[SPOILERS] Dark Savant leads the noble Inca as half-noble Churchiill

[Dark Savant]

Turn 159 (980 AD) - Part 2

Drama comes in.  I'm going to save cash for one turn because then I'll have a much better idea which technology I want to research.

Winterfell is once again poised to roll the dice  next turn.



Odds are roughly split between Engineer, Prophet, and a Golden Age.

Mausoleum due in 3, Apostolic Palace in 6.





Castle construction is in its last major phase.

[Dark Savant]

Turn 160 (1000 AD) - Part 1

I couldn't resist logging in quickly (well, quickly by my standards -- I still spent 15 minutes choosing new building orders ) to see what Great Person I got.



It's a Great Engineer!  And no wonders were built.  I need to think about whether to follow the plan to 1-turn research Paper and rush the University of Sankore.

I have all day at work to think about this.

[Dark Savant]

 Now I'm wondering why the lurker thread in PB40 is apparently more active than here.  

I can move the Great Engineer 11 road tiles from Winterfell.  I probably want the University of Sankore in either King's Landing or Casterly Rock, to help cash out the Great Person points from the scientists I ran in the days of my terrible economy.

I'll work out the math this evening, but my instinct is Casterly Rock.  It will need to take a break from 1-turn knights soon anyway, as it's running out of overflow for that.  It can now also afford to run a couple extra specialists; it's currently working a plain coast tile even.

Also ... with WilliamLP frenetically just trying to survive, superdeath pursuing Rifling, and wetbandit apparently chasing Astronomy, I actually have the opportunity to claim the Great Merchant at Economics.  I'll look into that once I have Paper.

[Charriu]

 Now I'm wondering why the lurker thread in PB40 is apparently more active than here.  

And as a player in PB40, I now wonder what you mean by that. 

[Dark Savant]

 Now I'm wondering why the lurker thread in PB40 is apparently more active than here.  

And as a player in PB40, I now wonder what you mean by that. 

There's activity in the lurker thread in PB40 more recent than here.

This despite a major war just breaking out here -- which I only realized was going to happen the turn before it kicked off.

[Dark Savant]

I can't do much at work right now because I'm compiling a compiler.

Let's recap "when I discovered it vs. when it was discovered in real life":

• Drama: the major Greek playwrights we know of (Aeschylus, Sophocles, Aristophanes) all wrote in the 5th century BC.  I'm almost a millennium and a half late!
  
• Theology: dates any time from ~30 AD (Jesus's crucifixion) to Augustine's City of God (early 5th century).  Christianity as we know it was formally codified at the Council of Nicaea in AD 325.  More than 500 years late, at the most generous.
  
• Engineering: in Civ 4 terms, corresponds roughly to the capacity to build medieval cathedrals, so about 1200 AD.  Perhaps you could go back as far as Hagia Sophia, but I'm not sure that's a good example because the dome of that collapsed and had to be rebuilt several times.    Okay, we're about on schedule here.  (If you want the Roman achievements, you're thinking of Construction.)
  
• Banking: this doesn't really happen in real life until the early Renaissance, about 1400.  I was well ahead of schedule. (It graphically appears fairly far to the right on the tree, I suppose. )
  
• Guilds: appeared roughly around now; I discovered this several turns ago, so I'm a lifespan or two ahead of schedule.
  

Also, up next:

• Philosophy: in the first three Civilization games, this highlights Plato and Aristotle, somewhat after the major Greek dramatists.  (Hey, Drama is a prerequisite to Philosophy here.  )  It probably still means that, since Taoism also is roughly that old.  (The real Angkor Wat was built long after either.)  I'm well behind schedule there.
  
• Paper: invented by Cai Lun during the Han dynasty 2000 years ago.  (The real University of Sankore flourished far more recently than that.)  Nope, well behind schedule.
  

Mostly I feel behind schedule compared to Civ 1 and 3.  (In Civ 2, the turn pace is strongly dependent on difficulty level, so I don't like to count that.)

This has been a Dark Savant Blog/postcount++ Post.

[Dark Savant]

Turn 160 (1000 AD) - Part 2

It's certainly a very eventful turn abroad.



Lots of whipping and drafting going on.



superdeath offers this ...



... which I appreciate, because I misclicked on my scouting chariot in the area, so I lack the map there I should have.

superdeath captured two of WilliamLP's cities.



My misclicked chariot does see that WilliamLP's defense on his western border is light.

JR4 has whipped a few times, and has knights on the move.



Knights aren't going to do much to my City Garrison III longbows behind castle walls on a hill; these are almost certainly attacking WilliamLP.

WilliamLP abandoned the defense of SkeletonSleeves ...



... and is making a stand in his capital.



wetbandit didn't capture any of WilliamLP's cities this turn.

WilliamLP is trading Silver for Spices with .  So I offer him free silver:



I forgot to screenshot it, but also captured two of Yuri's four remaining cities.

is also apparently so reliant on Aggressive Ikhandas that he hasn't bothered to build more than a handful of courthouses.



So I spend EP to get research visibility on him.

[Dark Savant]

Turn 160 (1000 AD) - Part 3

It depends on exactly what I end up actually getting in the next couple turns, but I could use more Great Person points in Casterly Rock to cash out a Great Person there.



Winterfell is now trying to pump out another non-Scientist Great Person ASAP.



Once I complete that theatre, I can actually spawn it in 7 turns, not the indicated 9.

Research is set to 60%; Paper is due next turn.  I need one city on Research to accomplish this.  (Myr, so it can hold hammer overflow for one turn; I can get a Jewish missionary there next turn.)





I'm still in builder mode, but that cannot continue for much longer, lest I become the next major target.

I'm not sure I can afford to spend time on Education and then Economics for that reason.  That delays Gunpowder significantly, and it also cancels the economic benefits of all those castles I built without Stone.  

But then again, that might also be the best way to spawn three Great People for the 3-man Golden Age quickly.

[Dark Savant]

Turn 160 (1000 AD) - Part 4

wetbandit showed up with Optics this turn; he's definitely targeting Astronomy.

Demographics and graphs (in spoiler):

JR4's power is climbing more sharply now, though I haven't actually seen any of the units he's presumably whipping.

I have a difficult guns-or-butter decision coming soon.

[Dark Savant]

Turn 161 (1010 AD) - Part 1

No wonders were built this turn.

I'm going to get at least a coin flip on an incredibly late Mausoleum build.

Also man is Education expensive; it currently takes 4 turns if I burn my entire gold reserve.  That's partly because the only rival with it is WilliamLP, and partly because RtR jacked its price by 25%.

Well, I can punt the decision on whether to go for it one more turn and pile up more gold while I see whether I actually get some of my targeted wonders.  Gunpowder will be a quick research if I get Education first though.

I also can now both see everyone's technologies, and have outright research visibility on .   has Gunpowder (I've seen no muskets from him though); Music; and Philosophy.  And he currently shows as researching Nationalism.  He must want those cool cuirassiers wetbandit is wrecking WilliamLP with.

Well, I can always build knights, pikes, and especially catapults.