I think with the archers just one turn behind, it would be worthwhile to wait for them to catch up before launching the attack - both as pRNG insurance for the attack itself and to make sure we have good defenders in the city when we take it. Our CR1 axe will be amphibiously attacking a fully-fortified c1 shock spear in a flatland city with 20% cultural defenses. That should give us odds of just under 25% on the first attack, which means that winning on the second attack is quite likely but by no means guaranteed.
The Event Log told us that Krill got a Great Scientist, Confucianism spread to an island city of Dark Savant`s and Oghul Qaimsih celebrates the "We love the Despot Day". More importantly, Joey and Dark Savant still haven`t signed peace and Vulcania still only has that single Spear defending it. Our Galleys joined forces on the tile 1N of the staging tile. Exciting times ahead. The island cities will be whipped in the coming couple of turns (I didn`t whip them now because of the timing on regrowth).
We`re now researching at max speed. Muqa and Bulugan are building Wealth to help us get Feudalism in 3 turns. I think it`s worth making a small sacrifice to get access to Longbows and Vassalage a turn earlier, especially as we`re planning to go to war!
2 Keshiks are on their way to each side of State of Zijin to act as sentries. We certainly need to make sure that no back stab is on its way here. Oh, and we finished that fort NW and a workshop right south of it. The Work Boat built in Kokejin is on the fort tile now.
Exciting turns ahead! Note that to get eyes on State of Zijin's iron tile, a sentry Keshik in our territory needs to visit Nambui's copper. To see State of Zijin's copper tile, a sentry Keshik would have to visit Oghul Qaimish's sheep (or the river plains 1E of the sheep).
Dark Savant built a CG1 Archer to team up with his Spear in Vulcania. That means that the attack is off. But we have a good option of postponing it a bit. I thought about how to get a couple of Swords to the staging tile asap. The new plan is to whip out 2 Swords in Kokejin while Sugabala is making another Galley. We`re looking at a t137 attack here. Hopefully, Joey and Dark Savant stays at war for a long time. Oh, Joey captured an Ethiopian city. That`s good news for us as it proves that the war is real. Dtay is starting to make ground against Russia. Yuri seems to be on his way out here. China could get that 8th place.
Oops, as I played the turn, I suddenly realized that the work boat on the fort tile cannot go N - NE from Mandukhai on the following turn. Fortunately, we can still go north of the mountain on the eastern side. Wouldn`t it be ironic if dtay`s city expanded borders on one of the following 2 turns, blocking the access to the seafood?
Oghul Qaimish whipped the Forge, it`ll get a ton of happiness from that building plus Hereditary Rule and will regrow quickly. Nambui is building a Ger, it had a number of good options (Jewish Monastery, Courthouse, Keshik), but the Ger is a very good building for us. Borte is making the Buddhist Missionary for Toregene. We need to spread the faith there soon.
Finally, the worker on the gold island is finishing a chop (workshop) next turn. I figured a Barracks is most needed in Radnashiri, as it`s good to be able to make CG2 Longbows right out of the gate. We`re comfortably finishing Feudalism in 2 turns.
Graphs and demos: We now have research visibility on 3 civs! All EPs are now on Dark Savant. Gavagai finished Code of Laws last turn. Something tells me he`s less than enthused about us having a big edge on EP spending!
We`re still doing okay in mfg, but Krill has clearly overtaken our crop yield.
The sentry Keshiks are on their way to the front with Joey. It`s going to take a couple of turns unless we want him to know about us having sentry units. I`d rather not share that information with him, if at all possible.
- It looks like Yuri is at least putting up a fight: Civstats makes it look like he took back a city this turn. Of course ... that's one of the three he lost in the first two turns of the war, so....
- Good timing by Dark Savant: That archer would have been finished just in time if we'd followed our original, riskier plan (so we'd have had to abort either way). Of course there's a danger he'll get yet another unit there within the next 4 turns, and the Archer will be almost fully fortified by then, but a couple of Swordsmen at a Barracks city and a third galley are all decent investments regardless.
- What's the cultural percentage on the tile N-NE of State of Zijin? I don't think it'll flip soon, but I'm curious about it....
- Your point about keeping our sentry-promoted Keshiks hidden makes sense, and of course we can move to Nambui's copper hill and back off it again each turn, but I don't see a way to get eyes on State of Zijin's copper without either making our sentry visible, withdrawing it into a boat each turn, or a road e.g. on the sheep.
- Gav can declare war again as soon as ... T139, I think? We're getting to the point where putting defenders in e.g. Daliyetimishi can be worthwhile just to build up the fortifiction bonus in case of another attack from that diretion. Of course, 2-promo LBs out of Barracks cities will be much better defenders than anything we can build now. (Note archers in the queue will not complete as LBs. We'll continue to be able to produce archers until we have Feud [b]and Machinery, and then any Archers in the queue will turn into X-Bows.)
Actually, I`m a bit surprised that dtay has lost a city. Axes and Spears surely are no match for highly promoted Knights. Coerva could perhaps pile on, to make Russia go down quicker. Yuri has certainly done a good job at keeping his civ alive for a good while.
As long as Dark Savant doesn`t get Longbows, we`ll have an excellent chance of taking his city. Maybe it`s not a bad idea to have better military than him before we attack. A fresh Axe would make the attack a bit dicier, we`ll just have to wait and see.
Hmm, I think the disputed grassland tile is 50-49 to us. It`s hard to remember which turn I last checked. Oghul Qaimish could still need more culture. Let`s get a Confucian Missionary down there soon. That Odeon is a very annoying building, making a lot of culture. Funnily, we already have a road on the sheep right next to Oghul Qaimish. The worker on its way back from the chopping mission a long time ago finished that road, to give us options in the future. It`s really hard to see on the map. A worker is starting a road 1N of Oghul Qaimish next turn so the Keshik could actually go back and forth for a while. We should conceal our actions as much as we can.
Iirc, we signed peace with Gavagai on t128. We`re getting closer to the end of the enforced peace, so we should certainly prepare for a possible war declaration. I`d really like a Forge, Barracks and a CG2 Longbow but I`m not sure if we`ll be in time.. The part about Archers not upgrading to Longbows - good to know. Feudalism is badly needed.
The Mausoleum of Maussoloss was built.. somewhere. Couerva started a Golden Age and did a number of civic swaps. He also revolted to Confucianism.
Annoyingly, Joey is claiming the disputed grass tile next turn. We can`t do much about it. Anyway, our two sentries are in position to scout out the dangerous tiles next turn. I think we`re pretty safe until he gets Engineering.
We double moved Dark Savant, and would rather have the second half of the timer but I don`t think it would have been fair to play after him for an eternity. From next turn on, we sort of have to, though.
7 of our cities are growing eot, which will be a nice boost to our civ. And we will finally get Feudalism. We could have finished it on 50 % science, but it`s probably best to play it safe here, going up to 60 %. Also, note dtay`s new city NE of Shkodai. There will certainly be some tension with our existing city.
Borte is growing to size 17 next turn! It will soon be able to work all its tiles.
Graphs and demos: With Couerva in a Golden Age, comparing the demos will be a bit harder. I`m looking forward to a GP born in Oghul Qaimish for our own Golden Age.
