[Spoilers] Boldly Going...on a Bender and Pissing Off Xenu

[Catwalk]

Boldy, I'm quite stumped as well. I don't mind playing the turn and getting yelled at, but I'd rather not follow the instructions exactly as given. Specifically:
1) I don't think 2-whipping the spear is worth ditching the deer tile for. We can spare a unit for military duty to mitigate whip anger, and it can be relieved by a quechua from Cobra Commander in 3t if we send one now.
2) I'm very uncertain about worker micro.
3) I think the SW border city is not ambitious enough, if we place it there we can expect both Sian and Commodore to plant a more central one and steal all the flood plains from us. I have suggested one 1S1W of the current sign. I also think this location is more urgent than the NW silver one. We have excellent cultural control up there, Sian can't found a city to block us and I don't think slowcheetah will prioritize a city here right against our borders with few good tiles for him to claim.

I'll leave the save until tomorrow morning, hope you will be able to respond and give me a nudge whether or not to proceed.

[Boldly Going Nowhere]

I agree that we gain more by settling the flood plains region. However, that would further extend our already frail military. I'm concerned about an attack at Megatron imminently. This depends entirely on my (I hope well reasoned) assumption that Sian has HBR and the construction of a road toward Megatron. Did he complete the road this turn? If so, he can kill my axe from the fog with either a chariot or HA. If he has them. I think I've run light on military as long as I can. If you can find a way to both work the deer AND double whip a spear for max overflow next turn for a second spear, by all means do so. But, as I recall, and I'm nowhere near in-game, city is on a PH for 2 hammers and that's all I can have in order to 2 pop whip next turn at 2/23 on the spear. The following turn we can work the deer and get out a second spear. I'm worried even this may be too late due to transit time to M.

I did not leave good worker micro. I suggest finishing roads to hook up the silver, the rest can wait up there for now. Cobra Commander needs cottages so move workers that way. Extra workers can set up chops if the military situation worsens.

How did Slow react to my attempt on Holly? What units are Sian showing ? I suggest recalling the southern exploring chariot, if for no other reason than providing some tactical options and deterrant for dealing with Sian. I may be paranoid, he may be out to get Slow, but that road seems like a tipoff to me.

[Catwalk]

slowcheetah didn't react to the invasion attempt. He has an axe and a chariot in the city, our two workers 2S of it are safe. I'm going to interpret this as a slight gesture of peace, as he could have snatched them with his damaged chariot. Then again, he may simple have been concerned about more chariots lurking.

The southern chariot can only be recalled safely by moving it 1W on a forest hill then NW through another 2 hills. Going N first exposes it to Sian's stack of a skirmisher and an axeman. Sian did complete the road on the GH 3S3E of Megatron, I assume that's the tile you were referring to. I suggest recalling our advance axeman, it doesn't give us extra vision and in case of an invasion we want it in the city. Sirian is showing a horse archer, a skirmisher and two warriors in the gold city. He's showing an axe, a skirmisher and 2 workers on the aforementioned hill where he completed a road. Still an axe, a spear and a skirmisher on the hill by the gold city.

I suggest the following:
1) Whip spear in Swiper, send an axe NE to reinforce Megatron if needed. Neither side can be invaded by chariots this turn, and we can place our units where they can reinforce both cities. Next turn send the spear 2E so it can reinforce both cities, in case we see mounted units. Again, we will have 1t warning before an attack can be executed. Keep in mind that axes defend nicely against horse archers.
2) Stick with the deer tile in DH and 1-pop whip a spear. You have excellent defensive bonuses in both cities, one spear will go a very long way towards repelling a mounted offense.
3) Send one quechua from CC to DH for anger suppression
4) Chop a forest by DH and work a mine, giving you a total of 20 hammers this turn towards a spear. 1-pop whipping next turn lets you complete 2 spears in 2t like you wanted.

I do think that these military plans are erring strongly on the side of caution, but that's the mandate you gave. Is this close enough to what you wanted to proceed?

[Boldly Going Nowhere]

slowcheetah didn't react to the invasion attempt. He has an axe and a chariot in the city, our two workers 2S of it are safe. I'm going to interpret this as a slight gesture of peace, as he could have snatched them with his damaged chariot. Then again, he may simple have been concerned about more chariots lurking.

The southern chariot can only be recalled safely by moving it 1W on a forest hill then NW through another 2 hills. Going N first exposes it to Sian's stack of a skirmisher and an axeman. Sian did complete the road on the GH 3S3E of Megatron, I assume that's the tile you were referring to. I suggest recalling our advance axeman, it doesn't give us extra vision and in case of an invasion we want it in the city. Sirian is showing a horse archer, a skirmisher and two warriors in the gold city. He's showing an axe, a skirmisher and 2 workers on the aforementioned hill where he completed a road. Still an axe, a spear and a skirmisher on the hill by the gold city.

I suggest the following:
1) Whip spear in Swiper, send an axe NE to reinforce Megatron if needed. Neither side can be invaded by chariots this turn, and we can place our units where they can reinforce both cities. Next turn send the spear 2E so it can reinforce both cities, in case we see mounted units. Again, we will have 1t warning before an attack can be executed. Keep in mind that axes defend nicely against horse archers.
2) Stick with the deer tile in DH and 1-pop whip a spear. You have excellent defensive bonuses in both cities, one spear will go a very long way towards repelling a mounted offense.
3) Send one quechua from CC to DH for anger suppression
4) Chop a forest by DH and work a mine, giving you a total of 20 hammers this turn towards a spear. 1-pop whipping next turn lets you complete 2 spears in 2t like you wanted.

I do think that these military plans are erring strongly on the side of caution, but that's the mandate you gave. Is this close enough to what you wanted to proceed?

This should work ok. I think the loss of the deer tile 1t is not terrible BC it nets more overflow, but your way saves some on the economy. I'm being very cautious here but I'm glad to be right on Sian having HBR. At least this paranoia is justified. 1 Pop whip and chop for unit #2. I suppose we will need another spear for CC? I think I only have one there. I agree on moving the axe back into megatron, but I'm afraid that axe is providing visibility for us on Sian's frontier. Zone defense for Swiper and Megatron.

Don't forget to take the wheat with Megatron to grow so we can whip there next turn. Thanks Catwalk.

[Boldly Going Nowhere]

Re: slow, I'm pretty sure I covered the workers with an axe/spear, so slow didn't have much recourse there. Perhaps keeping them around Holly wouldn't be that bad. Slow would have to make a real effort to dislodge them from the forest hill by Holly, but for now let's just play it safe there. Fall back so that Slow won't have visibility on them. Leave him guessing about our force composition and positioning.

[Boldly Going Nowhere]

Time for a proper report. First, foreign events:



A couple of teams have (almost certainly) put out early academies. That's generally the best use usually at this point, anyway. I hope I don't get blindsided by an uber bulb strategy. I'll give one with decent confidence to Commodore, probably in his Bronze city. If it had come from his capital I would have known where it came from like with the prophet from his Oracle build. The second with a little less certainty I'll give to Sian, also in city #2. I think Slow has been pumping cities and units too hard for this to go to him, but it is possible. Giving a second great person to Commodore would be one explanation for his lower demos thus far, as GPPs are an investment tradeoff for more food/hammers.

You'll also notice that Commodore took a turn of anarchy to declare his love for Buddhism. If he built a shrine, which I'm not convinced he did, given the small map and the accordingly lessened benefit of having the shrine, he may have had a free religion spread. Or, built a missionary. Who can say? Not me. I'd guess that he bulbed...something. I don't feel like looking up his likely options, though. You will also notice that in the last two turns we've completed both Sailing and Writing. Writing 1t at 50%. Not bad. I love the triple discount. I went 50% so I wouldn't lose any commerce to rounding. I decided I could skip archery for now because Sian hasn't moved anything more in my direction at Megatron and we have a couple units there for breathing room, for now. I did finally pull back with the axe that had been camped on the hill E, SE of Megatron for eternity. You will see that this significantly diminishes our visibility in the area, but I couldn't take a chance on the unit. Sian has 3 units that could attack the axe next turn. I'd rather make my stand in the city where I have backup and make him pay horrifically for the effort. To that end, I dumped the overflow from my double whip of the Terrace into walls in Megatron so I can make it an easy 1 pop whip when I need to complete the walls. I had planned on having to dump the overflow into a galley (thus the 1t teching of Sailing), but rather than pillaging my seafood, which I could not have prevented, Slow retreated his boat. Lucky break for me. Anyway, at this point, I wouldn't mind if Sian attacked me at Megatron, as I've got enough reinforcements to really make him bleed for any gains. I think we'd hold now, though. Interestingly, Sian has whipped some, presumably Horse Archers, and Slowcheetah has less culture now than previously. I think Slowcheetah has lost a city to Sian in the last turn or so. Mechanics question: would I be notified via the event log if a city I had never seen were razed/captured? I can't think of another reason at this point in the game for Slow's culture to go down, as he isn't running artists and he can't run the culture slider. Lastly, we now have research visability on Sian, and he's heading toward Construction/Catapults. I better get HBR in soon. I estimate I could have it in 4t if necessary. Our economy is in good shape at the moment.

The North:



I've moved my northern axe/spear combo to cover the worker on the silver hill. I could be two-moved by Slow, so this is precautionary. An added benefit is that Sian's horse city is not heavily garrisoned, just with a Skirmisher and a warrior, and this could pressure him to move off my tundra hill adjacent to his city. Or, I can move in and either camp the forest next to his city (really should have chopped that by now ) or pillage his sheep. I'd prefer to hit his food supply and slow down his whipping cycle. Lurkers, input requested.

The East:



I've highlighted Sian's starting warrior. I'm assuming this is going back to garrison his capital so he can take his attack force out to the frontier. We'll see what happens here next. I expect that we'll see all three units on the forest hill next turn, then onto the jungle next to Megatron the following turn, if Sian is feeling brave. If he does that, I'll force him to make some hard choices at his horse city.

The West:



Another picture of Sian's lightly garrisoned border city. If I had construction, two workers, and 3-4 chariots, that city would be gone. But, if I had construction, things would be very different. I'm behind on this part of the tree. I hope my economy will catch me up in time.

Cities:

DH:



The settler is still on hold, as I still think we're stretched too thin to defend another city. But we're improving. Q's for HR garrison.

CC:


Great food surplus here, working far too many water tiles. I've been really light on the whip in this game. I swapped from the nearly completed axe to a spear. I deem we need spears more than axes, but Catwalk started the other axe. Now I have two units I can whip without penalty in a pinch, and I'm having to pay unit costs for everything now. I'd like to overflow from the axe to a spear and carry more overflow into a missionary. Or, I could just 2pop whip a missionary to get some benefit out of OR. I'm paying 2g/turn in upkeep for that so far with no benefit because I haven't picked a religion. Still fighting for control of border tiles in Megatron, so I'd like to hold off a little longer, if possible. I hope to have 3 riverside cottages complete in the next 4 turns.

Megatron:



Speaking of Megatron, we're at 50/49 for tile control of both hills in the BFC currently in Sian's territory. We finally have a Terrace, dumped the overflow into walls for safety. I'd like a galley to cover our seafood to ease the anxiety I felt when I saw Slow's galley. I have no clue why he turned around. Guessing he got some bad news back home. I'd have been eager to pillage in that situation. Glad it didn't happen.

Swiper:



Moar Spears! Grow to 4 for double whip safety. Low food here, so I don't want to whip much unless it's an emergency.

Demos & Graphs:

Graph dump. Things that stand out are Slow's continuing shitty GNP, Sian and Slow both whipping (fight, fight, fight!), and Slow's reduced culture. I posed this question earlier in this post, but my only conclusion is that CRE Slow lost a city.

Whew, long report. Lurkers, please give some input where requested. Thanks!

[Merovech]

You would not be notified, I think.

[Boldly Going Nowhere]

Ooooooh no, I know how this starts. First I'm making autonomous decisions, next thing I know I've played one turn and suddenly I'm responsible for the loss. But sure, if you leave better instructions next time I won't feel so bad about playing a shoddy turn or two.

I'll bring this here. I left you a micro plan for a couple cities where the moves weren't obvious because we shifted strategy and you have my phone number. What else could you need? But, I'll do my best to predict a week of the game in advance of me leaving for vacation.

Merovich, thank you for your input. That's my feeling as well on how that works. If he had revolted the culture line would have been flat. Fortunately, it isn't of immediate concern for our operations. It's just helpful to know what else is going on in this game. Anyway, it's turn update time! Since I sent in the omnibus report last time, we'll be a little more brief this time. An overview:



As expected, Sian took control of the forest hill. However, I now have enough units stuffed into the city to make it very difficult for him to take it. And, since I can see the diagonal approach to the city, I feel ok about not being hit by two-movers, as he'd have to attack spears on a hill across a river with 40% cultural defense. Good luck with that. I'm holding off on my walls until I can get into OR, unless the situation dictates otherwise.

In the NW, I have the axe/spear covering three workers. The silver mine will be complete next turn and I'll peel the workers off from there back to DH to finish cottaging. I have three workers positioned to cottage the river grassland 3 of Sian's entrenched stack on the hill. I'll cover them with no less than 4 units and dare Sian to attack across the river. He doesn't have any HAs in range as of now to make me change my mind. This, combined with my likely move of the axe/spear into his land north of Baba Yetu in 2t should give him something to think about. Border aggression works both ways.

Saving gold this turn for efficiency. We could get archery in 1T but I don't deem it critical now that I've stuffed Megatron with units. In fact, I may save gold for several turns because once we're in OR I'll want to whip in libraries, and that isn't far down the road. But, Sian will have cats online very soon as construction is due in 2T for him. Survival trumps efficiency, but we'll see how much room I have here.

Cities:

We grew onto an unimproved tile, but working the forest will get the settler out next turn. I'll probably do that.


One possibility is to whip a missionary and overflow to another missionary, then revolt to Hinduism. But, one reason not to do that quite yet is...


...that the tiles with the white dot are all 50/49 in Sian's favor. It's been a long, slow process trying to wrest tiles from him. A library would certainly help, but I want the OR bonus, and that means giving up the 5 free culture/turn from Judaism. But, I can't delay progress forever waiting on these tiles. In any event, as soon as I give up Judaism, I'll lose them again. Bah. I've put a turn into a galley. We grow to 4 quickly here, so another 4/2 whip is coming right up. I think we'll see what fun we can have taking islands. I'd like to settle up right on Com's border and take his stone/marble, and perhaps take that fish 9 of the hill/stone. This could cause problems in what has otherwise been a quiet border. Thoughts, lurkers?


Grow to 4, little friend, and keep pumping units for now.

Still chugging along. That is all.

[Boldly Going Nowhere]

440 BC: The Pyramids has been built in a far away land.

It wasn't me, and it wasn't Commodore. MFG goods spike (orange double dip) indicates that it was Slowcheetah. Good for him. Or, I could have just looked at the top 5.



This should help him drag his economy out of the tank. This would be a good time to stick a pin in his side before he can catch up. But, then, I realize someone has already done that. Commodore seems to have put Slow's stone city under new management: his.



Whoops... Anyway, other annoying stuff: Sian has moved a stack of 3 HAs to reinforce Baba Yetu. Guess I won't be pillaging his sheep after all. If you look at the Top 5 picture above, Sian has whipped his capital pretty hard, and this can only mean trouble. Hopefully not for me, but my guess is that it is. I'm a likely target. I border him on two sides (who doesn't?) and I'm culturally crushing him, particularly now that I've taken (for now at least) the second ring border tiles at Megatron:



In the west I've gone ahead with my plan to cottage the grass/river in Sian's face. His 3 HA stack can't reach, unless he had 2 workers on the white/shaded tile, in which case I'm screwed. I think we're ok for now:



Next turn may be another story. I left worker A uncovered, because I want to get my axe/spear back toward the island region. With Slow's city possibly razed, now is a good time to plant a city. To that end, settler finally completed in DH:



Library next, OR or not. Can't waste the beakers. CC suffered some unhappiness when I moved the 4 units out to cover the workers, so I swapped to a settler to save the 4 foodhammers and dumped in the 18 overflow as well. I may regret this if all those HAs come knocking soon. We'll see.



Megatron is stoked about the new territory. So stoked that they're about to kill off half the workforce in celebration:



Swiper is going to work the gold for a hot minute and keep pumping units. Someone has to.



Demos:



Quick and easy, but an interesting turn. Sian will complete construction next turn. This may get rough for a little while, but I think we'll survive, unless others smell blood in the water. The good news is that I don't think Slow is in any shape to do anything to me for now, having invested so much in the Mids and lost a city. Commodore, as always, is a wild card. Hit enter.

[spacetyrantxenu]

Next tech target is HBR, right? And Slowcheetah does like a good specialist economy, eh?