[spoilers] Boldly Global Warming - Viva la revolución Industrial!!

[spacetyrantxenu]

Are there any turn splits or things in particular I should be aware of before playing this afternoon?

[Ruff_Hi]

Re your vote ... I really don't care who / what is responsible for global warming. It is true. It is happening. Something has to be done about it. Just stopping (or reducing) CO2 emissions isn't going to cut it (now).

Someone needs to invent some stonking big machine (or similar) to cool the planet. Giant shade in space, AC the size of texas, anything ... fund those activities!

[spacetyrantxenu]

I didn't manage to solve the global warming problem but I kept the wheels of the industrial revolution rolling. Workers worked, explorers explored, boats boated, etc. Nothing too exciting, and I think I mostly followed the instruction signs left all over the map, added my own counts for rival troop dispositions, etc. New builds seemed straightforward, I just kept building whatever was being built before or, in the one case where the previous build was infrastructure, I started a drydock since nothing else seemed to pay off as quickly. I guess with a 48 hour timer and you not being in any timer splits at the moment you can probably get the next turn, but I'll check in again over the weekend just in case.

[Boldly Going Nowhere]

Home midnightish tonight then gone again tomorrow until around midnight again. You may get another turn. No splits for now but I think usually it is best for Dreyli to play first in case of total world war.

[Thoth]

I can haz updates plz?

[Boldly Going Nowhere]

Xenu, the lurkers have spoken.

[Boldly Going Nowhere]

I can haz updates plz?

I actually logged back in just to take some pictures for an update but REM is logged in and he's blocking me. Maybe next turn?

Generally speaking, we're behind and REM is in the driver's seat. We aren't as weak as Pindicator but we won't be coming close to winning this thing. I think surviving to the end is a good outcome. We're settling two new cities next turn and have built up a navy to protect the homeland, despite a temporary air power disparity compared to REM. We can start building airships next turn and will do just that. I'm going to rely on naval superiority to keep our core safe. We've nearly finished industrializing our cities and are up to 13 now, 15 next turn, with room for one more ok border city on the eastern/Dreylin border. I'll be swapping to all military civics in just a turn or two, as I've been meaning to do for quite some time, but I always find just...one...more...build to complete as we industrialize. A five turn spree of infantry drafts wouldn't go amiss but I'm loathe to whip/draft off highly productive, industrialized workshop tiles when the geopolitical situation seems to currently favor us. REM continues mauling Dreylin. Hopefully Dreylin will stabilize now that Scooter is out of the war (they made peace last turn). Scooter swapped back into Bureau/OR this turn so I guess he's going economy for a little while, which means REM will have to go it alone vs. Dreylin. This gives me time to finish my industrialization. I've also still got my 1st GA ready to go, so I'll have a nasty power spike as soon as I start building up. This should get me through to the end unless REM completely eats Dreylin. But since I'm not winning I'm going to rely on Scooter to determine when it is time to haul in the leader. By the time this happens I should be militarized and capable of doing some damage while protecting myself. I'm not counting Pindicator in my plans because I think he's thoroughly checked out and his power is lower than mine. Someone will come calling to eat him eventually. Same with DZ who just needs to be finished off.

If you have specific questions, let me know.

[Thoth]

Thanks. No specific questions just curious how the non-big 3 are doing

Pics would be nice ofc.

[Boldly Going Nowhere]

T328

Time for some civic swaps. In the very early game I made use of several civics and planned accordingly. I've been on autopilot for a while and have used these civics for maybe 50 turns. Not exactly making good use of SPI like this but I haven't had the time to plan ahead at all. And Xenu sucks as a helper.



Previous set.



Corresponding demos.



New setup.



Demos slightly worse losing capital bureau bonus and representative beakers but it's time to build military. I think the +25% hammer bonus for units doesn't appear here. Could be wrong. Doesn't matter to me either way, this is the setup for now.

Cities:

The early game was all about maximizing output in this city. I managed that ok but did not pivot to building settlers soon enough and I lost out in the early expansion race. I've still managed to carve out a fair amount of land but I've spent far too many turns to do it and I'm accordingly way behind on output over the course of the game from having worked far fewer tiles per turn than the top 3 civs. Dreylin (PHI/SPI) went for a sprint strategy(farms for maximum population, Kremlin whips, drafts) using bulbs to win early key tech/wonder races and carved out land by eating Gaspar/Noble. REM just needed to be left alone long enough to let IMP settlers get him what he needed, and later ORG for easier industrialization, very good traits on this advanced start. Scooter has impressed me given his traits (AGG/SPI) aren't as good for expansion yet he's managed things very well. I'm guessing he had a lot more micro investment. Certainly he started building settlers sooner than I did, despite (I think, I don't remember exactly now so much later) a very similar early tech path. Better execution all the way around. Anyway, the idea was to get a production powerhouse city up to quickly churn out the settlers I would need to fill in my land, but it took much longer to do that than I anticipated. Once set on that path, I should have deviated but I wanted to see how long it would take this city to get going. In the end I built all but maybe one settler out of this city, I don't remember exactly, and it has been hammer efficient, but unfortunately it has also been slow overall. This is the primary reason I'm not in a competitive position.



Focused on building a navy now. Early on this city grew tall and was used to churn out GPPs for bulbs. Overall, not a terrifically good strategy either. I got to Communism a little earlier doing this but I did not get the GSpy (PHI Dreylin beat me) and I used two Great Artists to tech. Now it is harder to generate the GPP I will need for future golden ages.



Maybe the only cottage city on the entire map? Initially I thought I'd put an academy in here but it isn't worth it. If I had really wanted a strong commerce/cottage city it should have had far fewer water tiles, but this was one of the three initial cities. The cap was for hammers, #2 for GPPs, leaving this as the cottage candidate. In the end, not worth it. Workshops and watermills would have helped to churn out settlers. Cottages are just too slow at this stage of the game. Everyone else knew this already.



Not exactly where I wanted the city, but it's a barb capture so a settler saved. Focusing on navy previously, now it will build whatever I need with limited tiles due to overlapping cities.



A landgrab on the southern island shared with REM. I kept off the coast so we could both exist more securely, despite losing the crab. I've mostly built units down here to keep the claim.



A late grab, but a great city. I put the Globe Theater here and will draft this city mercilessly once that becomes necessary. For now, it can efficiently build units with hammers. This has also had a naval focus. I've built ironclads to try to dissuade REM from boating me. With a sufficient quantity I should be able to keep troop transports out of my waters. Until metal hulls anyway.



I would have built this city sooner but Vlad and Sig were needed to claim new land. This was always going to be in my reach. Despite the real David Cameron politicking himself out of a job (Seriously? Promising a referendum on leaving the EU and then actually doing it? What did you think would happen? Better question, why take the risk? Idiot!), this city is poised to continue improving and increasing its worth. I've built the Ironworks here so health will always be an issue, particularly since I've dotmapped away from water. I've built exactly zero levies and probably won't. Not great dotmapping. Anyway, this city is all set up now and ready to churn out units forever.



I desperately needed silver when I settled here, after two rounds of drafts nearly everywhere. Still developing, I'll build units and navy here. Hammers are the priority, I just haven't built enough workers to keep up with improvements in my late then sudden-ish expansion. I have ironclads nearby to protect against Dreylin, but I don't really think he's coming for me. He has enough to deal with from REM right now.



DZ was unable to expand to his southern island so I happily took his share. With the port facing toward my inner sea I obviously went for the crab. Much stronger/faster setup city here than the one on the other island placed one tile east. I guess I don't need to comment much about build queues. It's going to be units, units, units for the foreseeable future.



Just needs time to grow. Rapidly developing now.



Another settlement close enough to my core that it wouldn't be contested, so this was not a priority despite being a good location. I need probably 50% more workers than I currently have but I can't make myself build them with the need for units so high and the workers running out of things to do so soon after I'll build them. I'll make do with what we have and do a round of drafts where I'm working bad tiles. Hooray SPI, correcting bad micro.



This city was the cause of a brief skirmish with REM. Obviously being on the river would be better but the rice is awkwardly placed. I'll put a workshop on the rice rather than a farm. An extra port facing Dreylin is helpful so long as I keep a superior navy in place, which I am doing.



Yes, Emma Watson fits in with these other crooks. Offshore accounts for tax evasion are not cool. Anyway, the banana was helpful for industrialized pollution and the hammers and naval mobility will help too. This should have been my second to last city, but instead...



...another tax-dodger. I'm not pushing culture hard, but regardless REM will probably want to remove this city at some point. I don't particularly love Simon so I'm fine if this one gets razed. It's meant to be a speedbump anyway. It's on a hill. That's about all I can say for it. Obviously it needs lots of worker support but this is the lowest city on my priority list.



Finally, Jackie Chan. I wanted to put another familiar name on the list. Jackie...why?? Now you suck too, just like these dirtbag politicians. I'll chop the forests into factory/coal plant. Grow, baby, grow.

F4 and other graphs:

Unlikely to be scooter's maximum saving rate.



Railroad is the next tech priority. Also noted, Dreylin's Biology diversion. Kremlin whips are for real, apparently.



It's good to be #1 in something, even if it is just religion. I'll take this as a cultural win.



Missing from this screen is my scant horde party of workers and a Great Merchant. And maybe one other thing but this is most of the military. Should be significantly bolstered in the coming turns. Note the ironclads. They were good enough to make me feel safe to complete most of my industrializing process.



Nope. Not gonna happen. Too Fast Slow Too Furious Ponderous in expansion.





This is where the ORG part of REM's setup really shows. Industrializing several turns later than me doesn't matter because by that point he had so many more cities. He'll be very difficult to reel in. Scooter will have to make a move. I'll try to support if it is feasible. Note Dreylin's vastly inferior MFG. Whips matter a lot, particularly with Kremlin, but eventually he may be in a position where he is forced to whip so hard for a long enough period of time that this will not keep up with natural hammers washed through factory/coal plant modifiers.



This one is really the story. REM's production position is sustainable now. Dreylin's is not. Scooter's brief intervention was critical but not decisive. Perhaps it could have been if he had stayed in the war longer, but the obvious benefit of having the other two top dogs fighting it out supersedes the ability to knock one out of contention immediately. Savvy play. Scooter has been nothing if not opportunistic in this game. He also leached some of DZ's territory after REM did the heavy lifting.



He's kept up in power for now, but if he gets kicked any harder than when scooter joined the attack earlier his food economy will fall to a critical point and then collapse. Or so I think. I continue be surprised by how effective whipping has been in this phase of the game. I guess I'm so averse to RtR whips now that I undervalue base BtS whips. Adding Kremlin in after that is obviously great.



Didn't we turn off active espionage? I guess REM prefers the tactical advantage of having city visibility everywhere. He has not turned it in my direction, which leads me to believe that he's not looking in my direction just yet. I'll get thornier in the coming turns and may yet make it to the end of the game before one of the Leviathan civs come after me.







DZ, thanks for the workers!

The path to improving my position lies in the top three civs fighting each other and me being able to war profitably against pindicator, who it seems is not interested at all. But that is a very awkward area geographically for me to control and would place me both north and south of REM. Given his obvious advantages at this stage in the game that is not the best place perhaps to be. I'm not sure what I'll end up doing but I'll build an army and secure my position. If an opportunity presents itself I'll need to be ready to take it. That said, I'm guessing I'll wind up either 4th or 5th. That's all I deserve, really. I've been outplayed by everyone above me except Pindicator. I'm still interested in seeing how good his mining corporation ends up being but he could also lose control of that pretty quickly given his weak military right now. That could be a good objective for me.

Questions?

[Fluffball]

Wow, that may be the best update post of the entire game. Thanks, we got to see a very thorough look at the world. Also the espionage graph is ludicrous!