[PB59 Amicalola] The Vespertine Hour(s)

[Amicalola]

I'm not sure how realistic it is, but ultimately I'd like to launch two consecutive GAs starting T120-130, completing Taj Mahal at the end of the second (for 3 total GAs). In the third GA, I'd research Gunpowder and Military Tradition, and whip/draft out a horde of cuirs and muskets to run over someone. 

Also: SD built the Buddhist shrine a turn after my last post.

[thestick]

...I am getting completely 'wooshed.' What's the joke?

[Amicalola]

...I am getting completely 'wooshed.' What's the joke?

Yeah, I probably should have given you guys more info. Me. I'm the joke.

My continent holds 3 of the Top 5(?) civs in the game, or certainly Top 10; these are Mackoti, Naufragar, and myself. But they've played the last 10 turns much smarter than me. Mackoti and Naufragar are currently building construction-era armies, while I twiddle my thumbs building libraries and courthouses (I haven't researched construction or HBR yet).  

They are presumably going to attack their neighbours (Cairo, Pindicator respectively) while I won't be able to properly react. Naufragar has been especially obvious, closing borders to both Pindicator and myself last turn. I should have massacred his work boat on sight.   


But moping aside, I need to decide what to do. Going for a construction-era army myself is probably doomed to fail, since I'd just be a poor/late imitation of them. But cuirs are (in hindsight) an absolutely ridiculous proposition. Right now, I am thinking 1 Golden Age to knights, while Cairo/Pindicator hopefully hold out, or at least do some damage. I might be able to assist them with a HA stack and some triremes in the meantime. Then, if I'm lucky, I'll be able to sweep in for some spoils, at least.

[Amicalola]

T114


Naufragar killed my circumnavigating trireme with a chariot, while it was in Mackoti's city. To say I'm angry would be an understatement; I'm absolutely fucking furious. I literally let a work boat pass through my lands <10 turns ago.  

I'm not accepting the ceasefire this time. Naufragar can sleep in the bed he's made.

[Amicalola]

T114 - Part Two
It hasn't come up much since PB56 (and really 55), but I have an inexplicable temper for these games that I don't have in real life. Previously, this is when I would log out, and talk to Tarkeel / Mjmd to cool off and get rational advice. This is something I greatly appreciate about my dedlurkers. Well, I logged out, but instead of calming conversations, I've just been stewing in my own angry thoughts. So I didn't exactly go back into the turn with a forgiving mindset.


First I thought about how I could get others involved. I sent this offer to Superdeath and Tarkeel. It's intended to say "kill Naufragar's work boat for 30 gold," which hopefully comes through. I'm not sure if the WB went north or south, but I'll be checking TBS and Commodore's diplo screens every turn to offer something similar when he meets/reaches them. 


Pindicator got a mutual copper+fish offer, to signify that I'm on his side. This is not just bluster; I will be sending units if/when Naufragar moves in. Finally I sent Mackoti a 'war with Naufragar' offer. I think he's planning to attack Cairo, but if I can sic him on Nauf's back I will. 

I have two triremes in the south. These were keeping an eye on Pindicator, but I'm not worried he'll attack me with Naufragar at the gates. They will group up and harass Naufragar's seafood in the south. My northern trireme for Cairo will also head east, though I'm not sure if it will circumnavigate or harass yet. My inner sea trireme will pillage this seafood, and then wait for reinforcements. 


Naval and land units are being whipped or overflowed from barracks/courthouses. Tech path from here is HBR->Construction, so that I can send units to help Pindicator. In a way, it feels good to have a distinct purpose again.

[Amicalola]

T116 - Everything Sucks Including Me


Mackoti moved in on Cairo, who somehow seems to have been caught totally unawares (Sappy has 2(!!!) units for defense). He actually launched a GA earlier in the turn; thank god he didn't switch out of slavery. He will lose lots of cities best-case, and quite plausibly die to the sheer number of units Mackoti seems to have brought. I'm not sure whether I should trust Cairo to hold out and fight back, or move in myself. I'm reminded of PB56 when I jumped in on Vanrober thinking he'd die either way, and was 100% wrong to do so. Between that and Nauf/Pindi, I feel like at best I have to let one of the neighbors get absorbed, which sucks. I definitely should have been more proactive and built myself an army earlier.

Not all bad news. I got the Great Library in Unison, which is becoming quite the GP pump. National Epic has been queued up next. Here's my demos:


At least two people are in GAs, so I'm basically the top of non-GA demos. It's crazy that I'm doing this well, but am still 3rd place on my island right now. I guess it goes to show my problem; shitty macro play. 


If I have to choose between stopping Mackoti and Naufragar, it's going to be Nauf. Cairo is more likely to hold than Pindicator is, and I'm not going to forgive that trireme incident. Having an ally in the north would be really useful when Nauf becomes a neighbour, too.

[Amicalola]

I'm trying to figure a way out of this disaster. Maybe I should shorten my GA timeline, to something like T118 or 119. I would get enough GPP for another GA afterwards, which would definitely get me to Guilds. I would only have 1-2 more for the Industrial era, but obviously those are useless anyway if I don't conquer something soon. That might be the answer. But I still want to whip things...

Edit: I want to be clear that I'm not feeling 'woe is me.' Sure, other people don't have to worry about their neighbours getting eaten this early, but a) Pindicator at least is my fault, and b) I should have been able to predict this and play around it. Y'know, like my competitors did.  I would more describe my feelings as frustration at myself, and 'I'm fucked,' even though it's my own fault. Which still sucks.

[Amicalola]

While we were talking about PB60, I ended up having a chat with Vanrober about this game too (without spoiling anything; just general feelings). And seriously, talking to a neutral person is the best way to make you realise you're too invested, and need to take a step back. At some point, I forgot that my goal was just to be relevant and have fun; I can't hope for much more against this competition. Somehow that got subverted into 'Must Win,' which is unrealistic and sourcing most of my stress here. So rather than ruminating over my mistakes and weaknesses, let's make a fun/plausible plan that uses my strengths.


I have strong demos, and a small tech-lead; I could definitely be the first on my continent to knights, which (I think) are the stereotypical unit for midgame conquest. Construction finishes up this turn, which is my final basic Classical Tech. After that, I'll be saving up gold, whipping/building the remaining 'essential infrastructure' (my possibly  list: Granary, Lighthouse, Courthouse, Forge, Barracks), and growing my cities. In addition, I'm building enough military to hold my coast, because there's so many vulnerable cities.

Then, I'll be launching a GA beelining Guilds, which should take about 8 turns of research. Thanks to Great Library, I could be chaining two GA's here, and I really considered doing that for Military Tradition. But it's too damn slow (what I'm doing now is already too slow), so it'll be Knights for us.

With careful use of pre-building and post-GA whipping, I think I can have something like 20 knights and 20 non-knights (catapults, longbows, axes/swords) in the 5 turns following the GA. That might even be pessimistic, but it's probably pretty close. I'm really bad at judging "how big should my army be?" (e.g. in PB58 I thought we'd need more than we did, and the opposite in 56), but that seems like enough to do some pretty serious damage, or hopefully even stake out some new territory myself. Of course, I'm getting 20 turns ahead of myself - let's see if things remotely pan out this way.

[Amicalola]

T118

I realised that Cairo and Mackoti both don't report, so while I do boring domestic things, maybe I can report that war. Problem is:



There isn't really much of a war at all. Cairo is getting destroyed. Massacred. Brutalised. Mackoti's HAs have already taken 5 cities, and I can see at least 2 more that will fall next turn (including the capital!). It seems Cairo really was just completely caught off-guard by the whole invasion. So far from reinforcing, or even sniping some of Cairo's cities, I'll be lucky to get more than his island. Hell, I might be Mack's next target! Still, I'll get some plans in the works to grab at least a couple of cities for myself. I had been wondering if Naufragar would do anything to intervene, but...



Pindicator is keeping him busy. Wasn't expecting that!

Poor Nauf also had Calcutta's fishing boats pillaged.

[Amicalola]

T119
The good news is that Cairo, while probably still dead, is putting up some fight. He moved his main stack into his capital this turn, which will prevent it from falling. I hope he gets to catapults soon. My decision not to backstab Cairo feels good considering he's not totally dead. Well, not immediately, rather. I will probably not assist Cairo directly, because that would be a recipe for Mackoti and Naufragar to partition my later on. 



In the south, Naufragar moved his (main?) stack into Hornblower, recapturing the city (RIP brave axeman  ). The follow-up stack mostly has a bunch more catapults. Pindicator's stack has retreated into his capital. Now we wait and see whether or not they clash again, and watch each of their stacks closely. Err, and pillage more seafood.  



Speaking of pirates, it looks like Superdeath got absolutely wrecked by TBS a few turns ago. He's also lost a few cities...



I got a Great Engineer from Unison, which can bulb Machinery! That speeds up Guilds noticeably by a turn or two, so it's really <15 turns away! This will be (somehow) the first time I've ever bulbed with a great person; I wouldn't have expected it to be with an engineer. Maybe then I can start doing interesting things myself.