RB PBEM #1 - Pericles (SPOILERS!)

[LiPing]

Ashes bet is looking pretty good right now (Despite my location, I'm actually hoping England wins)

[T-hawk]

What I want to know is how much (roughly) the great scientist will give me towards education.

A Great Scientist lightbulb is 1500 beakers + 3 per population point empire wide. That's normal speed; scale by 2/3 for Quick. No discount or modifier applies for knowing prerequisites or for other civs knowing the tech.

All other Great People lightbulbs are 1000 beakers + 2 per pop point on normal, then scaled for game speed.

[sooooo]

OK, thanks T-Hawk.

Settler finished at Athens, monastery started. Forge complete at Sparta, started the Colossus (6t but chop imminent). Colossus is fairly useless right now but eventually I expect to have some coastal cities that would only have coast to work as good tiles. Plus it's a very cheap wonder if you have copper.

I got a great scientist on the interturn. Will have to do some calculations but I'm currently leaning to founding an academy with him.

Phalanx in the north kills another barb (7 exp now) and has spotted another! Getting closer ...

[sooooo]

I revolted to Taoism last turn and this turn I burnt my bridges and founded an academy at Thebes with my scientist. The monastery at Athens is 1t away but I got a natural spread of Taoism to Thebes anyway. I figure I’ll complete the monastery and then build a missionary for Corinth (for the culture battle with Ruff). I also got a spread of Confucianism to Corinth which I’m not particularly pleased with since it’s the AP religion. If I have to defy any resolutions then I’ll take a happiness hit there. Think I have enough archers for garrison duty and therefore started a catapult in Corinth. Also founded a city (Knossus) at the coastal deer spot. Picture to appear next time.

[sooooo]

OK, had a chat with Ruff. He's clearly trying to screw me over and not get me paper (by indefinitely postponing mc). I'll post the explanation in the email I sent to athlete and mh:

Alright guys, I think Ruff has decided to screw me over. We agreed to trade machinery for paper once both of us had the pre-reqs we lacked (CS and MC). Ruff has continually avoided making a MC deal with mh and now has a deal to get it from Dreylin. However, he doesn't even know if Dreylin is researching the tech right now (yeah right!) and can't give an accurate eta. He won't front me paper even though he said he would if he got an agreement. I then suggested that if I could persuade mh to gift him MC then that would work since dreylin could still get his tech and Ruff would still get MC but he rejected that situation with a lame excuse that Dreylin might not understand and would feel out of the loop. This is a clear screwing over of a tech deal. If this is the case, athlete - would you be willing to cancel your feudalism - paper deal with Ruff? I'd research paper myself and gift it to you all. I threatened Ruff that if he won't get me paper, in the spirit if not the exact wording of the trade, then he should prepare for war. What to you all think? sooooo

[sooooo]

OK, Ruff decided he will front me paper now.

I'm not sure if the threat of war encouraged him to back down. I can't see his demographics (duh!) so I can't see his power rating. I am number 1 in soldiers though. Maybe my threat made him change his mind, maybe it didn't.

I apologised for threatening him with war but now I'm not even sure if I'm sorry. Immediately after the chat it felt like a dirty thing to do but if he's intimidated by my soldier count then that's probably not a bad thing. I could apologise for sending out an untrue apology? Or not.

The main reason I decided he was going to screw me over was when he wouldn't even consider getting mh to gift MC to Ruff and then have Ruff gift Dreylin whatever he was going to trade to him. That solution hurts precisely no one and we get our trade done on time. But bizarrely he wouldn't go for it. He didn't think Dreylin would see it favourably. I thought that was a straight-up lie, since Dreylin is not stupid and would see the plan wouldn't adversely affect him. That lie pretty much convinced me that he planned to screw me over and I'm beginning to think that he changed his mind after our chat and my threat to declare war on him. Plus there's the claim that he didn't know what Dreylin was researching (I don't think so!).

[sooooo]

Mmmkay, finished machinery this turn and pleasingly mh and athlete finished their techs too. Next turn I'll therefore get CS for next turn and can request paper from Ruff. That leaves me with 1 turn with nothing to research but I intend to spend that turn in anarchy, stopping any wasted beakers at 0% science.

Finished colossus too in Sparta. Might go barracks here until I grow and then a worker or settler.

At Athens I think I'll start a forge while growing to size 10. Want to hire an engineer specialist to get my GE for Oxford.

Finished forge at Argos, barracks next.

Not sure if I'm going to crank out the next scientist asap for lightbulb. It's a question of a better chance of liberalism vs better long-term economy. Settling a scientist in Thebes would get 9 base beakers. Multiply that by a library, academy, university (going to chop it) and oxford (going to GE it) then that's 27 beakers per turn from one scientist. Quite a lot!

Ruff could conceivably beat me to liberalism if he lightbulbs education (with his or Dreylin's GS) and dreylin researches philo for him. But he could do that even if I do lightbulb since he has a headstart on me and they both have a lot of money in the bank. So lightbulbing does not guarantee me liberalism.

But in that scenario they've used up a GS that could have been an academy and have both spent turns not researching military techs. They do gain the bonus of the value of the tech minus the value of liberalism. It's not as good as in SP mode because we're not going to trade for the liberalism tech itself.

Hopefully I can see Dreylin's research soon so I can tell if he's researching philosophy. Probably I can hedge my bets and get a GS at reasonable rate (but not all-out maximum rate) and decide later whether to lightbulb or settle depending on what Dreylin is researching.

Ruff has built Hagia Sophia and apparently Dreylin was building it too. Doesn't seem like a good plan to me. I know I've built my fair share of wonders this game (pyramids, THG, colossus) but those wonders are actually good and I had their doubler modifiers. Hagia Sophia is just complete rubbish and they've both tried to build it? I asked Ruff why he wanted it and he said to deny me the GE points. Errrr, OK, you build those wonders to deny me those points! I'd gladly give up some GE points to have your capitals both build something irrelevant and expensive while allowing mine to build workers.

[sooooo]

Played a few turns, though the game will be delayed for people's holidays. Still saving money at 0% science, will get a GS in 4 or 5 turns and if I lightbulb education then I will have enough cash by then to go 100% science for the rest of education and the whole of liberalism.

Palace due in Thebes next turn and that will give me a massive commerce boost. My other cities are concentrating on production and military. Barracks completing in Sparta, forge started in Athens (chop coming in soon). Maceman started in Argos (have chop here too) and catapult just finished in Corinth (have 2 chops coming in here soon as well).

I also want a couple of settlers soon though to get my Maoi city and my Marble city. Have started roading towards them.

[sooooo]

Bad news! Ruff has education (must be lightbulb) and Dreylin has philo.



Presumably Dreylin will now research liberalism at defecit research. Here's the empire:



And here is my new capital!



GS due in 3 who will be settled now I can't win the liberalism race. Then I'll sack the scientists and work more cottages (and build more). That should time nicely with the health cap being raised when I hook up deer and cows.

Here's my old capital:



Plan here is to grow and then work an engineer to speed up the next GE. I'll be building military here but will find time to fit in one settler. Onto Sparta:



Sparta is happy at the moment at size 9; stagnant growth and has 2 scientists hired. A hybrid city that is currently building a settler. Argos:



Argos is currently a military pump while it is being chopped. I am building a couple of farms here. The city may transform to a hybrid city later.



Corinth is a pure military pump, being chopped too.



Knossus is going to be a junky commerce city. I am going to chop out a granary, lighthouse, library and then a galley here. The grasslands will eventually be chopped and I will be working deer, coast and cottages. Maybe a few windmills later on.

I think I will tell Ruff that I won't be extending our NAP past T100.

[sooooo]

This is what I just sent to Athlete and mh:

Hi all,

Looks like the game is moving quicker.

Bad news on the liberalism front - Ruff has lightbubled education and Dreylin has researched Philo. That means Dreylin can start liberalism this turn with lots of defecit research. My GS is still 3t away so I cannot get liberalism in time (Dreylin's GNP is close to mine). I think I will settle my scientist and finish education without lightbulbing, since settling gets me lotsa beakers with representation and an academy.

What are your etas on guilds and engineering? Dreylin getting philo means that he still lacks feudalism and machinery - are you two in a position to take advantage? Also it's nice that Ruff still doesn't have construction.

I think I will not extend my NAP with Ruff past the current minimum of T100. It should at least make him think about military rather than being Dreylin's research pet for a while. Maybe I can be a threat to tie Ruff down and force Dreylin to take his eastern border seriously. I have a 10t notification for my NAP with Dreylin BTW. I am building troops pretty hard and can easily hold my own since I have just one city on a hill to defend.

After Ruff spy-bombed me I haven't seen his graphs for a while. Can you tell me his power, gnp and production in relation to mine? Thanks.

sooooo

I also bit the bullet and told ruff that I'm not extending our NAP past T100. Should make the game more interesting!