[SPOILERS] PBEM 8 - Shoot the Moon's Thread

[Shoot the Moon]

Fair enough. I'll concede that having a ball court was not the I immediately classified it as, although I still maintain that some HR units would have been a better choice for happiness (keep in mind that I am making these distinctions with limited knowledge of the history regarding when he built the ball court. I reserve the right to entirely change my mind upon reading the Mayan spoiler thread after the game).

On another note, this game seems to have the amazing ability to slow down right during the most suspenseful turns for me. I can't really get mad that a turn takes 48 hours every once in a while, it is just somewhat weird that it has happened at the times when I really want the next turn to get back.

[Shoot the Moon]

I'm a bit late on reporting, so I'm going to split this up into three posts: a t99 military report, a t100 military report and a t100 empire overview. First up, a quick military report from t99:

Here is what I saw when I inherited the turn (ignore signs that say t98; that is just for my own record keeping). On the interturn (well, my interturn, their last turn), Maya had thrown a catapult at my stack, but that was it.



You ask what he did with his great general? He did this (hover over on the tile 1SE of Pepper):



In response, I consolidated my troops here:



I didn't have a chance of taking the city this turn, but by consolidating he also can't wipe me. Consolidating allows me to heal off the collateral and move two more HAs forward into the stack. Considering the little risk that stack is under (Maya have no catapults that could strike it whatsoever and really nothing they could safely throw at it and not lose the city next turn) there is really no cost to me to keeping it there and seeing what 8 HAs can't do against the city next turn.

Finally, after ending turn, I got this:



I think it was roughly 88% odds for that (the other all for a scientist). You'll see what I did with it in next turn's report.

[Shoot the Moon]

Here's the t100 military update:

When I first inherited the turn, I saw this in the city:



I forgot to put signs, so you'll have to make do with text descriptions of Mayan troops:
In pepper: 3 xbow (one c1+2, formation), three holkans, axe.
1SW of pepper: 1 holkan
2S of pepper: 1 holkan.
SW-SW of my stack:xbow and cata.

I moved a sentry unit SW to reveal:

S-SW of pepper: archer, 2 worker
In paprika: archer, holkan

At this point, I realized that almost all of the Mayan military which I had seen over the past two turns (as evidenced by my markers still remaining) was in the north. As such, I decided to move back toward Paprika:



The RNG decided to spite me and killed my unit without even scratching the crossbow Yes, I realize that it is actually lower than the 67% odds listed because of the river, but I still should have at least damaged the crossbow enough for it to be mop up from there. My next HA retreated, leaving two wipe up jobs.

I attacked last with a sentry unit, revealing this (hover over is on Cinnamon):



Anyway, here's the end result of my efforts:



Whether or not I can take Paprika will probably depend on how the RNG rolls when Maya hits me with those two holkans (and whether Maya has any units in the fog). I also moved my single move stack to the SE so that if I wish to get out I could either move it SE to protect my two movers, or at the very least keep it on that hill to safely get out my great general healer (which I want alive not only because of its value but also because it allows me to build the HE).

Any bets on whether the RNG finally turns my way this game and lets me raze Paprika? (And no, that is not intended as a cliff hanger, as I have yet to get the save back. As I've said, this game always seems to take longer than 24 hours only when it is most interesting for me, although to be fair that "most interesting" status has applied the last 10t or so).

[Shoot the Moon]

And here's a bit of a screenshot dump for my t100 report. I suspect that all the screenshots should be pretty self-explanatory, but if you have any questions (about for example city micro or what-not) feel free to ask.

I will note a couple small things. First, Byz just this turn got guilds. Notice that I already have 7 pikes produced. I'd say that's a decent head start considering Byz oracle'd feud. From here on out, I am planning to keep almost all my pikes in my capital, as from there they can reach both Bombay and Calcutta in 1t, which allows me to be responsive to wherever Byz would try to hit. I'll leave a couple in each city just to get the fortify bonus/be able to attack out of the city if necessary.

Also of small note, I think you can probably tell what I used my GE on: the great library. Next turn I am going to build the national epic in my capital in 1t off the overflow hammers, which should get me my next great person in a mere 6t. Usually isn't the greatest play to build NE in the capital, but with my cap having so many mountains it a) isn't going to be amazing long term and b) is going to be working the most specialists of all of my cities anyway, so I think it makes sense. I may even move my capital considering the mountains, although I'm not sure if I'll actually be staying in bureau long enough for it to matter either way.

Let the screenshots commence.





























(Not sure how I didn't have a forge in that city already. I think what happened is I had to quickly get out some tiremes right after MC got in to drive warriorknight off and get rid of the ridiculous blockade feature and then forgot to build a forge. Count that up as a mistake)

[Shoot the Moon]

So, that move in Mayan territory turned out to be a mistake, and I got wiped. Hopefully my single movers will be enough to protect my medic III unit (really want to keep that for HE purposes), but we'll have to see. Losing the HAs kinda sucks, but I'll have guilds in 3t anyway so they're not exactly amazing units anymore. (I decided to slip in currency first as it is worth 8 base commerce a turn and will thus pay for itself, especially if I build a market somewhere)

[Shoot the Moon]

A nice short update, as this turn was generally quiet.

First things first, Maya did not attack my one-mover/gg healer stack, so last turn I retreated into my territory onto a forested-hill and threw a longbow over the stack. Looks like that front will probably be quiet for a while (at least until I decide to attack again).

Perhaps most notable is the demogs after finishing currency:



Rival GNP has never gone over 400 (and again, considering I'm not financial that is certainly a good sign there). Also notice the crop yield, which is the biggest the difference has been in a long time. Looking at rival average and rival worst categories (and the graphs I have on everyone), this game certainly appears to be a two horse race at this point (Byz might be able to claw back in with cataphracts, but even that is starting to look like a bit of a long shot at this point).

Not much else to report for now. Hitting end turn next turn will be much more interesting as I will have 3 or 4 cities growing a pop, have my capital finish a market, and finish the HE in my Maoi/settled great general city. I'm starting to backfill some domestic improvements to a certain extent now that the military window in the west is closed.

Also, on the interturn before last turn, I popped iron on one of my capital's plains hills. Not only does that secure a second source of iron not vulnerable in the southern central area, but it also increases my capital's hammers nicely (with those hammers then going through the bureau bonus to boot).

[Shoot the Moon]

Rival GNP has never gone over 400.

Of course, the very next turn, Warriorknight cranks up his slider and goes over 500 GNP Ironic timing.

Pretty quiet turns otherwise. I finished off alphabet in 1t, I will figure out what other teams have and post the results soonish.

[Shoot the Moon]

Inca is up on me: Banking, Calendar, Music, Meditation
I am up on Inca: Mono

Byz is up on me: Meditation
I am up on Byz: Poly, CoL, CS, Alpha, Aesth, and Lit.

Native Americas are up on me: Meditation
I am up on them: Poly, Col, CS, Guilds, Aesth, Lit, Alpha, Currency, and Eng.

Maya is up on me: Theology
I am up on Maya: Monarchy (!), Feud, Guilds, CS, Aesth, Lit, Alpha, and Eng.

Wow, Maya is in an even worse spot than I initially thought. They are well behind in tech and don't have much of a chance of catching up now that their capital has been razed. The only downside to researching Alpha is that now Maya know that I have guilds, which is unfortunate as I am planning to attack with knights, but judging how far behind in tech they are I rather doubt they can afford to research Eng now if they don't want to fall so far behind I roll over them with rifles. And if they do research Eng, at least I will know to not waste my knights attacking.

[Shoot the Moon]

So, at the end of my turn, another GE was born in the capital. I am quite torn with what to do with him, but I think I will use him to get Globe up in an island city that has only 2 hammers/turn. My other consideration was saving for Taj Mahal, but I figure that will go to however gets lib first regardless of a GE. That, and I have both stone and marble, so most wonders aren't a huge deal for me to build raw if I want them.

Also notable is that I had a GP born this turn and get my next one in only 8 turns. That one I think I will use for a GA to go into merc and theocracy.

Also notable: Maya refounded a city on the same spot as their capital. However, they only have two holkans in the city, and I can hit it in one turn. They are just asking for me to bring in two knights and raze it

[Shoot the Moon]

I think my report for the last two turns can pretty much be summarized in these first two screenshots:

t107:



t108:



Yes, I am building the Globe Theater soon I had to do some funny micro to avoid losing hammers on some of those theaters. For example here is my capital:



I can't go over 66 hammers as theaters cost 33 on quick or I lose overflow to the stupid overflow glitch, and to boot I am getting a 200% bonus on every base hammer (50% bureau, 25% OR. 25% forge, 100% theater bonus for being cultural).

One final note, this turn I managed to steal a tile from Byz in their second ring with the third ring of Bombay and the fourth of my capital (and that's before a theater completes in each).



Finally, a great general was born to Warriorknight, which makes me somewhat happy that he is doing fighting. Hopefully it was fighting he didn't want happening rather than him say conquering the Native Americans.