[SPOILERS - PBEM17] Kyan Does Dallas. The Orange Sensation.

[oledavy]

Espionage would be a fun way to stir the pot; is it allowed?

Nope, thankfully. Though, it would be rather fun to play with at this point.

I have two idling great generals and two 7xp infantrymen courtesy of Shoot. Pending how he wants to see this game play out, I've been toying with the idea of teching military science, attaching the GGs to create a pair of commando units, and then attempting a PB1 on both Darrell and NoSpace to stop the spaceships in their tracks. The drawback is that they're all RB veterans, and are likely to consider this possibility. It's a longshot, but it's the best I've got at this point.

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but the way it works is that if you're capital is razed in the process of the Space Race, you lose all your progress towards the spaceship? Alternatively, if it is already launched, it is recalled?

This isn't exactly a game mechanic I've needed to consider before

[NobleHelium]

Razing/capturing the capital is how you stop a spaceship that's already launched, yeah. I don't know what happens if you raze the capital before the ship is launched, not sure if they lose their parts or not.

I wasn't around on the site when PB1 happened but I really don't see why rego didn't just pile a bunch of units into his capital after his spaceship launched, not like he needed to do anything else to win.

[oledavy]

Thursday evening, paper to write, flying to New York tomorrow....and civ

Upon looking at this save, I decided to sit on it for a little while and really go through my cities, to try and come up with a micro plan of sorts for each of them. It's an aspect of my gameplay that I really need to improve upon, so I might as well get some practice here. I generally shy away from posting stuff like this, because it gets boring quickly and I like following a game with interesting macro decisions more than a game with amazing micro. However, tonight, going to go in great detail and spam some posts.

So first off, the turn overview

[SIZE="4"]Turn 157[/SIZE]

Another turn of rebuilding the empire.

I spread Buddhism to a 24th city, and hit Shoot up for another gpt....



...and saw 30 more go out the door for Plako/Moscow.



Shoot began gifting my surviving East Indiamen back to me. Three down, two to go.





He also founded a city in the old SevenSpirits location:



I now have espionage visibility on a half-dozen Indian cities, including Capital





Highlighted are the four great scientists NoSpace has chilling in the city. I informed Darrell of their presence. He's not sure he can beat them to Alpha Centauri.

My airships are continuing to keep tabs on both him and NoSpace.

Lastly, again for the sake of good reporting, my tech spreadsheet:



Shoot finished electricity last turn, no other techs fell worldwide.

I could have finished liberalism this turn, but opted to spend a turn saving max gold instead. This will allow me to run 100% on it next turn and get max overflow of beakers out of the known civ bonus - all three of the other already have the tech.

Okay, now for the boring part.

[oledavy]

[SIZE="3"]Jerusalem[/SIZE]

Relevant Data

Max Science: -615 Gold
Max Gold: +911 Gold
Break-Even: ~59%, ~1100 beakers



Priorities:
- Getting Wall Street online
- Growing to work all those cottages, to this end, the city is not getting whipped again for the remainder of the game

The plan here is to finish the dike - which will give the city +10 base hammers each turn. I'll be switching from working that grassland hamlet to working that plains cottage circled in red for t158 to finish the dike a turn sooner. The city grows in 4t to work that plains cottage on a permanent basis, which will all serve to bring the city's base production up to 16 hpt, a nice round number to be modified y the force to 20 hpt. The 17th pop will steal that rice tile back from Constantinople to grow the city faster, with the aim of working the blue-circled cottage and te yellow-circled cottage that Acre is currently growing. After this, I'm growing the city to work four specialists (+7 food surplus pre-biology, +9 post biology, I haven't figured out the best way to make it an even number yet.). The city have +235% science modifiers and +75% gold modifiers (soon to be +200%), so it makes sense to alternate running scientists and merchants here. The city will max out at 23 pop.

The build order I have in mind after the dike finishes is thus:

Grocer (4t) - Finishes t162
Factory (8t) - Finishes t170
Coal Plant (4t) - Finishes t174
Wall Street (13t) Finishes t189

Production:

Jerusalem with Forge + Dike = 20 hpt
Jerusalem with Forge + Dike + Factory = 24 hpt
Jerusalem with Forge + Dike + Factory + Coal Plant = 32 hpt

The grocer is currently experiencing hammer decay. I don't have that many hammers invested into it so I thought briefly about just losing it and going straight for Wall Street. But then ran the numbers and realized not building it loses me ~220 gold over the course of those turns while I'm building Wall Street, and I'll soon need the bonus health the combat the unhealthiness from the factory.

Opting to get the factory and coal plant online before Wall Street (vs. going Grocer -> Wall Street) delays it's completion by 5t, over the course of which I lose ~220 gold (deja vu). However, I thought the benefits of getting that infrastructure in place sooner outweighed the benefits of going straight into it.

Health will soon be a serious issue here, I may need those spices back from Darrell. Happiness however, will not. I wrote all the turns out to make sure the numbers work, I'll have to run an engineer specialist for one turn in the middle of it to make things work out, but overall, things are looking good here

[NobleHelium]

I could have finished liberalism this turn, but opted to spend a turn saving max gold instead. This will allow me to run 100% on it next turn and get max overflow of beakers out of the known civ bonus - all three of the other already have the tech.

Beaker overflow, just like all other overflow, is divided by its multipliers to get the base overflow before being carried over to the next tech, whereupon that tech's multipliers will be applied to the base amount. Something like this doesn't do anything.

[oledavy]

Beaker overflow, just like all other overflow, is divided by its multipliers to get the base overflow before being carried over to the next tech, whereupon that tech's multipliers will be applied to the base amount. Something like this doesn't do anything.

*sigh* Another misconception I've been operating under for a long time. oh well, thanks for pointing it out

[SIZE="3"]Constantinople[/SIZE]



Right now, Constantinople is working on completing that next great person for me, due in seven turns. I am now running four engineer specialists, for 24 hammers base. I want to grow this city out to work all those Moai -powered coastal tiles and that pair of workshops. Once I get all the relevant buildings in place, this city is going to be ridiculously productive.

Base: 24 hpt
Forge + Ironworks: 54 hpt
Forge + Ironworks + Factory: 60 hpt
Forge + Ironworks + Factory + Coal Plant: 72 hpt

Especially once I start growing it out, but for now, going to try and get a lot of infrastructure in place really fast, here's the breakdown:

t157 - Sistine Chapel - 78 hpt - 393/402
t158 - Sistine Chapel - 78 hpt - 471/402 SISTINE COMPLETES
t159 - Factory - 54 hpt - 92/167
t160 - Factory - 54 hpt - 146/167
t161 - Factory - 54 hpt - 200/167 FACTORY COMPLETES
t162 - Coal Plant - 60 hpt - 145/100 COAL PLANT COMPLETES WHIP
t163 - Grocer - 72 hpt - 126/100 GROCER COMPLETES

The values for t162 and t163 may end up being a little off. The GPPs from the Sistine Chapel are going to offset the number of specialists I run for those turns, and I don't like feel like doing the math at the moment.

So basically, in seven turns I churn out a great person, get the industrial buildings in place, and a grocer to help with health. In terms of gold modifying buildings, Constantinople only has a market and makes 45 cpt atm, so I need to get some more gold modifying buildings in there ASAP. Additionally, it's going to be hurting for health after this is all said and done. After grocer, I'll probably detour to throw up Mt. Rushmore in a hurry, which should take three turns at that point since I have stone. Sooner rather than later, I also want to get a drydock in here.

[regoarrarr]

I wasn't around on the site when PB1 happened but I really don't see why rego didn't just pile a bunch of units into his capital after his spaceship launched, not like he needed to do anything else to win.

Don't forget - this was ~3 years ago, back before we had all played / lurked 30 MP games. PB1 was my first MP game ever, and I can honestly say that the thought of a Commando unit never even crossed my mind. So while it's easy to say stuff like that in hindsight, in the moment, it never really came up.

I did move my capital inland (though unfortunately only 10 tiles and not 11 tiles ) but again, never really considered the Commando unit.

[oledavy]

I went ahead and sent off the t157 when I got back in town to keep the game moving, then finished my micro/city review on t158, which I got this morning.

Each city with any notes I jotted down transcribed here:

Damascus

- Run five specialists pre-biology (15 pop).
- Run seven specialists post-biology (17 pop).
- No working coastal tiles/No need for a dike.
- The city needs specialists buildings, especially a grocer.
- Always run one engineer to get 13 base hammers.

Cairo

- Continue growing to pick up coastal tiles.
- Pump out Buddhist Missionaries to spread to all cities before the golden age.
- The city badly needs infrastructure.
- Throw up a drydock at some point.

Jaffa

- Grow to work the 19 tiles, then run two specialists (21 pop).
- Switch over to growing cottages.
- Continue throwing up infrastructure, then boats.

Jericho

- Grow to size 20, running three specialists.
- t159, focus on hammers to speed up the factory, then build a coal plant.
- The city needs a university.

Edessa

- Grow to size 24, running three engineer specialists.
- The city will be hurting for health.
- At size 21, the city gets 46 base hammers (Gives 161 hammers when building warship, enough to 1t any ship except for Missile Cruisers.
- Build Order: Factory -> Coal Plant -> Grocer -> Aqueduct -> Destroyers

Sidon

- Really in needs to grow, state property will be a boon here.
- After dike completes, switch to working coastal tiles.
- Needs a grocer and a bank badly.
- Build Order: Factory -> Coal Plant -> Grocer -> Bank

Aleppo

- Grow to work all the coastal tiles, then switch to running specialists up to the food cap.
- Needs to focus only on infrastructure, especially a factory, coal plant, market, grocer, bank and observatory.

Tyre

- REALLY needs infrastructure, especially a CH.

Damietta

- Grow to work all the dike-powered coastal tiles.
- Needs a market and university.

Antioch

- Grow, grow, grow!
- City needs a market.

Beruit

- Grow to work the coastal tiles.
- Build a Jewish Temple for the AP hammers.
- Build Order: Library -> Factory -> Coal Plant -> Market/University

Hattin

- Grow to work more coastal tiles.
- Prioritize factory/coal plant here.
- The city needs a drydock.

Alexandria

- Going to be a ridiculously powerful city with the addition of a dike.
- Use the +10 food surplus to gorw to work all those coastal tiles.
- Needs buildings (market, temple) to raise the happy cap.

Rhodes

- In the end, grow to 14 pop to work eight coastal tiles, four workshops, and two silk tiles before passing the pigs back to the capital.

Hebron

- Grow, don't whip.
- Needs a courthouse.

Nazareth

- Ditto to above.

Leningrad

- Grow to work all the coastal tiles.
- Build Order: Dike -> Jewish Temple - Library

Samaria

- Whip the dike to completion right before the start of the golden age.

Archangel

- Build Order: Granary -> Dike -> National Park

1995WorldSeries

- Build Order: Jewish Temple -> Dike?

Rostov

- Needs a dike.

Kursk

- Needs a dike.

Moscow

Pindicator II

Stalingrad

VE Day

Smolensk

Kharkov

Bryansk

Kiev

And finally, the newly founded city of Corner City

I forgot to take a screenshot of Acre while I had the turn, will upload a pic and the relevant notes on the city for t159.

In Rego's land, I labeled all the tile improvements I plan to build/change in the coming turns. I'm about done railroading my own home continent, and so a about to shift to bulk of my workforce over to Rego's old territory. I'm hoping to get it completely improved and railroaded in roughly 30 turns.

All the land in the BFC of Moscow is getting cottages, since it has an academy. However, I'm in no great rush to do so, since it still has several surviving towns and villages and it will need to hammers to build up the crucial infrastructure in a hurry before switching over to a pure commerce center. I'm running emancipation after my golden age, so paving over the workshops and growing cottages into towns will go twice as fast. Elsewhere, with some exceptions, the maxim I went by was leave anything bigger than a hamlet, and put down a workshop on any other tile (You can see all the labeling in the city screenshots). All these cities will need hammers to get infrastructure up in a hurry and state property is about to come in.

To satisfy my own curiosity, I counted up the number of workshops in each of my cities bfcs. None of them have a lot, usually just a couple to boost production. Rather ironic because at this point with state property coming in, I probably want to be building more workshops than this:

Constantinople: 2
Acre: 1
Jericho: 1
Sidon: 4
Aleppo: 1
Tyre: 3
Damietta: 2
Antioch: 1
Beruit: 1
Hattin: 3
Alexandria: 1
Rhodes: 4
Hebron: 1
Nazareth: 2
Rostov: 5
Pindicator II: 2
Stalingrad: 3
Smolensk: 3
Kharkov: 2
Bryansk: 3
Kiev: 4

49 Workshops in all

While I was counting stuff, I went ahead and made a brief survey of population in terms of pop points for each surviving player.

Dave
34 Cities - 246 Pop (260 at the end of the turn)

Darrell
19 Cities - 290 Pop

NoSpace
22 Cities - 254 Pop

Shoot
21 Cities - 215 Pop

There are several surprising things here. The first is that I actually have a respectable number of citizens! I've been languishing at last in pop for awhile, but the figure is somewhat illusionary due to other players have more pop in demographics from having larger cities. What is also surprising is Darrell's dominance in population compared to NoSpace. What is up with that? They've even been the ones building all the farms and prioritizing biology. Is all their food simply tied up in running specialists? What's also surprising is how far behind Shoot is in terms of total population, and that he has less cities that NoSpace despite just going to war and taking/re-founding eight from Rego.

Out of NoSpace's 22 cities, I now have espionage visibility on 14 of them. I'm shuffling my airships around currently trying to find the best recon paths to fly so I can stay abreast of what's going on in Egypt and India.

Upon the completion of the dike in Jerusalem at the end of the turn, I got a pleasant surprise when I had an extra base hammer. I had forgotten that the dike affects the city center yield to. This will allow me to grow the grassland hamlet over the plains cottage in the intervening turns for a net gain of 3 food and 9 commerce while still adhering to my micro plan.

I just realized at the end of the turn there is no longer much point in importing wheat from Shoot, since I secured three of my own sources in my war with Rego. Planning to rework that deal next turn.

Strangely enough, the Pentagon is still available, despite the fact that Shoot has had assembly line for nearly 20 turns. I was briefly tempted to sink some hammers into it. But with no doubler resource, it will be expensive, and I have no real shot at getting it anyway this long after other civs have researched the tech.

The Sistine Chapel finished at the end of the turn in Constantinople.

When I am able, I think I'm going be throwing up some Jewish, Buddhist and Hindu temples soon for the extra happy, as well as for the AP hammers in the case of the Jewish Temples. Thanks to the Sistine, I also get extra culture out of them now, for whatever its worth. I'm also going to be throwing up some Buddhist Supas, Hindu Mandirs and Jewish Synagogues in my high population cities to help deal with happiness. I now have incense from Shoot for the +1 happy from incense, and have the doubler resource for each, so after the factories and power plants go up they will all be pretty cheap builds. It also works out that I have exactly three Hindu cities, and six Jewish cities at the moment. Though, Judaism will be spread around a little more during my golden age.

Speaking of my golden age, it's due in approximately ~20 turns, after I get the needed three great people out of Damascus and Constantinople. The civic switch I have in mind is thus:

Beginning of Golden Age

Universal Suffrage
Free Speech
Caste System
State Property
Organized Religion (Convert to Buddhism)

End of Golden Age

Police State
Nationhood
Emancipation
State Property
Free Religion

I'm going to eat a turn in anarchy and go into state property as soon as a finish communism, simply because it's going to save me too much to turn down. The other changes will wait until the golden age.

As you might be able to tell from the end changes, I'm anticipating revolting into war civics (not yet written in stone). I would kinda like to finish this game with a bang.

The idea here is to go use Universal Suffrage/Free Speech/Caste System/Organized Religion to boost commerce and hammers and make a major infrastructure push during the golden age. At the end I'll be revolting into Police State and Nationhood to prepare for war, along emancipation to grow to new cottages in Rego's territory and avoid emancipation unhappiness.

During this golden age I plan to push jails in my core, which would allow me to ride out another war with no war weariness in my major cities (Police State + Mt. Rushmore + Jails). After dealing with so much WW fighting Rego, I'm not anxious to do so again, especially in one that would be likely to last the rest of the game.

After I get communism finished, the teching plan is to head for industrialism and then beeline robotics to get all the key military units online. Though, I do really need to nab flight, biology, and refrigeration sooner rather than later too. I need to research Military Science as well if I want my commando units.

On the tech front, Darrell and NoSpace both teched plastics last turn. I'm presuming they're both trying to get the Space Elevator at robotics. Could be the deciding factor in the Space Race. Darrell has a pair of great engineers on hand right now and could rush it right off the bat. However, I somehow doubt micro kings like Novice and Spaceman would leave something like that up to chance and will probably have one of their own coming in just in time. Of course, maybe they plan to ignore it altogether and just overflow build all the spaceship parts, idk.

I'm excited to see where this game will go

End Turn.

[regoarrarr]

To satisfy my own curiosity, I counted up the number of workshops in each of my cities bfcs. None of them have a lot, usually just a couple to boost production. Rather ironic because at this point with state property coming in, I probably want to be building more workshops than this:

I was trying to help you out with that....

As for the Space Elevator, the general consensus is that it's not worth building

[oledavy]

As for the Space Elevator, the general consensus is that it's not worth building

Why is it considered not worth building? I don't have very much practice with the late game and assumed it would be a pretty decent wonder to snag in a situation like this.