I went ahead and did some of the suggested changes. Kokejin could actually turn out a lot of catapults for us. It has a Barracks but not a Ger so building melee/siege units is fine. Muqa wasn`t whipped this turn as the chop can come in next turn and I think we might waste some hammers if we whip out the Keshik. It could build a few War Elephants next. It`s close to the front after all. Chubei whipped out the Keshik and will regrow next turn. It can start a unit of choice then. Oghul Qaimish also started a Keshik. It`s nice having all those Gers built already. Nambui could build a Ger after the Market is done.
I`ll have to see how soon we can get Feudalism with wealth builds. If we can get it sooner than 6 turns from now it makes sense to delay the Hereditary Rule switch as we`re not desperate for happiness (but will be in a few turns)
Dtay`s power graphs will look scary next turn, no doubt. Fish for fish deal offered. Let`s see how he reacts to that..
May be a bit late with this, but: If our next build at Muqa is a WE, and I'm remembering correctly that they cost 60h, then we wouldn't lose any overflow hammers by whipping the keshik this turn.
[EDIT: Showing my work:
40h in the Keshik as of the start of this turn, per a screenshot from T128 + 37h from a unit whip with a forge + 23h of regular production per the city screen you showed = 100h exactly: 50h overflow on a 50h unit with no loss.
With the forge, that gets divided back to 40 base hammers. The chop then provides 30 base hammers, and we get 18 base hammers of regular production assuming we won't be working any priests. So that comes to 88 base hammers going into our next build. Multiplied through a forge, that becomes 110 adjusted hammers for a WE, less than twice the cost of the unit, which means we get 50 overflow. Even if we worked the desert mine, a forest, and a priest instead of coast tiles, we'd still be okay on overflow. With 50 overflow (becoming 40 base but then going right back through the forge for 50) from the WE, we would then be able to one-turn a second WE after that, which would be the point of the whip.]
The turn rolled before I got the chance to do any changes. Okay, Muqa could actually have been whipped without losing any hammers to the overflow cap. Those mechanics are really hard to understand correctly.
Looking forward to that first GP of ours that was born on t130! Hopefully, Couerva`s log in problems won`t cause a reload. Anyway, I`ll get to the turn in a few hours.
Dtay double moved us so he can`t attack us just yet. Last turn we offered a fish for fish deal. He countered with.. the same deal. I rejected it because we don`t want any other players to know about it. That makes me relax a bit. It`s not a binding agreement, of course, but still a good sign. We now have a lot of Keshiks lined up N of Muqa (there are 5 of them there) and another one is on its way. Oh, and as you can see, we finished the Mahabodhi! I really think we have to go for it as otherwise getting a Priest would have taken too long. We got +25 gold from that (Muqa fired the Priest specialist and is working coast tiles). We`re about to consolidate our economy. Feudalism is a 3 turn tech now. We`re not building Wealth but we could do it in the coming turns. Let`s hope the Buddhist spread rate increases just a little bit. Iirc that`s 3 domestic spreads + State of Zijin. Not very impressive in 72 turns.
As you can see from the screenshots, we now have quite a lot of non-military builds. In addition to dtay`s offer we actually got a second offer.. from Joey. He asked for Open Borders. I rejected, as it`s a skewed deal but do we want to offer anything back? Having a friendly Greece counts for something. I`m really torn here, as it will help our economy as well.
Bulugan is 1 turning a Settler, that can found a city next turn already (between Bulugan and Muqa), which we have delayed for too long already. Mandukhai`s borders expand in 5 turns, we should make sure to have 2 work boats ready to net the seafood then. Danashri whipped out the Lighthouse, as it will regrow really quickly. It`s going to be a quite strong city in the long run. Sugabala started a Barracks as it can whip out some units if we come under attack. I like having Barracks in most of our island cities.
Graphs and demos: We`re 3rd in power now so I think we have done enough to make ourselves look like an unappetizing meal. Oh, and I just checked out Civstats. Dark Savant whipped away a lot of population. He must be under a lot of pressure. That might be the reason why Joey is being friendly towards us. Anyway, that`s just beautiful news. We might contemplate building a few Swords on the islands, to make an opportunist attack here..
Rejecting Open Borders with GJ was the right move; we don't want to give him GLH routes, nor let him scout our territory (his GSpy was burned for his Golden Age) nor let him use our territory for logistical purposes against Dark Savant. Meanwhile, the dtay re-offer is great news! This leaves us three general options:
1) If we want to opportunistically attack Dark Savant, we don't need to build swords. For instance: Stick a couple of the axes we already have on a galley (that we also already have) and move it to Oljeii Baaji's crabs, with a couple of archers prepared to move in and hold the city, and if he hasn't reinforced Vulcania by that time, then declare war, move the Galley 2SE, and send the axes in to take Vulcania. Depending on what his other cities around there look like, we might be able to take more than one. This would nuke our trade routes to him and earn his ire, but it would get us another decent island city (and more breathing room for our gold city...) if he hasn't reinforced in time. Of course, given all his recent whipping, he might be able to just take the place right back; the hope here would be that he'd be busy with GJ (it does look like we'll have longbows soonish to help hold our cities).
2) If we want to attack State of Zijin while GJ is hopefully distracted, we need to keep building units and moving them closer but out of his vision. On the turn before the attack, we would ideally want the tile north of Oghul Qaimish roaded with a pair of Workers on it, and as many one-movers (mostly Cats, but maybe a couple Swords or 'Phants) as possible on Galleys out of sight of his Warrior but two tiles of Oghul Qaimish, plus 1-2 more spears and archers in the city itself and a band of Keshiks on the iron mine.
3) If we make no attempt to initiate combat until Guilds, then among other things we should probably choose a couple of high-production Ger cities to get Coloseums so they'll be able to build 3-promo Knights with Vassalage.
Another random note: I believe State of Zijin completed a Buddhist Monastery (by T129).
We finally founded another city this turn, Oljei Taikhu. It`s borrowing the sheep from Muqa. Muqa started a Colosseum. Mandukhai will get both seafood improved right away (D-mishi and Bulugan are making Work Boats). We`re finishing the Fort right next to Mandukhai next turn. The War Elephant is on its way to the Cow tile N of Muqa to show dtay that we have some military (well, he kind of knows that, but still..) Borte started a Monastery, which will improve our science a bit.
The event log told us a few interesting things. There were 2 random religious spreads, a Jewish spread to Angle (dtay`s monster city NE of Chubei) and a Confucian spread to one of Couerva`s island cities. Oh, Krill and Couerva signed peace. No cities traded hands. Joey and Dark Savant are still at war! I really like the plan of assaulting the city just S of Radnashiri. He still only has a single shock Spear there. Kokejin whipped an Axe. Teaming up with the Axe currently in the city they can move to the staging tile next turn already. Pulling out Radnashiri`s axe would look more than a bit suspicious. The Trireme is 2 N of Kokejin, on its way to the front. The other Galley can pick up a pair of Archers, which will be a turn behind. Yes, it`s risky but we might manage to pull it off. If the city is reinforced we need more units to consider an attack.
Graphs and demos: The top crop yield doesn`t improve as much any more but that`s because dtay is building a ton of military.
As you might have noted, we got research visibility on Gavagai this turn. Attention turned to... Joey. We`re making a whopping 14 EP per turn, literally swamping everyone else with espionage! It will only be a few turns until we learn what Greece is up to.
1) A fort 1SE of Oljei Taikhu would allow our ships to (more-)readily pass between the eastern and western potions of the sea.
2) I don't think it's necessary to show dtay an elephant at this point; better to have a more-centrally-located Quick Response Force, I think. There may also be a couple of good spots to use sentry-promoted Keshiks to make sure no attack is brewing on GJ's border.
3) If we're going to attack Dark Savant we should prepare militarily for the possibility that he might not immediately accept peace (and migh try to wreak havoc against us with 3-move ships). If we're going to war, we should be on a war footing, especilally in the actual theater of operations. The actual extent of the Greko-Ethiopian war thus far remains uncertain.
4) Yeah, another of these nights. It's always something... But have great day!
Okay, being prepared for a real fight sounds like a good plan. We are now building a Trireme and an Archer in Bayan Khutugh and Oljei Baaji respectively.
The 5 Keshiks N of Muqa were moved towards a more central position. They will be our rapid response force. We`ll probably have to build up a few Catapults on both of our fronts to be able to attack out. Also, we got vision on the other city of Dark Savant`s further SW of Radnashiri. The good news is that we reclaim the clams in Oljei Baaji next turn! Tulerean Forest is a bit better defended than his other city. He might just build an Archer (or an Axe) in Vulcania before we can hit him.
Finally, I took zoomed out screenshots of dtay`s and Joey`s lands. Btw, building a Fort on the tile SE of Oljei Taikhu is a good investment. I`m starting to understand why it`s important to have a ton of Workers, even in the Classical era. Those forts are really expensive.
