[Spoilers] Banzailizard's Wurst Thread

[Banzailizard]

Well the Archduke is being a bit of a dick.  He has parked a scout right where I want to settle my third city.  Can other players see map pins even when set as note to self? Surly that cannot be the case.  And it it were the case one of the other players would have warned me by now right? I removed all the pins for now for what it is worth.  I cannot even kill the scout because of the DOF. Uhg.

I am going to have to settle on the sheep I suppose (Image below).  This does mess up my plans a bit since it pushes the horses into the third ring and copper into the second.  It also makes me eat up a sheep that could have a pasture and therefore one more production. This sub optimal settling is somewhat frustrating, though looking on the bright side it saves the forest for a chop latter which may honestly pay out more than the 1 production from the sheep. However what is really frustrating about this is that it is so small and petty.  Look I get that this is a competitive game but why do this?  It only slows me down by one turn.  It makes me less well disposed towards the Archduke for anything else in the future, not just in this game but any other; first impressions matter you know. Meanwhile cornflakes continues to grow.  Archduke should be trying to foster cooperation to deal with that threat, not trying to play a game of "I am not touching you."

I am going to go get some exercise and think about this in more detail.

[Banzailizard]

Ok went for some exercise, and I feel a bit better about this.  Make no mistake still slightly peeved at Archduke.  That spot is just so good, and the back up spot is just a disappointment. Maybe he does not know what he is doing, maybe he will move this coming turn, but I doubt it.  Also my fault though, again if I had settled Berlin one tile west I could plop down my city southeast of the scout.  That would have been fine, ideal even.   I also ran some single player tests to confirm that building on the sheep does not provide me with any kind of bonus above that which is provided by the plains hill.  Not going to throw the game over it or get sucked into looking for revenge, but if I wind up in a kingmaker situation, I know which way to lean. Ah well, what is done is done.

Going to go over score developments.  I made a mistake of rushing my turn.  I should probably start writing these and then hit end turn because there is some information I wish I had right now and could have checked.

Rho: Set down a third city on turn 43.  Looking at 3 cities with 8 pop between them.  Rapidly accelerated in tech the past few turns.  Suggests either some boosts to completion or that he was holding some techs one turn away.  Possibly either defending or attacking and needed to upgrade.  His military score is now the highest, and I know it is at least over Cornflake's 74.  Without meeting him, not much more I can say.

Cornflakes: On turn 44 he took Valletta and his empire score jumped yet again after that. No sign of great people points and too much for pop so its another city.  That puts him at 5, yes 5 cities, with 13 pop between them.  See this is what I am worried about and why I think archduke should be doing what he can to keep me alive.  Even if it is a race to eat me, he will lose to Cornflakes. His techs have been constant and he gained a civic.  The civic is early empire, which I know because his boarders just became closed to me. This is surprising because it means he was willing to build 3 settlers, none of them boosted by colonization.  Again just wow he must have had a lot of production between five to six warriors, a builder and 3 settlers.

Archduke: finally got his religion. I forgot to look at the beliefs.  I will check soon. Everything else has been very static. Same techs, same civics, still stuck at 2 cities.  Biggest thing is again that religion, really wish I saw what it was.

Rowain: another pretty static player.  He has gained a tech and a civic.  He is just barely ahead of me in that regard, and soon I will catch up. With my city planting I will be moving ahead as well. Again fog of war means I cannot say much for sure about him.

Pin: Put down a 4th city on turn 43.  Looking now like 4 cities with 10 pop between them. Techs and civics on par with everyone else.  His military rank is under Rho but above Cornflakes.

Banzai: I also have been static.  Hoping to change that soon.  I will put down my 3rd city in 2 turns (1 for a move 2 for a settle).  I will pick up craftsmanship next turn, sailing in 2 turns (going to switch next turn probably should have done so this turn).  My next settler is 8 turns from completion.  I might do a quick calculation again to see if it would be faster to try and grow to 4 then build the settler, though I do like the notion of dropping the pop and immediately growing. Berlin will hit 4 pop soon, though that will only add at most 1 production. With craftsmanship I can work on my military as well and try to get some units out. 

I am thinking I might need to settle further afield than city #7.  Its a natural expansion point, bu the site itself is so lackluster.  It has 2 hills in the first ring, 2 more in the second ring and some plains, never bad, but no chop-ables. I might want to drop some pins (take a screenshot then remove them to be safe) and spread into that lush, resource filled area a bit further east.

In general this game is looking bad for me.  Plenty of time to turn it around but I think I made a number of mistakes.  Win or lose, that is all just fuel for next game to sharpen my skills.

[Banzailizard]

Took a turn this morning.  Good news, the archduke moved his scout, so I can settle where I wanted.  His church is dedicated to defender of the faith and Jesuit Education, so that is not much of a surprise.  Some minor moves on the score tracking.  I need to throw up the science graph soon though, cornflakes is at something like 16 or 18 science pet turn.  It's nuts.  He also has a campus done, I might finish mine soon for the state workforce boost. Might mean that he grew some pops and finished the campus not a new city.

I also did some quick calculations, it makes more sense for my capital to grow sooner to get that settled out sooner.  Probably no settler in Berlin.  Even maxed production is 18 turns.  Going to spend one precious charge on a quarry to boost production a bit there.  I will work on a mounment (12 turns) I need culture for a goverment asap.  Agoge is in too so military units soon. Ilkum, Colonization, and urban planning all at once could catch me up.

[Banzailizard]

Been busy packing myself up for my move.  Hardest thing has been picking and choosing which books to bring.  Its like picking between children.  At some point though, I had to admit that I cannot ship 20 boxes of books across the country. Going to take what I can though.

Anyways, on to turn 50!


Well this image is from 49, but the situation looks very similar. Berlin grew 1 and Cornflakes wiped out the barb camp. I also explored south a bit more with my scout.  Some decent land there, might want to consider securing it as well.

Berlin hit the 50% housing penalty when it grew though. I could improve the wheat and grant it 1 more housing.  Another option is to eventually build a granary. Of course I still want to pump out a monument there, and some military units, not to mention a settler.  It might be a good idea to buy a granary since I already have production into the monument and units can be built with that 50% bonus. Depends what the cost is. I also want to spend some gold on buying a tile between Heidelberg and Berlin.  Its low priority for the tile picker, but I want it for a district to plant a campus before I get more tech/civics.  Looking at the map of course, the problem is Berlin does not have more than 4 good tiles to work right now.  If any city will need the granary it will be Heidelberg eventually.

Speaking of Heidelberg, it has also been established.  Its bring in 4 food and 4 production per turn which is great for a lvl 1 city.  Plenty of good tiles to work, really excited about this city, just wish I had it sooner. In 5 turns it will grow and work that 1/4 f/h tile.  Another reason for the tile purchase is to allow that central wheat to swap off to Heidleberg which needs growth now, and then to switch to production.  That central wheat tile has been one of my best investments all game.

Aachen is growing soon too, I expect it will also hit the penalty, I should look at those reports next time.  I did this time but did not take a screenshot.  I know the settler says 7 turns but once I switch to full production it should be done in about 3. After the settler I will finish the campus in 3 turns.  Then not sure what to go onto.  Thinking I will hardbuild a monument though. Unless I can reasonably build a settler in Berlin soon, like taking fewer than 20 turns, I will probably switch out to Ilkum and build a few builders to improve some tiles.  I want to go for the settler still though, given my plan above.  I might push Aachen's settler to the spot north of Lisbon.  I want to claim more of that river valley north of that, but at the same time, I do not want to overextend.  I think some of this will depend on what I scout of cornflake's land. I also really need to do a dotmap next turn of that whole area screenshot it, then remove so I can reference. Lot of possibilities.

Good news is that I will soon have 3 warriors and 2 slingers ready to take our Lisbon. Might need one or two more than that since I will need some to accompany my settler.  Do not want to wait too long though for fear of walls.



I also finally have a decent graph of the science and culture game of my neighbors.  The differences are small so I included a table of the values below each graph.



Cornflake's massive population improves both of these scores of course.  He has 14 population. That is 4.3 of each metric without any kind of boost.  He has also built 2 campuses.  I wonder if he is running a campus projects too? Trying to get the first great person to get the repeated discounts? He does have one really nice campus district which spits out 5(!) science per turn thanks to mountains and his rain-forest boost (see below)  I have nothing remotely that good.  Archduke has 1 campus as well, but I only know that from his +1 GS point. He is probably taking advantage of the discount mechanism with those early lavras.  He has had to sacrifice a lot of expansion for it though since he still only has 2 cities.



I am far more worried about my culture than my science to be honest.  A campus will boost my science.  I am hard pressed to spare the production for monuments though. Early governments are so important that it might behoove me to build one soon anyways. Beyond those though, I also will be short on districts once I get campuses, hansa and commercial districts up. 

In general I continue the theme of concern about Cornflake's growth and power.  Archduke has potential with Jesuit education to expand rapidly now and use faith for science, but Cornflake sis just so far ahead on every metric. He makes more science per turn, he makes more culture per turn, he has a bigger military, he has more districts, more citizens - meaning more production - and more civics. Archduke has more tech but I do not even think that is a good sign.  Cornflakes is likely holding back some of his tech, as I am, to minimize the cost of his districts. He could have half a dozen techs held 1 away. I cannot build my way out of such a deficit; military action will eventually be the only way to stop this growth curve. I will need Archduke's help for that.  

Here are the overall score graphs.  I had to put them vertical now, they are getting too wide.


Only real thing of note is that Rho1 lost 1 pop.  I expect his empire score will boost soon.  He is indeed running colonization.

Someone is gathering great general points on the other continent.  They seem to be gearing up for a military conflict in general. Based on the image below, counting backwards 8 turns, it looks like it is is Pin who has the encampment. The other two just have scores that are too stable for a district. Looks like he actually built a district, lost a pop and founded a city all in 1 turn. Copping out a settler maybe?

Our continent meanwhile is focusing on campuses.  Even if mine is not done its 3 turns from completion.  Its like the two continents are playing two different games.  I am glad the aggressive civs were confined to one landmass for now. However, if a winner emerges over there and we stalemate here, it has implications for the end of the game.


Here is the overall score graph.


To do for next turn:
Dotmap of the northeast
Drop the campus for Heidleberg which will be next to where the commercial district goes. same boost ultimately as the 1 mountain tile.  Locks in that base price. Be prepared to chop out a galley at +100% for the campus.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Keep your chin up! Remember, Germany is a late-blossoming civ. Your only real advantages at the moment are your extra military slot and your combat bonus against city-states.

[Banzailizard]

Keep your chin up! Remember, Germany is a late-blossoming civ. Your only real advantages at the moment are your extra military slot and your combat bonus against city-states.

I will keep on chugging away. I always tend towards moroseness when playing anyways. This turn though I am actually pretty positive.  I finished my packing and could sit with the turn, play with some things and plan out a bit.

I will spare anyone reading this the winding thoughts that got me to my final set of choices. You can see some of my changing thought patterns in the image below though.  In general I have been unhappy about where I am with regards to the other players, but I have not changed much in my approach. Here then are the major plans that I hope will start to improve my position:

1. I purchased a monument in Heidelberg.  Now Heidelberg is going to make plenty of production so there is a chance this is a waste, but my rational was that, looking at the tiles around the city, I did not really want to work any except the copper at size 2. Even that suffers the same problem of not quite enough growth. The monument meanwhile will grab either the horses or the stone in 4 turns, exactly the amount of time it will take to gain a citizen. At that point if I have to work a 1/3 tile or the copper that is ok.  This also improves my overall cultural situation as I am making 5.8 per turn (and with faster growth will make more in general) and pushes me towards an early government.  I will take classical republic when I get there. That is mostly for the economic policy slots which will let me run Ilkum and Colonization simultaneously, maybe urban planning in wildcard slot.  With my +1 military card from being Germany, I can even keep running Agoge, Maritime Industries, or eventually Limes with no problem. 

I made this decision after making sure I could quickly acquire the gold I needed to upgrade slingers (I will soon have 3) to archers.  I will have enough in 2 turns so no problem there. This is the biggest change in my approach and I adopted it after looking at Cornflakes and Archduke's gold.

2.  I will not build a settler in Berlin however.  I will switch off to either urban planning or Ilkum (probably Ilkum) at state workforce.  With the added culture from the monument, the time between state workforce and political philosophy is cut drastically. That means I am less trapped by either the settler or builder option. Berlin simply does not have the production right now to get settlers out.  Instead I will focus there on military.  I left with a slinger 1 turn away in Berlin, but you can also see here a warrior can be done in 5 turns so not so bad.  I contemplated chopping the slinger out and putting the overflow into a campus, but have chosen not to.  Chops are too useful, and its better to lay down a district locking in the price, let the value of the chop increase, then chop later.  Besides I have limited chops for Berlin, better to use one on Limes.  Heidelberg will eventually get a builder who can improve horses, sheep and copper for a monster of a productive city.

3. I put down 2 campus districts.  This locks in the cost.  These locations are not great now, and never really will be.  They will wind up being serviceable though as I surround them with districts. Tech and culture will be a major issue for me all game I think.  I do not have any significant bonuses towards those, either in terrain or based on my civ.  Hopefully there are more than 6 city states out there.  I will soon be able to build a galley in Heidelberg and explore the seas.  These districts set me on the path to using the discount system which will be critical in taking advantage of my civ's abilities.


4. I am continuing to build a settler in Aachen I contemplated switching to full military to attack Lisbon but opted to hold off on that for now. The settler will finish in 4 turns, the same amount of time as it will take to grow Heidelberg.  That will obscure my build and hopefully catch my opponents off guard.  Aachen will finish a campus after for state workforce boost, and I can get it down to 2 turns of production  (if I have to spend a turn in another civic so be it).

I did a dot map of the north east as I said I should.  Here it is below.   Not to count my chickens before they hatch but I also put down tentative districts.  I removed all of these pins after.  I have two real options for where to settle next.  Despite the names, I am strongly thinking the city 5 location would be best.  Its a land grab, but not so expansive that I am over extended. City 6 would go down next, then 4 then 8.  With all the hills #5 is not much further than #4 honestly, and it means that I am less trapped. I still have south of Heidelberg to build too, and the hinterlands of my corner. Since I can build more districts at a lower level, even filling in latter with some crap coastal cities is viable. Might be the only way to compete on science if I use those districts for campuses.




4. I am committed to killing Lisbon in the next few turns (approximately 10-12. 4 to build some units, 6-8 to move down I will calculate the exact number next turn) if it does not build a wall. This takes advantage of my bonus against city states. It also will eat up some of the envoys of other civs.  Looks like cornflakes sent a trade route, probably for an envoy.  I can also see he is building a commercial hub. Both point to his wanting to leave Lisbon alive.  Truthfully I would prefer to leave it, but I cannot since this is a zero sum game.  If I leave it, we all benefit. In the real world that is great, here its a mistake.  I need to absorb that city to prevent them from using it.   it also establishes my front line more concretely.

Just some other events of the wider world.  Archduke declared war on Hong Kong, apparently he is done with the boost.  He also has Archy and the highest military score. Here is the first of his cities I found below. I think he captured the builder now to take advantage of it while he could.

 
To do's:
Figure out how long it will take to attack Lisbon.
Plot out the next few turns for civics and techs so I know what will happen when.
Calculate boarder/population growth in Heidelberg.

[Banzailizard]

Ok did the to do's.

Here is a quick summary of the coming turns.

I will work on State Workforce until turn 54, then I will switch off to military tradition. The boost for state workforce will be done turn 56. By that point Military tradition will be held 2 turns from completion. I will probably need to research 1 more turn of state workforce finishing it on turn 57. Then it is on to Political Philosophy finishing right now on turn 67. Might be less depending on my actions including possibly building more monuments. My trader will be done with his route at turn 54 (maybe 55 since he needs to return to the home city) then I will send him either to Berlin or Heidelberg. A domestic trade route to Aachen with a campus adds extra food, which is probably more useful to a growing city like Heidelberg. On the other hand, Berlin is still somewhat lackluster as a city and needs all the help it can get.

Heidelberg will grow in 4 turns if the formula I have is correct and complete. The formula is 15+8*n+n^1.5 where n is current pop -1. That means I need 24 food for the next stage of growth. My city will produce 6 next level. I am assuming now that I think of it, that 2 food will go to maintaining my 2 pop so 4 food will grow in 6 turns. That will go down to 4 with a trader. Boarder growth will be 10+(6n)^1.3 where N is number of tiles from cultural expansion. That will be 1 so I get around 22 culture. At 2.4 culture per turn that means about 8 turns since there will be growth. So for a little while I will need to work the copper, or the 1/3 tile. That makes me think strongly that Heidelberg needs that food more.

Tech wise, I will complete masonry this coming turn. Then I will work on currency to within 1 turn (need to get those campuses done first), switch to bronze working, again to eventually hold 1 turn away.

For Lisbon, it will take me about 8 turns to get into position. I will have 3 slingers and 3 warriors ready in 3 turns, then 6-7 turns of movement. Might be worth it to upgrade to archers, though I will need to squeeze in finishing that slinger in my capital. My only concern here is if Lisbon gets walls soon. I think I am running out of time.

Also another city state was conquered, pretty sure it was Rho. Rowain built a district, I do not know what. Cornflakes has walls up on his capital which is...odd. It misses the chance for Limes, and there is no way he could even b-line enough civics right now to get that out. Must be for the boost to engineering and means he wants aqueducts or catapults. I guess he is trying to build tall cities for those districts.

[Banzailizard]

Ok this is sort of a post to dump stuff for the coming week.  No time right now for an actual post, need to pack up my computer. I hopefully I will get my turn in the next hour or so.  That will let me take one last turn, and 55 is going to be a big one with lots of production and such.  If not I will spend some of my time on the cross country trip analyzing the information I have to see if I missed anything.




And Cities:




Shit should have taken some more map pictures.  Not much changes round to round though, I have old pictures I can calculate unit movement off of.

[Banzailizard]

Well I never got to really review this data because driving for 6 hours a day was more exhausting then I thought.  That and I was spending so much time enjoying my trip and seeing the sites that I barely had time to check my phone. Went from New Jersey though Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, and finally Oregon. Nice to be back in a state where I do not have to pump my own gas. 

Anyways, turn 55 felt like a great turn.  I had three things complete all at once and a pop appear.  While its not really helpful strategically (except in this case where I obscured my settler build), it left a pleasant feeling of synchronicity.  Turn 56 though is a good reminder of where I am: on the upswing but still in trouble. 



I now have a sizable army.  What is more I am going to now trigger archery and upgrade my three of my four slingers for an attack on Lisbon. With two warriors and 3 archers, not to mention my civ's ability, I should be able to take that city very soon.  My settler is also moving north west to claim some of that land I have been eyeing for so long.  Bad news is that Cornflakes dropped 1 point in empire score two turns ago.  I am afraid I will wind up splitting the space, which is for me strategically awful.  If he cuts me off he will have all the land he needs to grow. I have a head start but I do not want to overextend. Might be worth it to hold off on builders in favor of continuing to pump out settlers.  My big hope is that he is sending it south to hem in Arch duke, not north to hem in me.

The hits just keep coming too.  Cornflakes is already at Political Philosophy and has the autocracy government selected.  I suspect he is going to try to build the following wonders: Pyramids, Oracle, Colosseum. With his unique district he can get to the Colosseum sooner then anyone. Between that and the Oracle he can have bigger cities with more districts then anyone (well  will probably match in districts thanks to my civ ability) His science and culture just keep accumulating with no end in site.  I will be able to buff my science a bit with my campuses soon.  Currency is most of the way done as well so I can start bringing in money as well.


I will also have a galley out in 4 turns, the better to scout this land, and maybe find the neighboring continent. Still with Lisbon, my self-built 4th city, 2 campuses, and a stronger military, all  in the next 8 turns or so, I should feel at least a little more secure soon.  I am fairly close to Political Philosophy finishing right now on turn 67 myself.  Need the state workforce boost, then 1 turn of working it, and then 9 more turns.  I will probably build a monument in Heidelberg or Aachen once their current projects are done.

[Banzailizard]

Welcome to turn 57.  Here is an overview of the whole map as I can see it.  I really need to do a better job scouting.  My scout is working his way back up to head south between Cornflakes and Archduke so I can get an idea of what they have been up to.  The galley will head south to try and spy around the outside edge of the Archduke's land.

Cornflakes planted his city this turn, and since I cannot see it in the north it must either be even further east of me, or on the boarder with Archduke.  The Archduke also lost an empire point so I believe he made a settler as well.  I suspect that he will claim some of the nice area just south of Berlin.  I was tempted to grab that too, but ultimately not as much room for expansion down there and cornflakes is the bigger threat in my eyes.  If I get really lucky the two of them are racing for land in the south and I might grab some in the north while they are busy. 3 turns until my 4th city is settled, I would guesstimate 8-10 until Lisbon is eaten.

I also finished archery, upgraded 2 of my slingers and moved a third to be upgraded next turn. I should be able to hit Lisbon with 3 warriors and 3 archers which should be more than enough especially given my +7. My military score even topped Cornflakes this round and is not far behind Archduke's which are both good. Military tradition will go for one more round and then I will switch back to state workforce. I will keep Military Tradition one turn away for now so I can do a free policy card swap if I ever need to. I will also hold currency one turn away, at least until I am done with my campuses. In 2 turns I will switch off to iornworking and hold that 1 turn away as well.

I also changed up my micro a bit, keeping 2 turns to campus at Aachen I managed to boost the growth rate to 4 turns. This also let me swap that forested hills tile to Berlin for even more production there.  Berlin is actually doing quite well now for production. Heidelberg will get the trader in 4-5 turns (4 until it is done with its route, depends where it finishes) and he will go to Aachen giving a 1 production 2 food route (extra food from the campus district). Once the campus districts are done I think Aachen will focus on a monument, maybe Berlin as well.  I could also build a granary in Berlin for extra housing. Neither will be making settlers so I will defiantly move off Early empire for now to either urban planning or to Ilkum for Heidleberg to pop out a builder. Actually I almost like the urban planning idea better since it will get my new cities off the ground as well. I will need to do some math on it this weekend since I have the time.

In the wider world, Pin finished a second district which I believe is a holy site.  Seems he is going for a second religion. That continent is really gearing up for war, I have a slinger, 3 archers, and 3 warriors and the Archduke is ahead of me.  All of that continent is ahead of the Archduke though.

Trying really hard not to get caught in the "I can build my way out of this hole" trap since I know cornflakes and the Archduke are expanding as well, but I honestly seem to be accelerating quickly.