[SPOILERS] Bacchus and India's many gods

[Bacchus]

Kaiser's fall has woken everyone up from reporting slumber

Open the save to Recorded History completion. Time for a new government. We move into Oligarchy for Maneuver, campus adjacency doubler, +2 envoy generating points and +2 Great Writer points. Will stay in this for 3 turns, until Games and Recreation completes, at which point I will switch Maneuver to Agoge to build an archer required for the Machinery Eureka, and then to Conscription. Probably. I lost an archer to Hattusa, because it managed to build an archer of its own, step out and shoot my damaged guy. Very annoying, as he just got enough XP to promote.

Rowain demands Hattusa. I assume it's a request to share in the spoils, which is fair enough. Not sure what he wants from me though, but I send back a package of three luxuries and 80 gold requesting 1 luxury and 3gpt back. So, a gift of two luxuries and a loan on very fabourable terms. The loan is mostly there to show that I have no intention of reneging on the deal.

Spiritual front:


Overview:


GP Screen shows that I'm still the only one with a commercial hub, and I'm soon to get my second one. Campus points -- me and Ichabod at 2, Rowain at 3, so one campus and either Library or the wildcard. I'm about to get a faith-purchased Library of my own after I harvest some stone into a Varu.

England will soon get a GG, which is not great news, makes it easier for him to kill my missionaries. For a while I hoped the patch will give them some limited ability to operate without unit coverage, but probably not.

I'm also using Missionaries to scout the east, but as you can see above, there's nobody in sight. Converting is not going to be easy.

[Bacchus]

Not much happened, two of the Varus healed up, and set out southwestwards, the city-garrisonned one will join them next turn. Rowain accepted my deal, so hopefully we are good. I'm not sure that my gold reserve dropped appropriately though, but I just realised that now, looking at the pictures in the above post. Will check next turn.

Chesapeake converted to Hinduism, Glenkichie will convert next turn. The southern Missionary finds borders of England. Suddenly things are looking up. Another Varu completes in Bobrka, but I'm not yet sure whether it should go forth and join the others.

I need to decide whether to spend Faith on Missionaries and Apostles, or actually use Jesuit Education. Tough call, let's look at some input data points:

I am making 30 science to Ichabod's 32, and we are both making around 18 culture. He has 320 military power (gasp, shock) to my 160. We are pretty distant from each other, but he is right on Arabia's borders.

I appear to be economically competitive for the moment, even with Kaiser's cities out of occupation, which is good news, but it looks like Arabia will be absorbed into England soon enough. OTOH, I can detail my Varus for anti-English action and city liberation. On balance, it seems that I can push for both a "regular" game, and for a rapid religious thrust. I guess the fact that I already committed to Holy Orders and three missionaries speak strongly in favour of sticking with that approach, but then spreading the seeds is worth it even if I don't bring a religious victory quite to completion right now -- not only do I get 2gpt per conversion, the cities start converting each other passively, which will force Ichabod to take countermeasures at less effective ROI (no Holy Orders). Also, the conversion of Arabia makes it a no-go for an English conquest.

[Bacchus]

The religious exploration/converison push proceeds westwards on a wide front:



The southern missionary has 2 movement points left, and I consider whether to withdraw him back to safety, or push south-westwards. That gambles on there not being a horseman in that one tile that is just within the city borders. I decide to take the gamble...



Well, that's neither here nor there. I wonder why that horse is so heavily damaged, there hasn't been any action on this front for a while. The missionary is probably dead, but there is an off chance Ichabod considers it too risky to venture out with a unit so heavily damaged, as killing a religious unit now consumes all movement points. OTOH, he can always step onto the missionary, get vision, and in case of danger retreat, so he really should be killing it. Mistake on my part? Probably, albeit looking at geography, converting England seems like a hopeless affair, just so far.

Overview:


I now have decent map knowledge, the only thing I'm missing is Kaiser, but from the religious screen it's clear that the English cities I'm seeing are actually Japanese cities, the holy city of Ruinism is somewhere to the south-west. I leave one Varu on the American front just in case, and bring up the south-eastern Varu via the road laid by my Trader. The plan is to use the set of three Varus to pressure England and hopefully pillage the Holy Site to prevent Great Prophet generation. I think I should be able to pull it off, albeit we are dangerously close to Machinery, which would make my elephants a bit vulnerable.

No-one has yet built a Commercial Hub except for me, and I am completing the second, as you can see. I have also laid a Harbor in Ploiesti, which will bring +4 gold, and yet another trade route. Bobrka will build a holy site after its Monument, the capital will keep churning out builders for a while, Titusville will work on an Archer for Machinery Eureka and then a Temple. Still not sure whether I should make space for a couple settlers in that plan.

[Bacchus]

Ichabod is making 38 science to Rowain's 20 and my 25. This game is very rapidly moving to a close. I should assume that Ichabod has crossbows already, as I'm only 10ish turns away, and I researched Celestial Navigation.

Not really sure what to do -- I should have pumped more faith, so for now all the focus is on that. Chop and harvest as much shit as possible to get a couple of Apostles, and push ahead with Varus whilst they are still relevant. I am even going to abandon all my cities once the fist of faith is assembled, I don't even care about getting conquered. If it fails, it fails, there is no long game here, and I wasn't even short-termist enough -- I shouldn't have Evangelized with the free Apostle, I don't think. Sure, I got some extra gold, but that gold won't give me a whole extra Varu, and nothing else is relevant.

Fun fact -- I have no iron. None that I could even settle.

Also, Rowain denied me suzerainty of Zanzibar, for no reason at all, as he has no Commercial Hubs, so it's not as if getting to 4 gives him gold. I hope it was quest completion.

Oh yeah, the missionary in the west did die, and the negative shockwave deconverted Glenkichie. Very bad.

[Bacchus]

Should I keep a Varu around Hattusa, or let it hang and be captured by Rowain? It doesn't yield me faith, nor can meaningfully build much in the relevant timeframe, as it first has to build walls to have a chance of surviving. For now I moved even the garrison Varu south, so he could go along and make my first sally a 4-unit rather than 3-unit affair.

Another question is whether I want to do Divine Right before Feudalism. Monarchy would be quite nice to have -- Conscription, Limes and Chivalry, to get knights in place of Varus, but I would have to find a whole bunch of Iron first. Feudalism doesn't do much, but is on the way to Mercenaries, which is will be needed for Archer -> Crossbow upgrades. But then, what do I do with Crossbows, pointlessly defend? At least building Temples on the way to DR generates faith and helps conversion.

I feel like losing the Missionary has been a misstep too far though, I'm not going to generate enough faith, I don't think. Also, how many Varus do I lose in pillaging Ichabod's Holy Site? My original estimate was 1, but now I'm not so sure, they can get shot up pretty quick. All depends on how his forces are positioned, and he signed peace with Arabia, so probably badly. My best outcome would happen if Rowain goes to conquer Arabia, and Ichabod reacts.

If me and Rowain can together push Ichabod to take action on both the religious and the military front, something might work out. Rowain actually has a realistic chance of turning the game around militarily, whilst I have a chance for religious victory, so it makes sense for us to work together.

[Bacchus]

Lots of fun things have happened.

Suboptimal faith-purchased Boudica right from under England's nose. What's even better is that the next general is Renaissance, which basically means no-one is getting him before this game ends.

Suboptimal will need Boudica because:


Here is a question though, what Classical units does Suboptimal even have? I've seen a couple of Heavy Chariots, but they are ancient... Arabia may be unpleasantly surprised by this.

England has completed a Commercial Hub, the third in the world after my two. Very late. I'm pulling 30 gpt already, and I've just purchased a Trader for my third route. It's going into Bobrka to speed up the Holy Site, Shrine and Temple construction there. I'm getting another Trader from a Harbor in 5 turns, but might have to slow-build it.

I'm hoping Rowain will press on through Glenkichie right into English lands. My three Varus are already advancing in the south, so Ichabod could be in real trouble, having to face two armies at the same time. I need to see how far does America's home continent bonus project.

I completed Iron Working and started Stirrups. I will turn back to Machinery once Ancient Walls complete in Hattusa (3 turns) and give me the Engineering Eureka.

I have 360 faith stored. I need 630 to generate two apostles, not that far off.

[Bacchus]

Turn 88 and a new government:



Yeah, that Great Writer card isn't exactly massively short-termist, is it? Well, reader, call me unfocused, but I think being able to not fall behind on culture at least, will help me survive some precious extra turns. No other policy is too alluring to run anyway, it's too early for the Holy Site adjacency bonus, but I will switch to it soon enough.

Overview:



I am generating a crapton of gold, and I'm not even running conscription. Mostly thanks to Church Property. I also have a lot of pop, compared to say America. Comparison to England is pointless. Apsheron is on track to give me that Civil Service Inspiration.

Rowain is making a move on Arabia. Varus emplaced to have a peek at England. Remember, my immediate target is just Kaiser's Holy Site and Shrine to delay Great Prophet popping.

Score:



We all going to lose to England. But I'm not behind yet. In fact, I may be at the strongest relative position I ever will be this game. I had a really killer start (in terms of terrain, not my gameplay) and I'm actually making more culture than Ichabod for now.

Science and Culture:



The only thing of note is my proximity to Monarchy.

Faith slowly building up towards two apostles. Maybe build Mahabodhi? Dunno.

[Bacchus]

Apparently I forgot to take a screenie. My Varus moved on SW, and found another city, a 2-pop village that is not the holy city of ruinism. That lies somewhere further to the SW, so I am going to hook around to the south of that city. Now, it only has strength 26, so I could just take it, but I don't think wasting turns on that would be wise. If I had enough gold to instabuy units there, it would be a different matter.

[Bacchus]

After a longish break and thinking about this game, I realized that any frontal conversion approach is hopeless due to it obviousness, also due to just how far Ichabod is. He's got some cities, taken from Arabia and Japan that I could convert frontally, but they form too small a part of his empire. Also, the terrain is just awful. So, what I am going to do instead is beeline Cartography after Machinery, and send my apostles, accompanied by some knights, by sea. They should make landfall somewhere in Ichabod's comfortable backline, and if I'm smart, I should be able to surprise-convert two cities, and then hopefully 4 more before his troops arrive in significant enough numbers to take down the 4 knights that I'm planning to have as escort.

[Bacchus]

Found the Holy Site:


Yeah, that's not a map hack, Varus have extra vision because they are so high Makes them really great units, actually, especially for defense.

Next turn, I can either take this city, or push onto the Holy Site to delay England's Great Prophet. That was the original plan, but now I'm not sure I can convert his cities before he gets a religion, even with a pillage, so why bother. That will hold especially if I go for the plan of converting over the sea, as opposed through this border. Also, look at this terrain, the cross-cutting rivers, the hills, getting apostles through would be a nightmare. Potentially a nice defensive line though.

Elsewhere stuff chugs along, but nothing much matters. Just to display the extent of problems:



Look at the city count. To be sure, I could have had one or two more cities of my own, if I built some settlers in the previous 15 turns, but that would be doing nothing but losing by a smaller margin.

As you can see, I now have nearly enough faith for two apostles, just a couple more chops will bring me to 600, plus I'm about to complete a +4 adjacency Holy Site and build a Shrine there. Question is, whether I push for three Apostles. I think I will have enough time whilst Cartography is getting researched. I still have a whole lot of jungle to chop in Titusville, which should net be a whole bunch of faith. Another consideration is whether to faithbuy an Amphitheatre. I kinda want to, Great Works will actually keep me in the running culture-wise, which in turn will get me to Nationalism, and Corps may help me survive just long enough.