[Spoilers] PBEM 62 - Ichabod's Thread, feat. Mardoc and retep

[Ichabod]

I've looked at the last couple saves. 12 cities to Commodore's 9, that's quite nice . And settling the island city was instantly profitable for the empire, also very encouraging.

THH has quite an impressive stack of archers. I guess you're right to stay out of that for now. I'll stop cheering for blood for the moment, we really aren't that far from medieval units, the tech rate is getting better, and there's still land to be had peacefully.

Yeah, THH's archers are insane. He's doing what he can with what he has. Further scouting revealed that his Capital is also coastal, so he won't have a direct border with Commodore, like I was thinking. Attacking him with knights really semms to be the obvious choice.




But, perhaps he really won't last that long, since Dazed has construction now:




Either way, Dazed is really hindering himself with all these units, several of which he'll lose. And a stack of a billion archers need quite a bit of catapults to collateral.

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We founded Confucianism and got a spread of Judaism to TdH in the same turn, giving us the religion situation shown below:




The confucian missionary spread it to EG, so now we can build another monastery there, if we want to (which I think we do - EG will never be a city for the books, but it's still a pretty nice one). I also need to spread Judaism to PPM, because we'll want the XP from theocracy there for our war... It won't be that easy, though, now that we have another religion there.

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The big news for the last few turns:







I didn't really calculate the exact amount of commerce we got from the TGLh, but I think it was quite a bit. But the benefits are only now starting. For instance, settling Lady Grey, our shiny new 12th city, bumped the commerce from 59 gpt to 70 gpt. That's a huge increase, considering how high the maintenance is.




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On foreign news, Commodore is getting a lot of Calendar happies, which shows that his decision to go for Calendar was very good. We'll need to follow him there after CS, because we are starting to get into a happy problem. Rep is nice for a 8 city empire, but we are having troubles now that we have 12. I'm having to juggle a lot of things (without that much planning, so sometime they are bound to fall) to keep the correct cities happy.

Considering this, I'm preparing to settle for the spices. It's a terrible city, with no proper food, but it's coastal and has a lot of forests. besides, it is really close to the Capital, so not that much maintenance. But we really need it, since going for Calendar just for the sugar doesn't seem so nice. There's a chance we'll lose Music for Commodore by doing this, which will give him a big boost, considering MoM, but then we can just beeline to Knights. All these competing priorities make things pretty difficult. If this happens, I think saving the GEng for the Taj Mahal is a good idea, because we can't give yet another GA freeby for him.

On the bright side, Pindicator got a third city. The more he can resist Commodore, the better for us.

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This city will be huge!




I'm planning to grow it a bit more, to let some of the whip unhapiness fade, than whip a temple. We want happy here, because this city can grow really, really big.

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We went into a heavy whipping spree on this last turns. I whipped courthouses, libraries, the aqueduct in MC for the HG and so on. I'm planning another roung of whipping after the HG is built. After that, we change to Caste for some time, to get the GSci for an Academy in EG (we want it soon, because bureaucracy will be a big boost there) and to pop borders on the cities that need it.




I'm planning to build some wealth for the next few turns to get to CS and bureaucracy fast. Hopefully we can do it in 3 turns of teching. Bureau will really be massive, with our size 12 Capital, soon to grow to 13. I think it'll have around 60 commerce, by the time we reach Bureau, so that's +30 commerce, which is really good.

[Mardoc]

Spices city is another benefit, too: crumple zone for the capital. Since it turns out that's not a peninsula at all, it's an isthmus connecting right to Commodore's core. Maybe 1E of the spices would work? Work the wines and the spices and some grass cottages, and get GLH trade, and be a canal. It'd take a while to set up, but GLH would let it still pay for itself at least.

It'd be nice but probably unrealistic to push further and grab some of the fish right by Commodore's core. I'm pretty sure he's first Power again, after all.

Speaking of happiness, how much does Monarchy cost compared to Calendar? We can't really use HR, but even just the wines would be a useful bonus. And it's en route to Guilds, of course.

Regarding FdG: I think it might be worth whipping an axe or a spear here, mainly for overflow. IIRC, they cost just enough to let us 2-pop whip and let almost one full pop go into the Moai. Although I think a Temple will be similar and more useful at the moment, so that should come first.

[Ichabod]

My economy has really taken off. Last few turns I whipped like a madman, for courthouses, markets and libraries. Getting the HG really helped with this (12 cities). it was hard juggling the unhapiness from all the whipping, but I think I managed to only get an unhappy face for a single turn, in the Capital (that I didn't want to whip). Now, our GNP skyrocketed:




Food and production are low due to all the whipping, but, as you can see, that's our GNP at 20% science only (for Calendar in 2 turns, I didn't need to 1-turn it). We'll get the calendar happy online soon (we can grow again) and 2 more cities settled in 2/3 turns.

I just revolted to Bureau (the Capital picture below is on the turn of the revolt, but before the revolt ). I was going to revolt to Caste too, but I realized I was doing it just so I could say I'm taking advantage of SPI. Running a few more specialists here and there is not worth the loss of slavery (for defense, mostly, since Commodore's power grew). In a few more turns I'll get into Caste for GPs.

I gave copper to THH (I don't think Dazed realized it yet). I could have sniped a city of his with a chariot, the closest one to us that was defended by a single warrior, but I decided not to. He has a billion archers, and I didn't want to lose the city. I'm massing some units near THH, to pile up after Dazed's catapult stack suicides against THH's archers. I mostly want that city because it has silver.

Commodore just got a GPro, so he'll fire a GA next turn, I think. I'm guessing he's going for CS and Bureau too, and he'll get some GP out of this GA, perhaps to fire a second one after. That'll be very good for him. Anyway, I have an EP advantage over him now, so I'll be seeing his research soon, which will help. I can decide about going for Music based on this.

As long as I don't give him the Taj, I'm pretty confident. So, I'm thinking of saving the GEng for that. Not so thrilled about Apostolic Palace and TGLib seems a bit wasteful... I could easily chop it in Masala Chai if I wanted (it would be better on GT, my planned NE city, but using a GEng on it doesn't sound so hot). The Taj, on the other hand, seems like a game winning pick up, so why risk losing it? I think I can very well get guilds (conquer THH or Dazed), liberalism (GSci for Education), pick nationalism and rush the Taj before Commodore has a chance.

Some pictures:













If you see above, our gpt at 100% gold was 59 on turn 71. Last turn, turn 76, it was 117 and that's without the markets finishing in EG and IB, our best commerce cities. So, we kind of doubled our economy in 5t, which is great.

[Mardoc]

That's awesome! The demos aren't very close anymore . A little more of this and you'll be collecting your concession, I'm sure.

I have only one concern. It looks like Commodore used that same time to double his Power. Can we pick up Construction and maybe HBR after Calendar? (or maybe IW, then those two). I'd feel happier if we're keeping up in military tech, and we know Construction will have a big known-civ discount by now.

[Ichabod]

So...

Analyzing THH's troop positioning, I decided to attack him this turn:




He has those 3 archers that can reach the city, but I could get 2 healthy spears in there and his main stack of archers is pinned down by Dazed. The main thing is, even if this doesn't work, I don't lose very much.










Last combat was chariot at 78% odds, that won. City now has 2 spears and a chariot, next turn it'll have another 3 axes.

Mostly what I want with this city is the silver... Perhaps staying put was a better idea, just waiting for the better techs, but... Well, there was the option, and I took it.




I offered peace for 50 gold reparations. I also didn't capture his workers that were near me. Hopefully THH accepts it.

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I got Calendar and IW, while planning the cities to grow into unhapiness at the end of turn, since we get sugar online the next. Next tech is construction (likely 1-turn it, too, by burning some gold), to keep increasing our power. Commodore is getting Code of Laws, I know this because I got research visibility on him (by running 1 spy in a city that, otherwise, would run an unimproved tile - it gives 4 science and 4 eps, so it's actually pretty decent).

Some pictures:







Anotehr city, with a lucky turn 1 religion spread.




The war area:




Demographics after ending turn. Take into consideration that we have something like 4/5 unhappy faces not working right now, that will be online when we get the sugar.

[Mardoc]

Looking good! 11 gold for a city would be great - and also I'd be surprised if THH can really counterattack us. So it seems the only real loss is a few trade routes and that Dazed might conquer faster. But that tech rate ought to let us handle him by the time he's ready to retarget.

Does Guangzhou become a commerce city or a production one? Looks commerce to me - the only risk is building cottages in a border. But then you don't intend to leave the border there too much longer...

So, do we have Iron? Be kinda embarrassing to plan a game around Knights and not actually be able to build them - but I guess it's early enough that you could find another way.

[Ichabod]

I thought I had a screenshot of the iron, but seems that I forgot. Yes, we have 2 sources. One under a village near LS, which is pretty safe, the other in Milk, on the border with Commodore, which is pretty risky. So, I'll bulldoze the village to mine the iron in LS, so we have a very safe one (LS was going to focus more on production too, so it kind of fits). The one near Commodore is a nice tile improvement, but it's not safe as a strateic resource source.

Well, I think Guangzhou can do a bit of both. Cottaging it doesn't seem that good of an idea, because I don't think we'll be playing long enough to make it profitable (especially considering there's no river). I think running 2 scientists (later more), the cottage, the food and the silver is very good already. We'll see.

[Mardoc]

Good to hear on the iron. I admit, I forgot to account for the likely concession. It's true that it would be silly to try to grow much more cottages at this point. If the game doesn't end when you conquer someone's core - then you'll have their already-grown cottages to use anyway. I agree with just leaning on the mids specialists for new cities.

Oh, also, I got a present of a nice sampler pack of looseleaf teas as an early Christmas present . So I should have a bunch of new names you can use as soon as I get home. Looks like you're going to need them .

[Ichabod]

Good to hear on the iron. I admit, I forgot to account for the likely concession. It's true that it would be silly to try to grow much more cottages at this point. If the game doesn't end when you conquer someone's core - then you'll have their already-grown cottages to use anyway. I agree with just leaning on the mids specialists for new cities.

Oh, also, I got a present of a nice sampler pack of looseleaf teas as an early Christmas present . So I should have a bunch of new names you can use as soon as I get home. Looks like you're going to need them .

Oh, nice to hear about the teas. I hope we can fill the world with all the names you can suggest soon.

About Guangzhou, it's not so much about a possible concession, than it is about our current advantage and the prospects of it. I think it'd be really difficult for Commodore to catch us in the long run, so he'd have to put a dent in us in the short term and climb back through it (be it through military or a lot of first to bonuses). So, I think more focus on short term gains are actually more beneficial than playing for the late game (which, if things keep the same, we'll win, no matter what).

It's the same reason why getting construction and HBR next is my plan, like you've suggested before. If we can defend ourselves properly in the short term, it's highly unlikely our advantage will disappear. If Commodore goes for a GA, he can certainly catch up a bit, but I don't think it'll be enough. Especially since he'd have to focus on economy during the GA.

I think Commodore will get CoL and start the GA, while trying to finish Pindi. Than, he'll revolt to Caste, get some GP and get CS for Bureau. He'll probably try to get a second GA from it.

What do we do? We go to Music while he's gunning for Bureau (I think we can beat him there, even if we detour to military techs and even considering his GA). We use the GArt to fire our own GA and we go for Guilds, followed by nationalism or Liberalism, depending on how fast Commodore is planning to rush for the Taj (I'm fairly sure we can keep the research view on him for quite a bit, so we'll know). Finally, we use the GEng in the Taj Mahal, while we are conquering THH and Dazed.

That's the plan, at least. Hopefully the other players cooperate with us.

By the way, I don't want to sound arrogant, but if the other players are voicing something about conceding the game, I'd take it. I'm having fun with the turns, but I don't feel the need to play the game out if the other players don't want to.

[spacetyrantxenu]

Only Dazed and THH know what they think about the game, with their total lack of reporting.