[SPOILERS] Dark Savant leads the noble Inca as half-noble Churchiill

[Dark Savant]

Turn 116 (25 AD) - Part 1

Charriu didn't take the bait.

He whipped twice last turn, but Pandidakterion is still size 2 and Academia has grown to size 7.

He did build a unit in the former ... but it apparently moved northeast.



That archer is facing northeast, so it moved from the southwest.

That suggests Charriu fears for his capital more than Pandidakterion; he should be able to see JR4's horse archer horde and where it's going.

I'll move units in place to assault Pandidakterion next turn, and attack on turn 118 with 3 swords, 5 axes (most with extra promotions), 2 chariots, 2 spears, and 1 archer.  There will be more swords and spears coming up behind them.

Charriu can see all these units with his second-ring borders -- nothing I can do about that.

[Dark Savant]

Turn 116 (25 AD) - Part 2

I screwed up the known tech bonus calculation four turns ago; here's what it actually was at the time:

• Aesthetics: 0
  
• Code of Laws: 1 (wetbandit)
  
• Compass: 0
  
• Horseback Riding: 1 (JR4)
  
• Mathematics: 7 (everyone else)
  
• Metal Casting: 3 (JR4, ?, ?)
  
• Monarchy: 1 (?)
  
• Theology: 0
  

That's not quite as bad as I thought it was, but it's still something I need to work on.

And here's the number of rivals with researching techs this turn:

• Aesthetics: 0
  
• Calendar: 3 (ipecac, JR4, wetbandit)
  
• Code of Laws: 2 (wetbandit, ?)
  
• Compass: 0
  
• Construction: 1
  
• Horseback Riding: 1 (JR4)
  
• Metal Casting: 3 (JR4, ?, ?)
  
• Monarchy: 2 (?, ?)
  
• Theology: 0
  

wetbandit must also have Polytheism, Monotheism, and Civil Service, as he revolted to Organized Religion and Bureaucracy.

[Dark Savant]

Turn 116 (25 AD) - Part 3

Mathematics is in, and I need to decide my next technology.

Construction would be the super safe play, but it doesn't get me that much economically.

No one has Aesthetics -- no one is rushing for those wonders.

I'll probably get Metal Casting next for forges.  I can change my mind in the next few turns, anyway.




I start up a couple more settlers, finally.

Furs are also now online.  I'll start working on the jungled corn on the border with wetbandit, at last.

Winterfell is finally getting a lighthouse!

All is still quiet on the western front.  As long as I have control of those two water tiles near , I have additional ability to detect any surprise attacking forces, until he has Engineering.

[Dark Savant]

Turn 117 (50 AD) - Part 1

Charriu built an additional archer in Pandidakterion.  It's not the archer I saw last turn, because this new one has City Garrison I and the moving one last turn had Guerrilla I.

I move my assault stack into place.



I hope that's enough.  I do have more forces moving into place, but I want to capture and reinforce before JR4 can think about doing so himself.

JR4 can also possibly attack next turn, but I moved before him this turn and I'm guessing he's heading for Charriu's capital anyway.

I, um, moved four workers there.  I only planned to move two, but I misclicked.    Not serious enough to ask for a reload.

In other Charriu news, I have a scouting work boat hiding in one of superdeath's cities because Charriu has a galley wandering around superdeath's territory.  What for, I'm not sure.

[Dark Savant]

Turn 117 (50 AD) - Part 2

I have my own Gems now, and yuris125 has gpt available, so I offer him this sale.



I'm not sure how to value Silver, since it's relatively abundant.  4-5 gpt seems about right; I might as well throw in extra food resources he also doesn't have, because why not.

Silk is available from both and wetbandit, but I don't need it at the moment and it seems unwise to rely upon them.

My Jewish missionary fails to spread Judaism.    Sigh, I'll slow-build another missionary then.




wetbandit has taken cultural control of Storm's End's fish.  It'll take 4 turns for Storm's End to expand borders, and a few more turns after that to regain control of it.

yuris125 has a random chariot visible on the mainland west of the southern island.  It's probably just scouting.  I can dry-whip a unit in those cities if I really need to; they have a lot of food and not enough tiles to work.

I need to think again about getting out the next Great Person for my first Golden Age.  I can do it in one of the cities that have some random scientist GPP already from the days when I was poor and all science came from scientists.

[Dark Savant]

 chose this turn (117) to declare war on yuris125.     The turn has rolled to 118, but Charriu hasn't yet played, and my current play window is about to close.

I'm not sure if I'm getting that gpt now, since yuris125 seems to hint that he knows he was in trouble.  Oh well.

I can't take advantage of this to invade since so much of my military is tied up on the eastern front, which I'm sure knows.  He did recently finally get around to building walls in his border city kwaDukuza.  

Walls are still not culture (except in the sense that you need them to build +1 culture castles ).  I wonder if Castle Black actually can reach 500 culture before kwaDukuza reaches 100.

I don't want to invade and raze yuris125's lightly defended cities near the coast, either, since I don't want to weaken him ... unless it looks inevitable he is going to collapse and I want to prevent his neighbors from getting easy spoils.

Well, I do get the benefit that it's very unlikely either of my islands is going to be invaded for a while, so I can get away with light defense there for longer.

[Dark Savant]

Lurker question:

How do other players tend to react towards pillaging improvements in land about to be, or recently, conquered?  I have my eye on a few extra scraps of gold from pillaging, starting with Academia's copper -- hurting JR4's future land isn't the real goal here.

I don't have a Peace Treaty with JR4 so this isn't exploitative; he can declare war on me to stop me from doing that.  I'm just wondering how upset people tend to be at that.

[Dark Savant]

Lurker question is now moot.

I logged in just to look (I don't have time to play the full turn).

Lot of things to report even without moving anything.

Turn 118 (75 AD) - Part 1

wetbandit offered Open Borders, and then Silks for 11 gold/turn, separately.  I turned both down for now to look around.

Then I saw this in his border city.



That's a mace ...  so he already has Machinery.    That's already almost enough to run over what I have currently on defense.

I offered Open Borders back as a gesture of friendship.  He's more likely to attack yuris125.  I don't need the Silks now, however, so I won't pay that much for them.  I'll think about how much to offer later.

built a catapult in his border city ...



... so he has Construction.

And Charriu actually abandoned his capital with most of his units.



I'm not sure if that's intended to defend, or if it's a counterattack attempt.

I'll have to think about what to do about this.

[Dark Savant]

Turn 118 (75 AD) - Part 2

I'm reasonably sure wetbandit is not going to attack me soon -- despite his shiny new military, his power score is still low, and he can't whip military at least until his Golden Age is done.  (Hey, wait ... if he were building the Mausoleum, he wouldn't have fired the Golden Age this early, would he?  That may still be on the table.)

I'll feel more sure about this if I renew our NAP, though.



What to do about Charriu's sudden large stack approaching: I feel it's most likely he's trying to make a last stand in Pandidakterion.  I can stop that by attacking and razing the city now.  That will also encourage to re-fortify his capital.

This may evoke a berserker rage, but if he were, he was going to do that anyway.  He doesn't seem to be like that, and he's playing in PB40 -- he'd know that his opponents may be able to see that here.

• sword promotes to City Raider I, attacks C1 Shock axe (~10%), dies inflicting 48 damage
  
• sword promotes to City Raider I, attacks C1 axe (~22%), dies inflicting 85 damage
  
• sword promotes to City Raider I, attacks CG1 archer (~25%), dies inflicting 18 damage
  
• axe promotes to City Raider I, attacks CG1 archer (~17%), wins taking 92 damage.  That gets me the Great General William the Conquerer , who is going to head to Casterly Rock; I'll probably settle him there.
  
• axe promotes to City Raider II, attacks 82% CG1 archer (~39%), dies inflicting 54 damage
  
• axe promotes to City Raider III, attacks 52% C1 shock axe (~95%), wins taking 38 damage
  
• axe with City Raider II attacks C2 spear (~77%), dies inflicting 66 damage
  
• spear promotes to Combat I, attacks 34% C2 spear (~96%), wins taking 88 damage
  
• remaining 2 badly injured units cleaned up with an axe and a chariot
  

Not bad luck.  Charriu also got a Great General in defense.



I burn the city down.  I wonder what other rivals will think about that.

I offer a peace treaty to Charriu.



I expect he'll reject to take a look around, kill my exposed chariot, and re-offer, which I'd probably accept.

Here's the turn log:

[Dark Savant]

Turn 118 (75 AD) - Part 3

took a city off of yuris125 last turn (with 6 pop), and he captured another this turn (with 4 pop). 

If keeps moving this quickly, he can capture yuris125's nearby cities before I can get swords in place to raze the cities.

King's Landing 2-pop-whips a settler this turn.  This one is going to head east and claim land somewhere in Charriu's ex-territory.

William the Conqueror reaches Casterly Rock, but I have him wait, since I'm not 100% positive I want to settle him there.

I put some research into Construction; it's enough to get it on turn 120 if I change my mind on Metal Casting.




edit: Also planted Dragonstone this turn. I both forgot that specific city name, and the fact that I planted it. That's a potential wonder city. I'll consider Aesthetics again once I have another technology in.