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

[Charriu]

T136:

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A very important milestone for me. I survived myself from PB39  But to be honest this game is running on a slower pace, because it's not as lush as PB39. Back to the usual broadcast:



A made a mistake in my last report. Superdeath actually build the great library in his capitol. His Great Scientist was born in The Flash, which he used to bulb a tech.



While we are at Superdeath, he has 1 axeman and 2 chariots in Spiderman and 3 horse archers waiting in the north. I think if either of us or Shallow goes on the offensive Superdeath will attack that player. A couple more spearmen can't hurt in my border cities. I think by now Superdeath lost the right moment for an attack with horse archers. He should have tried it when I and Shallow (has 3 spearmen in his border city) didn't know about it, then he could have gained something from us. Speaking of Shallow



I gave him a marble for stone deal. Liquid Flame will finish it's forge next turn and maybe I can start on moai with bonuses. Marble is really the only thing that could be worthwhile for him, so it's a real deal.

My golden age will also end next turn. I'm running 100% science again like last time. With that it should be less then 232 beakers to finish machinery. Maybe I will run some balanced research so that I can finish it sooner. I should start making plans for an attack on somebody.

[Zalson]

Get those CKNs!!!!!

[Charriu]

Just wanted to return to one of my questions.

Is there any way to see how much trade income the other players get from me?

I'm asking because I think about closing borders towards Superdeath.

[Zalson]

I do not know, but knowing his techs and knowing his open borders partners would allow you to calculate.

He also probably had the largest import/export in demos because of the great lighthouse.

Once you calculate it, reoffer for 40% of the commerce generated in gold per turn.

[Charriu]

T137:

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Just as my golden age ended Superdeath started his with another great person. He generated a great artist shortly after a great merchant, so he must have gotten that from a tech like Music. Also Elkad build the Mausoleum and extended his golden age.

I canceled open border with Superdeath this turn, but realized to late that I can't make an gold per turn offer if he doesn't gain any gold per turn. So instead I opted to ask for 50 gold. That's way cheaper, but should he take it then it will bring me closer to machinery.

I also started the Colossus in Exdeath. I don't intend to finish it, but instead hope for the fail gold. With all the hammer modifier this should be a nice way to generate gold.



I'm loosing the tile NW of Forza again. The big question is who to go to war with. Taking Schilda or Spiderman would take a lot of pressure from me, but I will ponder this question in a seperate post. The jewish missionary in Forza is for Sandworm.



Also just as I hoped my production didn't shrink that much because of the newly build forges.

[Zalson]

The only thing I would say is: try to find a way to put together some overflow now so that once you can build trebuchets, you can overflow or 1 pop whip them to completion.

Then go take down the rest of RFS? Or Schlidda...

[Charriu]

Who to fight next:

I see three potential targets: Elkad, Superdeath and RFS. Shallow is out of question as he's my best trading partner and our border is peaceful.

RFS:

Pro:

• Potential short war
  
• Good gains with his capitol or two new cities in his terrain
  
• With two citys in his territory I may get hold of silk
  
• Another health resource in sheep
  
• Army consists mostly of archers, which can be dealt with quite good with CKNs, Trebuchets and Swordsmen
  
• Would be the nice thing to do to him, right now.
  

Con:

• A dogpile by Elkad and Superdeath could be dangerous, while I'm fighting RFS.
  
• Would not and don't want to get help from other players.
  
• Definitly needs Trebuchets and a few turns of bombardment
  
• Shallow may plant another city between RFS' capitol and his city of Grim Grotto, but it's not a great city.
  
• Shallow could snipe the capitol away from me.
  
• Won't slow down the other 3 leading players.
  

Elkad:

Pro:

• CKNs are quite good against praetorians
  
• Shallow may join the war against Elkad
  
• Even Magic may join in, but I doubt Superdeath will join in, too.
  
• Getting Schilda will take a lot of pressure from me
  
• Hurting one of the leading players
  
• RFS won't backstab me, his army consists mostly of archers.
  
• May slow down his development.
  

Con:

• Elkad has the biggest and strongest army right now
  
• Elkad is the better player
  
• Schilda is a very strong fortress, which will definitly need Trebuchets and bombardment, before attacking
  
• By the time I can attack Elkad has control over the NW tile from Forza
  
• Superdeath may backstab me with his horse archers
  
• The gold will still be in his territory after I capture Schilda, because of his city N of Liquid Flame. Should take out that city, too.
  
• Could turn into a long war, because I would like or need to take more cities then just Schilda.
  

Superdeath:

Pro:

• Taking out spiderman would take a lot of pressure from Galura and secure Siren and Karlabos.
  
• Could plant another city between Karlabos and Spiderman
  
• Almost equal in power.
  
• Shallow may join in the war or even Magic.
  
• Hurting No. 3 in ranking.
  
• RFS won't backstab me, his army consists mostly of archers.
  
• May slow down his development.
  
• If Shallow takes the iron city from Superdeath, then Superdeath will be much less of a thread in the future.
  
• Shorter war then against Elkad, because I would only take Spiderman
  
  

Con:

• Fighting against Horse Archers with CKN is not the best fight, would need more spearmen.
  
• Taking Spiderman would help Shallow in the long run, because this secures him the gems spot.
  
• Backstab by Elkad
  
• Horse Archers can easily run around me.
  
• Horse Archer bonus against my Trebuchets
  
• Need Trebuchets against Spiderman's defenses.
  
• No interesting new resources to get from Spiderman
  
• From his past PBs he tends to do some crazy things.
  

Another important thing to consider is how I would defend against either Elkad or Superdeath:

Elkad:

• Would attack mostly with his 1-mover praetorians
  
• Forza, Liquid Flame and Byblos would be the main attack points
  
• Forza is my best fortress against him
  
• CKNs will be very effective defense against him
  
• All my three border cities have good potential to stall an attack by him
  

Superdeath

• Will attack mostly with his 2-mover horse archers
  
• Attack will mostly be against Byblos and Galura
  
• Siren, Karlabos and Iron Claw will be quite safe because of location
  
• Still a lot of jungle south of Spiderman, which slows his movement in that direction and I will see most of his movement from that direction.
  
• With my excellent road network my spearmen can defend quite good against his fast moving horse archer. Same for my axeman and CKN against his impi.
  

Looking at all of this I would say that an attack against Superdeath would be the worst option. A lot will depend on how the next turns play out and what Shallow will do. If all stays quite I'm tempted to finish RFS. If Shallow starts a war against Elkad I should take the opportunity to attack Elkad too.

[Charriu]

Another big question coming up is next tech after Machinery. By my estimate Machinery will be finished in the next 5 turns. Here are the options that I see:

Aesthetics (448)-> Drama (448): Here the UB interests me the most. With it I can get back at all my neighbors, who are pressuring me on the culture side.

Mathematics (373)-> Calendar (522): Gives me +2 happiness from Spice and Sugar. It also will help Byblos in growth. Unfortunately the wood chop bonus isn't that strong anymore. Aqueducts would be nice for Exdeath. Also with Monarchy I don't need the happiness that quickly. Right now getting more growth is the bigger problem.

Feudalism (1046)-> Guilds (1495): Going full war with Knights and Longbowmen. Unfortunately these are very expensive to tech, too.

Code of Laws (522)->Mathematics (373)->Civil Service (1196): Courthouses will definitly help my economy and caste system would be nice to have. Aqeuducts for Exdeath are also nice, but not that necessary. The big thing going for this is the irrigation and bureaucracy. Those will help my economy and Iron Claw, Byblos, Siren and Forza need more farms to grow. I also get a lot of KTB on Mathematics (4) and CoL (2) and I have both optional techs for CoL. Oh and how could I forget the macemen.

Mathematics (373)->Construction (522)->Engineering (1495): Aqueducts are nice. Cats are a bit unnecessary with Trebuchets. The War Elephant can help against Superdeath, the pikemen even more. Main thing going for this is the castle (trade routes) and quicker road movement. If I take out RFS and re-settle his territoy I might need quicker troop movement for defense.

Right now I'm tending more towards the CoL->Mathematics->Civil Service route.

[Charriu]

T138:

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I'm sorry Superdeath, but I don't get what you want. I can understand the horse as a plan to attack somebody, but why the Marble.    I declined the offer, because I don't get what he wants. He also did not make a counter offer for open borders so he may not be interested.



Uh, Shallow came back with a stone for 5gpt offer. That's actually very nice as I just started the moai statues last turn. I accepted the deal and with it moai will be finished in 10 instead of 14 turns and even faster with the workshop that will be finished next turn. I will propably cancel the deal after 10 turns, so all in all I get a quicker moai for 50 gold. That's fine with me. I also will take the opportunity to build walls in all cities that still don't have them. Oh and by now I think it's obvious that Shallow did not take the stone for marble deal. Sorry for forgetting that detail in my last report.

Shallow also 3 pop whipped something this turn.

[Charriu]

I'm tending more and more towards attacking RFS and razing his capitol. I would settle these new cities instead:



Blue will function as production first and if the danger by Elkad is lower it will be converted to a commerce city.
Yellow will be a commerce city
Pink will be a production city.

To accomplish this I would need 2 settlers the moment I raze RFS' capitol. This should garantee that the other two neighbors don't snatch away any city spots. Yellow would be settled last in this scenario.