archredbeard Wrote:hmm, hopefully you are still playing this game, kinda still hope/wait for next vid
Splotch of real life stuff + some odd audio de-sync issues have delayed me. Current YT material is from stock.
Of course I'm still playing the game. Some brief text updates:
Border dispute with plako because rome didn't tell me about that part of the agreement screwed me. Plako put pressure on me with a "null NAP" and I had to give him the city. I was ready to suicide whip but he told me he'd trade a settler/worker back shortly (and he did) so it was only a minor hit. Still, this greatly lowered my respect for the roman play here even if it was likely just a communication breakdown as mackoti/dave traded places in negotiations a few times during this critical period.
I continue to work well with serdoa, and resolved a minor border dispute with WK. All quiet from Plako. Not a good sign, but I've got to prepare for war soonish anyway.
On the econ front, I desperately bulbed math and deficit researched to currency, which is really carrying me right now as according to Serdoa only rome + my civ have it. Hammam helped me make that decision. I also was first to confucianism which should further help my happiness situation (serdoa claims he'll attempt apostolic palace, if he gets it I will then spread buddhism too).
Rome has calendar obviously (can trade calendar resources), which I don't like. I can get it in a few turns and will do it before construction (though it's time to start building units other than cata) but that kind of
cap is problematic on rome, and if indeed they do have currency it's just further evidence that mackoti/davey are very good players and have milked their creative trait nicely.
WK has 0 wonders as serdoa has them all. I often expressed confusion in emails about what he is doing, but i have my theories. Specifically, I think he went monarchy (huge score almost certainly related to pop) and has probably failed a few wonders (failure gold = research fodder). He's the only civ that hasn't been at war and there are only so many ways he can be attaining such a score.
Plako is probably in recovery mode, but he's a good player and I expect him to bounce back.
Currently I'm last in score. I am almost 100% certain this is based on the 20t land delay and population. My suspicion is therefore that most people are using HR + cottage growth. I am instead running some specs but will during slower-periods militarily run hammer econ on the copious mines the map creator gave us; IMO the jungle clearing on cottages makes it too slow to be relevant in time. I've whipped in some courthouses already in those 8 gold/turn cost cities. I currently have the most cities in the game and am ready to plant another one, with enough worker turns to keep up. Current tech path plan is calendar -----> construction. AGG axe + cata should clean most things up.
Serdoa said he's bulbing machinery with engineer to use xbow to counter prats. I'm not sure I like xbow more than axes vs prats (definitely not as aggressive) but he should survive then. They will DEFINITELY be of use if plako goes knocking on his doorsteps. For my part I'm going to spike my power up a bit and try to stay alive. After construction I'm not sure where to go; I don't have a good bureaucracy site and maces are only soso. Pursuing wonders a la lit -----> music would be silly (will pick up lit once I unlock heroic epic but that's in the distant future). I guess that leaves metal casting or feudalism. I'll have a closer look at which to grab once I see the military picture. Knights + jans are a good goal I think and I should probably try to end the game on that if I survive that long. Letting WK go drafting redcoats would probably murder me.
How to beat serdoa's wonder spam? Simple, if we are actually the last 2 alive/effectively in the game (and I have my doubts that will come to pass, as one of us dying is likely) then I will go for culture. Right now I have only farmed 1 GS, and will have a 2nd very soon (<5 turns as of 1 AD). The remaining GPP pool is still wide open to me, while he has temple of artemis (priests/merchants), mids (engineers), oracle/sh(priests) all built already. It will be difficult for him to prevent farming a material amount of additional GPP into artists without popping another 3-4 non-artist great people. That will set his #3 city 1000's of culture behind if he decides to race me in culture. He can't beat culture with space in a permanent-NAP setting, it's impossible unless I get roughed up at war too long and if that happens I'm probably toast anyway.
The fact that he's going to ship me a missionary and I'm likely to get a 3rd by luck at minimum makes that approach very promising, but at this point I am getting way, way ahead of myself. Priority #1 is to still be around in 50-70 turns!
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