Brick by Brick (Spoiler Alert!)

[TheHumanHydra]

Sorry stick, I realized that was a really weird response to your vote of support. I just wanted to say I appreciate it.

[NobleHelium]

Nonrational is probably more accurate.

[TheHumanHydra]

I may actually delay my attack one turn to t175 to amass five more infantry and three more cannon and upgrade four more riflemen to infantry. I'll show you my army in a turn or two when it's ready to move out.

It appears in addition to collecting miscellaneous techs, Old Harry is doing a Communism run (he just finished Scientific Method). This puts him on the fast track to Artillery as well, since Physics can be Scientist-bulbed, I believe. Definitely the right time to be attacking him, before he gets artillery.

Azza's about to finish Steam Power. Next stop: Railroad?

Still thinking on that music, stick ...

[TheHumanHydra]

Also, we crossed the 10,000 view mark by a wide margin last night. Thank you very much to everyone reading this thread for your commitment and for putting up with my jabbering for so long.

[BRickAstley]

Your thread is quite entertaining! It's earned those views.

[TheHumanHydra]

Oh, why thank you BRick!

I just had a chat with Old Harry about the probable delays I mentioned in the tech thread:

me:  ‪Hey.‬
I just wanted to ask you if you're okay with the delays that are likely to occur in pbem 46 as I fill in in all these games.

 Old:  ‪Yeah, I'm thinking I'm going to have to delay a bit on that one too...‬
Its annoying as we seem to be pretty close to the end, but it is the easiest one to delay

 me:  ‪Yeah, as long as we're mutually agreed, though, it should be fine.‬
I hope Azza's okay with it too; he seems to still be fairly invested.
I think Serdoa's fine with whatever.

 Old:  ‪I think Azza plays so many games that he wouldn't notice one of them not turning up for a little while...‬

 me:  ‪True, I guess he is in a lot.‬
Okay, well I guess everything's hunky dory with that then.

[Chat continued about other topics ...]

So, with sincere apologies to the readers, it looks like this game's going to slow down quite a bit while we're both filling in for other players. What a time for that, too, eh?

In other news, verrry interesting that Old Harry too thinks it looks like we're closing in on the end, especially since he seems to be gearing up for the long-term with an (apparent) Communism play. Maybe it's a reference to our earlier chat, where we agreed we didn't really want to get into Modern-era war turns - so this must of necessity be the decisive moment. Or something. Let's just say I'm really curious to read his thread after the game ...

Edit: I also PMed Azza about this, just to make sure we're all okay with it; Serdoa has said before he doesn't mind. Sorry again to any excited lurkers!

[TheHumanHydra]

Folks, I just deleted the most recent edit to the pbem46 description in the pbemlist because I felt it to be a severe (implied) spoiler. Just a friendly reminder to be careful with the implications of updates to games currently in progress.

(In case this post is very confusing, the update said "There will be blood. Eventually. The game has been paused for a month." I felt this tied the onset of war to the resumption of the game too closely. YMMV but let's play it safe, okay? )

I hope to effect that resumption tomorrow, unless abducted by my family for Labour Day. I apologize for the frustration the pause may have caused for any readers. I hope in turn you will understand the sense of dread and emotional paralysis I feel at the prospect of returning to this game. I feel no exultation at finally having achieved the long-sought-after technological advantage, but rather the supreme power of the defensive first-strike and the looming spectre of a revitalized Azza haunt me. I can't help but feel that one or both disasters must overtake me - the destruction of my army at a stroke by collateral, and the sudden flank-attack by a king-making Azza. Expect more dark Tolkien quotes, and if I begin to despair, someone remind me of the Somme, Passchendaele, and Michael and the victory that followed.

"Through the mud, and the blood, to the green fields beyond."

[NobleHelium]

Uh, okay. The "There will be blood. Eventually." has been there for at least six months.

[TheHumanHydra]

Turn 172: to celebrate the resumption of the game and my return to normal internet, I have pictures for you!

As I believe I covered the world situation and my plans fairly well before the break, this will mostly be an image-dump. I do want to refresh everyone's memory (including my own) on a few points first, though. Most importantly, the technological situation:




(Those techs are really just placeholders; I'm not sure where I want to go next. Scientific Method because Old Harry can undoubtedly see my research and it looks peaceful, plus I'll want it sooner or later.)

I possess everything previous save Compass, Optics, Theology, and Divine Right.




Old Harry is up Theology (not Divine Right), Compass (not Optics), Scientific Method, Military Science, and now Communism on me (a Great Spy was born in his lands on his last turn). He can build all Napoleonic-era land units. Azza just finished Steam Power but still lacks techs like Military Tradition and Military Science; he can build riflemen, cannon, and knights. Serdoa's most advanced tech is Chemistry and he can build musketmen, catapults, and horse archers (and cannot draft). Everyone but Serdoa can launch ironclads but no transport ships better than galleys (thank goodness). I possess Assembly Line and its requisite techs and can therefore train infantry.

Old Harry and I both have 17 cities (and he has a settler trained), Azza has 12, and Serdoa has five. Azza is currently at war with Serdoa and appears to be engaged in active combat. My peace treaties with Azza and Serdoa expired at the end of my turn; hopefully they won't redeclare to spite me. My new western cities are highly vulnerable, with Azza's culture running right up to their gates, but just-accepted Open Borders and a Sentry cavalry suggest he doesn't intend to attack at this time. Hopefully Azza will remain engaged with Serdoa through my war with Old Harry, and I won't have to worry about a flank-attack.




I am running Hereditary Rule/Nationhood/Slavery/Mercantilism/Free Religion. Old Harry surprised me by running such peaceful civics five turns ago; he can (and obviously will) switch to State Property on his coming turn (nicely timed), but his other civic choices will give a strong indication of whether he expects fighting in the coming turns. For this reason (though I must admit, unintentional) my decision to delay my attack one turn, so he doesn't see my massive gold dump on unit upgrades before he switches civics, was probably very good. More on this later.

Before moving to domestic matters, let's just review the graphs from the last 50 turns quickly:













Okay, now let's run through my cities. I don't do this often, but now I think it's warranted. Draft counters highlighted just beacuase. My apologies for all the gross inefficiencies you see represented here. Remember, this place is pretty much an armed camp now (I actually regret a lot of the economic development I did during my Golden Age - I was going to declare war; I should have just focussed on that).




Capital. Just drafted to get another unit to the front t175.




Moai city; doesn't get drafted much. Infantry will actually finish in three turns. Note settled Great General (should probably have gone to Aquanauts).




Heroic Epic city; doesn't get drafted much.




Globe city; horribly abused. Just drafted and double-whipped. Will draft again next turn for another unit at the front t175.




National Epic city. Just drafted to get another unit to the front t175. At end-of-turn, a low-odds Great Artist (Duke Ellington) was born here. This may open up some interesting tactical possibilities I'll have to ponder. Saving him for a four-man Golden Age seems improbable.













Building wealth to help get the exactly 301 gold I needed for unit upgrades next turn.










See above. I had crappy cities and cities that had just finished builds do this.




This city came of age pretty fast. I've already drafted it.




Need the culture so I can draft and drive Azza's culture back (and stave off revolt ...).




Needs forge -> lighthouse yet. Wish I could build courthouses in these newer cities, but there are higher priorities.




See above. Dang Azzan settlement put development on hold.




See above. Wish I had arranged it better so I could have drafted here this turn. As it stands a draft here next turn will be too late to make it to the front for t175.

And the sum total, more for my memory than anything else, as always:




Demographics with this set-up:




As you can see I needed to produce exactly 301 gold this turn (at 0% science) to be able to upgrade 25 riflemen to infantry next turn, which I accomplished with a few cheap wealth builds. Here is the ever-obscure finance advisor, just so you can see where my money's going. Yeah, it ain't gonna be pretty when Old Harry adopts State Property:




My army before the Great Rearmament (after drafting):




Let's take a closer look, shall we?




All those riflemen I plan to upgrade to infantry next turn, spending their turn in place.




Those infantry I have drafted, my last five non-garrison, non-upgraded riflemen, my surviving macemen (why not?) and all my siege train I plan to move up to the same tile next turn, so that all my one-movers will be able to move out t174 (still under cover) and enter Old Harry's lands t175. I could have moved them up and upgraded the riflemen this turn and moved out a turn earlier, but that would have deprived me of four rifleman upgrades, five freshly-trained infantry, and three cannon. You be the judge whether it was worth it or not.




These cavalry have been guarding the frontier with Azza since he settled that new culture-bombing city (not literally, it just took back his old tiles of course). They can wait till t174 to move east in order to join the main stack in Old Harry's borders t175. Even the Sentry cavalry I used to spy out Azza this turn will be able to join them.

And that brings me to the end of my screenshots. Okay, I talked a bit more than I intended; you don't mind, do you? Anyway, we now stand at the cusp of (what I hope is) the final phase of the game, and for whom it will end in victory remains to be seen. Another Dark Age approaches. In these uncertain times, let us have a little patriotism, mixed with melancholy, for soon, we march to our deaths:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOeYPpOblAw

Here's forty shillings on the drum
To those who volunteer to come,
To 'list and fight the foe today
Over the Hills and far away.

O'er the hills and o'er the main
Through Flanders, Portugal and Spain.
King George commands and we obey
Over the hills and far away.

[TheHumanHydra]

I'm just putting a post here for your browser's sake so the next one (with more pictures) will be on the next page so it won't destroy your interwebz ...