[SPOILER] Darius of Ottomans - Vets - Krill

[Krill]

So, the belated t100 update. I've taken pictures of all of my cities for posterity, but tech I've ignored, the above post explains that somewhat better with the extra 5 turns than this t100 update could do.

However, all of the pictures are taken from the very start of t101, so they are identical to pictures taken after t100 has been ended, except F8 which favours the others because they have an extra turns worth of growth and slaving.

[Krill]

So, where to go from here? I have several important aims, in this order IMO:

1. Make sure I am safe.
   
   
2. Make sure my tech rate is faster than everyone elses'.
   
   
3. Develop as many cottages as I can, as fast as I can to make the most use out of FS/US by the time Taj lands (revolt on the first turn, assuming PP, grass towns go from 2/0/6 to 2/2/9).
   
   
4. Get OU for tech, Markets, Grocers and Banks up to fund rush buying where needed.
   
   
5. Possibly grow into new lands as safely as possible for the least expenditure (read: who can I beat up?)

Now, 1 and 5 are really two sides of the same coin, and the simple question is: Is it worth investing more in extra units, techs that improve my units at the cost of points 2-4, so that I gain land from someone? Well, let's see: sunrise has Education but not Fued, so he could very quickly get Gunpowder. Cyneheard has Guilds so could do the same. I can get Jans, and while I could draft them I still wont be bale to use cats offensively due ot flanking, so I figure that offensive warfare is not on hte cards any time soon, at least until Cannons or Cav. So that means focus on defense

Defence, I can use cats and F2 HA to destroy cats, and LB are still OK against knights, but Jans are well, better on defence. Everyone knows I don't have anything stronger than strength 6, but that it can change quickly. sunrise doesn't have knights, nor LB, so I have no fear of an attack from him (Jans will eat maces alive regardless, but need knights to be catted first). Cyneheard has Whosit, and he is much more likely to attack Whosit than myself for Lebensraum, but he will still play defence against me. So I figure I don't really need to invest much into defence just yet, but ignoring GP and being wrong would be retarded so I'm going to get GP next.

Next point: tech rate. Easiest way to improve tech rate is to get Merc, and PP. Both require Machinery, the former needs Guilds and Banking which helps with point 4 and increases efficiency for GP research. However, I don't really need Banks until I am in US, which means I don't need Banking ASAP. Guilds gets me Grocers which help health, which is going to be needed in some cities soon. PP will give me a straight up increase of about 20 commerce/turn which will only increase in the next 10 turns to around 50 cpt, about a 25% increase in tech rate as a guess? That should be put off long either. It also means that I shouldn't slave much to take advantage of this bonus and later on Taj, which is counter productive with point 4 but screw it, this is definitely better, I can use the GA and US/FS time to cram down the gold multipliers.

So, I think I'll save gold for the next 2 turns, should be enough for 5 turns of research. I'll go Machinery (1 turn tech), Guilds (2 turns with lots of overflow), GP (2 turns at around break even? Maybe 1 turn at a push due to overflow). Other option is to get Machinery as close to completion as possible, (hides tech speed, it might scare people if they see Machinery there one turn and not the next, this would mean people know I can tech at least 300bpt, but not how much more), then overflow and get PP in 2 turns with overflow, then head back to GP. As my costs would stay the same, the extra commerce from PP would go straight back into tech (reference T-hawk talking about trade routes), which means I would have an extra 9 turns, of PP which is maybe 2 turns worth of extra beakers.

Decisions Decisions. I'm currently leaning towards getting PP next on the misdirection because I'm not worried about sunrise attacking and Cyneheard I have good visibility on due to culture and the situation hasn't really changed there - he knows I have Lib now, and that he was attacking into 5XP LB, he knows I know he has knights so he has lost that element of surprise, and if he was going to attack me he would have done so by now with a knight rush.

[Krill]

Darrell is attacking sunrise (well, if Occams' razo holds, anyway). sunrise got a GG 2 turns ago, followed by 2 GG somewhere else, and then another one for sunrise. Oh goody. Hopefully it's a bloody stalemate. And the tech situation is just weird...

[Krill]

eot t109, and I'm at 518 bpt. I've increased my teching speed by 25% in 4 turns? How? And PP due in 2.

Er...and that is with only 3 universities. I should start OU in 2 turns (slightly screwed up my sixth Uni build, due one turn after my capital finished its' uni).

So, maybe I'll be pushing 600 bpt by t115? That would mean Merc/NH by t120 easy, which would then push me to about 650bpt without much real trouble.

sunrise and Cyneheard should be having fun soon enough.

[Rowain]

sunrise and Cyneheard should be having fun soon enough.

Looking forward to that.

[Krill]

I'm pretty sure that I'm going to have to attack with Cav, using US/FS/something/Merc/Theo, using 2 golden ages (from Econ Merc and Taj) to power through Bank, Market and Grocer builds. But the when of it, the how of it, is all up in the air. It comes down to the others tech rates, what I can do on the culture front, their wars.

taking out Cyneheardwould open up Whosit, which would end the game quickly because I doubt Whosit could stand up to me with so much land and a rush buy economy. sunrise might be the easier to take out, but Darrell wouldn't be.

I'm not sure if Cyneheard is going to attack me, but he really really needs to. I have him placed at no more than 400 bpt at max. And more like 375. My current problem is production, but with US and a rushbuy econ to back it up, the problem goes away.

[Krill]

Ran the numbers, turns out that PP isn't all that great, and much worse than getting Guilds before GP for hte extra beaker discount. And because I want to revolt to NH asap but to Merc at the same time, I'm going to ignore PP,and go Guilds>GP>PP, with Banking either second or third on that list, depending on overflow. Probably second, though, because I have a lot of overflow...

[Krill]

(Beware, this is a 1000 word essay or wall of text on my tech path, and I haven't even considered others tech paths effects on my own in detail. That comes later)

OK, so I've done the short term tech allocation, now for the long term. Techs that I need are:

1. Compass/Optics
   
2. Astro
   
3. Engineering
   
4. Economics
   
5. Constitution
   
6. Democracy
   
7. Corporation
   
8. Military Tradition
   
9. Replaceable Parts
   
10. Rifling
    
11. Chemistry
    
12. Steel
    
13. Military Science

Hmm. Big list. Lets sort through it quickly, shall we?

Compass is useless without Optics, which I only need to either choke seafood, get Galleons or scout for a central island (doubt there is one, but really don't care).

Economics I need to tech first for the GM. Only person who could reasonably beat me there if I beeline is sunrise...but he is busy dealing with Darrell and is teching slowly. Can be delayed a little bit.

Engineering: Only want for faster road movement and Castles. Castles would basically make my defence impregnable IMO. Needed to get to Steel to counter others Castles.

Constitution: Rep will not be used except as a free civic if I need to trigger an early GA before I have Democracy. Jails OTOH are likely going to be needed and are solid multipliers, yet I'm not running an espionage economy so only useful for gaining visibility on peoples cities as I already have enough to maintain research visibility. So it is a stepping stone to Democracy (long term, about 100 hpt plus cash rush but short term worthless) and Corporation (+1 commerce per city...and needed for Inf, so long term potential, no short term need).

Military Tradition: if I were to tech this first after PP, I would be forcing the sunrise and Cyneheard to prepare their defences because frankly cuirassiers are underrated. They flank everything except Artillery (which I doubt will see this game), and in a stack with janissaries are not kill able except by formation cuirassiers, cavalry, or Rifles. Only problem is that they aren't exactly city killers unless you have numbers, and I'm not that fair a head that I can use them to take out Cyneheard, or sunrise if he can hold his empire together (and I see no evidence of his empire starting to fall from my scouting trireme). So they are mainly useful for allowing me to dictate other players strategies.

So, if Cyneheard were to start taking Whosit apart, I could tech MT and force him to defend with more units against me, hopefully letting Whosit have an easier time not dying, or to capitalise asap on a weak sunrise by grabbing a few cities (aim is MoM and any cities needed to make it defensible). So I always need to keep this tech in mind with altering circumstances, but I don't think it is my first choice tech: I'd much rather play the builder for a bit longer.

Rep Parts: Meh, watermills are not getting used. No forests for lumber mills. Windmills gain an extra hammer so it'll be worth like 6 hpt max. Definitely ignore until I go for Rifling.

Rifling: Ultimate military tech? I don't think so, at least not for me. I'm playing a different game from the drafting strategy everyone tends to play in these games, so I'm not going heavy on rifles, but I do need the tech for Cavalry. Cuirassiers can be upgraded, but IIRC, it isn't as efficient as buying Cavalry from the get go. But not really worth getting before MT under conceivable circumstances.

Democracy: Needed for the first turn of a GA to revolt to Universal Suffrage (plus FS), and probably Emancipation on top of that. GA due in 17 turns from Taj, means that I want Democracy in 17 turns. I will try to delay Taj as long as possible to get as many towns for the start of the GA, but I will not risk it if someone else gets Nationalism because there could still be a GE out there. So this is a hard limit on my tech path. SoL will be nice, plus Merc means 7.5 bpt from each city, or 7.5 gpt with just markets combined (as I'm going for the full 100% gold multipliers, worth 6gpt/city at best, so up to 90 gpt). Definitely worth going for, which is why I'm trying to push out a GE at middling odds.

Corporation: Complete waste short term, 14 commerce/turn just isn't worth it.

Chemistry: Meh. No workshops, no Astronomy for frigates, only advantage is privateers. OK, so that could be a fun plus, but just not worth it.

Steel: Hmm, that is one way to really start taking out other players, the ultimate city killers provided no one else has cuirassier, and I could get there quite quickly. Supported with janissaries and knights, well, no one can get odds on cannons anyway. I could feasibly be at Steel by t125 without any real difficulty...but that means no Democracy in the time line required. So that's out.

Military Science: Grenadiers are very useful for breaking open attacking, drafted rifles...Ship of the Lines are the best seafood defenders out there prior to Destroyers. But I can leave it until I need it.

So, what is my likely tech path?

Start off with the basic one: Guilds>Banking>(revolt)>Gunpowder>PP. That leaves 9 turns and Constitution plus Guilds take 3 and 4 turns respectively at maximum research at my curent rate, so I might not actually have time for any other techs. FWIW, Merc is worth about 40 base beakers, 38.25 according to calculations, plus a couple of hammers here and there. So I should really be aiming to finish Democracy around the time I finish Taj, with the rather unhappy side effect that it means I will have to play a little risky if I want to get Economics and some one else races me there.

Oh, Alphabet is starting to pay dividends. sunrise doesn't have Fuedalism, which means no Guilds or Banking and he is the only other player with Education. Cyneheard lacks Paper, never mind Education. Kylearan and Whosit lack CoL or CS, Darrell lacks Paper or Guilds. So I'm doing OK on Economics. Only really have to worry about sunrise going for Nationhood for drafting, having a go for Taj, drafting out an army and hitting me...hmm, hmm. Fun times.

[Krill]

Anybody got any questions or requests for screen shots? Idle curiosity about why I did something in a particular way? As PBEM2 is basically over bar the killing, this is my last game that is still being played at least semi-seriously, and probably the last one that I play for a while,so if you want to pick my brain now is the best time to do it.

[banshee]

an overview shot of your core would be much appreciated