Chevalier Makes Do

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Turn 47

Trying to be better at reporting. And also playing the game. 

So, turn 47, here's where we're at:




Chipping away at the barb camp. One more turn will clear it out, I think. A slinger is nearby in support, but shouldn't be necessary. Somehow, my skeleton army of a single warrior, two slingers, and a galley is the second-largest military in the game, behind Rome's. Rome has Iron-Working, which means Rome has legions. Furthermore, Rome has upgraded his legions, and has a finished encampment. Everyone, in fact, except for me, has finished a district - Encampments or Holy Sites, for the most part, but Greece also has a campus down. 

What this means, of course, is that Rome's neighbor is in for a bad time - Alhambram has a DoF with Russia. That means that it's one of Greece, Japan, and Arabia. Arabia is lagging in score, so could be them. No doubt you guys know more than me. My hopes are for a stalemated war that drags both parties down - if I lose another game because a civ on the other side of the map runs away by conquering blissfully ignorant neighbors, well...At least this time I can argue that I was not in a position to do the same myself - my only neighbor is Russia, who has rough terrain defending him from me, and I have no early unit to stake a rush on. 

Here's the GP screen, by the way:




Greece leads the GG race by a mile, but Rome is gaining points and Greece is not. Interesting - looks like Alhazard ran Strategos for a while to build up a lead, but is now waiting for his Encampment to finish and net him the last points? Or he had an emergency come up and had to swap policies? But what could that be? 

Russia is well ahead of Japan for GP, of course, and Greece finished a Campus next turn - fingers crossed that I will be second. 

Here's Rome, as far as I can tell:




Their second city of Mars is before me, and Jupiter is to the south. I guess I have to hope to slide around to the north to meet any neighbors or natural wonders. Finally, eagle-eyed readers will spot that we met a 4th city state this turn. That would be the industrial state of Buenos Aires, across yet another strait to the west:




Rome has 2 envoys and one of Greece, Arabia, and  Japan has two envoys. I'm following the coast north in the hopes of finding either the city-state's other neighbor or a coastal Jupiter. :3 

So far, it's looking like there's a lot of room for naval influence. I think I can set up an Encampment defense at the neck with Russia and at the possible land bridge to the east (since no one ahs met me yet from that direction, I think not), and then build a bigass navy like in PBEM7 to terrorize the coasts and use that to expand. Enough to counter a runaway Rome that's eaten all her neighbors? Tough to say! Probably not! But, dammit, at some point, building HAS to compete with the Classical Age rush or else there's just One Right Strategy in Civ6 multiplayer, and I don't want that to be true. 

But it probably is. 

-sigh-, here's an overview:




Grayson and Sphinx will be founded next, then my second-tier cities at Medusa, Basilisk, and Gorgon.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Turn This Morning

Thanks to my brilliant strategy of "standing next to it", the barb camp will shortly be cleared with no horses or quads spawned, thank you very much:




I pick up 50 gold and an envoy in Kandy, which is thoroughly useless to me, but the gold at least I can spend on a trader I think. Here's a look at the Star Kingdom of Manticore, 48 turns in: 




We're last to city #3 - not sure what I did wrong there, maybe too many builders? But we'll be to city #4 in good time, and we'll have our campus up and running. There's lots of terrain nearby, I have no immediate threats, and I think I'm in good shape to begin chopping out for settlers soon. Abroad, I think I won't find Buenos Aires' neighbors anytime soon, since it looks like another snaky peninsula with Rome at the top. I'll finish scouting for form's sake, then turn around and seek new ground:




Please no one call me on the fact that I literally just told you "I'll finish scouting here and then turn around and scout somewhere else"

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Turn 49

So Grotsnot's thread has been exploding lately and I guess now I know why. While I've been bumbling around in my sandbox down here, war were declared:




Figured this was coming when Alhambram's domination score spiked and he spent all his gold. I wish Grot had built a cheap Encampment instead of a Holy Site first - why uselessly chase Russia for a religion when you have Roman legions on your doorstep? Hopefully he saw this coming and trained up a defensive army, but I'm not sanguine. I just don't want this to be another game that devolves into "he who rushes successfully first, wins," because that's just not my cup of tea. 




Further complicating matters, there's a barb scout astride the route to Grayson! His ZOC interferes with my settler's move, delaying founding the city by 1 turn - and I'm already one of the last to city 3, with settler for #4 taking ages. Bah! The escorting slinger gives him a whack to convince him to move along, and I start marching my injured warrior back to my core. The western half of my peninsula has no fogged tiles remaining (except one, I think, in the far south near where I've pinned Yeltsin), and I'll soon have it settled, so barb threats will come from the remaining fog in the southeastern portion. Need to explore there once the warrior heals up in my core. 




Abroad, Rome's borders totally block me from further moves westward. But, my scout is next to a lake, so I hope there's a land passage via Preslav to the north - but I could also run into mountains. Fingers crossed. The Roman slinger visible is wounded - could that be from Japanese attacks? But no, Alhambram just declared war and Grot hasn't had a turn yet. So barbs to the west? Not sure. 

A view of England:



Campus finishing next turn. Next step? Not sure - another settler while I'm Colonization? Pump out a pair of warriors for scouting with Agoge? I'll have a policy swap from State Workforce finishing - could go with Agoge and Urban Planning. Hmm, need to noodle it over some more.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Turn 50-51

Just missed two turns here, thank goodness. We're not totally behind. Mostly, I finished research while watching the war.




Government is due turn 57, largely due to a very slow Foreign Trade and State Workforce, waiting for Inspirations. I'm really not a good researcher at all, or that good at the early game. I think I've been slow off the ground in very game I've played, but the people who can do things brilliantly fast, like Sullla or Cornflakes, I view as basically wizards.




I grabbed Bronze Working a turn later. Didn't like to unlock Encampments, but with Alhambram on the war path, TBS already having attacked me once (and I know he's already got Bronze Working), I want to have Iron Working ready in a pinch. I'm also going to kick out two or three more warriors and a slinger as soon as the round of settlers finishes. Security trumps other concerns. 




I started a settler for city #5 on turn 50, before rethinking that and swapping to a warrior on 51. Iron is available next to the tile my builder is presently standing on, and will probably be Gryphon's next expansion target. In a pinch I can buy it and mine it to finish Iron Working, which I'll work up to the Eureka before starting down the path to Apprenticeship. Then probably Celestial Navigation and RNDs are my next target. 

In the north you CAN get around the lake:





Alhambram's score indicates an early city capture. Bah. 




On the brightside, Alhazard and TBS are both Civ 4 veterans, so there's two players out there who can hopefully restrain a runaway Rome.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Turn 52-53

Two more turns today. It's not as fun as the Roman/Japanese war, I bet. Maybe someday I should try a rush civ myself? A Varu invasion of Russia would go well, right? Ah, well - building for me. I've got some quiet turns of tech inspirations and a new city:




I sent a builder along to Grayson and mined the copper, giving me the eureka for the wheel. Of course, the very next turn, the iron at Gryphon became available.   D'oh. Well, the next builder will hook it up. Here's a look at Grayson:




The copper tile is the main appeal to start. I purchase a trader in the city to help it grow, and soon it'll grab a bunch of nearby rice and horse tiles. On the far side of the world, I make contact with Japan, just in time to see them wave goodbye. Legions with a battering ram are gathered outside what I suspect is the Japanese capital:




Again, I wonder why Grot went with the early Holy Site instead of the Encampment? Not that an encampment alone would have helped - he needed swords, early, or horsemen. I'd have not settled city #2, not built the holy site, and funneled my early cogs into hammers when I saw I was next to Rome with a spiking military score. It's an interesting sign of how far the community has come, though - in PBEM1 Sullla's Legion rush came around turn 80, I think, while this one has come fully 30 turns sooner. Alhambram had to have launched it on a shoestring, but he still has several self-founded cities of his own, and an encampment. Very impressive work all around. 

In my own territory, I'm surveying Kandy's peninsula and contemplating colonization efforts. If the rules allowed it, I'd be training Galleys right now to storm the city by turn 60:




A fine site. As it is, I'll have to raze it and replace it with an English city, but the peninsula down here is narrow enough that a small Frigate navy would give any Russian invaders headaches. I can safely settle here down the road. 

An overview. Training two more warriors to help wtih barbs and Russian deterrence. Yes, that's a double-horse camp right next door to Grayson - we'll want to clear that quick, but I think no scout has reported back yet to trigger the spawns. 

[TheArchduke]

Thanks for the reporting and rooting for you, Chev.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Thanks for the reporting and rooting for you, Chev.

Thanks! Words of encouragement are always appreciated, even though I have no clue how I'm going to win this game with Rome already eating a neighbor. I'll do my best to keep things entertaining, though!

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Man, I wish I'd slightly relocated Grayson and settled between those two horse resources instead. What a magnificent city that would have been. Oh, well, serves me right for poor scouting.




Quiet turn. Scouts find nothing of note abroad, at home we finish a warrior and start on a slinger, queueing up Archery in a straight beeline for Apprenticeship. After that it'll probably be time to grab Celestial Navigation and start the RND wave.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Turn 55

"The scout hasn't spotted the city yet, so horsemen won't start spawning ye-"




Me and my big mouth. 

Well, the city will grow next turn, and add 3 cogs to total output, which will drop the finishing time on that warrior down to just 2 turns or so. I've got another warrior vectored here from Manticore, a slinger guarding the chokepoint, and another healing up inside the city. The only tile improvement is behind the city, nice 'n safe. We should be okay here, just remember to play cautiously. 

Abroad, our naval scouts are drawing near another city:




Seems unlikely to be a city-state so close to Buenos Aires, so this is either Alhazard or marcopolo. Marco is really struggling for some reason - his score is equal to Grot's, and Grot's lost a city to Rome and his capital is under siege (but not captured as of turn 55! See the map in the corner). I hope he settled on the coast.  

Also, it's worth nothing that both Roman cities I've got vision on are 1-tile from the coast. That's quite sensible, of course - it's usually better to have more land tiles to work, so unless you need the water (or the sailing inspiration...) there's no real need to settle on the ocean itself. However, both those cities are in Frigate bombardment range, which means if I'm allowed to build a navy unchallenged, they're effectively within my power. Nothing within 2 tiles of the ocean can be defended without Frigates of your own, and I don't see Rome competing for those. No, Alhambram will try to run away with the game before we get to that point.

Ergo, I need Alhambram not to run away. Thus, his other two neighbors - whoever this southern feller is, and TBS - need to restrain him. I'll try and cultivate friendly relations with Russia, we have the beautiful desert as a buffer between us (I don't expect to settle Haven, ever, hence the question mark). 

Speaking of TBS, I kind of wish DotF were allowed now:




Expect a religion next turn, probably. His Holy Site must be in difficult terrain, since he didn't found on the same turn nor build Stonehenge - there's no reason to Faith-patronage the prophet, Japan is nowhere close and about to become Roman anyway. Interesting that Rome will have a lead over Arabia on a religion! It'd be mildly amusing to grab Stonehenge, trigger Arabia's ability, and deny Rome any use at all from those Japanese Holy Sites (I think there's just one, actually), but is it worth the cogs? Probably not, since I won't have the Faith to support JE nor to spread for Church Property. Religion is great, but it demands investment, and I have not invested. 

Here's scores:




I think after the military builds, it's time for more settlers. I seem safe enough and ready for another round of expansion, then we can start thinkin about infrastructure projects.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Turn 56

After a long break, the turn finally arrives. The good news is, I actually get a crack at the scout, who for reasons unknown moves close to the city:




Sorry, the screenshot got messed up. Long story short, the two slingers holding the city open fire on the barb scout, quickly murdering him before he can report back to his camp. Will that be enough to stop horse spawns? I have no idea, but we'll find out. Meanwhile, if I can borrow this screenshot from last turn, my own warrior out of Manticore has marched south across the rice fields that will one day feed Grayson and Basilisk, and has taken up position adjacent to the forest NW of the camp. Next turn, I plan to occupy the forest, giving me a secure base to begin reducing the camp. I've also got a fresh slinger in support, and a third warrior due in 3 turns out of Grayson. This camp should be safely contained, then I'll push the units eastwards to finish mapping out the area. I'm sure I can find a great city spot near these double horses. 




Abroad, my galley has found a small bay. Just to the north, though, sit Arabian borders! I wonder if I can make contact from that small patch of water? I'll attempt to, then continue my exploration of the coastline. There's some really great land just up the coast, too - I hope Arabia takes it and opens it to my marauding navy. :D 

Closer to home, Russia HAS founded a city, in a very curious spot:




Strangely, Voronezh sits one tile away from fresh water, where I had pinned Haven. I'm curious what TBS was thinking with this placement. It's not especially more safe from me, since it's on the water - a Caravel and a flotilla of Frigates can easily reduce that city. Plus, as Russia, he has the fantastic ability to site his cities in more flexible spots and still be guaranteed great tiles to work. All those ivory tiles (I'm jealous!) would still be grabbed by Peter's tile grab ability. Now, he can build an aqueduct, but those are expensive - I only have one planned, for the Construction boost (or whichever). Roman baths are cheap, but Russia's not Rome. Plus, you could still build an aqueduct at the Haven site and still have a superior city! Very curious, I hope he wrote about this choice in his thread so I can find out after the game. 

On the Japanese front, Grotsnot's capital has resisted for at least one more turn. I met Yerevan in the frozen north - I'm looking for a way through to find Greek lands, and any useful city states. 

Medium term, I'm trying to plan more deliberately. Right now my rough goals are:

1)Establish a large base of cities in my neck of the woods. Be friendly with Russia. 

I think this is easily achievable. I've slotted in settlers #4 and #5 from Manticore and Gryphon, while Sphinx's settler is on the map to take me to 4 cities. I'll still be trailing Rome, but not by much. Russia SHOULD be threatened by the Romans next door, and will want to concentrate defensive efforts in that direction. I'm happy to help him, and will do everything I can to facilitate stout resistance. Thankfully the Legion window is closing soon - Alhambram has no GG yet, and is racing Greece for it. 

Just in case, the slinger out of Manticore is on its way to stand sentry at the chokepoint, to see any Russian aggression coming a few turns out. As long as I maintain rough parity in Domination, I should be okay.

2)Build at least 3-4 Royal Navy Dockyards. 

These will unlock trade routes galore for me, which can be run to boost science and culture - IN CONJUNCTION with campuses. I can't neglect my own science, and I have no intention of doing so. Campuses will be my second district, for sure. The goal is to stay competitive within science, but I don't need a big lead. I should get a solid lock on Great Admirals, and once again I plan to build the Mausoleum at an appropriate moment. That will supercharge my Great Admirals, as well as give me a free one.

Right now I'm going to try for that roughly around the first Medieval Great Admiral, in an effort to slingshot two at once. Getting tricky!

3)Build a modest navy. If no one challenges me, ~4 galleys and ~10 quads are easily achievable. 

The small numbers will let me operate two squadrons of 2 melee units and 5 ranged units apiece. That's enough firepower to blast just about anything off the coast far more quickly than land units can respond, and we're only looking at a total of 1460 production, which drops to 730 with Maritime Industries - ie less than the cost of most wonders. With ~4-5 cities to contribute, as I hope, we can knock that out relatively easily. 

4)Use the two squadrons to dominate the coasts.

This is the path to victory. The neck of land with Russia is narrow and can be defended - I'll definitely get an encampment out that way. Then  I can concentrate on offense. SO far, every foreign city has been near land. A small land army of ~5 melee units with some ranged support can operate within range of the coast, sack or conquer foreign cities, and escape back to the water. 

In PBEM7, this strategy worked well enough (combined with the VA) that even though I was totally outbuilt by Sullla, I was able to frustrate him enough to get a draw proposal.*
Now I have a lot more experience and feel I have a better handle on the meta, I think I can make this work. The main threat to that, as I see it, is a runaway win by Alhambram the same way a runaway Mongolian conquest scuppered my otherwise quite sound Korean play in PBEM8. Once again, I have to depend on other players performing competently. :/

*Yes, we all know it was a house of cards, as the sandbox turns after the "official" end quickly brought my empire crashing down, but I'm a better player than I was a year ago.