[SPOILERS] - social distancing with pindicator

[Old Harry]

Here's a wild idea for you.

First some axioms:

- We've got lots of backlines city sites to settle
- We want to build a lot of infrastructure and let our cities grow again
- The sites near Clackamas won't pay back in the next ten turns and are nigh-indefensible
- It would be nice if Mjmd turned his attention elsewhere in ten turns
- We probably have enough land to be competitive for a while if we just get time to develop it

So I'd like to embark on a diplomatic effort:

- First up we offer fish for fish, then we offer fish in return for Mjmd attacking Charriu, then we offer OBs, probably all on the same turn
- Next we resettle our southern cities as planned, but leave the northern sites alone, even allowing Mjmd to settle them
- If Mjmd takes OBs we move a couple of sentries in to keep an eye on his closest cities, but don't move them further, so it doesn't look like we're mapping out his core
- We use spies to do that
- If Mjmd attacks Charriu we work out how to push Jowy into attacking him...
- ...
- Profit!

[pindicator]

I'm for it. Not sure if Mjmd would go for it, but I think it's worth a try. Anything that gets him pointed in another direction is a win for us.

[pindicator]

195

No cryptic diplo responses when I logged in to peek about, so who knows if that's an accept or decline.

We settled a new city this turn




Following our new city list (3rd of the game) of difficult-to-pronounce-names, we named it Guimaraes. As a personal note, I really liked the castle at Guimaraes when I visited almost 10 years ago. It was nifty. We will probably not build one in our Guimaraes.

Old Harry chastised me for switching Corvallis from a Cothon to a Forge last turn, so we talked about it and decided that it should be a Courthouse. I did not change any builds this turn, and I largely stopped myself from meddling with tiles. I notice we have a lot of growth options and growing is what we need to do. But I did swap off a plains cottage at Clackamas in favor of a grassland village. I know we're building a settler, but I'll still take that 4c for 1h swap right now.

No new techs from any of our rivals.

[Old Harry]

Turn 198

The big day. We know most of the other players have Nationalism too so will the sacrifice of half the population of Multnomah be in vain? An awful lot of planning goes down the drain if someone else wins a coinflip... We've identified four cities that'll pump out five great people over the next 20 turns and mean we have our third golden age 4-5 turns after this one ends and a fourth straight after that one. As well as a bulb or two.


We settled one new city last turn and three more this turn, mostly fillers, which are instantly profitable thanks to the great lighthouse and circumnavigation.

We've been pondering civics for the golden age, our plan is Rep, Vassalage/Bureau/Nationalism, Caste, Mercantilism and OR/Pacifism. A very rough calculation makes Bureau look the best, even with Pacifism's unit costs so we just need to figure out if we need to run Pacifism.


Pacifism would let us get GPs out t203, 203, 208, 213 and 217. Organised Religion pops them out t203, 212, 213, 216 and 217. (Assuming my sums are right.)

With pacifism we get all the GPs out much sooner, meaning that if we continue generating GPpoints in those cities in the third/fourth GA we get lots more GPs to do with as we see fit. It also gives us wiggle room if we suddenly need to switch back to slavery (nationhood will be enough for a while though won't it?)

OR feels much neater, getting all the GPs out just in time, but doesn't give flexibility or the prospect of grabbing the 800-1000 great people any time soon. OR lets us keep getting infra built, which most cities are trying to do. I guess we'll decide next turn.

In the demos our Crop Yield has picked up from 413 to 498 in five turns but will dip through the golden age with our specialists. Mjmd is ahead on GNP and hammers, but he's in a golden age so we get a better comparison next turn. Really we just need to figure out how to catch up on about five techs and put together a good defensive army before Mjmd comes back with cavalry. He just got Astronomy. so I'm a little concerned about our coastal prospects.

[Old Harry]

Turn 199

The Taj Mahal is ours. And with that we swap into Rep/Bureau/Caste/Merc/Pacifism. We'll probably swap again to Nationhood and out of Pacifism in five turns since we're going to need some units and we're paying 93gpt in military support.


Here's an overview of the southern half of our empire with two slightly concerning item signposted. Mjmd has a couple of galleons out already and could have a bunch more poised to sweep our coast by the end of enforced peace at t204. Hopefully we can persuade him to go after easier pickings like Charriu (or AT, but he war/peaced AT last turn ) by getting astronomy ourselves and putting some privateers in the water. Probably not possible by t204, but 205 should be possible...

Meanwhile the HE city can pump a few muskets out for coastal defence and our southern knight stack has split up and will sit in some cities to try and persuade Mjmd we have a million units.


Where we stand on tech:
Mjmd- 40,345 beakers - The important techs he has are Rifling and Astronomy, but he can grab Mil Trad for cavalry next. Hopefully he detours to Constitution instead to get Rep for the end of his golden age.
Jowy- 28,684
Cairo- 22,705
Us- 19,864
AT- 13,257
Charriu- 12,840


Demos and power. Demos are looking nice, power isn't.

[pindicator]

Where we stand on tech:
Mjmd- 40,345 beakers - The important techs he has are Rifling and Astronomy, but he can grab Mil Trad for cavalry next. Hopefully he detours to Constitution instead to get Rep for the end of his golden age.
Jowy- 28,684
Cairo- 22,705
Us- 21,658
AT- 13,257
Charriu- 12,840

I forgot to mark us for Gunpowder so we're a little better off than it first looked!

[pindicator]

I like how our capital looks in a golden age...




Though I'm not sure about the scientist spec

[Commodore]

Question: In the next 200 turns, do you think you'll have the chance to finish that ligthouse?

[pindicator]

I do really want to build that bank -- it's +66 gold!

[Commodore]

Forget Fin vs. Pro, do a an Org vs. not to run the numbers on how much food you've lost over the game.