[SPOILERS] Magic Science and Mr. Cairo in Pitboss 40

[Mr. Cairo]

It still annoys me that the barb city names aren't the names of actual cities, but other civs not in the game. Would anyone who didn't know what a city called Hattusa meant have really cared much?

[Magic Science]

It still annoys me that the barb city names aren't the names of actual cities, but other civs not in the game. Would anyone who didn't know what a city called Hattusa meant have really cared much?

For me, that fact is more of an amusing and weird quirk in the game then something that annoys me. However, if Operation Bronze Age Collapse is a success, then I will rename the city of Hittite to Hattusa for you.

[Magic Science]

Turn 49 – 2040 BC
   
This is where we stand at the end of Turn 49, following a new micro path that plans for us to capture Hittite.
 
At this point, I don’t think that I will post any more micromanagement plans like I did earlier. New things keep coming up so quickly that the plans need to be changed before they are even half-way complete. Don’t worry, I will still be doing simulations and making micromanagement plans, but I won’t post the details unless you (or general lurkers, if for some reason they are now interested in micromanagement instead of war and blood) ask. If you notice me doing any thing in one of my screenshots, don’t hesitate to point it out.

In regards to this turn, the most notable event was that Superdeath’s impi is moving in a scary, confusing way. Why is it coming back towards us? The theory that I am going with for now is that it is doing for Superdeath what Quechua Two is doing for us: keeping an eye on what is happening around Hittite. Hopefully it should go away once it sees that Axeman One and Two are coming to take the city. We will just have to wait and see. That impi could be a major annoyance. We have enough units to stop it from actually capturing anything, but it could force some suboptimal worker movements and cause a delay on capturing Hittite.

Settler Three is now out, but it isn't visible because it is on the same tile as the newly-produced archer. New Hong Kong will be founded on Turn 51. Quechua Two is moving away from Hittite to keep a look out for any more impis coming our way. We still don't know where the impi that was responsible for the Great Injustice of Turn 43 went.

[Mr. Cairo]

Looks good, those unprotected workers make me a little nervous, but we still have some time left on the peace treaty.

Good call on the micro plans, they're great as long as everything stays optimal, but eventually diminishing returns just makes them not worthwhile.

What's the power graph looking like? I've noticed that Superdeath hasn't founded a third city, is his power spiking at all?

[Magic Science]

Looks good, those unprotected workers make me a little nervous, but we still have some time left on the peace treaty.

Those workers will be back in our borders and covered by a unit by the time the peace treaty runs out (Turn 54 is the first turn that war can be declared again, unless I misunderstand the mechanics. I should probably check to be sure).

Good call on the micro plans, they're great as long as everything stays optimal, but eventually diminishing returns just makes them not worthwhile.

What's the power graph looking like? I've noticed that Superdeath hasn't founded a third city, is his power spiking at all?

The most recent power graph image I have is this one, from Turn 48:
   
His power is staying about the same. This makes me hopeful that we aren’t going to be facing another war with Superdeath right away, but I am not going to let my guard down. If I need to delay the capture of Hittite or make suboptimal moves domestically to feel safe, then I will. Specifically, Axeman Two might stay behind near New Hong Kong if that impi doesn’t go away.
Oh, and Superdeath actually does have a third city now: Wonder Woman. I noticed that earlier, I just forgot to mention it.

[Mr. Cairo]

hmm, actually, now that you say it I think you did mention Wonder Woman. I had a quick look on civstats and couldn't see a recent city founding for superdeath so I just assumed. I'm just surprised at his low score.

[Magic Science]

Turn 50- 2000 BC
   
Quechua Two found where Wonder Woman is this turn. I don’t mind that spot very much. It being on a hill will be somewhat annoying to deal with when we burn it down some day, but for now it is alright. Superdeath could have claimed the forested corn with a much more aggressive, annoying city, and I am glad that he did not. I think that I will have Quechua Two stay in the area between us and the Injustice League until I am feeling more comfortable with our defenses, but I would like to send him on a scouting mission farther afield someday.

In other news, a barbarian warrior with Combat I and 1.5/2 health appeared in the south. It has the potential to cause some annoyance for the few turns before Axeman Three arrives in the area (Turn 53-54). Axeman One and Two are moving towards Hittite and will hopefully scare away Superdeath’s impi in the process.

Also, I forgot to mention it before, but shallow_thought has FOUR cities now. He is leaving us in the dust.

hmm, actually, now that you say it I think you did mention Wonder Woman. I had a quick look on civstats and couldn't see a recent city founding for superdeath so I just assumed. I'm just surprised at his low score.

Superdeath has such a low score because his population is low. He only has five citizens across his three cities, while most others (not us) have 7.

[Magic Science]

   

He isn't going to just leave us alone and let us take Hittite without interference. I need to think about what to do.

[Mr. Cairo]

are we sticking to a turnsplit right now? If we're not we should be.

[Magic Science]

Turn 51 – 1960 BC
As far as I can tell, it is tradition here on Realms Beyond to do a big overview turn report on Turn 50. However, I am a rebel, so I am going to do one on Turn 51 instead.  Also I forgot to do one last turn. Here we go…

To start, Coeurva finally caved and joined the ranks of the renamed civilizations this turn. His civilization is no longer the “Roman Empire” but the “Reich der Traume.” Maybe he won’t have Praetorians as a unique unit anymore? To be clear, I am still panicked about SHAKA OF ROME , I have just been too panicked about BOUDICA OF ZULU recently to focus on that very much.
   

In the game itself, here is the situation at the end of the turn:
   
I decided to push back the timetable on Operation Bronze Age Collapse. I currently don’t have enough units to simultaneously ensure the capture of Hittite and the safety of New Hong Kong, especially in the light of Quechua Two’s discovery that the second impi is still lurking in the area. I need to wait for more units to arrive first.

Axeman One is still going to stay by Hittite for now. He is there to keep an eye on things and to interfere if Superdeath tries to capture the city faster than me. I have also decided to retreat Quechua Two from no-man’s land. He would be easy prey for an impi once the peace treaty runs out, so I am going to have him head east and scout for potential city spots by the deer instead. Axeman Two is coming back to garrison New Hong Kong. I feel that Archer One isn’t enough with multiple impis prowling around.

As for what the cities are building, New Hong Kong is building a Terrace as its first build for obvious reasons, Sidon is going to pump some more military, and Cuzco is going to build the domestic builds we need for more expansion.

Workers One and Three are going to build improvements for New Hong Kong. What they do after that depends on how Operation Bronze Age Collapse is progressing at that point. Worker Two is starting to road to the south of Sidon, as part of Operation Swheat.
 
“Operation Swheat? What’s that?” you ask. Well, Operation Swheat is my latest hare-brained attempt to claw my way back into the game. Or at least into the “Biggest Minnow” category (more on that later). Operation Swheat is an attempt to settle the contested silver and wheat site in the south. I can have the site settled on Turn 61 with a linking road, an axeman, a spearman, and an archer for protection, and two workers ready to improve the city. In the not-too-unlikely circumstance that shallow_thought gets there first, I will redirect the settler to settle Almaty, the white dot sheep, fish, and corn spot on the north coast. The main thing I am still considering about this operation is what site it is targeting, exactly. For a reminder, here is the geography of the region:
   
I am wavering between one tile or two tiles south of the peak. One tile south is more defensible, but worse in the long term. Two tiles south is less defensible, but better in the long term. La Venta could go on one of the hills to the west of those locations for even more defensibility, but I think that the city would be way too slow without first-ring wheat, especially considering how far behind the Incan League already is.
And about that, let me demonstrate how we stack up to the competition at this point in the form of…

MAGIC SCIENCE’S TURN 51 TEAR LIST
I bet that no one saw this coming.

I feel fairly confident about my ratings and most of my numbers, but keep in mind that I have only actually met two of the other players to see their demographics and confirm my guesses on city counts. There is a chance that I am wrong on some of this. To start…

Tier One – Big Sharks
In this tier we find shallow_thought and Hitru along with Coeurva and OT4E. One of these guys is probably going to win.

shallow_thought has 4 cities, 7 population, 8 technologies, and 170 points. His third city tied Hong Kong for fastest third city in this game, and his fourth city was the fastest by two turns, coming in on Turn 49. He has the only Imperialistic leader in the game, so I expect to see this trend continue in the near future. Right now, he is not a great threat to us directly. His military power is not very high, so the worst I think that he could do would be to steal land I want. However, in the long term he is a great threat. He will continue to expand faster than me, and someday he will probably hit a key military tech faster than me and attack. I would not be surprised if shallow_thought is the one to eliminate me a number of turns in the future. I will have to be watchful.

Coeurva has 4 cities, 9 population, 8 technologies, and 193 points. He was a step behind shallow_thought in founding new cities, but he is still doing very well. He may even be doing better because of his larger population, but I can’t be sure without meeting him and getting his graphs. He is definitely a candidate for eating someone someday, quite possibly with Praetorians. However, unless he is our eastern neighbor (Commodore no ) then he is someone else’s problem.

Tier Two – Smaller Sharks

In this tier we find Superdeath, all on his own.

Superdeath has 3 cities, 6 population, 6 technologies, and 156 points. He settled his third city, Wonder Woman, on Turn 46. I am not sure what makes the difference between him and the Bigger Sharks. It might be the hammers he invested in military, it might simply be poor play, it may be another reason, I just don’t know. He isn’t that far behind the Bigger Sharks though, so he could catch up. However, I don’t think that he will, because he has ME to worry about. I have the largest military in the game due to his attack, and I expect Superdeath to respond in kind. He can’t know that I currently plan to use it only for defense and barbarian fighting. Also, I do want to get revenge on him someday for the Great Injustice of Turn 43. If I ever spot a weak garrison in one of his cities, or if his army is occupied elsewhere… that would be the time to strike. I don’t anticipate every recovering to Great Power status, but I think that I can be enough of a thorn in the side of Superdeath that he won’t win.

However, revenge is a long way in the future. In the near term, I don’t think that there will be a major conflict. We may scuffle over Hittie and I may kill an impi that moves to a suspicious location, but I doubt that there will be anything beyond that. He has not made the gigantic spike in power that I would expect to herald an invasion force. However, he has been researching a technology for a very long time now, and I worry that it could be an expensive military technology such as Horseback Riding or Iron Working. I have given up doing much Cloak and Dagger work, but I will keep an eye out for a power spike and a technology completion coinciding from him.

Tier Three- Minnow Sharks

This tier contains only Charriu and Zalson.

They have 3 cities (as of this turn), 8 population, 7 technologies, 179 points, and approximately one billion posts in their thread. The fact that they just got a third city on the same turn as me does not bode well for them, considering the dire straits that the Incan League finds itself in. However, they appear to have better demographics and more population than us, and they probably have less military pressure, so I will give them the benefit of the doubt and rank them higher. I would say that Charriu and Zalson are the average team of this game right down.

Tier Four – Weak, Small Minnows

This tier contains RFS-81 and… me.

We are the weaklings of the game, and we are probably going to get eaten before the end. RFS-81 has 2 cities, 9 population, 7 technologies, and 185 points. Having only two cities this late in the game is very bad (stating the obvious). It seems that he isn’t whipping very much, so that may explain it. Even I may be able to overtake RFS-81 eventually, although right now he has more population and better demographics, so I left us in the same tier despite me having more cities. If he is my eastern neighbor, that would be excellent.

Now, about me. I have 3 cities (New Hong Kong founded this turn), 6 population, 9 technologies, 3 workers, way too much military, and 187 points. If you need more proof that score is not a good representation of actual strength, then look no further, as I am in second place by score.

I know that I have no hope of victory, so I am going to try to survive instead. However, even that goal is looking difficult. Take a look at these demographics:
   
The snowball has barely even started rolling for the others, and my demographics are already awful. I have a hard time seeing myself fighting off a serious medieval-era attack from a civilization from the upper tiers. With that in mind, I want to deter an attack from coming in the first place. I want to become the Biggest, Meanest, Toughest Minnow in the land, so that when the sharks are looking for snacks they decide that someone else is more easily digestible. If I can get to Feudalism and start pumping out Protective longbows, then that may be possible. That is a long way in the future though. I will think and talk more about it when the time for snacking comes closer.

Lastly, Cuzco’s borders expanded this turn and revealed an interesting piece of information. This:
   
Land ho! An offshore island! I will have to see about getting a scouting workboat out soon to see how attractive that island is for settling.

Lastly lastly,

are we sticking to a turnsplit right now? If we're not we should be.

We are not in a turn split, and you are correct that we should be. We have the second half.

To anyone who made it through that giant, rambling post, thank you for your time. Any questions or comments?