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

[Dark Savant]

t114/115:

I was the turn roll player for t114, and I also played t115 (AD 1).

Currency is due next turn; I'm running Research in a lot of places to squeeze it out.  Krill agreed to straight-up OB/WM for OB/WM, and Donovan Zoi also agreed without the WM exchange.  We've now got OB with 4 players; I'm not going to cancel OB with Coeurva this turn at least.  We'll have plenty of foreign trade routes for when Currency's extra trade route kicks in, which is when I think we can consider being picky about whom to trade with.  

We should probably research Metal Casting as our next Classical technology (I might finally grab Archery), but I'll judge that next turn.

We're also pushing both research and expansion so hard (we planted yet another city this turn) that we're now only 5th in power.  There's no major power spike I can see and we're not really lagging, so I think it's a reasonable risk for now while I frantically try to get our economy all the way up to mediocre.  

[Dark Savant]

t116:

Currency is in.

GermanJoey is now offered OB with 3gpt, except I can't see what our finances are.  I reject the deal to see, and he doesn't have gpt to offer this turn.  Then he asks our Gems for only 5gpt, and I have to turn that down.

I hope this isn't interpreted as hostility, but I'd like to make an OB offer as soon as I can.

[Dark Savant]

Okay, we've now got a lot of markets in production; I'm planning to whip quite a few of them since we're at the happy cap in a lot of cities anyway.

(Anyone who wants to attack us has a good window in which to do so, but there's no sign of impending war pretty much anywhere.)

[Dark Savant]

t117:

There was a barb galley hovering around, and it killed one of our eastern galleys.    At least it was empty, though I'd rather we lost one of our western galleys, since we have much less pressure to build boats on that coast.  (Even if we had OB with everyone and even with circumnavigation, it would take quite a long time to get a galley from the west coast to the east coast without Mathematics for forts.)  Getting triremes is another reason to push Metal Casting, too.

I'm going to have trouble moving around workers as I intended since I now don't have enough galleys on the east coast (just one).  Middlegate has reached the point where it can help build work boats, at least.

I whipped some markets this turn (in cities that can either regrow very fast, or were straining against the happy cap anyway) and will whip some more next turn.  Our score isn't going to like that.

I'm still getting OB requests from GermanJoey and dtay, but they're the ones with the Great Lighthouse and Colossus respectively and are both in Golden Ages, and are both only offering something like 2-3gpt.  With such strong game-leading economies, I don't want to give OB as cheaply as they are asking.  GermanJoey doesn't have enough gpt this turn to ask for, but I ask dtay for OB + 12gpt (he should still make a profit off that).

GermanJoey also wants Gems, which I'd sell if he had more gpt to offer.  (I don't know of a way to signal I'd like more than what he's asking, unless he actually has enough gpt.)

I still am fumbling in the dark how to properly arrange OB and trading in a no-diplo MP game, incidentally.    We do have OB with 4 other players, except I actually have so many cities that I actually make use of them all.  I'd prefer to delay canceling OB with Coeurva until I can get OB with someone else.  (Also, because I'd rather be able to solidify what I've claimed.)

We do happen to have more cities than anyone else (and we have 2 more settlers in transit).  I'm wondering if this is a mistake, but at least having OB with lots of people makes this not hurt our economy.  I'm still concerned that I'm spreading myself thinly for purposes of military, but I really need some way to catch up.

[Dark Savant]

t118:

Uh, that's quite the force to defend that island city of dtay's.



That has to a significant part of dtay's offense-capable force (his power is about the same as ours).  What is it all doing there?  He doesn't need to defend his gold that seriously, I take it.

dtay didn't accept my offer of OB for 12gpt.  I don't want to feed his economy without some significant return, though if he attacks Wildabar soon with any real force it's going to fall.  I'm focusing too heavily on economy to have any military ready to reinforce Wildabar soon (it has a spear and a sword).

Wildabar is the city site I grabbed one turn ahead of JR4, and I pushed culture heavily enough here to try to steal second-ring food from both dtay and JR4 (I should be able to claim the clam from JR4's city).  I'm sure they're both annoyed at that.

Okay, this city does have "attack me" written all over it -- time to swap from a granary to walls.

[Dark Savant]

So is either dtay or GermanJoey going to attack me because I'm reluctant to feed their game-leading economies?  dtay didn't want to pay 12gpt for OB and didn't make a counteroffer, and GermanJoey still doesn't have gpt to give so I still cannot make him a counteroffer.  (Even +12gpt isn't really that much now; it wasn't long ago that would have meant a lot since I was at +20gpt for a while, but now we're at around +100.)

Exports-Imports is dead last, of course, even without OB with dtay or GermanJoey.

JR4 founded Confucianism in an island city bordering some of ours -- at least it's not going to do any more than steal plain coast tiles.

Next turn, I'll be able to start 100% research into Metal Casting, and I should be able to finish off most of it and get it on t120, so I can start building workshops and forges.

After that ... well, I'm not sure what I'm going to do.  I need to plan for the upcoming Golden Age, which sounds like getting Monarchy so I can revolt to Hereditary Rule.  I doubt Organized Religion is actually worth it with religion in a grand total of 3 cities (and with lots of basic infrastructure already done by that time anyway), but I'm not sure what other new civics I can reach in time.

That is, if people don't decide to just kill me first.    There's still room to put down settlers out there, though.

[Dark Savant]

Incidentally, our "natural allies" yuris125 and Krill are now the only rivals we don't have at least a little border exposure to.

We border Coeurva and Gavagai by land; there was a race for the islands to the northwest with dtay and JR4; and we now have a significant island border with GermanJoey to the east.  We've got only a little exposure to CH/DZ/Ventessel, but there's an obvious plant spot between us that's a little too much of a reach now.  (Well, I'd think about it if we didn't just have a nearby galley sunk.  )

Right now I'm a little busy claiming island cities near Coeurva (I'm still not yet ready to drop OB with him, for that reason), and finally claiming the ivory source near our capital, but we can push at least another city or two on islands to the east before we have to resort to backfill cities (we've got about six such sites on the mainland that I've just never gotten around to, heh).

[Dark Savant]

t119:

Oh, Stone gives a +100% bonus to walls in this mod?  I thought it was +100% in base BtS and +50% here.  Okay, we can whip walls in Wildabar whenever now, back to a granary.  dtay incidentally just swapped to Vassalage, which I'm sure will be fun for someone else.  Possibly me, because I just planted a work boat on the second-ring fish he had a work boat next to.  

It's much more likely dtay will attack yuris125, really.  GermanJoey is also much more likely to attack CH/DZ/Ventessel.  I think I can frenetically build economy a little more.  We now have a bunch of markets, with two more due next turn, just in time for forges to become available with Metal Casting.  Ivory will also be hooked up next turn, as I just planted city #20 next to it.

That barbarian galley headed west and might well rip up work boats at Middlegate.   I think I'm going to have to start and whip a galley there; this is delaying work boats significantly at island cities in the area.

I'd love to build even more settlers, but I'm growing vertically some before doing so anywhere.

dtay proposes OB for 7gpt, which doesn't sound like enough to me.  He doesn't have enough gpt to make a counter-offer, but I can try to sell Gems and OB to GermanJoey for ... let's say 16gpt this turn.

[ipecac]

-Looks like good, aggressive island expansion
-economy looks much better
-multipliers are still +100% for non-wonders like Castle or Walls.
- you should try to swap into caste during the golden age to get GPP for the second round. You'll need courthouses eventurally anyway to continue having graphs.
-yeah, backfill on mainland can wait.
-build trireme to hit barb galley instead of galley, which doesn't get good odds at all.

[Dark Savant]

t120:

Metal Casting is in.  Mass construction of markets is old and busted; mass construction of forges is the new hotness.

Coeurva is the only rival known to have Calendar, and he doesn't appear to have a city prepped to build a wonder; he chopped a ton of forests to build granaries and libraries earlier on.  Mathematics is relatively cheap and I could also use it for the forest chop bonus and its being a prerequisite to Construction.  So I decide to get that (I can get it on t122 if I want to, t123 if I don't rush it), and maybe we can proceed to Calendar and take a flyer on the Mausoleum (and build plantations).  I'll be able to know for sure how many people have it once Mathematics comes in.

I realize this is something of a long shot -- you certainly seem to think it is -- but I need to take chances to have any real chance of catching up.  Garrote Gorge does produce a ton of hammers and has 5 forests left to chop.  (I accidentally chopped one last turn, since I forgot to label one of its forests as partly chopped.  )  Like most of our core cities, it's now building a forge and working high food.

Ordinarily Calendar would also be great for its ability to lift the happy cap, but the happy cap has abruptly gone from "serious problem" to "not a problem at all".

The barb galley is now ripping up fishing boats; I have extra work boats under production now.  I whip a galley to chase it; the barb galley is at 62% health so that should work, and I also need another galley in the area to actually carry things.  (I also didn't have Metal Casting last turn to start one.)

I don't think OB with dtay or GermanJoey is going to happen.  Every single city of ours now has 2 +3gpt trade routes, so them offering ~6gpt isn't really worth feeding a game-leading economy, and neither wants to bite on offering 10-12gpt.  (They'd be able to see I'm trading with Krill, but he's not the one with the Colossus or Great Lighthouse.  No, Krill just built Shwedagon Paya, almost certainly so he can revolt to Theocracy.)