[PB75 Mjmd] Call to Power

[Mjmd]

- Economy - I was debating merc during the GA for literally 2 cities GP chances, but I will just starve them a bit instead and switch right away. W

Just clarifying. Free Market obviously. City to starve is John Paul Jones. Work an engineer during GA (assuming I win the 50% flip). Edit: Lemmings should also work on eng, but it won't need to starve.

[Mjmd]

T202

Tarkeel wrote and informed me I rolled the 40% prophet. On one roll do games often hinge. I had 50% to win here and 10% to still be in pretty good shape.

This is the danger of concentrating your wonders and national epic. I was aware of the danger, but partly for fun and partly due to lack of other strong cities early just is what it is.

Technically I could save for 4th GA but odds are ill roll another one so just going to bulb (after current tech goals) while I can still get something semi relevant. I have time to think on it.

[Mjmd]

T203

I had an idea and asked Tarkeel a question about when capital was growing, but then realized the answer, but he provided to me so I'm showing you. But ya I realized the good thing about concentrating is I'll get another shot soon and I should increase that once it grows. Not sure how many specialist I'll work (plan to use all stored food after growth), but each gets it's pts increased 300%!

[Mjmd]

T203

I had an idea and asked Tarkeel a question about when capital was growing, but then realized the answer, but he provided to me so I'm showing you. But ya I realized the good thing about concentrating is I'll get another shot soon and I should increase that once it grows. Not sure how many specialist I'll work (plan to use all stored food after growth), but each gets it's pts increased 300%!

Edit: do needed gp pts start increasing by 200 after 1000? I swear last one was 1200 needed. Would explain why I thought I missed a gp in my reporting.

[Krill]

Yeah, increase by 200 after 1000. At some point they increase by 300 as well.

[Mjmd]

PB70 Stormalong



Stone island city that became Moai. Obviously great city.



T205

Ijub sent crab for crab 25 followed by this.



SNAP took it. Obviously sent back the peace signal. I had instructions to Tarkeel to just give it back. Gladly take some gold. I want to keep Ijub friendly and pointed at Ginger / not interfering with my own conquest.

Tarkeel told me Ginger and Ijub made peace and these some nice power graphs telling why Ginger had to take.



As of this turn I am #1 in military power. Again, tell that to Mjmd of 120 turns ago he would not have believed you. Also shown all 4 coal pops. I can only improve the one by Drunken Sailor without a city starving.

I do need to make something happen. I have problems; main two shown here.



Gingers food is pulling away. There are two reasons he hasn't popped a GA. 1) waiting for cities to grow / infrastructure to finish or 2) saving the merchant for cereal mills.

Also shown Ijub switching civics OUT Of a golden age......... I get serfdom, but I have to admit to being confused by merc. I know from my own transition that if I hadn't had rep it would have been a negative on GNP. I'm sad as  I really wanted his trade routes for when I switch out. I might open borders to Ginger as he has full routes already I think.

Again, the GNP graph is deceptive from culture. I am ahead, but not by this much. Ginger will only continue to close. I need my GA and I need more land.



If I hadn't been repositioning units and taking a close look at everything I might have missed this.



SD was trying the same thing he was before. Using my culture to raze a city I want. SIGH. We've done this before SD! And I reacted the same by closing borders with his stack going to the 1 neutral tile.

[Mjmd]

T206

SD finally came in to take his 1 Scooter city, BUT I'm not actually sure its enough if Scooter moves his stack in. Why the longbows are sitting out of the city is questionable (of the 7 units in the city only an archer gets defensive bonus), but still. His HA stack is also 1 tile too far to help. In the north Giza should be safe since he couldn't hit from the fog; that city is in range of Elephantine garrison.



Note the attack is JUST knights and I know SD has access to more advanced tech (cuirs and grens). Now he might not have built many (see last turns power graph), but I would bet those units aren't too far back in his territory facing me. He also has access to a bunch of praets and cats he could have moved in as well and I know he has a stack of junk down there.

I'm obviously thrilled with any amount of blood between these two.

[Mjmd]

PB70 gem island city. Also, its definitely a sea shanty my kids know. Is it relation to building with blocks? Maybe.

2) Attack Egypt when... possible? There is an angle to land outside Memphis, but the rest of the border looks pretty brutal to attack through. I guess attacking over river into Giza might be worthwhile.

T210 time to get to work. Specifically India UU railroad work shenanigans. I've been waiting EVERY GAME I'VE PLAYED WITH INDIA FOR THIS!!!



Are their knights within striking distance of his capital after the first turn of the war. YES. Yes they are.

It took every worker I had (only 13). I wasn't sure if Scooter had vision so I had to stage in some weird spots. I want this to look so overwhelming he doesn't even try to resist. Sent him peace treaty with 4 eastern cities as a signal that I want everything but Byblos and Alexandria. SD will take Alexandria, but he can live at Byblos if he wants, Gav / Scooter have earned that much this game.

I had a HORRIBLE forest growth occur like 5 turns ago where I had originally planned to stage. If not for that I would have rifles outside Memphis as well. I'm pretty sure that knight is new so there shouldn't be anything else new interturn, but I actually probably could  have used some more knights in hindsight. I also had to pretend to be chopping the forest 3 west of Red Alert so I could road it and then rail road it this turn. The only reason I could even put knights outside Memphis was the road Gav built to attack me WAY back flipped to me a while back.

Did Ginger launch a super impressive GA this turn??? Yes. But take care of your own work first. SD does not have cuirs (mistake on my part) and doesn't appear to have a lot of grens. Power has been flat so I don't anticipate any issues.

[Mjmd]

T211



This was slightly predictable. Instead of just taking the easy gains SD sees me as a threat. Understandable, but I care very little about him. I care a lot more about Ginger, but I suppose SD thinks that is Ijub's job. Fair enough.



Now I'm not THAT worried up north. I sent my sentry chariot deep last turn (I had open borders for 1 turn ) and saw nothing. The more annoying thing is Scooter had WAY more knights than I thought. He must have gold upgraded horse archers???

Its important to understand the order of what happened. Scooter sent SD a peace treaty and SD accepted last turn. There is no way SD had open borders with Scooter last turn. That means IF one of them re roaded his knights COULD hit me. However, I have my doubts about how much Scooters cats collateral me. I might test or I might not.

And this is why you take reference pictures. This is Scooter army - a bunch of knights that appeared. So its my 22 rifles most likely slightly blooded and all my cannons vs a bunch of mounted units. I'm willing to risk it I think. I expect some more whipped cats, but will see.

I of course now have to raze Scooters capital. I know he has some cannons south. Not sure where the grens are, but even still he has enough junk that I can't be hit by his cannons. But still 2nd best shrine is a good prize. The northern stack is bait in case he doesn't want a big blood bath at capital he can go kill that. If that stack dies Giza will get retaken, but not a huge loss. The main goal is that juicy juicy shrine. I'll also be able to settle 3 cities still getting my overall number up; 2 of them will be quite good.

Power graph for reference. Since I wasn't communicating with SD on WHEN I would attack (my trust is SD is generally low) his power graph has been relatively flat.

[Mjmd]

T213 part 1

Took off today for some errands and because its nice, so had a peak.

In the north.



I only had 2 units on that hill specifically to avoid collateral, but SD used 2 cats anyways. Lot of cannon here, but not a lot of grens or for that matter many muskets. I kind of want to attack this. I have 17 rifles here and if I can get the cannons to be top defenders I can clean out most of them at least and not have to worry about them in the future. The other option is to just let the city go of course. I will note the main thing I have to worry about is praets..... sigh. Those things hold value SOOO long. With the hill and their promotions I think that puts them ahead of the cannons for defense, so attacking might not even make sense. You know I went into this write up thinking I was going to attack and now I'm convincing myself to pull back.

In the south



Believe it or not my main army being hit by collateral has NEVER happened to me before in my pitboss history. I don't tend to fight those kind of wars where I can get hit. I had sacrificed a chariot  (I don't have a ton of these) on the hill last turn and saw Scooters stack, did some sims, and this was a pretty good result for him. 6 dead rifles and MANY more red lined. The question being why did he attack out now? The best time would be after I attack the city IF it was only his forces. One of my questions going into this turn was how many units to attack with if Scooter hadn't, I didn't have a great answer to that question honestly. I only knew the cats shouldn't attack to leave a collateral soak. Anyways, the question is where are SDs knights? This is the turn if the road network was rebuilt they could reach me.

I'm pretty sure the correct answer here is to retreat to heal on the X and rotate some reinforcements south. I knew an attack north was likely so had been focusing my workers and reinforcements that way, but they are a couple turns too far away, whereas they could get here I think. I can also create a gg medic. I can't decide if I want to kill  that knight on the hill. Probably should and then move a second unit there so I can pillage the road next turn.

Got cut off but I did raze Scooters middle city making my 1 conquest a bit safer. Pretty sure I'm taking Memphis still this turn. MY reinforcements aren't as plentiful as they should be so going to have to choose direction to focus. I was building some wealth in 3-4 of my eastern cities. Also, even with my cow for cow with Ijub I've been leaving a descent stack east just so he isn't tempted.