Turn 119 and Turn 120
Quiet turns for me, for the first time in a long time I feel like I don't have much to report on. Y'all know the basics: England's economy is laughably backwards in everything except culture and gold generation (I have about 30 culture in my pocket that I can unleash at the next policy swap). Production and science are low. It's the production that really kills ya, of course, since you need production to fix all your other problems!
Diplomatic news first. Sullla continues his countdown messages. Woden, I think that Sullla intends war with the other team at around turn 135. He probably sees Russia's low military score and similarly backwards research compared to mine, and sees also that he's mostly out of room to peacefully expand (and settlers are very prohibitive in cost now anyway). I think anything we can do to encourage this war, the better. China and Rome will not have to deal with DotF, and will have faith-drafted Chinese units, but tech-wise the two empires seem to be about in parity, and production-wise they'll be attacking into the teeth of Hansa country. This won't be the same walkover that Kongo was - it'll probably be an even tougher fight than we faced with Khmer. A stalemated war between the other two that we can intervene in at a judicious time seems perfect, from our perspective. And if one-side or the other steamrolls? Well, that's a chance we have to take.
In other diplomatic news, I offered the same silk-for-wine deal to the Archduke. Maybe he'll be more cooperative than his partner. It's a long shot, but hey, I got that silk lying around and nothing better to do with it. I also connect a second source of tea and ship it to Woden, free of charge.
So, let's talk domestic policy. How am I digging myself out of the hole that I'm in?
Here's the main core. Let's talk long-term strategy, and then dive into each city in turn.
Like I said above, my main issue is poor research rates and low production, particularly in my expansion cities. I'm not sure how long the lurkers have been making fun of me for this, but it turns out that City Patron Goddess is completely useless the way I've been using it. A moment's thought would have revealed this, but in my defense I had no idea what I was doing when I started this game out back in November. Why is it useless? Well, you get a 25% discount on your first district. Great, I thought. Get your new cities up and running quickly. All well and good, except...well, how have I been building early districts in my cities? Answer: By chopping them out with Maritime Industries, of course. Follow-up question: Does CPG boost the production from chops? Answer: Of course not.
So I've been building districts in a way that specifically neutralizes my pantheon. I would have been much better served taking Oral Tradition for more culture.
Does this mean I should be less chop happy? Well, maybe. Another reason that some cities are low-production is that builder charges that would have gone to improving them instead went to grabbing their districts quickly. A slower, more stately approach would see me build the first district slowly, use the builder the normal way, and then maritime industries the SECOND district. That, then, is my plan to fix my empire's production: Grow my pop, as I've been trying to do, and get builders out to slap down mines and lumber mills where I can. Leyte in particular is a shabby city, Aboukir could be great with a little TLC. Salamis, Navarino, and Trafalgar are okay.
The other way to improve unit production in particular is expansion. I have 2 more cities planned on the western seaboard, facing Rome, to leverage the VA. I want to get RNDs down, and then kick out quadriremes. Upgrade them to frigates just before going to war, then use them as aggressively as I can - a long war favors the other team, I want to catch the Romans off-balance if I can.
Gold-wise, I'd be in great shape if I only had me to worry about. But the idea was for Woden to generate research for our team and me to generate gold, and my income is far below enough to support two civs. Here, I think, there's not much I could have done earlier. Japper/Cornflakes and Emperor/Archduke both had about the same income, or dramatically poorer - and Molotov-Ribbentrop hasn't been paying for an army. The only team doing better than us in terms of gold is Sullla/Singaboy, bolstered by Lisbon and Singaboy's monk economy. We're respectable here, but respectable isn't good enough - you only have as many modern units as you have gold. A big research rate isn't enough.
Culturally, I have 16 cpt to pick up from swapping back into trade confederation, and another 10 cpt on top of that from meritocracy. That's the one research area I'm competitive in, my number is just depressed at the moment since there's no urgent culture push and I need the gold/builders/settlers more. Theocracy will be a better government for me.
Science rates are the big issue. I can bump myself up to 65 with trade confederation, but the rest? Ehhhhh. I have 2 good campus spots. Woden, I would feel a lot more comfortable getting at least one of those campuses up and running, up to universities. One is at Leyte - I can chop it out with a quadrireme. Trafalgar already has a library, a university would help out a lot here. Just those two steps would add enough science to bring me back up to Woden's level. Still far behind Sullla, but it should be enough to hang in there. Commercial Hubs are down at various other non-campus cities: Getting those up and running means more gold, cpt, and spt. Those are a simultaneous priority.
The western core.
Trafalgar: Trafalgar right now is a quick builder pump for new cities. The only other urgent build it has is a University. That's my goal after this round of builders is done. City has lots of housing to spare (up to size 10), lots of food and mines - it's in good shape. It's even lending improved tiles to Aboukir to work. Build order here is builder -> University -> ?? Haven't planned that far ahead. Trafalgar has room for another district. An RND is out, becuase it would give me useless great admirals. Could be an encampment for more production, an IZ for the central 3 cities, a theater square or holy site because reasons? or an entertainment district.
Salamis: Salamis is in good shape. Two finished districts, housing is good, food is okay, production is good. It's kicking out a settler now for the Syracuse site I identified 70 turns ago. After the settler finishes, a Lighthouse might be called for, or builders until it hits the housing cap instead. Syracuse will want a builder, probably.
Navarino: Also developed. Tons of mines, thanks to the swarm of VA builders. It is flat out of choppable resources, of course, so it needs to slowbuild that CH. That's the target after I finish the builder, then a trader to go with it. Later a workshop -> factory might not go amiss. It would boost the 4 southern cities. Housing is also an issue.
Aboukir: Currently underdeveloped, but growing quickly. Settler time is accurate - I'll get production higher by swapping some tiles after growth, but the cost will go up by 30 cogs, too. There's a builder passing through to throw down two mines on its way to Leyte. Might also harvest that second marsh. I need one more builder here to harvest the rice, at least. Has good spots for a CH, but little in the way of a chop to getting it going - just some jungle borrowed from Trafalgar, which is worth only 1/3 of a district even with Maritime Industries. Hmmm. If I throw down some gold, it could also build a campus instead? I'd like both, but need 2 more pop for that.
The west:
Actium is okay, apart from housing. After the lighthouse completes, I'll be able to quickly build the Great Lighthouse with a single deer chop. It has a commercial hub placed, grabbed with a stone harvest thorugh maritime industries after that (4 more quads for the west!). Then I need to grow up to size 7 - cow chop - and build a campus next to the mountain to improve science generation.
Leyte struggles with extremely poor production. There's a builder en route to mine the hill, but I'd also like that 1/3 tile and that rice (another mine, another chop, and another growth chop). A campus is placed, to be built via stone harvest through Maritime Industries. That's after the builder in queue finishes. At size 7 - pipe dream - an IZ might do well to boost the 3 eastern cities.
Jutland is off to a great start, apart from housing - already at the cap. Damn my lack of fresh water! I need to place an aqueduct here, and finish the RND. A monument and granary are still needed - jealous of Woden's Valetta here - and a builder to harvest the wheat. Only needs that one charge that I can see, don't need a plantation when builder labor is so precious. A mine on that hill to the northwest would be nice down the road. At size 4, a CH can go on the tea, and at size 7, a campus could go southeast of town.
Let's say I somehow finish all that. I have 4 potential mountain campus spots, taking my campuses to 5. Each one of those is boosted by Geneva, for 30 science from Geneva alone, plus 10 more from adjacencies. Then the libraries and universities, if I could squeeze 'em in, add another 30 - so we'd double our current science to 120 from all that. Need a LOT of time to do that. I'd have CHs in 4 more cities, taking total trade routes to 17 when my new RNDs are included, which is good for an additional 18 culture and 27 science on top of what I'm already making.
So, I need a LOT of builders to make all that happen. Maybe Trafalgar should focus on the builder pump instead of the university? Makes sense. Ships can be chopped into districts, so stay away from Exploration still. Theocracy will have to do. Swap science away from Square Rigging short of the boost, so I can build quads as long as I want, and focus on other techs. Finish the growth builds in cities - mostly already done, in fact - and then swap to district or builder mode.
Quiet turns for me, for the first time in a long time I feel like I don't have much to report on. Y'all know the basics: England's economy is laughably backwards in everything except culture and gold generation (I have about 30 culture in my pocket that I can unleash at the next policy swap). Production and science are low. It's the production that really kills ya, of course, since you need production to fix all your other problems!
Diplomatic news first. Sullla continues his countdown messages. Woden, I think that Sullla intends war with the other team at around turn 135. He probably sees Russia's low military score and similarly backwards research compared to mine, and sees also that he's mostly out of room to peacefully expand (and settlers are very prohibitive in cost now anyway). I think anything we can do to encourage this war, the better. China and Rome will not have to deal with DotF, and will have faith-drafted Chinese units, but tech-wise the two empires seem to be about in parity, and production-wise they'll be attacking into the teeth of Hansa country. This won't be the same walkover that Kongo was - it'll probably be an even tougher fight than we faced with Khmer. A stalemated war between the other two that we can intervene in at a judicious time seems perfect, from our perspective. And if one-side or the other steamrolls? Well, that's a chance we have to take.
In other diplomatic news, I offered the same silk-for-wine deal to the Archduke. Maybe he'll be more cooperative than his partner. It's a long shot, but hey, I got that silk lying around and nothing better to do with it. I also connect a second source of tea and ship it to Woden, free of charge.
So, let's talk domestic policy. How am I digging myself out of the hole that I'm in?
Here's the main core. Let's talk long-term strategy, and then dive into each city in turn.
Like I said above, my main issue is poor research rates and low production, particularly in my expansion cities. I'm not sure how long the lurkers have been making fun of me for this, but it turns out that City Patron Goddess is completely useless the way I've been using it. A moment's thought would have revealed this, but in my defense I had no idea what I was doing when I started this game out back in November. Why is it useless? Well, you get a 25% discount on your first district. Great, I thought. Get your new cities up and running quickly. All well and good, except...well, how have I been building early districts in my cities? Answer: By chopping them out with Maritime Industries, of course. Follow-up question: Does CPG boost the production from chops? Answer: Of course not.
So I've been building districts in a way that specifically neutralizes my pantheon. I would have been much better served taking Oral Tradition for more culture.
Does this mean I should be less chop happy? Well, maybe. Another reason that some cities are low-production is that builder charges that would have gone to improving them instead went to grabbing their districts quickly. A slower, more stately approach would see me build the first district slowly, use the builder the normal way, and then maritime industries the SECOND district. That, then, is my plan to fix my empire's production: Grow my pop, as I've been trying to do, and get builders out to slap down mines and lumber mills where I can. Leyte in particular is a shabby city, Aboukir could be great with a little TLC. Salamis, Navarino, and Trafalgar are okay.
The other way to improve unit production in particular is expansion. I have 2 more cities planned on the western seaboard, facing Rome, to leverage the VA. I want to get RNDs down, and then kick out quadriremes. Upgrade them to frigates just before going to war, then use them as aggressively as I can - a long war favors the other team, I want to catch the Romans off-balance if I can.
Gold-wise, I'd be in great shape if I only had me to worry about. But the idea was for Woden to generate research for our team and me to generate gold, and my income is far below enough to support two civs. Here, I think, there's not much I could have done earlier. Japper/Cornflakes and Emperor/Archduke both had about the same income, or dramatically poorer - and Molotov-Ribbentrop hasn't been paying for an army. The only team doing better than us in terms of gold is Sullla/Singaboy, bolstered by Lisbon and Singaboy's monk economy. We're respectable here, but respectable isn't good enough - you only have as many modern units as you have gold. A big research rate isn't enough.
Culturally, I have 16 cpt to pick up from swapping back into trade confederation, and another 10 cpt on top of that from meritocracy. That's the one research area I'm competitive in, my number is just depressed at the moment since there's no urgent culture push and I need the gold/builders/settlers more. Theocracy will be a better government for me.
Science rates are the big issue. I can bump myself up to 65 with trade confederation, but the rest? Ehhhhh. I have 2 good campus spots. Woden, I would feel a lot more comfortable getting at least one of those campuses up and running, up to universities. One is at Leyte - I can chop it out with a quadrireme. Trafalgar already has a library, a university would help out a lot here. Just those two steps would add enough science to bring me back up to Woden's level. Still far behind Sullla, but it should be enough to hang in there. Commercial Hubs are down at various other non-campus cities: Getting those up and running means more gold, cpt, and spt. Those are a simultaneous priority.
The western core.
Trafalgar: Trafalgar right now is a quick builder pump for new cities. The only other urgent build it has is a University. That's my goal after this round of builders is done. City has lots of housing to spare (up to size 10), lots of food and mines - it's in good shape. It's even lending improved tiles to Aboukir to work. Build order here is builder -> University -> ?? Haven't planned that far ahead. Trafalgar has room for another district. An RND is out, becuase it would give me useless great admirals. Could be an encampment for more production, an IZ for the central 3 cities, a theater square or holy site because reasons? or an entertainment district.
Salamis: Salamis is in good shape. Two finished districts, housing is good, food is okay, production is good. It's kicking out a settler now for the Syracuse site I identified 70 turns ago. After the settler finishes, a Lighthouse might be called for, or builders until it hits the housing cap instead. Syracuse will want a builder, probably.
Navarino: Also developed. Tons of mines, thanks to the swarm of VA builders. It is flat out of choppable resources, of course, so it needs to slowbuild that CH. That's the target after I finish the builder, then a trader to go with it. Later a workshop -> factory might not go amiss. It would boost the 4 southern cities. Housing is also an issue.
Aboukir: Currently underdeveloped, but growing quickly. Settler time is accurate - I'll get production higher by swapping some tiles after growth, but the cost will go up by 30 cogs, too. There's a builder passing through to throw down two mines on its way to Leyte. Might also harvest that second marsh. I need one more builder here to harvest the rice, at least. Has good spots for a CH, but little in the way of a chop to getting it going - just some jungle borrowed from Trafalgar, which is worth only 1/3 of a district even with Maritime Industries. Hmmm. If I throw down some gold, it could also build a campus instead? I'd like both, but need 2 more pop for that.
The west:
Actium is okay, apart from housing. After the lighthouse completes, I'll be able to quickly build the Great Lighthouse with a single deer chop. It has a commercial hub placed, grabbed with a stone harvest thorugh maritime industries after that (4 more quads for the west!). Then I need to grow up to size 7 - cow chop - and build a campus next to the mountain to improve science generation.
Leyte struggles with extremely poor production. There's a builder en route to mine the hill, but I'd also like that 1/3 tile and that rice (another mine, another chop, and another growth chop). A campus is placed, to be built via stone harvest through Maritime Industries. That's after the builder in queue finishes. At size 7 - pipe dream - an IZ might do well to boost the 3 eastern cities.
Jutland is off to a great start, apart from housing - already at the cap. Damn my lack of fresh water! I need to place an aqueduct here, and finish the RND. A monument and granary are still needed - jealous of Woden's Valetta here - and a builder to harvest the wheat. Only needs that one charge that I can see, don't need a plantation when builder labor is so precious. A mine on that hill to the northwest would be nice down the road. At size 4, a CH can go on the tea, and at size 7, a campus could go southeast of town.
Let's say I somehow finish all that. I have 4 potential mountain campus spots, taking my campuses to 5. Each one of those is boosted by Geneva, for 30 science from Geneva alone, plus 10 more from adjacencies. Then the libraries and universities, if I could squeeze 'em in, add another 30 - so we'd double our current science to 120 from all that. Need a LOT of time to do that. I'd have CHs in 4 more cities, taking total trade routes to 17 when my new RNDs are included, which is good for an additional 18 culture and 27 science on top of what I'm already making.
So, I need a LOT of builders to make all that happen. Maybe Trafalgar should focus on the builder pump instead of the university? Makes sense. Ships can be chopped into districts, so stay away from Exploration still. Theocracy will have to do. Swap science away from Square Rigging short of the boost, so I can build quads as long as I want, and focus on other techs. Finish the growth builds in cities - mostly already done, in fact - and then swap to district or builder mode.
I Think I'm Gwangju Like It Here
A blog about my adventures in Korea, and whatever else I feel like writing about.
A blog about my adventures in Korea, and whatever else I feel like writing about.
plus whatever from your trade routes from them and I am getting 10
Not bad for having negative gold like 15 turns ago. If I build/upgrade a bombard and put my next 2 natural envoys into Muscat, I can add another +12
and ready to chop... 
tiles. Next turn I will switch to a trader as I wait for the policy switch at Reformed Church but I plan on moving the builder north to improve around Amon. The current Builder has 4 charges left, plenty for 3 mines and a plantation. I might need to buy the grassland hill down by CMF' borders to help this guy grow but will have to look at it over the next few turns. 
for the theater square or Horus for the extra gold form the commercial hub), so you will lose 20
) and finish the wonder.