Eh, GJ started the cultural war in State of Zijin by planting it. Also he built a monument very quickly (one turn before ours) and a barracks not very long thereafter. (I think at least ten turns later though.) Either way, who started it doesn't matter as much as who controls the key tiles.
It's important not to lose control of the contested tiles if possible because as long as we're ahead, we only have to match GJ's per-turn cultural production; if he gets ahead, we have to either exceed his per-turn production (like we did at Oghul Qaimish) just to catch up, or wait until we pop third ring borders (which will still take more culture than just a monument to do in any meaningful timeframe) - and in the meantime, control of our second-ring tiles gives GermanJoey tactical advantages.
(August 8th, 2017, 15:13)JR4 Wrote: Btw, Chubei expands its borders in 7 turns. We`re making 5 culture per turn.
Yup; thanks for correcting me. I did know that, but then I got confused and remembered it wrong.
(August 8th, 2017, 15:57)RefSteel Wrote: Eh, GJ started the cultural war in State of Zijin by planting it.
Yes, you`re right. It was an aggressive move to build that city in the first place. Nambui has to produce a lot of culture to compete with Joey`s city. Well, I guess we don`t have a choice here. If we can find a way of getting rid of State of Zijin then all the better. Joey hasn`t played friendly towards us in this game. How do you feel about a knight rush?
It`s getting late so I`m going to sleep soon. Have a good day!
Thinking about it, placing Moai in Nambui sounds like a good idea. It has 4 lake tiles and 9 other water tiles adding up to 13 tiles that will benefit from it. Nambui is slightly exposed but getting a strong port city close to Joey is a big plus. Also, we could block the only tile adjacent to Nambui that`s reachable by enemy ships so the city should be safe. (I like the idea of parking a couple of ironclads on that tile, as no wooden ships would beat that!) Nambui has enough production to complete Moai quickly, especially after we discover Iron Working and build a mine on the jungle copper.
Oghul Qaimish is going to be a front city for a long time and could eventually be one turned by mounted Greek troops. Therefore I`m less keen about placing Moai there. Nambui would need a couple of cultural buildings before being ready to build the wonder. When we get Buddhism and finish the Monastery, at least we`re getting 4 culture, equaling Joey`s output. And we could build a Library or a Barracks if needed. Also, we should build a Lighthouse sooner, rather than later as the city is a bit short an good food tiles. Eventually, Nambui could become one of our most important cities.
(August 8th, 2017, 16:20)JR4 Wrote: If we can find a way of getting rid of State of Zijin then all the better. Joey hasn`t played friendly towards us in this game. How do you feel about a knight rush?
Could be a good idea in principle, but will be difficult to execute in practice because GJ is well-positioned and will anticipate it. He would have pro longbows on defense, plus cats and elephants to hit our stack, even if we beat him to Guilds by a significant margin (by no means guaranteed). That's one of the possible timing windows (and often a good one) but we'll have to execute our preparations and war tactics extremely well if we're going to make any headway against GJ. We'll have to see if we can spot an opening and take advantage of it, one way or another - while not creating openings for him!
(August 9th, 2017, 08:16)JR4 Wrote: Nambui would need a couple of cultural buildings before being ready to build the wonder.
Note that Moai itself is a cultural building. Still, you're right that we'll want cheaper (and whippable) sources of culture while we're waiting to hook up stone.
Quote:When we get Buddhism and finish the Monastery, at least we`re getting 4 culture, equaling Joey`s output.
He's actually getting 5 culture per turn, thanks to the millenial doubling of his monument. (Oghul Qaimish's monument will also double in two more turns.) His barracks will eventually double its culture too, but that won't be for another 20ish turns. That's part of the reason I think it's urgent to get more culture into Nambui.
Quote:And we could build a Library or a Barracks if needed. Also, we should build a Lighthouse sooner, rather than later as the city is a bit short an good food tiles. Eventually, Nambui could become one of our most important cities.
As I logged in to the game to play the turn I was greeted by this mysterious offer: What, why!?
It turns out that Couerva got Currency this turn! Our trade balance is now -6. So I`m pretty confident that this is a way of saying: "Please don`t cancel the open borders". Offer accepted! I appreciate it very much, and think we can count him as an ally for now. As we`re getting Currency ourselves in 2 turns we`re set to benefit just as much as him. We probably got lucky that the only player with Alphabet chose us for trade partner. On turn 95 the gold mine will be done, it`s going to help our economy even more. Btw, Dark Savant has a scouting work boat right next to our island cities, if he moves closer he`ll see our galley in Kokejin and probably retreat. I`m planning on sending the archer down to Radnashiri and take the chariot there on a scouting mission.
Our settler/archer pair boarded the galley in Oghul Qaimish and are on their way to the plains hill. (The chariot out there checked that there are no enemy borders visible yet). We can whip Oghul Qaimish next turn for a missionary. Chubei will complete another missionary, as the chop comes in.
Borte started yet another settler. I`m unsure of what to build there, maybe we should swap to a Market once Currency comes in. Oh, I almost forgot, Couerva built a city on the hill SE of Nambui. We can`t really compete for that, but we should make sure that we get the pigs site W of Radnashiri eventually.
Graphs and demos: Check out that gnp graph! We`re going to get a lot of research power once those lovely trade routes double up eot 95. Also, we`re top food for the first time in a while. A part of the explanation is that we`ve been working a lot of lakes the last turns in order to finish Currency on schedule. All looking good. Dtay built a bit more military but nothing too much.
(August 9th, 2017, 10:02)RefSteel Wrote: We'll have to execute our preparations and war tactics extremely well if we're going to make any headway against GJ. We'll have to see if we can spot an opening and take advantage of it, one way or another - while not creating openings for him!
Note that Moai itself is a cultural building. Still, you're right that we'll want cheaper (and whippable) sources of culture while we're waiting to hook up stone.
He's actually getting 5 culture per turn, thanks to the millenial doubling of his monument. (Oghul Qaimish's monument will also double in two more turns.) His barracks will eventually double its culture too, but that won't be for another 20ish turns. That's part of the reason I think it's urgent to get more culture into Nambui.
Joey won`t sit still and wait for us to bombard down the defenses in State of Zijin. He could easily attack out if he gets good odds. Let`s just hold off for now. We could come back to it later if we can gain a research edge or if he fails to defend his city adequately when we have a sizeable 2 mover stack. Building Moai is indeed worth quite a lot of culture, 4 iirc. We should wait until we have stone connected but I`m all for building the wonder as early as we can afford. Ah, I forgot about that culture doubler when a building is 1000 years old. Annoyingly, we`re not making any headway on the disputed lake tile. It`s still 51-48 % in our favor.
I find that deal from Coeurva mystifying. If he was afraid we'd declare war to break the trade routes, why gift us a lump sum instead of gpt? Also, why would he imagine we might want to do that? Even if he's benefiting more, we're certainly gaining value from the deal. Also, why 18? If he's signaling something, surely there's a better way to communicate ... whatever it is? If he's planning a war that he wants us to join in 18 turns, first of all he should be offering something like copper for copper (with the idea being we would reject it no matter what, and offer an identical deal back if we agreed in principle to be war allies) or even copper + fish for copper + cow or something like that to signal "I want to invade GJ by water while you hit him by land" ... and second of all, 18 turns is forever. Any plans he or we make now for turn 111 are almost guaranteed to change. If he thinks he did something we won't like and he's offering to make it up to us with cash ... I mean, 18 gold? Maybe there'll be some kind of follow-up deal that makes sense of this; I dunno....
I'll try to discuss the tactical situation more later.
There`s no denying that it`s a strange offer. If it was meant to be a binding alliance with an attack date, he didn`t have to give us the money. I still think it`s just a sign of friendship (or maybe a small compensation for building a city S of Nambui). After Russia inevitably falls, Couerva will be our natural ally because of our mutual need to contain dtay. If that 18 gold pushes us from the neutral camp to the pro Carthage camp it`s a very good investment. Well, perhaps you`re right that there`ll be a follow-up offer. I guess we`ll see!
Just to make sure, by the way: Nambui has Avoid Growth turned off now, right? It's the sort of thing I would inevitably forget (and really hate to forget). I've got a bunch of other stuff (including another installment of the narrative history) I'm hoping to post later today, but I figured I'd get this item out of the way while I'm thinking about some of the rest!
