[PB78 SPOILERS] GT and Magic Science in the Post-Apocalyptic Wasteland

[Magic Science]

The river does not extend to the grasshill W of the ivory, but the way the game calculates trade on rivers is funky. Charriu has documented this in his mysteries thread.

Thanks, I will read that later. Those tricksy trade routes...

I hoped the Barbarian would move 1SW and proceed directly to suicidally attack Gaugamela, but instead he used the Roads to occupy the Corn Farm. Shit. I did not expect that. Any chance that he won’t pillage the Farm on his next turn?

It seems very unlikely to me. My basic understanding is barb AI defaults on beelining the nearest city, but periodically (every turn?) does a dice roll on whether to stop and pillage - changing unit AI to pillage mode. If the barb diverted off the beeline path, it seems likely the pillage coin flip came up heads.


https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/b...ns.324961/


But I'm going off vague memory from reading this thread.

Thanks, though the Barbarian Archer didn't need to divert off the beeline path to go to that Corn. The Road meant the path going to the Corn can still reach Gaugamela just as quickly as the other way.

He did pillage the Corn Farm, though. Report in a little while.

[Magic Science]

Turn 37 and Turn 38 – 2520 BC and 2480 BC
   
On Turn 37, the first Archer pillaged the Corn. Meanwhile, another Archer approached from the southwest.
So the first Archer was not a fluke, then. And aren’t there any Barbarian Warriors out there instead?

The 3 Warriors continued fortifying in Gaugamela, since I did not think of anything better for them to do on this turn. I considered sending one of them to bait or cut off the northern Archer, but it didn’t seem worth it.
Gaugamela itself invested in a Settler this turn. I want future production invested in the military to be invested in Archers and Immortals, not Warriors, and I think the situation is not that desperate yet. Also, there are three relatively safe city spots around Gaugamela that a Settler could found at even if the Barbarians are pretty bad.

The two Workers moved to the Horse and built 1 turn of a Road and 1 turn of a Pasture. The idea is that Barbarians can’t pillage partially built improvements, so if one advances on the Horse, then it can’t inflict as much of a setback.
And Darius III the Worker at New Tehran moved to the Tundra Lumbermill. Buddy, sorry, you are cool and all, but still not a good enough tile. I need those 20 hammers, and the rules don’t say anything about chopping Forests in friendly territory that Lumbermills just so happen to be loitering on.


   
The southern Archer took another step on the beeline to Gaugamela. Alright. This Archer could still continue directly and attack across the river suicidally without pillaging anything.

The northern Archer diverted towards the Pigs. They will probably be pillaged too. Embarrassing and harmful, but I can deal with that emotionally and in-game.
But then I recognized a looming catastrophe.
THE NORTHERN BARBARIAN ARCHER COULD PILLAGE NEW TEHRAN’S FORESTED MINE. .
I COULD NEVER REBUILD THAT SUPERNATURAL TILE.
IT WOULD BE LIKE THE BARBARIAN ARCHER DELETING A GRASSLAND HORSE RESOURCE TILE FROM NEW TEHRAN’S BFC.
Fuck. .
I absolutely cannot allow that to happen, so I spent a long time thinking about exactly what to do over the next few turns.

Northern Archer’s Schedule: Occupy Pig T39, pillage Pig T40, occupy “Grassland Horse” T41, pillage “Grassland Horse” T42.
Southern Archer’s Schedule: 1SW of Gaugamela T39, attack Gaugamela and die T40 OR move 1S of Gaugamela, then could reach Ivory of westernmost Road T41, pillage T42.
The Barbarians have the first half. Best PYFT rating ever.

Two Workers’ Schedule: Pasture/Road T39, move to Gaugamela T40, build combat Road T41 if necessary.
Gaugamela’s Schedule: invest in Archer T38, invest in Immortal T39, whip Immortal T40.
Immortal’s Schedule: be born EOT40, kill the northern Archer T41.

NOTE TO SELF AND OTHERS: Is it important to finish the Pasture and Road in a certain order next turn? You know how in Pitboss you must build the Road before founding the city to get trade routes the same turn. I need Horse to be connected T39, not the turn after, so is there a trick to this? I will test this myself, too.

That schedule can survive anything the southern Archer does. It cannot pillage anything in time to stop the Immortal from being trained on schedule.
The northern Archer could skip pillaging the Pig Pasture to reach the “Grassland Horse” sooner. I don’t think it would, but it could. It could instead be nice and wander away from the worst possible place. It could happen!
Also, that schedule involves attacking the Archer on the “Grassland Horse” tile which in fact has a Forest. The Immortal only has a 78.21% chance to win.

So I made one adjustment to the above schedule; as you can see, I sent the least-fortified Warrior in Gaugamela 1NE as bait for the northern Archer. If it takes the bait, it moves 1SE and is safely far away from the “Grassland Horse”. The Pig Pasture might be saved too. However, that would put two Archers adjacent to Gaugamela T39, assuming the southern one beelines the city as it probably will, versus only two Warriors defending. The Warriors would both be favored to win, but is still too dangerous, but I could whip the Archer T39 and it would be ready just in time on the dawn of T40. That would in turn delay the Immortal, but only by one turn, and if these two Archers both attack Gaugamela and become dead or terribly wounded, then I might not need the Immortal so soon anyway.
If the Archer does not take the bait, and moves along the evil path to the Pig Pasture, the bait Warrior can follow and continue trying to bait the Archer.

Got all that? .
I am baiting the northern Archer and maybe training an Immortal to keep New Tehran’s supernatural and irreplaceable Forested Mine safe from pillaging, while also keeping Gaugamela completely safe.




   
Meanwhile, I was overwhelmed by questionable wanderlust and ordered Buster to continue exploring for these past 4 turns instead of returning to bust the fog as his name implies. There was a Road/Railroad line 13 tiles long! It was too tempting. Buster did find a lot of great stuff, at least.

An incredible area packed with resources and supernatural resource-equivalent tiles. Do you see the confusion of signs marking it? . I must perform a “sign reform”. This area is probably contested with Thrawn & Co. in addition to Superdeath/Naufragar, but it is within reach.

Another water body containing another Barbarian city. That makes six. I really must name these water bodies.

The location of Vault 33, Superdeath/Naufragar’s starting capital. No sign of Uruk, their second city. It seems that they have not settled for Copper yet either. Good. Also, this is not far north of Fallout Lake (the Lake that formerly had Fallout covering it) and that area with the only mainland Gold that Buster revealed back on Turn 5 or so. The point is, I think that area is too close to Superdeath/Naufragar and they will easily claim it before us. Buster should come home to bust and not risk his life exploring the outskirts of an area too far away for us to claim in this phase of the game, but the lure of more exploring might be too strong for me to resist.

And we can see the other side of Megaton now. Notice that Megaton has 4 population, but only 3 population points are accounted for on the tiles we can see: NW Fish, NE Fish, and E Gold. Not SE Gold. I think that the Barbarian governor would favor a Flat Grassland Gold over an un-Lighthoused Coast or a Citizen specialist, so there must be a third seafood tile in the dark fog 1S of Megaton. Good.

EDIT: I forgot to mention Gavagai's Scout NE of Gaugamela. He double-moved me over Turn 36 and Turn 37, so I don't know as much about where it came from as I might. It probably saw the unchecked Archer and pillaged Corn, at least. Embarassing. . I hope the Scout is just passing through from the northwest and was not sent to hang out in this area. There are riverside Corn and Pig tiles contested between us in this area, and I want them.

EDIT2: I just realized that a combat road built 1NW of Gaugamela would not, in fact, allow an Immortal to move from Gaugamela to New Tehran's "Grassland Horse" in 1 turn, because there is a river in the way and I don't know Construction. That could be bad, but if the bait plan works then it will not matter, and I might be able to salvage the situation by building another Road 2NW of Gaugamela with the help of Darius III. I would hate to move him off the Tundra Forest and back on, though.

[scooter]

Enjoyed reading the planning around dealing with the archers and protecting the mine. Good luck!

[GT]

That barb archer plundering the lands is terrible...

[Tarkeel]

Pretty sure you don't need to worry about the order of finishing road and pasture.

[Magic Science]

Enjoyed reading the planning around dealing with the archers and protecting the mine. Good luck!

Raging Barbarians Nervous Players Happy Lurkers. I could use some luck.

That barb archer plundering the lands is terrible... 

Yeah, it hurts. I should have done something different, but I don't know what.

Pretty sure you don't need to worry about the order of finishing road and pasture.

I think you are right and I was worried over nothing. I connected the Horse on Turn 39 (report to come) with no problem.
In any case, the question was irrelevant to the game because I actually finished the Road on Turn 38 and left the Pasture with 2 Worker-turns to go. You can even see it in the second screenshot, but I somehow became confused about what I had just done. .

[Magic Science]

Turn 39 and Turn 40 – 2440 BC and 2400 BC
   
The northern Archer chomped on the bait. Goodbye Warrior. I hope this sacrifice will prove worthwhile. Unfortunately, the Archer won flawlessly.
The southern Archer moved adjacent to Gaugamela, as expected.
No new invaders in sight.
So Gaugamela whipped the Archer to be safe, as planned. I then had to decide between working the unimproved Corn or the improved Ivory. Not a situation that comes up very often, I think. The improved Ivory yields more production right now, so it is the safer choice.
And the two Workers finished Pasturing the Horse. As I said, in fact, I finished the Road last turn and left the Pasture with two Worker-turns left, so my question was irrelevant after all. The Horse was connected immediately on Turn 39, but since Gaugamela whipped the Archer it didn’t matter anyway. What a confused and silly mini-incident of mine this was!


   
Meanwhile, Buster begins the journey home.
And New Tehran flips two tiles from Megaton. Unfortunately, the Barbarian governor has not trained a Worker and Mined the Gold yet, so the Gold will be useless for a while longer. It wasn’t worth delaying New Tehran and settling somewhere else just for the forlorn hope that the Barbarians would improve that Gold for us.
What have the Barbarians been producing all this time? Not a Worker or Settler. Something that they could start on Turn 0 and that would not be finished with 39 hammers invested. A Barracks?
Also, the tile flip reveals that the suspected “seafood” is in fact a supernatural Windmill! Nice. .
We can also see a Barbarian Maceman guarding a silly Gems Hamlet. It occurred to be just now that the Turn 120 deadline is uncomfortably close, especially with Raging Barbarians slowing our development. All these immobile Barbarians will invade us, and if that happened right now, we would die. We must grow and be ready for the onslaught on Turn 120. I hope that will not be too difficult.


   
The Barbarians took about 10 seconds to move at the dawn of Turn 40. I was beginning to be confused about it. What is the difference between the dawn of Turn 40 and the dawn of Turn 38? The Barbarians moved so much sooner then. Someone could accidentally and detrimentally double-move the Barbarians if they move this slowly again.

The two Archers both declined to attack Gaugamela and instead moved onto rugged terrain and towards improvements. The northern Archer even moved 1NW right back to where it was before the first baiting.
This is bad. I really needed one or both to attack and die and make this situation simpler. This whole crisis could have been over right now! . Instead, I agonized for a long time over the least bad thing to do.

The two invaders are still here, so Gaugamela will invest in an Immortal instead of a Settler. I cannot finish the Immortal EOT40, but the enemy cannot stop me from finishing the Immortal EOT41. The Immortal will be awesome, but there are problems for him. The Archers are on opposite sides of Gaugamela, so after the Immortal kills the first one, he will need to return to Gaugamela, heal, then chase the second one down. The longer they live, the more they pillage and the more likely it is a third Archer comes at the same time. Also, the Archers have been hanging out on Forests and Hills. The Immortal is favored to win on the attack even so, but not by enough for me to be comfortable. Since the river prevents an Immortal from reaching the “Grassland Horse” from Gaugamela in one turn with just a Road 1NW, and I don’t think building a Road 2NW is practical, saving the Forested Mine might require attacking the Archer after it has reached the vital tile and its defensive bonus but before it pillages the improvement. I don’t want to roll the dice like that.
Once this crisis is over, I cannot let the incoming Barbarians reach defensive terrain again. Such a headache. The Immortals must run them down on flat ground.

With this in mind, I sent the new Archer south to protect the Ivory Camp. This gives the southern Barbarian Archer another chance to attack and die (90% chance of victory for my Archer defending in the Forest). If the enemy wins, then it will probably be wounded enough for the Warrior in Gaugamela to finish it off. If the enemy moves 1N, then my Archer could make a coinflip attack and the Warrior in Gaugamela could finish the enemy off if I lose the coinflip. If the enemy moves 1NW, then my Archer can move 1NW too and try baiting an attack again, this time with an advantage from the river instead of the Forest.

And I sent a Warrior to bait the norther Archer back 1SE at the cost of his own life, again. The northern Archer somehow earned a Combat I promotion from the first dead Warrior, and I admit that I find my own move here questionable. .
If the baiting is successful this turn, then the northern Archer will have another chance to do the right thing and die attacking Gaugamela. The Immortal will be ready to defend by the dawn of Turn 42, so the city will be safe even with the Archer absent. Depending on what happens in the south, Gaugamela might face an attack in which the attackers and defenders are numerically equal, so losing the city would be possible. But since the top defender would be an Immortal, I think I am willing to take that risk. Even if the baited Archer immediately moves 1NW AGAIN, the Immortal would be able to reach the Pig first and get the defensive bonus for himself. Maybe a Warrior, maybe one from New Tehran, could occupy another tile and provide support. We will see.
Saving the Pig Pasture is a big deal too. A Warrior is worth 15 hammers, and I think losing the Pig Pasture for a little while until it is rebuilt would cost me more than 15 hammers.
If the baiting fails, then the brave Warrior can move 1NW and try again with much better odds of victory in combat.

Got all that? .
Damn Barbarians. I will tell no more jokes about them being “so-called” Barbarians (for abolishing Slavery, growing large cities, etc.) for a long while.

[Magic Science]

I forgot to mention my two good Workers on Turn 40.
These reports are outrageously long and involved for such an early date.

After the two good Workers finished Pasturing the Horse, they went to the tile 1W of Gaugamela. This way they are in position to build a combat Road 1NW of the city if that somehow becomes a favorable idea again, but if that Road is not needed AND neither of the two Barbarian Archers move adjacent to the Workers' tile, then the Workers can chop for production.
The alternative was waiting in Gaugamela itself instead. That enables more tactical Road possibilities but loses the chopping opportunity.

[Magic Science]

The Barbarians moved so slowly at the dawn of Turn 40 because they were capturing Thrawn's capital.

[Magic Science]

Naming Theme
We are Iran instead of Persia to be “clever” and different but still recognizable, as I like it.
We are a Civilization instead of an Empire to emphasize our people’s noble mission according to this game’s theme.
Our capital is Gaugamela because it was the final battle of the Achaemenid dynasty of Persia. The main theme is battles of the Achaemenid dynasty of Persia. It all I could think of and it has grown on me. The alternative was cities of contemporary Iran, but I just did that for Mali in Pitboss 74.
However, I do like having distinct sub-themes for certain cities. In Pitboss 69, the filler cities were allowed to have the default names, in order. In Pitboss 74, the island cities were allowed to have the default names, in order. And in all my games I like to name the cities founded on the City Ruins of my old cities “New [ORIGINAL CITY NAME]” as a reference to history.  There are a lot of City Ruins around on this map already, so I decided that any cities founded on the City Ruins that Scooter placed will be named “New [CONTEMPORARY IRANIAN CITY].” Our second city is named New Tehran for that reason.
.