Oxy changes his naming scheme to Community... and inexplicably doesn't get cancelled

[BaII]

If we get compass how will the construction of a couple harbors help with the research at rifling? Although I'm not sure harbors would be very useful considering that we're going to be dumping so many hammers into rifles once we get the tech so maybe drama if you think we're losing badly in terms of a culture war.

[Cheater Hater]

New turn today, and it's actually kinda interesting. BGN wanted a loan of 500 gold, paying back 65 GPT (so a 150 gold net). I did some math, and it doesn't actually cost us any turns on Rifling! Think about it--we have 7 turns of Rifling regardless, so we're only losing 45 gold on the crucial 8th turn. In fact, on the 8th turn we're actually up 20 gold, so we have a better shot at going 100% on the 8th turn. Still, I doubt that's going to happen, but 90% is well within reach (especially since we aren't even at peak GNP--Harbors are completing, cottages are growing, and Jeff is growing onto more developed tiles). Either way, T-minus 8 turns until Rifling comes and we can feel safe again...

[Cheater Hater]

T187 Report:
Interesting turn today--but I'm going back to last turn for a sec to make sure the diplo described above gets a record in the thread:


The main reason I'm bringing this back is because it apparently started a trend


That's a big deal, but I'm losing the Banana and Dyes for the 4 resources, meaning I'm netting 2 health before bonuses go into effect, and much more where I have Forges and/or Harbors (though I'm only netting 1 health in my inland Grocer cities). In addition, I'm helping the person fighting the person who took all my cities in my past life, so that's good as well




We have a lot of deals going on now--obviously the two big deals I mentioned above, but also some small ones that mostly existed before I got here (including a symbolic Fish for Fish deal). I also posted the foreign graph, which has some new stuff--I forgot to get the event log, but the new red line you can see is a dogpile on the Bacchus Gawdzak (GJ, Krill, and TBS are at war with him now, and I don't remember which one was at war first). Next, let's check the domestic stuff:






Notice anything different in these shots? Check the post above and/or last turn's pictures; I'll wait...

We cut a turn off Rifling's research time!
Obviously we've been improving our commerce, but the big thing is that FinHarry researched Rifling, giving us more known-tech bonus. I doubt that we'll be able to cut another turn off the research, but I don't know what everyone else is researching--it's certainly possible if 3 people get it next turn or something
More importantly, plako doesn't have Replaceable Parts yet, so that means we might get a decent lead time on drafting/building a bunch of Rifles--then again, if plako sees either my Rifling research or the power spike it might not be that good--I still don't know how heavy I should build/draft Rifles; I could see anywhere from the max amount of drafting everywhere to no drafts at all until I see a clear threat (Replaceable Parts and/or Rifling research from plako probably). Speaking of threats, I got pictures of both xenu and plako's stack this turn:




Not much to say other than that's a lot of units. I'll count them if I ever decide to take action
I probably should take stock of my current military sometime--I know I need more Cats and Knights, but I also don't know how many more units I should be building before Rifles.

Other than that, not much is going on domestically--I'm whipping builds where I'm only getting rid of crappy tiles, and otherwise just waiting for Rifling to come it



Not much to see here at the moment--my stats are still average/below-average, and they'll only get worse once the chaff (everyone below HAK--should I do another tier list? ) is removed from the averages. I have to decide if I want to try to make something happen or just try to survive as long as possible--it's going to be a fun day in ~2 weeks when Rifling comes in--watch to see if there's a massive score drop on my part or not

[BaII]

I would say stack the draft penalties only in some of the smaller cities. Of course we need to draft the larger cities, however having to stack the draft penalty in some cities like the capital doesn't seem like a great idea because we might be able to get more value out of it by keeping it working the good tiles.

[Ceiliazul]

drafts are a more efficient hammer conversion in small cities as well as allowing better happy cap management

[Cheater Hater]

T192 Report:
I meant to get a report out for last turn, but this will work too I guess--let's start with last turn's event log, since there's a lot of important stuff in it to go along with the eliminations (and I forgot to get this turn's event log ):


Lots of wars have ended (both because of civ death and actual peace ), but the big thing that's relevant to us is that plako actually closed borders with us! This has me on red alert--thankfully more people got Rifling on T190 so combined with a couple research builds I was able to finish Rifling last turn! Let's see how that's affecting my builds:




Yeah, not that many Rifles yet, mainly since they're so expensive
More meaningfully, I haven't drafted any yet--that's still subject to change, but the idea is that plako still does not have Rifling (basically my only saving grace at this point), and that I'll be able to see plako's research next turn (assuming no major espionage investment by plako), and I'd rather not play my draft-like-mad hand unless I'm either attacked or I'm ready to attack plako (which is only happening in one of 3 scenarios: plako stops investing in power and/or loses a bunch of it, plako gets involved in another conflict, or I decide I'm sick of playing this game and want to get it over with). Of course, the counterpoint to this is shown in the power graph:


That's a big power boost--all the signs say he's attacking sooner rather than later, but I have all my cities decently guarded, and I'm ready to start drafting--that's probably a reason to start drafting now honestly, assuming just seeing I beelined Rifling doesn't scare him off. The good thing is that plako and xenu both generally take a bit to play, so I can draft in the morning if I get antsy (or even now if I want to).

The only other thing to talk about is the tech path, which for now is "backfill, backfill, backfill!" Right now the plan is to 1T Drama, Optics, and Music, which gives me options for things like Caravels, Theaters, and Globe, and then I have to make the real decision on research path, as well as if I should be researching at all or saving for a bunch of upgrades. If I did research more, I think the choice is between Military Tradition (for Cavalry, giving all my Knights more power, especially if plako doesn't get Rifling in a timely fashion), Astronomy (the peace path, giving me cheap Observatories, as well as Galleons to try to make a dent in the annoying fly on my shoulder named xenu--he even stirred unhappiness in Abed in an attempt to do something other than just block seafood, but I had enough surplus happy to deal with it), and Chemistry (planning for Military Science for Grenadiers in case plako does go for Rifles). Right now I think Military Tradition is good if plako is planning to attack, and Astro is good if he isn't--Astro might be cheap enough we could go for that though; I'm not sure on how everything's known-tech bonuses are working out except for Chemistry (which is 6/9; decent but not fully discounted). Education is also possible, but I'd only want that if I want Economics for Free Market--maybe if I can 1T or 2T Education I can research that too.

[Cheater Hater]

Interesting stuff this turn, for the first time in a while--has it really been a week since my last post? Obviously, xenu updated, so something's going on--that something thankfully isn't a movement against me, it's an attack on HAK!
The pictures for the turn are here, but xenu has 11 Knights and a Mace ready to take Isla Loopy, and HAK only has a Pike, Spear, and 2 Skirmishers to defend (though it does appear to have a Castle, since it has +100% defense). The interesting thing is that HAK might survive this onslaught with some upgrades--2 Pikes would each have 18 strength vs the base 10 strength (ignoring promotions though), and the Longbows should get odds in at least one battle. It's also on a hill, so it's going to be a tough nut to crack for Knights (even an overwhelming number). Still, my best case involves xenu exhausting most of his Knights attacking Isla Loopy, but either takes the city and keeps it, or leaves it with barely any defenders (but still enough to defend against the remaining units). In that case, I loaded 2 Rifles and 2 Knights on the Galleys in Pierce, and am ready to drop them off on the island if I see weakness in either side of the battle. Other than that, not much else is going on--Astro is coming in 3-4 turns (depending on if BGN isn't prompt on canceling the repayment of the loan ), I'm continuing to build more Rifles/Cats, I'm preparing for the eventual invasion of plako (or someone else who's opportunistic). If there's anything else people want to know as we approach the halfway point of civ deaths (yuris, Bacchus/Gawdzak, and xenu are all in the 1-city club, Ruff is falling down the scoreboard thanks to Krill, and HAK is going to take a hit if/when he loses the size 19 Isla Loopy--unfortunately after that I'm the low person on the totem pole, though I'm only temporarily behind wetbandit since I drafted this turn), let me know.

[Ceiliazul]

Small nitpick but hopefully useful to you: pikes don't get their BASE strength modified, it's just +100% additive with any defense/terrain bonus.

Do you have any goals at this point, like finish top 12 or anything like that?

[Cheater Hater]

Small nitpick but hopefully useful to you: pikes don't get their BASE strength modified, it's just +100% additive with any defense/terrain bonus.

Do you have any goals at this point, like finish top 12 or anything like that?

Yeah, I was imprecise with my language there--I know the bonus goes down proportionally as the unit takes damage (though I'm still having trouble internalizing it in my mental math--look at the recent discussion with BGN in my PB23 thread for more of that.

As for future goals, I see one of four things happening sometime in the near future:
1. plako finally decides to come wipe me out, in an effort to get enough land to become a power in the game (maybe not BGN or FinHarry levels, but certainly dtay or GJ). The reason this hasn't happened yet is likely because plako doesn't want to invest that much time in the game--he knows I can draft Rifles, and that my power isn't that low (though it looks worse with every bottom-feeder that's eliminated and removed from the averages). He would also have to watch out for someone else swooping in if he commits too much--GJ, TBS, and dtay are all nearby, along with our resident pirates.
2. Someone else comes and invades--this is less likely than plako, since all my neighbors are either weaker than me or have easier targets.
3. I attack plako and win somehow--this isn't that implausible, since the turn I declare I know I could burn plako's two border cities, it's just that it would cost me a bunch of units, especially Cats I can afford to burn right now. The problem is that plako's currently researching Chemistry, which leads to Military Science and Grenadiers to counter my Rifles. I need to probably head for Military Tradition soon so I have something to counter those, but Astronomy's a higher priority because...
4. I attack HAK and/or wetbandit so I can get more land and become relevant. The big problem with this is that I need a navy to do so, and a very big one since it appears xenu's never going to make peace with me--and heck, bigger than that, since some gifted xenu a ****ing Frigate! That means not only will I need Galleons to go over the top of xenu's Caravels and 3-promotion Triremes, I probably need Frigates so I get a much better hammer payoff clearing out xenu's navy (since production has been my biggest problem this whole game, and I can't draft naval units). Obviously, if I do get the time to build a decent navy, the upside is huge, since I can use it to take out a (likely unprepared) HAK and wetbandit, pick off xenu's last city for free (if I'm correct that he moved a lot of his garrison to attack HAK, but I have the tech advantage regardless), then have the flexibility to either flank plako or take over for xenu and annoy TBS or GJ. Obviously I doubt I would get that far, but even absorbing just HAK would double the size of my empire, and worst case give me a new home if plako did conquer my homeland.

Other than that, my goal is just to try to survive as long as possible--as long as I keep my power up and look like an unappealing meal I should be fine

[Cheater Hater]

Uh...why did plako update his thread? As we've seen with xenu, generally non-consistent updaters only update their threads when something...is...happening...
Great, now I'm going to have nightmares all night while hoping plako didn't declare on me--the tracker says nothing's happened yet, but that stack of Knights doesn't need to kill this turn--at least that means he won't have that many Rifles?