Nobody expects the Chinese Inquisition: Isabella of China

[Mardoc]

1 who is back from on vacation.

So...what's going on in the land of the Chinese Inquisitors? Have we brought forth the comfy chair yet?

Mostly what I'm wondering is what's going on in foreign news, and how close are we to settling more than our share of land ?

Also what are the plans in terms of wonders and such?

[Gaspar]

Ok, its been five turns since I last snapped a picture of the empire for your greedy selves, lurkers. Here, have some fun at my expense.

First off want to make clear the stupid, stupid thing I did so you don't think I'm some sort of front-running updater.

You recall I settled the city 1S of Marble, and then discovered a barb, which forced me to chase the Silver settler away? Well, I calculated I had 4T before the warrior attacked. Originally, I had planned to build a scout and hope for the best. When working the PH marble tile, I got 5H/T, enough for a 2T scout build. No problem, I can get 2 in the city before they attack and I'll be fine until I can get a Spear or some such over there. But wait, I say. 20H is a Chariot. I can build a Chariot in 4T, it'll pop right before the barb attacks and I'll be sure to win, plus I can roll him out and clean up the second barb in the area right after. Take a look at this picture from before the Barb attack and see if you can tell me where I went wrong:



(waits)



(waits)



(waits)



Times up. Here, take a look at this second picture where I've spelled it out for you:



The numbers correspond to the turns after this one and what path the barb warrior would obviously take.

T0: Barb as pictured, 5/20 towards chariot
T1: Barb at 1, 10/20 towards chariot
T2: Barb at 2, 15/20 towards chariot
T3: Barb at 3... STANDING ON MY 3H YIELD TILE... 17/20 towards Chariot, as there are no tiles with any hammer yields available to be worked.
T4: City razed.

So that's right, tell your friends and neighbors, Gaspar lost a city to a barb warrior on T81 of a quick speed game. Just painful. Obviously, there's a decent chance I still lose the city if I stick to the initial scout plan. But at least in that situation, I still have a chance.

I did, barely get retribution this turn by killing that warrior with the spear I had ticketed for the area, and there's 2 more settlers headed to the area, so its not the end of the world, but man do I feel like a schmuck.



Where are we beyond that? Well, I'll resettle Arroz Con Pollo next turn. 2 Settlers are coming from behind for Silver and Gems cities, but it does take a good while to get there, so I'm behind the 8-ball a little bit there.

In other news, operation grow vertically in the core continues. Arroz Frito has a happy cap of 15 right now, and that's with no HR extra garrison. It banged out a Jewish Monastery this turn and will bang out a Confucian version shortly thereafter.



Sopa Huevo is size 10 now and 11t from banging out a Great Merchant. I won't be able to keep Caste that long, but I'll whip in the Market when I swap back and keep 2 Merchant specialists, so it won't be much longer than that. Need to get Judaism in there.



Agria Dulce will get NE if I can figure out a way to get enough hammers to build it. Even with Marble on the way, the only way I can get hammers in there is from Citizen specialists. Might have to go with the less optimal Sopa Huevo just to get it built in a reasonable amount of time.



As far as wonders, I've got maybe half an eye on Parthenon, and less than that on Great Library. Right now I've got too many important normal things to build to worry about trying to snipe from mackoti. I suspect Commodore and I are headed for war eventually - I think he'll instigate, actually. I'm unconcerned. I'm pretty sure I can have pikes ages before he can get Knights, and I've built spear garrisons everywhere, knowing the score on that front. It's painful, but I could upgrade them all if it came down to that. Not to mention with everyone having Stone for Cheap walls, a Knight attack really doesn't make a ton of sense on this map. Cavalry - that's another story.

Here's the demos. Besides GNP - mackoti, Commodore and I are bunched together pretty tightly on all the other important demographics. Unfortunately, we're fast approaching the "tech uber alles" portion of the game where there's a lot of first past the post stuff coming up, so I expect mackoti to pull ahead. But we'll keep plugging, at least when we're counting properly.

[novice]

Worker whips should help with the National Epic. Nice and easy way of converting food and population to hammers. By whipping a worker at 14/40 you get (24 + food surplus) / 1.25 hammers overflow, so 28 hammers going by your screenshot. With OR and Marble three worker whips is enough.

[Mardoc]

Well, damn. I thought I should say something when I saw the 2 settlers/no escort loaded on the galley, but figured you had a plan.

Still...it's less of a cost than a lost wonder . And if you continue to be aggressive about the settling pace, I won't have anything to complain about in the long term.

So, you've described the past, and the short term plans - what do the long term plans look like? How close are we to owning all the land we can get peacefully? Are we going to manage a cavalry attack (or drafted rifles)? Or just aim for space?

[T-hawk]

Worker whips should help with the National Epic. ... With OR and Marble three worker whips is enough.

Well, if you want your National Epic city to have three angry faces instead of specialists.

[Nicolae Carpathia]

Nothing wrong with stacking a little bit of unhappiness. It's not like you'll be working food-neutral tiles, just food specials and spec slots don't eat much cap.

[Mardoc]

Is the game dead? Or just your interest in reporting on it, given the competing demands for your time?

I'll grant that I'm not exactly complaining about having you prioritize FFH over BtS...but if you could do both...:neenernee

[Gaspar]

Games been moving slow of late, some drama between Commodore and mackoti most recently, I believe.

I'll post a solid update next turn.

[Mardoc]

some drama between Commodore and mackoti most recently, I believe.

Seeing as Commodore has a bunch of Keshiks, that seems like it can only be good news for us.

[Gaspar]

I skipped turn-reporting today based on RB-outage. Will report tomorrow.

Commodore-Mackoti handbags are settled. Maybe I'll slave out some Knights and go to war with Commodore solely to make this game entertaining again.