Peace breaks out across Germany. (I really need a better name for my civ. The Human Believers' Stepdaughters Federation? As an aside, I'm loving the SMAC interest that's sprouted here recently, despite being dizzying to keep track of.)
I realize now I didn't take a screenshot of the peace treaty, but it's exactly what you'd expect. Adrien turned down my offer to see if he had an opening, saw he didn't, and offered 10 turns of peace. The contents of that galley were a skirmisher and a warrior. This was turn 107. Since I accepted enforced peace, I felt I could go ahead and play before him this turn (108). Just to be on the safe side I sent Adrien the following PM.
I was trying to justify my double move without saying "I'm not in a settling race with you." The subtext should be clear. The only place we could possibly compete for city spots is a resource-less corner between Cairo, him, and me. Still, no sharing info outside the game. (Rereading the PM, I hope the tone is ok. A bit flip to end with "good luck" after I got a ~4.5% positive outcome. Not my intention.)
Speaking of settling new cities, that settler that had been camping out for forever at Factory Drift finally has a spot to go to. This was, as chess players would say, a blunder. There's usually little reason to not use your settlers to found cities. With Lincelt, just about any new city is profitable. (4 gold from commerce, 1 from city tile.) All the same, our maintenance costs are something else.
Enough talk. Have picture.
The place Rick got bumped is just hilariously bad. Look at that perfect combination of peaks and territory to box him in. It gets better, however. I moved him to the forest 2N of the stone, and there are units on both hills 1N and 3N of Tula, and there's no way for him to use his woodsman skills to slip through foreign territory. I considered tossing gold at Mr. Cairo and just trespassing, but why risk it. You can see water to the north, so I don't know how much more space Rick has to maneuver. He will wait here unti he is pushed out or somebody gets Alphabet.
This screen is my border with Rusten. I've moused over one of the tiles south of the peak in my BFC.
This turn (108) I was down to 53% culture. I'm going to lose that tile very soon. This game feels like one crisis after another. I need to plan better. I can't find where I read this, but I thought culture was proportionately weaker the further from your city. Rusten is producing 6 culture, I think. (Madrassa (4), Barracks (1), Religion (1)) Water Garden is producing 4-5. (I can't remember if the barracks is producing 2 culture. I think it is.) I had thought this would've been enough to fight for my second ring versus his third. We are getting a monument after the forge, but it'll be too late at that point. Frustrating. I'm gonna have to run an artist here, I know it.
Speaking of Rusten, he and superdeath finally have some war weariness and a small but noticeable power dip.
Makes me breath a little easier.
You know what doesn't?
I'm pretty sure that the last time I checked, Mackoti and I were at 59/66. I could be wrong, but I think this means he just put 5 EP into me. Which is bad for two reasons. He has an interest in me, and he has at least one courthouse online and so can outspend me. I can't stop him getting tech visibility on me, but I can delay it. I don't need him to know my timeline to catapults, no thanks.
Here are the demos for turn 108.
I include this because of something funny with the MfG. As it stands, I'm 7th in that category. At 109 hammers, I'm 5th. There's a bunch of us all neck and neck, apparently. Also, laugh with me as we see the 81 food difference between me and top crop yield, or as I like to call it 1200 potential hammers.
Edit: I should also mention that someone landed the Mausoleum of Maussollos, although I don't know who. Xenu's score went up by 20 and Mack's by 17. I had hoped that the engineer we saw was Xenu's from the Pyramids, although I didn't check the timing. Mack has had Calendar for forever, though. Oh man. Great Library and MoM within 3 turns? No. My optimism refuses to believe it.
I realize now I didn't take a screenshot of the peace treaty, but it's exactly what you'd expect. Adrien turned down my offer to see if he had an opening, saw he didn't, and offered 10 turns of peace. The contents of that galley were a skirmisher and a warrior. This was turn 107. Since I accepted enforced peace, I felt I could go ahead and play before him this turn (108). Just to be on the safe side I sent Adrien the following PM.
I was trying to justify my double move without saying "I'm not in a settling race with you." The subtext should be clear. The only place we could possibly compete for city spots is a resource-less corner between Cairo, him, and me. Still, no sharing info outside the game. (Rereading the PM, I hope the tone is ok. A bit flip to end with "good luck" after I got a ~4.5% positive outcome. Not my intention.)
Speaking of settling new cities, that settler that had been camping out for forever at Factory Drift finally has a spot to go to. This was, as chess players would say, a blunder. There's usually little reason to not use your settlers to found cities. With Lincelt, just about any new city is profitable. (4 gold from commerce, 1 from city tile.) All the same, our maintenance costs are something else.
Enough talk. Have picture.
The place Rick got bumped is just hilariously bad. Look at that perfect combination of peaks and territory to box him in. It gets better, however. I moved him to the forest 2N of the stone, and there are units on both hills 1N and 3N of Tula, and there's no way for him to use his woodsman skills to slip through foreign territory. I considered tossing gold at Mr. Cairo and just trespassing, but why risk it. You can see water to the north, so I don't know how much more space Rick has to maneuver. He will wait here unti he is pushed out or somebody gets Alphabet.
This screen is my border with Rusten. I've moused over one of the tiles south of the peak in my BFC.
This turn (108) I was down to 53% culture. I'm going to lose that tile very soon. This game feels like one crisis after another. I need to plan better. I can't find where I read this, but I thought culture was proportionately weaker the further from your city. Rusten is producing 6 culture, I think. (Madrassa (4), Barracks (1), Religion (1)) Water Garden is producing 4-5. (I can't remember if the barracks is producing 2 culture. I think it is.) I had thought this would've been enough to fight for my second ring versus his third. We are getting a monument after the forge, but it'll be too late at that point. Frustrating. I'm gonna have to run an artist here, I know it.
Speaking of Rusten, he and superdeath finally have some war weariness and a small but noticeable power dip.
Makes me breath a little easier.
You know what doesn't?
I'm pretty sure that the last time I checked, Mackoti and I were at 59/66. I could be wrong, but I think this means he just put 5 EP into me. Which is bad for two reasons. He has an interest in me, and he has at least one courthouse online and so can outspend me. I can't stop him getting tech visibility on me, but I can delay it. I don't need him to know my timeline to catapults, no thanks.
Here are the demos for turn 108.
I include this because of something funny with the MfG. As it stands, I'm 7th in that category. At 109 hammers, I'm 5th. There's a bunch of us all neck and neck, apparently. Also, laugh with me as we see the 81 food difference between me and top crop yield, or as I like to call it 1200 potential hammers.
Edit: I should also mention that someone landed the Mausoleum of Maussollos, although I don't know who. Xenu's score went up by 20 and Mack's by 17. I had hoped that the engineer we saw was Xenu's from the Pyramids, although I didn't check the timing. Mack has had Calendar for forever, though. Oh man. Great Library and MoM within 3 turns? No. My optimism refuses to believe it.
There is no way to peace. Peace is the way.