It's been a while and the game doesn't look as though it's going to end soon, so let's have a report
Firstly, things are heating up again on the international stage. After DZ was eliminated not much seemed to happen for a while, but last turn Rusten declared war on Naufragar and Commodore:
I can see him attacking Commodore, but I don't understand the attack on Naufragar. Anyway, I expect this to be a very bloody war. Both Rusten and Comm have large empires, with many coastal cities and many islands. There is no single "front line" to fight over. In fact, my scouting Caravels have only revealed an attack by Commodore on Rusten:
But Muskets on Muskets, without collateral support, is not going to get either of them very far. Fleet battles will be important, but only if it allows for landing a real army in either of their cores. there'll probably be a number of peripheral cities changing hands.
Here's the power graph:
They're evenly matched, and I don't know if Naufragar will have much of an impact on the fight. But what will BGN and Gavagai do? Gavagai is better situated to do something, but what that is, I can't guess. I need to be prepared for an attack though, in case he uses this opportunity to attack me without worrying about being eaten by either of the sharks. I got Chemistry 1 turn ahead of him, but that doesn't amount to a whole lot. I need actual frigates. I had prepared for this by pre-building Triremes in many cities to become Frigates in the queue:
I also realised I need to do something to improve my commerce/gold. My teching is good, PHI/CRE means cheap Libraries and Universities, but I still have high costs, and my last two Villages are about to become Towns, so no commerce growth there. The quickest and easiest way is with Castles, since each of my trade routes these days are worth 5-6 commerce. Unfortunately Economics isn't very far away, so I won't get a lot of utility out of them, but in those cities that can't build Market/Grocer in a reasonable time, it's a worthwhile investment. I had to cancel my Stone-Marble trade with BGN though, but that's ok, I used the Marble to get the National Epic, and there's nothing else I need it for.
Here's the GNP graph:
I had all my cities on Wealth for a few turns to get Chemistry with the cash I had on hand, so it's a little inflated, but even without that my GNP is #1 while teching:
My tech path is going to be Replaceable Parts->Rifling->Nationalism. I wasn't able to get to Chemistry ahead of anyone (I forgot that I needed Engineering and for some reason I thought I could bulb it, more on that later). But I will be able to get to Rifling ahead of everyone else. I'm sitting on nationalism while I save cash so as not to scare anyone who might have tech visibility on me.
I also made what was possibly a mistake this turn. I had amassed three Great Scientists, and my thought was to use them to bulb, but they only generate ~1950 bulbs each, which is a lot, but techs are getting very expensive. I had previously assumed that the game would be over by the time an Academy paid for itself in beakers (ie: produced more beakers that the bulb would), so I had decided to forget about them. But the only tech I can bulb with them was Scientific Method. Which is good, especially for Physics and Airships, but Physics is so expensive. But in the end I did use them to bulb most of SciMeth:
Three Academies might not generate that many beakers before the game ends, but at least I'd have been able to put them into more useful techs
Let's just hope the game lasts long enough for me to get to Physics and control the skies with my mighty Airships.
So my plan is to get to Rifles, upgrade a bunch of them, and attack BGN. Not against his mainland (at first), but snipe off all this outer-lying cities and islands, like the ones to my West:
I'm sending a scout to see if he's settled any other cities in these islands. These cities of mine are turning out quite well, the ones on the souther coast are pretty lackluster, but I Got The News is pretty great.
Here's a selection of some of my more important cities:
Capital, good as always. I don't think great enough to warrant Bureaucracy. Environmentalism+Mercantilism is still better right now.
Top hammer city, making 40/turn with the Forge
Moai city, nuff said.
My next Great person
Followed by this one
And then this one, from my National Epic city
These three will be used for a Golden Age (although I might use the Merchant to bulb most of Economics, since I'll get a free one from that tech). I'll want to swap to my final set of civics during that Golden Age, which will be Representation, Nationhood, Caste System, Mercantilism, Free Religion. I think that given the techs I can get to, Rep+Merc Specialists are still the way to go. Nationhood is necessary to get units out of some of my hammer-light cities, even 2-pop Rifle Drafts are good.
I'll probably stay in Pacifism for the Golden Age, and see if I can get another Great person out of the NE city, but after that I think that some of these cities are more valuable working tiles and making stuff than sitting on specialists for 20+ turns at a time, and Pacifism is getting expensive as I build more units.
Firstly, things are heating up again on the international stage. After DZ was eliminated not much seemed to happen for a while, but last turn Rusten declared war on Naufragar and Commodore:
I can see him attacking Commodore, but I don't understand the attack on Naufragar. Anyway, I expect this to be a very bloody war. Both Rusten and Comm have large empires, with many coastal cities and many islands. There is no single "front line" to fight over. In fact, my scouting Caravels have only revealed an attack by Commodore on Rusten:
But Muskets on Muskets, without collateral support, is not going to get either of them very far. Fleet battles will be important, but only if it allows for landing a real army in either of their cores. there'll probably be a number of peripheral cities changing hands.
Here's the power graph:
They're evenly matched, and I don't know if Naufragar will have much of an impact on the fight. But what will BGN and Gavagai do? Gavagai is better situated to do something, but what that is, I can't guess. I need to be prepared for an attack though, in case he uses this opportunity to attack me without worrying about being eaten by either of the sharks. I got Chemistry 1 turn ahead of him, but that doesn't amount to a whole lot. I need actual frigates. I had prepared for this by pre-building Triremes in many cities to become Frigates in the queue:
I also realised I need to do something to improve my commerce/gold. My teching is good, PHI/CRE means cheap Libraries and Universities, but I still have high costs, and my last two Villages are about to become Towns, so no commerce growth there. The quickest and easiest way is with Castles, since each of my trade routes these days are worth 5-6 commerce. Unfortunately Economics isn't very far away, so I won't get a lot of utility out of them, but in those cities that can't build Market/Grocer in a reasonable time, it's a worthwhile investment. I had to cancel my Stone-Marble trade with BGN though, but that's ok, I used the Marble to get the National Epic, and there's nothing else I need it for.
Here's the GNP graph:
I had all my cities on Wealth for a few turns to get Chemistry with the cash I had on hand, so it's a little inflated, but even without that my GNP is #1 while teching:
My tech path is going to be Replaceable Parts->Rifling->Nationalism. I wasn't able to get to Chemistry ahead of anyone (I forgot that I needed Engineering and for some reason I thought I could bulb it, more on that later). But I will be able to get to Rifling ahead of everyone else. I'm sitting on nationalism while I save cash so as not to scare anyone who might have tech visibility on me.
I also made what was possibly a mistake this turn. I had amassed three Great Scientists, and my thought was to use them to bulb, but they only generate ~1950 bulbs each, which is a lot, but techs are getting very expensive. I had previously assumed that the game would be over by the time an Academy paid for itself in beakers (ie: produced more beakers that the bulb would), so I had decided to forget about them. But the only tech I can bulb with them was Scientific Method. Which is good, especially for Physics and Airships, but Physics is so expensive. But in the end I did use them to bulb most of SciMeth:
Three Academies might not generate that many beakers before the game ends, but at least I'd have been able to put them into more useful techs
Let's just hope the game lasts long enough for me to get to Physics and control the skies with my mighty Airships.So my plan is to get to Rifles, upgrade a bunch of them, and attack BGN. Not against his mainland (at first), but snipe off all this outer-lying cities and islands, like the ones to my West:
I'm sending a scout to see if he's settled any other cities in these islands. These cities of mine are turning out quite well, the ones on the souther coast are pretty lackluster, but I Got The News is pretty great.
Here's a selection of some of my more important cities:
Capital, good as always. I don't think great enough to warrant Bureaucracy. Environmentalism+Mercantilism is still better right now.
Top hammer city, making 40/turn with the Forge
Moai city, nuff said.
My next Great person
Followed by this one
And then this one, from my National Epic city
These three will be used for a Golden Age (although I might use the Merchant to bulb most of Economics, since I'll get a free one from that tech). I'll want to swap to my final set of civics during that Golden Age, which will be Representation, Nationhood, Caste System, Mercantilism, Free Religion. I think that given the techs I can get to, Rep+Merc Specialists are still the way to go. Nationhood is necessary to get units out of some of my hammer-light cities, even 2-pop Rifle Drafts are good.
I'll probably stay in Pacifism for the Golden Age, and see if I can get another Great person out of the NE city, but after that I think that some of these cities are more valuable working tiles and making stuff than sitting on specialists for 20+ turns at a time, and Pacifism is getting expensive as I build more units.
? It has to be unanimous obviously, if you want to keep going you should and no one will begrudge you that...
