[SPOILERS] The Chemistry of Victory - Mardoc plays Mehmed of Sumer

[Sullla]

Granted, it was clever tactics, using a wardec teleport to reach the settler I'd thought was too far away to be vulnerable.

This is a mechanics question, so I think I can answer this without it being in spoiler territory. Jowy did not use a war declaration teleport to kill your settler. His warrior was on the sheep tile east of Propylene in your Turn 63 screenshot; it's just visible under the research bar, and shows up as a yellow dot on your minimap. Your unguarded settler was only two tiles away, so Jowy simply walked walked east, saw your settler and declared war, then killed it.

Needless to say, it's not the best idea to have an unguarded settler and two unguarded workers walking around outside of your borders with no protection. Especially in these no diplo games, it's best to assume that the other players will always go for a quick snipe if the opportunity arises. Good luck.

[Mardoc]

Oh, open borders means he can use my roads? That's why I thought I was safe, thought he couldn't.

[Mardoc]

Jowy, if you wanted me to forget about hurting you as a goal, you shouldn't do things like this...especially while posting up a storm in WW.

[Mardoc]

Ok, Jowy confuses me more.

Anyway, on to the game.

Game over, man, Game Over!



That's TheStick. On top of having easily the most cities, most population, and best demos. Well...I'm second(ish)...maybe he'll leave an opportunity later.

I do know my neighbors now. To the one side I have an aggressive Bob:



To the other, I have an aggressive Jowy (borders hiding under the interface). Seems clear to me that my near term goals need to be establishing a frontier, pumping culture and plopping in defenders. I ought to be able to push on both of them, but not until a later tech era.



I'm probably just going to settle c2 vs Bob, the northern fish city is only feasible if I have military dominance, which I don't think is worth the investment just yet. Vs. Jowy, I'm going to push as far as I can - the above dotmap is my first thoughts. Looks like lots of room between us, at least for now, so mass producing settlers is still a good move.

Also, as it happens, there's two other directions I can expand, just as soon as I lock down my borders. Option one:


It's a centerland, I think, the axle of the world. Probably has some good stuff.

And, I was right that the mountains were placed deliberately. Now I just need to figure out if there's a treasure island, or merely a toroidal neighbor, this direction.



In better news, I have a settler en route to the Bobism frontier, and three settlers in production - due next turn, the turn after, and 4 (handbuilding one in Ethylene because I've accumulated too much whip anger and need to spend the food somehow). This would be overkill on settlers if I weren't in pretty good shape on workers, too, but as it is, it's going to be good rapid expansion.

I'm again starting to consider maybe building a Great Lighthouse. n-Butane has a bunch of forests...it's on Bob's border, though, and I'm not sure I want to tempt him...but that would be a lot of good cash... In any event, it's too early for it, I'll reevaluate after I've got the basic infra up in n-Butane and after I've pushed out enough workers/settlers/garrisons to have a decent share of the land that's available. Still not worth building 30h Ziggs, which means it's still worth rushing settlers as fast as I can.

[Mardoc]

Founded the city on Bob's border, now I just need to get culture up and garrisons in place (have some, but need more). Next turn I will found a city toward Jowy, the fish/pigs/wheat one. I've also got a settler headed west, probably for the dyes spot. After that, it'll be another short delay while I regrow cities to whip the next round. Which will probably all be toward Jowy, I can fit three or four that way and that's how many settlers are in a round. After that...I'll have to decide between pausing for vertical growth and border control, or just push straight for the centerland. Will depend on how well my overflow hammers are doing at keeping military parity.

I'm debating the right time to found the island city. No one else even has a port on that sea, let alone a galley. So it's guaranteed mine whenever. But I'm down to 50% science, so I could definitely use the extra income. That's with my worst costing city at about 3.7, just barely maybe Zig-worthy. The problem is tiny new cities that don't make anything yet, not maintenance per se.

Plus Ethylene has too much food for its happiness, sharing some would be a good thing. I'll aim to found it with the settler currently in production at Ethylene. Two new cities in the east and two new ones in the west should pretty well saturate my workers for the moment, it'll be a good time to slip in a city that can't use worker turns. Won't take long for the workers to catch up, but then one settler isn't a very long delay either.

The galley heading NW along the mountain chain is probably not going to find any treasure. So far all peaks, nothing settleable, so even if there is something, it's several turns by boat away. Even just an island would be valuable at this point.

I think Jowy must be at war with Sian. He's still at five cities, his power rating is high, and the units definitely aren't headed my direction. I'd know if he were at war with anyone else. And, well, it would explain some of the earlier banter. If it's true, and Sian remains stubborn about it (which would fit his past behavior), that's excellent for me. Would mean I get to grab pretty much everything between me and Jowy, and Jowy will be gimped and distracted while I delve deeper in the tech tree.

I'm researching Metal Casting at the moment. Partly to have the option of Forges (once I run out of land, I'll need somewhere new to dump my hammers), partly because it unlocks useful Medieval techs, and partly because Bob is taking his time with Colossus. I really don't see anything tech-wise that's urgent, still, which is not a good sign. Means I don't really know what I'm doing. I probably should research Construction just to have the cat-option; maybe I'll do that next. That or Iron Working and head on toward Medieval war tech; it'd be lots of fun to introduce Jowy to Maces

Other thoughts...at some point I need to swap to Org Rel and really start pumping out Missionaries. The calendar resources I'm claiming nowish ought to really help happy caps, but religion is useful too. Got one more free spread, but it's not enough.

Maybe my next settler wave should be only 2 settlers, and the other cities add some more workers. 7 workers is enough for now, but I'm starting to stretch them. Especially since I ought to make a couple more cottages in the core once I get additional happiness on line.

Wonders? Still don't feel that any are worth delaying a settler push, but that could be over sooner rather than later. But if I do go for any, they're probably GLH > Collossus > Hanging Gardens. With possible editting for hammer costs. And probably HG is going to go to the same guy who built the Mids, it's even better for him than for me.

Military plans? None, other than to look unappetizing to Bob and Jowy for the time being. Not really a good era for conquest, and empty lush land makes the investment in conquest unappealing as well.

GPP plans? Still intend to turn Ethylene into a GPP pump city, still no specs being worked anywhere. Soon. Probably. Been delaying it in favor of more settlers, which is hard to feel guilty about

[Mardoc]

Hmm, looks like maybe Jowy is trying to indicate peaceful intentions? Funny how that happens when my units are on his border, instead of vice versa...



More exploring, apparently the barbs are attracted to empty land too!



And, um. Jowy? It's a good city, but don't you think it might be overkill? Three foods?




Bob-Borderlands.


Current thinking on Jowy-border (and my newest two cities). Although probably I'm going to move the middle city north 2 tiles - rather than push on Jowy and pretend a cow is food, I'll just grab some riverlands and share pigs/wheat with Butylene (which also has fish once it pops borders). Less defensible, but more short term friendly. And I think I can handle him by out teching him rather than by tactical terrain.

Edit: Also debating the right place for the western city. It's a better city founded on top of the marble - after I get a border pop. Worth taking the slow start in exchange? Not sure.


In other news - first town! . Should be getting a number of these in the next few turns.



All this said...probably just playing out the string . I'm doing pretty decent at the demos compared to everyone else, but TheStick is in a league of his own...I'm going to have to read his thread after this to figure out just how he pushed the snowball so far ahead so fast.

Well, and there's always the chance of luck later. Maybe someone decides to fight China and bogs him down.

[Mardoc]

Finally have enough maintenance costs for Zigs to be worth building. Although not yet urgent, they'll displace some of my military 'while growing' builds. At least as long as my neighbors seem to be behaving.




Nothing much to report this turn, though. Cities growing, building infra, preparing for whips, but nothing important actually *finished*. On the other hand, no signs of aggression or even further settling toward me. And I figured out a way to shave a turn from the island city founding.

[Mardoc]

Most of the news for this turn is visible in one shot. Jowy declared on TheStick, briefly. Guessing it was to kill a scouting unit? Also, I founded my island city, which was a moderate economic boon, maybe net 6 gpt. Why so low? I'm in the steep part of the maintenance cost curve, the part that makes me glad to be Sumeria. First Zig should complete next turn . Maintenance varies, but it's currently in the 3.5-4.5 gpt range per city. I don't think regular courthouses would be worth building for that, but 30h Zigs are definitely worth it. Plus of course I still have lots of settlers in production, so they'll only get more valuable.



Scouting news is mainly naval. The island hoppers are finding nothing habitable. Lots of fish, taunting us, though. This is really looking like just an alternate connection pathway, perhaps to the other toroidal center and branching off again to everyone else. Guess it'll mean trade with everyone once I have it fully explored in 50 or 100 turns.



And, Jowy really doesn't like his port cities. May be relevant later, not sure yet.



Wonders are still out there, as is a lot of unclaimed land. Just need Jowy and Bob to leave me alone for another couple dozen turns...

[Mardoc]

Jowy's being annoying and ambiguous. He's got a pair of War chariots in the land between us, not enough to take anything of mine, but enough to make me need more spears to guard workers and settlers and such. Also he showed up flanking my sentry chariot, in a way that I couldn't run away - but then chose not to kill it when I withdrew. Yet he also offered that cow-pig trade for goodwill. Don't know what's going on here. Guess it's really the same as ever - speak softly and carry a big stick. And keep advancing in tech so that I can pound him later.

I'm a little embarrassed, I've got a couple settlers ready to go with no escort, who are waiting for me to get spears made and advanced. I was going to borrow the spears from my border cities, but I'm worried I'll need them with full fort bonuses. I might even end up whipping a unit or two here since that's my bottleneck. I don't want this many ancient units! But it looks like I won't have a choice about it.

I've finished Metal Casting, but Bob got the big statue, so it'll only be useful for forges and as a prereq for medieval tech. Going Construction now - Jowy's making me nervous, and I'd expect Bob to be not especially happy about my border either. A half dozen cats for each of them will make me feel a lot happier, and the best way to get those cats is gradually. After that, I'm not sure. Probably Iron Working. It'd be nice to prove whether Knighting Jowy is possible. And probably pick up a few hammers, and maybe even enable jungle chopping in the center island.

Either that, or Archery/HBR. Or maybe after staring at the tech tree I'll see something more economic.

Other news? TheStick has 12 cities, but I outnumber everyone else. That'll show up in the demos in about 10 turns, now that I'm getting granaries in and workers going full tilt on new tiles. I'll be solidly #2 instead of arguably #2 .

My island explorer still hasn't found anything but more peaks, but at least he's making progress toward a potential circumnavigation. Although TheStick will likely beat me there too . My southern explorer is finally blocked by Jowy culture, I'm debating whether to offer him open borders again or not. Probably will since it'll benefit me more than him this time. If I can get past Jowy, I'll either meet Sian or establish trade with TheStick. Both would be profitable.

I think I ought to offer open borders to Bob. Haven't yet, but we're only a road away from trade there. Trade that *hasn't* been nuked by war. Just need to make sure I have a balanced garrison in each of my border cities first, so when he scouts me he'll know he can't just push them over. That and maybe also wait for culture in the southern border city; library incoming there.

Got my first Zig built, which ought to start getting me a bit of an EP advantage on the world. Not that it'll matter much, with only passive espionage, but at least I ought to get everyone's graphs easier.

And...I'm going to try for the Great Lighthouse. But I'll be trying for it in a city without forests; maybe folly? It's got decent hammers though, and also good food (will be starting off with overflow from a whip, and repeating that throughout). My forests have pretty much gone for granaries and libraries, which doesn't seem like a waste, really.

[Mardoc]

Left my jump drive at home. Just in case the pace here weren't slow enough already...

At least I'm scheduled to get internet tonight, so it won't be a huge delay. Assuming Verizon follows through, anyway...

Well, I'll report anyway. Not much going on domestically, except a number of troops finishing and heading toward the Jowy frontier. Which is relevant because...

I declared war on Jowy. He'd been poking around with some War Chariots, and parked one right on my border, forking my border cities. Sent a spear at it, only took one hit to kill the darn thing. Then I offered a peace treaty. I figure, honestly, that peaceful gestures won't work with Jowy - if they did, he wouldn't have killed my settler. So either: smack him enough that he respects me and gives me game-enforced peace...or I'll be fighting him anyway, in which case I ought to take any opportunities that he provides. He'd backed off with his other WC and offered sheep-sheep trade, but I don't trust either of those from him anymore.

If he does decide he wants a serious war - well, Construction is due in 3 more turns. I figure I'll play the war passive-aggressive: plant cities up in his face and pump culture and otherwise play defense. With cats and culture I ought to manage pretty decent hammer exchange ratios, enough to let me continue expanding. Maybe not good enough to let me win...but that's probably a forlorn hope by now anyway. But I doubt I can do a whole lot on offense.

Meanwhile Bob's been passive and even quasi-friendly. For instance, he's been covering his workers on my border with Holkan and warriors, not with chariot or axe. So I offered him open borders. Hopefully he sees the value in that, and maybe even uses the worker on my border to connect a road. I expect if he agrees, I'm sending a chariot out to scout his land and find TheStick/Sian (whichever is closer to him, probably thestick because probably Jowy's fighting Sian).

Also, war with Jowy would let my galley go on and find Jowy's neighbor. Who's probably just as pissed with Jowy as I am. Be good to show them he's at war with me, maybe that leads to dogpile. Dogpile + cats might let me go conquering after all.

Edit: One More Thing. Jowy's...as best I can tell, declared war on everyone he's met. Only reason Bob hasn't warred with him is they didn't meet. So...if anyone joins in, it'll be against the Egyptians.