(SPOILERS) SuperDEATH Kills the competition

[superdeath]

Well, since its been awhile i figured id update any lurkers curious about my situation.


OH had been steadly whipping, so i decided to more or less rush to Longbows. Ive built quite a few, and plan on making many more. I was hoping to have a farmers gambit going for as long as possible.. however that buildup couldnt be ignored. So, i declared and killed a pesky spying chariot that "could have" killed a worker or two without me being able to do anything about it. Offered peace so he could show his intentions.. AND......................................... He didnt return a peace treaty. I checked the log, and he killed my scouting Trireme with a GALLEON. So, im willing to bet my reputation here that OH has a bunch of whipped galley to galleon upgrades coming, plus CKN's. Not good... not good at all. im about 2-3 turns away from optics, and another 3-4 turns away from paper for privateers. Im not likely to lose more than 1 city and it shouldnt be Timewalk or Black Lotus. The "best" thing he could do from his view, is land a sizeable stack on my south coast and just start marching and burning all my size 1-3 cities. If it looks like he's going to do that, i simply have to go HBR or HBR-Knights which would only take.. 6ish turns to complete. Im not afraid to ruin his chances of winning via privateer harassment if he decides to dick around with me when Donovan/lewwyn are weaker than I, and better targets. I can see attacking me before i consolidate all that land i have to the south.. but i cant see that working out for him longterm.

So, i sent him a peace treaty + 10 gpt. If he doesnt accept/reoffer... i guess we both get to spend 50-100+ turns playing a game neither can win.. Yay?  

On brighter terms, im fairly sure i can pull off a win if im left alone for another 30 turns or so. Im 4th in land right now, and i have another 6+ cities to go without even counting all the islands to my north/west that i can probably settle. My gnp is already fairly decent even when im whipping/building units instead of grocers/libraries/courthouses.. AND i just teched Compass for Cothons.. so another 30 turns of peace would be amazing.

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[superdeath]

havent posted in a little while, been busy. But anyway-

Im not in a "winning" position, however, if left alone i think i have enough land to compete for a spot. I just have to make sure OH doesnt start a doom both of us kind of war.. so for that reason i teched paper, and i am building privateers to protect my coast. Picking up some basic stuff i passed ( construction ) while teching to knights-banks-either Taj ( unlikely to get ) or directly to rifles. Im currently 4th in land, and i can almost double my current city count with cities i can see as "mine" along with a potential conquest of OH's island cities if he doesnt get a better navy soonish.

I really shit on my start by rushing TGLH, but its what is currently keeping me in the game.. so, maybe others just got more/better land? I look at everyones "hooked up" resources.. and they have like double the amount of GOOD food compared to me.. like Fish/corn. vs my... clam and cows.. Eek. I will take down anyone that tries to conquer me however.. Which if OH plans another attack WILL be his downfall. Im going to guess either Gav, or Krill wins this, with an outside shot of myself, OH, or Mr.Cairo.

OT4E is about to get hit by like 30+ units, half of which are knights from Gavagai.. and when that happens im taking OT4E's island cities. Hopefully i have a bit more time to prepare b4 that happens tho..

 

[superdeath]

im roughly even with most of the big tech leaders in terms of overall beakers.. Although i cant really count music anymore, as its really only good for Sistine and the free GA.

[superdeath]

Ive realized that expanding this late in the game is only good if you know you can survive another 50-100 turns for the cities to mature enough to be productive.. ive realized my fatal flaw lol,.. I plan to correct many of these in the future pb43. While ive caught up with the pack/maybe slightly ahead of the pack in overall cities.. mine are much smaller in population, thus working less tiles and producing less stuff. So, what do i do with my current state of the empire? Be prickly, and show that i can and will take someone else's game down with mine if they interfere with my long-game plan. im still looking at nearly doubling my city count through a bunch of islands and a couple more mainland cities. Protected by privateers, and longbows.. i should last till the game is called one way or another.. but if someone attacks OH and leaves his islands untouched i could possibly vulture some of it.

[superdeath]

Alrighty, i have plans to plant another 7-9 cities ( or capture upto that ) within 25 turns or so.. i know, not the greatest/fastest time frame but i do what i can. Im teching engineering for defense, both in faster movement along my large landmass, and for pikes against all the neighbors i have with knights. I have paper up on alot of my neighbors, so i have been building a fleet of privateers. Going to hope ( and use my paper tech visibility ) to grab the Taj if i see no one else going for it, otherwise i think i have an outside shot at liberalism? What can i do with Taj or grabbing Lib? Hopefully establish some sort of minor/major tech lead vs all these warmongering neighbors, and then run them over with Rifles or at least survive till the end.


( 10 screenshots )

  

[superdeath]

Well Superjm, the rome that had the mids, and has less cities than i.. ( somehow ) grabbed the Taj. I suspect he will take all the good first-to during his Rep boosted GA.. Sigh. Ill be finishing Guilds, and then im only down Banking, and literature on anyone relevant.. I know i can compete with the others if im able to stall for peace, just need more infrastructure. Building a bunch of castles soon, which will add more 4-6c trade routes.. at 30% research im 2nd in gnp, behind only Superjm and his GA. Basic plan is to finish key infrastructure and then complete my defensive stack requirements i set for myself, 10+ cats, 10 privateers on each ocean. Going to tech to replaceable parts, and use the pp/rp boosted eco to head for rifles and then to frigates/transports ect. If the game isnt called by then, ill be able to take land from people that are currently behind/going to be behind. Funniest thing about this map is that only 1 city of mine isnt on the coast. Feels like PB39 all over again. Hopefully wont be in the position to just play kingmaker again tho.

[superdeath]

Finishing up some castles/cothons in key cities, then im pushing knights, and ships while teching to Rifles. Time Walk might pop a GE and if it does, im going to detour to Democracy for the Statue of Liberty, and rush it. With rifles, and if need be, superior navy.. i should be pretty well off. Hopefully OH has to fight someone soon, and maybe Gav hits a roadblock? I dont really want Gav building a navy on my side of the ocean. Going to keep a fair sized privateer force there soon.

From eyeballing- Krill has roughly 6 more cities than me, and Gav about 11. I have plenty of land to settle still, just got to fit it into my production que's. Superjm continues to tech like a madman, forgot to grab the tech screen. Its looking pretty good for myself right now, keeping up with the tech leaders/might be a tech leader myself. Superjm is the only one with some expensive tech up on me now.

 

[superdeath]

Swapped to Merc, going to save gold and either go for Lib if Superjm/gav/OH/Krill dont go for it.. or im heading for rifles for security. ETA on rifles is likely... 20 turns or less from now. ( less if i run mass wealth/research )

[superdeath]

Been a little while since i last updated this..

Got most of my infrastructure done in my main cities.. pushing more settlers out and infra in the newer cities.. Wars are happening in other places and i should have RP/Gunpowder/rifling within.. 15 turns or so. Once i have rifles i wont feel like i could die in this pb b4 its done... which i currently still do. Likely going to pump some more privateers out to protect against a potential Cairo attack.. Not terribly worried about Gavagai attacking me, as he has Superjm to hopefully keep him in check and i can always full speed /wealth to rifles pretty quickly. Just at the expense of everything. Pictures/screenshots tomorrow if someone comments wanting them, otherwise ill save on bandwidth for the site.


Basically, my GNP is comparable with those currently in GA's. Without running wealth..... Production is slowly rising, but still really low compared to the major powers. Food is complete garbage because everyone else got Fish/corn and i got crab/clam and COW... alot of friggin cow. ( not mad @mapmaker.. just sad ) Power is staying low. Using the "holy shit look at the # of archers he made" as a deterrent for as long as possible. I knew when i ended up not having any neighbors, i got wayy behind getting a giant lighthouse, and looking at others land.. that i likely didnt have much of a chance from t0.. So, i figured.. How many traderoutes can i get? And how can i turn that into a symbolic victory?

At this point i want to place top 3. I think i can do it. Krill/Gav for top 1-2, and i have to fight OH/Cairo/Superjm. no one else is in the running. If im allowed to continue this peaceful expansion, i will be able to challenge OH for 3rd. IF not, i will play kingmaker and get us into another PB asap.

[superdeath]

Peace around the world ( we dont count OT4E, he's never really at peace ) I dont like it. Makes me look like a bigger target, so i whipped infra into walls/castles in southern/eastern cities. Whipping/building knights out of my very productive middle-core cities. Ill have replaceable parts in about.. 4 turns. with Gunpowder-Rifling in about.. 5 turns after that. IF not sooner, so i just need to get there before any total collapse then that tech advantage will prevent anyone from taking my core. ( yes even Gav would have a hard time taking cities of mine once i get rifling :P )

My land has such shit production that even with RP, i likely wont have anywhere near the "average". Why did my land have to be such garbage?   Guess ill have to out tech everyone and get to somewhere in the tech tree where i can use superior tech to win vs vastly better production..


Setting up privateers to watch every possible attack point, which at this point is Mr.Cairo/Gavagai. OH is sending Fish/fish style stuff and opened borders, and looks to be fighting Krill back and forth. Im scared that Gav will just come east with his fleet once he has completed the conquest of OT4E, and im scared of the massive Caraval fleet that Cairo has. So whipped walls, and plenty of gold to upgrade :D  


Note to Charriu if you go lurking while building that map: Please dont make t0 losses <3