[SPOILERS] yuris125 praying to RNGesus

[yuris125]

I assume Pindicator will take the barb city well before then

Thanks, will check!

[yuris125]

Commodore's message almost feels like a threat




"Sign open borders if you want peace (sheep for sheep) to continue"

It feels a bit suicidal to not only decline, but not even send a sheep for sheep with no strings attached back, with power ratings being as they are. But I don't want to give Commodore even more commerce (he has plenty as it is), nor do I want him to think he has a free ticket to attack Pindicator without worrying about me. I'll just have to deal with his attack if it comes (or die honourably)

[yuris125]

Oh also, Pindicator did capture Gaul this turn. I really have to get Optics and take Sarmatian quickly if I want to split that continent. Alliance or no alliance, but I don't want Pindicator to claim all the land, I do need some for myself

[yuris125]

Some noteworthy info to read from the exchange regarding map trading in the tech thread. Pindicator says he keeps getting map trading requests. Commodore says he assumed they're banned, so he didn't send them. I know I didn't send them. Krill was the one to express preference against map trading, and also says he didn't do any. It definitely sounds like Pindicator has contact with Thoth. Guess I should send a scouting ship to the northwest

[yuris125]

I found another island to the east from the continent I've been exploring (the one Pindicator started to claim, but I hope to share with him). That land is definitely mine. There's some room for me to grow still

That said, I'm becoming quite concerned about our ability to stop the Commodore juggernaut, even in a 2v1. Last turn he fired a golden age and switched to Bureau / Caste / Pacifism, and he's been building every wonder under the sun. For a mercy, at least Pindicator snagged MoM, but I expect at least a 12 turns golden age, 18 is certainly not impossible. Don't think it's unrealistic for him to be close to having overhwleming tech advantage by the time it ends - be it Rifling / MilTrad or Steel, we're unlikely to have the means to stop him. At the moment I don't see the answer to this problem, not sure if one exists

[yuris125]

So the only idea I have is to research HBR and Guilds while sailing to the barb horse city, convert 5 pop into 2 knights in every city, try to get Pindicator onboard, and see if we can put a dent into Commodore

Problem is, it may be too late

For clear picture, this is the distance between the mainland and the barb city I need to take for horses




I need to build at least 5 caravels to carry 3 maces and 2 workers (don't think barbs improved the horses). It will take at least a couple turns. By my count, sailing over there will take 6 turns. 3 more turns to wait out the revolt and improve the horses (razing/resettling is an opiont, but building a settler and another caravel will take at least as long). Then a few turns to build the knights and get them in position. All in all, this gives Commodore at least 10 turns, more likely 12, to do whatever he want with his golden age

The other concern is here




Horserace Bet is my most reasonable target at the start of the war; however, it is the city where Commodore built Shwedagon Paya. It increases the value of targetting this city even further, but my point of entry is the hill where I have a stack of a longbow and a couple other units protecting a worker. By the time I'm ready to attack, this tile could well be in Commodore's culture

Attacking Commodore would be a desperation move. But I can't find another way. Using caravels to settle a dozen cities overseas (if there is enough land for a dozen cities) might let me stop falling further behind, but I doubt it would be enough to catch up

[yuris125]

The more I think about the current situation, the more I feel like the root cause is the advanced start. It is tempting to find settings which allow to cut down on the stage of the game where we do nothing but move the scout and maybe a single worker. The problem is, in this game it severely reduced the time we had for scouting

At the start of the game, Pindicator did attack Commodore with keshiks, but didn't make any gains; I suspect it was the case of trying to make gains with low investment into keshiks. Would he do more had he known how much land Commodore had to expand into, and how many forests to chop?

I expanded south because that's where the most high quality accessible land was, and ceded the middle of the continent to Pindicator. Had I known I would end up with no horses this way, my expansion priorities would've been different

Advanced start can work on an edited map, with everyone's start more or less equalised. But on a completely random map, I don't think it worked well. We want to play the hand we're dealt - but have no time to find out what the hand actually is

[yuris125]

Annoyingly, Commodore still has research visibility on me, even though I now have EP lead on him. Guess this is because he earned more EP overall?

One way around it is to research Paper. I have a great person coming up in Chance Harbor; if it's either merchant or engineer, they would bulb Guilds if I get Paper out of the way. If it is a scientist, I can bulb Education, and perhaps force Commodore into taking something cheap with Liberalism, which might be one of his golden age targets. Unfortunately, there's little value in Liberalism for me, the most beaker-efficient option is Astro, but can I afford to obsolete Colossus?

[T-hawk]

Annoyingly, Commodore still has research visibility on me, even though I now have EP lead on him. Guess this is because he earned more EP overall?

Research visibility needs 75% of what they have against you + 75. It's possible that can be true both ways, like the 30% + 30 for graphs is.

[yuris125]

Thanks, makes sense - confirm we can see each other's research as of my latest turn. Commodore is on Engineering. The knight attack feels more and more like desperation, but I still don't see another option