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First, a thought about the map: I think these border isthmuses might actually make attacking easier. I know my opponent can't flank me if I attack him, so I don't need to keep any defenders in reserve. Whatever units I send on the attack are also effectively blocking my opponent from attacking. Sure, the chokepoint makes defending a bit easier as well, but I think it balances in the attacker's favor, at least in the early game. Later, it will get really interesting with fort canals and combined land/sea attacks.
The Charriu Situation: Our peace treaty should expire on T86 and I'll have an Immortal and an Axe nearby enough to cause trouble. He already knows about those two units, so I'm sure he'll prepare enough defenders. I don't think I want to actually attack Charriu again anyways. He's struggling in demographics, only has 5 cities. If I attack again, I might be helping Miguelito or Ramk more than myself.
On the other hand, I'd like to pull off a really aggressive forward settlement toward Charriu at the spot by the banana and fish (red dot on map). If I go for it, I would whip the settler out of Manatee and be able to found the city on about T90.
Also, Charriu is the founder of Hinduism. I'd really like to have a religion (especially since I'm Spiritual), but I don't know how to get it other than blind luck. I guess having open borders would help, but I really doubt he'll accept.
The GKC situation: His power has recently increased significantly above mine, and he settled near our isthmus. His new city has an axe on a hill. I have an immortal, a spearman, and a warrior nearby. I'm considering attacking. The question is: What's more important: Potentially destroying his new city, or maintaining peace? First, I offered him open borders. If he accepts, I'll send the Immortal through for exploration and we will definitely stay at peace for a while. If he doesn't accept OB, I might get aggressive, but no guarantees.
I got Writing and I'm going to whip a few libraries to start running scientists ASAP. I've decided to only build cottages in the core rectangular area between Dugong, Vaquita, and Bowhead. I'll probably only build about 10 cottages total. I've been becoming really disillusioned with cottages lately.
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(May 13th, 2021, 10:55)Lazteuq Wrote: Later, it will get really interesting with fort canals and combined land/sea attacks.
One can only hope! I appreciate the thoughts.
“The wind went mute and the trees in the forest stood still. It was time for the last tale.”
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Also, I really like the positions of these little islands because they can act as boating outposts. I look forward to spicy galley/trireme warfare, sort of like PB57.
GKC reoffered OB and sent me this back:
That's exactly what I wanted to see. We leave eachother alone and focus on our other neighbors. I sent him the same deal back. He might try to betray me, but I'll have plenty of warning.
Next turn I'm pretty sure I'll commit to the plan of aggressively settling toward Charriu. It makes more sense now that I'm confident about the GKC border.
I settled the fur island this turn. Next turn I whip the capitol library.
Trade routes are providing 23 commerce already, and my breakeven is up to 35bpt!
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Charriu notified me we're at war, but I'm unsure what he did. When I played the turn, none of his units were visible to me. Maybe he hit an axe with a chariot out of the fog.
I just realized I have no spearmen on the Charriu side. Just 2 axes and 1 immortal. That could be bad if he's been building Chariots. On the other hand, Immortals do get defensive bonuses, so spears aren't quite as necessary for me. If I do aggressively settle, it will be on a hill tile for sure.
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Turn 87: Charriu brought in 2 axes and 2 phalanxes escorting a settler. He offered peace but I see no reason to accept because he's not threatening anything yet. Unfortunately, I can't directly confront those four units, especially with the Phalanx's extra strength and hill bonus. However, I also don't want to retreat and cede all leverage in the area. So I decided to advance instead. At the very least, I expect to get more map knowledge.
Shockingly, my Immortal found New Nobilia undefended and still without any road connections!!! How can this be happening again? I hope he manages to whip a defender, it would be totally ridiculous if I manage to take the city again.
My axe in the north found a worker, probably building a road. His phalanx won't have good odds on my axe, so I expect to live for at least one more turn. The worker is in no danger, but I can at least cause an annoyance. I'm seriously thinking Charriu doesn't have horses, because I see no chariots.
My biggest concern is if Charriu gets too frustrated and decides to dedicate his entire empire to fighting a war with me. Then I will suffer.
Another change of tech plans: I'm going the long way to Monarchy, through Masonry-Polytheism-Monotheism. A few reasons for that:
1. It opens up getting Theology early and getting Christianity. I might do that, it sounds like a fun way to play. Might not be optimal, but hey, its a 25-player game. Whatever. Theocracy is good at least.
2. I want to farm failgold off ToA, since I will soon have Marble.
3. If I do get religion (either Christianity or Charriu's Hinduism), I want to be able to run OR.
4. Masonry is important for Moai and for getting stone and marble, so it's a decent investment even if it wasn't required for Monotheism.
5. I might need walls in the new border city with Charriu I'm going to found.
Taking the long path means Monarchy is probably T99 instead of T96, but I think I'm OK with that.
I just noticed me vs. Charriu is a classic matchup: Persians vs. Greeks!
I should get a Great Scientist on T104ish, probably for a golden age. I won't want to actually trigger the golden age until after I have a lot of windmills and watermills running. I should have lots of tiles which produce both commerce and production to get full benefit from the GA.
And finally, check out this power graph: Mjmd and Ramk are getting serious.
May 17th, 2021, 23:51
(This post was last modified: May 17th, 2021, 23:53 by Lazteuq.)
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GKC declared war, probably because he thought I was trying something sneaky. I actually had no devious plans, I mostly just want to explore north and meet GKC's other neighbor. I'd moved the scouting immortal into neutral territory between cities, so maybe he was worried I would attack out of neutral land. Or maybe he just wanted me to stay off his lawn in general. Maybe it's an OB for trade but not for units kind of situation. Well, anyway, he killed my Immortal with a Keshik (what a power move!) and chased away my warrior. I offered peace. Hopefully this was just a big misunderstanding. In case he's actually serious about attacking, I prepared a bunch of cities with units in the build queue ready for whipping.
It might be relevant that I yesterday played in a random lobby multiplayer game with GKC. I was very aggressive toward him, unexpectedly capturing a city out of the blue.
Charriu did whip a spear out of New Nobilia, and brought in an axe. My Immortal wasn't able to safely pillage any improvements, so I just retreated and offered peace. At least I forced him whip the city down to size 1, but that's not actually a benefit to myself.
Now I have two cities running two scientists each and I'm about to have fur connected. As long as I don't get caught up in a brutal war, this empire should see some great economy growth in the next 20 turns.
I've been sort of roleplaying AI Montezuma this game. I swear I didn't plan to.
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I got peace treaties with both Charriu and GKC, with no further combat happening. Sorry abut not posting much. I find it hard to report when it's just peaceful city management.
TBS appeared with a galley from the southeast, offering OB. I accepted. I wonder if he would have declared war if I refused...he had a chariot on the galley.
Inspired by TBS's adventuring galley, I decided to send out my own to the northeast with a chariot. Also I'm sending a workboat back to the southeast to find TBS-land, since there's obviously a coast connection. I'm slightly worried that TBS will try something sneaky with that wandering chariot though
Just as I got Masonry, the mids were built, so I barely missed the chance to get failgold from whip overflow. Instead I put the overflow into The Great Wall, since I'm pretty sure someone will take it. If I'd known the mids would take this long, I would have tried to get masonry earlier. In a few turns I'll have Marble connected and start putting hammers toward ToA. The Monarchy ETA is very dependent on when I can cash in on failgold.
The same turn that I got Monotheism, I got a natural spread of Hinduism to Vaquita! That's pretty lucky. Switching to OR cost me 4gpt, but I did it anyway. Unfortunately, Vaquita's production isn't great so I'll need whips to get missionaries built quickly.
Only one new city recently: Humpback establishes the Charriu border and grabs Marble. I think settling it might have been a mistake, because it's hard to defend and not very profitable. If Charriu invades, Humpback is a crumple zone.
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I'm starting to think I don't have enough units. Peace treaties expire in 4 turns I think. I've switched a lot of cities to spear and axe builds. Of course I'm worried about GKC's keshiks, and I'm also worried about Charriu sending a horde of axes and phalanxes. I'm chopping walls in Humpback. If Charriu and GKC coordinate an attack on me just as the treaties end, I'm in serious trouble. This focus on production as opposed to commerce means my Monarchy ETA is probably t103, which is pretty disappointing.
In 4 turns I'll have a missionary spread religion in Beluga, since it is a high-production city.
May 25th, 2021, 00:42
(This post was last modified: May 25th, 2021, 00:45 by Lazteuq.)
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Turn 96.
TBS and I exchanged Clam4clam. I found his borders in the north and south. If my theory about the world being a row of little donuts is correct, he's on the west side of another donut, but probably has no land connection to me.
I just got 82 great wall failgold, but Charriu got ToA right when I had Marble connected so I got nothing for that. Oh well.
Monarchy ETA is now T100 or 101, so I should start planning my last few whips. Lighthouse in Bottlenose, maybe Library in Hector's. That's probably it. Assuming war doesn't come, that is. GKC's power is certainly increasing, but it's not too shocking. I sent GKC another fish4fish and OB. I don't really expect him to accept, but I want to signal peaceful intent at least. GKC has spent enough EP on me to have research visibility, which is disturbing.
I got vision in Charriu's border city Freeja from my wandering immortal. He only has 1 phalanx and 2 axes in there, so I think I'm pretty safe on that front. He seems to be still on the defensive. I'm certainly not attacking that city on a hill anytime soon.
Mjmd has insane power, but his crop yield and mfg have been dropping dramatically. He lost a city with lots of culture. I guess it's a total war with Ramk. I think both of them and Charriu might be out of contention for the win, not sure though. If Mjmd manages to consume Ramk, he could take a serious lead in growth, and then consume Charriu as well!
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GKC's power didn't go up any more, and I only see a few units near the border. Certainly not enough to be a serious invasion. He might still be planning an attack, but it's clearly not coming right when the peace treaty ends.
Based on this good news, I've accelerated the Monarchy ETA to turn 100.
GKC didn't accept OB unfortunately. I think I have traderoutes with TBS though, which is nicely adding to the ones I'm getting from Mjmd.
I don't know where I should put Moai. I'm thinking Beluga, because it has enough hammers to build it pretty quick, and it has 9 coast tiles, with enough food to grow onto them quickly. Other cities like Steller and Dugong would then take over working some of the land tiles.
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