[spoiler]Pindicator's pb80 thread

[pindicator]

Oh no, you definitely are starting a trend here, scooter!

[pindicator]

079

Right, so here's what is going on now:




Lost my trireme to a barb galley at 11% odds, so I've had to wait to pull a trireme over from Basset Island.  It's finally coming around now.  I was starting to also pull a galley, thinking I could then build units instead of a galley ... but yeah, that's dumb.  I'm going to build the galley and ship the keshiks from the island over to take this barb city.  Now, do I burn the city or keep it?  It's an awful spot, stranding two fish somehow, but that is what it is.  That city starts t80.

We've got two forges finishing in the next 4 turns on Basset Island with both Basset Hound and Doberman finishing up. They go to unit production after, or Wealth, depending on what I need.

Farther to the south...




Settler from Pit Bull is in position, but now Yuri is showing up.  That scout has been holding position, and that trireme is brand new, so I'm thinking this is his western edge.  You know, that's fine - if he doesn't mess with me I'm not going to mess with him.  Much better to enlist him against Commodore later on.

Meanwhile, another settler coming out of Labrador is going to take the spot by the rice - really more of a filler spot but I think it's also strategically a good spot to lockdown my east from anything landbased coming that way being behind the river bend.  Well, it also will be a great commerce spot after i chop all those jungle.  Anyway, that city comes online t82.

We've got another forge finishing up from Poodle in 2t here as well.

Now the west:




First, there's a settler that just finished in Chihuahua.  Two chops overflow into a 2-turn forge, and then Chihuahua is going to be on wonder mode.  The units are in place because I'm strongly considering putting a city on the hill where Commodore's scout is on ... but I'm also thinking it's just a waste of city maintenance and I should just use the 3rd ring pop out of Chihuahua and risk that Comm might burn the settler on a crappy middle city.  But then again, it's a great front city for either of us, just as long as we can hold it.

Which means building more units.  Oh wait, that's my strong point.  Comm's is commerce, mine is mfg.

See?




Shoot, I guess I'm going to settle that city.

And then also build units to shuttle them over for Phrygian? Yeah, I'm not spreading myself too thin here... not one bit...

Next turn the sword and the horse archer go on the boat for Phrygian. I'd also like to shuttle the two axes over too because I'm going to want to hold the city but ... maybe it's better to give Commodore a big diversion in front of him with that settler?

What does that get me to? 15 cities by t85?




Sounds like I'm going to need Courthouses.

[Tarkeel]

Then I went and did something that lurkers might find controversial, but I'm of the opinion people underestimate:

I ate a turn of anarchy to revolt into Confucianism.

Here's my reasoning:  before I was limiting myself to only buildings where I had a strong modifier from my traits.  But now i want to be building Forges, Lighthouses, and possibly a wonder.  The Org Rel boost is going to count for more and it's time to get that set.  In addition, I have core cities pushing up against the happy cap again, and I'd like to grow them a little more.  So I lose about 25 commerce (making 25gpt at 0%) and the growth for the turn.  I will make up the hammer gains in 4 or 5 turns - and because I don't see a golden age in my future for at least 20 turns, I think it's a good choice.

I think it's quite reasonable to eat the turn of Anarchy when the payout is as immediate as this, especially since you've spread it around. We had a similar situation in PB66 where we revolted with a lot fewer cities getting benefit, but the economy was just about dead and we didn't need the turns production. Most of the time you will have a golden age coming "soon enough" but I think there's a case to be made that eating the turn in anarchy is worth it more often than it's done.

[pindicator]

084

Commodore is starting to run away with things. Now the question is whether I can right the economy and produce enough to stop his inevitable knight invasion. Feel like I have only have myself to blame, as I should have kept military pressure on him and not gone over to Thoth. But honestly I have no idea whether Thoth or Commodore has the better land... And it's not exactly my fault Commodore landed Hanging Gardens. (But it was mine for getting confused about Great Lighthouse being buildable in a map where Moai is not - Seriously, what is the logic in that!??)

Goal now is to right the economy with a wealth push to Code of Laws, followed by teching Engineering. Engineering isn't essential because I'm going to have Elephants and catapults for any Knight attack, I just need to make sure I have them in sufficient numbers. But the castles that Engineering gives will be paramount for both defense and extra trade routes.

In the meantime, there's still lots of expanding to be done, if I can ever afford to do it:




Western attack against the barb city is about to happen. We'll have 3 keshiks and 1 sword against 3 archers (not on a hill). That should work, but it will need reinforcements. More important is that it opens up a fantastic city location north of there: 2 fish, 1 rice, and 3 grass hills - which I sadly left off screen. Still need another settler for that spot, but settlers are hard to come by right now.

Further on, my priority is to the sea. Look at what is being uncovered in my northeast:




Certainly this becomes my settling priority once I'm able to actually start building settlers again. Nobody has seen this land, as evidenced by the tribal hut covered by an axe. I'm starting to shuttle a few elephants over here in the next turns, but the nearby barb city has to go: it strands way too many fish. This is a city on a hill, so those barb archers are defending at strength 6.75 when fully fortified. A couple boats full of C2 elephants should burn that easily enough.

[pindicator]

085

Well, today my company gave me the axe, so it's time to play civ and drown our disappointment in spreadsheets! And irrational plans for world domination!




Commodore has his scout trireme over here to ensure I'm not coming over the side towards him. And I am ready to attack next turn ... but as I think it over, I don't think I should attack yet. The city will be a net drain until it can come out of resistance and be improved - and our workers are all tied down to the east right now. So instead perhaps I keep a pair of units here and just sit tight until I feel I'm ready: bring 4 workers and a settler over, have my courthouses whipped so that I can actually afford the cost, and then I take it.

Okay, the expansionist in me just wants to keep going but we need to hold off here. At the bare minimum wait until we can shuttle over worker support.

The thing is, we're not actually looking all that bad:




This is from the end of turn. At the beginning of the turn I was last in crop yield, so everyone not named Commodore is right near each other in demos. Bad news is having the food & gnp leader on your doorstep. But look at that MFG! I'm 50% more than 2nd place - and that is something I can leverage to my own. Don't look at my GNP - most of that is tied up in Wealth builds.

Again, my plan is to get to Code of Laws and then whip forges & courthouses pretty much everywhere. But we still have some cities that need religion spread to them too. And I need some more workers for those expansion plans I've been talking about. (Also, with everything being jungled we just need more workers in general.) Currently my build list is looking like this:




After we get to CoL then the research is turned off for a bit while we get missionaries, forges, & courthouses out. But we're also going to want more elephants and catapults because we need to have a defense force ready for Commodore. I can start looking to expand to that western peninsula at that time, but really need to start looking at expanding to the northeast and claiming those islands.

Something else I've neglected has been my shrine. At this point I wish I had just whipped out a temple and slow built a priest over 34 turns, but now we're too late for that. I'm also trying to decide when I want my golden age. Because I'm going to want my golden age:




I think my plan is to generate a great person at a mix for either golden age or shrine, which will come out of Labrador:




If we wait until size 10 to hire the merchant specialists that will be 7 turns with just the priest (21pts) and then 8 turns mixing preists and merchants to get to 102. So 15 priest-turns and 16 merc-turns, just shy of a 50/50. I guess the question is then "Will I be ready for a golden age 12 turns from now?" Because if I'm not then I can squeeze out more priest time and less merchant time and put the odds more in my favor.

And if I do get the priest for the shrine, then my backup plan is to get GP#2 out of this guy:




Since i can't build Moai here for some reason he's going to be a fishing village / great person generator. That fish needs to go back to the capital though - I need to grow now that I've hooked up the ivory and will also be getting a forge. Short version: happy cap of 15 even without Monarchy.

[Mjmd]

085

Well, today my company gave me the axe

 I've been the victim of layoff season twice myself. Upside is some more fall hiking.

[pindicator]

Yes! I'm rehabbing off a sprained ankle but I can see myself ready for some October hiking

[El Grillo]

Best of luck on both fronts

[pindicator]

086

Demos after CoL came in and after I killed all my Wealth Builds:




Also, notice that power spike. That's Commodore. Am I out of time already?

[Qgqqqqq]

Sorry about your job, hope things work out!