[SPOILERS] Ghostpants buckles up for PB39

[Hollybombay]

Anything interesting going on?

[WilliamLP]

Well, the land grab phase of this game is over, I think I made out pretty well:

My border NE with Wetbandit is extremely defensible with only a single city on a hill to be concerned about. Similarly the NW feels very secure vs Superdeath with the peak and lake chokepoint. This plus PRO skirmishers means I'm very secure right now even though behind in tech.

I have four happiness (including, without iron, gems that Chariu chopped the jungle from!) This and religion means I'm doing well for happiness at this point in the game.

From here I think I just limp to currency and spread religion, and then get some cheap markets. I have a lot of catching up (cottage spam) to do though.

Demos:

I'm definitely in a competitive position as far as demos go, number one in food and essentially in a three way tie for land area. I do have the issue of having no late game bonus. It really shows right now, I'm just over break-even at 10% science! Cheap markets will help a little bit.

Longer term, the obvious move is to expand into Chariu if I can. He seems very green, making some very questionable plays. Leaving cities guarded by an axe, when a chariot in the fog can strike, is an obvious example.

I need to think through the role navy is going to play in this game.

[WilliamLP]

I'm still in economic recovery mode, heading to Currency. I will _not_ say I've played this game optimally. It has basically been an experiment, can I can build Stonehenge and Buddhism and use the GPP for a shrine, and still grow at a competitive rate? The answer is yes. But I haven't really given much thought to how I could actually win this game.

Right now I see JR4 about to steamroll Charriu with Choks. I have a scout/journalist following his advancing army. I think PRO skirmishers ought to be enough to keep him from continuing on to me. But I wonder if there's any opportunity to be had, taking more land off of Charriu as this occurs. I might just not have enough tech yet though.

[Hollybombay]

Any updates?

[WilliamLP]

Well, last turn Charriu, in desperate defense, left two workers undefended chopping a forest, so I couldn't resist taking them for free. I'm running out of need for worker labor and I'm actually more interested in the 30 hammers from the forest... One of the main things he has to learn imo, is that part of being a good neighbor in this game is not presenting easy opportunities for gain.

I'm following JR4's main stack and can see a lot of his pipeline, it's all Choks with just very few Trebs. I see a GG archer for Charriu, so he's obviously winning a few dice rolls. I don't see a way to intervene in this war profitably. One possibility is to try and distract JR4 to try and prevent him from taking too much land, with one or two small sea attacks, but I think I can dismiss ideas like this out of hand. I would definitely like to maintain the peaceful relationship with JR4 for a while.

I've spent the last many turns growing cities, spamming cottages, and spreading religion while teching to Currency. Now I'm there and my economy is actually pretty good. I took Construction before Iron just out of paranoia but I'm pretty sure simply Skirmishers can carry me for a while longer. The market is a great building here with the Exp bonus and three happy boosts - ivory, fur, whales. I think almost every city will get one, and it even means I'm in no rush for Calendar.

Iron is next so I can finally work on removing jungle, then I think Metal Casting for Mints, especially in the shrine city.

I haven't done much if any long term thinking about this game. Are there any wonders or other first-to bonuses I should be thinking about? I don't know right now. A generic plan is just to tech to knights and see if there are any opportunities at that point.

The other players in this game (other than JR4 vs Charriu) seem very passive so far! I think it's because the starting capitals were sufficiently far apart with land chokepoints, making attacking early very difficult.

Basic strategic situation:

I have a narrow border with Superdeath in the NW. He seems to be playing quite well in this game. We have a very peaceful history, but I didn't accept open borders, just because I don't want him studying weak points and military pathways right now if I can help it.

My border with Wetbandit is also peaceful, small, and defensible. I'm slightly concerned about him though - you don't pick Boudica of Mongols with an intent to turtle peacefully for the whole game, do you? He seems like the world tech leader and I'd bet he is going to rush someone with knights. I really doubt I will be his best target, but I need to keep his progress in mind.

My border with Charriu will be a border with JR4 very soon. It's also a pretty defensible border. What I don't want with him is a naval escalation, but, the good news is I really doubt he wants that either.

So I guess I see, few opportunities to make profits on attack - I still think you need a lagging and relatively inexperienced neighbor to make an attack profitable in this game, or else an opportunity for a dogpile. I don't see either.

I probably should be planning long term peace strategies then:

- When can I / should I get my first GA? I'd probably want to use this to spawn more great people. I think MoM is still open, but not sure, and if not it will probably be built by someone very soon.
- How soon should I hit the Literature line? Is the Music artist still open? I haven't been paying enough attention. Sadly I don't have a 10xp unit for Heroic Epic and I don't see an opportunity to get one any time soon.
- Could I play for the Lib slingshot and have a chance to win and stay alive?
- Should I be trying to spread Buddhism to foreign lands? I'm not sure if that's profitable, unless there's someone who badly needs religion and would help spread it partially themselves. Again I haven't done any analysis here.

My next GP should be a scientist, but it will be a while since after the prophet I need 200 GPP. I probably should at least be working on my 300 GPP spawn while this is happening, since the return rate is so good.

[WilliamLP]

There's so much more I could do with this game if I weren't trying to play two PB's while employed and in a relationship...

I imagine JR4 thought conquering Charriu would be much easier than it is turning out to be. There is very little left for Charriu at his capital, but I think JR4 still needs to wait on one more wave of reinforcements.

There's an argument here for turning traitor on JR4. He just got longbows but hasn't had time to mass them. He hasn't had any time to regroup or pop borders, and for the first time I have some siege.

Sohung would be a logical target right now. But do I even want it? In the long run I also feel like playing zero sum wars with him would just allow someone else to pull ahead, e.g. Ipecac or Wetbandit. I think I will lean to the peaceful relationship (and trade routes) I've had with JR4. We could make each other's lives much more difficult vs the field if war escalated to the seas.

My recent city plant ApparitionArms was mainly for sealing our borders.

I was actually going for the music artist, but I got beaten by a few turns, I think by Ipecac who also built the Great Library. I'm building Parthenon right now, but someone more focused on it might beat me there.

I'm wondering if I could make a run at the Lib slingshot in this game. I doubt I've played my econ well enough to win that though. And I think I'm likely to gain more by being faster to knights.

[WilliamLP]

So I feel like, if I were a game theoretical optimizing entity (never mind that my micro and analytical skills aren't that good), my best chance to play at winning this game would have been to attack JR4 in mass, a few turns ago when there was still some chaos with the remnants of Charriu's empire. I still feel like I'm playing as a sub in this game I guess. Do I really want a future that is a complex land and sea battle with tactics all over the map?

Wetbandit was astute enough to notice I researched Paper so he offered a world map trade. I accepted.



I offered to trade maps with JR4. I probably could have found out a way to earn a few pennies here, oh well. Now I finally see what the overall topology of this world looks like. It's interesting! The only thing I'm missing is resolution of the area occupied by Superdeath and Yuri. Overall this really looks like a map of chokepoints and what should be a rather defensive game from here.

I was thinking of trying to be first to Econ or Lib, but now that I see JR4 has knights I think I need to rush to Engineering just to be sure.

Other than that... I may be content just to play a game of peace from here out. Wetbandit has Engineering and castles. My border with Superdeath is as impenetrable from my point of view as his. The most open border, which even still is narrow enough, is with JR4. We both seem pretty comfortable with a demilitarized border. And I don't think there's a world where any of my opponents think the guy with Pro longbows is the best to attack.

[WilliamLP]

Welp, wetbandit is hitting me with a load of Cuirassiers, running into an extremely demilitarized border. I knew he was teching up the military tree but I thought he just wanted to finish swallowing Yuri and I was taking the econ gambit. I have to say nice work to bandit! The eastern half of my empire is pretty much going to fold like a deck of cards. Pro skirmishers aren't very resilient against Cuirs.

I guess I'm the next meal in this game! I expect JR4 and Superdeath to jump on in a couple turns when they see what's going on. I can get Engineering this turn, get back to slavery in a couple and start whipping pikes, but I'm very under-powered as it stands and that is plenty of time for bandit to take a few more cities.

I definitely wasn't aiming to commit suicide but to be honest I won't be that sad when this game is done.

[WilliamLP]

Ok, so I'm being hit by Cuirs on one side and losing half my cities, and now Superdeath has moved in on the other side with a pile of knights. But the good news is I landed my first ever Lib slingshot in a multiplayer game!! I took Nationalism and 3 drafted macemen are just what I need to turn the tables in this one.

Everything's fine here.

[Zed-F]