[SPOILERS] Charriu and Zalson are fighting the honorable post count war!

[Charriu]

I thought a lot more about switching to Judaism and Organized Religion now and taking 2Ts of anarchy. I deceided against it for the following reasons:

• 2Ts of anarchy will mean that Forza won't produce culture for 2 turns, which would be 8 less culture in there. The tile 1NW is already at 50%. The only way to win in this culture war is if I can get Forza to the next culture level at 100 culture. I don't know the exact current value, but I think I'm at 67 culture right now. Will post the actual number next turn.
  
• Of course the best solution to this problem would be to take Schilda, but right now I don't have the force to do that. There are constantly 4 archer in there and OT4E can reinforce Schilda quickly; I learned that from the last war.
  
• Right now OT4E's army is a bit far off from me. That gives me a bit of time to produce more units for defense. The anarchy could give OT4E an unit advantage in an upcoming war. OT4E is also at peace with RFS, so I don't know what his next moves will be against me or RFS.
  
• I just need 2 more turns to get tech vision on OT4E. Anarchy would delay this, too.
  
• I will finish a market in T116 in Exdeath, which will provide 2 more happiness there, which I can use to work more commerce.
  
• Right now I'm building more units as I may need them for defense, so the benefit from Organized Religion wouldn't be that big and for that I would need to actively spread my religion more.
  
• Superdeath power also started to increase last turn. I know I accepted his crab for crab deal, so he's likely not attacking me. But I may need troops to take advantage of any upcoming situations.
  

[Charriu]

T110:

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Great, Judaism already spread to Karlabos. Now if it only would spread to Forza.
I noticed that poor Shallow has his galley also trapped behind RFS border. Well at least I can leave this lonely island now, by declaring war on RFS again.



Just a quick look at RFS' capitol and yes it is still heavily defended; no way to take that out soon especially because he has walls.



So that is Superdeath's new city. He's slowly filling up the space between him and OT4E.



Superdeath really hates roads it seems. That could bite him later. His Impis can't defend against every unit type.



I took the opportunity to pillage a cottage near OT4E's border for 14 gold. No reason not to take it.



Unfortunately OT4E's unit count in Schilda has risen. I intend to mass more units in Forza to discourage any attack on me. Forza itself is now at 71/100 culture and needs 8 more turns, it will be a close race for that tile. By the way I also noticed that OT4E has stone for trade, so I could expect walls from him.



Way to late I took a look at the diplomatic deals by the other players. Looks like Magic and OT4E do have a border with each other. That's very good as it could mean that OT4E's attack could be diverted against Magic.
On a more frighting note Superdeath and OT4E have a crab for crab and copper for copper deal. That's not good, but it at least explains there non-border. I doubt that their alliance will break soon. Allying myself with Shallow with a copper for copper deal could be a smart move.

Normaly I would now do the graph section, but I did decided to put them into a seperate post, both for the lurkers, who are not interested in that and to raise the post count even further. By the way what is the MP report with the highest post count here at RB. Have to check that. 

[Charriu]

Graphs



GNP is a bit misleading here. On the one side I researched by building a lot of research the last turns, but on the other side I'm very low on overall culture.



The biggest problem for now is that I don't have much room for any natural expandation. Not like Shallow, Magic and OT4E, who all have the now empty land from RFS to settle.



Food is very low compared to the others, but don't forget that I build Research the last turns and I was almost at the happy cap everywhere.



I'm in a close power race with Shallow, but I don't fear him at all now. Good to see Magic's power so low. Should OT4E start an attack on him, I have to be ready to take some of his cities. I will propably start with his city north of Liquid Flame as it is on flatland and razing it makes rooms for more natural expandation.



Cities:



The plan for Exdeath in the next turns is to finish that market with a double-whip and then quickly grow over those commerce tiles with the additional happiness. I also intend to keep that forest down SE a bit longer, maybe I get another (6th) forest growth. It would also not grant the full chop bonus.



Wing Raptor will be my main unit production center, but for now it will start a monastery and missionary in the next turns.



Karlabos will be a nice specialist city. That's why I started a market here allthough there's not that much commerce. I want those addition specialist slots and the happiness.



Siren is only building wealth for this turn. I will start a settler here next, so that I am ready to settle any open lands near RFS quickly. I might also go for unit production here next turn. Depends on what is happening in the game. So far Siren helped the capitol a lot by growing those cottages.



Lonely Magissa will mainly be building buildings for the foreseeable future. Next after the library is a market.

The main focus of culture attention.



I've been preparing roads towards the wine for when I get monarchy. Other then that I'm finishing a farm on that last grasland tile.



Then crown jewel from RFS. I actually made a mistake in my planning and forgot about the unhappiness from "we yearn for our motherland". I intend to build the moai statues here, but would like to do that when I have stone and/or the border security is a bit better.

[Zalson]

Thank you for sharing all the cities.

Since you're currently out of room to safely expand, you need to grow your cities tall. That means you need happiness. So full-speed ahead on Monarchy -- and then we reconsider our options.

I think revolting to Judaism and spreading that ASAP is the highest priority for now. The 1T of anarachy is worth it for the extra happiness to grow Wind Raptor, Forza, and the capital an additional size.

What's the diff between picking up meditation/priesthood and going straight to monarchy?

[Zalson]

Monarchy is first priority and then i think it's a bit of a tossup: i see 3 paths:

1. Metal Casing > Machinery: trebs and CKN for offense
2. Calendar for +3 happy
3. Construction/Horseback Riding for +x happy from catapult builds

I don't think there are other techs that benefit you as much as these 3.

As for new places to settle: I think the coastal post between Liquid Flame and Wind Raptor is a good post. The second reaching spot, which needs to be settled in force, is that spot in the north by the iron and banana.

Other than that, I don't see very many other areas that are as valuable as taking Schlidda. Which means that trebs/CKN are probably a good idea.

[Charriu]

Thank you for sharing all the cities.

Since you're currently out of room to safely expand, you need to grow your cities tall. That means you need happiness. So full-speed ahead on Monarchy -- and then we reconsider our options.

I think revolting to Judaism and spreading that ASAP is the highest priority for now. The 1T of anarachy is worth it for the extra happiness to grow Wind Raptor, Forza, and the capital an additional size.

What's the diff between picking up meditation/priesthood and going straight to monarchy?

Yes growing tall is the way to go for now. The 1 turn of anarchy is propably the right way to go. I will have tech vision on OT4E this turn, so it might be worth it go for it now. I actually discover meditation this turn and going directly to monarchy afterward does not make a difference. I want the temples from priesthood anyway for a specialist in Karlabos and additional culture in Forza.

Monarchy is first priority and then i think it's a bit of a tossup: i see 3 paths:

1. Metal Casing > Machinery: trebs and CKN for offense
2. Calendar for +3 happy
3. Construction/Horseback Riding for +x happy from catapult builds

I don't think there are other techs that benefit you as much as these 3.

As for new places to settle: I think the coastal post between Liquid Flame and Wind Raptor is a good post. The second reaching spot, which needs to be settled in force, is that spot in the north by the iron and banana.

Other than that, I don't see very many other areas that are as valuable as taking Schlidda. Which means that trebs/CKN are probably a good idea.

I'm pretty sure I want to go for Metal Casing > Machinery next. The only way to expand is by conquest. Calendar only get's me 2 additional happiness from Spice and Sugar and Construction needs Mathematics before it. What did you mean by "+x happy from catapult builds"?
I will look into settling north with my settler from Siren.

[Charriu]

T111:

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OT4E settled two new cities in RFS land. Good thing I pillaged that cottage last turn. And I took the opportunity to pillage that iron mine, too, this turn. That's at least a tiny bit of economic damage.



Found the first sign of Magic's border, which also revealed that Magic and Superdeath share a border. It's really weird that Superdeath and OT4E kept the territory between themselves unsettled for so long, comparing to all other borders.





Why exactly did Shallow and Superdeath the opportunity to build a safe backyard city behind their capitol. Yes, that is a tiny map complain.  



RFS moved an axeman in range of my chariot and I took the opportunity:

C1 Shock Chariot     vs     C1 Axeman = 89.2% -> WIN (2.1 HP)

That gave this chariot 11/10 XP. Hello Heroic Epic.

I then moved the galley towards Liquid Flame and positioned the axeman from the galley as a defense on the same tile. RFS actually double whipped a spearman in his capitol, which was unnecessary, he could have known that I only want to move my galley home. I send him a peace treaty, because I don't see me fighting him in the next 10 turns. Any fight against him without cats is just hurting my defense against OT4E.

Seeing as Shallow is more and more becoming my ally, I send him a copper for copper deal. From now on it's South against North  

I also did not convert to Judaism just yet. As of now only Karlabos and Wing Raptor have Judaism. Karlabos is actually fine without it for a while and Wing Raptor needs to get out another missionary ASAP for Forza. I plan to convert to Judaism in T116, when the first missionary is on it's way to Forza.

[Zalson]

Catapults retain their utility for a long time. If we have strategic catapult reserve, we can use that create happy in cities based on the number of catapults there via hereditary rule.

Perhaps horse archers are a better strategic reserve force because of their mobility.

[Charriu]

Uh Magic just triple-whipped one of his cities. That's propably a wonder he's whipping to completion.

[Charriu]

Had a short conversation with RFS, because of peace treaties:

FYI I send you a peace treaty.

I'll accept. You can move before me on this turn if you don't attack anything. But if I have to sit on this city until someone invents gunpowder, I'll be disappointed in all of you.

I couldn't say this directly to you, RFS, because of spoilers, so I do it here for you to read later. I'm currently not in a position to attack you. Your defense are to strong and attacking you means risking units, which would be to OT4's advantage.