[spoilers]Commodore is Darius II of the HRE, now with less excuse.

[Commodore]

Yuri is a funny, funny man.



Incredibly relieved, honestly. I need to take care of this eyesore and burn it, not to assume guardianship. An axe, C1 chariot, and chariot vs. his two vanilla chariots and a warrior. About even odds to burn the city next turn barring reinforcements.



Meanwhile, plan MoM is in effect. Next turn, whipping missionary for 26 overflow and the settler moves to marble. Then the turn after, all three chop/mines complete and Oasis works all five mines for a great hpt output.

[SevenSpirits]

Meanwhile, plan MoM is in effect. Next turn, whipping missionary for 26 overflow and the settler moves to marble. Then the turn after, all three chop/mines complete and Oasis works all five mines for a great hpt output.

Nice. You provide much better updates about the Mausoleum than this thread.

[Catwalk]

So mean SevenSpirits... I do expect a revival there under the passionate management of zitro, though.

[Commodore]

Or...it could be an easy cakewalk as poor Yuri, demoralized and sad, pulls out. I'm sorry he's kind of despairing. It's also a real problem if he's checking out...Gaspar and Ichabod can snap up the shrunken holding of the Ottomen, but I'll be getting bupkis. I offered peace in any case.



On the other hand, having Gaspar looking to the east over the west. My GNP is looking a little bit scary. Iron working comes next, a one turn tech, and then it's time for sugar, dyes, and banana to all make a solid contribution.



Not a ton of chances there. Hum, although there was a Great Engineer born last turn...Yuri just had a prophet, so it's a 'mids-born GE. I think. Anyway, Dave needs to research Calendar before he can rush the MoM, but with Representation citizens he can make insane tech progress. Anyway, not much for it, onward! 104 hammers this next turn.



234 hammers, then, once I settle this marble next turn. I think we'll be able to make it, but it'll be a near rum thing. Ah well.



Will it be fast enough? If indeed I am in a race.

[Commodore]

So very glad when a plan comes together. Now let's hope that Dave's score increase wasn't Calendar-whips. What's Calendar worth in score?



I could be efficient and all and wait if Dave's score doesn't jump up, but I'm worried. I think it's worth the lives of three citizens to sleep better at night, so Dave better rush the MoM this turn. Or else he'll suffer...with a free Great Library or something.



I'm scouting him as he scouts me. Nothing too interesting thus far, but given this is the other side, Plako and Novice can expect me to talk about how much greener this all is soon.



I do, however, have a bigger map complaint. Namely the fact that I finished IW and have a major lack.



Right. Um. So. Finished at 20%, so as to enable two turns at 100% for Currency, makes my GNP look all laggardly. I'm solidly in the top three right now, but I would ever say I'm in the clear lead yet. That soldier count is scary.



On the plus side, now have marble. This is kind of a silly little rump of a place, but I needed a filler one way or another, might as well be something that solidifies the border. No food one way or another.



...although will the city's fresh water irrigate to those tile out east?

[Commodore]

Yup, that was an annoying 50% battle for Gaspar to win.



And given Dave's resources...



Frick.

[Commodore]

Okay! So, here's the dealio. Gaspar broke my pretty little game plan and wrecked my pretty-awesome MoM plan. It's all pretty heartbreaking, because even without marble I'd still be able to micro the bloody thing to a finish next turn without whipping. OR is really good.



This translates to a massive wave of failgold incoming. I can basically research at 100% for the next ten turns. This means some really, really scary things for my GNP. I need to turn this all towards winning. Not vengeance, winning.



Winning through really, really hurting mine neighbors in pink, ideally. I can get Guilds in 18 turns at present. Currency is going to pay itself back, so I will weave that in. With Yuri being mauled by Ichabod, the Colossus might still be available, so Metal Casing next is a given. Then it's the beeline shown for knights. Whip a ton, capture China?



Davy will be building the MoM in Thessia, which is needless to say annoying. Another path I could take would be to go for Civil Service, the Machinery on to Astro and try to boat the MoMland. Which seems best, guys?



Grumble. Gaspar, you frickin' asshat. Coinflip odds, too.

[Commodore]

Really, I don't see how I can do anything but hit Gaspar, though. Apparently he's gone suicidal: He took a 50/50 shot at Aylee the marble city and then offered peace. So it was a move of pure, 100% spite, not at all intended to help himself win. This means he's given up, and if he's given up he wants to take me down or out with himself. I don't particularly care to spite things one way or another, but I want to win. So if I am to win, I have to exterminate the angry fellow up north, who has completely thrown away his game. I seriously doubt his game was ruined by me checking his farmer's gambit a couple dozen turns ago, but if it was, then his spite is sane. Otherwise, it's irrational.

Either way, rather than trying to capitalize on Yuri's distress, he's said he wants me to lose more than he wants to win. Fair enough, we all need goals.

[Commodore]

Or...it could have been mean, but also paranoid self-interest:



Okay. Well then. A lot to unpack in the above screenshot; Gaspar made the MoM, which is annoying because it means Dave gets the Great Library for free basically, but there you are. More impressively, Ichabod is eating Yuri alive, which means that Gaspar better be darned worried about his southern flank there. Scores are actually fairly accurate reflection of standings, here, sans Ichabod's recent Istanbul capture.



So, ranking right now in game position is probably roughly Ichabod > Gaspar > Us > Dave >> Yuri, although any of the four of us not dying can still win this. So what comparative advantage do I have to win? Here's both of them in one image.



Right. So, Darius loves him some coast. With the GNP boost from Currency and the massive MoM failgold, I can two-turn Metal Casing. Then it's Colossus time. Meanwhile, those new trade routes and wealth builds mean I can probably manage Literature and maybe Music first. As always, the dance of growth/hammers/commerce is taking up a lot of attention to glean good results from our tiny little empire.



So, as it's any day now for the baby...Ceil, how do you feel about microing a least-time Colossus in Oasis?

[Commodore]

Okay, doing a quick in-my-head calculation, ought to be able to get the Colossus in Oasis in six more turns: Two turns to Metal Casing, then forge started, then forge whipped for at least 23 overflow, then Colossus started (23+20*2.5=107/167 for copper, forge, OR), the three-pop whipped to finish. Ought to be pretty simple, actually, and with a couple local chariots for HR happy this should be easy. How about a 2-turn Colossus with no chops?

*edit. Actually, I'm daft. If I can't manage to make that a good solid 27 hammers of overflow then I need to quit playing. No need for a daft whip, just two-turn the bugger.

...now if I could manage 47 hammers of overflow...I do have third-ring trees to chop...