[spoilers] pindicator goes off the deep end

[Ceiliazul]

I thought Rego was a bit absentminded (and/or cocky) when he agreed in the first place. I'm not surprised he's trying to recover. I think you can claim honor while delaying the return because there was never any repayment schedule specified. You don't have 200g to spare at this time...

He's going to be furious when he see sherbet-shirted 'zerks anyway.

[pindicator]

Well, I was hoping to chat with Rego about this but he went offline a few minutes after I tried to get his attention. So I sent him this:

[COLOR="Plum"]Hi Regoarrarr,

I was hoping to find you in chat to tell you, but you deserve to know that I have declined your request for 200g. I took a considerable amount of time to think through the situation, re-reading our recent conversations, and afterwards realized that I would be a negligent steward of the Viking empire if I were to agree to hand you 200g at this time. Instead I will raise gold at the completion of my next technology, and pay you back as soon as possible in that regard. I believe all that will be accomplished within 5 turns.

In truth I cannot help but feel a certain degree of hypocrisy at this insistance that I immediately repay any loan simply because you now think that it is a bad deal for you. When you led me to believe I would be able to trade nav galleys for longbows if I let you Oracle Feudalism, I did not come back demanding you make reparations once you changed your mind to use Oracle on Currency. I may have been upset, but I realized that there had been no assurances made that you were going to use Oracle a certain tech. So I can only congratulate you on playing that deal to your benefit as the early Currency certainly helped you catapult to your current lead. Similarly, no stipulations were put on the 200g loan, as you were even kind enough to tell me the loan would be interest-free and then suggest we race for the Taj in the same conversation.

I hope we can move past this matter and continue to work together in the future.

Best Regards,
pindicator


P.S. Best of luck in our race to Taj. I'm flattered that you think I have a chance.[/COLOR]

Yes, I am continuing to understate my expectations for Taj. All this talk has only emboldened me to think I have a legitimate shot at the wonder. There has been a snag, though - I've been suffering hammer degradation on my zerker build even though the turn I switched away from it was t104. I thought there was a 10 turn window before hammers started to fall off, but I did not check this and now see there have been 4 hammers lost on my zerker. This is HUGE; those 4 hammers make the difference between a t115 and a t116 completion. Unless I can figure a way to conjure the difference, I've just lost a turn on my projected build.

I owe all you wonderful lurkers a report for the last few turns. I'll recap one tonight, since a lot of stuff has been happening apart from the diplo. Heh, between this and the current state of pbem23 I'm really invigorated now.

[pindicator]

Turns 109, 110, & 111

First off, there's been some additional diplo that's been overshadowed by the race for Taj. Yuris125 responded to my inquiry about extending our NAP:

[COLOR="Orange"]Hey Pindicator,

Yes, I realised the furs on my starting continent got back under my
influence. If you don't get that tile back by the time the obligatory
10t run out, feel free to cancel the deal, and we will re-establish it
once you have a spare copy

To be honest, I'd prefer to start discussing extension of the NAP
closer to its expiration - 30t is a long time, and we have no idea
what the state of the world will be by T130. However, I'm happy to
consider it. How long an extension do you have in mind?

I also have a request for you. I had Christianity spread to one of the
cities which passed under your control. Would you mind building a
Christian missionary and gifting him to me?

Thanks, and happy holidays to you![/COLOR]

Very good information in here. For one, the fur issue has been resolved as I gained control of the fur tile on Yuris' island this last turn. Second, him not wanting an immediate NAP extension is understandable. I'll have to keep an eye on his power growth and be ready to change directions quickly if I see a spike. But also interesting is his request for a Christian missionary. Looks like he is thinking about a play for culture. Maybe. Again, something to keep an eye on. This is going to be an interesting choice in the upcoming turns. Is Yuris going to want revenge and attack me when our NAP expires? Or is he going to want an extension and pursue a cultural victory?

I sent him this response:

[COLOR="Plum"]Hey,
Sorry I forgot this in the holiday humdrum. I see your point about it being too soon to agree to an extension. We can certainly revisit the matter as we get closer to the NAP expiration. And good news is I see i've gotten culture over the furs, so we don't have to worry about that matter any longer.

I'll try to fit a Christian Missionary in. NLRA (previously Ollantaytambo) can probably get one within the next 10 turns for you. If there's anything else you can think of please let me know.

Best Regards,
pindicator[/COLOR]

NLRA is going to get buddhist missionaries to NRA and NIRA before doing the christian one. I'll probably be nice and send it to Cuzco, but then again, maybe I shouldn't take a cultural threat lightly.


We had the last two cities come out of resistance. HOLC:


And FLSA:


I had to whip a lighthouse at penalty in FLSA, because it was going to starve otherwise. HOLC was one of my cities building wealth to try to keep on pace for the Taj race.

Speaking of the Taj race, I've already discussed my frustration with Team Gaspadore not getting me the payments on time. I had to request the amount from them on turn 110.



I ended up sending them several requests out of a paranoia about forgetting to ask for the money. Whoops! But they delivered; unfortunately this let Rego see the cash influx, instead of me receiving and spending it over several turns. (And that may have incited the exchange between Rego and I yesterday.)

Well, since I didn't get the gold on time i had to add a lot more wealth builds on turn 110. This is pretty much an all-or-nothing for Taj, so I had to do it even if I need the infra:



Some bad news: a missionary failed to convert in FLA


You owe me 26 hammers, rego Actually I think he mentioned having a jewish one fail on him some time ago due to a city having Buddhism, so we may be even now

I also gifted gaspadore the first of the galleys:



I know they wanted them at Zul'Aman but that saved me 5gpt. They can make the rest of the journey themselves.

Aside from Wealth and buddhist buildings, I finished two great wonders. Parthenon indeed finished at the end of turn 110, and then at the end of turn 111 I landed the Apostolic Palace:



Rego also finished University of Sankore on turn 111. You can see that in the demographics.



It's a nice turn to compare GNP since we're both running 100%. Obviously he has a good advantage here still. After Nationalism finishes on turn 112 I think I need to get DR right away. What I plan on doing is running 0% gold to first pay back Rego, and then to save up for the golden age. I'm either getting a golden age from Taj on turn 117, or from my next great person on turn 118.

[Ceiliazul]

It's a nice turn to compare GNP since we're both running 100%. Obviously he has a good advantage here still. After Nationalism finishes on turn 112 I think I need to get DR right away. What I plan on doing is running 0% gold to first pay back Rego, and then to save up for the golden age. I'm either getting a golden age from Taj on turn 117, or from my next great person on turn 118.

Hey, those demos look really good! Non-Golden-Age gnp will jump as you shed units and improve cities too. Keep it up.

Also, congrats on AP! Any AP cheese shenanigans in the near future?

[pindicator]

Hey, those demos look really good! Non-Golden-Age gnp will jump as you shed units and improve cities too. Keep it up.

Also, congrats on AP! Any AP cheese shenanigans in the near future?

Thanks! I have a feeling that without the Univ of Sankore we'd be very close in GNP too. Right now the only AP cheese I want to be a part of is the hammer bonus variety. I don't have any desire for a Religious Victory but getting an extra 4h production in each city will be very nice to have.

[T-hawk]

I thought there was a 10 turn window before hammers started to fall off, but I did not check this and now see there have been 4 hammers lost on my zerker.

The time for hammer decay scales with game speed, so after 6 turns on quick. This was a recent change, I think only in the last patch for BTS (3.19).

[pindicator]

Thanks T-Hawk! Maybe they can scale the turns between civic changes to game speed some day as well More lessons learned, but that's a painful one if Rego builds the Taj on t116 ahead of me.

Hey, speaking of Rego, don't count him out even if I do manage to win the race to Taj. The guy has 2 great scientists and a clear path to Liberalism. If I were him I'd pop a GS on printing press and a GS on sci meth, then grab Communism from Liberalism. Makes me think that unless he is researching Liberalism right now as a fast path to Nationalism then I need to go for Education next to try to keep this from happening.

Edit: Wait, he'd have to get Astronomy first for Sci Meth, so this isn't such a big worry.

[pindicator]

Turn 112




Found that in a google image search and it seems like the perfect image to convey this race between Rego and I. He sent me an email response today:

[COLOR="PaleGreen"]Pindicator,

I understand what you are saying. I see where you're coming from on a few points, and disagree with your interpretation on some others.

Having said all that, I am not going to make a big deal about it for a few reasons

1) I feel like we're both too close to the situation to really be impartial about it. Let's face it, I am going to interpret any kind of "grey area" as best befits me and my game, and you are going to do the same. Perhaps after the game, when all is said and done, we can look back at this and other situations and come to a better understanding

2) I think that our alliance has benefited both of us, and in any alliance between folks, there must be some give and take. So I'll give on this one.

Your Mom of Ottomans[/COLOR]

I think he's spot on here. Yes, we both are going to see this differently because of how closely it affects both of us. And it will continue to help us both to stay allied so we should continue to work together. Fact is, I pushed him with this issue, but I can't expect to push everywhere. Really, I expect to give him his way in the next deal unless it's painfully one-sided.

I got Nationalism at the end of the turn, barely scraping it by at 90%. On t113 I'll turn on the coin collectors and pay rego back on t114.

He wants to discuss our medium-range plans to avoid another Taj incident. I agree to an extent, but philosophically I guess I'd prefer something a little less joined at the hip. I don't mind racing (and losing even - if he beats me to Taj I won't begrudge him for it), but this whole planning out the tech tree between us just bores me. He threw a proposal at me that he wants to go for Physics for the GS, and he's willing to let me take the Econ one even though he feels he could just take both. Why doesn't he just take both? It kind of kills the luster of playing a competitive game.

Speaking of competitive... did I mention i have Nationalism? Nobody else does.

[Ceiliazul]

Turn 112I expect to give him his way in the next deal unless it's painfully one-sided.

It sounds like, win or lose, this alliance has increased your enjoyment tremendously. Good for you.

Also, congrats on overcoming the obstacles to Nationalism. I wonder what rego's response will be...

Has the power graph started showing the effects of the fire sale yet?

[pindicator]

Turn 113

With Nationalism finished, it's on to the final stretch:



Since my micro was off due to the hammer decay, there is no reason to keep the engineer running (except for a future great person; we'll explore that later). I'll have Taj at end of t116 now.

Rego researched Nationalism at the end of his last turn. So I think he still has a good chance. If he can find a way to 3-turn Taj or if he gets a Great Eng in the next 3 turns then it's his. I'm sure all you lurkers are biting your tongues, which is why I was hesitant to reveal my turn date before. It would have given you all a bit more suspense

Here's a question for future races: do you want to know, or do you want to find out?

While we're on the topic of wonders, a few days back I put some thought into where to place Globe. I came up with three candidates: CWA, FCC, and FWA.



FWA is one of my newer cities, sandwiched between Gaspadore's Malaka'Jin and Regoarrarr's WearsCombtBoots. It has the highest fpt in the empire, at 12, but I ended up choosing against it because it still needs a lot of infrastructure, and also because the distance from the core. The distance poses two problems: defensibility and logistics for moving about my future drafted troops.



CWA is the best for logistics and defense. It's on the starting island, so already is in a core group beside my capital and FAP, my moai city. CWA can reach 11fpt if it takes the clams from FAP and takes the deer from FERA. However, what made me shy away from CWA is that I've already pegged it as my main great person generator. I'll have my next great person on turn 118, in fact.



So this brought us to FCC. It still reaches 10 food per turn, if we steal the sheep from FAP, which is just the amount I need to be able to draft every turn at size 6. (Growing from size 5 to size 6 with a granary is only 10 food.) Once globe is in place this city will do nothing but produce troops, either whipping ships or drafting military. We'll sneak in a few buildings here and there, but most infrastructure will be whipped in as we try to overflow into the globe.

FCC also has the most infrastructure of the three cities, so it will be able to get the Globe up fastest. In the end, [strike]this was the crucial deciding factor[/strike] it was a combination of factors that led me to choose FCC. Not a perfect choice, but I think it's the best I have.

We gifted another boat of zerkers to Gaspadore.



I think staggering them out will help keep people from noticing on the power graph, but pretty soon it will be all too obvious. Yuri must know, I'm practically doing it in his backyard.

And we'll end with some good culture news. We've got most of the first ring tiles around our gifted cities; they just had to be whipped to a nub first. I put the percentage I have on the tiles that aren't quite yet mine. The 28% tile may not take before the NAP runs out, we'll have to wait and see.