[SPOILERS] Parity Parody

[suboptimal]

Turn 33

Inactive has grown; Early Empire’s inspiration is in. That takes the time to complete down to eight turns. The new citizen is working the jungle hill to the northwest and the city will grow again in eight turns and complete its builder in six. Writing comes in next turn and Campus districts will go down, with Irrigation completing seven turns later. At The Saga Begins:




Well, it’s a good thing I still have my builder around. I move my warrior NE to the open grassland and promotes with Battlecry. I would normally move to the maize except that the trader will be in the open next turn. The okihtcitaw moves into the city and attacks the adjacent warrior, deadlining it. The deer will be pillaged next turn which will cost me some and until I get the builder down there for repairs (3-4 turns). The AI could make this easier for me by moving or attacking with the city-adjacent warrior.

Early Empire is slated to complete “right on time”. It’ll complete the same turn that the Campus at The Saga Begins is done. I’ll also get a couple of turns’ into the Campus at Inactive before getting settlers out. Pingala will get the first promotion and likely the promotion second. After that I’ll need to see what I do. He’ll most likely be going into Inactive since that city’s growth prospects are much better than the capital’s.

I’m going to stick with the farmer’s gambit here and attempt to get the Government Plaza completed after the next two settlers, getting both the plaza and Ancestral Hall completed. For governors I think that Researcher Pingala in Inactive is the first thing to do. After that I don’t know if I should go Provision Magnus or take Connoisseur and Liang. I’ll need to think about this some more.

[suboptimal]

Turn 34

Writing is in, Irrigation in six turns. Campus districts placed at Inactive and The Saga Begins (the barbarian slinger doesn’t block placement, apparently).

I decide to move the okihtcitaw southwest and kill the warrior on the deer first. My warrior then attacks the slinger from its current position. I considered moving into the city to attack but that’s not comfortable with the trader in the area. I believe traders move at the end of the turn and the city’s ZoC would prevent the slinger from moving two tiles to chase. However, if I’m wrong about that then the trader gets pillaged and I’ve needlessly lost a free trader.

Archduke has built a second Seowon and completed his second civic. Only Marcopolo has not completed two civics at this point. Alhambram is the first to four techs.

[suboptimal]

Turn 35

Monument at The Saga Begins is complete and I start working on the Campus; six turns to go on that. Early Empire down to four turns – that now coincides with the builder completing at Inactive. Warrior kills the slinger, okihtcitaw kills the warrior. Builder comes out of hiding and will repair the camp in two turns.

The next question I need to answer is what to do first – Mining or Sailing? I think the latter will let me find city-states faster, though it’d take 13 turns to get a galley out at Inactive (nevermind the 18 turns for the settler ). I may be buying the stone for this city and putting a quarry down with its builder. I’ve got three turns to make that decision and act before costs go up. Since I’ve already got the capital growing slowly I move the citizen from the maize to the recently acquired grassland forest hill. That will take a turn off the Campus and reduce the build time on the settler to 5 turns. I’ll need to work out if it’s better to just get two settlers out of the capital (losing pop as I go) while building the Campus or a couple of galleys at Inactive. It’d take only 13 turns to get the settlers out doing that, though the capital’s population would drop to 1 for a bit. Of course, I could build two out of the capital and one out of Inactive over 17 turns.

[suboptimal]

Turn 36

All quiet on the home front. Builder to the deer. I move the okihtcitaw into the capital to heal faster since scouting is the priority. Warrior stays where he is, as does the okihtcitaw in Inactive. I forsee the next three turns being relatively quick as only the builder has something to do while everything else heals.

Archduke is the first to a third civic. Marcopolo has still only completed one.

[suboptimal]

Turn 37

Happened to be at my computer when Alhmabram passed the save, so quick turnaround on this one. Deer camp repaired. Interestingly the trade route didn’t seem to suffer from the pillage. Looks like the existence of the improvement is enough to trigger the bonus, not its current status. I’ll have to keep that in mind going forward. I go ahead and buy the stone now for 80.. A quarry will get Inactive extra and I’ll get the Masonry eureka. That also puts Mining up as the next tech.

Hit end turn and Thrawn has met a city-state. Good to know they’re reachable. Gotta get my scouts out and about.

[suboptimal]

Turn 38

Builder back to the capital. Everyone else is healing. I see that I didn’t buy the tile at Inactive last turn so I do that now and move the new citizen there. Turn ends. Archduke appears to have settled another city.

[suboptimal]

Turn 39

Early Empire is done, got a governor promotion waiting for me. The builder in Inactive is also complete. At this point I was planning on starting a settler in Inactive along with a second one in The Saga Begins once the Campus completes next turn. I had a build order worked out where I could have the settlers out and complete the Ancestral Hall before both of them settled (Turn 57 or so). However, after looking at things I’ve realized that my plan was not ideal. Far from it.

I said at the outset my focus would be on and this game. Inactive has a +5 Campus screaming to be built. The amount of I lose out on by not building that now is ridiculous...that one Campus doubles my current yields. Back to the drawing board. I’ve worked out a build plan that will let me get two settlers out of The Saga Begins with only 1 population loss, complete the Campus at Inactive, pick up the Masonry boost along the way and still get the Ancestral Hall completed in time for the second settler to get the free builder. Let’s see how this goes.

Even though a single luxury won’t do much I’d like to get one connected now. The question is which one? The wines make more sense since one of the new cities can connect a dye. However, I won’t be working the wines frequently enough at The Saga Begins for the improvement to give my much of a payoff and it won’t get the Craftsmanship inspiration in time. Dye plantation at Inactive it is. The builder will wait for Mining, put in a stone quarry and then go find a forest to chop. The city starts the Campus.

The okihtcitaw at Inactive is healed and heads southeast. I want to go defog the area on the other side of the mountains, get the coast fully explored and find the barbarian camp that’s down there. The warrior will move to a defensive position west of The Saga Begins to keep an eye out for barbarian scouts. Once the okihtcitaw here heals it will head west to scout – that’ll be in two more turns. The builder here hangs tight.

I’ve got a policy change so out goes Urban Planning, in goes Colonization. That will be worth 6.5 starting next turn. For the governor promotion I take Magnus and park him in The Saga Begins. He’ll also get the State Workforce promotion and then I’ll use the GP promotions for Pingala.
It’s been a while since I’ve posted a screenshot. That’s partly because of a lack of action and partly because my current internet connection is a bit finicky (mobile tethering and reception has been poor this weekend). I’ll get my current pinmap up once the connection allow it.

[suboptimal]

Turn 40

Irrigation is in, start Mining, 5 turns to complete. Campus completes at The Saga Begins, start the first settler. Builder puts in a dye plantation and gets the second inspiration of the turn. Craftsmanship will be done in 3 turns, State Workforce 8 turns after that. The civics completion times throw off my timings elsewhere quite a bit.

Out west the warrior moves onto a PHF and will sit there. The okihtcitaw in The Saga Begins is at 86/100, which is good enough for me. It moves to the amber and I’ll head west along the river, skirting the barbarian camp to the south. In the east a new barbarian scout has shown up, blocking my path. I attack it for 50 points of damage and it should go back the way it came.

Current pinmap

[suboptimal]

Turn 41

Move the okihtcitaws. The desert in the east continues to the other side of the mountains.

[suboptimal]

Turn 42

In the west the Okihtcitaw will start to reveal new terrain next turn. In the east the other one locates the barbarian camp along with the unexpected appearance of ice off the coast of a desert:




I’m going to go back the way I came since it appears that the only way south is to pass adjacent to the camp. I might sit on the hills in the chokepoint and try to kill the scout first. Builders and warrior sit tight.

The tile picker at The Saga Begins is not being friendly. It spends two turns on the grassland hill to the west, then one turn on the marsh where I’ve marked the Government Plaza. I want it to take the Government Plaza tile and/or the grassland forest to the SE so that I don’t need to purchase either tile or chop the forest off the amber. I know what you’re thinking – “just use a trader to claim the tiles”. I might be able to do that. The trade route to Inactive ends on Turn 48 or 49 if I’m counting correctly and that’d be enough time to transfer the trader, start the route and claim the Government Plaza tile IF the route goes over it. However, what I might do instead is want to run the route to Inactive in order to claim the Campus tile. Either way I’m buying a second ring tile before Turn 52.