February 2nd, 2019, 07:06
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(February 2nd, 2019, 02:22)Charriu Wrote: What's your estimate on the next techs?
At break even (now cap is not on wealth), it's 14t to Astro. It's 20t at 0%, which could be relevant if we keep building units and/or send them beyond our borders. Or, at least, as far as I can tell. I find the interface a bit confusing here, with those different numbers that don't make a lot of sense*. We're going to 1t compass as a warning to Superdeath that he needs to spend beakers down that path if he doesn't want us hassling him with galleons on both coasts.
Not that it looks terribly relevant right now. Superdeath has captured Oasis, and is set to do the same to Liquid Flame. It will be another turn before Elkad can counter at Oasis with his stack. SD has a smaller stack to the north, and Elkad also has to worry about coastal strikes from Magic Science.
Much as our preferred policy would be for Elkad to stay alive and relevant (and for us not be acting like a bunch of backstabbers), and for us to hit SD on the other side while his rifles are stacked over here, we don't feel we can wait seven turns  . Elkad has nothing to resist once SD has taken LF, and we need to take advantage of that ourselves. So, we're setting up to take Hills and Not Rome next turn, followed by Sofia and Antium, and Lake View if we can manage it. One key thing is to burn the Pyramids - they're no real use to us, but SD can use them to get into Rep to fix his economy. Except he's already eating anarchy this turn, having switched to Free Religion. He must be really hurting for happy.
* Best answer I have right now is that there is a glitch, and for a "future" tech it shows time for that tech + 1 where it should be showing total time for all techs in chain.
One question for lurkers: we're possibly about to start racing Superdeath for cities. He is currently playing ahead of us, and we might prefer it the other wy round. When does the turn split kick in? Are we effectively in one already, with the war plan?
It may have looked easy, but that is because it was done correctly - Brian Moore
February 2nd, 2019, 19:35
(This post was last modified: February 2nd, 2019, 19:39 by Old Harry.)
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It looks as though you changed your tech rate while on the tech screen there. Or maybe one number is incorporating your 20% arrow discount and the other isn't. Or something.
No idea on the turn order issue. How does a 'natural' turn split fall (if there is one?)
Completed: RB Demogame - Gillette, PBEM46, Pitboss 13, Pitboss 18, Pitboss 30, Pitboss 31, Pitboss 38, Pitboss 42, Pitboss 46, Pitboss 52 (Pindicator's game), Pitboss 57
In progress: Rimworld
February 3rd, 2019, 06:25
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So, one turn after Elkad echoed fish-fish for the second turn in a row (a mix up when we swapped turnplayers), we have attacked, in a backstab so brutal even we are not happy with it. Elkad definitely saw us coming, as he whipped an extra defender in each border city. Nonetheless we captured NotRome and Hills (keeping it this time), losing only three cuirs (flanking has its uses). Antium and Sofia should go down next turn, probbaly Lakeview and maybe even the 'Mids city. Then we look to push on. The Buddhist shrine would be nice. But Elkad does have a GA, slavery and US cash rushing (with a big pile of gold), so I expect his defence to firm up soon. I have to say that taking NotRome is satisfying. Once Antium has gone our HE/FP city will no longer be one-turnable, which is nice. Well, not until commandos anyway. The screenshot is from after the city capture but before we moved up the rest of our troops.
BTW a delay in turn roll and RL concerns meant we had to play ahead of SD - my wife would have been unsympathetic to cancelling our plans for this afternoon and evening waiting to play a turn in the game.
It may have looked easy, but that is because it was done correctly - Brian Moore
February 4th, 2019, 16:58
(This post was last modified: February 5th, 2019, 15:34 by shallow_thought.)
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Turn took so long I have miserably failed to get a proper report out. Short version: SD took Lakeview ahead of us - it had never reached third-ring borders, so he picked it up after capturing Liquid Flame; he also took Portus (again) opening the way to Elkad's cap. We have hopes that Elkad's big stack will hit back in that region this turn. We took Antium and Sofia as planned. Elkad had abandoned Malepartus, so we took it and (in a stunning reversal) - kept it. Hey, those extra GG points from the Great Wall could be useful. More seriously, we should be able to use it exert cultural pressure with artists ... if we can keep it for a few key turns after the peace treaty with SD runs out.
We're pushing on Venusburg (one longbow) next turn. Nobiskrug (a rather more serious 6 muskets) will have to wait for a bit more force. We have pillaged the hell out of the tiles around Lakeview (I think SD missed a trick here - Magic Science taught me well earlier around PP: EDIT D'oh wasn't until we captured Mids city that the tiles became available to pillage ); together with our city capture gold we gained over 300 this turn, which is a nice push towards Astro.
The idea is that the Rep + threat of Astro islands gives us a potential long term advantage that Superdeath cannot ignore. Even if SD manages to take Malepartus from us cheaply, he'll need _another_ turn of anarchy to get any use out of the 'mids. So he's going to have to attack us seriously to win. And defence is king in this game, at comparable power/tech levels. At least if it's competent. That's the theory...
It may have looked easy, but that is because it was done correctly - Brian Moore
February 5th, 2019, 12:46
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One screenshot to illustrate the new conquests.
Holding them could be tricky, once peace runs out with SD.
It may have looked easy, but that is because it was done correctly - Brian Moore
February 5th, 2019, 16:37
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I took Elkad at his word in the tech thread and told my wife we had time to go out for dinner this evening. Then Elkad logged in, so Hitru stepped up to play while I had a nice fillet steak and a glass of Bordeaux. Everyone was happy. Well, maybe not Elkad.
We moved on, razed Venusburg and planted a new city 1S. Shame to burn the pop, but we need the borders to help secure our land. The pillage gold cuts another turn off Astro. The neutral lands between us and Superdeath are a wasteland (he has been busy too). Soon not even the roads will be left - although that's more of a defensive thing.
In even better news, while we've been rushing on and losing the odd cuir, the fighting has been bitter between Elkad and Superdeath. We're back on top of the power pile. We've sent crab-crab and iron-iron to SD, but I don't imagine either of us will trust the other at this point.
While my natural inclination is lean into Rep/Sistine to but beaker and culture pressure on (with a little bit of Astro-threat for spice), Hitru has raised the question of what else we could do with a war-peace. Eat anarchy, switch to Police State and finish this? I'm afraid that you don't get a a full t250 overview, but here are some graphs. That Mfg could be good either way, turned into units or used to help revive the GNP. We have to bear in mind that SD will start to get value from his conquests soon, which may reduce our relative lead.
It may have looked easy, but that is because it was done correctly - Brian Moore
February 7th, 2019, 14:02
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Turn pace has slowed, understandably. I'm afraid I play my part in that with my narrow turn window. Magic Science burned Nobiskrug from under our noses. Time for another IMP settler, probably for one off the coast (at this point in the game it's not a huge loss not to be able to work the sea). Superdeath is operating to our east - if Elkad really wants to annoy him he could evacuate one of his cities EOT and I've risked positioning a lone knight to burn it. Long shot. We'll hit Canoel (the Buddhist holy city) with a stack in another 2t, if MS lets us.
It would be nice oto be able to hold it. Our economy is the best in the world and it's a wreck. We'll crawl to Astro in 6-7t depending on pillage gold, but beyond that? We'll get a GMerch soon, but pushing him off in a caravel to visit MS seems ... risky. And we'd have to find the hammers to build the ship, in war-weary Cuzco. Bulbing Econ is a waste, as that actually costs us a few castle trade routes, including one in the capital. So we'll slow-tech Econ and try to bulb as much of Corp as possible. Whether this will ever be relevant is questionable. Maybe Superdeath will accept a war-peace. I'm so happy we were'nt involved in the fight this graph shows.
It may have looked easy, but that is because it was done correctly - Brian Moore
February 9th, 2019, 06:44
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Apologies for the absence of screenshots, just not organised today: only a summary.
Economically, we got the AP, bumping our Mfg from 545 a couple of turns ago to 581. We also got a great merchant; someone got a Great Scientist.
Elkad managed to get to Chemistry, but I doubt he'll get much further. Superdeath looks due to capture Munselvache next turn, and we're set up to attack Canoel. That will leave him with just his capital. We'll offer peace and OB once we have the Buddhist holy city, see if we get a chance to hit SD in Elkad's land.
We get one more turn of peace with SD after this. We're setting up to hit Lakeview and Liquid Flame immediately, but we're still not certain what our best option is. If we could get long term peace we probably win, but 10t might do nothing but let SD replace his losses. It's getting damn near to a zero-sum duel now. We're ahead, but one big mistake could turn this round again.
It may have looked easy, but that is because it was done correctly - Brian Moore
February 10th, 2019, 11:24
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We captured Canoel, with its 29gpt shrine (well, once it's out of revolt). We're going to try to keep it. Superdeath captured Munsalvache, but didn't advance any further. I wonder if Elkad is going to live a little longer? We sent him a peace offer.
It's still going to be war, however, just against someone else. We're setting up to burn both LakeView and Liquid Flame next turn. We'll try to resettle to grab some land, but our priority is to deny them to SD. He's got a stack of 2-movers ready to counter, so we've no chance of keeping them.
We may have higher priorities for any settlers anyway. Astro is 4t away, and we have tundra flood plains deer to exploit. Technically we revealed one when we got optics, but I didn't notice until this turn.
It may have looked easy, but that is because it was done correctly - Brian Moore
February 11th, 2019, 16:46
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Well, we're kind of committed now. Elkad accepted peace, and we chose to ignore Superdeath's crab-crab (with added whale demand - which I think is actually funny). In fact, we've burnt LakeView and Liquid Flame, as planned - not without cost.
A lot of damaged units or expendable knights will die next turn for the privilege of lighting those flames. We think it's worth it to keep the SD/Elkad feud alive a bit longer (with associated war weariness). We're also trolling SD with the threat of G2 muskets ripping his gems up (OUR GEMS!); he's had to respond by pushing units forward. Pressure, pressure is the name of the game.
And why do we feel we can do this? Here's some demos. We've chosen to spend some of our gold on unit upgrades, delaying Astro though. Just for a little bit of extra safety.
It may have looked easy, but that is because it was done correctly - Brian Moore
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