[PB78] Dreylin boldly goes

[Dreylin]

T66 - revolting

Well it seems that a bunch of Superdeath's Chariots disappeared:


Did my one Chariot somehow scare him into attacking early, or maybe it was a misclick with stack attack? Either way, it's a welcome delay on his acquisition of that city. My Chariot has looped out to the East of the city and is heading back North.

I also decided what to do with Scott; after whipping the Terrace this turn, I'll put the overflow into a Library. This will be a predominantly Commerce city with pretty slow production, so getting the overflow into it will be valuable. I'll regrow the city to size 4 and then 2-pop whip to finish it.

I also went ahead and revolted from Judaism to Hinduism. I could have waited a turn as Kirk isn't ready to take advantage yet, but doing it now prevents the loss of a hammer to the overflow rounding inherent in OrgRel. Next turn Kirk will be back at size3, pass the Corn to Uhura and then be producing base 8 hammers for the OrgRel bonus.

I'm SPI'ing it up Baby!

Any questions from anyone, anything you want to see?

[coldrain]

Have you sent any units (possibly the chariot) to try and finish circumnavigation on both directions? Not sure how relevant this would be instead of other scouting/patrolling priorities.

Some metal units + (many) horse archers should be enough to deal with the held barbs once they start moving. I think the challenge is to manage them all at once.

[Dreylin]

Have you sent any units (possibly the chariot) to try and finish circumnavigation on both directions? Not sure how relevant this would be instead of other scouting/patrolling priorities.

I'm very conscious of this as a goal, but right now the scouting Chariot is concentrating on clearing the local fog to help prioritise expansion vectors. I think it will head vaguely off in that direction soon. McCoy should have a second Chariot out in around 3t which I'm planning to send West past Little Lamplight; that should be the one that completes the Circumnav. FWIW, I think my Scout was just 1tile short when he was sadly killed.

Some metal units + (many) horse archers should be enough to deal with the held barbs once they start moving. I think the challenge is to manage them all at once.

That's my thoughts exactly, and why I've been planning to get a head start by clearing out the Oromo and probably the 'phant (once I get my Copper back to build a couple of Spears). Taking a few out proactively will mean I have to cover fewer directions when the hounds are released.

The Maces are all generally rocking at least a 25% defensive bonus in addition to the 25% fortification, whereas the Oromo is on flat ground and the 'phant gets no bonuses. I would definitely like to clear out the Maces at Spock and Green dot, but I think they need to make the first move against a fortified PRO Archer to soften them up or I'll be losing quite a few units.

[Dreylin]

T67 -

It seems that the latest war between Gavagai & Thrawn has cut our trade route:


Loss of the Gold means I lose a turn working the lake, but will still grow and finish the Chariot at the end of next turn. Once the Library is whipped, since I have the Copper back I'll start on a Spear.

[Dreylin]

T72 -

Circumnav is accomplished:


Things are pretty quiet at home; 2 Libraries completed in Kirk & Spock; Scott's is ready to whip once they've grown to size 4. That's the second Spear coming out of Spock; they will both head to clear out the Barb Ballista Elephant - the first is showing 75% odds, so 2 should be plenty, but I'll also have an emergency back-up Quechua if things go poorly.

Spock then starts a Settler for the spot SW of Kirk, while Kirk's Settler is headed NE towards the Green dot. McCoy will whip the Worker on the last turn to overflow into a Stable and then start building up the Horse Archer defense force. I probably won't build another Stable - at least initially - but McCoy can give me one every 3 or 4 turns while other spot put out the Axe & Archer support.

Oh, and we're back in Judaism now that Kirk's Library is complete. Still no natural spreads though which is disappointing.

[coldrain]

Has this mod changed the bonus for cicrumnavigation?

And how fast and/or easy would it be to try to culture flip the barbarian gold island? Found city as close as possible, spread religion and whip a library? Or is it even worth it to try.

[Dreylin]

Has this mod changed the bonus for cicrumnavigation?

Yeah, everyone can get it and it's now a 50% Trade Route yield from the Harbour - not nothing, but also not game-changing.

And how fast and/or easy would it be to try to culture flip the barbarian gold island? Found city as close as possible, spread religion and whip a library? Or is it even worth it to try.

This one?

I wonder if it's practical for us:

Guess not. 

The problem here is that a city founded on the ruins is just shit long-term - the only food "bonus" would be the lighthouse lake (at least it's forested), but shifting from the brown dot loses the second lake and the Sheep. I don't think there's enough value in pushing for the culture flip to nerf what should be a decent production city. I'll think about pushing a Library into Brown dot (I'm aiming a missionary here at founding as it needs a border pop ASAP) but it's penciled as a production city so I'm not sure how fast I want to push it.

The city NW of McCoy might be possible; I'll take a shot next turn to get a better look.

[Dreylin]

T73 - Barbs

Superdeath took Carib; I /think/ he burned it, but can't quite tell.

Here's the NW Barb city I mentioned:


I think the white dot here is a good spot - interestingly these 2 bodies of water are the only ones I've seen so far that aren't connected by Fort canal - and can probably whip a Library pretty quickly - it does need 3rd ring to get to the island, but I don't think there's a 2nd-ring spot on the far side. I would want to clear the Barb Mace out before Settling, but it's on flatland so once I have the HA corp ready this could be second on the list for proactive elimination.

Phrygian I probably can't reach for as it's close to thrawn's start and also Magic Science is moving up into the area.



I'm sending the Chariot down to confirm whether that is first ring or second ring borders. It's likely first-ring which would mean there's no competing with CRE, but if second ring then maybe it would be worthwhile to found the coastal white dot and push for the flip myself. Otherwise this will have to be taken from Magic Science by force.

Kirk paused the Settler this turn to grow:


Uhura's Terrace has now irrigated the Corn so maxing food allows for a single turn to grow. Also brings the Settler down to 5t - I am not intending to whip.

Spock is Avoiding Growth to stop it going past the happy cap as it's still running -2 whip anger. I really need to get religion happy in here, but pending Missionaries are slated for new cities and I am still yet to have a natural spread.

[Dreylin]

T75 - Changes of plan

OK, so here's the situation West of Little Lamplight:


So that Magic Science city is going to pop borders and flip the barb city before I can do anything about it.  So I'm going to de-prioritise this coastal city and aim for Aqua dot instead. That will be the Settler from Kirk, and the settler from Spock will go to Green instead.

Because I'm now going for Aqua I need a Workboat out of McCoy; I have the Worker overflow in hand, so will push it through the Workboat and still get 20+ hammers through to the Stable. As a knock-on, that means I don't need HBR next turn so rather than push it this turn as previously planned, I'll delay it and avoid losing any rounding beakers, while also preventing the tech showing for a turn. I'll take a look at the techs next turn before finishing it ... and after Superdeath choses their Oracle tech.

In other news, I now have a restored trade connection with Thrawn and he again offered Gold for Copper. I have the Spears for the Ballista-phant on their way - the attack is next turn - but I did have a couple of Axes at the start of production that would go on hiatus. On the other hand I do really need the happy and want thrawn strong to continue to distract Gavagai. So I take the deal and reshuffle some build queues.

The final news of the turn is from my returning Chariot:


Barb city spawn going my way thanks a lot!

[Dreylin]

T76 -

First look at Apache:


The answer to the micro question is that yes it would; there is a Worker on the way to do that.

Time to start clearing out Barbs:


Plenty of back-up on hand, but the first Spear won. now with 6XP, this will head NE to Green/Apache. The uninjured Spear heads back to Spock, while the Quechua will take sentry on the tundra hill to fogbust the remaining part of the East.

Technology:


The first person claimed Maths this turn, but I don't think it was Superdeath's Oracle tech. I think it was Gavagai who has had Writing for longer than the others (he had his first Library up not long after I did). The other reason I don't think it was Superdeath's tech is that I've been trying to justify someone having researched Monarchy multiple turns ago but there having been no sign of a revolt. There are 2 reasons to research Monarchy: #1 is for the civics (something that has it on my list), or #2, as a precursor to Feudalism. (Wines by themselves are IMO not worth the investment). Also, if you're doing #1, you probably time it around when you want to revolt, but it was researched 5-10 turns ago. So my conclusion is that SD took Feudalism and is intending to use Longbows to secure from the Barbs.

For me, I think the next step has to be Maths->Currency, but I also need to fit Sailing in soon to support new Blue dot and some of the Eastern settlements. I think it may slot in after Maths, but regardless the next few turns will be saving gold.