[Spoilers] Whosit is playing for second

[Whosit]

Sorry for another no image update, but little on the map has changed.

Krill pillaged the harbor, so not only the loss of that 4 gold/science, but the adjoining Comm Hub dropped from 5 to 3 as well. I'm under 100 gpt now. I did clear that barb camp up north for 3 era score and some gold. Archer is going to take a hit from barb archer, but I can probably retreat him to my territory without him dying. I still need 10 more points of era score. I'll get 3 when my +4 campus finishes. I'll get a couple points for great people. Imhotep, whom I am confident I will earn by running the Industrial Zone projects, will give me two (old) wonders for +3 apiece. So, I am pretty confident I'll at least score another golden age. I'll get a big boost to my economy then since my traders can freely go wherever they please. In theory.

I think Krill did upgrade another Caravel. Did a little more damage to my walls with the existing one, but I don't think that he's going to crack the city, even with 3 ships. Bastions goes away next turn, but I'll have a musketman, so city strength will increase. I think that will be 45 base, plus whatever bonuses a city has. Maybe I should have finished the Industrial Zone for Burmese since each district adds +2 to defense.

I think Burmese is only in trouble if the walls actually go down. But I think that Krill's Caravels will take so much damage and need a lot of heal time. The real question is going to be if I can drive off Krill's boats long enough to get the 3 turns of breathing space I need to repair the walls.

Bengal has a trebuchet queued up after the Military Engineer, because siege units can hit boats without the -17 penalty that ranged units have. I think with a treb, a couple of xbows (later, field cannon), Burmese can hold out against a small fleet. It's just very, very annoying right now.

So, money is tight, and I don't think that I'm abandoning my plan to attack someone, so purchases of tiles, builders, etc. will need to be limited. I DO need to buy the tile for terracotta army, but I'm going to wait til the last moment, even if it costs me a little more, just so I have extra money on hand in case of an emergency.

Khmer built the Audience Chamber, so all Khmer cities are Happy. I'm losing the happy war now.

I'd love to run Republican Legacy but I need my wildcard slot for upgrade policies. I want to build Alhambra in Bengal, as the extra military policy slot would be very valuable, but I can't really afford to slot in an expensive wonder right now.

I'm going to keep my options open as the turns roll, but I think rolling up Korea is probably necessary. I am falling from lead to middle of the pack as Khmer and China grow in strength. I don't think I'll ever be stronger than Korea than I will be when I have musketmen and field cannon vs their man-at-arms and crossbows.

[Whosit]

Opening the turn shows that China's ships have retreated. Krill spent another batch of gold, so I'm assuming this is to just lick their wounds and come back later.




I can't risk rebuilding the damage until I get some comparable navy in the water, myself, and that's not happening this Era.




Town Charters without Conscription is basically a net 0. I get more science out of it right now, at least.




World's first Niter unit. +2 Era score. Burmese's Defense has increased to 50 (2 points). Even with Retinues, my Niter income is so precious that I'm not sure I can afford to upgrade the man-at-arms in the Burmese-Bengal region to a Musket (which would push up Burmese's defense 10 points if stationed in the city). I'm also not sure if I can afford NOT to do that. If Krill comes back with 4-5 Caravels and his Great Admiral, that might be more than my defenders can handle. I'm just going to have to watch and see. 

I wish I could see what trade deals are being done between other Civs. Japan is apparently trading away their only source of Olives for something. Japan also Suzerained Hong Kong, so they're getting the Silks there. They plopped down a new city, too, that won't do much for them besides provide another Harbor, but that's still something. Actually, since that can become another domestic trade route with a Lighthouse, even a junk city is good for Tokugawa.




This news is a few turns old, but Khmer got the government they want. I've been a little inattentive. Archduke is busy getting his disgustingly good Industrial Zones up. Capital one finished, worth 10 production with the boost card. Khmer is still running the +2 great scientist card as well. I didn't check but is surely running the x2 card for Holy Sites since forever as well. Since Archduke hasn't directly antagonized anyone (as far as I know), he's probably running a full economic set of policies.

I'm stuck having to run Professional Army and Retinues for way, way too long. Because if I let my Niter supply hit 20, the trebuchets I'm producing will become Bombards, which I don't want.

I decided to pick 3-turn Naval Tradition as my next civic, just for the envoy. I really have grown dependent on the luxuries from Zanzibar, but I need my cities to be at least Happy for the yield boosts, as it makes a huge difference. I could be running Republican Legacy instead, except for the points listed above.

I could juggle civics, leaving Naval Tradition at 1 turn and then put turns into Humanism until I promote another M-a-A to a Musket, which should give me time to finish trebs currently being produced.... then finish Naval Tradition, pick up Conscription and Trade Confederation again until Humanism finishes, then I do my upgrades and attack someone. It would delay my move-out date a little, but honestly, the huge blow to my gold economy has kind of done that, too.

That's probably the best compromise. I would swap policies in 4 turns, I think. It's possible the few extra points of culture from Trade Confed will speed up Humanism, but probably not.

Oh, I finally spread Toxoplasmosis to Bengal, but it looks like the extra amenity made the game shift luxuries around, so it's still just Content. Bambino and Sphynx both finish their Baths in 4 turns, and I should be getting my religion spread to Persian and Chartreux soon, so hopefully more cities will be reliably Happy. I'm sure missing those heady days when all my cities were Ecstatic!

I'm starting to feel that if one can't reliably get all cities to Happy or better, then it's best to get as many cities as possible while staying at least Content and try to make up yields by volume. I don't want to let any cities fall to Unhappy, though, because yield penalties are always bad.

I don't really know what my position in the game is right now. By the numbers, I'm still a leader, but I'm definitely slipping compared to Khmer and China. Japan and Korea, due to their proximity, are threats but backwards compared to me, for now. 20-some turns until the current age ends. Monumentality is still available for the Ren Age, so Khmer would pick that. I don't think that Hic Sunt Dracones will appeal to anyone on such a small map that's mostly filled up already. Reform the Coinage might be a pick for China, but Japan will have to pick one of the religious ones because RtC only applies to foreign trade routes (well, traders still can't be pillaged but that's usually less of a concern for domestic routes). 

Anyway, enough theory crafting. I'm wrong most of the time.  

Though Krill has Education and is building a University in his capital's Campus. No doubt he is going for Mass Production for the shipyards, which will give all his cities a huge production boost. Then, on to Industrialization I imagine. I MUST make some military gains soon, or I am going to be boned.

[Whosit]

No turn yesterday, and only time for a quick update now.

Repairing walls in Burmese. Archduke skipped the available Great Merchant (expected, sadly) so I'm forced to take it. Fingers crossed that the next one ISN'T the one that gives Governor titles. Khmer have 4 Industrial Zones and 1 workshop complete so far. 6 zones total in production, so will have 12 great engineer points before factories. I still only have ONE zone complete.... 2nd completes next turn, but I only have 4 spots available at all. I didnt plan for Industrial Zones as well as Archduke. I threw down all these theatre squares. :P

Krill got mass production last turn and is putting in shipyards. That'll be some scary production.

Japan got Naval Tradition and double harbor policy card. Big boost to gold and science.

Not much out of Korea last couple of turns.

+4 Campus at Minskin finished, +3 era score. It's starting its Theatre (20 turns). I produced the Iliad in the capital since that's the only great works slot I have right now.... Great Writer will do some scouting for me in the meantime. Military Engineer finished at Bengal, starting Treb (6 turns). Planning to complete Naval Tradition in 2 turns. Will swap to more economic/gold generating policies. Debating if I take Republican Legacy as wild card slot, just in case Krill has even more envoys to block me from Zanzibar, but I may take the risk.

This means I will not be able to upgrade any more troops until turn 132. I'll probably upgrade a couple more xbows next turn, just in case.

[Whosit]

Sorry for another brief update, but got the turn right before bed (and not a ton to report on). Turn 122: I realized I've been a moron again. After putting 5 turns into the Military Engineer, I realized they don't build forts by default. That's another tech. Well, guess I'm just gonna rawdog Ballistics. Fortunately, I do have a use for the Engineer, and that's to put more convenient roads between Burmese and Bengal for reinforcements to travel on. So not a waste.

Bengal will finish its treb in 5 turns, then is going to spend 10 turns on the dam lol. I, uh, didn't want to prioritize this piece of infrastructure, but I realized that Korea is building a dam on the same river, and I think you can only have one. Scarborough Faire just finished its Market, and I'm pretty sure Bengal makes more production, so I want to at least win that race.

Realized Korea got Stirrups last turn. So greenline is almost certainly going straight for gunpowder. Without the boost, I think that's 13-14 turns. So if I do attack Korea, they will absolutely have at least one Musket, so cities will have a base 45 defense. I feel like I'm going to flip flop over whether I'll attack Japan or Korea until the last moment. I feel like, between greenline and CMF, greenline is least likely to try and stab me while I'm off warring somewhere else, but I dunno.

Sigh. It's so hard to be incompetent lol.

Oh, yeah, got the Great Merchant and as I thought, next one is the one that grants a governor title, so Archduke will scoop that up.

I've definitely been learning a lot this game, if nothing else.

[Whosit]

Turn 123




Regained control of Zanzibar, for now. Gives me some intelligence info.




I noticed that most of my cities were at +4 happy with Zanzibar back. Took Repub Legacy to push that to +5.




Yay! GPT went up by 40!




Chopped out the Workshop at Aegean. Look how far this city has come! I really hope I can get some more workers built soon.

I'm 24 turns away from the Great Engineer, and I realized that with this Industrial Zone + Workshop pair, and Burmese set to finish it's IZ next turn, I don't need to run another IZL in Persian, so it finally gets to build its Theatre Square!




Krill about to have another Size 10 city. Not looking forward to China getting another science/culture/gold boost. Oh, just noticed in that screenshot that Khmer put up a wall in Bring a Towel. I wonder if Archduke is worried about Krill, too.




Poor scout. Too many cliffs. Could never make it to the water.

[Whosit]

Turn 124




Not only did Krill IMMEDIATELY take Zanzibar away, he became Suzerain himself. Cut off all my trade routes again, and I realized that when I'm at war, I no longer get the +2 gold bonus to my Markets, which hurts a lot.... I don't know if he was holding onto all these Envoys to troll me, or if he just got some new ones. He must have thrown 4 envoys at the city, right? I'm also not sure if he already had the great admiral bonus.

Zanzibar might be a lost cause to me, especially since I will never get a new envoy quest until I fulfill the Great Admiral one.... which ain't happening. I get 2 envoys in 7 turns, so at the very least I can make Zanzibar neutral again. I won't be gaining envoys any faster than China, so I don't think I can overtake them again.




It's also clear that Krill plans to keep this war hot. He did a few points of damage to Burmese's walls. Oh, he also must have attacked my great merchant that was in the water, but since that just teleported him back to my territory, that was a favor at least.

I'm not sure what Krill's goal here is. Maybe just keeping me on my toes? Doing hit and runs because I will not be able to kill his Caravels in a single turn and he can retreat and heal?




Anyway, shot it with a crossbow and city attack. I'll get my Musketman in the city in a couple of turns to boost Burmese's defense, and the treb from Bengal will be done in 3 turns, and can make it there in a couple more turns. I think the city should be fairly safe at that point.


 

Trebs will at least do some reasonable damage. Shame that the promotion that gives a bonus to damage vs Naval units is a Tier 3 promo.




I'll be sending traders to Japan for now. Hopefully CMF doesn't notice this for a while. I rebased a couple traders to my western cities so that they would have further to go. At the very least, none of these should be pillaged, since if he declares war the routes will just be cancelled. I'm hoping that once the next age rolls, I can trade to Khmer safely. We'll see.....




For later reference.


 

As expected, Khmer is getting the Grand Master's Chapel. I double checked to confirm that he can only buy LAND units. So, the question is.... who is Archduke going to attack? His closest neighbor and legitimate rival, Krill? Or will he sail troops across the sea to attack me?

I hope it's not option 2.




Glad I grabbed Republican Legacy. My cities are still at least Happy, for now. That'll change when I have to start my upgrades. Oh well.

Soon I will have three free trade route slots, but no cities that can build more traders immediately. I'll be making it a priority though. And I need builders.... I need so much lol.

If I had to rank my position right now, it's Rank 3. China is going to be taking off, though may still be suffering from a low city count. Khmer... very strong right now. What Archduke does with those faith-purchased units will tell if Khmer are #1 or #2.

Probably 10 or so turns until I can strike at Korea again. Need time to upgrade and move units in to attack.

[Whosit]

Another turn in the same day?? Eating well.

Turn 125




Spy acquired. Heading here to set up a Listening Post. I may actually have time to juuust finish Gain Sources for future activity. Steal tech boost would be kind of huge for me.


 

Noticed this is how Krill got me. I can strip away his envoys with a spy, but my free spy is dedicated to Korea. Besides, I can't Gain Sources at a City State, so getting a level elsewhere would be nice. (Though even with Gain Sources, Steal Tech Boost could easily be a bust. Won't raise the odds THAT much if I recall.)

Getting Diplomatic Service is a high priority for me. I wanted to rush for Mercantilism for Triangular Trade. Too bad I can't get any allies. XD




I forgot that finishing the Spymaster building would give me a civics change, or I might have made a couple different choices last time. I need to buy some expensive tiles for things to go down in the very near future, and better to save now. I'll save more than I'll lose over 6 turns, and if my arithmetic is right, I'll have juuuuuuuuust enough gold to do all the upgrades I need.


 




I have my first tourist! I'm guessing I get one per 1,000 tourism against another civ? I never really knew the exact mechanics.

This also makes me realize that, even as a backup win condition, I am WAY behind the curve on a Culture Win. I always forget to get my theatres early and wait until after Feudalism.

In other news, Japan spent like 335 gold, and lost 30 soldier points. Did a Galley get one-shotted???

Oh, and as predicted, Krill pulled away. Maybe he was checking to see if I had rebuilt anything? Or maybe he's going to hit me every 2 turns to prevent me from repairing my walls? He just got that great scientist that provides a HUGE healing bonus. If he has enough Caravels and I can't one-shot them, I suppose it's possible that he can out-heal my city? I think in Neutral territory, he could heal 30 HP a turn. So even if I knocked a boat to 1/3 health, He could be healthy in 3 turns. With 3-4 Caravels, could possibly infinitely cycle them until he burns down Burmese just from sheer paper cuts.

The ONLY reason I think this may not be the case is because another Caravel didn't hit me this turn. Maybe when I get field guns my 3 attacks (City, Field Gun, Trebuchet) can kill a boat. And I could upgrade that Treb to a Bombast when able.

[Whosit]

Turn 126




That's a lot of barbs.




Throwing down Petra in preparation for Great Engineer. I only need to invest 50 production. Comm Hub resumes after that.


 

 


Empire overview.

Turn 127

Many interesting things happening this turn.




Saw this. Not sure if this is scouting, a show of force, or something else. Maybe Fet thinks this road is the precursor to invasion? Idk. We'll see what he does next turn. But I want to try and improve relations, if possible. At least with humans, Denouncing someone has no real mechanical effect on diplo. 




I wanted to offer a trade, but this brings up some puzzling info. Korea no longer has Truffles. They must be trading it. Just like how Japan has no olives, which they ought to have. I really wish Civ 6 would let you see what other civs are trading.




I sent this off. Even if he doesn't accept it, hopefully he takes it as a sign that I'm not  planning an attack.




Also sent this to Archduke. 90 gold is about a turn's worth of gold for him, and he's nearly at max Niter storage, so maybe he'll bite? I'm hoping, because... I saw Khmer had a huge spike in Era Score, so I checked:




First (and only) Civ to complete Religious beliefs. Note Crusade.... Right now, China is the only other Civ that has Khmer's religion.... Fingers crossed that we're going to see Khmer fight China. That should take some heat off of me, in the short term.




One more turn.... I'm expecting Archduke to pass, as well, but maybe, just maybe, he wants to get Great Generals going again? Probably not, since it would give Krill one. Ugh, I am never going to let myself live this down.

Something else of note. Last turn, Khmer went from 6 Great Merchant points to 7, and to 8 this turn. Also went from 12 to 16 Great Scientist points, and gained 1 Engineer point. At first, I thought he must have used his bonus Governor title to give Grants to Pingala in the capital, but some of this still doesn't add up. I'm sure that no lurker can tell me without telling me stuff I shouldn't know, but.... I'd have expected Merchant points to go straight from 6 to 8 (Comm Hub with Market). I've confirmed he only has 3 commercial hubs (each with market). Not not sure where the 6, 7, 8 comes from. For the Scientist points.... Khmer capital has Campus + Library + University. That's 3 points, doubled to 6 with current modifiers. Not sure if Grants would add 3 or 6? If 3.... did he finish a campus or Library last turn?

I didn't set up my spreadsheets to track city infrastructure. I thought about redoing them a while back but decided I didn't want to invest THAT much time into this. So I'm kinda just hoping I remember things, ha ha.

I have my second foreign tourist, from Khmer. I noticed I was getting the 25% trade route bonus, but I don't have a route with them.


 

Interesting. He's trading TO me. Also, if Burmese grows, I wonder if it loses majority religion? I'm going to need another Missionary anyway to convert my final couple of cities.


 

It appears that Japan has slotted in the 2x Campus policy card, but they have no completed campus. Either these must be close to completion, or.... ????


  

Lastly, greenline finally completed the Harbor here, which means the city is worth keeping. Thanks for solving the dilemma!

[Whosit]

I forgot to mention, for the screenshot with the spearman, I have the tech for pike and shots, but I can't upgrade the spearman. I guess I need the tech for pikemen. I didn't realize this was a feature of Civ 6 because I rarely end up skipping a unit tech like this. So I'll have to double back for that, because I do want to upgrade that anti-cav unit.

[Whosit]

Guys.... I am an idiot. A true buffoon.

So Archduke accepted my 90 gold for 10 niter deal.... and now instead of a fresh trebuchet out of Chartreux, it's 4 turns to finish a Bombard. Because I added 10 and 10. After being so careful to manage my niter stash.... I need to have waited until THIS turn to make the offer. Or asked for 8 units of Niter. This also means that Terracotta Army is delayed just as long, because I want it to benefit ALL my units. And I have to go to war with a single Musketman instead of more. Well, I'll get an additional one because now I have to wait 6 more turns.

I really am my own worst enemy.

It's fine. It's fine. I'm going to run some Commercial Hub Investments because 3/4 Renaissance era Great Merchants grant envoys. Unlike the Industrial Zone Logistics, that'll earn me some extra cash. Maybe Archduke will sell more niter in half a dozen turns, when his stockpiles max out. I think that my forces are adequate to at least take Tourdion, I'll figure it out from there. Stars almighty.....

Oh and CMF accepted the trade deal but moved more units up. Talk about mixed signals.

Little else to mention. I have Builders queued in Bombay and Persian, both start next turn. I plan to swap back to Serfdom during my policy changes in 3 turns, so those should finish up just in time. Sadly, nowhere else I feel that I can afford to slot in Builders. Maybe I can buy one for 455 because I messed up my attack and upgrade schedule. Probably not, though. Hopefully 12 build charges should be enough for me right now. No, it's not enough lol. 2nd Builder queued in Persian. Hopefully that finishes before next policy change.

So, invasion timeline is now:
Turn 131: Upgrade Ranged Units (because no Niter )
Turn 132: Bombard completes.
Turn 135: Terracotta Army completes?

Now.... I COULD wait until AFTER I capture Tourdion to complete Terracotta Army. I doubt anyone is going to compete with me for it, and delaying the +2 science/culture/faith/gold from my beliefs for a city having a wonder is chump change. See, a lot of my army is halfway to their next promotions. Maybe the process of capturing Tourdion will earn me some more natural promotions, so by the time i finish TA I might be able to get some 3 promo units?

Look, I'm just trying to make lemonade from lemons. (Which I have been doing weekly--it's very good.)

I also just had the crazy thought of trying to buy Niter off of Korea. Even more doubtful of that. But hey... it would be funny. Gonna wait a few turns to even consider that again, though. But hey, Korea is making 20 gpt. If I offered 100 gold for 20 Niter, maybe that would look attractive?

Oh, and Archduke passed on Boudica. So yeah, no great generals this game. I am a doofus. Boudica would have actually been useful to me with that Barb horde down south.

Khmer completed the Grand Master Chapel. Power increased by 40, gold and faith spent. Upgrades? Possible unit purchase?

Ah, and last but not least, a barb camp spawned north of Bombay, west of Bambino, so I'm having to divert some units to go take care of it.
Krill's shipyard in Moinks Halo finished last turn, so that's +10 production for the city. Bleh.