[SPOILERS] Ceiliazul's First Dance: Louis of the Ottomen

[Ceiliazul]

Aesthetics, an Engineer, Settlers and more!

Lots of good news this turn...

NAPs extended:
AdHoc to t120
Pegasus to t160
Catwalk indefinite

...so how quickly can I get into hegemon civics? Must analyze!

Aesthetics finished this turn, and Diesector is in excellent shape for the whip into Parthenon. Schwedagon Paya is also calling my name for early pacifism

An an Engineer is born in Minion! Must decide what to do with him (bulb or rush Great Library) soon. Literature is a 2t tech!



My tech rate is insane at the moment, see the gnp graph:



MY expansion has suffered, and I've been overtaken for crop yield. This is largely due to my focus on scientists lately, after literature we'll swap to more land tiles.

2 Settlers are walking now, to further increase the growth curve.

The Roman/English bugles are warming up. Pegasus is pumping axes and Catwalk is teching Iron Working. My power is now rival human worst, on the strength of my NAPs... also, the empire is holding its breath awaiting the Heroic Epic... that city will pump 1t <anything> for ages.

[Ceiliazul]

...so how quickly can I get into hegemon civics? Must analyze!

Well, the answer to this is simple: rush the Great Library! Previous analysis noted that it's more strictly efficient to bulb machinery, but thats of little immediate value thanks to my NAPs (don't need xbows) and worker shortage. (watermills are worker intensive.)

If i rush the Library, I'll give up about 2.3 commerce per hammer. I'll gain a much faster 3rd GP, and that'll make up for it.

Current tech pace:
2t Literature
1t Monotheism
5t Sailing/Calendar
8t Civil service

Here's the broad plan:

• pop a GA as soon as possible
  
• swap to Caste (and maybe OR)
  
• swap to Confu
  
• Ensure Civil Service and Shwedagon Paya will finish during GA
  
• end GA with swap to Bearo/Caste/Pacifism

The main question now is... can i squeeze in MoM before the GP for extra golden goodness?

[Ceiliazul]

WAR!

Catwalk declared war on Pegasus, egged on by one too many exploring chariots and at least one undefended English city right on his border (they have never had an NAP, so that's extreme weed.

Objectively, I think Roman Praets have a good chance to roll right over Pegasus. In addition, Catwalk is running about 15 hammers per turn more than Peg. Catwalk is a good guy, and I'd like to see him do well... but best in-game result for me is a long stalemate

Some things in Pegasus' favor:

• Catwalk doesn't have Iron Working yet (2t)
  
• Catwalks stacks are going to be largely slow-movers
  
• Defenders get an advantage
  
• My scouts spotted barracks throughout Peg's empire (closer to SHOCK promos)
  
• Pegasus is alert and already increasing his power!

Now, Pegasus really needs to make sure his axes win their first battle to get shock... he needs catapults. Right now he's 2t from Currency (I have tech visibility). Last turn he swapped to high mfg tiles, and cut his GNP almost in half. If he wants construction in time to matter, he needs to swap off his currency research! Man am I happy I don't have to make that decision.

Construction would also help with road movement getting new defenders to the Eastern front.

Domestics

Literature was impossible to get in 1t, but EASILY done in 2t... I swapped off some scientists to work more production tiles. The Engineer will chill his heels next turn until Literature comes in, and will rush the Library. I'm still drawn toward the Machinery bulb, but I think in this case a rush is better for the empire.

Minion will whip the hammam next turn, then start on Hanging Gardens. During the build, a couple workers will be whipped.



Biohazard is really in great shape if I change my mind about the rush. With max overflow coming from the Monstary and a chop coming in soon too, The Library is still gettable in 7t the old fashioned way.




Inferno will 2-whip the Forge next turn, and overflow enough to get the library done the following turn. 2 workers are chopping out infrastructure here




Wyachi is barreling toward a lovely setup: grow, grow, 2whip the forge, 1t barracks, overflow into HE with 2 chops for ~100 hammers into HE.




A risk

I negotiated with Catwalk to get a city NorthEast of my Biohazard. As Biohazard continues to gain importance in my empire, it is vital to make sure it has a buffer in future. Since the agreed upon tile for that city is covered with Cat culture, we agreed that I would gift him the settler, he would settle the city and gift it back.

Will Catwalk make good on his word? We'll find out!

[Commodore]

Whoa, that's an awesome city location. Catwalk seems like a very honest player, and he's at war with a decent general on his other front, the last thing he wants to do is give you casus belli for a city that will be eternally culturally crushed.

I'd think Biohazard would want to work on a national wonder first, one of those "palace" things...maybe not just yet, but you'll want bureau soon there I'd think, certainly as soon as you can make the Forbidden Palace on the other side of the empire.

[Ceiliazul]

Next turn came in, Catwalk named the city "cat ceiling" and did indeed gift it back. No only did i get the city, the exchange wiped out all Catwalk's accrued culture in the starting 9 tiles!

Pegasus started whipping, and Catwalk razed an undefended English city...

Happy New Year to me!

[Commodore]

Next turn came in, Catwalk named the city "cat ceiling" and did indeed gift it back. No only did i get the city, the exchange wiped out all Catwalk's accrued culture in the starting 9 tiles!

Pegasus started whipping, and Catwalk razed an undefended English city...

Happy New Year to me!

And really, a very happy new year to you, Ceil!

What's the city count differential between Catwalk and Pegasus? In a whipping war to the death, it's about 1 unit per city per 2 turns, so that would be something to watch. Also, is Catwalk opting for "Praets are awesome, walk megastack to victory" or does he seem to be planning things out? He's a swell and open guy...ask for his battle plans?

[Ceiliazul]

What's the city count differential between Catwalk and Pegasus? In a whipping war to the death, it's about 1 unit per city per 2 turns, so that would be something to watch.

A bit of bad news for Pegasus there, he has 5 established cities, plus one settled last turn directly at Catwalk and one undefended and already dead. Catwalk, on the other hand, has 8 established cities.

But, some bad news for Catwalk too:

Iron Working just discovered, conveniently forgot that I also have to go chopping and mining before I can start on the praetorians.

My empire is rolling along, Finished Literature and (barring advice from Sid himself in my dreams) I'll be rushing the Library next turn.

[Ceiliazul]

I'd think Biohazard would want to work on a national wonder first, one of those "palace" things...maybe not just yet, but you'll want bureau soon there I'd think, certainly as soon as you can make the Forbidden Palace on the other side of the empire.

At the moment, the most efficient palace location is still in Minion. Until Beaurocracy (circa t90) that's all that matters. After beauro, I absolutely want the palace in Biohazard.

The general expansion vector for everyone now is toward Cull's former lands. Thus, the best position for a long term FP would be somewhere in the South and East. Around that time, the Palace will get moved as well.

Other national wonders of interest:

Heroic Epic: Micro plans are already in place to finish this one in Wyachi in 9t. I wanted a city that will be in the middle of the empire after Cull expansion, but not a "core city" that has major infra needs. After the barracks and Epic, this city will be a dedicated military pump.

National Epic: The city of the empire with greatest food surplus is Diesector. The National Epic will go here in the near term, after Parthenon. The city can support 7 specialists, and will get at least +150% gpp for a long time.

Oxford: Biohazard is being groomed for this already, with a settled great scientist. The oxford city is also a critical city to the empire, and I have bent my early expansion plan to ensure Biohazard is secure from invasion.

Wall Street: Biohazard is a holy city, and eventual palace city. Wall street would make best use of those extra commerce buildings. If the palace counts as a national wonder, this will need to go elsewhere. The good news is that with no corporations allowed, the Wall Street city isn't quite as critical as it might otherwise be. Does the palace count toward the 2 national wonders limit?

Ironworks: likely Minion, or possibly Hazard. Those 2 cities are likely to be my 1st and 2nd best production cities, and late game wonder centers. Minion is more defensible, making it the leading candidate at this time.
[COLOR="YellowGreen"]
West Point:[/COLOR] Not a high priority wonder... no plans yet.

Red Cross: The Red Cross belongs in the second best military city. At the moment there is no clear candidate. Wyachi will not be distracted by this build, it needs to just keep pumping units.

[Ceiliazul]

Border agreements
(I hate them)

I settled a new city in the extreme south, claiming Fur that Catwalk thought he would get. Now, we've been doing a lot of diplo so when I actually told him the exact city site I was aiming for there... he missed it. He admitted his oversight but he's miffed.

And so, the spectre of border agreements comes to visit once again. Catwalk is a reasonable negotiator, and we hashed out the lux areas in a way that was acceptable to me... so I told him I'd hear him out.

The big qustion on everyone's mind is Cull's former lands. Sumeria isn't dead yet, as you'll see in the following shot:



Above is the lad Sumeria should have claimed by now, at least the portion of it closest to me. You'll see that 'Baby' has 3 archers on defense, 2 promoted... it's going to be a while before that city falls.

So everyone is going to want a portion of this land. A mathmatically fair partition is easy to come by:



Catwalk had his own ideas. He sent me this shot with colored dots, I added the yellow lines overlaying the 'fair' boundaries above



Obviously we are far apart on our ideas here. And really, why should I want to give Catwalk a 'fair' portion of the spoils of a war that he didn't join??

[Ceiliazul]

Does the palace count against the 2 national wonder limit in the Capital?