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

[Charriu]

Graphs and Cities

Graphs:





I checked this were I would be in GNP if I go full 100%. Second. Well that's better then nothing.



All the golden ages have ended by now. It's a bit sad that I'm only 3rd in hammer.



Strange that Superdeath is low in food. He has way more food resources then Shallow, Magic and myself.



Things will only go up from here. Although I will have to slow down unit production if I want to be stable with the new cities. Another reason why I need Civil Service after Code of Laws.



This one is strange. As you can see Shallow's culture output decreased. The only explanation that I can come up with is that he used the culture slider. He did not lose any cities in that time span.



Superdeath and Magic have build some courthouses as you can see.

Cities:



The unhealthiness in Exdeath is terrible. I'm building a monastery to increase my science output here (Right now I have 85% bonus from buildings). After that I will propably need the aqueduct.



I'm growing the last cottage for Exdeath right now.



In 10 turns I will also get another Great Person from Karlabos. I hope this will be a Great Prophet so I can build the shrine in Wing Raptor, but right now it looks more like a Great Merchant.



This is likely the last CKN for Siren. I may need to build Wealth here for Civil Service and later to stay financial stable.



Magissa will likely need another overflow from a unit to finish the forge.



I already mentioned that I build a settler here for RFS territory. After that it's likely building wealth like Siren.



I'm just building another monastery to speed up the culture situation in Galura. It will take some time until I can either attack Superdeath or Elkad.



I love Moai Statues. Like I mentioned it's 2 missionaries after the CKN and then propably a market and temple for more specialists.



Iron Claw will pop it's borders next turn, which will strengthen my border with Shallow.



With the next pop Byblos will turn out more and more hammers and with that more culture buildings.



Oh Sandworm, what should I do with you right now. Wealth is propably the best until I can spread some farms here.

[Charriu]

Who's winning?

So the snake pick is over and we know what the others have picked. This calls for a classic moment in every spoiler thread; Evaluationg the other players. Notice I only evaluated the players themselves and not their dedlurkers.

1. Coeurva (Rome, Agg/Exp): Played a good and solid game in PB37. Has done some mistakes, but survived until the end and had a good standing. They reported constantly, but could use a bit more screenshots in the future. The civ/leader combo is very strong. The Praetorians together with Agg will be very dangerous with their 7.7 strength (By the way do they still lose the city attack bonus from normal BTS? I have to check this).  Exp should give a quicker start and has some synergy with the UB, which is nice, but does not make the UB any better. Should Coeurva be our neighbor then it will be hard. Even when our archers are in a city on a hill they only achieve 6 strength and our axemen in the open field 7.5. This will be hard as Couerva will use this force for sure. I see Couerva as the top player in this game and the post count war. 
   
2. Superdeath (Zulu, Agg/Cha): Currently is playing in PB39 and PB38, so I put this in spoilers.
   Superdeath had a similar experience to me in PB38, in that they did not survive till the end. After all it was Superdeath's first game on this site. But nonetheless the defensive work shown in PB38 was remarkable. PB39 was a lot better. Currently has a solid standing, but is falling behind on military to his neighbors. One thing I want to point out again is that Superdeath did not want a watermap in PB38. In PB39 their island cities were defended poorly. So there might be a nice chance for a amphibious attack.
   Zulu with Agg is a classic. I expect a fast expansion and maybe some harrasment with Impis. I'm not especially afraid of the Impis because of our Pro/archers. But they could buy Superdeath enough time for expansion. Cha will help in leveraging that bonus from barracks. I put Superdeath in second place and expect great things in this game.
   
3. Shallow (Persia, Agg/Imp): A long time civ player, but never played any game here at RB. Has nice a writeup in the SG section, really like their writing style. Persia together with Agg/Imp is a somewhat mix between Superdeath and Couerva. The Immortal will have 6.4 vs my archers on a hill city with 5.1. This means spearman are absolutely essential against the immortals. Just like Superdeath, Shallow will be able to back this up with a rapid expansion thanks to Agg/Imp. The UB is neglectable as was the case in Couerva's civ/combo. I rated Shallow third, because he did not play MP before.
   
4. Magic (Inca, Pro/Exp): Magic joined this PB more or less before it closed. Recently joined RB, so I know nothing about Magic. The civ/combo is the first more peaceful combo, but not less in power. I'm not afraid of his UU as it only achieves 4 vs my archers. The UB together with Pro is what bothers me more. In addition Exp gives him a great start. If Magic is able to start the snowball with this, they can achieve great things, but then it's still their first MP game here. Rated 4th because of the civ combo.
   
5. RFS (Mongol, Exp/Fin): Started playing Civ4 just this April. The community here helped RFS in a commendable way to improve RFS's game, so kudos to the RB community. Which brings me to the civ/leader combo. Well talking about an oddball combo. I don't see any great synergy between the traits and the civ itself. The civ is a great offensive civ and I will still have to be cautious around the mongols as soon as they get to Keshiks. Exp is a great trait for the start and there is nothing wrong about that. What really is odd is Fin. Maybe RFS did not start on a river or with a lot of coast near by. Or maybe he wanted to take a totally different peacefully civ like India or Carthage. Or somebody took the civ he wanted before him like Inca or Persia. I don't know. Nonetheless we have our true odd ball civ/leader combo; I think every game needs one of these. Rated 5th because of their lack of experience with MP and the civ/leader combo.
   

So those are our competitors. Let's hope that Coeurva and/or Shallow are not our neighbors.

I've looked at my initial player ranking as my current ranking for who's winning looks pretty much the same as my initial thought. So here it goes:

1. Shallow: Very solid position. His acquired ressources leave are great, the only weakness here is iron, of which he ones only 1 at our border and that should be counted safe. Taking that additional southern island was a solid play. Right now I would say he's the tech leader and leader in city count. His border with Magic and Me are pretty peaceful and safe, which leaves only the border with Superdeath as his biggest problem as he only shares only a tiny border with Elkad. He will surely support Magic as long as he can, because Magic is a great buffer towards Elkad. It will be interesting to see how he reacts to me attacking RFS in the next turns, but I will try to stay on good terms with him. Right now he has a great empire and with him being the only player in bureaucracy he will likely solidify his tech lead.
   
2. Elkad: I think he lost a bit of momentum in the last turns. He still has the biggest army of all players and a lot of good wonders, but this also costs him a pretty penny and right now he wasn't able to get his army to a great use except against RFS. He only took one city from Magic and I was now able to deter an attack by him for the second time. Me and Magic are right now his "biggest" enemies as Superdeath remains on friendly terms with him and the border with Shallow is very small. He will have to make his army count in the next turns before praetorians become obsolete.
   
3. Superdeath: He snacked quite a few useful wonders in the last turns and managed to use the peaceful time to get him up to the other two leading players. But on the same time I thinked he missed the opportunity to take advantage of him being the first to Horseback Riding. He also has a big weakness in his resource composition. Only 1 iron in the border city of Deadpool towards Shallow. If Shallow is able to take out this city, Superdeath has a problem. One of the biggest problems is that he has many enemies. In the east he has Magic, who hasn't forgotten the war of no gains in the beginning of the game. In his south he has Shallow and although they have a crab for crab deal their long border is rife for tension. And in the Southwest he has me and I don't trust him that much. With him cutting down the jungle in Spiderman we lose more and more of this natural barrier, which will increase tensions. He also pressured me with his culture, but that was unintenional as he needed it to secure the gems for him.
   
4. Me: I'm behind in tech to most of the other players and I'm only working on the essential techs. That's also why I'm loosing in culture to the others. Elkad is still my biggest fear and problem in the Northwest and with more cities in RFS territory this problem will only increase. So far I'm holding out, but Elkad is right now my biggest obstacle both for winning and surviving. I also have to be cautious about Superdeath. I hope that with bureaucracy tech will go up.
   
5. Magic: He really had a hard match in this game, but he's working hard on it. He has the smallest empire of all other relevant players, but he's making it count. I think he can be glad that Shallow is becoming more and more an ally to him. The danger by Elkad is real and with one can only imagine where Elkad's army is going to next when he retreated from our border. Magic is actually my biggest ally when it comes to Elkad and we will have to fight a joined war against Elkad in the future.
   
6. RFS: I'm coming to "save" you. Sorry, that it took me so long.
   

[Charriu]

T151:

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The turn started with two offers by Magic. First the above sugar for cow trade and then second an iron for iron trade. I accepted both. The first helps Magic more then me, because thanks to Heredetary Rule Happiness is no problem right now. But I'm glad to help Magic. The two midfield players have to stick together after all. Iron for Iron is interesting. It could be that Elkad is at his gate. Should a war between those to start I will propably join the war effort if only to kill Elkad's spies in RFS territory.



I found this horse archer stack from Shallow at his border with Elkad and...



...another attack force just to the west of Elkad's border. Uh boy maybe finally something is going to happen. I also noticed a settler near the horse on that screenshot, who is heading west. Shallow knows about my attack force so maybe he's trying to sneak in another settler. Oh, and by the way the worker on the hill is building a windmill, so Shallow is also at Machinery. Told you he's the tech lead right now.




My attack force for RFS. Notice that 3 more CKN are on their way (one finishing in Liquid Flame). Unfortunately Elkad kept his spearmen on the hill, so he knows what's up.



It's only going up from here.



Just for the fun the current civics. By the way do you want to see more of these advisor screens and which would you prefer?

As you can see from some of the screenshots, I'm running 100% science this turn. I will be able to finish Code of Laws with another turn of 10% or 20% of science. I definitly need courthouse to get maintenance under control. Byblos, Iron Claw, Liquid Flame and those new cities in RFS territory will definitly need courthouses. Even Forza and Galura would be good.

[Zalson]

Do you have both settlers @ the ready?

Who's the next target after RFS? Elkad seems the mostly likely, but only once you can protect forza from 1 movers.

[Charriu]

The first settler is ready. The second is in production in Forza. It should be in the area, when RFS falls.

[Charriu]

T152:

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It's happening: Shallow is moving his troops to the border. I expect him to declare war in T154 with an attack on Not Rome. The timing couldn't be more perfect, because...



... I just declared war on RFS this turn.  Elkad's garrison in NotRome should not stand a chance against Shallow if he can't reinforce it. I feel a little bad that I declare war on RFS first and not Elkad. Feels like I'm letting my allies (Magic and Shallow) down. On the other side it would be really unfair to RFS, if nobody takes him out in time and with Shallow pinning down Elkad I am free to take out RFS.

Shallow is watching my border with Elkad with his immortals. Right now I'm building 2 additional Trebuchets in Galura and Siren. With some more CKN I hope to join the war effort against Elkad soon. If all goes well with RFS I should be able to direct my army towards Elkad from there. Like I said Shallow will likely declare war in T154, by that time I will bombard RFS capitol for the first time. With another bombard in T155 and T156 the defense should be gone. Then it's a round of attacks in T156 and T157. Maybe RFS will fall in T157 if not it should happen in T158.



The current situation in RFS land.



What!  I've lost my long held first place in Export-Imports how can this be.

About some other thought. Should I be able to land a Great Prophet I will see to spread judaism to Magic. He needs a religion and I would be happy to support him.

[Charriu]

T153:

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Mh, an axeman has left NotRome. Well Elkad will be in for a suprise once Shallow shows up at his border.



Apparently Superdeath has started his second golden age of this game. Man he's harvesting Great People like crazy.



The current situation around RFS. He moved a spearman out of the city. First I thought that there could be any reason to move it out, but I found none. Maybe just a misclick. By the way I don't see his worker anymore. He propably deleted it.

[Charriu]

T154:

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Shallow moved some units into RFS territory. Most notable he moved someworkers in to. I think he will try to settle after I killed RFS or possible kill RFS on his own once I weakened him enough. I have to make sure that does not happen. Shallow attack force is still in place at the border to Elkad. Come get it done.  

You also can see two of RFS units casually strolling outside his capitol. I don't know what RFS is trying here, but I took the chance to attack one of his axeman there:

CKN CG1 Drill   vs     Axeman C1 = 98.8% WIN 5.1HP left

Most important this gave the CKN 2 exp and with that another promotion. Awesome  

Other then that I started bombarding the capitol and it's now down from 60% to 36%.

I moved one of my settler together with CKN and workers into RFS territory so that I'm ready to settle. Forza finished the second settler which will be ready to settle, too. I also started courthouses in Forza and Byblos to get my finances under control. In the case of Byblos I was also able to chop once into the courthouse. That was the last forest on my border there, so I'm happy to get rid of it.

[Zalson]

More than likely, I think he expects you to keep RFS's city and will plant in the meantime once you remove cultural control. Just make sure your settlers are able to settle the moment you take the city and you should be fine.

[Charriu]

T155:

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So Elkad also started his second golden age. I also will get tech vision on Superdeath the next turn.



Not that much happened in the war zone except that I bombarded down to 13%. So a very quite turn ended. Oh but after Shallow whipped a lot I'm now second in pop.