uSuthu!: A Chevalier Story

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Bold move: swap to Colonization in 5 turns. Crank out 3 settlers from Hitch, Bromhead, and Chard. THEN build campuses, THEN a military, THEN hit thrawn. If he's not coming after me, then I have the window to do it. I'll sit at 8 cities by turn 85 or so, and be in excellent shape to launch the attack. Except for science, which sucks. We'll work on that.

[VoiceInTheWilderness]

Well, it's classic Chev galaxy-brain. What delay, if any, on the tech or materiel for the Nubian invasion.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Open the save to see Archduke has indeed founded city #5, and it's messing with my loyalty at W. Jones. That's going to be a problem, long-term, and I may need to invest in Magnus here. This border area is going to be an area of tension given the Persian Surprise War abilities and our neighboring Encampments, but the terrain is poorly suited to an offensive on either side. Hopefully I can maintain the peace here to go after the center and south. Accordingly I try to appear winsome:




I trail on the scoreboard, mostly due to thrawn's high era score. I'm starting to slip behind in techs due to Archduke's campuses, but again, that's not a big deal since the key military techs he won't substantially beat me to. I have the smallest empire score as districts go down, but I'm founding my 5th city ahead of Rome, Nubia, and Russia, and 1 turn behind Persia. Not bad. We're keeping pace, which was the plan for the early game. 




After some waffling, I go with a settler at Bromhead. 10 turns is a minor investment still - Bromhead isn't a campus city, and I need to finish W. Jones's Ikanda to trigger the campus discount anyway due to mismanaging my civic swaps. I'm in Colonization + Urban planning still, the Nubians will have to get past 2 cities with walls and encampments to get here, and if they push, I can swap to units right away. But for now, I'm a little bit behind on expansion and so I need to push settlers. The plan is 3, one each from my 3 first cities, to get me to 7 cities after all. This one goes to Hook, another to Bourne, and a final to the southwest, most likely. Allen and Dalton are too exposed to Nubia still. Hopefully I can wrangle a truce with thrawn in the meantime as he's now setting in on his third city-state. 

It's really the perfect setup for Nubia. Five city-states, none able to defend themselves, all placed very neatly in the middle and easy to get to. Not sure that was what Kaiser intended, but I can't criticize thrawn here since eating all of them was my plan, too. Just I'm playing Zulu and he's playing Nubia. :/ Good use of the pitatis, much better than his initial (?) plan to rush me. Not sure if he was bluffing that or not, but it slowed me down jsut enough to cost me against Persia. 

Oh, well. He'll take some time to get those new cities online, he'll paint a target on himself in the meantime, and I should be good on my timeline to reach Corps. There's still problems with science to iron out, but I think once I get these settlers out in ~10 turns that should clear my build queues for all needful things for the war. ~2/3 campuses, ~2 comemrcial hubs would be ideal, and otherwise straight units. 

Here's the final setup:




Chard finishing an Ikanda in 1 turn, Hitch in 2, and then we can start on two more settlers. I'll be pulling in 3 GG points a turn, 4 when Jones finishes its Ikanda in ~8 turns. That means our first general is due in ~17 turns by my calculations. I don't think I can be in position to attack Zulu at that point, but I shoudl think about horses - after the settlers. After the campuses? Or before?

I dunno. I'm terrible at planning.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Well, it's classic Chev galaxy-brain. What delay, if any, on the tech or materiel for the Nubian invasion.

Ultimately not too much delay. The settlers will push back unit builds by ~10 turns, but I'll get tthat back by having more platforms to build units FROM, as well as the science/culture acceleration. I also know I have 30 turns of peace from Persia, and Nubia is busy for at least 15 with its city-state invasions. By the time we finish, thrawn will be about equal to us in cities, BUT he'll have crappy desert cities while I have good productive hubs. He'll be tempted into building cheap settlers while relying on his veteran pitatis...but as he does htat, I'll be training up horsemen and crossbows to come after his grassland cities...

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Turn 64

This turn I finally find the time to update my spreadsheet, which is 7 turns out of date. Missing that many turns makes it much, much harder to track what's going on, since the jumps are so much larger - did someone build a city or grow and finish a district? Did they finish a district or just grow a couple of times? Were the era scores all at once or small jumps? Gotta stay on top of it. Grades are due Tuesday so hopefully after that I have time to keep up.

At home, I have 3 Ikandas finished as I unlock Campuses:




Research starts on Currency but I mustn't finish it until I can place a campus. I'll probably divert to HBR, which I still don't have. Meanwhile, Bromhead and Chard start on settlers, both due in 9 turns - I think that means Chard will have priority. Hitch has a settler due in 11, so turn 75. I have walls and encampments in case of Nubian aggression, but right now I'm pretty sure thrawn's army is down here:




He's held off on building more pitatis in the meantime, so I have a good idea on where most of his units are. He has the garrison warrior and a pair of archers guarding the southern river (where he picked off one of my warriors), he probably left 2 or 3 near Kumasi, and that leaves ~5 to strike with his remaining warrior at the other city states. He's getting stretched kind of thin, and painting a target on his back. I'm okay with this. Archduke, Ioan, and ljub will all soon have access ot him, and while I don't know how aggressive the two newbies are I know Archduke will pounce (imagine if I offer him a joint war!). In the meantime, we're matching Nubian expansion peacefully and our cities are better than his. 

I'm last in scores, but actually about to take the lead in empire score. 6 points are off my inflated districts, but remove those and I'm even with the Archduke, with 3 more cities due in 10 turns to establish me at 8 cities by ~turn 80. That's a good pace. My research is starting to flag as the campuses come online, but again, don't look at the topline number, think of techs the Archduke will hit before me. He mainly leads right now in builders - he's built and bought at least 3 over me. I'd love to have some more, but can't find room for them in the build plan. Anyway, 5th city next turn. 

We'll finsih our 4th Ikanda and our settlers at roughly the same time, so I'll be clear to place a campus, then finish Commerce, then place my first Commercial Hub at Bromhead after Chard finishes its campus. That will bring my science up to within 5 points of Archduke and ahead of where thrawn presently is (thrawn, like me, has skipped campuses, although he finished a single encampment 6 turns ago). 

Nubia is building desert holy sites with desert folklore as a pantheon:





Can a faith/military game work? Will he try to go for Grandmaster's Chapel -> Theocracy and pray for an army? Not sure what his gameplan here is. Note also the weird third ring tile purchase of seemingly naked desert. There's no resource there that he can see that I can't, so...what's he up to?

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Two more turns.

First order of business: I THINK I've got the spreadsheet in order. At least, I've worked out Empire score.

Persia and Nubia are both at 6 cities - Persia 5 founded, Nubia founded 2 and conquered 3.
I'm at 5, with 3 settlers due in 7/7/9 turns (obviously the later 2 go up in ETA as I finish). That will be all but ~2/3 of my own self-built settlers this game. 
Russia and Rome are at 4. I should double-check Rome, since I can actually access his city count, but Russia is a best guess since I missed big jumps in Empire score and haven't gone back for the missing turns.
I lead in total civics, but am now last in total culture as all my city-state boosters have been eaten by the Nubians. Persia has an impressive 23, from all his plantations, paradeizas, and a trade route, I think. No monuments. WIth no Pop growth Mercenaries is 45 turns away, but we'll have pop growth in there. 
I also trail in science and techs, but my science is a semi-respectable 15 bpt, just 5 behind Archduke, who has finished two campuses. I finish my settler in 7 turns, and will be able to place a +3 campus on the same turn at Chard. W. Jones will need to wait until size 4, then it can place a (non-discounted) campus as well. That will keep me just fine in science. 
Gold generation is ~even. Archduke has many more plantations and a gold-boosting trade route. I need to get builders out for my own boosted camps and my own plantations and mines. I need 3. 5 if I want to boost feudalism. I will search for space in the build queues, and swap into Ilkum after Colonization? Bromhead, Hitch, and Scheiss can all work on builders which would be enough. 
Military has slipped behind Ioan, who finished a legion. Not a problem at the moment and I can switch to crash builds in a heartbeat if thrawn thrusts my way next, but his military is guarding his border with me and eating city-states so I should be fine. 




Quick overview with improvements and districts planned. 

Really thinking about relocating the GP to boost Scheiss and Jones's campuses. The population requirements for Jones to take full advantage of my pinned spot are too immense, and without R. Jones contributing it doesn't make as much sense. I'd need 10 pop to have the Ikanda, Campus, Plaza, AND a district boosted by the plaza. Eh. I think boosting my campuses is the more efficient play. 

Relocated Bourne since R. JOnes is off the table. I settle that around turn 76. If I can buy the diamond tile quickly, taht will pay for itself. No clue if I get there before Persian borders expand, probably not. Worth a shot, though. 

Otherwise quietly probing out with my guys to try nad secure my southern city-sites. The active volcano means that Allen is now a viable option.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Quick update. Grades are due Tuesday, then second quarter starts. Once the madness of that dies down, maybe I can get back to in-depth reporting. Regrettably, petty real-life obligations like, y'know, my job are distracting me from the real business of Internet Civ VI multiplayer, and I haven't paid this game the attention it needs. Hopefully I can stay on track, but right now I feel pessimistic because I'm confronted with so many problems and not enough ways to solve them.

First, though, I get back to scouting. I'm trying to be cautious, since my guys can so easily get whacked by Nubian potatoes in the wilderness. I'll think about re-offering peace to thrawn in a few turns, once my settlers are popping. 10 turns guaranteed to plant cities and get walls started. 

Here's Fielding, which is the probable destination of Chard's settler in 5 turns. It's probably going to be founded turn 78 due to the rough terrain on the short walk - 1 tile per turn, oof. But it'll be defensive and productive quickly, a good base for future attacks on Atlantis or to be a thorn in a Nubian advance's side:




Right now, I worked out the math, and I have a settler popping on turn 72, 74, and 76 from Chard, Bromhead, and Hitch respectively. Right now, Allen and Dalton both look viable in terms of terrain due to the ongoing volcanic eruptions, but I don't have the muscle to hold them against a determined Nubian attack, not without walls. Fielding is a fairly safe settle, and Hook is a good backup, but Bourne, Dalton, and Allen are all exposed. Which 1 or 2 of the three shall I settle? Probably Allen, since it's closer to Chard and my Encampment and is easiest to support. Dalton and Bourne are both exposed to Kumasi and Atlantis, so I'd need to dedicate the military to holding that ground. Again, a peace with Nubia would be ideal for 10 turns to get those established. Thrawn probably won't accept, for precisely that reason. 

He's well-loose in the desert, putting the potatos to exactly the use for which they're intended:




Note all the Holy Sites. With Desert Folklore, he'll be very strong in faith. Thankfully Russia has Work Ethic, but thrawn could do a lot of mischief nonetheless. My big concern is Grandmaster's Chapel + praying for an army, which will be very, very difficult to stop. IF he also gets Crusade, then we'll be in a tight spot indeed, but I'm not sure what exactly I can do about that beyond murdering his missionaries. I'd need a holy site, GP, and apostle myself to launch an inquisition. I really, really wish I had either spawned where Archduke/Ioan are, or that thrawn had gone ahead with his futile rush so I could whittle down his guys a bit and at least I'd have Kumasi still. He spawned in the best possible position for himself, while I spawned in the worst possible position - between Nubia and Archduke.  

Soon he'll have taken all 5 city-states, and there's nto a lot I can do about it. I could swap to horsemen, and I very well might, after my settlers, but otherwise, I'm really worried about the rest of the field. Archduke and Ioan might go slap-fighting each other (or, worse, me and Russia!), when an Immortal/Legion attack on the desert would probably crush Pitatis. They could liberate their pet city-states or take them for themselves, and once through Nubia's empire would quickly crumble. I HOPE that's what they do, but I am not at all convinced either will go for it. Archduke won't like exposing his flank to me and to Rome, and Ioan might not have the killer instinct. But even a limited attack on Cardiff and Rapa Nui, plus a raid into the southern cities, would be enough...Meanwhile, Russia is still on 4? cities and I think is quietly playing in his sandbox, happy with a DoF with Nubia. 

So no one else will stop thrawn, probably. If I can arrange a 3-way dogpile on him, I will, but I've no idea how to signal that to the other two. Archduke hasn't even met Nubia yet so he might not be aware of how dire everything is...





He does have Immortals out, though not visible, and is loosely concentrating at Cardiff. Hopefully he declares a surprise war on thrawn and does something? :D Probably not.

For my part, I am going to swap to Maneuver in 7 turns. That will delay the final settler slightly out of Hitch, but in turn will speed up horsemen out of Chard, W. Jones, and Bromhead. Three horsemen will be a good core, then I can hopefully do a joint builder/campus wave, as I am in desperate need of both. My science is respectable but still worst-in-class, whcih is more or less where I need it to be, but I don't want to fall further behind. 

The three priorities all seem equally important: horsemen to be the core of a corps-striking army (Two or three horsemen corps + a GG will sweep pitati from the field nad perform respectably against Crossbowmen). Builders to get my improvements down, or campuses to improve science.

Must think.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Conclusions:

Nubian military strength is on the rise and I know Thrawn is building horses. He also has built at least 1 Nubian pyramid if I'm reading his era score right, so we know know he has rams available. I want my horse defense corps in place before my builders, desperately as I need builders. I hate the slowdown in development, but I can put the horses to good use in wars to come so at least the production isn't wasted.

We'll go horses after the settlers. Policy swap into maneuver in 7 turns. Horses, then builders/campuses as available.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

About 5 turns along. Report soon.

I've made no decisions really, so no major need to report. 

Abroad, Nubia is on the brink of Cardiff, and Rome+Nubia have declared war on Persia. I need to tempt Russia into war against Nubia, but Russia is on the far side of the world as me and I've no means of contact. Problematic.

For now, I'm solo against a Nubia who is building horsemen. I can spit out my own pretty quickly, so I'm going to do that until I have some measure of security.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Nubian power has spiked to 396, meaning probably 3 horses have finished around his empire. I've got two en route, but I'm clearly going to need to crash build some military here. Debating even finishing Hitch's settler until I know I can hold the site. Probably should swap into a horseman next turn at Hitch. :/ 

Research is Construction -> Engineering ->Iron Working ->Machinery. 

I'd really like to get that iron, but I can't without Hitch's settler. But I can't settle there without a strong enough military to hold Allen. Hm. 

The Persian/Roman war is stupid, of course, because Archduke has a higher military score than Ioan, and a much higher research rate (28 points), all while Nubia gets its desert bonanza online. Really wish I had had pitatis myself, Thrawn and I could have fought for the middle. Or if it'd taken thrawn even 3 turns longer to get there, I could have held Kumasi and made things much more complicated for him. As it is, I feel like I'm the only person even worried about Nubia while Persia and Rome fight and Russia does what it does.