[SPOILERS] Woden gets swept away by the Gathering Storm in PBEM15

[Woden]

Turn 142
Open the save to...



I start The Enlightenment and will switch to Mercantilism when it is at 1 turn. Time for a policy swap..



Out goes Veterancy and Chivalry and in goes Maritime Industries and Feudal Contracts. Maritime Industries as I want to build some quadriremes before Square Rigging finishes and Feudal Contracts to build some Immortals. A crossbow finishes at Derecho and I start an Immortal. Three horsemen will finish next turn and I will start some Immortals and a quadrireme.

Out east or west, depends on how you want to look at it, the world is getting smaller...



There is a coastal tile (the 2-yield tile southeast of the boat) is view and my horseman tries to get vision on a city center. I would like to get a spy over here but I don't have vision on a city center. The only one I have vision on is on the east side and it looks like there is a seas west of it. Horseman will continue north. That is about it for moves. Now to talk about why I need about 1,400 before I can start buying settlers...



I am going to poach both the next Great Scientist and Great General on T147, which is the turn both will earn them. The general to have around to help my Muskets in case someone gets frisky and the scientist to build a library and university at El Nino. If I don't poach the next scientist, I won't get another one for a while because suboptimal will have passed me in points around the time pindicator can recruit it naturally. That should help my science rate a bit and I might be able to overtake suboptimal is science rate. The down side is that the next one might the one that gives 250 per mountain and I think pindicator has some pretty nice mountain ranges around him. But right now that might be 1 free tech, he will probably take Industrialism plus a chunk of other tech and I can live with that right now.

[Woden]

Turn 143
Open the save to this surprise...



A tornado east of Derecho. Luckily it says it will head east so Derecho is fine but it will probably wipe out those mines and Pairadezia at Iverison Clouds. Maybe it will kill suboptimal's scout. One could hope. 

Three horsemen finish and I start 2 Immortals and a quadrireme. I should have 4 new Immortals in 4 turns. I switch over Inversion Clouds and Ground Blizzard to quadriremes...because...



Suboptimal has 2 knights sitting off the coast of his city here. There is the one shown and 1 just west of it. Now why would he have them sitting in the ocean? Only really one reason I can think of and that is to sail over and attack me...with knights? Their time is coming to and end. If he sails this turn, I should have 6 or 7 turns before they see my eastern shore and I should have muskets, plus defender of the faith, plus a Great General, plus..the oligarchy legacy card and should have Nationalism in 13 or so turns. With his GG, his knights will be 53 strength plus whatever flanking bonus he can muster. My GG, DofT, OLC powered muskets will attack at 69. Is it enough to 1-shot them, probably not, but 2-shot for sure. Add in my promoted Immortals turn muskets and you can add another 7 strength. Then once I hit Nationalism, make a few corps for another +10. That would be a couple of 88 strength muskets fighting 53 strength knights or 60 strength muskets. I think I should be able to do fairly well against cavalry with those muskets. That is the reason I am building a bunch of Immortals right now and I might actually research Naval Tradition or Exploration to delay my next civic swap to get a few more out.

Another thing that bugs me about this is that he has to realize that pindicator is preparing for war, right? And with his army in my direction, he is vulnerable to an attack. We have all been slowly increasing in Military Power and saving gold. I sure the others have some of the next generation of units available now and Pindicator did dive into the Industrial Era tech for something. It feels like this game is ready to explode into war...but the problem is, whoever goes to war is giving a big boost to the odd man out. Suboptimal attacks me...then pindicator attacks him and takes all his cities. Pindicator attacks me..suboptimal attacks him and takes his cities. They attack each other and I continue building and become a huge threat. They both attack me...and waste a bunch of units and hurt me, maybe. The coming turns are going to be interesting...and it sucks that there has been a bunch of delays lately and we are not on a regular schedule. At the current rate, war might not start until suboptimal has to pause for his vacation at the end of September. 

well, I think this game is about to get interesting for the lurkers. Of coarse, they could realize that war will futile with the terrain and it will just become a game of chicken with large armies sitting around, soaking up coin.

[Woden]

Turn 144

First turn with the new patch. I briefly looked around for a few things that were suppose to change but didn't find much. Not sure if they set it up so the changes wouldn't impact current games or something else. For example, I looked to see if my lighthouses that were next to the city center had additional housing, but...




No extra housing. This doesn't mean it is not in the game, maybe it determines housing when it is built? I will have to check it out when I build my next lighthouse. Also, are those district markers new? I don't remember seeing them before. I did check and river flooding is still at 0% and I still can't place dams, so we don't have to deal with flooding still.

Anyways, open the save to...



I start Siege tactics and will work on that for a few turns. Polar Vortex finishes a Theater District for 4 and +3 era points. My eastern boats circumnavigate the map, for another +4 points, and find suboptimal's city Xorshift with a knight inside. Pindicator spent all his gold but his power is still the same. Should see a big increase next turn. 

I have a bunch of cities building Immortals and will finish Gunpowder as soon as they finish...



As expected, the tornado by Derecho ripped through the mines and Pairaedsia and took out the rice farm at Polar Vortex but luckily missed the Holy Site. I have a builder with 1 charge left that will come repair. Luckily, it only removed 1 improvement and only damaged the remaining ones. The twister is still east of Polar Vortex and hopefully it moves to the sea. I did spot suboptimal's scouting Artist just of the coast of Polar Vortex. I suspect he is going to try and see if he can spot the city center for his coming attack. But then again, a big jump in Pindicator's military power my move those knights back ashore.

[Woden]

Turn 145
Fairly quite turn as I wait for stuff to finish. One Immortal finished at Bomb Cyclone and starts another. Tornado has cleared up and didn't casue anymore damage. Builder repairs the first damaged mine at Polar Vortex. 

Suboptimal's scout embark into the water but his scouting Artist has disembarked due east of Polar Vortex. I don't think he can gain vision on the city center but I do send a horseman over to block if I can; want to keep him off the hills.

Over at Greece...



I have uncovered boundaries for what looks to be 4 cities. Northern boat will kill the scout, gaining the boost to Naval Tradition and giving me a 1-turn civic to use for a policy swap if needed, then sail to defog the north. Southern boat will continue to defog the coast in the south and see if there are anymore coastal cities. Horseman is going to search for city centers by, first, scouting the border split and then backtracking around the borders if need be. 

Pindicator's power is now 800 (was 588) and suboptimal's is 821. If pindicator does declare on suboptimal, it should be a stalemate unless one of them is not really prepared for war, which is doubtful. We should see a war declaration in the next few turns, unless pindicator is targeting me, then I should see units in the northern sea with my General that ha wondered up there. I should get a unit over to watch the tunnel, since the General was there, then I decided to scout out the north. 

New city next turn and I should be able to finish Gunpowder in 4 turns and upgrade a few Immortals.

[Woden]

Turn 146
Another quite turn. no war declaration from pindicator on suboptimal. I am starting to worry he might be aiming for me. He does have that tunnel by Brussels...



I have Sun Tzu over by pindicator's shoreline scouting out for units in the water and have dispatched a horseman to keep an eye on the tunnel. That should give me some warning if he marshes this way. I am probably just paranoid, since suboptimal would be the easier target but better safe than dead.

My horseman over by suboptimal's land has found borders for 5 different cities but hasn't laid eyes on any city centers except the one on the coast, Xorshift. The northern boat killed the scout and gained the boost to Naval Tradition. Now I have a 1-turn civic in case I need an emergency policy swap or want to upgrade something down the road. 

Immortal finishes at Micro Burst and I start a Catapult. Quadrireme finishes at Thundersnow and I start another. Suboptimal's scouting Artist has disembarked and trying to see Polar Vortex's city center. I don't think he can since the city had all of its 2nd ring tiles. His scout has embarked and most likely going to sail around Inversion Clouds.

And, I almost forgot, I settled a new city "F1 Tornado". Shown in the above screenshot. It started an aqueduct, that will be chopped as soon as Magnus has established. 


Turn 147
Finally, the other 2 players are going to fight...



Let them waste a bunch of production while I expand and get stronger. I wish I had vision on this areas so I can tell if pindicator is going to roll over suboptimal. Pindicator has the tech advantage and most likely better units. Suboptimal has about 180 more military strength and a bunch of gold for upgrades. Should be a stalemate. A big problem will be if one of them rolls over the other quickly. By the time the next ear starts I should have more cities than both combined but their cities will be larger and improved, while half of mine will be fairly new. If one conquers the other, could be difficult to win...if not, I think has finally become my game to lose. Of coarse, they could clash for 10 turns and then realize they need to focus on me and turn their armies east...but I should be ready.

I opened the save to a Great Merchant...



200 and 2 envoys is pretty nice. I will wait until my next policy swap and put a couple of envoys into the commercial city state and hopefully I can find something interesting on the northern coast. There should be a few more city states on the map that I have not met and I suspect there should be one on the coast somewhere in the north. My northern boat is heading that way and has found a city under the fog using settler vision. Should know next turn.

Pindicator will earn his Great Scientist next turn and suboptimal, his General. I have enough faith to buy them both. With the war declaration, I started second guessing if I should buy them. Would it give one of the others an advantage/disadvantage? The next Scientist should be the one that gives 250 per mountain and could be worth 1,250 to pindicator. He is already ahead in tech and could he reach something better...something that could let him overrun suboptimal? As for the General...does suboptimal's defense depend on getting a second General? Will he collapse quickly if I deny him it? Remember, I need there to be a stalemate. After looking at the techs and military power, I don't think losing either one will give either of them a huge advantage, so I buy them both. The way I see it, suboptimal has more power, so he can go another 10 turns before getting the next General. Also, it gives pindicator some time to kill some of those units and weaken suboptimal. I really don't want suboptimal to kill pindicator's units because he gets free culture. Better to have pindicator have better units for a little bit...and I don't think pindicator could reach anything too powerful right now. I think he has a few techs before Infantry, which would slaughter suboptimal right now. 

Okay, just spend about 3 settlers worth of faith on 2 great people...was it worth it? I think so...it gives me 4% more culture due to Ant...whatever their name is and better universities. I didn't really need the General but better to have him around just in case. I should be able to catch up to pindicator's science rate soon-ish and if I stick to trying to get the techs boosted, I might be able to take the lead in number of techs. It will be a while before I take the lead on the tree.

I move into an expansion and development phase. Until the next Era change (~30 or so turns), it is all about faith generation and expansion, plus build walls everywhere...Medieval and Renaissance walls in every city until I reach Civil Engineering and limes goes away...

Quick side note, it is kind of funny that I am once again in the lead position and delaying Civil Engineering...it is what got me into trouble in PBEM2 but that is back when Urban Defenses was at Civil Engineering and I was naive in thinking that it didn't add much to defensive strength, but forgot it increased the walls health substantially. But now, Steel is where Urban Defenses is located and they increased the health of all the walls. medieval walls now have the same health as urban defenses did back then.

So, why do I want to build Renaissance walls? Well, they give tourism and I can get science from them. The policy card that adds +2 to military academies and seaports also grants it to Renaissance walls. Fifteen cities equals 30 As for the tourism, I am thinking I might try a cultural victory. It will probably be quicker than the spaceship. I don't think the game will last that long, especially if I can get more cities than the others combined but I will work towards a cultural victory while keeping competitive in science. My next civic goal will be to go to Conservation and be able to plant trees...And I can get there before Civil Engineering. Now Conservation is not on my beeline path but everything leading up to it is, so it is only a 1 civic detour and being able to plant trees is worth it...lots of lumber mills everywhere. 

I swapped out of Mercantilism this turn and will put a turn into Exploration as I am waiting for 2 immortals to finish next turn. Then I will swap in Gunpowder and Mercantilism and do some upgrades after the policy swap. I should be able to get my military power close to suboptimal's in a few turns. Well, taht shoudl be enough rambling for now.

[Woden]

Turn 148
Start turn off over in the east. I move my quad up and find...



Not one but two city states! Bologna wants me to build an Entertainment Complex and Yerevan was the boost to Exploration. I will get the boost for Exploration next turn and will be awhile before I build another Entertainment Complex. I will need to find a place for one and will need to build a few, since my expansion will definitely stretch my luxuries and they are discounted. I will also build a few Water Parks when they become available. 
The remaining Immortals finish, so I switch my research to Mercantilism and Gunpowder to finish next turn. Polar Vortex starts the Grand Master's Chapel so I can faith buy units if need be. One thing I am surprised by in this game is that neither opponent has developed their faith economy. No pursuit of a religion or developed any faith generation. They are ignoring one of the gold economies in this game. With Monumentality, Jesuit Education, and the Grand Master's Chapel, there are plenty of things you can do with faith not centered around religion. Of coarse, I have the perfect pairing of Civilization and Pantheon and am generating a lot of faith, but still...neither has even built a Holy Site. I guess it is their loss.

Anyways, I figured I would show my empire since I haven't in a while. Here is my original start...



As stated earlier, Polar Vortex is building the Chapel. Derecho is currently working on an University for the boost to Printing. Bomb Cyclone is building an Engineer and will build a second. Both will place forts to boost Ballistics and then hang out until railroads become available. Ground Blizzard will start a shipyard as soon as it can and Inversion Clouds and Sun Dogs will work on walls as soon as I get limes in play.

Up north...



Micro Burst and La Nina are working on catapults to boost Siege Tactics. El Nino is working on a Temple and will build a Theater Square afterwards. Thundersnow will build its granary and a shipyard after the boat. F1 Tornado will chop out the aqueduct and then walls before starting an encampment. Need to make that city a fortress to defend any land attack. With the boats in the southern sea and F1 Tornado, I should be pretty well defended from an attack by suboptimal from the west and once I get Frigates, the eastern seas should be well defended. My only weak spot is the sea in the northeast. Pindicator could sail across the northern sea and attack from the north. The plan is to settle Thunderstorm next and chop out a few quads before I finish Square Rigging. Then I should be a little safer up there. 


Turn 149
Start off with...



and...



Time for a major policy swap...



Maritime Industries and Scripture are the only 2 to stay, the rest go in for this turn and then I will swap out a bunch next turn. With Triangle Trade, my income shouldn't be hurt too much. It went from 65 to 48, not too bad. It improves as I put 2 envoys into the commerce city state. Side note, not sure if Firaxis changed it this patch or last but not commerce city states provide gold to markets and lighthouses but only +2 to each. I also put an envoy into both Bologna and Yerevan. 

I up grade my chariot to a knight, my last archer to a crossbow, 2 galleys into Caravels (earning a 3 envoy into Yerevan for boosting Exploration), and all my higher promoted Immortals and a few un-promoted into Muskets (5 total, I think). Spent most of my gold with only 57 left. My power should be greater than the others now and shouldn't look like an easy target.

I noticed something weird...



The city UI says Bomb Cyclone is not growing but has plenty of food and no housing reduction. No sure what is going on here, might just be short of growth by a fraction of food and will be fixed next turn but I hope it is not bugged. The stupid encampment health bar blocks my city screen, so I can tell if it was at 1 turn to grow last turn. We will see next turn. 

Scouting General up north spots one of pindicator's cities (Ryslatha) in the north. City in population 6 with no walls. Part of me wonders if I should sail across the northern seas and attack pindicator back lines, then again, it will be a while before I am ready for that type of action...but still I might move up my units and prepare if I decide to do it. Over by suboptimal's lands, my horseman should get vision on one of suboptimal's cities next turn. The city is on the coast of the small sea and has not grabbed its second ring water tiles. Might find a good city for a spy to get vision on this region but I still need to build one. I will have to see where I can fit it in. 

In other news, I was playing a SP game and came across a undocumented change to the game...



Civil Engineering no longer obsoletes Limes I am pretty sure this was changed this last patch but I could be mistaken and it was changed in the patch before. Definitely a need change. Anyways, I just realized it was changed and no longer need to delay Civil Engineering. Now, I just need to delay Steel as I get walls up everywhere.

[Woden]

Turn 150
Open the save to...



And...



Time to swap out of my upgrading policies...



I keep Maritime Industries in for the time being as there are a few more ships being built. I will swap it out for limes in 3 turns. As for the wild card slot, I don't really need anything there right now and can swap in 3 turns, so I go with Natural Philosophy to shave a turn off the next tech. 

I look around it seems suboptimal has finally met Antananarivo and put in 4 envoys, taking over as suzerain. And I just spent all my envoys. And since he is at war with pindicator, he will also meet my little secret. Suboptimal is getting good value, as he has 12 great people for 24% more culture. Part of me thinks I should just declare on suboptimal and take the city state out but part of me wants to keep them around and I am reach a part of the civic tree where there are a lot on envoys. Let's look at my next options...



I go with Colonialism. It has 2 envoys and then there are another 5 envoys if I go to Conservation. I will also earn 2 in 9 turns. I don't know if I have to go to Conservation just yet but at least I have the option. I will dump a few in Antananarivo the next chance I get. Besides, even with 24% more culture, I am still 40 ahead of him and now I lead in the science rate too.

In other news, a barb boat shows up at Drought and pillages the fishing boats. I take a pot shot with the city. A barb camp has spawned north of the city and I dispatch a musket to take it out and earn the boost to Square Rigging. My horseman for by suboptimal has found the city of "Linear Feedback Shift Register" (how does that even fit?) I also buy a settler at Derecho. I was going to buy the first one at F1 next turn but suboptimal has another scouting Artist by Sun Dogs and I want to try and block hi from coming ashore near my capital. The settler will head to the desert city location and found in 4 turns. I should have enough faith to buy the next settler at F1 before the chopping is done and I can move Magnus to a more central location.

[Woden]

Turn 151
Not much going on these last few turns. Cities are building and units are scouting. I did open the save to a massive hurricane of the coast of Ground Blizzard...



It damaged the caravel and I send him south to get out of harms way. Hope it doesn't wreck Ground Blizzard.  El Nino grows to size 15, becoming the largest city in the world and earning 2 era points. Magnus has established in F1, so I chop the first Jungle and grow to size 2 and has enough food for another population next turn. 

I checked the era timer and there are 30 turns left until the next Era. Plenty of time to get settlers out. Should be able to get 7 new cities before I can't faith buy them anymore. I will need to get out more military to protect it all. I am leading in Military power now but still am vulnerable to a focused attack since I am spread out.  I will have to see about getting a few crossbows out before I finish Ballistics.


Turn 152
Open save to a wonderful surprise. Barb camp spawned in the north a few turns ago and I dispatched a Musket and Knight. The barb skirmisher decided to come say hello...



57 vs 20 is not much of a match and musket 1-shots him, giving me the boost to Square Rigging. Nice! As soon as I settle the coastal city east of El Nino and chop out a few quadiremes, I will finish it and upgrade to a few frigates. 

At F1, builder chops a second jungle and finishes the aqueduct. City starts some walls. I was going to chop another jungle before moving Magnus but don't think I am going to. Builder has 2 charges left and can mine a hill and put a Pairaediza on another one to give the citizens some decent tiles to work. I will leave the chopping for another day. Mangus will move next turn, after I buy a settler. He will go to Bomb Cyclone for a central location to spit out the remaining settlers and possibly do a little chopping there. 

El Nino finishes a temple and starts a Theater Square and Micro Burst finishes the fist catapult and starts on its workshop. La Nina will finish the second one next turn and start working on its Industrial Zone. Colonialism is down to 1 turn and I switch to Nationalism as I wait for Metal Casting to finish. I will upgrade both catapults after the policy swap. I am debating if I should put the envoys for Colonialism into Antananarivo or Bologna. If I put them into Bologna, I can steal the suzerain for a turn or two and get vision on that part of the world and if suboptimal has any envoys in reserve, make him waste it on them. Then I can put the two envoys I earn in 7 turns into Antananarivo and place Amani with my next title to make it hard for him to gain control of them.  Or, I can just put them into Anananarivo to fight control. I am thinking I like the Bologna plan better, since it will also give me the extra science to libraries.  

One last thought, I am not sure how much fighting is going on in the west, no cities swapped/lost and not much of a decrease in military power on either side. Definitely looks like a stalemate. All I need now is for them NOT to realize the best play here will be to join forces and attack me.

[Woden]

Turn 153
Surprisingly early turn today. For the last few weeks, suboptimal has been playing his turns towards then end of his window but today he played the turn when he use too. Nice, maybe we can get a second turn in today.

Anyways, start the turn buying a settler and moving Magnus...



I put him Bomb Cyclone for a few reasons. It is centrally located to where I want my new cities to go and the city has a few lumber milled forests that I can chop. I will soon be able to plant forests, so it is time to start clearing out the old growth forests and jungles. I am going to try to chop out the Great Bath for a little more housing and a luxury and chop out the workshop. Both should almost complete with 1 chop. To do the chopping I will have the builder from Flash Flood move up there after it the city is settled and I improve a few tiles. Also, with where Bomb Cyclone is located, I will send the settlers to the farthest locations first. Then, I might be able to settle a bunch of cities around the same time...give a little shock to the other players.

Over by suboptimal, I have defogged a bit of the inland sea...



I am a little surprised by how lonely his capital looks. Him and pindicator must have met fairly early and decided to settle towards each other. I am also a little surprised that suboptimal has not settled farther east, by the city states. 

Over on the west coast. here is what I have defogged so far...



I don't see and cities on settler-vision. The area under the fog must be desert or a lot of flat land. There is a surprising amount of land along this coast that has remained unsettled. A bunch around suboptimal's capital and a bunch up here. It may not be the best land but a city is a city and some have nice water tiles to work. 

In other news, pindicator has finish Petra and must be the city southeast of Yerevan. You can see the added yields on the desert hill directly south of the city. Not going to be able to build it at Flash Flood. No biggie, I was only going to build it if it was still available and for addition culture for a few Theater Squares. I will have plenty to build in that city regardless.  

La Nina finishes a catapult and starts the Industrial Zone. Now have 2 for the boost to Siege Tactics. Next turn, I will swap back to Colonialism next turn so I can upgrade them in 2 turns. Drought has finally finished its market and starts working on a Trader. Sun Dogs finishes a Quadrimeme and starts a granary. Settler makes it to the location of Flash Flood but will hold off on settling until I can get Serfdom back in play in 2 turns.

[Woden]

Turn 153
The turn did come back around tonight. Another quite turn for me. Barb boat showed up in the Northeast sea by Yerevan and my quadireme shots at it once. My musket up north of Drought moves next to the camp and will start working on the Pike and Shot (?) next turn. The knight is with him to provide a flank bonus but will be pretty much useless against him. 

Suboptimal's scouting artist is poking around my core but shouldn't get vision on my capital, Derecho, or Bomb Cyclone because they all have all of their 2nd ring tiles. I might be able to trap him in if I want to buy a few tiles once I settle Flash Flood. Not sure where is scout or the other great person went. My guess is either in the north or back to his lands. 

Here is my northern cities...



Thundersnow finishes a granary this turn and starts a monument while I wait to place Limes. I switch civics to Colonialism to finish next turn for a policy swap and do some upgrades.