[Spoilers] Woden takes on the World (PBEM18)

[marcopolothefraud]

Anyways, I founded Weathertop, bought the whales tile and bought a trader. City places a Cothon but starts working on walls. It shows 14 turns to complete but should drop to 4 turns next turn when I send the trader to Gondor. My inquisitor convert the city to my religion.

Weathertop doesn't strike me as having good terrain, but I see potential. I think you should buy a Monument, or directly buy the Gypsum tile, so that Weathertop can work the 2 food/4 production tile that Helm's Deep owns.

Good luck on the Colosseum.

[Woden]

Anyways, I founded Weathertop, bought the whales tile and bought a trader. City places a Cothon but starts working on walls. It shows 14 turns to complete but should drop to 4 turns next turn when I send the trader to Gondor. My inquisitor convert the city to my religion.

Weathertop doesn't strike me as having good terrain, but I see potential. I think you should buy a Monument, or directly buy the Gypsum tile, so that Weathertop can work the 2 food/4 production tile that Helm's Deep owns.

Good luck on the Colosseum.

I don't expect much from this city or any other new city I might found during this Golden Age. This city's sole purpose is prop up loyalty at Porte Alegre and maybe get another trade route going, plus get me some whales again. I might settle another one north of Weathertop for the same reason (another trade route) or a dry city west of La Venta (if I get the Colosseum) for culture and a free luxury and maybe +2 if I can get Renaissance walls up in time . New cities this late in the game add very little to your overall empire, they are almost not worth it, especially with me being crunched by happiness.

[Woden]

Turn 151
Not a whole heck of a lot going on this turn. I open the save to Ichabod shooting one of my field cannons. I retreat it back, hoping he brings his units closer to Porto Alegre. Here is what is looks like at the end of the turn...



He is bringing his army up and not sure where he is planning to attack. Both cities are safe and have medieval walls and can probably kill at least 1 unit per turn. I did bring my General back towards Fez so he didn't get surrounded and stuck. I will probably send him to Misty Mountains to help the bombard out, which will be in position next turn.

[Woden]

Turn 152
Open the save to find Ichabod retreating a little bit...



Or at least hiding in the fog. Regardless, he has not pushed any further towards either of my cities.

Factory completes at Gondor and I start a power plant, 6 turns to completion...



Next turn, the arena completes at Rohan and I will build a quick 2-turn granary to time its completion with when Magnus is established and I can chop the place where the Colosseum is going. I will buy a builder next turn before switching out of Serfdom for Triangle Trade and start making some gold.

Suboptimal comes asking for a friendship and I agree. I don't want him causing trouble with my coastal cities while I am building infrastructure. I must have plans with Kaiser or Canada and looking to secure his backside. Actually, I think it has to be Kaiser since he has friendships with everybody else. I bet he was looking to reneww his friendship with Ichabod before accepting a friendship with me, hence the 10 for 10 trade a few turn back. Good to know. I might need to think about sending a few units north to see if I can snipe a few cities.

Turn 153
open the save to...



I buy a builder at Rohan but notice the arena didn't finish. What the hell is going on, it should have finihsed with a few cogs of overflow...



Looks like my war wariness shifted around and now the city is -2 happiness. I think it was at 0 last turn. That is kind of stupid. Anyways, looks like I was 1 cog short but should have enough overflow to finish the granary on time, no real loss then.

Time for a policy change and get back to positive income... 



I drop Serfdom for Triangle Trade and keep everything else. Next policy swap, I will drop Natural Philosophy for some military's production cards, when I start pumping out military.

Triangle trade brings my income from -2.8 to +43.5. Got to love all these trade routes...



I have 12 of them, all going to Gondor. Once Magnus gets back to the city, you can add 2. Also, I placed an Encampment at the city that will be built once the power plant finishes, so you can add another +1. I also have markets that can be built in Rohan and Erebor and a lighthouse at Fez that can be built, so plenty more trade routes to come. Porto Alegre and Moria are the only 2 cities that don't have trade routes to Gondor, so those will be my next targets for routes when I can add another. I do have to think about maybe doing some international trade routes to get my income up. Might be more beneficial but IDK, need to think about it.

Anyways, Factory completes at Erebor and it starts a power plant. Osgiliath's will finish next turn and start a power plant. I look around and it looks like Kaiser has a few Factories finished because a few of his cities have the red power symbol but suboptimal already has a power plant proving power to one of his cities. He is a little ahead of me in development. I can see he is pulling +10 and +12 on the 2 IZs I can see and he looks to be running the double production on IZs card. He might be close to what I can get but not quite. My lowest IZ is at +14 right now.

Suboptimal did declare on Kaiser this turn and Kaiser came asking for a friendship. I think the friendship request came first since suboptimal plays before me and Kaiser afterwards. I think it over and decide to decline. I do want to take any opportunity I can if Kaiser gets really hurt. Besides, I am still a little raw at him for signing peace with Ichabod as I was starting to make head way on his cities. I expect Geneva and Kaiser's coastal city to fall pretty quick and then maybe Kaiser's capital. Suboptimal will have a hard time holding them, so maybe he will wait or maybe raze the coastal city. I have 2 frigates attacking the barb camp in the northwest and a caravel coming over to the eastern sea. It will probably 6-8 turns before they can make it over towards Kaiser's land but if he still holds his coastal city, I will attack and take it for myself.

[Woden]

Turn 154
Open the turn to...



I start Astronomy, due on 3. Over by Misty Mountains...



Ichabod is massing forces. Not sure if this is an attack force or a defensive force, since I am starting to work down his walls. I have no plan to stage an attack anytime soon. I just had the bombard and figured I would distract him for a bit. I don't think it is an attacks force since I see no siege units. Kaiser did build an encampment and may look to get a bombard in there to work on the walls of Misty Mountains. I sis start moving my last archer from The Black Door towards Misty Mountains and will upgrade him when he gets down here. I will also have Rivendell finish the Field Cannon next that is half built in the city. When Nationalism finishes, I will put the melee and range production boosting card and get a bunch of field cannons and muskets out for some safety. A dedicated push might be able to take the city but Ichabod would lose a bunch of units and not sure if he can afford either the loss of units or the war wariness. I really should get a spy or 2 out and start scoping out Ichabod cities so I know where he is weakest. Maye build one in Erebor or La Venta when their current builds finish. 

Next turn, I start the Colosseum and will finish it in 3 turns.

[Woden]

Turn 155
Open the save to find that Ichabod has attacked my encampment...



He only attacked once and did 5 points of defensive damage and 1 point of health damage but did stop my production on renaissance walls. I attack his cuirassier with both city attacks and the bombard, removing about half of its health. I really need to get a few field cannons down here. I start moving 2 of the 3 by Porte Alegre towards Misty Mountains but it will be awhile for them to get over there. I can faith buy one in about 4 turns and I have a half produced one at Rivendell that is 7 turns from completion that I will start when the walls complete there.

In my core, I chop the tile for the Colosseum and start working on it...



It shows 6 turns to completion but will finish in 2 turns once my builder strips the lumbermill and chops the forest southeast of the city center. My courser takes the barb camp in the northeast and frigate attacks the last musket, almost kill it. My courser will kill it next turn.

I might switch off of Astronomy next turn and finish Military Science, since I don't think I need to go down the Astronomy->Scientific Method route right now. Better to head towards Steel, Refining, and Combustion. I will have to build 2 shipyards and pick up Steam Power for railroads. Then again, I should finish Astronomy to boost Colonialism because I need to get Natural History to extract an artifact for Combustion. Okay, finish Astronomy, then Military Science and head towards Combustion.

[Woden]

Turn 156
I really need to get some field cannons down to Misty Mountains...



Ichabod is starting to seriously work on the encampment. It is going to be slow going for him but eventually he could take it out. I will have enough faith to buy a field cannon in 3 turns and Rivendell will start the half built one next turn. Still have about 5 or 6 turns for the two from Porte Alegre to get over here. I shoot the musket with both the city and encampment shots and hit the city with the bombard. The plan will be to retreat the bombard when I can buy the Field Cannon. That way, it will save the bombard for a future upgrade and give the encampment another shoot on his units.

Over at my core...



I removed the lumbermill at Rohan and will chop the Colosseum to completion next turn. I can still lose it if whoever gets the wonder engineer has already started the Colosseum and is able to move the engineer to it and complete it with a single charge.

Kaiser will get his Great Engineer this turn and unless someone passes on one of the next 3, I am going to miss out...



The cost will drop to 240 and Ichabod has 240 points. Finally found a place where turn order makes a difference. No big deal though, I will get the first Industrial Great Engineer. I could be screwed and get the one that gives culture bombs to Industrial Zones if suboptimal passes on that one. If Ichabod passes one that one, then suboptimal will have to take them and I will get the wonder one.

Finally, I buy the monument for Weathertop to help it grab some tiles and add to my culture. With the Colosseum next turn, I should have near double Ichabod's and probably more than Kaiser when my cities lose the unhappiness penalty. He is getting the engineer that provides culture to workshops, so probably won't pass him on culture.

[Woden]

Turn 157
Open the save and get...



Close the pop-up out and see that no wonders have been built, so the Colosseum is mine! I also see I have a Great Person waiting, so somebody passed on one. Let's see who it is...



Nice! I take a look and Ichabod didn't take one, so he passed on the culture bomb engineer and forced suboptimal to take them, leaving the wonder one for me. After looking at the remaining wonders, I decide to build the Forbidden City at Gondor for the extra wild card slot. I put one charge into it. I will probably need 4 or 5 turns to complete it after the engineer but still worth it. I was thinking the Ruhl Valley at the capital but Kaiser has been building it for a few turns and might be able to steal it. Plus, I can use the extra card slot more than additional production.

Here is some of my empire with the Colosseum built...



I slotted Steam Power for a turn while the the power plant at Gondor completes. I have a partially built Courser in there and if I don't have it in production when Cavalry becomes available, I will lose any cogs invested in it.

Down at Misty Mountains, Ichabod attacked my encampment again with a single unit, doing little damage to both the defenses and health. I did remove the walls at his city with my bombard and took a shot at a musket.

Score-wise, Kaiser overtakes Ichabod for 2nd place and is catching up to my empire score (337 versus 295). Hopefully suboptimal can reduce it shortly.

[Woden]

Turn 158
Open the save to getting 2 era points for completing a power plant at Gondor. I am 3rd to completing one, with Kaiser and suboptimal already having one. I check the city status screen to see if I still have any cities displeased with luxuries getting rearranged thanks to the Colosseum build...



All are content, at least for this turn. Thanks to the patch that dropped today, most will go back to displeased since they raised the threshold back to -1. I really hate the idiots over at CivFanatics who argue about tall versus width. They have now maybe the game a lot harder in MP with larger empires, and my empire isn't really that big. I only have 14 cities, 2 continents worth of luxuries, a bunch of entertainment districts, an arena, and the Colosseum. I guess have -21 war wariness doesn't help but still. I need to get rid of Ichabod as soon as I can. Time to figure out how I am going to build a massive army and hit him at all fronts.

He is slowly attacking the encampment at Misty Mountains. I will be able to buy a field cannon next turn...



I included the production for Gondor in the screenshot. I have reached 80 Osgiliath will be at 79 next turn and Erebor will be in the 70s. I plan on keeping Magnus at Rohan for a while, so he can help with getting the workshop and factory built. He is providing 18 to the city, thanks to his promotion and having 3 factories within range. I might send him to Rivendell afterwards to get an IZ and buildings going to have another factory in range before I send him back to Gondor.

[Woden]

Turn 159
Start turn off with...



I slot Rifling to finish in 6 turns. I think I might need to go straight to Steel to get Urban Defenses up and running. Ichabod is gathering quite a force at Manaus, but I will get to that in a minute. First, lets see the damage the new patch gave us...



Five cities that are still content, out of 14. My science dropped by 7, culture by 6.1, and gold by 24.5. I wasn't the only one hurt by the changes, Kaiser's science dropped by 30 and culture by 9. Suboptimal's science dropped by 6 and culture by 5. Ichabod and williams482 stayed the same. Kaiser's science really got hurt and I bet he was running the science building card and doesn't have 15 population in his cities. I really need to figure out this happiness issue because losing 10% in my cities is a big issue. Need more Entertainment Districts and Arenas, I guess.

Down at Misty Mountains...




Ichabod finally figured out what he needs to do, attack with everything to get the health of the encampment down. I am going to lose it next turn. So, I move the musket out of the city and buy the field cannon so it appears there, then move the bombard out of the encampment. It should survive one attack but not sure if it will survive a second attack if he brings the cavalry around the encampment. When I sent the save along, I was thinking I might be in trouble and may lose the city. Not sure if he will raze it but I would if I were him because I razed his cities.

Later last night, I reopened the save to see what I could do to prevent losing it and think I have a plan. First, I can use my Admiral that gives an Ironclad, which should raise my city strength slightly. Then, I can move Victor over to Misty Mountains and promote him when Nationalism finishes. I will take the promotion that gives your units +5CS when defending in the city borders. Next, I can research Civil Engineering for another promotion and take the one that gives an extra city attack. Finally, I will slot at least Bastions when Nationalism finishes. I might also slot War of Religion for the extra +4 CS but might wait until the Forbidden City finishes, IDK. I don't want to lose the extra amenity for a garrison unit and don't want to remove Limes quite yet. I think those should help and my Field Cannons are only a few turns away from getting in on the action. I do need to get a spy over to Rio to see if there are any units in the city. If he is bringing everything he has to Manaus, I might be able to gather a bunch of cavalry and hit the city, especially since he has not fixed the walls yet.

World Congress is next turn. If we get the production bonus to units, this could become a slugfest of a game. Good thing I have very productive cities.