[Spoiler] Suboptimal Goes on a Pseudorandom Walk

[suboptimal]

Turn 50 Game Update

It was the best of games, it was the worst of games.  Mostly, though, the first 50 turns of this one were just



The Good

Um, I got a +4 Campus built.  I’ll be settling the Kilimanjaro site unimpeded, I think.  My milpower is higher than Pindicator’s, though he’s likely got a swordsman out.  My empire score is actually on-par with everyone else.

The Not So Good

The Campus got pillaged by a barbarian.  

It’s Turn 50 and my total empire population is 6 (just).  I’m in last place for science and overall score.  

My current science and culture rates.  My “internal clock” wants to be at 10 and 5, give or take, by Turn 50.  I would have been there if not for the Campus pillage.

The Ugly

My scouting, though I think even if I went scout first it wouldn’t have been much better.  I went warrior first because my initial starting position was wide open.  Then I crossed the river and, well, flat open ground is harder to find the further north you go.

Did I mention my population?  Part of me is thinking that I should have farmed the wheat earlier.

The Game Situation

Here’s my usual spreadsheet view of what’s going on in the world.  



Part of me feels like despairing, though right now my major deficiency is with science (and the fact that I’m probably the only one without the Political Philosophy inspiration).  The bottom line backs out the era scores from the totals and that’s not too bad, particularly if you also back out the wonder score from Jester.  My biggest concern right now is Pindicator’s science rate.  I need to catch up. I also noticed I failed to update my own population count.

What’s Baldrick have to say?

For the time being he’s locked up in the dungeon.

What’s the Plan?

My main objective: get to Turn 100.  You might laugh at that, but of my four previous games I only made it to Turn 100 once...and got a concession for the win.  

Cities

Linear Congruential

The current builder will complete once Liang is active.  That builder will harvest the far SW wheat, farm the W wheat, mine the iron and the amber.  I’ll finish the Government Plaza to get a governor promotion, then get another builder out while I wait for Wheel to complete.  That builder will pasture the horses, farm a floodplain and perhaps put down a chop for the water mill (or better yet, into the Ancestral Hall).  

I’ll be buying the horse tile at the start of Turn 51 at a cost of 95.  That will give me a 22 tile to work.  The plan is to go into a high-production, population stagnant configuration until I get the water mill out, at which point I’ll go high food/low production to get the growth on (the wheat tiles will be 4 each).

Linear Feedback Shift Register

The slinger will chase off the barbarian and getting the Campus rebuilt is the priority (20 to do so).  After that I want to get a four-charge builder out to get down a farm, chop some woods into a library, farm the cleared tile and then hold a charge in reserve for...something (or go to LinCon for another farm).  Once the builder and library are built I’ll get out a hoplite for the era points and then some more warriors.

Kilimanjaro

This will be settled on Turn 54 on top of the iron.  It will work the 431 ivory and build a builder (3 charges).  That builder will camp the ivory, chop the woods NE of the capital into a Campus and maybe camp the second ivory once it’s available.  After the builder the city will go Slinger → Warrior, get out a granary for housing and then walls and complete the districts (should have Drama and Poetry by then).   This city is going to grow fast: it should get to Pop 6 in 20-21 turns depending on rounding and amenities bonuses.  Pingala will be moved here once the city is founded.

Research

Techs: Masonry → Wheel → Archery → Iron Working, though the last two may swap depending on circumstances.

Civics: → Political Philosophy → Mysticism (for envoy) → Drama & Poetry (Acropolis) → Military Tradition

Governors

Liang will move to LFSR for its builder then reside in LinCon for the forseeable future.

Pingala is getting the +1 per citizen promotion from the Government Plaza.  Why that and not science?  Because the population growth at Kilimanjaro will outstrip its workable tiles without more culture.  The +1 per population promotion will come with the completion of the Ancestral Hall.  

Magnus?  Perhaps at the second round of governor promotions later on in the civics tree.

[suboptimal]

Turn 51

Open the save and there’s a Scout Hoedown at LFSR:




I move the slinger out to the Campus and start rebuilding it. My scout moves east onto the hill and finds some flat ground to move across next turn (no screenshot this turn).

Down at LinCon I buy the horses for 95. Builder would be out next turn but I swap to the Government Plaza for a turn or two as I’m now waiting on Liang.

Other forces continue moving on their appointed tasks.

Hit end turn and the scout attacked something. Just occurred to me it was probably my slinger. That should be a 24 to them and 36 to me trade.

[suboptimal]

Turn 52

Attention goes immediately to LFSR. As it turns out the barbarian scout looks like it got bored with me and wanted to spread its aggression around:




Suits me just fine. I hit the scout with the slinger for 29 points of damage. Pindicator won’t be able to kill the scout if he attacks it and I should be able to finish it off if it attacks me (though in that case Pindicator would be able to kill it).

The scout, meanwhile, moves east over the open ground and finds a nearby city on Settlervision:




So, whatever that was I was literally three hexes from finding it 30 turns ago. Fog-gazing shows borders 2 tiles southeast of the scout’s current position and they look to be military borders. The border shape puts the city center 2 tiles directly south of the 22 jungle.

Up north my warrior moves into the jungle pass. I find some desert, all hills (of course) but it’s outside Incan influence. The settler/warrior pair and slinger move closer to the Kilimanjaro site. I’ll arrive on the iron next turn. Down at LinCon I send the slinger towards the peninsula and the warrior back to the city’s borders to heal. The city will put one more turn into the Government Plaza, finish the builder and then finish the district.

In looking at the Kilimanjaro site I am revisiting putting down a Campus on the grassland forested hill NE of the iron. My reasoning there is that a lumber mill makes that a 24 tile vs. a 2 tile. I think, instead, I’ll leave that intact and put the Campus in the plains tile SE of the Acropolis location (for +1)or on the jungle hill east of the Acropolis location (for +2 and an extra ). Instead I think I’ll chop and mine the jungle SE of the iron – that’ll get me a little bit of food and production and convert the tile from 42 to 33.

I’ve also been messing around with the dotmaps in the middle. One idea has me putting a city on the wheat 4 tiles east of the Kilimanjaro city and parking a pile of districts between the two cities. I don’t know if that will be a good use of real estate yet, though. I’ve got time to ponder as the expansion push is probably 30 turns out (after I get the Ancestral Hall built).

[suboptimal]

Turn 53

Open the save, Masonry is complete. The barbarian scout at LFSR appears to have suicided itself on Pindicator’s scout as it’s nowhere to be found and the Incan is redlined (shows -6 combat penalty for damaged unit). I fortify the slinger on the Campus, which will be fully repaired next turn.

Over at LinCon I go back to building the builder as Liang is now established. Pingala will be established in LFSR next turn but that won’t mean much as he’ll be moving.

Settler and warrior move to the iron at Kilimanjaro, the slinger following them is two turns behind. Up north the warrior moves onto a jungle hill and finds the edge of a city’s zone of influence:




Given the loyalty numbers this may be the city that Pindicator just founded (Ryslatha).

Out east the scout moves SE and meets the city-state:




We’ve beaten Pindicator here so I get an envoy. They want me to trigger the eureka for Wheel (which will happen in a coupe of turns when LinCon mines the iron). I also see that Alcazars have changed – they now provide 2 and equal to half the appeal of the tile they’re built on. I’ll have to keep that in mind though I don’t have any tiles that can get the Appeal bonus. The scout finishes its movement on open ground to the east. I’ll move into the jungle NE next turn to start sweeping this area.

In other news, Woden has finished his sixth civic and is probably the first to a government. Pindicator has also hooked up a second luxury resource (tea).

[suboptimal]

Turn 54

Open the save. Pingala has established in LFSR and the Campus there is rebuilt. Which is nice, but…




I get 3 era points for settling there, pushing me into a normal age. Ah, well, I needed the city location. Pingala moves here and will have the culture promotion by the time he’s active. Acorn starts a builder, the warrior fortifies in place to heal and the slinger moves into the city’s territory.

Over at LFSR I start a builder. I’ll have to stall that for a turn or so while Liang moves. After the builder I’ll build a warrior then start a library or walls depending on what Pindicator does. For the time being I keep the slinger fortified on the Campus.

Scout to the east moves northeast, finds forest and jungles. I’ll continue northeast for the time being.

Over at LinCon the builder is out. I resume the Government Plaza (3 turns left) and move Liang to LFSR. The builder moves out to the wheat and will harvest it next turn. After that it’s farm the wheat, mine the iron and mine the amber. The slinger down here moves out onto the peninsula and doesn’t find much. I’ll screenshot it next turn once I get on top of the hill that’s in front of me. Warrior fortifies in the city to heal.

Way up north I move to the NW and see the borders of the reliious city state near Incaland. That will secure me the Political Philosophy inspiration by the end of next turn. That will have me in a new government on Turn 59.

Internationally, Pindicator has doubled his culture rate up to 12.7 per turn. Yowza. I’m willing to bet he’s using Pingala to do this. Actually, that would also explain his science rate if he went triple-Pingala on the governors. He’s also upgraded another warrior to a swordsman based on his gold spend.

[suboptimal]

Turn 55

Open the save to a complaint about amenities in LFSR. Geez, I’m working on it.

Up north I move onto a desert hill and meet Yerevan, completing the inspiration for Political Philosophy. They would like me to earn a Great Prophet. Yeah, no. Scout in the east finds a band of jungle. That’ll make scouting a bit more difficult.

Slinger at LinCon moves up on the hill, finds a rather barren plain covering an empty peninsula:




Back at the capital I harvest the wheat for 43 LinCon grows to 4 pop and I put the new pop to work on the iron mine. The new population will have the Government Plaza completed next turn.

I shuffle units at Acorn and the turn is complete. Hit end turn, hear the barbarian camp sounder.

[suboptimal]

Turn 56

A barbarian camp has indeed turned up – in the desert south of Kilimanjaro.




I’m surprised that the camp is that close. I thought there was a minimum distance between a camp and a city. I dispatch the warrrior and slinger to go deal with it. Further south on the peninsula I send the slinger another tile east to start revealing coast. I find out this thing it a bit bigger than expected…




Nearby I bring the builder back into LinCon. It’ll move onto the iron next turn. I send the warrior towards the southeastern tundra. I’ve realized that I’m on my own continent and have only seen 3 out of four luxuries that should be here and am wondering if there may be furs or something in the tundra. I was going to build a monument here but instead I build a trader. I’ll relocate it to Acorn and establish a trade route between there and Bologna. After the trader completes I’ll spit out some 2-turn warriors to boost the military a little bit (just in case) before building the ancestral hall and water mill.

With the Government Plaza complete I promote Pingala with Connoisseur. He’ll add on 2 once established in Acorn and then it’ll grow from there.

Up north I send the warrior to the east. I want to see where Incaland starts up here.

In the far east I send the scout northeast and it meets Auckland:




I’m the first to meet so gain the envoy, +2 in the capital for non-unit builds and they want me to build a Campus. The scout will continue to move north to see what’s up there.

[suboptimal]

Turn 57

Acorn has grown to pop 2. I set the new population to work the 42 tile to the southeast. The barbarian scout has also advanced and can be attacked by the slinger. I bring the warrior down but still across the river and let loose with the slinger for 38 points of damage.

Up north the warrior moves east onto a hill and within range of Incan loyalty:




Looks like the city, probably the capital, is to the northeast.

Down on the peninsula the slinger moves west again, finding some seafood and what looks to be the end of land. I’ll need to move west once more to be absolutely sure. The warrior moves down to the horses and will start defogging southeast next turn and the builder is on the iron.

The scout out east finds a river with some actual food resources:




No signs of any more cities out here.

Two bits of housekeeping before ending the turn – I switch from Wheel to Archery. Wheel is at eureka + 1 turn and the eureka will be next turn. I’ll finish Archery, finish Wheel and then do Iron Working.

The second bit of housekeeping is to purchase the 2nd ring jungle at Acorn for the Campus placement. Right now civics are driving my costs and the second ring tile is only 65. When the builder is done I’ll place the first camp, harvest the jungle (for 21.5 and ) and place the Campus (build cost of 117) but not start it yet.

I do take a look at my available trade routes, since my options have expanded quite a bit with the founding of Acorn and finding additional city-states. Bologna offers the best route right now at 31. That’ll also let me establish a trading post in Acorn and then I should be able to run that route from LinCon for a bit more gold. I have a feeling that will be a limiting factor in this game unless there are some mercantile city-states on the map.

[suboptimal]

Turn 58

Open the save, look around the map, all seems quiet. I start out in the west by moving the slinger and warrior towards the camp. That reveals one fortified spearman and one previously wounded scout, as expected. Hopefully the spearman breaks fortification and moves up since it can see the slinger. Any culture I get here is getting dumped into Drama & Poetry, though I may be giving up overflow if I kill something next turn...

Down at the peninsula the slinger confirms the end of land but finds what appears to be a grassland island to the northwest, and it’s got rice. Now, maybe after Sailing comes in I can put a settler here for a low-yield coastal city, but that’s a backfill more than anything else. Warrior moves into the tundra and finds...nothing yet. Builder mines the iron, gaining me the eurekas for Wheel and Iron Working, along with a second envoy in Granada (good timing, too, as it’s two turns before the era turns over). That builder will get down a farm (and the eureka for Irrigation) and then go mine the amber.

In the north I find an Incan slinger acting as a picket, along with borders to the east:




Dunno if I’ll press on towards the borders or not. I’d like to but I’ll see if more forces show up here.

In the far east a barbarian scout has emerged from the fog to my scout’s northeast. I move north to the river, avoiding the scout’s ZoC until I’m riverside. Settlervision shows no cities of interest, only some Incan loyalty influence from a probably city in the fog to the northwest.

Movements complete I am now left to ponder what to do at LFSR. I need to stall the builder for a turn to make sure Liang is active before it completes. What to do? Well, I’d like to get a library built but I’d also like some units, preferably with Agoge still in. I’ll be completing Political Philosophy next turn and switching into Classical Republic. I’ll get the envoy from Bologna for the trade route so don’t immediately need to complete Mysticism for the envoy. Likewise I don’t know that I need the flanking & support bonuses as Pindicator looks like he still in a peaceful mindset. So, the partial plan, as driven by LFSR’s empty build queue:

- Policies in the new government will be Agoge & Discipline (Wildcard Slots), Urban Planning, Caravansaries and Charasmatic Leader.
- I’ll build two warriors then start the library. The warriors will take 3 turns each, the library is currently 11 but I’ll be gaining a population (and chopping) in the interim.
- The builder will chop a forest (into the library), put down two farms and then sit tight (or harvest another forest into the library).

Hit end turn and hear a barbarian scout attack something. Dunno which scout did the attacking, though.

[suboptimal]

Turn 59

Open the save, Poitical Philosophy is complete. My scout was the one that got attacked by the barbarians, while by Acorn the scout disappeared and the spearman has indeed emerged from its camp. Liang has settled in at LFSR and Pingala is also active in Acorn, so that city is now generating 3 per turn. Up north the Incan picket disappeared into the fog. Time to do stuff.

First things first, government. Classical Republic is in, another 3 era points. Set up the policies as described in the last turn report. With all of the changes and Pingala active both Mysticism and Military Tradition are down to 3 turns while Drama & Poetry is down to 12 turns. I’ll get one or both of the cheapies down to 1 turn to keep them in reserve for policy changes (like getting out of Agoge). However, I start Drama & Poetry because I expect a barbarian to die during the interturn...

At Acorn the slinger attacks the spearman for 24 damage. The warrior attacks does another 53 damage. If the spearman attacks the warrior it will die. Either way I’ll clear the camp next turn (or rather, I’ll wait until Turn 61 for the era points).

Units in the south move on their appointed rounds. At LFSR I switch production back to the builder, that will complete nex turn. In the north I move my warrior east one hex, find the picket in the woods and then move NW, remaining in the open desert. I’ll move east into the woods next turn.

Out east I can attack the barbarian scout or move across the river. I do the latter, remaining adjacent to the scout. If it’s still feeling aggressive it can attack me across the river. The move does pay some dividends as Settlervision shows a city to the northeast:




No borders visible in the fog but I’ll most likely make contact next turn by moving to the wheat.

Before I end the turn I switch techs to Iron Working. Archery and Wheel are at one turn and Acorn’s builder is out on Turn 61. With the amenity from Classical Republic I don’t need to go camp-first so the builder will chop a jungle and I’ll lock in a Campus at a build cost of 97. My district cost calculations aren’t quite matching up with the game (the game is lower), most likely due to the Future Age stuff that was added, so I want to be conservative here just in case the techs start jacking up the cost (and I need to recount techs & civics for the game progress calculation). That will also let me get out a couple more slingers if I choose (I’ll probably build one at LinCon).

Hit end turn, hear no barbarian attacks.