RBP4 [SPOILERS] - Shaka of Zulu (sunrise089, regoarrarr, and friends)

[regoarrarr]

Here's the F1 city screen



Columbia and Vine could both swap to settlers to triple whip, but I'm concerned about the costs. I know, I know, "if my units aren't on strike, I'm not expanding fast enough" but .

Sunrise pointed out and I agree that we do need to keep a few whips available for units should we need them.

Also note that we are on HBR, which can be researched with 2t of science spending after we do gold this turn.

Speaking of gold, here's the demos



Still haven't made it QUITE to the average food amount, and for comparison, if we're at max science, our GNP is 185 and 5th.

I always find our Population score to be quite amusing - it's taken a pretty severe beating to WK to drop him under our Population score. And even then it's pretty close although we have 4.5 times the cities

[regoarrarr]

I think, if we can feel safe militarily (depending on diplo responses and our own stupidity), we should revolt to OR / HR and then Buddhism over the next 2 turns.

With a chop and a whip overflow (originally it was going to be of a worker but might make more sense as a Buddhist Missionary), that should be enough to finish off Moai Statues in Hamilton (currently 172/250).

I swapped Beechmont (one of our southernmost cities) to a catapult - it's going to be growing to size 4 next turn so could be double whipped

[regoarrarr]

Oh the other thing I wanted to mention is that one of the reason that the cities have cost so much is that we're out of foreign trade routes. We are now "missing" 5 foreign trade routes.

We don't have any TRs with luddite, although we show up with the trade icon with him. I thought maybe that this was due to his war with mackoti disrupting things but they made peace last turn and still no routes. I know it's been delayed by a turn in some instances so maybe next turn? Or maybe it's currently just one-way

[pindicator]

To recycle an already used joke...

When do you plan on building aquaducts and growing your cities past size 6?

[regoarrarr]

To recycle an already used joke...

When do you plan on building aquaducts and growing your cities past size 6?

When we're done expanding. I may decide to keep our "mid-range" cities doing workers and settlers and let some of our "top" cities (Vine, Hamilton, Colerain, Columbia) grow and work on more infra

[regoarrarr]

Diplo update

First from WK, responding to if he'd be mad if I razed Mycenae

I probably wouldn't mind too much, seeing as plako is the one killing me. However I currently have a Phalanx stationed in Mycenae since plako has some possibly loaded galleys sailing by, so your impi won't be enough to take it alone. (also plako has undoubtedly seen your impi, although I'm sure you know that already).

WK

[regoarrarr]

Email from plako

Hi Rego,

I've been thinking and I don't want to be unreasonable. City claiming cows e.g. positioned NW of it would be acceptable border city and if you want you could plant anothr city west of it in the narrow peninsula, that could work lake tile/tiles and possibly share cows depending on the positioning. I'm open for suggestions concerning exact positioning.

I would settle just 1 extra city in the area claimign pigs. You can suggest positioning of it.

Best regards,
Plako

That's probably the best offer we're going to get - I'm going to check with sunrise to see if he can suggest some good placements

[regoarrarr]

And of the 7 people that I emailed regarding the anti-plako coalition, here is the entirety of the responses

luddite

I'm not sure, I need more time to think about this. I'll write to you later when I've figured out what I want to do.

nakor

Sure! We want to get tech info on someone. We got Luddite covered and decided to go for you next.
Got to spend those points somewhere.
We can swap them to SleepingMoogle if it's a real problem for you, but they are going to return eventually.

Regarding your other message, as said before, we are Plako's most likely next target, so we'll go along with whatever is decided on and do the same thing, but we're not going to be front runners.

Cheers,
Nakor

Kinda underwhelming - the first part of nakor's message referred to my question on why they are spending EPs on us. Kinda annoying - I wonder if he's in plako's pocket

[regoarrarr]

Chat with luddite today

luddite: has anyone responded to your email yet?
me: not really
which in and of itself is a response
nakor was like sure we'll do whatever but we're not going to be frontrunner
luddite: hmm
well, i was thinking of a possibility
now that I'm at peace, I might be able to gift some of my army to Nakor
me: hm
i've been worried about him - he might be working closely with plako
i can't tell
luddite: hmm
why would he work together with plako?
me: dunno
luddite: it just seems like a bad idea for both of them
plako could benefit more by just conquering nakor
me: yeah maybe im reading things wrong
he's also spending EPs on me
supposedly to get tech visibility on me
which seems ... odd
luddite: huh
yeah
i know nakor has courthouses now so he's getting a lot of EP
is he spending it all on you?
me: not sure
Sure! We want to get tech info on someone. We got Luddite covered and decided to go for you next.
Got to spend those points somewhere.
We can swap them to SleepingMoogle if it's a real problem for you, but they are going to return eventually.
that's what he said
apprently he has visibility on you already?
luddite: i guess he could have tech info on me
i lost my graphs on him a few turns ago
obviously i've been spending all my points on mackoti for a long time now
i could get back graphs on nakor quickly though
Sent at 09:46 on Thursday
luddite: heh, the coalition idea won't work if no one trusts each other at all...
me: right
i think the coalition is dead
if it evcer had a chance
luddite: yeah that sucks
all we can do is hope that plako and parkin get into a war, i guess
Sent at 09:50 on Thursday
me: pssssst
watch out behind you
here i come!
;-)
luddite: haha
me: gotta catch nakor first
luddite: yeah but i'm in EXPANSION mode
Sent at 09:54 on Thursday
luddite: and i can wonderspam like crazy
me: got any wonder plans coming up?
luddite: i'm actually building the schwedagon paya lol
me: nice
luddite: i'm... not sure if i've ever built that wonder before
me: probably worth it as ind with gold
luddite: yeah
me: saves the cost of theology
luddite: exactly
plus my tech is super slow
me: what are you doing breakeven bpt?
luddite: if i had built that, and captured the pyramids, i wouldn't have needed ANY tech ><
like 50 bpt now
you?
me: i think like 63?
it was nice when we were blowing through tons of merchant gold
but alas, that is all gone now
luddite: ah
well i've been on 0 % for ages now
paying for my army
me: yea
Sent at 10:01 on Thursday
luddite: i'm worried that, if plako ISN'T allied with nakor, he'll just invade nakor next
me: yes
i agree
they have a nap till 165
luddite: hmm
just long enough for plkao to finish absorbing all of WK's land i guess
me: :-(
Sent at 10:09 on Thursday
luddite: by the way... plako just told me "rego warned me about "stop plako" movement" lol
me: nice
that rego
he's a jerk
luddite: haha yeah
me: frankly i am in kind of a tight spot here
being his neighbor
on the one hand i'm worried about him becoming huge and uber powerful
on the other hand, i don't feel like ic an stand up to him on my own
not sure what people think i should do
not sure what to do at all myself...
luddite: well you've got a perfect opportunity to be a hero if you take him down yourself
me: lol
how about a martyr when i try and he stomps me? ;-)
luddite: haha
me: i can see it now - you and parkin and whoever
"remember regoarrarr! don't let his death be in vain!!"
luddite: lol
course, if plako takes you out too, he'd be pretty close to a dom victory already
you need what, 40% land area on huge?
me: hmm i'm not suer
luddite: anyway good luck... if you take down plako maybe i can take down Parkin and Locke
me: well i'm not planning on taking down plako
i think at this point i am just going to smile and let him eat WK
luddite: yeah i know
me: though i would be interested in workign with you some more in an information sharing message
always nice to hear what i tell plako that goes out the other side...
and i can do the same for you
luddite: hmm ok
me: i mean i did tell him that there had been talks of trying to stop him
i'm sure that was nothing new
luddite: i told im that parkin was trying to put something together
me: well we could tell him it was me
or parkin
or locke
luddite: haha
me: i mean it's been tried several times now
luddite: yeah
it's sort of a problem with the NAP "metagame" i guess
i feel like it's expected that I sign an NAP with my neighbors, or else it's interpreted as an act of war
me: right
i totally agree
and totally agree it's annoying
luddite: and people don't want to break the NAP's, at least not directly
me: not sure how to "fix" it though
luddite: i guess if more people straight up break the NAP it will change
or if people just got smarter, and realized that letting the biggest civ fight everyone one on one is a losing game

1. He makes about 50 breakeven bpt (we're at about 63 I think)
2. plako told him that I told plako about the "stop the plako" coalition
3. He is considering gifting his army to Nakor
4. He's building S. Paya

[Ellimist]

I don't see what's wrong with cancelling NAPs. I mean, sure, it's really bad to use one as a cover for an attack or to attack because you feel like it despite a NAP, but what's the problem with telling someone you want to cancel in X turns? It doesn't mean you're about to attack, either.
People sign contracts all the time that later get cancelled or modified and it's only considered a breach if one side fulfilled their obligations and the other refused.