Nobody expects the Chinese Inquisition: Isabella of China

[Gaspar]

<funny picture>

You, sir, are on the right. :neenernee

Actually, what we need is one more column:

"Bullied into agreement which he agreed to foolishly in haste, trying to see whether he gives enough of a care about his perception in the community to cost himself any chance of winning; decides to ascertain what perception is said community is."

[pling]

I went back in the thread to see if you ever defined terms with Mackoti, and really no ... it's just "a NAP", so it doesn't seem to count out playing Machiavelli just counts out being aggressive

(Edit: And I'm working my way through the PBEMs in numerical order this morning ... if you're globally spoiled on PBEM25 Vets, then there's something relevant in the olemack spoiler thread - I think that's vague enough to not be a spoiler.)

In summary; feel free to stir the pot. Expect Mackoti to be annoyed if he finds out.

Or I could've just quoted Zakalwe & left it at that.

You, sir, are on the right. :neenernee

[Catwalk]

I'd say actively aiding war efforts is tantamount to breaking a NAP. However, you could make them an offer of post-war compensation. That dangles a carrot in front of their noses but doesn't actually help the war effort. And maybe you could give them a carrot up front as well, preferrably something that doesn't aid the war effort much.

[Gaspar]

Not a lot of time - here's two pictures:



and

[Gaspar]

I gave it some thought and decided I would just steer clear of the issue. While my desire to actually win one of these games borders on compulsive, I'm not going to feel good about it if I personally can't moralize my actions. While I've made some big mistakes in this game on the whole I've had a solid open and am still entirely competitive. Its not like Pyramids or Oracle is some sort of "I win" button that I can't compete with - I just have to play better. If dogpile talk finds me, I certainly won't discourage it, not least because its better if they're focused on mackoti than me but I'm not going to agitate for it nor will I tangibly support it. I'd rather prove to myself I can't beat mackoti in a fair fight than prove to myself I can beat him in an unfair one.

On that note, IW is in now, we'll work on Calendar after saving gold and get that Canal site and the Incense/Rice site settled shortly. I'm going to push several settler builds around the empire in addition to the two already in progress and hopefully get another half-dozen cities settled by T80. We'll see where that leaves me. I have Wines and Ivory coming online in the next 2-3 turns which will let me push the happy cap in my more developed cities and a big strong capital will be excellent with the Academy in play already.

The next question is which GP to push next. I can revolt Caste again in a few turns and push out a quick GSci for either an Academy in Croqueta China or some bulb action (though I'd have to clear Alphabet for it to be anything useful - Probably Philo is the most useful thing I could clear to quickly.) I could also push out a GMerchant and use him for the dual purposes of a Cash Infusion and a little scouting of mackoti's lands - he can't kill him without breaking our NAP so its a nice way to get some scouting information. The other option of course would be to pick up Priesthood and see if I can get a Prophet done for a Shrine. Judaism seems to be spreading more aggressively thus far, but either or is an option, doesn't really matter in the long run. I'm leaning towards the Merchant, but wouldn't mind the Prophet, even though it'd be slower.

[Lewwyn]

I have been busy so I haven't been able to keep up as well as I would have liked, but I will say I think the GS or GM would be good. I guess the best thing to do is add it all up an see whats worth more in the long run. An academy, cash, or bulbing. But... I'm not going to actually do the work. :neenernee

I will say I lean towards GS bulbing.

[Mardoc]

Given the existance of an E-W mirror line, I strongly suspect a N-S mirror as well. So I don't think scouting would buy us much. The merchant gold, on the other hand...

Whichever you go with, keep in mind we're in this for the long haul. I haven't looked closely enough to be able to do the calculations, but my gut feel is that the Academy is the strongest option.

[Gaspar]

OMG a Lewwyn sighting!

I have been busy so I haven't been able to keep up as well as I would have liked, but I will say I think the GS or GM would be good. I guess the best thing to do is add it all up an see whats worth more in the long run. An academy, cash, or bulbing. But... I'm not going to actually do the work. :neenernee

I will say I lean towards GS bulbing.

My gut feeling is I can eke more raw beakers out of a GM. The Bulb value really is a matter of what we can bulb. I only discount an academy in CC because I'm less secure that I'll ever have the food surplus to grow it very large. Once I have Sugar hooked at Huevo Foo Young I'll probably return the Cows there, but given the presence of 3 workable mines at the Capital, the wet corn is going to reside in Arroz Frito for most of the time, and that already has an academy. Still, as you say, its still early enough for it to be something to think about.

Given the existance of an E-W mirror line, I strongly suspect a N-S mirror as well. So I don't think scouting would buy us much. The merchant gold, on the other hand...

Whichever you go with, keep in mind we're in this for the long haul. I haven't looked closely enough to be able to do the calculations, but my gut feel is that the Academy is the strongest option.

The N-S mirror was confirmed by Commodore. The scouting value is more in having mackoti's map, i.e. knowing his specific city placements for future potential hostilities.

I owe you guys 2 turn reports, its been quite busy. The empire is humming along rather nicely now, though.

Quick thought: Is it worth pushing for MoM to make sure mackoti doesn't get it?

[Gaspar]

Here's a quick snapshot of everything good that's going on:



You can see with a Market down, the happy cap is up to 13 in the capital. That's with Wines and Ivory online. (Did we ban WE's? Probably, I'll check the tech thread to be certain.) I also now have TRs with Commodore, which was pretty much a +1 cpt boost in every city (+2 here, because of the island city.) The net of those few impacts (also got a Market done in CC) is that we're making about 25% more in gold on saving turns. I'll turn back on research next turn and will 2T Calendar.



Here you see 2 settlers en route to settling floodplains bonanza land. It will take a while to get there, unfortunately, so I might fall behind on city count shortly. I do have a Settler in production and I'll start another next turn, for double Banana and Incense/Rice.

Lastly, Commodore landed a GProphet and built the Hindu shrine. Mackoti netted a scientist which I'm sure will make an Academy at home and see him surge ahead of me on GNP, where I've still been maintaining a lead.

[Gaspar]

Forgot to mention - Commodore offered a Prophet for Scientist trade, so I could get a Prophet without having to research Priesthood/run a temple/run yucky priests.

Does that change the calculus for anyone? I'd need to let him know shortly, though, so he doesn't run scientists for himself.