[Spoiler] Suboptimal's Next Attempt at Lurker Frustration

[suboptimal]

I'm keeping an eye on what's going on over there because he could steamroller through Kaiser and come straight at me, particularly since I'm the larger threat in terms of yields (highest and with the latter 50% greater than the next largest). While Woden's got the bigger stacks, Civ 6 has generally been shown to favor defense in these situations and that's not just my personal military ineptitude talking. Kaiser is positioned to be able to take out a couple of units if Woden moves in and his extensive rail network lets him reinforce quickly.

As far as the situation concerns me, I need to do some catch up with my land military. At sea I think I have an advantage, or will after next turn - I'll have three submarines, a battleship armada and a battleship fleet (to be an armada in a few turns) in the northern ocean. I think that is larger than Woden's naval capacity and as has been seen in this game being coastal without a navy is a weakness. I don't expect a naval assault but will prepare for one anyway. I've got those ironclad pickets to my east for a reason.

On land my first catch-up will happen when I complete Ideology - the Lightning Warfare policy grants +50% to all cavalry units. That means tanks for my high production cities and I'd like 2-3 tank armies rolling around. I've got field cannon and want more for the eventual upgrades to machine guns. Likewise, pike & shot for the eventual upgrades to AT Crew. I'll have an 8-slot government in about 8 turns, at which point I can slot the +50% cards for all cavalry (Lightning Warfare) and the +50% to industrial and earlier melee, ranged & anti-cav and just start cranking out units.

There are a few things in my favor as it relates to this situation:

- Like it or hate it, war weariness accumulates faster, lasts longer and impacts you worse the longer you are at war and the further into the game you are. IIRC one attack in the Modern Age has about the same war wearniess incrase as something like 8 attacks in the Classical. When was the last time Woden was at peace? Any combat in Egyptian territory is going to cause him lots of amenity problems and Kaiser likely won't peace him out. I don't think Woden can sustain a very long war in unfriendly territory.
- My civilization is currently receiving 5-6 trade routes from Woden; each gets him +2 and around 30 per turn, plus another 6 from my trade routes to him. That's a chunk of his economy right there. Yes, he could reroute to Brazil for but I'm the only one he can form a research alliance with.
- Woden only has one artillery army that I've seen. Without that taking cities will be difficult, even with tank armies. The tank armies are roughly at "parity" against Kaiser's cities, meaning they've got 400 damage in walls and 200 garrison damage to chew through at 30-40 per attack. Once that artillery army moves into Egyptian territory Kaiser will try to take that out first.

Is Woden my biggest competitor? I don't know. He's got a land military for sure. However, his yields compared to myself and Kaiser are too low. His biggest problem is having tech parity with myself and Kaiser, along with the counters for his current units coming online sooner rather than later. Kaiser is on-par as long as he doesn't lose too many cities - his yields necessitate that situation. However, I don't know that either has a path to victory unless nukes come online.

[suboptimal]

Right...so the patch is out and they've shifted the policy slot allocations on Merchant Republic and Monarchy. This affects me as I'll need to unload an economic policy (it's going to be Trade Confederation) and pick up a diplomatic slot. I might consider a flip into Monarchy at my next opportunity since that'd get my diplo slots back down to one. If the forced policy change allows for a government change then I'll do that immediately. I'd take a slight hit but I'm only in a Tier 2 government until I complete Class Struggle in 8 turns or so.

What is confusing about the patch notes is that arenas currently provide +2 amenities, +1 and +1 tourism. Did they eliminate the culture and tourism bonus? If it's +2 Amenities on top of the +2 they already give that's huge (along with Ferris Wheel which is also already +2 amenities).

There's also a comment by a Firaxian that "Craftsmanship", Colonial Offices and Colonial Taxes have had their "colors" (policy types) changed. I'm curious about this since I'm currently running "Craftsmen" until Ideology completes.

[suboptimal]

Turn 213

So...the patch is out and my government form has a different number of policy slots. I’ve lost a wildcard and gained a diplomatic slot . In addition the “Craftsmanship” policy, which doesn’t exist, is now military (instead of economic). If that applies to Craftsmen then I could have some decisions to make. If I’m lucky I get the best of both worlds and the policy shift unlocks a government change. Fire up the save and say “No Whammies!” as the game loads. I didn’t see any updates download so I’m...suspicious.

Open the save to a deal from Kaiser and a notification that Bologna has declared war on Ichabod and Woden. Check the city state:




I haz ten onvoyz. Guess who I just suzerained? I get a nice bump to (+23 yield), one cocoa luxury and +1 GPP in each type of building that I have. Noyce. That puts the city-state at peace with everyone. I also have three envoys in my pocket in case I need them. I’m sure some Amani’s will start showing up. Now for Kaiser’s deal:




I have incense. What I don’t have is coffee. I change the incense to coffee and send it back. Set tech to Electricity. I have no policy change or government slots open. However:




What in the hell is that? . As for governments:




The changes are there. Looks like I get to sit tight until the next policy change. That or the way this works is that if I don’t touch anything the slot counts don’t change. . I’ll find out in five turns.

Loefflaed has completed his Listening Post at Gordon Malloy. I start another one. Engineer completes the rail link to Marina, other one reaches Pearl. Sheldon embarks for Brazil. Pearl starts a Bread & Circuses project now that its medieval walls are complete – that should cause Wild to rebel in 20 turns. Of course, if Woden remains peaceful Marina will join in the fun once its research project is complete.

Foggy’s battleship is complete, start a research project. Compo’s sea dog is complete, resume the battleship. Bombard to Cleggy’s outskirts, new battleship to the coast at Auntie Wainwright. Battleships at Howard and Barry enter the cities for cover, sea dogs alert fortify in place (except for the one at Barry – it moves off to Howard) and will upgrade next turn. Pike & shot reaches neutral territory. The turn ends quietly.

Woden’s got a battleship armada now. I shift SEAWACS II to be out of sight of Woden’s ironclad but keep everything in my visual range. At a range of five tiles that’s pretty easy to do.

Gossip says that Kaiser liberated Bologna. That’s how he got the 6 envoys in there. He’s also completed Ideology and slotted Five Year Plan. Woden’s completed Advanced Flight. That unlocks bombers which could be an issue for people. He’s also the first into the Atomic Era on the tech tree.

I’ve been remiss...Truly gained a population and I haven’t locked the Aerodrome yet. I lock one in at a cost of 207 on the open plains tile west of the Aqueduct. It’s a 3 turn build and I’ll consider my options once the tank is complete and I see Woden’s intentions. I also set the university to complete at Cleggy and pull a specialist out of the IZ at Compo so the city is no longer starving.

Somehow I gained 23 tourism – last turn I was at 173, this turn I’m at 195. I don’t know if that’s triggered by Woden entering the Atomic and giving my wonders a boost or what. I know I picked up 2 tourism from the walls at Pearl completing. All of my cities are at +1 amenity (well, Foggy is +1) so I think the arenas picked up extra amenities (though the civilopedia still shows +2 amenities). The +4 amenities from Bologna’s cocoa will kick in next turn.

[suboptimal]

Turn 214

There are a pile of notifications and the alliance with Woden is still active for this turn. Notably, he’s reconquered Bologna so I won’t be putting more envoys into there, even if the city is reliberated (I can wait). Kaiser’s also taken the whales for coffee trade, so that’s good. The other notification of note is that the Sourfriere Hills Volcano is active. You might say that name sounds a bit...anglo. You’d be right:




Time to get that swordsman out of the way. Take a look around, don’t see anything else noteworthy. On to the turn.

Electricity is complete, resume Radio. Science rate, at least for right now, is only down to 229.6 as a result of Bologna. However, I’ve currently got three research projects running so that number is a bit inflated. Time for some upgrades. It’s 410 + 1 oil per sea dog and I’ve got plenty of oil and just under 2400. Four upgrades later and the Silent Service is ready for action. I’m yielding 9 (soon to be 12) oil per turn and will be consuming 6 for units after this set of upgrades.. I’ve got one more sea dog to upgrade but that will be home in two more turns. Move the engineers around, relocate a battleship and send Sheldon further east. Cleggy’s university is complete, resume the battleship.

SEAWACS II moves west to check the Phoenician fleets. He’s parked both of them right off the Egyptian coast and in range of the guns at the Encampment. A bit surprised that the artillery hasn’t moved up from Kelly Grayson but there might be other things to kill. Even moving the artillery to Ed Mercer would be enough to attack one of the ships. I back off again and the turn is more or less over.

Checked the loyalty situation at Wild. Pearl’s project has the city at -2.8, which isn’t that significant. It’d take 25 turns to rebel at the current rate. However, Marina will be able to come online with a project in three turns, at which point it’d only take 10 turns to flip the city. Of course, Marina’s project priority is for research projects right now. However, in five turns I’ll find out if Canada avoided a dark age or not.

I have one other decision to make. I could, in theory, poach Tesla from Kaiser, who is due to get him this turn. I’ve got 759 in the bank and recruitment costs 1190. However, I could retire Ching Shih for 500 and then I’d have enough to get him. I’d prefer to retire Magellan but that leaves me 130 short. What helps this situation is that I’ll have Lisboa the turn after next to replace Ching Shih’s coverage of my battleships and submarines. What does Tesla get me, though? Well, +2 in a city’s regional buildings and the buildings’ range is increased by 3. I’d have two charges because of the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus. A charge at Truly would let the city’s IZ range reach Nora Batty, giving it +12 (10 from the Factory, 2 from Tesla). That would also give +2 to Cleggy, Foggy, Auntie Wainwright, Compo and Howard (since the last two would now be in range of Truly). A second charge at Compo would give +2roduction to Marina and put Smiler in range for a full +12. Is this worth burning an Admiral and 1100? Well, I think it’s better than Goddard (Rocketry eureka and +20% for space race projects), who I’d be getting in four turns anyway. I pull the trigger, Ching Shih heads to a sunny beach in the South Pacific and Tesla appears in Truly, right where I need him first. I’ve only got 69 for the time being but my income will get me back up in a jiffy.

I might also need to consider doing an oil plant conversion on Truly. That’d reduce the city’s own by 6 BUT extend +6 to all other cities in range (except Compo and Cleggy because of their power plants). That’s also the eureka for Advanced Ballistics. It’s a three turn build so I might get that done after the current tank build completes.

[suboptimal]

Turn 215

Alliance with Woden is over. There are no offers but I’m not sure if it expired on his turn or mine. I offer a DoF and I’ll see what happens.

I’ve got a great person waiting for me, not sure who it is. Go to that screen, see that Kaiser got Pushkin. I was expecting the costs to go up and they didn’t, so von Goethe is mine. He appears in Truly, right next to Tesla. There’s nowhere to put works of writing that will affect my loyalty “battle” so I send von Geothe to the Bolshoi Theater and he creates Faust, which pushes my base tourism to 199. I’ll spend the other charge at the Great Library. Poe is up next at the same cost; Ichabod will have him in five turns and I’ll grab the next one 14 turns from now. Tesla moves to the Industrial Zone and activates. Nora Batty jumps to 42 from last turn’s 27. The boost from Tesla is good for 4 in all other cities in range except for Cleggy and Compo, who gain 2.

In the southern ocean I move the submarine out into open water. Canada knows where it is, at least until the alliance expires over the next turn. The battleship at Nora Batty alert-fortifies in place. Up north I shift the submarines so that there is one at Barry and one at Howard. The remaining one at Cleggy moves northwest to keep an eye on things. Pike & shot embarks north of Ed Mercer – I’ll run around Woden’s navy to the north side of it. In checking out combat values I see that I could currently sink Woden’s wounded battleship fleet with two subs. He’s currently getting a +3 for diplomatic vision and at some point I might need to send a spy over. If he doesn’t renew the DoF or alliance I’ll send Loefflaed over there for some Listening Post missions.

On the gossip column it looks like Woden has created a second national park, this one’s at Moria.




He’s also been engaged in a bit of economic pillaging in Egypt. However, he’s also lost some units as his milpower dropped to 1569 from 1765 last turn. The loss of the research alliance has also cost him 19 (though it’s cost me about 26). As can be seen above, though, Kaiser is down to 463 milpower. This doesn’t bode well for him and I’d expect to see some cities start falling. Without artillery they’d be tough nuts to crack, though.

Canada has also got a bunch of units in position around Bruins:




I’ll need to check last turn’s save but I don’t remember those being there. The good news is they can’t surprise declare on me – I’d have five turns’ warning. I’ll also better know their intentions if they don’t want to renew their own alliance, which should be expiring this turn or next. In addition to these units they have two frigates in the seas south and east of Pearl – one down by Penguins and the other is a few tiles off the coast of Red Wings.

Kaiser picked up Goddard last turn. Next engineer up is Roebling...at a cost of 2455 great engineer points. Yeah, that’s gonna take people a while to get there.

[suboptimal]

Turn 216

First question is “did Woden accept the DoF?” The answer is yes as he’s got a smiley face. He’s also come back with a proposal of his own, likely to renew the research alliance. Given that it helps me more than it helps him (because he’s sending most of his routes through Cleggy where Pingala’s bonus gives me an increase) I’m inclined to accept. Before opening the diplo screen I take a look around and it appears he’s turned south from Bologna and is threatening Claire Finn. His fleet is also continuing to attack the Encampment at Ed Mercer. I open the proposal, confirm his intentions, and accept the alliance. That boosts my by 22. I immediately turn around and offer Kaiser a DoF of his own. If he accepts I’ll propose an economic alliance to boost my trade route income.

A couple of builds have completed this turn. Howard’s finished a field cannon and I start another one. The just-built one heads to Barry via the coast and will combine with the corps there to form an army. Truly’s tank is complete. The city starts a coal-to-oil conversion and the tank heads for Barry, also to form an army. Barry’s completed its amphitheater and resumes its own research project, 1 turn to complete. Next turn I’ve got three research projects (including Barry’s), two battleships and a ferris wheel completing.

Down in the southwest I repair the oil well and put down a rail link between Smiler and Pearl (two to go). Smiler’s builder is complete; the first order of business is a junglemill for Smiler, then a mine for Pearl. I’ll then (finally) plantation the bananas at Marina. Up at Foggy, von Goethe drops The Sorrows of Young Werther into the Great Library. Base tourism is now 203. Sheldon pulls within sight of land at Brazil’s west coast. However, I don’t bother moving a tile at a time and land right on top of a trader. I’ll have to see if Ichabod attempts to block me at all. If he does I’ve got two targets futher along the coast at Canada (though one will flood before I get there). I misclick Tesla and he goes around Truly to the Encampment, lands on the elephants and doesn’t have enough movement to get to the city. He’ll go to Compo next turn.

With peace with Woden secured for the time being I start moving the subs towards the ice cap. I want to keep an eye on things up there in case Woden is moving ships around and keeping them out of sight. Ya know, trust but verify. I keep the battleships in their cities for the time being. Pike & shot gets out of the area of the Phoenician fleet and will head for Howard via sea, then Marina by land. The remaining sea dog reaches the shores of Nora Batty and will tie up next turn. I won’t upgrade immediately as I prefer to get more in my coffers first.

Another 30 turns’ peace with Woden is good and bad. There’s a chance that he runs over Kaiser; however, the fact that he’s shifted away from Kaiser’s core is telling – he might not be able to take it, or at least think so. That’s what matters as it means that Kaiser stays alive for a while. This doesn’t mean that I’ll stop building units, however. I want to get two full tank armies at Barry and a full battleship Armada in the southern ocean (along with a third submarine) plus some more field cannon for eventual machine gun upgrades. However, peace does provide some room for infrastructure builds.

Foggy is completing its research project next turn. I’m going to build a settler and archaeologist before I complete the field cannon. The settler is going to go to the peninsula east of Nora Batty. I’m going to settle next to the (active) volcano and start putting down seaside resorts with the free builder. There’s a marsh that will also get cleared in order to grow the city. The other reason for clearing the marsh is that it will be on the coast effective the next sea level rise. The city will also be able to put an RND on the new coast.

Over at Marina, it, too, completes a research project next turn. I’m going to build its library and then start a Bread & Circuses project and actually try to flip Wild. The start of that project will coincide with the change in age (or happen the turn after). Once Wild flips I’ll use the time to consolidate it, get the IZ built up and get some more units in there.

Truly and Cleggy will continue their military builds – tanks after Ideology completes, more tanks for a little while and then Truly is building an air force. Compo will need to focus on building out a new Theater Square and filling its (archaeological) museum but it should have some time for military builds (a couple of field cannon).

Of course, all of this also depends on when Leakey shows up. All high production cities with Campus districts (Foggy, Truly, Cleggy and I’ll include Marina in that) will switch to research projects until I can secure her (or fail trying).

[suboptimal]

Turn 217

Open the save to a little blue happy face on Cleopatra’s portrait. That’s the two largest belligerents pacified for a little while. The flags from Canada are gone so I reoffer a DoF there. Take a look around, Woden’s added a battleship and now has a second armada. That’s OK, I’ve just completed a battleship at Cleggy so I’ll have two as well. I’ve got a great person waiting for me, Lisboa appears in Cleggy.

Up on the north coast the field cannon reaches Barry and is absorbed into the corps already there. That’s my third army/armada and the Combined Arms eureka is in. The tank moves up the coast and I’ll absorb that into the coastal corps next turn. Battleship at Cleggy sails to Howard and I’ve got my second battleship armada. Lisboa transfers to Barry. Subs move north and I’ve got the ice cap scouted.

Time to fill some production queues. Marina starts the library, two turns to complete. Auntie Wainwright starts the aquarium, 9 turns to complete. Cleggy is the question mark. I was going to build a sewer for some housing (2 turns to complete) but instead I’m going to shove out a builder. That’ll give me two builders for the new city getting settled. It also dovetails a bit better with the completion of Ideology next turn. Barry starts its museum, 12 turns to go. Smiler’s research project completes next turn, Nora Batty’s the turn after that.

Engineers continue their rail linking, Pearl will be connected next turn. Builder trudges towards the junglemill location. Tesla makes it to Compo. New battleship in the south alert-fortifies at Compo, which is now working on finishing its field cannon. I move the sea dog over to Compo as well and will send it along to Pearl next turn. Over at the Brazilian coast I have a welcoming party:




I land and move onto the oil...in Brazilian territory. Unless he brings a second unit to block I should have my pick of one of these artifacts down here. If not I’ll head off to Canadian territory (or finish Cultural Heritage).

The tourism from the ferris wheel has pushed me over the 200 mark for raw tourism (205 as seen above). With the various bonuses I’m now averaging 1 foreign tourist per turn. My modified per turn rates are 199, 298, 248 and 251 vs. Ichabod, Woden, Kaiser and Canada, respectively. Divide 1000 by those numbers that that’s the generation rate against that civ. I’m at 23 tourists right now and Woden and Kaiser are both generating 2-3 domestic tourists per turn. My rates will go up quite a bit once I finish Cultural Heritage. Great Arists unlock in two turns when the WC resolution expires, but given the tourism and availability of works of art vs. artifacts I’m only going to use those as scouts (or to fill in someplace like the Hermitage if I build that at Cleggy). Musicians are likewise a bit of a “waste” – broadcast centers can only hold one work of music, not two, and musicians can create two. Mind you, if push comes to shove I could always build the Sydney Opera House at Cleggy. I also think there’s a rock band in my future…

There’s also a WC resolution that I need to be concerned with – Heritage Organization. It could double or negate tourism from a type of great work if passed. OTOH from everything I’ve seen “artifacts” are not “great works”. After all, the palace can hold any type of “great work” but it cannot hold an artifact.

When Ideology completes next turn I’m going to flip over to Monarchy so that I can properly maintain my slot count (2 military, 3 economic, 1 diplomatic). Since Craftsmen and Natural Philosophy will obsolete I’ll put in Five Year Plan and Logistics. Three turns later I’ll be in Communism and set up with Levee en Masse, Lightning Warfare, Logistics, Machiavellianism, Five Year Plan, Aesthetics, Trade Confederation and Triangular Trade (which will be replaced by Heritage Tourism the following turn). Civics-wise the planned path is Class Struggle → Cultural Heritage → Professional Sports → Cold War.

[suboptimal]

Turn 218

Open the save to a DoF with Canada and I’ve been denounced by Ichabod. Because I’ve just completed Ideology and he’s in a different government I’ve gained a Casus Belli on him – a Liberation War. I don’t know what, exactly, I’m supposed to be liberating. I think it might be Misty Mountains but he took that AND IT WAS CEDED! Whatever.

Craftsmen and Natural Philosophy have obsoleted. Open the policy screen and I still have the pre-update slot layout. Guess the game only checks that if you change governments. Five year plan goes in. I was going to put in Logistics but decide to put in Triangular Trade for some extra and .

I look to see what Ichabod is on about and of course it’s Sheldon sitting on his oil:




I move east and excavate an ancient Brazilian stone tablet. That’s good as it replaces the ancient Brazilian scroll currently stuck in Compo. I’ll be able to theme a museum after I get one more artifact. That’s actually the second ancient Brazilian stone tablet I’ve unearthed – the first is is Marina. Sheldon is likely off to Canada next.

Back home Smiler’s project is complete and...it starts another. Builder moves to the jungle for a lumbermill next turn. At Pearl the last rail link is completed by one engineer. The other uses the link to go to Smiler. I’m going to head to Marina and then put in a direct link to Howard and then to the coast at the former Alara Kitan to put down an airfield. Why? Because building an airfield on a foreign continent is the inspiration for Rapid Deployment, that’s a foreign continent and there are two tiles that are due to flood out from global warming so they’ll be of little use to Woden (I could also build & remove the airfield). To the north the tank army forms up west of Barry, despite the cliffs being in the way (in theory). Tesla activates at Compo - +4 to Marina, +14 to Smiler. Sea dog in the city sits tight. Up north the pike & shot comes ashore near Barry.

Looking at the age situation it looks like both Woden and Ichabod are in store for Heroic Ages. That’ll be interesting. Kaiser, I think, has a golden age, along with myself. Canada has only earned 17 era score. That might be enough for a normal age as they’ve recently electrified Kings. Over at the Egyptian/Phoenician front, Woden’s got Claire Finn under siege and is likely poised to take the city on his upcoming turn. Based on its position Woden will either raze it or just let it flip free and then take/destory the city – the only city that’s applying favorable pressure is Bologna and that city’s not doing too well (rebellion in four turns). I buy the apostle at Pearl now so that I can use it next turn to get working on era score for the next age. The cost will be replenished by the time Cold War completes for my first rock band.

Next turn Nora Batty will complete its research project. After that I’m going to get out a builder (so that I’ve got 9 builder actions at the new city) and then build out the Theater Square here. Truly’s oil conversion is done next turn, I’ll build the university and then get the Aerodrome started (Cleggy will handle tanks, I think). Cleggy’s going to build a spy, Foggy’s settler is done next turn and I’ll sail it down to its location. I’ll see what Canada’s age situation and then decide between Bread & Circuses or the university at Marina.

We’ve got a bit of a turn alignment coming up next turn – the age rolls and we get to visit the WC for more hilarity.

[suboptimal]

Turn 219







Theindustrialageisdeadlonglivehteindustrialage!




Radio is done (Computers is started), the Modern Age has started, a volcano exploded, I had two spy missions complete (Listening Post and Counterspy), I’ve gotten the Advanced Ballistics eureka, I’ve got resources and two cities complained about housing. The volcano is on the Brazil/Egypt border so no big deal there, though it does look to have pillaged a Brazilian university and wiped out most of the defensive value of the neighboring Encampment.

I have two sources of aluminumaluminium in my territory...one underneath the jungle SW of Truly and the other NW of Cleggy’s IZ...good thing the builder there just completed as it has some work to do. There are 13 total aluminium on the map. I have no others near or in my territory.

Dedication time…




Just about as expected. I renew Reform the Coinage. I also learn that the dedication is worth about 130 as my income without it (as seen above) is only 94 per turn. I need 233 era score for a normal age, have 194. That’s going to take some work. I get started with the apostle at Pearl. I evangelize my religion, take Synagogues and earn 3 era score for completing my religion….36 era score to go.

Move the engineers, mine the aluminium at Cleggy and get the boost for Nanotechnology. The tile is assigned to Truly so Truly gets the bonus (and is working the tile). In order to get the other aluminium hooked up I’ll need to remove the lumbermill and then put down the mine. At least I don’t need to chop the jungle to get the mine down. Other builder puts in a junglemill at Smiler. Pike & shot and settler go on their merry way (5 turns to settle). I move Agent Merciful Death to Cleggy – with the Theater Square at Truly now complete she offers better protection when stationed in Cleggy’s IZ. Loefflaed starts another Listening Post. Over near Brazil Sheldon heads for the coast. Next stop – Canada!

Speaking of Canada it’s time. Marina’s library is complete and I start a Bread & Circuses project there. Truly’s oil plant conversion is complete and I start the university there.

I have a free policy change for turning the age over. It’s tempting to put in Public Works to get extra build charges but I prefer the (and ) from Triangular Trade right now. I leave things as they are.

Woden’s taken Claire Finn and Ichabod took Steve Newton. Steve Newton is OK from a loyalty perspective, Claire Finn will flip to free city in 6 turns. The gossip lists Steve Newton as “the original capital of Egypt”. That’s not the case – that’s Ed Mercer. That means that Steve Newton was a city-state. Wonder which one it was? Egypt has completed the Totalitarianism civic, adopted Fascism and slotted Lightning Warfare. Canada settled Oilers in the tundra a bit west of Stars – they also pulled in 10 era score last turn!

I think I had earlier pooh-poohed the idea of the Broadcast Center. However, there’s one thing that makes them worthwhile for me to build – I get an extra 4 yield for any building that requires power. Therefore a single Broadcast Center is worth 10 per turn. That’s a to conversion of 44:1/turn, which is quite reasonable. It’d be a power load of 3 but I’ve got the coal for it.

Next up – World Congress.

[suboptimal]

Turn 219 World Congress

I’ve run out of Speakers for the time being so we’re proceeding in the Committee of the Whole Game. Duck out of the WC to take a look around and check gossip. Upon exiting I see that CMF/Canada has proposed a deal. That’ll be interesting to check out. I’ve remembered that Canada has an additional problem – they were the “winners” of the Migration Treaty WC vote the last time around and they are losing the +5 loyalty bonus to all of their cities. That’ll make things interesting once I see the loyalty manifest. Kaiser’s lost some more military – he was at 552 milpower when I played my turn and now sits at 343.

I check the gossip and I see that Kaiser’s also launched an inquisition (that explains the apostle I saw in Isaac). That’s likely an era score play. Woden also found the Matterhorn. His fleet’s moved out of view but I have to wonder if the privateer fleet is down in that area.

Back to the WC.




:gripe:

I’m not surprised at Heritage Organization being here. Unfortunately artifacts are on the list of great works so it looks like I’m going to get negated for 30 turns. I put all available votes (4) into defeating that resolution. I won’t generate much tourism for 30 turns, I’ll still make the play for Leakey and continue getting museums filled up.

Mercenary Companies is the interesting one. I really don’t know how people are going to vote. I’d expect Woden and perhaps Ichabod to vote for +100% production cost to units. I’d prefer to have -50% production cost to units to build my military up, so I think I’m going to put my vote there. The last time thins came around (Turn 159) Kaiser and Ichabod voted against and everyone else voted for with Kaiser putting the most bought votes into it (at 5).

Woden has no votes beyond his freebies and Ichabod has only three purchased votes available. What happens here is going to come down to Kaiser and Canada. Kaiser, in particular, controls this vote. On one hand he could use to get units out that much faster and the -50% production cost combined with Lightning Warfare (which he just slotted) and Fascism (+50% production to units) means he could really churn them out. However, so could Woden. I’m going to vote for the cost reduction since that’ll help me get the tank armies out for defense.

After casting my votes and then sat puzzled for a second wondering why I couldn’t hit “Next”. I’m not done yet.




Here we go. Right now Kaiser has 7 diplomatic victory points, I’ve got 1 and everyone else has two. I’m going to vote myself two points because why not? As for the World’s Fair I also vote for it. I’ll be cranking out a few projects once Leakey shows up and my Theater Square point generation makes up for the lack of Merchant and General points.

Votes cast I send the turn on its merry way and grumble about the loss of tourism for 30 turns.