[SPOILERS] Turning in the widening gyre: Thoth has another go at BTS

[Thoth]

Pindicator settled his 3rd city 1 ne of the sheep. 1st ring horses, 2nd ring copper.

I don't think he has Bronze yet. If his tech path was Hunting, Ag, AH, wheel, BW (the timing of his score increases and initial expansion indicate that tech path) then he should be getting BW either eot 41 or 42. If I've misread the timing of his score increases or overestimated his tech rate he may be about to land Buddhism either sans BW or sans Wheel.

I'm considering the viability of an Impi rush. No need to commit one way or the other for a few turns yet.

Commodore's GNP graph suggests he is teching Pottery.

[Thoth]

t44 done.

Revolted to slavery Anarchy free (Yay Spiritual) this turn. 2 pop whipped a settler in Falcon for my 3rd city. Overflow will finish a 1t Archer.

Pindicator got BW eot 42. t43 he logged in and then went away to think for a few hours before logging back in and ending turn. hmmmm. No copper in his current borders perhaps? If so, he's a long way from any possible border pops. He still lacks myst and writing. He'll have horses connected soon if he doesn't have them already so chariots will be on the board soon.

Question is.....will he have copper connected from a source other than his current sheep/horse/copper site by t57. I'll need to pull the trigger on whips/chops latest t53 but I don't actually need to fully commit until then. So operation Swiftstrike is still on the menu of possible options. It depends on speed and on Pindicator not having more than 1 Archer in his Capital. If he's got Copper he'll be able to whip out an axe in his capital unless I move second in turn order. Ain't no way I can have enough Impis in strike range to take down an axe on a hill.

Timing calls for an Impi strike into his sheep city t57 with combat workers in place to road the sheep and allow Impis to move into position to hit Pindicator's capital t58. If I'm moving 2nd in turn order he won't have time for a whipped defender in his capital to appear. (t57 Pin moves then I DOW and strike. T58 Pindicator whips ect. Then I hit his capital. If I'm moving first, he'll be able to reactively whip t57 and have an additional defender in place on t58.

3 huge problems with this plan:

1) It relies on Pindicator making a mistake. I'm fine with taking advantage if an opponent does make a mistake, but plans that rely on an opponent making a mistake are iffy at best.
2) It's all in. I'll be granaryless whipping and chopping Impis instead of workers/grans/settlers. If I come up short on taking Pindicator's capital I'll be hugely behind on expansion and I'll have a permanently pissed off neighbour.
3) part of the plan involves moving after Pindicator in turn order and I'm currently moving first in turn order due to a turn split with dtay.

I think it may still be doable however.

Commodore made contact with me ~t9 and his scout disapeared without having crossed my lands. So I'm guessing that Commodore made contact with Pindictor sometime around t13-17. I still don't have contact with Pindicator so he may well be under the false belief that Commodore is his southwestern neighbour. Which means he won't be thinking "Impis" he' be thinking "Prats".

I've contacted dtay with my scout and I'm probably going to have to DOW next turn in order to keep moving Eastwards. dtay's in slavery and has at least 3 workers and two warriors + a settler in motion.

[Thoth]

t47 played.

TBS completed Stonehenge at eot 46.

I settled Anarchy and made contact with Pindicator at the same time:

I'll whip another settler t48 from Fall to settle my copper site t50 (copper mined and roaded t51)

As can be seen from the scores, I've got research visibility on Commodore. It's a bit wasteful compared to getting graphs on 2 other players but it took me so long to make contact with dtay/Pindicator that it only cost me a few turns of eps vs dtay to finish up getting Commodore's graphs.

I wonder who else is chasing a religion?

[Mardoc]

If you think you can leave directions for the weekend, I ought to be able to cover again. It seems to be a lot more complicated now, though. Last time it was just 'follow the signs'. This time it seems the break may fall in the time where you need to make the go/no-go decision on your war. I definitely can't make that decision for you!

[Thoth]

Thanks Mardoc. I may take you up on that offer depending on the next couple of turns.

In the meantime t50 is here:

I settled my 4th city of Blood this turn. Copper will be mined t51 (it's already roaded). Falcon and Fall are both beefing up my worker count as I need at least two probably 3 more workers before my next settler.

Empire overview:

Cities:

Falcon:

Fall:

Anarchy:

Blood:

Demos at max tech:

Looking decent.

Commodore scooped Circumnavigation a couple of turns ago. Even if I had risked cutting across dtay's lands I'd still have been a turn or two behind.

Foreign Relations:

Amusingly enough, Commodore managed to miss Pindicator with his scout.


Global Thoughts:

TBS has done well to nab Henge but he is behind in expansion. Shouldn't be a problem for him with Joao.

Commodore is a bit behind in demos and tech but appears poised to grab Polytheism. Poly is a good safety play for Commodore, if he misses Hindu he still has a solid shot at Judaism and OR/Ind makes for reasonably priced Mids. He may also be setting himself up for an Oracle slingshot. AFAICT he's still missing Pottery. Seeing his teching at this stage of the game is actually quite nice.

dtay seems to be struggling a bit. His starting techs gimped him a lot here. Fishing is a bad starting tech on this map but it at least has use for an expansion city. Myst was pure deadweight.

Pindicator, I'm not sure about yet.


I'm heading Sailing next and aiming to found my 6th city on the island to the east of Blood. I haven't actually figured out the timing for Fall's next settler vs when I can whip a galley out of Blood. Sailing will be 3t saving gold and 5t teching.

After Sailing, save gold for a bit then either nail Writing and get some cheap Cre Libs up and a start on a GS or grab HBR and roll out some HAs and Impis.

[Mardoc]

Thought that offer was unlikely to be useful . Enjoy your weekend!

[Thoth]

Thanks Mardoc.

Next game I'll have to recruit you as a ded-lurker instead of a map checker.

Pin is showing me chariot so it's currently looking like Operation Viperstrike is a go. My final cutout is t54 with the strike force going in t58.

[Mardoc]

Thanks Mardoc.

Next game I'll have to recruit you as a ded-lurker instead of a map checker.

Not if you report like this!

Pin is showing me chariot so it's currently looking like Operation Viperstrike is a go. My final cutout is t54 with the strike force going in t58.

So, next turn is staging and you can show us what you've assembled, if I understand the pace correctly? Or do we just get to wonder?

[Ceiliazul]

Or do we just get to wonder?

[Thoth]

Sorry for the lack of updates recently. Life's been a bit "interesting" of late.

I'd pretty much talked myself out of the rush, but I had some barb issues crop up and well.....

http://youtu.be/vVof0qj7SOw?t=5s

Sorry Pindicator, you met me at a very strange time in my life.

T58:

First Granary:

After turn roll:

BTW: I'm now 3 days into recovery after 30 years of nicotine addiction. Adrenaline rush + a run around the park makes for a much more entertaining blood chemistry than Adrenaline rush + cigarette.