[Spoilers] CH tries to be more than a warm body

[Cheater Hater]

I know a double-post for two mini-reports isn't the best situation, but I want to make sure my pic folder for the last couple turns gets posted, just in case I don't get around to the T100 report (though I still should). The big news is that Colossus has fallen, but to a surprising source: DZ! I don't know exactly where it is (surprisingly it's not in the Moai city of Maersk, though I'm assuming he didn't want it that exposed), but that means he has MC, as well as spent a ton of hammers on something that isn't military. Does that means I should be attacking about now? I still don't like attacking before Cats though.

All of this leads to a problem: at around this point in all my games, where the land dries up and teching gets slow, I kinda lose focus on what to do. Military has never been my strength, and my thoughts on prisoner's dilemma make me reluctant to be the instigator. In addition, I feel like I'm doing a lot worse than I look--sure I'm near the top in score and population, but I have relatively few cities and am actually below-average in land area. Granted, part of this comes from my traits (EXP/CHM naturally wants larger cities), but after I settle C7-B, I'm pretty much out of land (there's the one city at the bridge to Serdoa/NH, and then only 2-3 filler cities are left before military action or post-Astro overseas cities that might exist). As such, if I don't attack someone (either DZ or Serdoa/NH), I will just end up wandering mindlessly until either the game ends or someone attacks me and wipes me out.

[Cheater Hater]

Almost forgot to play, so the report will have to wait until tomorrow (and T101)--pictures are here TBS.

[The Black Sword]

Thanks. What's with the Priesthood research?

[Cheater Hater]

Thanks. What's with the Priesthood research?

Priesthood+CoL is cheaper than CoL by itself when you consider I need Meditation and Polytheism eventually anyway (at least it was before tech scaling, and presumably that's still the case). Of course, I haven't moved to CoL quite yet (I swapped to Construction, mostly since I can 3-turn it without saving any more gold), so it still looks a bit weird

[Cheater Hater]

Why did I think I would be able to write a report on Thanksgiving? Pictures for T101 are here, and I'll try to hit the highlights:
* taotao got Alphabet, and offered us Open Borders--I declined the first deal that popped up (paying 50 gold for OB, planning to discuss it with Fenn), then quickly accepted the flat deal that popped up right after. Presumably taotao realized that benefits him just as much as me--I'm not sure OB with the current score leader is the best move, but I believe he's the only one with it at the moment. Does this mean I want Harbors in my cities now? (remember, they're cheap from EXP)
* Construction finishes in two turns, and then I can start building Cats in all my cities--what should my proportions be between Axes, Spears, and Cats (and possibly Swords, once the iron gets hooked up in a couple turns)? Are WEs worth building considering I'm (presumably) facing Mr. Impi?
* Speaking of DZ, he's still the primary target, right? He was the original planned target because he was so far behind on cities, but he's mostly equalized by now (though he's still one or two behind me I think, and his GNP/Production are still lagging). He's ahead of me in power though, even though he took a large detour to get Colossus. On the other hand, Serdoa/NH have more cities and are close to us in GNP/Production, but they're behind us on power (though they had a recent spike). My gut says go with the long-term stats, but I'm not sure how sustained I want this war to be.
* I'm not sure what I should do with Vilcas. It's becoming an awesome city (Moai+Quay should be a great combination--is it too late to put the Breakwater into RtR? ), but considering I think I want to farm a couple tiles for irrigation purposes, do I want to go full GP-farm there? It feels like the wrong approach (since I want to work all the water tiles), but it's already at +8 food before the farms.

Anything else you want to know (Fenn, TBS, or anyone else), just ask--I know I'm missing a lot, but I'm tired

[Cheater Hater]

Yes, you're getting another lazy, pictures in a folder report for T102, but it doesn't really deserve it, since there's some big news.
* taotao came back asking for 50 gold, so presumably the flat Open Borders was a mistake--I couldn't pay it if I wanted to that turn (since I'm deficit-researching to complete Construction), but I'm not paying regardless--in fact, I'm not sure I should have taken the OB at all, considering how far ahead he is (and that's before he fires off a MoM fueled Golden Age--at least I don't think he's gotten the 1-man GA yet). Elkad's also offering Open Borders for only 20 gold--I reoffered a flat deal, but when taotao is able to cancel our deal (or if he declares to cancel it--which is an interesting/worrisome possibility considering what I'll talk about in a moment), I think it's worth the 20 gold to get them. Any thoughts Fenn?
* The big news is that two wars broke out that I know about. The less-relevant war is REM declaring on Commodore, and that's an interesting one--REM has a massive power advantage, but Commodore has a big production advantage (though it's GA-fueled, so a bit misleading). This actually happened end of last turn, and nothing's happened yet, so we'll have to see on that.
* The much more relevant war is that taotao declared on DZ, and has already taken a city! We've seen how much of a power advantage taotao has, and the question is how fast taotao can tear through DZ, and if he can even survive this attack. If we don't think he can, do we try to take a city or two from DZ, or do we try to take them back from taotao? If I do declare, do I wait for the first couple Cats, or do I just attack with my Axes?

Again, I'm still looking for questions about stuff I missed--check the last lazy update for more as well

[Cheater Hater]

Let's finally have a real report for T103! Let's start in the south as always:


Yes, I'm back to the top score for at least a bit--that's mostly since backfilling all those religious techs gave me a lot of points, but it still looks good
More importantly, now that I have some Open Borders agreements (the disputed taotao one I talked about earlier, and then Elkad surprisingly accepted my flat OB offer) and the majority of my economic builds are done, my GNP is through the roof! Even with research off I'm ranked 5th, and obviously researching a double pre-req CoL (that at least one person knows to boot) sends it through the roof (almost 100 more than second place). And of course, I'm still not done yet--Vilcas still needs a Library and Market, Hua's Quay isn't done yet, there's still lots of cottage growth left, and I can even build Harbors if needed! One thing I'm still not sure of is the next tech--right now the thought is Next, let's look at the north:


Where did all those arrows come from? And I didn't know Krill added a "stage" improvement...
Yes, I'm starting to look at a possible attack on DZ--he moved his Impi away from Nairobi, and I have a surprising amount of military in the area. I'm looking at a possible T106 declaration, and I can have 7 Axes, 3 Cats (Cori whipped after I took the picture and should get a Cat chopped, while MP will 1-pop whip the Cat next turn), and 2-3 Chariots (the one from Vilcas is coming up, and Olly might be able to 1-turn one if it has enough overflow) entering on that old F (conveniently a forest). That should easily take Nairobi (though I'm expecting at least one or two more units; Nairobi has a whip at least), but I don't know how far I could push it. If I only take Nairobi and Maersk while losing most of the stack, is that worth it? Would I even want more, considering taotao is right around the corner (though what the heck is mackoti doing on that team? That explains a lot of their position ). Would it be a good idea to offer peace for Nairobi and Maersk, and how much of a chance does he have of taking it? If peace did happen, what should I do with my military--act on Serdoa/NH, wait for taotao to overextend, or just wait for it to go obsolete? Any thoughts Fenn?








Unfortunately, the war actions won't be on the graphs yet, and even the average power doesn't tell us much yet. Overall it shows just how well I'm doing--now I'm just worried about screwing it all up

[Cheater Hater]

Lazy report day, with the pictures in the folder--make sure you read the previous reports too, because not much has changed. I'm still planning on a T106 declaration, but I'm wondering if that's too late--DZ only has four cities left! I don't know how much of a last stand DZ will make at his capital, but I might be in a race for Maersk at least (and don't forget I can't do the extortion for peace like I speculated, since city trading is disabled). I'm not sure I want to fight taotao--again, I don't know how much power he's used on DZ so far (there's no dip yet; barely even a leveling-out, but the graphs lag), and he already has a reason not to like me (the OB dispute). In other news, there's lots of war going on--we have the REM/Commodore war which is extremely bloody (it looks like Commodore lost three cities this turn), Elkad just entered that war against REM (which will probably be bad for REM, based on how much is happening on the Commodore front) and now CivStats says there's a HAK/TheWannabe war going on as well.

In domestic news, I turned research on CoL, and it'll finish in two turns without even using all my gold. I'm wondering if I want to go the long way to Civil Service afterward (through Feudalism for the bonus), but that might be delaying Maces a bit too long. Then again, that gives me Longbows as well, and if I needed to I could head to Machinery first for Crossbows. I need a long-term plan, and I'm not sure I can really start to head that way until DZ dies and I get an idea of where taotao and Serdoa/NH stand (in particular, will taotao go for Serdoa/NH or someone else (a weakened Elkad?)?

[Ceiliazul]

Oooh, pretty report in Nov 28. Wish I put $100 on you being tops in score at t100. Not sure what odds the bookies would have given me, but would have probably paid well!

The problem to the prisoner's dilemma of warfare is simple:

TAKE NO PRISONERS

[Cheater Hater]

Oooh, pretty report in Nov 28. Wish I put $100 on you being tops in score at t100. Not sure what odds the bookies would have given me, but would have probably paid well!

The problem to the prisoner's dilemma of warfare is simple:

TAKE NO PRISONERS

Good to know someone's reading my reports at least, even though there are multiple wars going on and mine hasn't started yet. And yes, that's another pleasant request for Fenn to say something, even if it's just "I have no opinions on the situation"

I have no clue how in the heck I'm doing so well in score. I know Hanging Gardens' growth spurt, along with the wonder score plays a big part in it, but both taotao and dtay (my main score competitors, now that Commodore's been mostly taken out of the game by REM) have wonders as well. I guess my religious tech backfill leading up to T100 was what sealed it? Or maybe I'm just improving?

I know no one else likes my prisoner's dilemma comparisons--I guess taking cities from a dying DZ doesn't really count for that though, and neither does fighting a clearly over-matched Serdoa/NH (especially if taotao starts the conflict, though I still think he goes for a recovering Elkad next).

Speaking of REM, lots of stuff going on with that front--turn has rolled and apparently Elkad has already razed an REM city--keep fighting! Then again, REM's military is probably the best way for taotao to be taken down a peg--we'll see how the power charts end up once they update with all the local wars. I do need to remember to check what happened with this war once taotao wipes me out though.