Ministry of Silly Walks 2: Walk Sillier/Harder

[Shoot the Moon]

I like a push for guilds myself. We both have neighboring border cities that would are at least somewhat vulnerable. Probably slot both archery (ridiculously cheap) and HBR in before hand as well I'd say.

[WarriorKnight]

mackoti just whipped a whole bunch of something. Worst case Knights, but could Smack really have Guilds already, after teching Music as well? What else could be worth 8 whips?

We may need to get Feud/Eng ASAP. Maces just won't do much against Shock Knights.

[WarriorKnight]

Oh no, not again!



We may be Real Men of Genius, but we seem to have a knack for getting Artists when aiming for Prophets. I guess that's our specialty, Prophet's block. I don't think I'll have a chance at making another Prophet this game, Caste just removes the possibility completely.

Funnily enough, if we didn't get MoM we never would've had this problem, and I do recall warning us about the possibility. Now, WTF do we do with him?

[WarriorKnight]

Actually, a Artist may not be so bad. In fact, I think it could be really helpful:



My current border with mackoti. He replaced CarpetInstaller with a city of his own, dangerously close to my own city (probably since he thought he could take HPD). Very vulnerable to a bomb, and mackoti will almost certainly abandon it if I can bomb it, securing HPD and gaining back the land I lost earlier.

The danger is if mackoti can take HPD before I can bomb it. Earliest I can bomb it is t93, so he has 4t (we've both played this turn already). mackoti just whipped a whole bunch of something last turn, let's assume it was all Knights (nothing else can reach/take the city before I bomb it, his newest cities probably can't build much military right now). Last I checked no-one has Engineering, and AFAIK most of his cities are on the other side of the lake that's blocking him off from this area, requiring galleys (and each galley only carries 2 units) and a couple of turns road travel time. Can he really assemble enough Knights to take HPD in 4t factoring in those delays? I'll have a mace and 5 spears in the city next turn, and not slowing down with defenders until it's bombed. He does have 6 HA in Earl Grey for additional support, but those can only help with cleanup.

If he can't then I bomb the city and get 80% culture bonus and tons of warning. If he's a turn or 2 too late he might be able to reach the city even after the bomb, but even Shock Knights can't get odds on maces defending, and are roughly a coinflip with spears. The HA's become more or less useless, so he can't touch me after a bomb. If anyone can do it, it's mackoti. Just hoping that no-one can do it, cause then pretty much my entire eastern colonization would fall as well. Hopefully Alpha next turn reveals some good news, but I am cautiously optimistic this will work.

[WarriorKnight]

Alphabet revealed everyone's techs:



Smack:
Up: Aesthetics, Lit, Drama, Music, Archery, Feud, HBR
Down: Machinery, Alpha

Smack don't have Machinery?!? That one is a huge surprise to me, and eases all my previous concerns. There's no way they can stop my artist bomb now.

Otherwise it's fairly even if we ignore the Aesthetics branch. I'm kinda surprised they got Drama already too. Still, they are the tech leaders for the moment. I think they just got CS? Does that mean they could be heading for Lib before Machinery?


4H:
Up: Feud, Archery
Down: Meditation, CoL, CS, MC, Machinery, Alpha

Looks like I was right and 4H are behind in tech. They must have been broke earlier on, and they didn't have Mids or ORG to carry them up. Needless to say, they are a ripe target for a Knight attack since they lack MC, and the only medieval unit they'll have for a long time is Lbows.

Not related to tech, but I've started scouting out their E, and AFAICT they don't have a single coastal city N of their capital. That means there's lots of land to my SE to settle.


LAM:
Up: Feud, Archery
Down: CS, Alpha

Fairly even in tech. They are the team closest to Guilds, so expect them to get that soon. After that they will probably do something with them.

Not something we really have to worry about given distances though. Only thing to be concerned about is they don't take over all of 4H before we get a chance, but that seems fairly unlikely.

[WarriorKnight]

I think the best way to play next turn is for me to give you the GS, end my turn, you bulb philo and then finish it off when you end turn, assuming that the bulb isn't enough to finish the tech even after I end turn (otherwise we should just bulb ASAP). That should give max beakers (since I get 3 pop growth this turn) while ensuring we get it this turn. I'm not switching to pacifism until the turn after next (t92) anyway.

Not looking forward to t92 costs. A combination of adopting pacifism in AW, moving my palace further away from the center of my empire and switching from working coastal tiles to scientists in several cities will hurt gold income drastically. Will probably need to cancel a gpt gift or two so, if you play before me, could you hold off ending turn so we don't potentially break game rules and require a reload? On the other hand I should be working somewhere around 18 scientists for ~130rpt, so overall it should be a boost to research for us.

[WarriorKnight]

I must have missed this last turn:



Note LAM borders in the S. Have 4H really not tried expanding to their E enough so that LAM are now exploiting it? Or maybe they failed to defend it properly? Either way not great news, but hardly unexpected. Definitely need to try and get as much land in the S before LAM swallows it all up.

Other things, Smack got Machinery and 4H got MC, LAM suicides their chariot into mine taking no damage and Commodore launched a GA moving their demogs to the 'Oh shit' category. Everyone seems to be whipping a ton, but I can't imagine what for (Aside from 4H IND forges) since no-one has Guilds yet.

[Shoot the Moon]

Crap, didn't realize that the gpt stuff was still an issue this turn. We could just have me gift you gold (not gpt) to get around it right? I realize it is technically against the rules but might be easier than disappearing gold next turn.

[WarriorKnight]

Crap, didn't realize that the gpt stuff was still an issue this turn. We could just have me gift you gold (not gpt) to get around it right? I realize it is technically against the rules but might be easier than disappearing gold next turn.

Yeah, that's far easier. I might just go ahead and do that. Can someone remind me again why midturn gold gifting is banned but gpt deals aren't? Aren't the two the same thing pretty much?

Also got a free Taoist missionary to use somewhere. I'd guess your capital for a eventual monastery? (10% isn't much, but what else can he do?)

[WarriorKnight]

Random mumblings:

My new capital rocks, however most of my core cities are costing ~8gpt, which is probably enough for a courthouse in all of them. Going to 2pop whip all of them once I get back into Slavery, if I can sink some hammers into them without being interrupted during Castifism.

I'm feeling a bit vulnerable now without the whip, but we should be good for the 5-6t we need. Especially after the Artist bomb next turn.

I think we can get Feudalism at the end of next turn. Then we can get HBR/Archery the turn after simultaneously (you get HBR, I'll get Archery, we should be able to 1t them both with our tech rates I think?) and head straight for Guilds after that. We should be at Guilds by the time I can switch out of Castifism. (I wonder if I should hold off switching out until banking for merc..., perhaps wait and see if we need to whip emergency something first). That's some pretty fast teching, and it shouldn't slow down even after I leave Castificm once you go in your GA.

Also we shouldn't forget to cancel/renegotiate our gpt deals next turn so I'm not at risk of a strike. Could we sort that out tomorrow in chat?