[PB 64] Ginger plays as Charlemagne, famed man of letters

[Ginger()]

       
Scheiße

[thestick]

What happened? I don't get it.

[Ginger()]

Amica is at 541gpt at the first turn of a 12 turn golden age. I’m a little shocked because I don’t see how’d they’d jump up from ~240 when they have < 200 pop, but it’s pretty terrifying regardless. My tech lead is going to wither away very rapidly in the face of that.
They also jumped up Civil Service and Paper. Although I’m not entirely sure why Paper would be a priority before Banking as 17cities and PRO

Also notable is Commodore’s 248 gpt golden age.
In short-I’m moving too slowly and the long term looks bleak.

[Ginger()]

Naufragar researched Astronomy. Amica is probably ~6 turns away. I will do my due-diligence and set up a sentry net, but I don't think Nauf benefits from fighting me. At any rate if he did, I'd march 42 knights east and whack him through Gav and Amica's land. Also, I think this is the final nail in the coffin for Commodore. He will not be able to tech to Astronomy in time to be a major threat to either Nauf or Amica with their superior MFG. As such I don't really have a lot of good reasons to keep him around, and with SD more dangerous on land...

I've gone back to reread my posts and they're full of this sort of vacillation, "Imma bop Comm"—"nah SD is better"—"wait PS/Slave means Comm is back on the menu"
I never outright lie in my diplo, but I do change my mind if circumstances change. I also feel like publicly reporting this thought process isnt the best competitive move for future games
Moreover, the indecisiveness feels a little silly, as if I can't find the right answer for which direction to head in. Realistically though a lot changes on the board in the 14 turns after I've started the beeline for Steel, so it makes sense that my priorities should change. However maybe then I should just stop thinking until I actually have the units I'm waiting for and only then make my move.

[Ginger()]

   
This beautiful boy :’)

   

[Miguelito]

Lovely. Where he going?

[Ginger()]

That is the important question, isn't it?

So, I have 3 possible paths,
1) Invade Gavagai
2) Invade Commodore
3) Invade Superdeath

#1 is hilariously easy, I can capture the Capital on the second turn of the war, only one turn's warning, and immediately regroup with all my 1-movers in the capital before advancing on the remaining 2 cities, using Guerillas to prevent him from running a circle around the mountain. However, it eliminates the cultural pressure on Superdeath and Amica and Nauf. 
   
You can see Commodore's stack at the bottom of the screen and Gav's stack is highlighted

#2 is also comically simple, until I realize that Commodore has 8 cities out of reach and can likely construct his own defensive stack on that large island
As such I've resent him our old fish-fish and asked that he stop trading with Amicalola, who has finally managed to switch into Serfdom and grow onto a fair bit of their outsized share of tiles. (We need a dogpile soon) The risk if I don't take this option is that Commodore comes back for revenge instead of focusing on the obvious leader. For that eventually I'm preparing some Dockyard builds at a couple cities that don't have barracks. 

#3 has a glaring problem, SD has by far the highest power rating of the possible targets and is currently frantically whipping Police State Knights. 
   
However as soon as Foucault's Pendulum seizes control of that plains hill that gives vision over the road (or sooner if I can cobble the Cannons together and ignore that he gets another turn of warning), I can, on the first turn of the war, land right on the doorstep of his large stack at Gorbachev, the Pyramids city. 

The prevailing question is how much do I detach from my main stack to form the Mobility Knight/Guerilla2 Musket harassment stack that will go North? 
   
Here I've outlined the turns of reaction that Superdeath would have available to him.

[Ginger()]

I've really agonized over the choices here, for a long time, but there are no obvious openings and I've frankly run out the clock on my economy, and am starting to get out-scaled, even by Commodore. So I need to swing my stick around now, while it's still the biggest.
This is the kind of decisive moment that I'll have to look back on after the game is done and evaluate, but I believe that *if* everything goes right (which I really need it to in order to win), then eating Superdeath gives me a respectable chance of that. So I feel like the chance of winning the game is better even if the odds of the winning this upcoming war are worse against SD.

[Ginger()]

Just in time for Charriu's t100 report, I earn my 10th GP (11th counting music).

In two turns I will declare on Superdeath, one turn after the peace deal expires. I've alerted Gavagai in case he cares to steal back Brezhnev. SD has whipped a truly impressive number of Knights from his power graph, absolutely cratering his economy. I really hope he goes for a first strike so we can finish this thing quickly, in either my defeat or his. Which of his tendencies will win? The fight-tooth-and-nail or the slam-big-stack?

Speaking of Economy, Banking is the only reason I am afloat at ~150 gpt. Banks alone provide 67 of that gold. My lead in tech is finally going to be eclipsed by Amica and Naufragar as both have Gunpowder and are researching hard for Frigates.

I'm surprised it took them this long to finally catch up when I've been stuck on 8 cities and only stole up to a 9th during the Gav-SD war. I suppose I can pat myself on the back there, A+ for civ build. D- for tactical choices though. I'll refrain from grading strategic thinking until it's all said and done.

[Charriu]

Just in time for Charriu's t100 report, I earn my 10th GP (11th counting music).

If you would have done that in T100 I would be very impressed. Maybe even call you a cheater.