A Record of Joey's Journey to Immortality

[GermanJoey]

T104.

Krill built the SP, for Theocracy I guess. Goddamn, that's the earliest I've ever seen that wonder fall I think. T104! He only has like 11 cities, with a bunch of new plants among that, so I can't imagine that he also has a city building the great library, right? He beelined for Theocracy before TGL on a naval map, really?

So I guess he has a planted GG, an HE (soon if not already), Statue of Zeus, Cha, and Agg. That's a 10 XP CR3 C1 Swordsman for 20h, very scary. Well, at least I'll have CG3 Archers for 20h at Construction too, and his sword dudes won't get odds on my bow dudes without cats. And when it comes down to cat stack vs cat stack, I'm thinking the guy on defense should be able to hold out. I hope? I better get some cats as soon as I can...

More scary, IMO, is CR1 Amphib swords... some well-placed triremes should staple that problem for awhile, hopefully. Thank god Krill didn't get circumnav...

[GermanJoey]

Ah shit, dtay sniped the Colossus from me by a turn! Dammit! Arrghh!

[Mardoc]

So will the bronze-powered fail gold get you somewhere useful?

[GermanJoey]

Yeah, it gets me to Math, I suppose. I was actually 2 turns behind; at least I didn't let the last chops loose. =/ Colossus woulda been worth about 17-18cpt immediately and then woulda crept upwards continuously for a long time, as my island cities started to explode in pop... so I guess the raw cash puts me ahead for at least 7-8 turns or whatever. For comparison, the GLH is currently pulling in 24cpt and won't be much more in the near term. It will delay Currency, however, and maybe force me to throw my GA early in order to get IW and Construction. I'll see what the situation is when I make contact with Yuri and Couer in a couple turns, on how good my KTB on Math and Currency ends up being.

I was just really thrown off by dtay having had MC for long enough to finish the Colossus. I knew he had gems hooked so I figured he went IW for his first Classical tech, and then I figured his economy woulda been bad from looking at his big expansion push. But I guess Agg + Ikhandas do a lotta work for one's economy.

[GermanJoey]

If I had finished the Colossus I think I coulda maneuvered my way into a runaway civ position, but now things are gonna be a lot closer. I need like, every Classical tech ASAP and yet my economy is kinda lousy. I have a settler for a 15th city ready next turn, but I think I gotta hold off on planting it for a bit. damn!

[GermanJoey]

T118.

Domestic.

So, I'm in a Golden Age! I spawned a great person (great spy, 50/50 chance from my GW city) like 10 turns ago, but held off on throwing the GA until my cities were nice and fat. It gave me a chance to cruise around JR's territory for a bit. Oh, and I waited until I had my Moai finished too:




That's worth 25hpt right there, so the Moai almost pays for itself within just this GA.

I also timed the GA to help me finish Currency. My economy was SUPER BAD until just recently, going down to -1gpt at 0% slider around T112, when northwestern island city finally expanded borders onto my gold and allow me to hook it up to the other city. (my gold was in a super inconvienient place compared to every other player's ;[) So, I had to work a lotta scientists to get to math and currency. I think math mighta been a mistake... I shoulda gone alphabet for the research builds, even though I needed Math for my next tech, Construction. At any rate, once gold was hooked my income jumped up to about +30gpt and 30bpt (from scientists) at 0% slider. The GA is so far worth about +80 commerce per turn just from extra tile income on top of that, and then another 30 commerce per turn from Currency. (plus I have a bit of wealth going, although not as much as I'd like as I still have other junk I wanna build.)




My main advantage right now is my infrastructure. I'm now the proud owner of 14 granaries, 9 (!) Forges (with another 4 to finish in the next few turns), 6 barracks, and 8 libraries. Very nice. Other than a market in my capital, and maybe 6-7 odeons in a few strategic spots, I've got all the buildings I'll want for quite a long while, with a major exception for courthouses. (which, after I settle my 16th city, and with including inflation, I'm expecting to be worth at least 6gpt a piece - a huge deal). I'm pretty much locked and loaded and can focus entirely on unit production just as my unit-producing techs start rolling in. (after construction will be IW, of course. then either HBR or CoL, depending on what Krill is up to. but seriously, forget what I just said about being done with infra, I need a million courthouses ASAP. I also need to get started on my epics sooner than later...)

Demos.




Overall, I'm pretty happy with them. They'll be looking even better once I get my happy cap up a bit more, and I'll have Odeons and gems coming in soon for +4 happy cap total.

International thoughts.

Overall, the game is a bit odd right now compared to others I've played, with no clear frontrunners among the majority of the players as we round the corner past 1AD. First, Donovan and Yuri are of course pretty much out of the game. But next, there's 6 players that are roughly pretty even with each other - me, JR, dtay, Couer & Bacchus, Dark Savant, and Gav. We've all got roughly similar economy/cy and mfg, and each of us has some sort of special advantage. (e.g. GLH, Colossus & Ikhanda, Mids & Hammam, etc) Of us 6, I'd put dtay as first, us second, then JR, the Gav, then C&B, after a bit more of gap, DS. Then... there's Krill. Who I'm not sure how to fit into that ranking. I just got his graphs and holy crap is he behind on growth:




(also note my CY plateau where I desperately needed happy resources to continue to grow)

This, of course, is mainly the result of the fact that he had to defend a rush, which is directly due to his stupid T0 move. And then he compounded this problem by chasing wonders like crazy. First the Oracle, then the SoZ, then the SP, then the HE. That's what, 5-6 settlers right there? You can't do that when you're down so far in CY. And, IMHO, his land is one of the best areas on the map. His second-city site (where he planted his capital) is just completely ridiculous with resources, and on top of that he's got 4 large penninsulas branching off his land that allows him to control a huge area of the seas plus work tons of seafood and coast. In comparison, I've got only one comparable penninsula, and its completely covered in jungle. (I've also stolen a huge one from Ventessel, heh). Krill's HE and superior units will more than make up for this in the short term, but I think he's gonna have a really hard time later keeping up in production, especially since his HE isn't coastal. (and he doesn't seem to be pumping units right now either, so what good does this early HE do for him?)

My biggest worry about Krill is in the short term, such as if he does some crazy tear through Donovan and then we end up with a Great Artist standoff like he had with Gav in PB27. Luckily for me, I'll have my UB in 2 turns and will be able to start producing a GA of my own. This has the unfortunate side effect of meaning that I can't really spare a great person slot for an Academy anytime soon, despite having a pretty good capital for it. But, I guess I'd rather be in Vassalage for awhile anyways.

Other things of note... dtay threw a GA 2 turns before me. He's also at least 3 classical era techs ahead of me, to which the Agg Ikhanda probably played a big role, but then my MFG before my GA was almost as high as his in it, and 35% higher than his in it. So, whatever, we have different priorities I guess. JR is doing very well, landing the HG with like 14 or 15 cities and being one of the tech leaders as well. 

Oh, and here's a rant. Couer and Dark Savant are the only two with alphabet (which, IMHO was the smart move on this map), but apparently neither of these guys know how trade routes work. First, Couer has been *paying* DS for routes, despite Couer being the only player with Alphabet for like a dozen turns. Since when does the only guy with Alpha pay others for routes instead of vice-versa ?!?? And then both of them have refused to offer them to me, despite settling *ridiculously* far away from their capital to seize islands right next to me. Something like, 20 tiles from their capital to 8 from mine. Routes are as much of a diplomatic issue as they are a zero-sum economic issue - like, what is my deterrent from just seizing these islands (or just harassing them) if I'm not worried about nuking my routes? I don't see any forges in their empire either, so a single trireme could wreck havok. And maybe eventually they could force me back, but then we're both just throwing away hammers while everyone else is not.

I even offered to pay them 5gpt for OB, and they still refused. Like, I have four cities above size 10, that's worth so much TR income for them! My capital itself is a 5c route! Oh, and I have 6 islands! And they've only got OB with 2 players, their mainland cities can't possibly be maxed out yet. And oh yeah, they're fucking Carthage! And they're in tech range of cothons! You idiots will need OB with at least 4-5 players to max all those routes and yet guess what, people won't want to give them to you! Same thing for DS - he's putting down lightly defended island cities adjacent to my islands with already expanded borders and, until just this past turn, he only had OB with 7-city Yuri. And now Krill too, ugh. I just offered DS 10gpt for OB and gems (DS has an extra, which would cover me for a few turns until my own gets hooked up), and he even refused that.  Like, maybe its a GLH stigma or something? Which would just be stupid, because if you have Currency and I don't, then hey guess what guys, we actually have the same number of routes per city! (and actually, two of my cities aren't coastal! oh, and you both have more cities than I do!) And, since I have more than 3 islands, I only gain "extra" income from foreign routes if I have all of my first 2 routes per city filled, which would require OB with at least 3 different players on this map, if not 4, because everyone's mainland is effectively the same continent. Meanwhile, dtay is pulling in twice as much income per turn from the Colossus as I am from the GLH. Arrgh, I didn't mean to go about this so much but it's been getting on my nerves that neither of these guys ever even responds to my offers with a counteroffer, so I'm clearly being stonewalled for some reason.

[GermanJoey]

T119.

Mini update.

1.) dtay actually just finished Vassalage, wow he is more ahead in tech than I thought! Probably a lot of wealth builds went into that, which explains why his MFG is so bad despite him having MC for awhile now. Other than Yuri's death being imminent, this is good news for me. dtay advancing the era increases my known tech bonus, and dtay growing in power holds JR in check. I wonder if dtay will have an engineer to bulb machinery? He almost certainly would want to try for a mixed chance at one somewhere, and thus could be very very close to Guilds, maybe 5-6 turns... I wonder if the other players realize this?

2.) I just realized, from looking at the foreign civics screen, that Krill wasn't in Theocracy or Paci, and I was like, didn't he build the SP like 10 turns ago?!? But nope, he actually built the Buddhist shrine. Ok, that makes more sense.

3.) Coeur finally accepted OB, for 6gpt. Good thing for him too, as I was in the midst of putting together a navy whose purpose was to blackmail *him* to pay *me* for open borders, mackoti-style. I have 2 triremes and 2 galleys over there now, and can start pumping CR2 swords in 2T. I switched over the galley I was building on the east coast to wealth, and now it'll be Dark Savant to the west who will feel my wrath.

Updated demos:




dtay's CY lead increases, my MFG lead increases. yadda yadda yadda.

[OT4E]

Must be Hindi shrine for Krill...

Btw, are you heading to Feud yourself and how much turns till knights in your esteem? Or what is your plan?

[GermanJoey]

Yeah, the hindu shrine! That one! Man, I been so out of it lately!

And yes, Vassalage is definitely my first Medieval tech. The Vassalage civic itself is really important to me, first of all, to help me get 3-promo horses w/ a stable and 3 promo land units with Theocracy. Second of all, a fat stack of CG3/Drill 1 Longbows and archers are an excellent answer to any bullshit that Krill tries to pull; such longbows will still get odds on CR3 C1 swordsmen even after being collateraled to 50% health! I even think I'll prefer Vassalage long-term compared to Bureau; the extra promo is very valuable, and the unit discount should be significant with the need to spread my forces across two seas and two land chokepoints. Finally, I doubt I'll ever get an Academy here, despite having an excellent capital for one, because I'll need to spend at least one GS, perhaps even two, on bulbing Astronomy.

However, I don't think rushing to Knights is worth it here. Not that its bad, especially for dtay, who'd want to break through Yuri and then onto Courva, and also has a large land border with JR. However, for me, I have a single chokepoint border to my north with JR, and then to the south I have Donovan, who I don't want to die for as long as possible. So Knights would only be useful so far as I could catch Krill with his pants down and clobber a big army in neutral territory or with an artist bomb or something, which I honestly wouldn't expect to happen in a million years. Also, every player has elephants, which are quite dangerous to knights with such cramped land. IMHO, amphibious Swords and Macemen would be a better plan for the Medieval era if I want to war in this era.

Also, I want basically every single Classical tech ASAP:

• IW - due EOT; I've got jungled gems, jungled silver, multiple jungled spices, jungled ivory, and jungled horses. Also, as I have Odeons popping up now, I'll gain access to CR2 Swords, and I hear that +100% city attack on a unit is pretty good.
  
• CoL - Unlike dtay, with his Agg and Ikhandas, I'm completely drowning in city maintenance. I want lots of courthouses, and it'd be better to build 'em now than when I really want to pump units nonstop.
  
• Calendar - I have several calendar resources I can improve; the nerfed MoM is still available as well, which could be very worth it if I get a GE, especially since I wouldn't plan on getting Nationalism very soon.
  
• HBR - With a stables, I'd get CR3 Horchers and Wellies right out of the gate, which is great! Also, I'm the horsemaster, so its embarrassing not to have strong horses. (Have I shown a screenshot of Horse Island? I totally haven't, I should do that next turn, Horse Island is really cool, lol...)
  
• Aesthetics + Literature - with HBR and a stables, I can directly produce lvl 4 units, which means I can build a very early HE. Also, I have a city with 4 prechopped forests (the planned Colossus city) that can near-instantly become my NE. And, since I'm throwing this GA so early, I'll want to follow up with a quickish NE so that I can still meet a good timing for my 2nd and 3rd GAs. (2nd GA will be for HR, Vassalage and Theo, while my 3rd GA will have to time for whatever civics I get later. And then build up to a 4th GA for Factories).
  
• Alphabet - So I can get some routes with some non-insane people. (update: DS just counter-offered gems and routes for 16gpt and my world map. dude, I'm only getting 1c for every city you have, so why the fuck would I ever accept this???)
  
• Monarchy - Don't really need it for itself, but it is a prereq to Vassalage, so...[/u]
  

The only one I feel like I can really skip out on is Alphabet; Calendar and Aeth+Lit I'd be willing to delay if I start getting worried about Krill, but not IW, CoL, or HBR. And I can only finish those 3 within this GA, so its unlikely that I'd want to rush Vassalage if I can't make use of the civics for a little while.

[GermanJoey]

After years upon years of trolling me, the GPP gods finally throw me a bone! 3% odds, baby! Right after 1-turning an odeon and hiring a pair of artists on the turn right before that city's GP popped!




Considering that Krill's probably planned his last 100 turns specifically to nab that Music artist in order to get the whammy on me when he finally invades Donovan, he's gonna so pissed off right now he'll be spitting up blood! 

I'll post a more thorough update tomorrow, so if there's anything y'all wanna see, then lemme know now.