AT's PBEM 58 Thread (or, AT Break's Bad)

[AutomatedTeller]

Wow - looking back, b4ndit's 2nd city used to be Edirne. I guess he got whacked by a passing warrior along the way.

[AutomatedTeller]

yeah - it looks like on turn 31, b4ndit lost erdine and founed ankara. That's gotta be frustrating for him...

I'm pretty sure it was Cheater Hater who took his city out, btw, given that I never saw anyone at war, and I had not yet met C-H at that point.

[AutomatedTeller]

Eastways picked up Stonehenge, so I'll get some fail gold. Looks like I'll pick up both oracle and judaism - Judaism will be in say my name, which isn't great (I'd rather have the culture boost in Felina), but it will give me a 25% boost on whipping in a forge there, so it's not all that bad.

Metal Casting will be the oracle target for the forge to pick up pyramids or maybe machinery.

Have to think of a tech path now. Writing seems to be the gateway tech here - need it for math, currency, CoL, all of which are good on this map. Sailing is another option, but I don't really need lighthouses or the Glighthouse - Oracle's cost me some expansion, so I need to get back to workers/settlers. MC will help my power rating, too. Do need to get me some axes.

I think Felina builds a monument while Say My Name builds a forge. Then Say My Name makes some missionaries, a WB and a granary. I want to keep the rest of the civ off of infra until I can spread OR. Have to figure out the right time to switch to OR, cause it's expensive to run.

Demos from last turn:



My GPT should go through the roof next turn, with oracle and a holy city.

After oracle, cap will go on settler duty, trying for a 2 pop whip that overflows into a granary.

[AutomatedTeller]

Turn 37:

Events - I get Judaism and Oracle. I guess I should start paying attention here, because it clearly shows C-H and b4ndit at war (back when they were at war). However, it was just for a turn, so I guess C-H sent a chariot b4ndit's way.

9 gold for stonehenge, not shabby.



current plan is writing->hunting (for the deer)->math->currency

ozy will go worker->settler->granary->

Say my name will go warrior->forge->missionaries

Felina will go warrior->granary->rax->axes - or perhaps granary->axe, depending on how vulnerable I feel. (ie, if I see praets heading my way)



At 100%, with writing, my gpt is 71. Which is pretty huge. It will go down a lot with hunting, of course.

[AutomatedTeller]

So, what next?

I'm down in actual military and I have 2 guys near me that require different defenses (C-H, against praets, and eastway, against Numidians). Axes vs praets and spears/archers vs numidians are ok, though not great. HA can hold off numidians easily and are better against praets in the field, but not on defense. To be safe, I need cho-ko-nus. That's iron working and machinery, which I can get in about probably 20-25 turns teching straight, but that leaves me out of currency, col, math and writing, all of which are very valuable.

An engineer is the key, which means a forge. Two candidates are say my name and Felina - I'm choosing Say My Name because it has a religion and I now have OR.




here's the micro plan for Say My Name:

turn 38: 10 hammers (2 from overflow, 6 from citizens, 2 from OR). 70 to go.
turn 39: Move citizen on plain hill to fish, get 5 hammers. 65 to go
turn 40: same. 60 to go. grow
turn 41: work forest ph for 7 hammers, plus 13 for a forest for 20 base, 25 hammer with OR. 35 to go
turn 42: work 2 plains forest and grass lumber forest for 8 base, 10 full. 25 to go.
turn 43: whip for 25 (20+5)
turn 44: run engineer specialist, build missionary and WB for clam.
turn 67: get great engineer.

That's 29 turns till an engineer. I can either then bulb machinery or build pyramids, depending on my position.

Demos:




Need more military, which is why Felina is builidng a chariot



Not that a chariot helps a lot, but it's a mobile unit and Felina can't build axes yet, anyway.

Ozy is still building a worker, which will go set up the deer for city #4. I'm behind in cities.

I hope that B4ndit will draw the aggression of the early UU civs, since he's weak, allowing me to expand peacefully. We'll see.

[AutomatedTeller]

No big updates - built my worker (Gus Fring) and sent him off to camp the deer for the next settler. Keeping on.

Looks like C-H kept the city he took, which is nice for him and crap-ass for B4ndit. Or maybe he just settled right there, too.

[AutomatedTeller]

Not much interesting in AT land.

Whipped in my 3rd settler into the cap, will settle in 2 turns. still building my forge. Made a chariot, now making an axe. Will probably build a spear in Ozy next, send it to Say My name for defense against numidians.



That's a 12K jump in max soldiers, which is probably a praet and a tech. One chariot was enough to jump me into 3rd, though, so not all that worried about a huge stack or anything.

[AutomatedTeller]

Some interesting things:

B4ndit apparently holds a grudge - it may be that he's the one who has jumped his power rating (since he stopped expanding).

I asked for OB with him and with CH, so I can see what's going on. Dunno if either of them will accept.



Demos - I'm going to complete a spear and an axe this turn, so I'll look like I have a real army.



11 hammers this turn, whip in the forge next turn, overflow into a missionary.



eastway has sailing. Dunno if the Lighthouse is great on this map - it could help on some cities, and costs are high on a toroid map, so ever little bit helps.



Settle my 4th town next turn. I think this one will be Full Measure, based on the 3rd season finale.

[Hashoosh]

Nice naming theme!

What's next after your 4th city

[AutomatedTeller]

Well, that's a good question! I guess I need a plan.

Short answer is: continue expansion, popping borders with missionaries.

Tech path: math->currency. After that, it's IW, CoL or HBR/Archery, depending on where I think I stand. I hope that I can use my engineer for Pyramids - if not, I'll use it for machinery.

I can't do a complete farmer's gambit, since other people aren't and allowing myself to be a target is bad.

I'll try to build Collosus, probably not in say my name, but rather in Full Measure.

Ozymandias needs a lot of infra: granary, forge, library, probably a temple at some point, plus it will build missionaries. A market will be quite useful, as well.

Say My Name will finish the forge, make an engineer. It needs a workboat, granary, missionaries, barracks and units, plus will make settlers/workers.

Felina needs a granary, forge and rax, and will likely build units, settlers and workers for now.

Full Measure will get a forge and probably build collosus, plus settlers.

You have to balance growth on a toroidal map - costs will kill you. I hope to get another settler out soon, but not immediately.

WHere will it go?

This is my empire and nearby spots. I think I'll put it on the blue rectangle. Blue circle is the stronger long-term spot, but it takes a while to develop and is awkward for getting food.



A (dangerous) alternative is the purple pentagram in the below pic.



That's sticking my neck out a lot, since it's a long way from help, but it does grab some land that can be back filled.

To the SW:




On the one hand, settling towards praets seems dumb. On the other hand, C-H has to worry abotu B4ndit, so maybe it's ok?

In any case, I think my 5th city is the one near Say My Name and Ozymandias, which can be used to support both of those cities, which look to be pretty important to me....