The NL Central game was a tense one with some heroics from our old friends. Jose Quintana, for the Cubs, and Jhoulys Chacin (yes, I had to look up how to spell that) for the Brewers each gave up 1 hit and 1 earned run through 5 innings. Milwaukee got on the board first, when MVP candidate Christian Yelich padded his stats some more with an RBI single in the third. In 5th, the Cubbies tied it up with an Anthony Rizzo home run, and then the bullpens took over. Justin Wilson took the 8th for the Cubs, and immediately ran into trouble, giving up a single and a double - bringing up Lorenzo Cain.
Now, the Cubs were fortunate enough to get swept by the Mets in 2015, and so never faced the 2015 Royals. But they got a taste of what so many teams experienced, as Cain was probably the last Brewer they should have wanted to face (except perhaps for Yelich). Cain did not disappoint (unless you're a Cubs fan), lacing a single over the second baseman's head to center field, scoring one run and moving an insurance run to third - Ryan Braun quickly brought that run home, and it was 3-1, Brewers. Josh Hader came in to seal the win for Milwaukee, giving up only a harmless single with 2 outs in the 9th. The Brewers will face the winner of the wild card game, while the Cubs will play again tomorrow, this time winning or going home.
In the NL West, the Rockies have never won a division, while the Dodgers have won 5 in a row. Naturally, the Dodgers fairly handily blew out the Rockies, 5-2. In the 4th, Rockies starter German Marquez struck out 3 batters in a row before running into trouble. Yes, that's right - three. See, on strike 3, the catcher has to catch the ball. If he drops it, the batter is free to try and take first. Tony Wolters dropped the ball, Max Muncy took first, and three batters later, Cody Bellinger blasted a ball out of the park - 2-0, Dodgers. That was really all Dodgers starter Walker Buehler needed. Contrary to his name, he only walked 3 batters in his 6.2 innings of work, relying on his defense to navigate a 1-hit shutout that far. Taking no chances, Dave Roberts (the same Dave Roberts with the most famous steal in baseball history back in 2004) pulled Buehler in the 6th, while the offense tacked on three more runs in the 5th and 6th. Kenley Jansen, a normally reliable closer, gave up back to back home runs to Nolan Arenado and Trevor Story in the 9th, but really, after the 4th the game was never close.
The Dodgers will face the Braves in the NLDS, while the Rockies will travel to Chicago tomorrow night for the wild card.
Humbug. I knew this was coming. I knew it would probably happen if I sent my slinger out. And yet I did it anyway. Why? I have no idea why, in retrospect! Two warriors don't need a slinger support! I needed the slinger ALIVE long enough to research archery and upgrade! I say all these things, I notice them, and then I do absolutely nothing to learn from them.
God, I'm dumb. How have I not just been instantly massacred in every game I play? Better to be lucky and pretty than good, I guess. ;D
In the south, we meet city state #3 and inspire Political Philosophy some 20 turns after finishing it:
Muscat is only okay. Suzerainty provides +1 amenity per Commercial Hub...and I'm only gonna build like two of those (for Eureka purposes), since Harbors are generally more necessary. I don't even have good rivers to build them next to, for the most part. These guys might also be conquered as part of Operation Neumann.
Here's a map of Hattusa island, by the way:
Nothing of interest ("Then why are you showing us, Chevalier?"), really. Coupla city-spots, but notice how Archduke's island overshadows this one. Settling here means awkwardly moving past his island and any coastal cities are very exposed to his fleet, while he can safely settle and control all access via that 1-tile wide strait. Look for him to get a fortress city up there as soon as he can, it's what I'd do. Maybe I have a similar island to settle to my northeast? It's the last direction I have to explore.
Over at Zobrist, we leave the settler at 1 turn and begin work on the Pyramids. We'll need two turns to get the builder into position, then we chop on turn 85, as planned. I think that preserves our turn 89 timeline for the Pyramids, and Morales will be settled right around then as well. Rios and Hosmer are due in the early 90s, and then we crash-build a navy.
Why is the navy so urgent? Well...
He leads every category besides religion. Top culture, top science, top military. He's got a little of everything. I have more cities at this point, but he has better cities. I have the same amount of districts, he has better districts. And a navy twice the size of my own - probably 6-8 triremes and 4-5 quads? I need to get a better estimate.
Scores, end of turn 83:
Archduke and I functionally tied ahead of the rest of the pack (20 point gap entirely attributable to empire score).
Turn 84:
We finish mysticism and do a government swap a fair bit overdue:
Oligarchy for deterrence purposes and for the right policy mix. Everything should be straightforward: A program of naval building and settler chops, with science boosted at expense of culture.
One thing to note is that Monasticism has either been changed or the wiki is just straight wrong, as it does not provide +100% science, but only +75%. I'm short about 3 beakers from what I predicted, but still miles better than what I was. Compare science rates in these screenshots with those above. Culture plunges a bit, but I'm not as far behind there and I don't mind. I can tinker around with it fairly easily.
Clearing the camp next turn near Gordon will net us a Golden Age:
We're gonna massively overshoot the Heroic Age and I see no real way to avoid that. The Dedication bonus from converting cities will pad my score but not do anything else - not like I can hold off converting until the next age, since the points bonus goes away anyway.
We also suzerain Muscat and discover the Dead Sea in the middle of the antarctic ice:
Muscat Island (Oman? Aden?) is pretty barren, but there might be a viable fishing village in the north. If I can get a grip on the straits near the Archduke, and take Hattusa and Muscat, I could start to build a nice archipelagian empire here. Need to map the northeast, which I must share with Rowain or Japper, but this looks like a possible area for expansion - if not for the awkward thrust of Archduke's island right into the middle of it. I really wish his island ended about 8 tiles further west than what it does. :/
Chop next turn. Naval building program underway. Scores and overview, all builds should be straightforward (I swapped Moustakas to a ship after this shot was taken, the monument is a luxury after we have security):
oh right, the wild card. Guys, if anyone wants to hang out and just talk baseball, please, come into my thread and make yourselves comfortable, I've got a Civ game going in the background too. Let's recap last night.
It's been said that history doesn't repeat itself, but it sometimes rhymes. Last night, history rhymed.
It rhymed when Jon Lester took the mound for the Cubs. Jon Lester was starting in his second wild card game. His first? Well...you remember the first. Lester went 8 innings, and gave up 6 runs - 3 of them in the 8th. Joe Maddon, managing for the Cubs, would be more aggressive at pulling his ace, and would hope for a better outcome.
Of course, the Cubs shouldn't even have been there. They were the best team in the National League at the start of September. They had a 5-game lead in their division. And they went a perfectly respectable 16-12 in their final month, including taking 3 of 4 from the Cardinals to close the season out. It should have been enough. But, somehow, it wasn't. The Brewers won even more games. The Brewers won at a record pace. The Brewers would not stop winning - have not stopped winning as I write this, in fact. When the dust lifted on Saturday night, the final day of the regular season, the Brewers and Cubs stood tied at the top of the NL Central and the whole National League. So, they played the tiebreaker, at Wrigley - and the Cubs lost. The Cubs scored only 1 run in a game they had to win, a game that would have punched their ticket to the NLDS and a solid chance at the World Series. Instead, they spiraled into the wild card: Win, or go home.
Facing Lester was a franchise much like the Royals, in a lot of ways, but less successful: The Colorado Rockies. In 25 years of existence, the Rockies had made the playoffs only a handful of times - the wild card the year before (where they lost to the Diamondbacks), and Rocktober.*
*How to explain Rocktober? I could do another 50 pages just about that team. Eh, I've got time. We won't do 50 pages, but I will go in depth here. Or you can just skip to the game after the break.
On the morning of September 16th, 2007, the Rockies were in fourth place in the division, 6.5 games out. They were 4.5 games out and in fourth place in the wild-card race (in those days there was but one wild card team, who went straight to the DS). The Padres were miles ahead of them in the NL West.They had no hope.They were dead. The Baseball Prospectus postseason odds report pegged their playoff chances at 1.8%, and that seemed generous.
And then they got hot.
The Rockies won 11 games in a row that second half of September - including a sweep of the Padres. Heading into the final weekend of the season they were 87-72. The Padres were 88-71. The Diamondbacks were 89-70. They were hosting the Diamondbacks, knowing that a sweep guaranteed them a playoff spot.
On Friday night, they lost, eliminating them from the division title. The Padres won, meaning the Rockies were two back with two to play.
On Saturday, the Rockies crushed Arizona 11-1, but the Padres led the Brewers, 3-2 going to the bottom of the ninth, with all-time great closer Trevor Hoffman on the mound. Hoffman struck out Prince Fielder, then allowed a double to Corey Hart, then struck out Laynce Nix. With the Rockies down to their final out from a thousand miles away, the Brewers’ manager – some guy named Ned Yost – called upon a pinch-hitter (NO, SERIOUSLY!). He called upon the son of the greatest San Diego Padre of all time: Tony Gwynn, Jr.
On a 2-2 pitch – with the Padres one strike away from the playoffs – Gwynn tripled to right field to tie game. In the bottom of the 11th, Vinny Rottino hit a walk-off single to win the game for Milwaukee.
On Sunday, the Rockies edged the Diamondbacks, 4-3, in a game that was tied 1-1 after seven innings. The Padres blew an early 3-0 lead and lost to Milwaukee, 11-6, setting up a tiebreaker game in Colorado on Monday.
This being Coors Field, you expected a lot of runs, and both teams delivered. The Padres scored five runs in the third inning, but the Rockies scored in five of the first six innings, and led 6-5 until the Padres tied it with a run in the eighth. And then both teams went scoreless in the ninth, the tenth, the 11th and the 12th. In the 13th inning, Brian Giles led off with a walk, and Scott Hairston hit a two-run homer. Trevor Hoffman once again came out to save a game that would put San Diego in the playoffs.
Kazuo Matsui led off with a double. Troy Tulowitzki doubled him home. Matt Holliday tripled to right field, tying the game and putting the winning run at third with none out. Todd Helton was intentionally walked. Then Jamey Carroll hit a flyball to right field, and Holliday was just in under the tag – it’s still not clear he actually touched home plate, because until 2014 it was somehow totally okay for the catcher to block the plate with his body – to win the game.
Three times the Rockies looked finished – when they had the seventh-best record in the league with two weeks to go, when they were one strike away from watching the Padres clinch in Milwaukee, and when they were two runs down in the 13th inning of the tiebreaker game. They somehow overcame all three obstacles – and once their death sentence was commuted and they started the playoffs on equal footing with every other team, like the 2014 Royals, they just went nuts. They played the Phillies in the NLDS and swept the series. They got a rematch against the Diamondbacks and served their revenge dish cold, sweeping again.
And then they played the Red Sox in the World Series and learned that their National League Rocktober Magic, while cute, was no match for AL superiority. The Rockies not only were swept, they held a lead in the World Series for the grand total of three innings. They held a lead or were tied for the grand total of six innings. It was kind of a beatdown, and it kind of left the impression that the Rockies were a fluke, if not a fraud. And in light of what’s happened to the Rockies since, they probably were both. But man, it was fun while it lasted.
The Rockies had once again surged to tie their division rival in the last days of the season, but this time they had come up short in the tie-breaker. In 2007, that would ahve sent them home. In 2018, they had a second chance. And they instantly took advantage. Lester walked Charlie Blackmon to open the game - and the very next batter, Curtis LaMahieu (yes, I looked up how to spell that) hit a double that got lost in the ivy at Wrigley. Nolan Arenado followed with a sac fly to plate the first run 3 batters and no outs in.
The game got tense after that. Lester settled in, allowing no more runs, striking out 9 Rockies in 6 innings. Unfortunately for the Cubs, Rockies' starter Kyle Freeland, in teh biggest game of his life, pitching on 3 days' rest for the first time in his career, was equally solid. He went 6 and 2/3rds, giving up no runs. The Cubs loaded the bases in the 7th, but the Rockies escaped the jam, clinging to their 1-run lead with their fingernails as pressure mounted on the home team.
In the 8th, history rhymed again. Anthony Rizzo got on base with one out. The Cubs, down a run in an elimination game with 5 outs left in their season, were in need of a stolen base. And sitting in their dugout, in a glass case reading "Break in case of need of stoen base," was none other than Terrance Gore. Gore, the famed pinch-runner for the Royals, who had played in the fatefuly 2014 wild card game so long ago, had been traded to the Cubs for just this situation. The glass was broken, Gore came out, and one pitch later Gore was at second. There was no throw. The Rockies' catcher was none other than Drew Butera, the backup 2015 catcher for the championship team, traded to the Rockies a few weeks before. Butera knew Gore's speed. He knew better than to throw. Two pitches later, Gore saved the season, as he raced home on a Javier Baez double.
Baez sliding into second
Who to get the Rockies out of this jam? Why not Wade Davis? The Cyborg shut down the rally and was lights-out in the 9th as well, and the game went into extras. Gore had kept the Cubs' season alive with his late steal, and Joe Maddon looked like a genius. And then he didn't. Because Gore was still in the game. And he had to swing a bat.
This was in the 13th inning. Because he had replaced Anthony Rizzo, who can actually hit.
Do not make fun of the Cubs for trying this, though. It was beautiful until it wasn’t. The biggest problem was that the Cubs scored one (1) run in an elimination game, and there aren’t enough narratives in the world to gloss over that. Picking apart individual performances and decisions seems silly when the collective performance looked like something the 2013 Cubs would barf up on the back end of a doubleheader.
But it was Gore who was the most compelling story for a few seconds, an asteroid burning up on reentry. He had appeared in eight career postseason games before tonight, and his team had won all eight. When a team put him in, it was like they were playing a Magic: The Gathering card that allowed them to take the other player’s wallet. With a pinch-running appearance and a stolen base, Gore was the reason the Cubs tied the game. For a moment, he felt like the reason they were going to win it all.
But the rest of the Cubs had failed to show up to play. In the 9th, the 10th, the 11th, the 12th - they managed nothing (except a hug) as the wild card game officially became the longest in history (surpassing in length, if not in excitement, the Wild Card Game). The 11th was a weird one. With 1 down and runners at first and second, a ball was chopped to Arenado at third - a chance at a double play ball. But instead, Baez, the runner, embraced Arenado, who got only the one out. That would have been awkward to explain if the Cubs won the game that inning.
In the top of the 13th, the Cubs' pen faltered, and the Rockies took a 2-1 lead on three straight singles. The Cubs went into the bottom of the 13th down 1 run, with 3 outs left. The Royals had been in this same jam. The Royals had gone on to Game 7 of the World Series.
But then Gore had to swing a bat.
And he did! With great gusto! On what would have been ball four? On what would have been a leadoff walk. On a ball that would have put the tying run on base.
Oh, no.
If Gore got on base to lead off the 13th inning, then the Rockies would have clenched their everything just a little bit tighter, and it would have become a nauseous cat-and-mouse game that would have favored the Cubs. Gore is a runner who was seemingly created, Serpentor-style, from DNA extracted from Vince Coleman, Maury Wills, and Herb Washington, and the Cubs were an ill-advised swing from getting him on base and looking like the smartest team in the land. Every postseason team should have a Terrance Gore on the roster, just for this reason, and they would look like geniuses.
Until he has to swing a bat.
Gore had to swing a bat, he didn’t reach base, and it’s not a secret why. Baseball is hard. Really, really hard. It’s freaking hard to hit a Scott Oberg slider. It’s hard to take the 52nd major league plate appearance of your life with a season on the line and parse the difference between a slider just under the zone and a slider in the zone. It was an unfair ask of Gore, and it ended about how you would have expected. Gore struck out. Two outs later, the Cubs' season was over.
Rowain is either my neighbor to the east, or he bypassed Japper to meet Muscat a turn after I suzerained them. No vision on his units, so a rover must have passed by Muscat on the interturn.
Anyway, there's only a few things I did this turn - a chop, and a barb camp clear.
All my numbers are exactly as predicted. 184 production in the settler (rounded down, I guess), and 75 production shows on the chop screen, so I go ahead and pull the trigger on the chop. It's enough to 1-turn the Holy Site, but we're in no rush to grab that. Instead, it all dumps into the pyramids, and, sure enough - ETA is now turn 89. Not a fast build by any means, but a good opportunistic grab. In fact, no one has built a wonder yet, anywhere - I was sort of expecting a Stonehenge push from Rowain, since he seemed to want a religion, but it never came. I considered it, but my limited choppables meant it was wiser to go ahead with the Holy Sites I would need anyway.
In the northeast, I finally clear the camp that accounted for two slingers. Big setback there:
And there's our golden age. Easy-peazy. More gold, too, which will be useful for archer upgrades in a little bit, and no more barbs from this direction.
Scores:
You'll note Cain also was swapped to a military unit. Archduke continues to climb in military score even after finishing his war, which makes me very nervous. It'd be damn foolish to found Hosmer only to lose Cain, Moose, and Hoz to an Archduke rush. He's aggressiv,e he's got the military, he sees my score and research rates shooting up, and he might be bitter about my false start at Johnny - so I can all but guarantee he's looking at me and licking his lips.
So, we'll bank the production in the settler for now, and swap to ships. Escobar will be able to settle the safer Rios, then will go to ships. I can get a couple of galelys and quads out to field a navy of about 8 galleys and 4 quads by the time the DoF expires in a dozen turns or so. Then the plan is to play defensive, near my cities, and get walls up. Walls will stop anything short of a 7 Provinces, and I think I've got some time before those come out.
After momentarily closing the gap, Archduke is starting to pull away again. I'd say it's a two-horse race, going from score alone, but a)Rowain has very solid research rates. 2nd in culture behind the Archduke (but everyone's within 5 of each other), and first in science - 39 to 37 (Dutch) to 32 (me). Plus, look at Rowain's score - he has no extraneous padding like religion or GP or era score, really. It's all civics, science, and empire. He's real solid. Probably more solid than I am, given my shaky military situation.
So, right now, the Dutch are winning, but the Americans and the Arabians are both on their heels, and any one of the three of us has a shot. I rate my own chances at ~20% (to 25% for Rowain and 40% for the 'Duke) much higher than I would have given 20 turns ago.
AL Wild Card was SUPER boring. A's were back in the playoffs for the first time since 2014, but the Yankees scored 2 runs in the bottom of the 1st inning and it was never in doubt. I hate the Yankees. And the A's, for losing literally every elimination game they've played in the last 27 years.
We played three turns between my update 36 hours ago and today - goodness!
Turn 86-88
Here's another dumb thing I've done. In all my wishy-washiness over what to research, I completely forgot the most important early tech-tree beeline you can make: Apprenticeship! I have dozens of hills in my territory (too bad about the lack of food), and I'm passing over on a LOT of cogs for a lot of cities. I could have had Apprenticeship ages ago...but I faffed about instead.
I never make any claims to be good at this game.
In the north, Archduke is mapping my island:
Looks like I've finally reached the end of land, with mostly useless desert here in the east. Maybe Rios could build Petra, but with literally no choppables and no food for past pop growth, that will take ages. I can also squeeze in one more coastal city here in the north.
Also, as of this turn, Teddy has 37 science to Wilhemina's 34 and my own 33. Emperor is bumping along at 18, and I think Japper is similarly low from his own tech scores. That gap is no longer an issue. The bigger issue is my abysmal army with a rapidly expiring DoF. Archduke's military power continues to rise, so (with regret) I pause Hosmer's settler and start to work on a ship in Cain instead. Three cities are building ships, two are working on garrison archers (well, slingers, but we'll research the upgrade soon), and Escobar will join the shipbuilding once its settler finishes. The economy will have to wait until we're secure, then we go into another round of booming.
Turn 86 scores and overview:
Turn 87 sees Morales founded by the lake west of Escobar...and I failed to snap a picture of it. Well, I'll get you one soon. It has fresh water, lots of tea, and a few forests. The land is flat, though, and just too narrow to get a feudalism triangle up. Production will come from some second-ring hills, shared with Escobar, and districts will cluster around the plaza to the north. It'll be a fine city, given time to develop.
Japper finally ate his city-state:
Maybe we'll see him start to take off? I'd like to see what I can do, given time. The only game he's really gone deep in is PBEM7, which was marred by Mike's cheating, and Japper was unlucky enough to start next to Sullla. Maybe he can make something happen with lots of faith and Indonesia?
My civics tree. D&P is paused for the Pyramids to complete it. Then I have some choices: Theology (for Madrasas and Temples), Recorded History (for Natural Philosophy), and Defensive Tactics (for limes). Right now, I think, the priority is Theology -> Defensive Tactics -> Recorded history. My reasoning:
1)Recorded History is wanted for the science. But I'll build a second campus soon to boost it, so no rush there. Second, the NP policy card isn't as good as Monasticism, and I'd have to give up Colonization to run both. So I can't make use of it yet, and my campus has a low adjacency anyway.
2)Limes is good for chops and in case of emergency. I'm researching it to the inspiration, just in case - if Archduke attacks, I can immediately slot Limes and crank out walls while my navy delays. If not, then it can wait. So I research it first as a stopgap, but leave it uninspired.
3)Theology is the key civic for Arabia. Boosting my faith and my science is key to winning the game, and this does both. Madrasas are worth an astonishing amount of science, and Temples enable Apostles, which will enable 10% cost Wats - which mean more faith and science. All, of course, can be bought with Faith, so Earth Goddess is proving its worth here. I may even get more out of it than I would have out of Goddess of the Harvest, given my generally barren island.
Let's see, we meet Mohenjo Daro a scant 7 turn sail from Davis:
That stings. I turned south at Archduke's island instead of north, and so I missed it. What rotten luck in scouting - I don't think I made poor decisions regarding direction, since it was a shot in the dark and I KNEW there was a city on Archduke's island (settlerdar). I probably should have been more aggressive using the brute squad to scout more before sacking Davis, instead of faffing about with it. I'd be roughly even with Rowain and the Archduke in terms of civics if I hadn't had to hard-research PP.
And turn 87 scores:
Turn 88 sees us draw 1 turn away from the Pyramids.
I can also afford my first Missionary. This means more gold, and down the line, more science. I need to spread the faith to make use of Jesuit Education, so this first Missionary will head for my next Campus city, Zobrist. The next will go south, and the third will go east. That should get my whole starting island converted. If I can get another DoF with the Duke, then I'll convert him, too - he gets Jesuit Education for his campuses and theater squares, and I get gold and more science. It's win-win! Of course his military score continues to increase and he signed a DoF with Emperor, so...
Only solution is to build a military as quick as I can and bluff him down, or fight a destructive war to try and drag him down. I learned from PBEM8 that at low-tech levels you can build new units remarkably quickly - galleys take 4 turns to crank out in most cities, Escobar can do them even faster, and Quads are about double that time. He'll have no tech advantage and no Great Admiral, and narrow terrain.
The main difficulty in defending is I don't know where the blow will fall - either north, at Davis, or south, at Cain. I need to scout and find his fleet. Note to self. Do that. We get first strike (for once!), so we can flee the turn the DoF expires and not risk the galleys.
Looks like Rowain's either exploring with a warrior, or our home islands are adjacent:
We wave across the channel at each other.
In the south, I find American borders, and the American navy:
Rowain is second in military power after the Archduke. I hope he doesn't declare war to sink my lone scout. Hopefully he fears the Archduke more than me? A strike from Rowain in my rear about now would probably seal the win for the Dutch -but does he know that? Well, cross our fingers.
Minor (killjoy) note: Rios won't be able to build Petra anyway, because you need a flat desert tile to build it on.
With that said, moving Rios back to it's original location makes for an inferior 1st ring, but it would allow you to build an aqueduct and makes Petra a remote possibility (using the flat desert tile in the 3rd ring across the bay) if you landed an engineer or something.
Rios' current location is probably the better choice overall, given how little food is in the area (city center + grainary + sheep + 3x plains hill can support all of four citizens!) but I figured it was worth a mention as a possibility. Petra, if you could get it, would obviously be a massive improvement on either site.
(October 6th, 2018, 12:14)williams482 Wrote: Minor (killjoy) note: Rios won't be able to build Petra anyway, because you need a flat desert tile to build it on.
With that said, moving Rios back to it's original location makes for an inferior 1st ring, but it would allow you to build an aqueduct and makes Petra a remote possibility (using the flat desert tile in the 3rd ring across the bay) if you landed an engineer or something.
Rios' current location is probably the better choice overall, given how little food is in the area (city center + grainary + sheep + 3x plains hill can support all of four citizens!) but I figured it was worth a mention as a possibility. Petra, if you could get it, would obviously be a massive improvement on either site.
Probably, but I think Petra is worth going for. No one else has pushed any wonders in this game, and Rios is mediocre at best without Petra, either way. If I DO get Petra, though, then Rios becomes a fantastic city, one of my best. I've got Mathematics unlocking, so hell, I could buy my way to the tile (painful in gold) and then start the wonder right away. That's probably not ideal, but something like that for Rios is what I have in mind. Need to do the math. No choppables, except maybe some (more 3rd ring) forests over by Gordon, so it's a slow-build all the way, with at best traders to help things along.
I've played two turns since this post, but Fraps failed me. I'll replay them to add screenshots.
High points:
1)We got the Pyramids, yay!
2)Rowain is indeed right next door, across a narrow strait.
3)Archduke is scouting my west coast with a few galleys, and I'm trying to get in his way to deny him as much intel as I can.
4)The whole civ is now working on military builds since my settler and wonder finished. Ships and slingers all across the board. We'll shoot up in military score over the next dozen turns, then we can shift back to infrastructure.
I'm putting together a report for turns 89-91 (played a third since yesterday), but first, a score report as of turn 90 for nice round numbers:
Player Score
Score
Civic
Empire
Great People
Religion
Tech
Wonders
Era
The Archduke
188 (+21)
33 (+3)
69 (+6)
5
0
32 (+4)
0
49 (+8)
Rowain
170(+34)
30(+3)
66(+7)
5(+5)
0
32(+6)
0
34(+13)
Japper
152(+32)
18(+0)
71(+23)
5
10
22(+6)
0
26(+3)
Chevalier
202 (+69)
30(+6)
77(+10)
5
10
28(+6)
15(+15)
37(+14)
Emperor K
180(+36)
30(+6)
68(+12)
15(+5)
0
28(+4)
0
39(+18)
Demographics
Tech|Science
Culture
Domination
Religious
GPT
The Archduke
16|34.3
24.4
434
2.1
207l23
Rowain
16l 37.7
19.9
270
<1
70l13
Japper
11|??<28
15.8<??<17.7
218>??>189
??
??|??
Chevalier
14|34.5
15.8
218
24
293|18.4
Emperor K
14|28
17.7
189
0
275l9
Great People
Gen
Adm
Eng
Mer
Pro
Sci
Wri
Art
Mus
The Archduke
0|0.0
0|0.0
0|0.0
0|0.0
0|0.0
58|4.0
2|1
2|1
2|1
Rowain
0|0.0
0|0.0
0|0.0
0|0.0
41.3|2.3
18.5|4.6
0|0
0|0
0|0
Japper
0|0.0
0|0.0
0|0.0
0|0.0
-|-
0|0.0
0|0
0|0
0|0
Chevalier
0|0.0
19.8|1.1
0|0.0
0|0.0
-|-
34.5|2.3
0|0
0|0
0|0
Emperor K
0|0.0
7.6|7
0|0.0
0|0.0
0|0.0
38.9|4.6
0|0
0|0
0|0
Empire Breakdown
Non-Capital Pop
Total Pop (est)
Enc.
Harbors
Ind.
Com.
HS
Campus
Theater
Other
Archduke
19
24?
0
3
0
0
0
2
2
1
Rowain
15
20?
0
1
0
0
1
2
0
0
Japper
??
??
0
0
0
0
2?
0
0
0
Chevalier
19
23
0
1
0
0
2
1
0
1
Emperor
11
16?
0
3
0
0
0
3?
0
1
A lot of changes. Big infrastructure pushes from everyone with one exception.
Japper still lags in tech, but he's shot up to second in empire score. Emperor, on the other hand, is now lagging badly in pop, and I think he's going to fall behind. Archduke threw down a bunch of harbors and finished his theater square, Rowain's numbers are strong all around, and I'm starting to slip behind in district production as I push out settlers. That'll be the next infrastructure push - a combination of monuments, campuses, and harbors around the empire to continue to improve.
The big worry, of course, is Archduke's military score, which has gained 180 points. He's chopping out military instead of slowbuilding it like I am, maybe for his districts, maybe because he intends to deal with me before I become a problem. :/ Well, we'll just have to be ready for it when it comes.
First, we get drama & poetry boosted, which should help make up some ground in culture. Remember, we're researching Defensive Tactics up to the inspiration, then swapping to Theology. Then we push for Madrasas while getting down campuses.
Behold, the Pyramids, the first wonder of the world! I wonder why no one else went for these? I grabbed 'em just because they're available. It does make it more likely that I'll go for Petra, but I plan to send my settler somewhere else before Rios.
The end of 89 overview. Lots of military builds.
Meanwhile, I use my free builder to build some mines near Zobrist. We'll put a temporary crimp in our faith income as mines replace Earth Goddess appeal, but 1 production for 1 faith ain't a bad trade at all, and Apprenticeship will hep the ratio even more.
Plan right here is to build another settler (once my safety is assured) and then chop out a campus with it. Then we'll slow-build the holy site, purchasing Campus buildings with faith along the way. Notice, also, that Gordon is starting to blossom into quite a nice city, with many farms and mines to work. Growth will remain an issue here, but if I can just get my pop up, there are plenty of nice tiles to work.
Liang will hop over to Zobrist once Magnus leaves, and Zobrist will ultimately become a builder pump for the empire. With Liang, the Pyramids, and Serfdom, we're looking at 7 charge builders! Just a few will blanket the entire empire in improvements!
Here's Rowain to the east. He has one small city on the water, but his capital, Washington, is well-inland. You can see the borders in this shot. It looks like Moustakas is most exposed to America here. We'll need walls, and probably a sentry of some sort on that small island. Cain and Davis are the two cities exposed to Archduke in the west.
Speaking of...
The Dutch ahve been sniffing around my borders the last few turns. I'm getting in his way, annoying him, trying to limit his intel, and look like I have more ships than I do. He can read the scores just as well as I can, but I need to buy time until my new builds come down the slipways. I'm also scouting around Perez island (not settled due to indefensibility) and Cain to make sure I don't get surprised.
Zobrist finished the slinger and starts the settler for the campus. This settler will probably go to Rios. As soon as I finish Iron Working, I'll start Archery. I have ONE copy of Iron on my island, and it's under the Campus at Escobar, so no chance of the Iron Working eureka, sadly.
One last look at Rowain coming to visit.
End of 91 scores and overview:
If we can survive this next push by the Archduke, we're in very good shape, I think.
![[Image: Screen_Shot_2018_10_02_at_10.55.09_PM.jpg]](https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Iud4FQD0173alMgRoPfhlo8SIGI=/0x0:400x316/1200x0/filters:focal(0x0:400x316):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/13204355/Screen_Shot_2018_10_02_at_10.55.09_PM.jpg)
It's win-win! Of course his military score continues to increase and he signed a DoF with Emperor, so...
