[Spoiler] Suboptimal's Next Attempt at Lurker Frustration

[roland of gilead]

at least I can move over to following your game now Sub.

Can't comment to much of course.

[Kaiser]

Good game, I hoped you would see the benefit in giving me glenda for as long as possible to keep Woden and Ichabod of gaining the full potential of my cities. I would have added the 2nd GWoM as well but could only offer one as I had only one place to show it (the palace, like you)

Enjoy the game

[suboptimal]

Thanks! I don't know if you've gone back through the turn reports but Glenda only would have bought you 3-4 turns. You probably would have been crushed by loyalty. Now the main question is where Woden and Ichabod turn their attentions when the alliance between them ends. On one hand they could opt to make it a 2v1 against me but I don't see Ichabod being able to contribute much to an invasion unless Woden manages to kill my entire navy (not likely as we are currently about even, IMHO). They are likely each other's largest threats right now and defending a long border could be interesting for both of them.

My plan is to make myself as spiky as possible and then try to hold on for continued longshot cultural victory.

[suboptimal]

Turn 230

Egypt has been conquered and except for the skirmish between myself and Ichabod the world is at peace...at least for 16 turns or so. I need to keep an eye on Woden’s movements to see what his intentions are. Railroads and the inability to use spies in allied territory will make it more difficult to track, though with open borders perhaps not. I may have to bring Sinan down and park him somewhere between Isaac and Gordon Malloy to watch troop positioning. Canada is the bottom feeder play – that would pretty much end my attempt at cultural victory and, if it’s Woden, end the game. Politically this will be an interesting 15 turns.

Open the save to a round of notificaitons. Ichabod has declared war on Venice. I’m surprised it took this long. I get another QC offer for a resolution against Ichabod as well. This time, though, it indicates that someone has called a special session. Dunno if that means next turn is a vote or not. We shall see. Pass, as usual.

Take a look around, Woden’s upgraded his ironclad to a destroyer. That’s nice. His subs in the Tethys appear to have stayed to the north, I’ll go looking for them in a bit. Isaac is currently losing loyalty at -3.2 per turn. Woden will likely get a governor in here to fix that. His yields are currently 258 and 219 per turn. Woden’s milpower is also up to 2177 and I expect that to increase over time. I also spot something a bit out of place…




Guess Ichabod is as concerned about Woden as I am.

Smiler’s queue is empty with the city having completed its run of pike & shot. I form up the army just east of the city and ponder my options. I start a broadcast center. Builders down here reposition for the next round of ski resorts and the one at Marina has enough movement to get to the mountain and put in the resort. Raw tourism is up to 215 per turn. Another rail link goes in and the engineer on foreign territory starts the trip home. Sinan comes southeast – I’ll land him near Barry and then send him into Phoenician territory for a look.

Back up north I move Barry’s pike & shot out of the city and the incoming tank in. With the one at Truly that’s four tank armies complete. I send the subs up here for a quick jaunt north to check for Phoenician units but don’t find any subs. They’ll keep looking. Tank army at Truly heads west to Marina. I’m now consuming 8/12 oil per turn and the artillery pieces are just coming online. I’ll be able to deficit spend oil for a while but at some point I’ll likely need to start combining submarines into fleets. Builder at Glenda heads for the deer.

Off the Brazilian coast Ichabod has put in an aluminium mine. I move the sub up and now possess (temporarily) a three charge builder. After all these patches they still haven’t figured out how this should work graphically:




The builder is still positioned onshore, I think. If the builder is still mine next turn I’ll move it off the coast and take out the mine; otherwise I’ll use the sub to pillage the Neighborhood.

Woden and Ichabod have closed their turn gap to one turn in the scientist race – Ichabod is due in 18, Woden in 19 and myself in 21. Woden can equal, but not beat, Ichabod in this race or my chances for Leakey go way down.

[suboptimal]

Turn 231

Venice has been defeated. There are not one, but two, proposals I could bring to the WC. The usual one for Talla Keyali and a new one for Venice. I pass on both. Economics is complete, Replaceable Parts should finish in three turns. I’ve shuffled the tech order. It’s now Replaceable Parts → Advanced Ballistics → Chemistry → Combined Arms → Plastics.

Ichabod did not recapture the builder. It embarks and will head for its new homeland. The sub pillages the aluminium mine for 351.

Take a look around and I think I’m being scouted:




Heh...good to know. The tank army in my territory is also a bit of an issue – I bring up one of the interior ones to shadow it but stay just out of sight. That one came through the mountain pass. The sword at Nora Batty also makes a foray – I’ll go into the jungle NE of the Greenlee Lough to keep an eye on that area for incursions. Since the trader has departed Fez I move the southern ironclad to the east to check on the city – it’s still got a fleet but I expect there to be an armada in a couple of turns.

I do see that someone built a rail link between Barry and Wild. Something to pillage when the time comes. Speaking of rail links another one between Marina and Howard is done. New engineer at Truly heads for Nora Batty. New builder at Marina reaches the mountain at Foggy and will put in a ski resort next turn. Ski resort goes in at Pearl.

I post a submarine just outside of Cleggy. That city is spending the next seven turns building artillery, two more to build a drone and then six more for another battleship group. Why battleships? They’re the backwards civ’s AA guns. Battleship armadas have a CS of 97 against aircraft. Truly is now working on its aerodrome and will then get out four fighters for the front line cities. I also rearrange the citizens to reduce and boost to 90 per turn (from 86). That’ll get me fighters in three turns. I do need to get out more tank armies (oil permitting) to protect my back lines. Auntie Wainwright has a field cannon army. Compo’s got a new submarine out and has started its own artillery building campaign. The sub will patrol the east coast and heads off. Foggy completes the National History Museum next turn and will then build its broadcast center. After that I’ll start it on the AA Guns. Auntie Wainwright starts its own battleship group.

I don’t yet know if I’ll upgrade any of the musket armies to infantry armies – that’ll depend on my oil and . On the other hand, the field cannons are all getting upgraded.

The main problem right now is that Woden’s now taken a large lead. I’d be able to match it once Research Labs come online but he’s going to start moving away from the field. Right now my best hope here is that he decides Ichabod is the easier target (smaller military) and that by conquering him I’d concede (which I would, since cultural victory would be out of the question). Likewise, if he decides to eat Canada it’s the same effective result. The next 15 turns is all about getting spiky enough where Ichabod looks like the more appetizing option.

I’m getting a governor promotion next turn. Victor is getting Embrasure. That should help with things a bit.

Another upcoming issue is that unless I can come up with 23 era score between now and turn 249 I’ll be in a dark age. I’ll be able to get six from shipwrecks but I don’t know how I get much more than that.

[suboptimal]

Turn 232

Ichabod’s spies are still active and he’s lost one – it was killed during a Steal Tech Boost mission at Cleggy. Surprisingly, Agent Merciful Death is on a counterspy mission here and didn’t detect the spy. That’s OK, though. It’s dead and he’s got to build a new one. Cleggy’s first artillery piece is out and I’ve realized that I’m better off building tanks. The artillery are only good for sea defense and I’ve got a navy for that. I unqueue all of the artillery and leave the two still being built in the queue. They’ll all converge on Cleggy and fortify there. Cleggy is building a drone and will then get out a battleship armada and a submarine.

The scouting for The Next Big War continues – Woden’s tank army has crossed the river, as have his aircraft and a great general:




What he won’t see yet is the AA guns getting queued up. He might see those on his return trip, however, as most cities will build at least one when they become available and the higher production cities will crank out more for area defense. Cleggy and Truly will eventually get in on the act as well. I also need a couple of tank armies for reinforcements and rear guard duty. I move the tank army at Howard onto the railroad so that Woden can’t easily use them for scouting.

The completion of the Natural History Museum has given me a policy change and a governor promotion. Victor gets Embrasure. If I get another promotion he may very well get the Air Defense Initiative promotion (+25 CS for AA units against aircraft and ICBMs in Victor’s city). Next available promotion would be at Globalization in 18 turns though I could boost it by building two airports. Airports are actually worth building – since they give +2 when powered that’d actually be +6roduction for a total of +10. 5-6 turns at Truly and 7-8 turns at Compo. Dunno if I’d get them done in time for the boost, though. I leave my policies the same for now, though will likely swap Cryptography for Machiavellianism when Cold War completes. I’ll also put in Defense of the Motherland for Trade Confederation to get +100% to support units for faster AA builds. That’ll likely mean diverting a couple of turns into Space Race (or perhaps one of the other Tier 3 governments) in order to get enough built. The good news is that AA guns have a maintenance cost of 2 so they are “free” as long as I keep Levee en Masse in place.

Foggy has started the broadcast center and has four turns to complete. It has also reached Ecstatic status and its production is now over 100. Compo also gained a population and could put down another district if I so desired. Think I’ll wait a bit on that though I’ve got room for a 3-turn Aerodrome. I might do that next turn to get aircraft out faster.

Engineer at sea sails for home. Woden’s destroyer is back with the main fleet and can see my sub. I move it to the destoryer’s northeast but 3 tiles away. Sinan reaches land and starts heading into Isaac’s territory. I also send in my cavalry unit for a look, heading between Isaac and Gordon Malloy. Each city has a tnak army and there’s an infantry army midway between them, along with a second tank army outside Isaac.

In home territory the engineer puts in another rail link, connecting Marina with Howard. I decide to pass south of the lake instead of west, just for a little more room between it and the river. Nora Batty gets a charge into its flood barrier. Builder at Foggy puts in a ski resort, next stop Pearl.

In the far east the ironclad moves up and sure enough the battleship fleet is now an armada. To the south the builder skedaddles. The submarine moves south, sings a little Mr. Rogers (“It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood, a beautiful day in the neighborhood”) and then pillages it for 351. I’ll go get the jade quarry for shits and giggles and then see what else is around. I assume I can’t pillage his traders given his heroic age but I suppose I’ll try at some point to be certain.

The gossip column has slowed down quite a bit. Woden just completed Advanced Ballistics.

[suboptimal]

Turn 233

How far has Woden advanced this turn?




One fighter is down around Pearl, the other went back to Isaac. I’ve got Pingala available to me and Ichabod has come calling with a deal:




Yeah, that’s fair. You get some aluminium and some , I get my great work back. I still come out ahead on this deal to the tune of 600 so I take it. It shows up in the capital and I’ll leave it there for now. Since I’m on the topic I move the sub off his coast back up toward Fez and the builder keeps on its beeline for Nora Batty. I’ll keep the ironclad on station outside Fez until the sub arrives.

At Nora Batty another charge goes into the flood barriers. Two more charges and the barriers will be 2 short of completion. Nice. The other engineer reaches Howard – time to decide if/where airstrips are going in. Over at Glenda I’m ready to harvest the deer or the forest, but into what? A builder would be about 40 short of completion, as would an RND. Oooh, I know...a tank. It’s at 210/240 and I move a citizen from a resort to the forest – that’ll be complete in ten turns. Sword in the area continues going around the lough. Engineeer near Foggy moves into the city and puts in a rail link. Builder in the area heads for Pearl. Pike & shot have completed at Marina and Barry. Howard has completed an artillery piece, it goes to Cleggy and there’s a corps outside. Cleggy’s drone is also complete and remains in the city. Compo will finish its artillery next turn and start on an Aerodrome. I’m going to build and complete two fighters and two bombers and then prebuild one more of each in Truly and Compo. Compo locks the district since costs go up next turn when Replaceable Parts completes.

Do some scouting in Phoenician territory. There’s a tank army in Charley Burke, an artillery army nearby and a drone over by the Ruhr Valley. I also find another tank army and a field cannon army by Bortus. That makes something like six tank armies so far. Good thing I’m building a few more. Sinan doesn’t find anything after going around the mountains at Isaac. I’ll send him towards Ed Mercer next turn. I do send the sub monitoring his fleet off near that city’s Encampment to see if there’s anything going on over there. Nope. His battleship fleet is headed north towards the passage. That might be a good sign.

Woden’s completed Cold War two turns ahead of me and has slotted International Waters (+100% production to all non-carrier naval units). That’s a bad sign as the only reason he’d need to crank out naval units is to come after me. Perhaps I’ll have to mirror that – I’ve still got enough coal left and that would let Cleggy one-turn a pile of them. Alternatively I’d combine my existing subs into armadas and build more of those at one every 1-2 turns depending on overflow. I’ll start making fleets next turn (I also need to upgrade the sea dog at some point).

One calculation Woden will need to make is whether or not Ichabod will re-ally or DoF him or not. If that occurs then I’m next on the dinner menu for certain. If Ichabod doesn’t then I don’t think I will, either. That will put Woden in the position of risking a two-front war against two well-armed opponents. I’m thinking that Woden is also scouting out Ichabod to see what’s up. My thinking (hoping) is that Woden thinks that Ichabod is the earier target and that by taking him out it’d force a concession (it would). I may get some insight into this when Loefflaed establishes at Belem next turn.

[suboptimal]

Turn 234

Open the save to Ichabod’s spy taking the other great work out of Smiler. Uh huh. That’s nice. He’s also proposed a deal and gifts it back. I take it and return a 1-for-1 deal to signal...positive vibes...for the upcoming end war. Loefflaed is established and starts a listening post mission.

The more I think about it, the more it’s likely Woden is coming after me. He wouldn’t need to rush-build a navy if that wasn’t the case. Cold War completes next turn and it’ll be sub and battleship time at Howard & Cleggy, I think. Rapid Deployment will complete 4-5 turns after that, at which point I’ll put Defense of the Motherland in for a bit. Replaceable Parts is done, four turns to complete Advanced Ballistics. Woden’s tank army has reached Foggy, the general has reached Compo’s IZ. Cavalry finds not much except builders. Sinan finds the infantry army has moved north of Isaac. Eventually I think I may park him in Canadian territory outside that mountain pass for a bit.

Aerodrome at Truly is done. In thinking about the situation and my plans for AA Guns I think I’m going to go straight into bombers first. They’re only 20 more than fighters but can really pack a punch (110 bombard strength). I can base two at the Aerodrome at Truly and the other two at the Aerodrome at Compo. I’ll also put in an airstrip south of Clegy for backup. Compo starts its own Aerodrome and the artillery piece heads for Cleggy. The artillery army will be emplaced there next turn.

Engineer at Foggy puts in the aforementioned airstrip. Northern ocean subs form a fleet, the remaining one will be there next turn to complete the first sub armada of mine up here. Engineer at Howard puts in an airstrip next to the Government Plaza. That’ll cover Howard, Marina and two tiles west/NW of Barry. I never switched off the flood barrier at Nora Batty so I put a charge into it now and the next one will finish it. I get the city back onto the museum build. Builder reaches Pearl. I form a pike & shot corps at Marina and am surprised by the blizzard/snowmaking animation of the ski resorts to the point where I don’t take a picture. When you’ve got five or six on screen it really is something to watch. I’ll need to keep an eye out for it and get a screenie of it.

In the southern ocean one sub rounds the bend, the other runs from a storm that formed just south of it and the builder closes on Glenda. I’ve decided to bring the sub home to form a fleet/armada. The sea dog heads east, stops one tile short of its maxumum move and upgrades.

.In the great scientist race Woden has moved ahead of Ichabod in the turn count. That is not good as it means that I won’t be able to maneuver for Leakey unless Woden puts another turn between himself and Ichabod so there’s a gap I could slide into.

I’ll be picking up Mark Twain next turn and Katsushika Hokusai a few turns after that.

[suboptimal]

Turn 235

Woden’s scouting continues – he’s largely defogging unknown-to-him terrain at this point. He’s gotten the tank army down to the area between Nora Batty, Auntie Wainwright and Truly. The general (Jose de San Martin) is just outside Auntie Wainwright. I also realized that I forgot to assign Pingala last turn so do that before handling any turn notifications. Pingala assigned I see that Ichabod has accepted my deal and Mark Twain awaits recruiting. He appears in Truly and I immediately create The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in its amphitheater.

Cold War has completed. Grande Armee out, International Waters in. Up at Barry I spend 600, get the inspiration for Distributed Soverignty and Silent Tiles is ready to ROCK N ROLL :woohoo:. With four movement I should be able to get to the Ruhr Valley or Big Ben and rock out next turn. Sinan heads down there and camps out until next turn. My cavalry at Ed Mercer turns around and heads for Isaac. Woden appears to be reducing his forces here:

Edit: never took a screenshot

Dunno how long that will hold. I finish my movement on the Holy Site and will duck through the pass to see what’s up.

Northern subs maneuver, armada formation next turn. Builder in eastern ocean has reached Glenda and I’ve got a submarine fleet out there. Will have an armada there next turn as well. Engineers redistribute, one towards Marina the other towards Auntie Wainwright. Nora Batty’s flood barrier is complete. Ski resort #8 goes in at Pearl. Builder will head to Barry for #9.
I rearrange the queue at Foggy. I’m not going to build another three pike & shot for upgrades. First, I’ve likely got enough (famous last words) as I’d expect Ichabod to open a two-front war if Woden attacked me. Second, my income has dipped under 100 per turn and that’s going to go down further as unit upgrades occur and newer units (like bombers) get built.

[suboptimal]

Turn 236

It’s a bit more of the same...enforced world peace while units get churned out, milpower scores go up and everyone figures out their next move.

I open the save to the eureka for Satellites as I’ve finished a second broadcast center. All coastal lowlands at 3 meters elevation have flooded. The barriers at Nora Batty saved the Campus and earned me an era score. Up north at Cleggy there are two interesting things going on:




“We got ourselves a convoy!” Also note the yields of the submerged tile on Kilimanjaro’s eastern flank – the fertilized yields remain. Ichabod’s got a proposal:




Sure...he can build some more advanced units and I get a few more amenities.

Have a look around and last turn’s observation of Isaac has been changed again:




That’s quite a bit of firepower but he’s not bolstering the navy much. Move the cavalry around, don’t find much else in the fog. Sinan goes to Bortus and Klyden and finds an infantry army in Klyden, and Aethelflaed (Ichabod’s general) nearby and a drone with an artillery army at Bortus Fez still has a battleship armada as well as some air support in the form of a fighter.

One other thing I just noticed. Look at what’s no longer in the northern ocean:




Gotta love global warming!

Time for some ship consolidation. I’ve now got a submarine armada up north as well as a third battleship armada. The southern submarine fleet meets its third and becomes an armada. Auntie Wainwright has completed the first of three battleships for the second armada down there.

I’ve decided to put an airstrip northwest of Nora Batty. It’s coastally exposed but will provide air cover for Glenda if needed. Engineer by Marina sits tight. Builder at Pearl starts the trip to Barry. Builder at Glenda moves to the woods and will put in a lumbermill next turn for some added production. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer go in at Truly. Marina has a second pike & shot army.

Up at Barry I was going to send Silent Tiles to the Ruhr Valley for a performance. However, they can’t get there in one turn but more importantly I have to give them their promotion first. My options are:

- Music Festival: Perform at National Parks and Natural Wonders for 1000 tourism and 1 level more experienced
- Religious Rock: Performs a concert that converts the majority religion of that city to the religion founded by the player
- Roadies: +4 Movement

Hmmm...interesting. I take Music Festivals. Based on what I’m reading on CFC and Reddit my best option is to play the National Parks vs. the wonders since a higher level rock band has a lower chance of disbanding. Next turn they go on the road to head to Bologna or Moria National Park for a concert!

In the scientist race I have an opening. Woden has opened a two turn lead on Ichabod and will get a great scientist in ten turns. Completing two projects will put me right in between them. Smiler’s got one with 2 turns to go so I just need to load another one in the can. I’ll do that in Foggy after the dam completes. I’ll schedule the projects to complete the turn after Woden is due to recruit and, provided Ichabod doesn’t recruit I’ll get second pick for the Atomic era.