[SPOILER] PB37 Dark Savant tries not to be a blatant MP n00b

[Dark Savant]

Turn 74 (1040 BC) - Part 1

I move Sandro to a peninsula to GermanJoey's northwest.  It has incense but is pretty small, though I can almost get vision into one of JR4's cities from there.

Gem moving north finds a galley of JR4's:



I think we should get moving on an island city too.  Harmondale can start a galley next turn.

Here's what things look like after Gem is done moving:



Those are level 3 cultural borders in a non-capital (that horse pasture is the one near JR4's capital Borte), so that must be JR4's second city Muqa, the Buddhist holy city.  I was hoping to reach it in time to get vision on it, but we're a few turns too late.  It shouldn't take long to make contact with JR4's probable neighbor dtay.  (And hey, we do get known tech bonuses out of that, if nothing else.)

That work boat and galley must be on their way to plant an island city for JR4.  He's still at only 5 cities; though he does have a ton of population in his cities.

[Dark Savant]

Turn 74 (1040 BC) - Part 2

Another work boat is also revealing terrain in the western sea while Harmondale finishes its settler.  I'm proposing cities here:



I want to plant orange dot before green dot -- I think we should challenge Coeurva's borders in the area.  Maintaining control of orange dot's first ring would make it easier for our ships to get in and out of this bay.

Magenta dot looks like a decent site for a first island city.  No first-ring food, but it's very defensible, is decently productive, does get three food eventually (there is a clam in second-ring to its south), and it can help orange dot assert control over the fish tile that Coeurva's city of Whitehall is about to claim.

Also, note JR4's borders up there.  His first island city won't be near magenta dot, but the island settling race with him is now within the planning horizon.

[Dark Savant]

Turn 74 (1040 BC) - Part 3

Poking more at Coeurva's territory doesn't reveal much.



I presume Coeurva's chariot (which is somewhere in his road network in fog of war) is going to cover Dragonish Sicil next turn, which would be enough to deter an opportunistic attack by me.

I'm not sure I want to take both the time and the risk to poke all the way onto the sheep tile, though.  I'd rather start the chariot up north to Castleview, where it can check the fog in Gavagai's territory every turn.

I do move our other chariot north, in case either the barbarians near red dot or Gavagai with his two axes in Ankara try anything.  I doubt anything will happen, but I'd like the extra safety while our Great Lighthouse effort gets serious.  Our new axe heads south, since we don't currently have one in Coeurva's direction.

Coeurva got about 12,000 extra power a couple turns ago, and that doesn't include his defensive chariot last turn.  I have no idea where any of this force is ... it's apparently not pointed at us.  (Not really a surprise; CML would be a much easier target.)

[Dark Savant]

Turn 74 (1040 BC) - Part 4

Domestic update:

Red dot settler currently next to red dot.  Red dot is a forest tile, so it won't actually plant until t76.  Two workers are now in the area as well.

Castle Ironfist's 2-pop-whip overflow is going into a spear next.

Harmondale's settler was 2-pop-whipped this turn.  One problem with sending it to orange dot is that it won't have worker support immediately, though I'll have a work boat on hand to start fishing boats right away, so it will be okay.

Sorpigal is now size 2, and now due to grow to size 3 in 2 turns.

Garrote Gorge is going to return to size 2 next turn.  It won't be that many more turns before it can whip its granary, actually; it can then start on all military all the time.  We can eventually chop some wonder other than the Colossus or the Statue of Zeus there.

Castleview whipped its lighthouse.  I had to throw in an extra commerce tile in Harmondale so that we actually get Masonry next turn, so all the overflow and one chop can land in the Great Lighthouse next turn.

Speaking of the Great Lighthouse, I don't believe JR4 is a threat.  Muqa is a powerful city, but it apparently recently built that galley and work boat for 103 hammers, which aren't going into the wonder.  He also can't have Masonry yet.  I think GermanJoey is our only competition.

[Dark Savant]

Turn 74 (1040 BC)- Part 5 (C&D)

Score tally:

• Us: +5 points for +1 pop in each of Castle Ironfist and Sorpigal; -7 points for a -2 pop whip in Harmondale and a -1 pop whip in Castleview (19 pop total).
  
• Coeurva: +2 points for +1 pop (22 pop total).
  
• dtay: +3 points for planting city #5 (21 pop total), claiming 2 new land tiles.
  
• Gavagai: +8 points for +1 pop in each of Istanbul, Ankara, and Konya (18 pop total).  Istanbul does not show a new buliding despite having just been 3-pop-whipped.
  
• GermanJoey +2 points for +1 pop in State of Yue (at size 8, now the world's largest city); +3 points for planting Masked Moon, city #6, claiming 7 new land tiles; -5 points for 2 -1 pop whips in State of Zijin and Heavenly Star (18 pop total).
  
• JR4: +7 points for +3 pop (24 pop total), none in Muqa.  (His capital was 2-pop-whipped on t72.)
  
• Krill: +2 points for +1 pop in 12 Monkeys (15 pop total); +3 points for 2 land tiles controlled by Wigan Pier for 20 turns.
  

dtay seems to be doing okay now.

CML (likely in a war with a neighbor) still isn't, though he doesn't seem to have actually lost any cities yet.  He hasn't whipped anything for about 10 turns after quite a lot of whipping earlier.

State of Zijin has now been 1-pop-whipped twice in 3 turns.  I wonder what GermanJoey and JR4 are up to on their mutual border there.

I adjust EP point distribution to put 1 into Krill (he has 43 into us, we have 42 into him) and 3 into GermanJoey.  I'm not sure if Krill is going to stop or continue to put points into us.

[ipecac]

I'm not sure I want to take both the time and the risk to poke all the way onto the sheep tile, though.  I'd rather start the chariot up north to Castleview, where it can check the fog in Gavagai's territory every turn.

Agreed.

Also, Krill didn't take any of Ventessel's cities, right?

[Dark Savant]

The current game delay is my fault -- I forgot to pause the game when I should have.

Also, Krill didn't take any of Ventessel's cities, right?

Nope.  Ventessel will survive for quite a while longer.  He almost certainly has Archery, and hasn't whipped his cities for 10 turns, so he'll have a chance to recover some.

I'm pretty sure no one has taken anyone else's cities so far (unless dtay taking a barb city counts).

[ipecac]

The current game delay is my fault -- I forgot to pause the game when I should have.

No big deal.

Nope. Ventessel will survive for quite a while longer. He almost certainly has Archery, and hasn't whipped his cities for 10 turns, so he'll have a chance to recover some.

Krill's play is very interesting: building Oracle while getting rushed.

[Dark Savant]

Krill's play is very interesting: building Oracle while getting rushed.

Well, the Oracle is in a backline city that was in no danger of ever falling, or likely even being attacked.  And I think Krill knew he could hold off Ventessel, just as I thought myself before the war even started.

I wonder what Gavagai is thinking.  He has to go to war with Krill sooner or later, and I'm not sure there will be a better chance than soon.

[Dark Savant]

Turn 75 (1000 BC) - Part 1

The Great Lighthouse was not built this turn.

Masonry just came in, and we're going to start progress on the wonder this turn.



Our first chop went in -- I had to do that early, since I need a mine on that former forested grass hill.

Am I missing something here, though?  I don't actually see the lighthouse in the global view:



If there's a UI quirk here, I wonder what Gavagai and Krill actually see here.  (Krill should have vision here.  I do want him to see the lighthouse, since he'll then know that's 260 hammers that isn't going into an attack on Gavagai.)

GermanJoey is starting to chop forests for the Great Lighthouse too:



I think that's 3 forests in third-ring for 10 hammers each, and the one next to Seven Mysteries for another 20 (the one to its north is in the radius of State of Zijin).  A 3-pop-whip is worth 35 (not 45 like I think I said earlier ... that's for unmodded BtS, oops).

That's ... going to be unpleasantly close but we still have to keep going.  If I didn't tighten the micro from t84 to t80, GermanJoey would definitely win this race.