[SPOILERS] Whosit Plays Alone for Fun (and Profit?)

[Whosit]

Well, interesting turn. Turn 89.

Looks like CivStats answered my question about Jowy, who last turn appears to have taken a city off the HRE (not sure if razed or kept though). At least it's keeping him busy.

Wonders and Religions:


Interestingly, Judaism is still on the table. I wonder if the Colossus fell to the Oracle getter, same with Confucianism. Might have been wetbandit, who I think had the largest score increase this turn. That'd be something....



Sadly, too busy building Jaguars and Chariots to research Monotheism.

I took another look at the tile here, because I don't think I paid proper attention to when the Barracks was completed.




I believe I have 26 points of culture on the tile, and for that to be 82%, I think he has either 5 or 6 points of culture, so the border will pop sooner than I thought. However, my Jaguar Rally tile should still be fogged. No need to rush things. Pretty sure I will have everything in position to kick things off on T95 (so maybe in a week?).

I only have 12 Jaguars right now, so I think Squad B is going to end up with 4-5 Jags, 2-3 Axes, and 6 Chariots for a total of 12-14 units (Makes both squads about the same size). Dreylin has 2 Axes in Arkose right now. I wouldn't be surprised to see some more units in the next few turns.

[Whosit]

Turn 90

I need to decide what to call my Chariots. I was thinking "meals on wheels." Or maybe something like "Tractor Horse." Anyway.

Here's something intriguing.


Few people build aqueducts if they aren't trying to build the Hanging Gardens. No way that little Arkose needs the extra health. But that's expensive without stone.

Here's all I can see of Dreylin's rocky empire:


While I do have a couple of size 1 newbie cities lying around, I think on average my populations are higher, and my capital and 2nd city are capped out (9 and 8 respectively). I think it's interesting that Dreylin has, in general, opted for Barracks instead of monuments. I suppose he felt the extra cost was outweighed by the greater usefulness, especially when he's next to two AGG civs.



I would be very worried in their position.... I'm honestly surprised I haven't seen a big bump in Dreylin's power yet. I'm sure it's coming, so hopefully my attack hits before he is fully mobilized.



Really mad that someone has a size 11 city. Must be one of the fellows with a religion, and.... I don't know what the luxury spread on the rest of the continents are, but they must have at least 1 more than I do (hooked up, anyways, I have some wines available I can't use yet).

Please note that I am at 0% science (max tax) and making only 11 gpt. This is going to get worse as I add on units. I'm still trying to add cottages where I can, but I can only hope I don't fall into strike before the war is over. I think it 's going to cost me close to 600 gold to research Currency, so.... I'm not getting there for a while. Capital needs a Library, and Harmony has something stupid like +13 food/turn right now because it just got the capital's pigs in addition to Euphoria's pigs and its own fish. I think I'll want to get a Library there as well and run a couple scientists, both for the GPPs and also... just for the beakers. There are hardly any improved tiles there, anyway.

Whenever I eventually make it to currency, though, my investment in hammer infrastructure should pay off a bit with wealth builds. Most of my core has at least some cottages, but I know I need a few more just to have a research income. If I'm skillful and lucky, I should also have a little chunk of Dreylin's territory to help me out, too.

[Whosit]

I wonder if I must take the first half of the turn when war comes, because lately it seems Dreylin has been playing after me. For a while it seemed he always played before me, anyway. 2nd half would probably be tactically better for me, but of course, I ought to be prepared whatever the turn order is.

[Whosit]

Turn 91

It's at that point where every turn is making me more and more anxious. I just want to start this damned war already!



Dreylin is getting a little feisty. He's still poking around my eastern borders with his scout (he's rather lucky it never died....). 5 Axes visible. 2 defending Greywacke, 3 in and around Arkose. Please, fill Arkose with Axes. They shouldn't do you much against my Chariots. Greywacke should be the tougher city to take, but I should have the advantage of numbers.

Dreylin's power hasn't spiked yet like mine, but it looks like he's beginning to add on more troops. I think I should be alright as long as he doesn't start to mass whip.

[Whosit]

Turn 92: Interesting Times

Tsk. Dreylin just forced my hand. I wonder if that was the point? Rather shrewd, shrewd indeed.



I did give it some thought, but besides my troops being in the wrong positions, I still don't feel that acquiring Zulu territory right now would feel like a natural fit. War with Dreylin will happen, but I will launch the attack early, next turn. Squad B is not ready, but if not taking that deal will definitely tip Dreylin off for certain, so I can't wait the 3 turns to get everything into position.

Oh, and this suggests he'll soon have Alphabet, interesting.

And, as suspected, Dreylin has begun producing Spearmen.


6 Chariots could, in theory, punch through that. We'll see. I could always bypass Arkose temporarily, but razing it is important. If Dreylin stuffs more units in there, I'll have to combine the Chariot and 1-mover stacks to attack.



My Jaguars only have 10% odds against the axes. If I get lucky, it will only take 2 units to kill each one; 3 if I'm less lucky. I think the city was just whipped this turn, so I expect another defender to pop out at the start of next. So I'll be launching the attack 2nd half of T93, and I can actually attack the city 2nd half of T94. Hopefully Dreylin can't reinforce the city too heavily in that time.

Worst-case scenario, where I invade and he totally blocks me off, I suppose I could always offer to attack Grimace as part of a peace deal....

[Whosit]

Turn 93

Had one more diplomatic message from Dreylin. Very interesting.


Offering to gift units, very very interesting. Perhaps he was desperate for me to not attack him. In any case...





I wonder what sort of diplomatic overtures Dreylin has already made to Grimace. As long as the Zulu don't try and hit me right now, I should be alright. Hopefully. Arkose is full of axes and spears, and may be rather difficult for my B Squad to defeat.





At least Squad A is prepared. We'll see what Dreylin can reinforce with next turn, and how many units I'll lose taking the city. My Shock Axes get best odds (30%) compared to Jaguars (10%), but I think the Axes will be more valuable to keep against a counter attack. Anyway, another Great General in distant lands. Hopefully I'll be earning my own soon.

Power demographic is looking good. Finances, not so much.

[Whosit]

Wow, based on civstats, looks like Dreylin setteld two new cities and then whipped 3 times (in response to my attack, no doubt). I bet he's pretty upset. Hopefully there's no "throwing the game away" rhetoric going on yet.

[Whosit]

OK, so I open the game to this:



Reasonable, but I hit "Exit diplomacy."

But then I see this



How did this happen? And something I notice just now in the diplo window is that the option for peace isn't there, suggesting that peace was somehow made before I even logged in. Did the game bug out somehow? Could this be related to the reload from earlier in the turn? I don't know what's going on, but signing peace this turn is not what I wanted to do!

[Whosit]

Meanwhile, I did some very brief sims, and I think it's likely that I lose at least half of my 8 Jaguars to take Grey Wacke (assuming this strange business gets sorted out). Acceptable losses. Unfortunately, it means I won't be able to press on to Breccia any time quickly, especially with the Squad B delays.

[Thoth]

Did you actually sign a Peace Treaty? Or is it just a Cease Fire?


CFs can be broken at will.