[PB59] Tarkeel is alone against the darkness

[Lewwyn]

With 58 done are you going to ramp up here?

[Tarkeel]

Turn 112 (75 BC)
It's been a busy few turns for "my" continent, but not so much for my empire. Everyone else is at war; Commodore and TBS have been going at it for ages, and Commodore is now fielding Praetorians, but TBS seems to be holding the line. Joshy probably thought that TBS was weak and declared, and Superdeath promptly declared on Joshy and has walked all over him with horse archers. All the while TBS has been signaling that he wants me to fight SD, something we're not prepared for at all. We've been building up a defensive force and are researching Construction.

Last turn, Superdeath declared on us and killed our scouting warrior, but he'll even pay us 15g for peace. TBS signals that he'll fight SD in 5, so if we can have a cold war in that direction while we wait for catapults, that would be great. We have a galley on the sea between us that can maybe harass some.

Below is a belayed imagedump from T100:

[Tarkeel]

Turn 120 (125 AD)
Superdeath has been asking for peace for a while, and has finally started threatening our coastal holdings, so I gave it to him. The main focus of this "war" was to hinder the consolidation of Joshy's land, but now we'll need SD to counter TBS in the area. This is going to be an interesting balancing act going forward.

[Tarkeel]

Turn 121 (150 AD)
I offered open borders to Superdeath as a way to ease tensions; his reply is to charge me 5 gpt for the luxury. That's not going to happen. TBS wants to sell me sugar, which is more tempting, but I might get Calendar on my own in the next 10 turns, and we don't have a happy problem right now.

[Tarkeel]

Turn 145 (700 AD)
It's been a long time since the last update, but not much has happened. The rest of my continent has been at war with each other; TBS has been fighting Commdore since the dawn of time. Joshy tried to backstab TBS, after which SD also declared on Joshy. Together they ate him up pretty fast, before TBS and SD started fighting over the spoils. TBS has most of the area, but is still fighting on both fronts and hasn't been able to consolidate his gains.


Our lands on the other hand have been very peaceful. Apart from the fake war against SD, in which we lost a handfull of units and a fishing net, everything has been peaceful. We're not quite as helpless as we were, with crossbows for border defenders and a small stack of catapults for backup. The strategy so far has been to keep our head down and develop in peace to make the most of our traits. 16 cities seems quite respectable for a peaceful empire; most of the core cities have had forges for a long time and are completing courthouses.

The big question though, is where to go from here? I think the best way to become relevant in this game will be to leverage our civ and traits; using CHA to grow tall, FIN will always do it's thing, but how can we use Egypt past the ancient era? I think the key will be to exploit obelisks; if we can build the Angkor Wat then every city can run two overpowered priests from a 15 hammer building without needing to spread religion. We could then add on with Representation and Serfdom, as well as Nationalism to cover our defensive needs. Philosophy was completed this turn, and Arkham whipped a crossbow last turn for 45 hammers of overflow into Angkor. This isn't usually a very competed wonder, so we might get it.

The economy is quite healthy, breakeven is at 60% but I've been running a small profit at 50% lately, and lending money with interest to those who come asking. Demographics are very middling.

[Tarkeel]

Turn 150 (800 AD)
Operation Angkor is chugging along, due in 6 turns in Arkham. Aylesbury is starving to push out a new GP for our golden age, due in 10 turns; we should be able to get Nationalism in time to swap into serfdom and nationalism. With trade routes being as bonkers as they are on this map I don't think Banking for Mercantilism will pay off, but we need Banking for RepParts.


We've saved a lot of forests for lumbermills, but we're a but late on maturing the cottages.


Demographics are still very middling.



Turn 151 (820 AD)
Angkor Fell to Mali, so I guess that plan is out. Will still go for a golden age, swapping into serfdom, and maybe spreading around some judaism, but will have to see.

[Tarkeel]

Turn 160 (1000 AD)
Everything is still chugging along; Nationalism and our golden age is due in three turns. Science is at 50%, earning us a small profit which we're lending to other players for a bigger profit. Something interesting happened this turn; Civac came looking for a loan, sweetened with whales. He'd sent a similar deal to Charriu, and we both accepted at the same time. It looks like I was just a tiny bit faster in accepting, so we got it. The best news is that it came with wolrd map, so circumnavigation should kick in next turn.

[Tarkeel]

Turn 170 (1100 AD)
OUr great person (a scientist) got birthed on T163, launching our first golden age, and swapping into Hereditary Rule, Nationhood, Serfdom and OrgRel. Tech-wise we got Engineering T165, Constitution T168, Alphabet T169, Paper T170 and will finish PrintingPress next turn. We swapped into representation on T168. Our workers have been busy swapping out mines into mills, and we've been pushing out Judaism (as it's the AP religion) to most of our cities, and have been busy building castles to take advantage of the ludicrous traderoutes in this game. The plan going forward is RepParts, which needs Guilds and Banking, before going for MilTrad.


I did forget to whip the last forge before swapping out of slavery though.

Demographics:

T163, before GA

T163, after GA and civics

T170

[Tarkeel]

Turn 171 (1110 AD)
The golden age is over, but our demographics are still pretty respectable:


We're still far behind the game leaders in foodhammers, but doing quite decently on GNP. Democracy still isn't taken by anyone, so maybe the SoL is worth a shot? RepParts first, then I'll evaluate.

[Tarkeel]

Turn 178 (1180 AD)
Since the Golden Age ended I've been teching up and finishing an infrastructure push. Most of the cities now have castles and harbors to bolster the trade economy. I picked up PrintingPress just as the GA ended T171, followed by Guilds T172, Banking T173, ReplaceableParts T176, Aesthetics T177 and Literature this turn. We're plowing ahead on Music (T179) leading to MilTrad and Gunpowder.


For expansion plans I've been focusing south, on Superdeath. He's been locked in a stalemate war with DZ/TBS for a very long time, and while his border cities of "30s2Mars" (bordering me) and "StoneCity" (bordering DZ/TBS) are heavily fortifies, all other cities have 1-2 defenders each, confirmed by city vision. As an extra bonus most of his cities are already heavily whipped down.

I suggest war against Superdeath to Amicalola a few turns ago, and this turn he responded with war on T185, and three resource deals:

• Clam+Furs for Cow+Stone, probably meaning "Starset" and "30s2Mars"
  
• Fish+Copper for Pig+Sheep, probably meaning "Seether" and "Breaking Ben"
  
• Iron+Fish for Gems+Corn, probably meaning "Chemical Romance" and "BringMeToLife"
  

The region currently looks like this:


Additionally there are 6 wellies in Dunwich, 13 catapults roaming around. Stage2 has 4 knights and 6 old war chariots, some of which can be upgraded once we get MilTrad.