[Spoilers] 0x49-y: Marxist-Joaoist Praxis

[T-hawk]

Have you been whipping economic stuff (before going into Caste for the GA), or are you saving all the population for war materiel?

[Oxyphenbutazone]

Not as much as I would like, I have 3 libraries up and 1 market which feels kind low. However, most of my cities have had to focus on growing tall to push out the ludicrous number of GPs I'm spawning so not sure how much I could have optimized things there. Of course at this point military production will take precedence.

[Oxyphenbutazone]

Every time I think I have a handle on this game...



Scooter throws me a curveball. 4 turns to astronomy. 10 turns to our enforced peace being up. Are we going to be ready?



Yes, but just barely. Chemistry due the turn before the NAP expires after which I can switch into slavery. All possible front cities he could target with a first strike are getting Castles and garrisons of 3-4 longbows, crossbows, and pikemen.

The good news is that Scooter is going end up taking most of his GA just to get astrononmy, while I am getting it for free with scientist bulbs. This means he's still down Guilds, Engineering, and Gunpowder before he can get to chemistry himself. This gives me probably a 10 turn headstart that I need to convert into real military gains. Still, his research capabilities are impressive and above what I had estimated, which makes my margin for victory tighter.




Military is starting to look respectable, should have a stack of 8-10 knights before Scooter can declare war. Thanks to the turn order, Scooter will have the first strike advantage, but my frigates will swoop in on where ever his fleet ends up to clear it out, meaning I should gain the long term edge on the seas. Hopefully Scooter doesn't beeline chemistry following astronomy, but I think that is what I have to plan for. But if by the time he gets there I have blockaded half of his cities and prevent him from linking a fleet up, I should still have the decisive upper hand.



The only cities not building military are the ones starving down for great scientists.



The first objective of the counterattack will be seizing Greg-Marcia-Willa island. This gives me a great base of operations to harass Scooter's entire western coast and denies him any ability to strike at my core. Following that the goal will be to capture Shiv and install a large defensive garrison in there, which I can use to take Tom, raze Roman, and continue on to the soft underbelly of the Viking core. At that point, I should have weakened Scooter enough for a concession, but his empire is so big I can't be certain of that.

This is shaping up to be a pretty epic game. I've been very impressed with Scooter's play throughout, but I still think I have what it takes to win from here.

Any questions people have?

[Qgqqqqq]

What are you most afraid of?

[Oxyphenbutazone]

If Scooter really pushes galleon production he can raise up a sizeable fleet ready for a first strike when our NAP expires. That could be pretty scary, especially if he sails it up close to my core at which point he could fork a bunch of my cities:



Now if he did this I definitely wouldn't be able to save every city, tho I think I could defend the important mainland ones. But if he's trying to do this he'll have to get the fleet in position 5 turns after astronomy comes in and with 3 turns of travel time from his core, so he would have to mass upgrade his galleys to pull it off. I should know if he's going for that soon as he will have to start moving his troops to stage on Greg island within the next turn or 2; so far I've seen nothing. Alternatively, he might choose to go for a less elaborate attack that threatens my front cities in the south and west, or my islands to the southeast. A castle + 2 longbows and a crossbow in every city he could threaten should make such an attack quite expensive, and with frigates I should be able to clean up the fleet + army before it makes it home, so even if he can burn a core city I think the overall exchange might still be acceptable for me in the long term.

Obviously what I'm hoping for is that he's going for astronomy as a defensive precaution so that he can keep developing his new lands, but we'll have to see.

[Oxyphenbutazone]

Hey Scooter, I see your galleys waiting to be upgraded to galleons...



And I'm ready for them



And soon you'll be the one having to worry about lacking decisive naval technology  



Today Marxist-Joaoism for Incaland, tomorrow for the world!

[T-hawk]

I saw "Industrial Era" in that screenshot and was like, how could you have bulbed that far already... then realized that's just because of Communism

[Oxyphenbutazone]

Ugh the ugly post-industrial worker sprites have been annoying me all game

[Oxyphenbutazone]

Scooter researching engineering after astro instead of upgrading his galleys...he sees where this is going. But I am now 4 turns away from chemistry, while even if he pops a 2nd GA is still at least 12 out (pretty sure he's still lacking feudalism -> guilds -> gunpowder -> engineering)

Any questions people have for my next update?

[Oxyphenbutazone]

Hey guys! I hope you like my experimental digital media art project, I call it "Oxy Wins a Civ4 Game"