[PB69 SPOILERS] Magic Science and Nobody Else in Pitboss 69

[Magic Science]

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Test.

EDIT: Test 2.

[Magic Science]

Test 3.

EDIT: For the past few days, I keep seeing that same error message whenever I try to post in any way other than Quick Reply.
I will figure it out and post my backlog of reports within the next 24 hours or so. We live in interesting times!

[Mjmd]

Which version of RB are you using? IE RB 1.8 Classic or ? I know the old version can spit out some weird stuff once in a while.

[Magic Science]

Turn 118 – 75 AD
Part 1.
   
(behold the unpopularity of the One True Faith, )

Overall, this was a quiet turn.
Domestic: everything is going according to plan. .
Foreign: nothing went terribly wrong. All that happened was someone discovered Code of Laws and founded Confucianism. It is probably not Naufragar or Pindicator, because I can see most of their cities. It is certainly not Gin-guelito or Gavagai, because their GNPs are too low. It could be any of the other 3. I will watch the Espionage graph to see. But it’s not a military technology, so what’s it matter really? PSEUDO EDIT: Actually, I did notice a Market in Ankh-Morpork, so Naufragar has Currency. .
Mainly I spent this turn organizing my thoughts about some big picture concerns.


   
Soon I will convert to Serfdom, and there will be an awkward transition period when I am especially vulnerable to attack. Will I be safe from my neighbors?

…

The Cambodian Numeral System has 6 neighbors.
Clockwise, they are: Superdeath, BING_ac, and Gin-guelito. Naufragar, Commodore, and Pindicator.

Pindicator is at war with Gavagai, and has been continuously at least since I contacted Gavagai. He is already occupied with a war, so I think he will not start another against me. That is the key factor. Also, we have a Crab for Crab deal (though as I type this, it occurs to me that it is getting old now. I should have written a sign), and his only route to attack me is over the water. Attacking over the water would not be that bad, it’s just like attacking another island a very short distance away, but it’s not as good as attacking over the land, so that’s something in my favor. 
Commodore is similar; he is at war with Gavagai, and has been continuously at least since I contacted Gavagai, so I think he will not start another against me. Again, that is the key factor. Also, his only route to attack me is poor. Through the wilderness in view of my culture, through The German Gate, over yet more hills, and all sandwiched between Pindicator’s and Naufragar’s culture.
Naufragar: He has been fighting Gin-guelito, just like me, and we have the advantage now. I hope Naufragar agrees with me that it is better to profitably finish off Gin-guelito together before turning on each other. I think he does, it is the reasonable thing. Also, I have a Scout in his territory by our border watching his every move.
Those 3 neighbors all border Western Cambodia. The 3 cities there are all on hills, and all have strong production and some unchopped Forests. Even in Serfdom, they are capable of rapid emergency production and units and Walls.

Gin-guelito: . They burned my 5th city. They would do more if they could. I am kept safe from them by power, not by political considerations. So, am I safe? I think so. They are #1 Power over me, and rising, but not by much. I have the promotion advantage as AGG/PRO and the terrain advantage as the defender. My units are positioned just so in Eastern Cambodia to account for every possibility from them. Soon I will have superior military technology (Crossbowmen). Naufragar’s Power contributes to my safety too, because they must use some of their units to defend from him. I think I will be safe.
BING_ac and Superdeath also border Eastern Cambodia. They are independent wildcards, not part of a Hate Triangle, with little entanglement with anyone else. BING_ac skirmished with Commodore earlier, but that is all. So, they are free to attack me if they want to. However, because Eastern Cambodia is the region Gin-guelito threatens, there are already many units over here, so I should be safe from them too as a side-effect. Also, Superdeath has low Power and a Crab for Crab deal (he echoed when I offered when I accidentally threatened his Workers, and kept 1 Worker in place), and BING_ac has Superdeath, who is much weaker than me, to target instead.

[Magic Science]

Turn 118 - 75 AD
Part 2.
   
Hate Triangle Geopolitical Flying Camera Overview, Again.
Naufragar borders Gin-guelito longwise, north the south. I border Gin-guelito shortwise, east to west. Our borders are perpendicular. I want to capture Joker, Bibracte, Cathy Ames, and Iago. Razing Iago and resettling to split the resources is acceptable too.
The problem is this: Naufragar can attack as far north or south as he desires. He could start his attack by capturing Cathy Ames and Iago. He could start his attack by capturing what I want to capture at the end of my attack. And I think it makes sense for him to do so. If I was uninvolved, I think his optimal course would be to start at Cathy Ames and Iago. Strike first at the closest border and the capital. Cut off the new north from the rest in the south.
But I am involved, and that would be bad for me. My choices would be to accept minimal gains, or to declare war on Naufragar outright.
My army needs to be strong enough to make another route optimal for Naufragar. It needs to convince him to attack farther south, and leave Cathy Ames and Iago for me. It can motivate him with the prospect of leaving me to deal with a lot of Gin-guelito’s units in the north, so it costs less for him, or it can motivate him with the knowledge that I have the strength to fight him if he gets too greedy. I hope Naufragar recognizes that I will not be content with 2 cities, 1 of which was mine originally anyway!
Worst case, I can declare war on Naufragar. I think city trading in a Peace Treaty is allowed, so there is hope a war could be ended bloodlessly.

Naufragar can adopt Theocracy now, so he will have the promotion advantage over me.


   
Espionage Screen.
Commodore has been spending a trickle of espionage on me recently. I don’t know why. I have been spending a bit back to maintain graph vision.
I stopped spending any espionage on Gin-guelito. They will dead soon, so it would be a waste. Instead, I started spending my espionage on Naufragar. I become more convinced every turn that he will be my foe after Gin-guelito is dead, and a long-term foe at that, so spending espionage to eventually get research visibility makes sense. The only problem is if it makes our relationship too hostile too soon.

[Magic Science]

I do not know what the problem was, but everything else seems to be working now, and that report I originally got stuck on somehow worked when I split it into 2 parts. What? .
Finally.

[Cornflakes]

Is the error something about not having permissions? I find that if I take more than a couple minutes writing a post then get an error. But if I open a new tab and then copy the report into a reply on the new tab it works.

[Magic Science]

Turn 119 to Turn 128 – 100 AD to 325 AD
Part 1.

(TURN 119 INTERESTING RELEVANT SCREENSHOT NOT FOUND)
Turn 119: My Scout entered Commodore’s land, but this event is better discussed with later context. Monarchy would be discovered end of this turn, so the Golden Age could be detonated start of next turn.

Turn 119: otherwise, an uneventful turn.


   
. NAUFRAGAR HAS CATAPULTS. . .
(he must have been the one who discovered Construction T115)
This caused intense frenzy and panic. What do I do?

I absolutely hate being caught flat-footed like this. For me, this is the part of Pitboss that causes me to not enjoy Pitboss. I can handle setbacks and even elimination with good cheer, but not this. Other Realms Beyonders have other weaknesses; this is mine. I don’t know what to do. Previous turn, all calm, incredibly normal turn. This turn, chaos, many overlapping momentous choices, the fate of my game is decided now, literally in the next 1 hour, or 2 hours because I play slowly, . Well, that’s how I felt at the time.
It is better for these things to be spread over more time. Then they can be calmer, more contemplative.


An excessively long while later, I made up my mind.
Naufragar has Catapults. He will train more units and stage them 1NE of Ankh-Morpork. This poses 2 problems.

ONE: He can conquer Gin-guelito, starting at Cathy Ames, before I am ready or want to be ready. RISK TO PROFIT.

TWO: He can attack me, starting at Ban, during my awkward transitionary period from Slavery to Serfdom. It would be simple to move NW instead of E from the staging tile. I think it would be a mistake to do this instead of attacking Gin-guelito, but I must respect the possibility. RISK TO SAFETY.


The solution to ONE is to give up. . Accept defeat. Naufragar beat me to Construction by too many turns. Maybe I should have seen that coming, since Metal Casting and Machinery and Monarchy makes for a long detour indeed, and Naufragar’s GNP is good. I could detonate the Golden Age now, build Wealth like crazy to research Construction, stay in Slavery and whip like crazy to produce units, and hurry to participate as best I can in the conquest of Gin-guelito. However, that would wreck this excellent opportunity for peaceful development, and I think it would not work. Naufragar has too much of a head start. He would still capture Cathy Ames and Iago before me, and I would have to fight him for them. That might be politically unwise, and I might not win the fight anyway. In this scenario, my army could still count on capturing Joker and Bibracte, but I can count on that anyway without being so crazy about training units. GIVE UP.

The solution to TWO was to delay the Golden Age by 1 turn, then declare war on Naufragar and offer a Peace Treaty immediately. If he accepted, that would give me absolute security during my Golden Age to switch to Serfdom and build infrastructure instead of units. If he declined, that would be terrible. I would delay the Golden Age more, not switch to Serfdom, and train more units until he accepted a Peace Treaty or I was safe anyway. I hoped he would accept to free more garrison units along the border with me to attack Gin-guelito instead. NAP.


Overall, I decided to preserve the original peaceful Golden Age plan as best I could despite the changed situation. I would train the bare minimum in military to keep safe from Naufragar and vulture a small part of Gin-guelito, and wait to observe the situation on the other side.

Naufragar accepted the Peace Treaty immediately, and offered Sheep for Sheep, which I echoed. Excellent! Perhaps I was too worried about him. .

Then, on Turn 121, I detonated the Golden Age and converted to Hereditary Rule, SERFDOM, and Organized Religion. Then I relaxed and watched the numbers go up.


   
Power Graph. Turn 126.

Naufragar’s Power is flat. He has Construction, but he is not training an army to conquer Gin-guelito. I was so certain he would! I even signaled them on Turn 120 to expect an attack within 5 turns. That’s how certain I was! And I was wrong.
Excellent. When I saw Naufragar had Construction, I thought I would have to sacrifice all hope for the better part of my spoils to maintain my peaceful productive Golden Age. But I was wrong. It seems that Naufragar has something else to occupy him, so the original plan of peaceful infrastructure Golden Age into warlike unit post-Golden Age can still happen. I will attack around Turn 140.

Also, Gin-guelito’s still has #1 Power. That Power is even stronger than it seems because they have minimal technology and population and buildings bloating it, unlike me and Naufragar. Their Power is all units. But I think I will be alright. They are not that far above me, and the east is well-defended with well-positioned units. Fort Ivory is a beautiful thing; +75% tile defense bonus.
Also, the awkward transitionary period between labor civics is ending. Who needs Slavery for emergency production when your cities make 30 hammers per turn from tiles anyway?


   
Commodore founded Confucianism in Doppelbock, border city with BING_ac, top left.

Unlike, apparently, every other player in this game, my criteria for who gets Open Borders are more stringent that “Have we fought a city-razing war or not?”, . That is why Commodore was denied Open Borders for a while. However, I realized that denial was outdated because despite meeting him first on Turn 6, despite all my thoughts about The German Gate, it turns out that he is not much of a neighbor after all, at least for now. So, I might as well offer him Open Borders to gain map knowledge. There is no harm in it. Sorry about the Scout. .

The key piece of map knowledge is about that southern extent of land, a peninsula? Naufragar and Commodore border each other there. Naufragar did not settle on an island after all. That explains the lack of intercontinental trade routes from him, . I should have seen this coming. This is key because this is another border for Naufragar. He will have few of those after Gin-guelito is conquered. I was worried Naufragar would be stuck in a deathmatch with me for lack of other future targets. The overland route to Commodore seemed poor to me. This additional aquatic route to Commodore could make the difference in making Commodore a reasonable target for Naufragar so I can stay at peace with Naufragar. I have plenty of other targets, and would prefer not to be stuck in a deathmatch. I still think deathmatch is more likely than not, but this peninsula(?) is a good sign.

Also, Commodore had to use Galleys to reach the place, just like Naufragar, because Peaks block the way from the north.
Also also, Open Borders with Commodore are worth +2 commerce from trade routes from size-11 Hefeweizen and island Raddler (not located yet).


   
(it is Turn 128 now, the last turn of the Golden Age, but I took all my best screenshots on Turn 126, )
Eastern Cambodia. Turn 126.

Gin-guelito built that strange uncultured road on the left, 3W of Old Bolan. It confuses me; therefore it worries me. Trade route mechanics? .

I failed the The Holy Mountain quest on Turn 126. No one converted to Judaism or Christianity or Islam, so the quest must have meant failure if anyone claimed it after all. This stings because I think The Holy Mountain is right there, 2N of Bibracte. That tile was just claimed now by Gin-guelito, and I doubt any other uncultured Peaks were newly claimed on this exact turn. If only I had saved Old Bolan, then they would not have founded Joker and blocked Mack’s spot, so they would have replaced Mack in the same place, and The Holy Mountain would have remained safely unclaimed until Bolan-Mei reached 3rd ring. .
Relatedly, I lost vision of the Rice, so now Gin-guelito can attack Fort Ivory from the fog with 1-movers.

Also, I got the Greed quest this turn, the 3rd Event in as many turns. . But it’s for Commodore’s Iron at his city of Dunkel, 3S of his capital. Nope. But it’s interesting to think that in CtH, you could get Ballista Elephants as the reward for that quest.


Da, by the lake, has a 3/3/3 tile in the Golden Age Plains Hill Sheep, very nice. The city is slow and weak for now, but eventually it will be a fine city. 4 BFC tiles that it should work some day are presently in foreign culture, hence the Library. Jewish Missionary coming for a visit soon (done by time of writing this, time is strange).

Bolan-Bie, on the coast, is weaker than I feel it should be. This is because it has been working the Gold tile ever since it grew to size 2, and it whipped some military in the early days. But the Baray is done as of this screenshot, and it will grow and catch up.


   
Bolan-Mei is a beautiful city. It was on the Top 5 list this turn and the next. . What is there to say about it?

I got the Master Blacksmith Quest here when it finished my first Forge. It will be easy to complete. All 8 mainland cities need Forges, and the 7 non-Da mainland cities will have their Forges within 10 turns or so. Meanwhile, I have yet to see a single Forge from anyone but Gavagai. When I complete it, I will choose the free Engineer specialist reward.
The Wine is still only improved with a Farm. Buildings Windmills were more important than building a Winery for only +1 commerce and +1 excess happiness, at first. Soon.

Bolan-Mei and other 2 cities of Eastern Cambodia each have more food than they need to work all the surrounding tiles, so some of those Farms will be replaced by Watermills someday. I need to refresh my memory about their placement rules. However, Bolan-Mei might use the excess food for specialists instead. I think it could be a good idea to have a small but pure, or at least different, Great Person Point pool somewhere outside the main spot at Mei, and Bolan-Mei is a good candidate. It will have the free Engineer specialist to start with, and it would be a good place to build a Wonder too. Heroic Epic probably. Hanging Gardens maybe? If the Hanging Gardens are still available after Gin-guelito is conquered, I think I will build them here.

Lastly, the Settler is a relic from Turn 102, when I momentarily thought I could resettle Bolan and win the race to Hannibal, and therefore needed 2 Settlers, not 1. It has been decaying ever since from 14/100, and is nearly at 0/100 again now. .

[Magic Science]

Turn 119 to Turn 128 – 100 AD to 325 AD
Part 2.
   
Central Cambodia. Turn 126.

Iron is here.

Bolan-Ban has now 1 Workshop, soon 2 Workshops, later 1 Workshop again when the filler is founded. The city will be converted to Judaism by a Missionary from the Holy City of Bie soon. It will give the Cow back to Bei someday, so Bei can give the Corn back to Mei someday.
About the filler cities, I ran a simulation and determined that each city will increase maintenance by about 10. That is no good for now. Maybe after the conquest.

Bei will be the Moai Statues city someday, and I originally planned to work on the statues during the Golden Age, but then decided that was too long-term. Bei needs to instead build a Forge (no Baray) and then units like a normal city. The statues can wait for now, but not too long, since there are hammers invested in them from the old days when Naufragar briefly gifted Stone. About 15 turns until they begin to decay. After the conquest, I will have Stone of my own, and completion will be swift. Also, Bei was finally converted via Missionary recently. The Unholy City unholy no more.


   
Mei has graced the Top 5 city screen before, but not in a while.

I got the New Dynasty Event here on Turn 125, and got to choose between a free settled Great General, Great Merchant, or Great Prophet.
Mei is for GPP and may never train a unit again, so GG was declined. Great Merchant has the superior yields over Great Prophet, but Great Prophet points are superior, but settled GP do not provide GPP, so Great Merchant it was, as you can see. Nice, . I had to check the yields and lack of GPP with my phone to avoid disturbing the Event pop-up again.

When the Golden Age ends, Mei will work less specialists and more Mines for a little while to finish the Forge in a reasonable time. The last Forest will help.

The empty Dry Grassland Flats are being left empty for Farms post-Civil Service.

Note the Health. The situation is similar in other cities. Health is low, even after I got, with some difficulty, Clams from Commodore and Fish from Pindicator. I do have 3 seafood resources, but all are Crabs! The main problem is that I only have 1 type of Farm food: Corn. But Bibracte has Rice, and Cathy Ames has Wheat, and I already want to build Barays anyway.


   
Western Cambodia. Turn 126.
Ban finally reached 3rd ring, so once again I have the upper hand against Naufragar in the culture war for the contested Copper, but Ankh-Morpork is absurd and is already approaching 1000 culture, . At least it doesn’t matter much anymore, since 2 Plains Hill Windmills are better than 1 Plains Hill Copper Mine. But I would still like to control the tile for security. It was a mistake to compromise such a calm, slow border by building that road, and now I cannot pillage it. . I always forget you cannot pillage roads in your culture!

Someone finally settled for that Sheep: Commodore, with Schwarzbier. I thought Naufragar would. He still could, actually. Maybe I should have. Maybe the situation for settling that Sheep had changed, and I was too stuck in my old mindset to realize it. It’s just hard to fully convince myself that deliberately choosing to not settle for another food resource was a good idea, now that someone else has taken it.

Anyway, in Eastern Cambodia the 3 cities collectively have a food surplus of 18, less 4 for working the Gold, so 14 Plains Hill Windmills at full size. Plus the 3 Grassland Hill Windmills, and post-Civil Service 3 Dry Plains Farms. The question is, to the limited extent I can choose at all, how should I choose to distribute those tiles? For example, which of Bie or Bolan-Bei should have the job of working the Gold between them. For now, I think Bolan-Bei will be favored and get more Grassland and less Gold, because it is on the coast and can build ships, so it should get more production.
In that case, The German Gate will be chopped and Windmilled soon. No fort after all.

Also, as of Turn 128, Western Cambodia is down to 2 citizens working non-Windmills that should be working Windmills, both at Bolan-Bei. The Worker-turn crunch is over, and that problem will be permanently solved very soon.


   
Technology Advisor. Turn 128.
I researched Iron Working then Construciton, in that order. Better to see Iron first since both would be done before any cities were ready to build units anyway. Then I had a lot of overflow and put it in Horseback Riding for lack of a better idea. . I don’t need Ballista Elephants to conquer Gin-guelito, but they have a long shelf-life, so I guess it makes sense to unlock them and bring some along? Might as well.
After that, maybe, I have no clue. The technology plan devised so long ago is complete, and I am at a loss for how to proceed. Code of Laws to Civil Service? Feudalism to Civil Service? Engineering? Aesthetics to Literature?


   
Info Screen Demographics on the Final Turn of the First Cambodian Golden Age. Turn 128.

Looking at this for the report, who has Power of 344,000? Pindicator, I hope. . Naufragar cannot whip, and Gin-guelito has not been. But Naufragar can chop.

MFG will fall but should remain the best in the world now and forever. .

THE END.

[Magic Science]

Fun Facts 2

PRO is making me 8 commerce per turn, and AGG is saving me 9 GPT.

I trained 9 Chariots. 3 are dead, and 5 are promoted, so only 1 remains ready to take Flanking I, win an easy fight, and promote to Sentry. That Chariot is in Da itself with an Archer as insurance against sneaky dodges around the garrison of Fort Ivory. I miss my Sentry Chariot. I need another one, or more than one.

Still only 1 visible free spread of Judaism to foreign lands, to Thundercats. Pindicator had better choose his religion correctly. Buddhism is a lot more than twice as lucky with free spreads.


I can build The Colossus. Should I?