Brick by Brick (Spoiler Alert!)

[TheHumanHydra]

"The last shall be first, and the first shall be last."

I am first in score for (I think) the first time in the game, and Azza is second. What a reversal from the first portion of the game! Also, let me just say I am impressed by Azza's comeback. He wasn't doing so hot after his unsuccessful early-game wars, but he moved quickly to settle up to the number of cities he needed and even to a lead, he teched effectively, being first to Code of Laws, and now his graphs are looking pretty good.

All this means I am now unsure as to who I should be planning on attacking. Events are moving so quickly I may not be able to say for some turns. It seems almost certain I no longer need to intervene to stop Serdoa from dominating the world, but despite his recent reverses, he has the basis for an explosive comeback (number of cities + cottage 'em + shrine (recently built) + Great Lighthouse (now with foreign trade routes) + courthouses soon), and obviously has the potential to muster quite the strike force, even if it can be defeated. Old Harry should be able to restore his old tech rate fairly quickly, I should think, and has quite the military right now. And Azza can only go (keep going) up.

The goal of my war will be to take out the strongest player and secure a dominating position on the board. Who that strongest player may be, though, is officially up in the air.

Edit: I would most like to leave Old Harry alone, as we have so much trade with each other and have such good relations so far. It would be really nice if Old Harry went on the offensive into Serdoa's land and took out a couple of his cities; that would help with my future war-making a lot. Oh, and yeah, I'm probably just teching to knights at this point.

[TheHumanHydra]

As if to reinforce my point, Azza was first in score when I opened the save (now I am again). And again, events are moving almost to quickly for me to plan around: Serdoa razed Old Harry's capital and took, probably razed, one other city. Poor Old Harry ...

I settled my ninth city (including the capital) this turn, bringing me even with Serdoa and one behind Azza:



It's not really in the greatest of locations; I by far would have preferred to settle 2S or thereabouts, but I felt the distance maintenance would have been prohibitive. This city was mostly intended as a southern defensive block, anyway.

For my next city (time of settling undetermined), I'd like to settle somewhere in here:



The silver would net me +2 happiness empire-wide with the forges. My one concern is that it would be vulnerable to sudden amphibious attack by Serdoa, like he did against Old Harry. I'm thinking I'll put a trireme or two in the ocean square right next to it to make any such assault much more difficult to launch.

I'm still planning on doing my empire-wide review next turn, but I wanted to share this in the meantime so you have an idea of all the builds finishing up in preparation for Machinery at the end of the turn. Most of these cities were whipped this turn or received chops:



And I discovered Machinery at the end of the turn, possibly with exact beakers. This brings me into the Middle Ages, with its wonderful music. I think I'm the first, but I don't really know since I suck at C&D. I could go Civil Service for Bureaucracy now, but the lure of knights in less than 20 turns is too strong (2 for Horseback Riding, ~5 for Feudalism, <7 for Guilds, and I want Construction first at 2 turns). Domestically, it's time for a round of crossbowmen.

[TheHumanHydra]

As promised, a major update for turn 90 (500 AD).

When I opened the save, I received the "You have entered the Medieval era" message - in the exact year the Middle Ages are considered roughly to have begun.

Serdoa and/or Old Harry seem bent on continuing their death-struggle; Serdoa has amassed a large force of horse archers next to Exeter and whipped Char down to four. All the better for me and Azza.

Here are the graphs:











And the city screens:









Finished with one hammer to spare, one forest chopped. I went from +9 gold/turn at 40% science to +19, and my GNP went back up to 200 (it had dipped into the 180s on account of whips and settling Ollantaytambo). Obviously I'll be able to bump the slider back up to 50% next turn. Notably, Serdoa's reading eight turns to Calendar right now; for me it would be three, probably two if I check again next turn. I actually selected Feudalism, as you can see, contrary to my previous plan to tech Construction first: I realized I would need a few turns to build barracks and crossbowmen before starting on catapults, and that if I got Feudalism first, I could consider switching to Vassalage, which would be a break-even economically but get all my units to double promotions. Anyway ...









Sorry, the screenshot of Cuzco (the coastal city by the iron) didn't take. It's building a courthouse (eight maintenance).

Techs:



Again, everything before this except Horseback Riding.

Demographics from after I ended the turn:



That's all, folks!

[TheHumanHydra]

Someone else also completed a wonder in 500 AD: Azza, the Mausoleum of Mausolus! His is much better than mine ... Also, this was the first turn Azza surpassed me in score and I didn't immediately reclaim my place. Definitely a strong comeback going on over in that corner of the world. Good job, Azza!

Got my first crossbow at the end of the turn. I wonder if I should wave him in front of Serdoa and Old Harry to discourage any nasty surprises that might come my way when they declare peace or if I should keep them as a surprise. I also feel somewhat conflicted between building up my military in preparation for my eventual attack, building markets to speed my research (Azza has surpassed me in GNP - I wonder if that's just powered by failgold, or "real"), and building settlers and workers to expand further. I've also realized - well, I guess I've known for some time - that I'm really failing at Great Person generation here - I should be pumping out Great Scientists for academies, but I can't resist the upward growth. I shall have to discipline myself. Thankfully, I've now reached #1 in Mfg. Goods, meaning my production no longer lags behind everyone else, and the choice between various build options is less painful, 'cause they delay other options less! If that makes any sense. For now I'm taking the military route; I need some defences in any case. We'll see how things develop.

[TheHumanHydra]

Uh-oh - Azza switched to Bureaucracy. That means both a drastic improvement to his GNP and medieval units to defend himself with (if he doesn't have Machinery already, it'll only take him a couple turns to research it). I could've gone for that but made a strategic choice to go for Guilds instead - now I'm second-guessing myself. Azza will probably land Liberalism. I don't relish facing drafted units, even with knights and maybe musketmen by then. It's looking more and more like Azza should be the target of my knights, and that it'll be a desperate throw of the dice to prevent him from running away with the game rather than a reasonably confident gesture to try and win it. Of course, I could go all-out on economy now and keep pace, but that would throw away everything I've been working toward for the past quite a while. I must be disciplined, and having made a plan, carry it through instead of vacillating to inefficiency. Alternatively, rigidity will be my downfall, and the same thing will befall me as did Serdoa. We'll see.

[TheHumanHydra]

Well I feel a bit less freaked out about Azza's GNP now that it's peaked (temporarily) and I've optimized my cities for GNP, punched the slider up to 60% (at a profit!), and thereby gotten Feudalism at the end of the turn. Guilds is very close (six or seven turns including Horseback Riding at present rates), but it'd be nice if I could put out markets before going into all-out war mode, as well as stables (unless I switch to Vassalage) and a few more crossbowmen for defence (I have four currently). I feel like I could actually race Azza to Liberalism successfully now, but I should probably try to hit him with armour before he's ready and stop him in his tracks. I'm actually kind of hoping he is going for Liberalism and not, you know, defensive techs like Engineering (cringe). I'm scouting his territory now to see the state of his defences, and I'll hopefully have research visibility on him about the time I get Guilds.

In terms of settlement, I'm thinking of doing the same thing I did with Machinery and settle my next city the turn I get Guilds so as not to prejudice my research rate before a key tech, but still keep expanding at a healthy rate. Probably one of the silver sites to the east I pointed out earlier; that puts me closer to Azza in that direction, lets me keep better watch over my eastern approaches, and secures me a new double-happy resource. I already have enough workers for that if we take a rate of 1.5 per city as the norm.

So that's what's happening in THH-land. I'm noticing a pattern: something frightening happens in-game, I freak out for a turn or two, then calm down and create a rough plan which gets refined and put into place over the successive turns until the next big event occurs. Hopefully it's entertaining to watch!

[TheHumanHydra]

Serdoa and Old Harry made peace. They both have large armies (though my power is actually equal with Serdoa's); who knows what they might choose to do with them in an attempt to reclaim the lead. Good thing I'm building crossbows:



As you can see, I will manage to get two libraries and a market out (it will be whipped) before stables and knights, to help my economy. The crossbowmen will be left in the queue till I get a chance to finish them, or I have to whip them. I one-turned Horseback Riding, and ...



Again, after I ended the turn:



Woot, I broke 300 GNP! And 4 000 000 population!

Looks like four turns to Guilds, and an equal number for the stables. If I whip, I could have double-promoted knights out in six turns (well, five, but I don't like taking the dry-whipping penalty). I don't know if this is crazy, but I'm actually thinking of attacking Azza with only small numbers of knights, unsupported by catapults, at first. This is only if his cities remain as undefended as they are now: the one border city I can see contains an archer and a spear, with a keshik next to it. This would not require a great number of knights to overcome! And if I can take out several cities in this state earlier by attacking without many knights built up, the fewer cities he will have to build -bows of some sort in when he gets the tech, which can't be far away. I'll know in a few turns when I get research visibility on him. If he does get better defences up, or is or becomes capable of whipping out -bows, I'll obviously have to build up a bit first. And in any case, I will continue to build troops after declaring war; I anticipate a stiffening of resistance as time goes on just as occurred in Serdoa's war on Azza.

So: if enemy is unprepared, a fast attack may produce decisive results that will prejudice their ability to develop a defence; if enemy is prepared, only a set-piece attack in overwhelming force will produce decisive results. We'll see whether this opportunity will persist, and what else may develop!

[TheHumanHydra]

In case you were wondering, yes, I did let a turn elapse without reporting; there wasn't much to say. This turn I whipped the market in Aquanauts as planned and three other cities so as to finish both stables and the queued crossbowmen before starting on knights. I've got to remember to pop out a horse archer first too to make into a GG field hospital. I have it set up so that all but my two newest cities will be able to produce four-turn knights without whipping (though I may well whip), and two of those will actually be producing three-turn knights I think. I'll do my usual every-ten-turns full update and you'll be able to see my knights in production!

[TheHumanHydra]

Obviously I haven't posted for several days. The game has been moving exceptionally slowly, and I'm "saving up" for my t100 report. I have Guilds in hand; I realized I was an idiot and could have been prebuilding knights via horse archers. I have spent the turns productively regardless though. War is very close; I'm excited, and I just wish the save would move faster so we could get to it!

[TheHumanHydra]

Hooray, a turn today! "People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against ..." Azza!