Gavagai's PB42 thread

[Gavagai]

I've been choosing between Cairo and superdeath and decided that Cairo will be my next target. The main source of concern was that Cairo's land is pretty bad and in respect to sd's land, I just do not know much yet. This, however, was outweighed by the following considerations:

1) Given his demos, sd's land cannot be much better.
2) sd is spread out between many islands which makes his land easy to attack - it seems like I can one-turn half of his empire. However, it also means I will have difficulties with defending it just as well, as it seems to be close to all kinds of action between OH and Krill. By contrast, Cairo has a very compact empire in the corner which will be easy to hold once taken.
3) I will need to have a strong navy in this theater anyway because Krill is here. By contrast, I do not see it necessary to hold a strong navy against sd, unless I am planning something myself.
4) OH's core will eventually go to Krill and Cairo's land represents a convenient base from which to threaten it.

[Gavagai]

Lol, attacked SD's Privateer with a Galley (result predictable). Did not realize that you cannot occupy the same tile with a Privateer peacefully, even though they are no longer barbs. Good to know but no more scouting in this area for me:



And my chariot in OH's core is now stack. Well, will be watching Krill's activities now. He declared war on OH once again but now it was OH who took his city. No idea what's happening between those too, all these city trades happen offscreen for me.

[Gavagai]

A naval standoff in the East. Ot4e tries to ferry units to Robinson but has my flotilla in the way. I really want him to try to ram through: the Privateer has Combat2, 99% everything he throws at me will be just wiped out. He sneaked one 4-move galley along the other shore and dropped a small stack near Robinson but for a moment it has enough units to hold and his fast galley is trapped by a Privateer. In theory, he can just drop off all he has in the galleys to shore and walk to me, I do not actually have reinforcements for Robinson nearby. But I am more worried about Clarke which is a much more important city and he cannot reach it without naval dominance.
In other news, superjm accepted fish for fish and reopening borders. Also, I just noticed - even though he has Mids, he didn't revolt to Police State when he thought that the war was imminent. This is the first truly weedy move I saw on his part but in that particular case, it worked to his advantage. I actually only noticed because I hoped I trapped him in the Police State - his GA will end soon, he won't have a chance to revolt one more time.
Also, OH asked me for some resource trades and I offered him all my spares which he lacks, even for free. I consider him an ally now. He may be the third in the score but even superjm's position is much better.

Some graphs:






And demos:



As you can see, the graphs are kind of obsolete. They still show me as behind Krill in food but in fact, I have a comfortable lead for the second turn in a row. My advantage will only increase as French cities are coming out of revolt. Krill's current mfg dominance is due to his golden age but I will have my own in a few turns. My GNP is competitive with two rivals in GA but this is because I am one-turning Education with a bulb and lots of research builds (better than wealth for me as I spammed cheap markets everywhere). Also, we are running neck to neck with Krill in the military now but in that respect, I expect to start falling behind soon.

[Gavagai]

By the way, observe that there are no Cairo's graphs here. He has a lot of EPs, I think he has done something stupid with them which goes beyond simply spamming cheap Courthouses (like, settled a Great Spy) and he is putting a lot of points into me. Cannot bother competing with him at this point, need research visibility on Krill and sj. Also, I want to put some more EPs in Ot4e and steal Philosophy from him, so that all those EPs I invested into him earlier are not wasted after he is dead.

[Gavagai]

I reconfigured my civ to get Economics in three turns... And then put it back into normal mode. No real rush as sj is going for Lib (MilTrad is already lined up) and Krill is saving gold with no Education. He still can surprise me but that is a rather theoretical possibility and I had to put literally everything, except new French cities and HE city, on building commerce. I can as well research it in 4 turns with much less effort.
Also, defogged the central see with my Privateers... No alien presence at all and some barb galleys roaming around (free XP for nav1). If so, I am settling the islands in the area, they will pay for themselves with Free Market and will have quite a lot of strategic importance. But definitely Gunpowder after Economics, need a good unit for passive defense here.

[Gavagai]

Also, the moment I spot Krill's privateers, I will DOW him and remove his scouting units in former France. The only reason I tolerate them is that I do not want to get locked into a turnsplit with Krill while also at war with Ot4e. But when out privateers start dancing around, we will be in a turnsplit anyway.

[Gavagai]

Ok, if I kill his units, he most likely accepts cease-fire next turn. Maybe I did not think it through On the other hand, if I do this, my chariot will not live to observe his attack on OH. He may kill it anyway, of course, but if I become hostile now, it will swap probability for certainty. I think I will not declare war but will offer him OB after revolting to Free Market just to troll him. I just really think we need to interact more in this game.

[Gavagai]

Krill is the first in power since this turn just as I predicted.

[Gavagai]

Also, I just noticed - even though he has Mids, he didn't revolt to Police State when he thought that the war was imminent. This is the first truly weedy move I saw on his part but in that particular case, it worked to his advantage. I actually only noticed because I hoped I trapped him in the Police State - his GA will end soon, he won't have a chance to revolt one more time.

I really should post less because I embarass myself. The guy is spiritual. In that case staying in Rep was most probably a right call.

[Gavagai]

Central sea which I am claiming for myself. For some reason I expected to meet Krill's privateers there but he seems to have a bigger fish to fry.



I am now thinking Astro after Economics and start stockpiling Galleons. If I am quick enough, I can raze BabylonBurning when it falls to Krill, it may even trigger concession This city is the single most important asset Harry has around here (Amazing Grace is distant second but canno do anything about it) and Krill will have to pay A LOT to get it. And if Harry holds for long enough I may even be able to tech to Rifles and save him altogether. And if Krill is able to defend, I always have Cairo as a backup use for this army, so it is not gonna be wasted. In that respect I will need to answer a hard question: do I want to revolt to Pacifism during my GA? I will get my third GA much faster this way but will lose the ability to produce amphibious knights (no theocracy). Will need to make some calculations on that.



This is what I was talking about when I said that Krill outplayed OH. It seems that there is a big land mass north of there which was supposed to split about even between Krill and OH. Now, is it split even? I think not. I think that OH had to move most of his cities to islands and Krill got so much land that I am getting some lead on him only after I killed two neighbors.