[SPOILERS] Charriu and Zalson are fighting the honorable post count war!

[Zalson]

And we just need trebuchets and/or catapults.

[Charriu]

T112:

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RFS accepted my peace treaty, but you already know that. More important Shallow rejected my copper for copper deal. This either means he does not work with me; is not able to attack; or does not want to show the other players that we made this deal. But in the last case he may have send another copper for copper deal back to me, which I in return would have rejected.



I mentioned that I got tech vision on OT4E last turn, but forgot to say anything about. Currently he's running 0% science and Calendar. With 513 turns to go I doubt that he's running any specialist for now. He's also only running 11 gold per turn, his big empire and military cost him a pretty penny. Judging from his 24 gold it will take some more turns until he gets Calendar.
I put full espionage into Superdeath next.




Ok, Shallow, you have to explain me why you didn't use your Great General, which was born ages ago.



I plan to scout the Magic/OT4E border next. I have to know if there is any potential for conflict.



Seems like Shallow is dropping another city at his Superdeath/Magic border.

I forgot to make another screenshot of Superdeath area, but nothing especially interesting turned up. Except that I now know his worker theme:

[Charriu]

113:

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The one thing I feared the most just happened. I lost the tile NW of Forza to OT4E. At least I still have vision over the important tiles, so I can see a potential attack coming my way. Forza still needs 5 more turns until the next culture level.



So far there is a lot of jungle between OT4E and Magic, but those are their new aquisitions anyway.



Superdeath climed the top of the leaderboard this turn. I must say I don't like how he's gaining momentum. He's also making over 50 gold per turn, which can't be from the Great Lighthouse alone, so far he only has 3 coastal cities. I must say I really hate him for building that wonder, with so few coastal cities. At least Shallow didn't get this wonder as he has 6 coastal cities. So far Superdeath's land also looks a bit underdeveloped. It really seems that he has fewer workers then I have.



Aha, so Shallow actually founded Hinduism. Interesting.

[Charriu]

114:

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Lucky me. With Judaism spreading to Exdeath I don't need build another missionary immediately. Next turn the missionary in Wing Raptor is finished and I will convert to Judaism. Mh but who had the urge to build the Great Walls?




Mh, why did OT4E build the Great Walls. He did not finish it in any city that I have vision on. Either he is in culture trouble like I am or he pulled of another (minor) culture bomb like in Schilda.



Speaking of Schilda, he actually retreated his 2 praetorians and axeman, but they could also just lurk in the fog. OT4E double moved me this turn and the fact that he did not move in workers to finish a road on the hill is a good sign.



Not Rome. Good one OT4E. This city was named Rome just a few turns before.



Shallow's eastern border with RFS. I doubt he will move in to finish off RFS in the near future. RFS city would be really out of palce for him.



I almost discoverd all of Superdeath territory. The water NE is actually coast, so Superdeath only has a narrow border with Magic. Superdeath has the longest border with Shallow, so that will most definitly be our next war in this game.



Superdeath is trading more and more with OT4E. I also noticed that Superdeath is missing a copper from last turn. I think he made another player a copper for copper deal. We'll know next turn.



Magic prepared his border cities near OT4E.

[Charriu]

T115:

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Karlabos popped its third border this turn and revealed another suprise from Commodre. Love those frozen gifts. Astronomy becomes more and more interesting.



Another intense border dispute between Magic and Superdeath, but the bay should ease the tensions.



And more borderline between Magic and OT4E, too. Looks like Magic is boxed in like me. Note that OT4E's units are there to cover workers.



I took the opportunity of peace to scout a bit ahead with my chariot from Liquid Flame. As you can see I also swapped to Judaism this turn.

[Charriu]

From now on I will put the graphs and cities section into spoilers for better readability.

Graphs:








I wonder how this will change when I start growing again.



Magic and Superdeath are gaining on me in power.



Another reason why my score is so low, aside from me having fewer cities, is that the others had more border pops by now.




Cities:

For your notice I took those just before I converted.

[Charriu]

I will soon finish another settler and am looking to finally settle that region north of Galura. Still don't know where to go though. Right now it does not look like OT4E will go to war as his maintenance is eating into his finances. The big question is what Superdeath will do. I would rather like him to attack Shallow and therefore don't want to trigger him. On the other hand this region is the last place where I can settle a non-filler city.

[Charriu]

So about that northern city. I'm tending towards the following places:

Plain 1N of Wine: This city will deny Superdeath the iron as he can't settle any city near it and it will be in my cities second ring. It's a bit farther away from Superdeath, which could ensure peace with him, it can also work a bit more tiles then the other city. Biggest disadvantage is that it's on flatland.

Hill 1NE of Wine: Claims the iron, but OT4E could settle near the banana taking this vital food resource away. It's also a lot closer towards Superdeath and could spark tension. Biggest advantage is the defensive bonus from the hill.

I know that I said in the past that I don't want to settle here, because I'm sandwiched between both players. Here are my reasons why my opinion changed.

• OT4E and Superdeath never intended to settle this area fast.
  
• Both are more or less allied by now, so a conflict is more unlikely.
  
• I'm running out of places to expand to.
  
• Settling here could prevent Superdeath from settling any cities that I intend to raze from OT4E.
  
• Of course the biggest disadvantage (sandwiched between them) remains and now is even bigger because they are allied.
  

[Charriu]

T116:

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Garrison in Schilda returned to a reasonable level. Unfortunately OT4E started spending espionage on me during my anarchy, so I lost tech vision on him. I put him back to top priority in espionage. Forza will only need 2 turns until it's borders pop again.
Magic started a golden age and revolted to Hereditary Rule. Interesting, he must have kept a Great Scientist for quite some time to do that.



More expansion on the horizon by Shallow. Man, they all still have so much room to expand to.  



Magic still does not have Iron Working.



I also forgot to mention that Flash has the Great Lighthouse. So Supedeath actually build it in a border town to Magic, interesting.

I also made a mistake in my planning. I'm 1 hammer short of double whipping a market in Exdeath. Well have to wait for the next turn. At least that way Wing Raptor can grow it's pop a big quicker by making use of the Sugar and Corn.

[Charriu]

T117:

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Shallow finally got the chance to declare on RFS again and rescue his galleys from their icy prison. To my surprise I lost a tile in Iron Claw to Shallow this turn. Fortunately the cities borders will expand next turn and I should get that tile back soon. Now who build the Hanging Gardens. I fear I know who did that.



Of course OT4E build it, which also explains his big increase in score. I must say, I'm very annoyed how this game turned out to be. I'm now dead last in every important category in the demo screen, but I can live with that. What really annoys me is that OT4E had no opposition in any way. The only player that tried to stop him from winning this game was me. If OT4E wins this game it will be, not only because of his experience, but mainly because Superdeath helped him with his war against Magic. Adding to that Superdeath is the only player, who has open borders with OT4E and does trade with him, great job Superdeath.  



Oh and of course OT4E is also a bit lucky. That silver wasn't there last turn. Honestly I don't see how OT4E can lose this game anymore. He's the absolute leader in tech, has most of the wonders, was the first to get a religion, has a formidable army with his praetorians, a big enough empire, three weak neighbors including me and a neighbor, who clearly is playing for the second place in Superdeath.



Shallow is currently leading with 13 cities and has another settler roaming around Grim Grotto; don't know where he is heading with that.



Ah, that must be the silver Shallow and Magic had a settler race over.



Boy, Magic has a lot of hills around his capitol. 



The stage is set for me to settle north. My settler is currently in Galura and I plan to settle that plain tile. Mainly because that way I deny both my neighbors another city up there.