

Of course the other option is going to war against Mjmd and take some easy picks there. The problem of course is that not only does have Mjmd elephants to counter, but I will always need to secure a stronger force on the Lazteuq border. Therefore I think a war even a limited one would not be advisable against Mjmd.

Therefore I think my best option right now is to use my newly acquired overflowing gold reserves to tech ahead towards the next bigger units either grenadiers or cuirassiers. I have to check this some more.

Things to check in game next:
Does Lazteuq have any recent deals with GKC, signalling that I am the target?
Check if this is a good idea (Whip cities, switch into serfdom for 5 turns, reevaluate after that time limit)?

[Charriu]

T142:

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I really don't have a clue what is up with Lazteuq. He just finished a golden age a few turns ago and now he switches civics? It looks like he really isn't going for war against me. His worker started building a windmill on the hill and why would he run a war with bigger military, while running pacifism. Very strange. Well obviously he wants to spawn some more great persons. I also checked his deals with GKC and discovered open borders and a fish for fish deal. Don't know how old these are, but it's at least an indicator for no war at that side.

More importantly I finished Spiral Minaret and the market in Crysta, which increased my income by 73 gold. Awesome. As you can see I also switched civics into vassalage, serfdom and theocracy, which decreased my maintenance by 16. Now I'm paying only 10 maintenance while running 100%. I'm rich. Well to be fair there's also the 30gpt from civac, but still that is a very low maintenance number, which allows me to run 100% science for a very long time. Especially because I won't finish construction this turn. Next turn I will run 100% gold again and finish construction with just some scientist.

I also whipped almost every city before switching into serfdom. I now have 15 turns of unhappiness in some cities, but that's ok for now. With all of that I' finishing 7 more units, which all get the extra XP. That should bring the power towards Lazteuq on a good level for now. But I won't stop unit production. After construction I will still go for guilds, because better to have some knights then none.

The great thing about my great gold income is that I can run a bigger military without a problem, which brings safety for me and may force my neighbors to increase their military budget, which will hamper their development.

[Charriu]

Why do you all have to eliminate players when I potentially rely on the KTB to finish a tech? Checked and everything is still ok, but just to be sure I put another scientist in so that construction finishs.

Oh and I think this is a milestone for me. I'm now officially in the TOP20 of this PB. Yeah!