CH's Through the Ages Report Thread (currently Public games)

[Cheater Hater]

I'm thinking the best way to do my reports is to concentrate them all in one thread--presumably I'm not going to playing multiple games with people here at once (though my public games are annoying--it takes days for actions to be taken, much less turn cycles ).

[Cheater Hater]

RB Game 3: Turn 1 (why isn't it T0, to correspond with Civ and the relatively few options:


So, first player--this obviously has an advantage, but it gives you much less flexibility on T1, since you only have one civil action.  The Age A yellow cards generally aren't good (almost all are one action for one item), so you want to take wonders, or ideally your Age A leader.  Unfortunately no leaders showed up in the one-action section, which means I'm left with five choices: two boring yellows, two wonders, and Engineering Genius, the only one action for two resources card.  Of the two wonders, Pyramids is by far the much-stronger one, but it's difficult to get it completed quickly and takes most of your early production to do so (the earliest you can complete it without help is T4).  Library of Alexandria is much weaker in the abstract; it's a Philosophy that costs 6 hammers and 3 actions and can't be upgraded, but doesn't require a worker and gives some other minor benefits.  I ended up taking Engineering Genius, which seems weaker in the abstract, but lets take a look at what everyone else will likely take:
Viktor (chumchu's friend): 2 actions, take a leader for 2 (probably their preference of Moses and Aristotle)
Ralph (rho21): 3 actions, leader for 2 (remaining of Moses/Aristole)+Pyramids
Jonas (chumchu): 4 actions, 2 choices: either:
    a) Julius/Hammurabi+1 yellow
    b) Alex+2 yellows
   

That actually makes me feel a little worse--I don't want to give either Aristotle or (more likely) Moses more actions.  However, let's look at what my actions for T1 will be, based on chumchu's choice:
a) I get a choice of Alex and either Julius or Hammurabi for 1, two or three new cards for 2 (depending on if chumchu takes Urban Growth or Frugality), and possibly one card left in the Age A deck
b) I get either Julius or Hammurabi for 1, three new cards for 2, no cards left in the Age A deck

My first choice would be Alex, and then I'd prefer Hammurabi over Julius--my guess is that chumchu would prefer the extra yellow (or LoA possibly) when Alex is probably better though. The important card left in Age A is Hanging Gardens (which means you don't have to worry about early happiness at all, especially if the free temple shows up)--I might have to take it if it's low in the 2-action section, but I might actually prefer it being 3, so it'll float to 1 and I can take it next turn. The other Age A wonders are LoA (which I've already covered, and still isn't a great deal at 4 hammers) and Colossus (cheap, but isn't that good, since all early military is bad). I could also wait for Age I wonders, and just proceed normally on T2 (take/elect leader, grow, mine).

[Cheater Hater]

RB Game 3 Turn 2:

Well, that was slightly different than I planned:
Viktor: Pyramids + Frugality
rho: Aristotle + Urban Growth
chumchu: Alex + Rich Land

This means I get Moses, and while he's good IMO, I keep playing him Otherwise, not much new: take/elect, grow, Bronze. Next turn will possibly be grow, Philo, take HG, stage 1 with EG if I can.

[Cheater Hater]

RBGame 3 T3:


Well, I didn't get Hanging Gardens unfortunately--rho got that instead. Otherwise not much happened. I continued to take non-exciting moves--playing Immigration to the stack (triggering Development of Trade Routes), growing, building a Philosophy, and spending 2 actions to take Iron. That's the most-interesting thing--the extra science from Trade Routes means I can play it next turn and start upgrading things, preparing for Alchemy to show up.

I got to this slightly late, and the turn pace is good--Viktor took and built a Printing Press to set himself up on the Library path, and rho is going now--he popped Development of Religion, which means everyone but Viktor gets a Religion.

[Cheater Hater]

RB Game 3: Turn 4:


While I reported on T3 post-event, here we're actually mid-resolution of Development of Markets. Thankfully my turn here isn't very special, and shouldn't need to see the other options. I'll discover Iron, upgrade one Bronze, grow, and take Theology--the last choice could be a second growth, but taking Theology here means my happiness is solved for the time being (thank you free Religion). I'm worried about finding a wonder for my Engineering Genius--I feel like the best case is to go for Universitas Carolina instead of upgrading to Alchemy's, which leaves me the option to either jump to Scientific Methods or pursue Libraries. This leaves my military as the main weakness (as food is solved for the moment through Moses and the extra two food from Development of Markets), but thankfully double-Defense cards will help me there.

[Cheater Hater]

RB Game 3: Turn 5:


Before we talk about this long turn, let's look at what happened with everyone else:
* Viktor completed Pyramids, took a couple cards (notably Warfare), and grew
* rho took and discovered CoL, grew twice, and built a Philosophy
* chumchu took/built a Knights, grew, and took/elected Joan of Arc

In addition, lots of events: 2 science, 1 pop, and 2 food--the latter is interesting, as while I want more food to tide me over until Age II (where I'll probably prioritize an early Selective Breeding), it pushes me very far into corruption.  Now let's get to this turn

By far the most-interesting turn so far, I have a lot of things I want to do this turn (in rough order of priority):
* Avoid corruption (use 6 blue tokens this turn)
* Get more actions
* Have a plan for military (as the Age I events are starting to show up, and I have a lot of power-matters in the stack)
* Upgrade my remaining mines to Iron
* Grow a lot to take advantage of Moses, but not so much that unhappiness/consumption overwhelms me at the age transition
* Improve my research in anticipation for Age II

Let's look at some possible paths:
A: Take Swordsmen and Knights, discover Swordsmen, grow, build Swordsman, build Warrior
This path doesn't improve me economically, but it puts me in a good position militarily.  This also sets me up to revolt into Monarchy next turn, which again delays my economic growth, but more importantly puts me into a position where I can't get rid of corruption easily, so I might have to delay that for a turn (going with something like grow, Theology, upgrade Religion, take a card)--but that risks my Engineering Genius getting wasted.  This plan also means I won't be drawing any military cards

B: Upgrade Bronze to Iron, grow, and two of three: take Swordsman, take Monarchy, grow (building a Warrior if I take both techs)
This is the economic path, though going the double-tech+Warrior path puts me in a decent position for military (both Viktor and rho are still at no military).  This actually looks better, especially since I'll need to delay the revolt in the A path.  Next turn here will probably be grow, upgrade the last Bronze, and either taking cards (if UC shows up for 2 actions I think I have to take it) or upgrading military--note that I'm at the card max though, which will complicate matters.

There are other possibilities (taking Great Wall instead of one of the techs in B, stretching for Alchemy, taking a Corruption penalty), but these are the main two, and going over it, B seems clearly better unless I knew that a Colony was coming in the next turn for certain (and even that isn't certain yet).  Also, after discarding Historic Territory I got Fighting Band, which is nice (though I'm not sure I'll have enough military actions to play it next turn if I go the military path--someone give me Open Borders! )

[Cheater Hater]

No new turn yet, but with only chumchu left, my plans are starting to solidify. Most importantly, there's guaranteed to be an Alchemy left on the board (as both are left), so that's almost certainly going to be my main choice. Looking at that, my turn looks like one of two things:
a) Research Theology, take Alchemy, upgrade the last Bronze, upgrade my Religion
b) Research Swordsmen, take Alchemy, upgrade the last Bronze, grow, upgrade both Warriors to Swordsmen

The problem is that I need to grow this turn in order to avoid corruption, so it has to be B. The turn after I think I'm researching Alchemy and upgrading both Philosophies, while planning to research Monarchy normally. I also still don't see any Wonders yet

[Cheater Hater]

RB Game 3: Turn 6:


Nothing new here--the only difference from my plan is that I chose to play Fighting Band instead of upgrading the second Warrior to a Swordsman (since I would have had to discard anyway).  Next turn the plan of Alchemy+upgrade both Philosophies seems fine, but the question is what the final action is--right now the obvious answers are either growing or taking a Yellow (Breakthrough looks nice, since it'll let me play Theology on T8 without getting off-track for natural Monarchy on T9), but the card row is playing some interesting tricks--here's what the card row looks like after Viktor has played:


Age I has really delayed its leaders and Wonders, so now they're finally starting to show up with 13 cards left in the deck.  While Taj Mahal isn't the greatest Wonder, it can be very cheap--if 4 cards are removed in front of Taj, I could theoretically take that for free if I take a leader and play it this turn.  I don't particularly want Michelangelo (it won't be much more than 2 culture per turn from my Theology and maybe one action from taking an Age II wonder), but both Columbus and Leonardo are great and likely to be one action if Taj is in the 2-action zone (assuming they're still there, but remember that chumchu has already taken Joan of Arc, so I only have to compete with rho).  That would make my turn discover either Alchemy or Theology (remember the hand limit), take a leader, replace Moses, take Taj, and then I'm left with two civil actions and have to use three blue tokens to avoid corruption.  Also, the entire reason to take Taj is to use my Engineering Genius, and there will only be at most 9 cards left in the Age I Civil deck under this plan, so that will probably be one of the actions (and use a blue token, I always forget this!).  If that's the case, my civil action will either be growing (before I replace Moses obviously) or upgrading a Philosophy, and then I'll build another Swordsman (and upgrade the Warrior, if I upgraded the Philosophy).  I don't know how good that is--it delays my Science production, but I'm going to be spending more actions not taking techs.  Again, I need stuff to happen first (rho not to take Columbus, enough cards to be taken to get Taj (and Leo) into the right zones), but it could work.

BTW, if you're a lurker, feel free to post in here and ask questions; I'm not explaining things fully right now (refer back to rho's thread for that), but I'll elaborate if people ask.

Edit: Rho flipped my Wealthy Territory as his event and bid 3; I could bid 4 (Swordsman+2 cards or Swordsman+Warrior) but I'm not sure I want to bid that even; the colony is basically neutral at that point (both in terms of production and blue tokens) and I'd compensate by growing and building double-Swordsmen (leaving me +1 yellow in the bank and +1 FPT), but it leaves me defenseless for one player--I'd be much more likely to bid if chumchu triggered this rather than rho (since I'd know whether the Taj plan would work, and I wouldn't be open for that one player/event roll--note Chumchu is both tops in military and has 5 military cards).  Hopefully Chumchu just bids 4 and makes me not feel bad

Edit2: Well, it looks like I'm going to get my wish--heck, I might have to decide between Columbus and Leo--Leo seems better because it keeps me on track for natural Monarchy on T9.

[Cheater Hater]

RB Game 3: Turn 7:


Look closely at this screenshot--notice anything missing? Yes, I'm missing an Agriculture due to Border Conflict

This obviously isn't great, as it means I'm going to waste an action and 2 resources rebuilding it (or go into famine next turn, which obviously isn't good), but it actually works fine for T8. First, T7 wasn't that much of a surprise--I had my choice of all three remaining leaders, and chose Leo as he seems the best generically (and it lets my T8 work). Otherwise, everything is the same as I stated earlier: Grow, discover Alchemy, take/elect Leo, take Taj for free, Engineering Genius, build two Swordsmen (from scratch, notably). Next turn is pretty set-in-stone: Discover Theology (getting a resource from Leo), double-upgrade Philosophies, and rebuild that Agriculture. I also might upgrade the last Warrior, but I want to draw some Age II military cards (it's rho's turn now, and the Age transition will occur at the end of it). The turn after that will probably be mostly dedicated to finishing Taj and taking some cards, and then I'll discover Monarchy afterwards and upgrade my Religion on T10.

[Cheater Hater]

RB Game 3: Turn 8:


Hooray for quick turns--but this one makes me change everything all over again.  The most important thing is that Scientific Breakthrough gave me two additional science, which allows me to get to 8 science next turn if I don't research anything this turn and upgrade one Philosophy.  In fact, I could have even waited an additional turn and taken Constitutional Monarchy next turn, naturally researching it on T10, but Viktor ends up taking it right after me (which I'll get to in a bit).  The other interesting thing is that both Irrigation and Selective Breeding are available for me, and either one could solve my food problem.  The choice between Irrigation+Reserves or Selective Breeding was hard, but the latter is more future-proof, as I'll be doing it a bit later (I can upgrade one on T10 I think, but I'm not sure).  Otherwise, the plan of Agriculture+upgrade a Philosophy didn't change that much.  Next turn should be a normal research of Monarchy, and then I have a bunch of actions.  I think the plan is upgrade Philosophy, and then 3 actions of taking cards, though one of those actions could be building stage 2 of Taj depending on the card row (thankfully I don't have to use as many blue tokens to avoid corruption at the moment).

However, there's a big problem with this plan: I'm near the bottom in power, and both of the remaining current events are mine, including that Uncertain Borders I seeded a while ago.  I could have improved it slightly by upgrading the last warrior, but I prioritized drawing Age II military cards (and not wasting resources on a unit I might disband/colonize-with soon) over the slight increase in power that wouldn't mean much.  To start with, here's the current bottom-power, Viktor at the start of his turn:


Uh, how is he going to solve his happiness problem?  A disband would obviously work, but the real plan is Columbus--I slightly under-estimated it since I didn't realize any yellow-token-granting colony would do it (he ended up using Developed Territory I), but that meant he still couldn't improve his military, right?  Unfortunately, I didn't connect the dots and he took Napoleon, which almost puts him in the lead.  Next is rho, who is tied with me at 9--he only has one military card, so he isn't likely to play an event, and has no spare pop either.  Again, he's played as I'm writing this, and took my Fighting Band tactic to put me fully in last (and he just picked up Cannon).  Finally, we have chumchu--at this point I just hope Immigration is on top, or that he somehow doesn't have an event--I really don't want to lose a yellow token right now

Edit: chumchu's started his turn, but while he did do something in his political phase, it wasn't an event. Instead, it was a Spy aggression! Even more-surprisingly, it wasn't against me, but against rho, even though I'm lowest in power atm. The key is that rho has only one Age I military card, and it has to be a defense card exactly to defend the two power difference. Conversely, while I could certainly defend with my two Defense I cards, I also could have drawn a Defense II card last turn. Overall this is fine, as while I worry about chumchu spiralling ahead, he needs that research--he made the same CoL gambit I did, and his only other Age I techs are Knights and Alchemy, and he hasn't even played the latter yet (though I expect him to take Drama this turn after building Basilica).