Gandhi of France II - Assuming Direct Control

[oledavy]

I'd say that order of priority sounds about right

Reasoning:

MoM will be awesome, as you'll already be producing a fair number of great people to pop GAs, and the extra boost to increased GPP production should let you chain GAs to a ridiculous extent.

Great Library is obviously good, although I don't think quite as strong as chained MoM GAs.

Parthenon is meh.

After having slept on it, I think I agree with you. I have enough gold saved up that I should be able to punch through Calendar in 2-3 turns. It will mean delaying Currency of course, but I think it will be worth it. I now just have to determine where to rush it.



I pulled that guy at ~15% odds

[oledavy]

Oh, thank you all for the explanation on the culture oddity. It had me rather confused. Anyway, the other news from Turn 72:

[SIZE="7"]Turn 72[/SIZE]



Got a lucky forest growth east of Palaven, but most interestingly, Commodore DID declare war on Yuri. Guess we'll see how this goes.

Got eyes on Zoe:



And defogged a couple more Byzantine cities. They've packed their cities in pretty close together.



Can't wait to use that GE

End Turn.

[oledavy]

[SIZE="7"]Turn 74[/SIZE]

Diyabakir has fallen:



Going into the diplo screens, Commodore did not keep the city, but instead razed it. Probably a prudent decision on his part. The biggest news, however, is this:



I think I know where those HAs went.

You have no idea how relieved I am to have deflected Mistabod's poorly conceived rush onto the hapless Yuri.

A moment of silence, for our Ottoman brothers who made this joyous day possible.

.......

.......

Anyway, in the south, I've unfogged another pair of cities, including First Touch:



Presuming it's still available, I'll be finishing Calender next turn and rushing the MoM on t76. After that, it will be a quick trot to Currency just before I settle four more cities.

On the whole, things are looking up



End Turn.

[oledavy]

Played Turn 75. I had a brief chat with Commodore which revealed a few interesting things:

Commodore: Salut sir
[COLOR="Blue"]me: salut
what's up?[/COLOR]
Commodore: Hrm, just wondering if you had the save.
me: just passed it on
Commodore: Cool, poor Yuri.
[COLOR="Blue"]me: congrats on the city raze, fwiw
though losing a city to both you and Mistabod

poor guy[/COLOR]
[COLOR="Yellow"]Commodore: Yeah, poor man
He just wrecked my dotmap, you know how it goes.
Ah well.[/COLOR]
[COLOR="Blue"]me: Eh, hard to tell from my side of the world, but didn't look like a very smart plant
a pink dot on t46 like mine is one thing, but on t71....
and without power to back it up
tsk tsk[/COLOR]
Commodore: Yeah, wasn't like yours or mine...pink dots need power.
<Snip>
[COLOR="Blue"]me: oh, btw, heads up
I didn't check which one of you started it
but you're at war with Gas Knob[/COLOR]
[COLOR="Yellow"]Commodore: Bummer.
50/50 shot of you thanking them profusely, then.[/COLOR]
[COLOR="Blue"]me: ???
nvm, will find out soon enough I suppose[/COLOR]
[COLOR="Yellow"]Commodore: Yeah
I have nine or eight cities?[/COLOR]
me: nine if I recall correctly
[COLOR="Yellow"]Commodore: Whew.
If I still have Aylee, that's good.[/COLOR]
[COLOR="Blue"]me: Just booted it up
sorry to be the bearer of bad news
you have 8 cities[/COLOR]
[COLOR="Yellow"]Commodore: Crap.
Well, grats.[/COLOR]
[COLOR="Blue"]me: city chopping out MoM, or city for marble?
or, I presume that's what you were building then
GLH also possible I suppose
ORG lighthouses and all that[/COLOR]
Commodore: Yup, marble gone.
[COLOR="Blue"]me: ah, sorry man
that really sucks

[/COLOR]

Commodore was apparently making a play for the MoM, correctly surmising that I was planning on rushing it with my GE and aiming to beat me. It seems he was primed to land it this turn. However, Gas Knob declared war and razed his marble city, delaying it fatally. He has an uncanny knowledge of how far along I am in my own MoM attempt. I never confirmed to him in the chat that I was planning on rushing it. However, he guessed it - a pretty reasonable assumption all things considered. At any rate, it seems like I will be successfully rushing the MoM in Thessia next turn

Still, I must say, I feel really awful beating Commodore like this; if that is indeed the case.

The diplomatic dominoes have fallen exactly how I wanted them too, and all it took was a little brinksmanship with Mistabod to get what I wanted.

Mistabod lifted a city off of Yuri this turn. I expect they will be directing most of their military efforts - at least for the time being - in his direction. In the north, NoGas just stomped Commodore's sandcastle, and I don't imagine he will let them off lightly.

In light of the knowledge of Commodore making a play for the MoM. It would be more prudent to rush it in The Citadel, instead of Thessia, which is close to our border and more vulnerable to attack should he decide he wants to take the wonder by force. However, acting on that bit of knowledge that I gained in a chat of slightly dubious legality would be an unfair advantage, and so I will be proceeding as already planned - rushing the MoM next turn in Thessia.

[oledavy]

This Game. The Last Two Turns. Oh. My. Gawd.

So, it turns out, instead of Commodore losing the MoM to me, we both lost it to NoGas - who beat my attempt to rush it by virtue of turn order. Sucks, but I did the best I could considering I was never expecting a GE in the first place. In the interim, I imagine any hesitation Commodore may have felt about exacting his revenge on China has vanished. It will be a grudge match for the ages in the north.

Further south, Mistabod took Yuri's capital. I shit you not. With a dozen Horse Archers, they toppled one of the better players in this game, heading up the strongest leader/civ combo. I'm guessing Yuri forgot to check the power graph again The Byzantines birthed their first GG in the process.

Combined with landing a 12 city Hanging Gardens last turn, Mistabod have taken the top of the scoreboard by force and are poised to run away with this game. While I doubt they can take much more for now (not to mention anything they take will probably be hopelessly costly in maintenance), they can probably pick from the husk of the Ottoman empire at will going into the future as required for continued expansion. Yuri is probably out of the running at this point; three cities lost in four turns, including your capital, is a pretty severe blow.

And to top it all off, Mistabod settled their twelfth city in my face southwest of Irune. Can't say I'm terribly happy about it, but there's little I can do but bear it for now.

I hope Yuri goes down swinging and goes into AW mode with the Byzantines - making them pay for every inch of ground.

Gaspar and Commodore made peace, but I expect it will only last until one of them has knights. Too much bad blood already. Two civs entered, only one will leave.

[scooter]

This game has not failed to deliver. I may just have to spoil myself and read the other threads, just too much great stuff going on.

[oledavy]

This game has not failed to deliver. I may just have to spoil myself and read the other threads, just too much great stuff going on.

You have my blessing

Btw, I was wrong about Mistabod keeping Istanbul and renaming it Constantinople. I should have noticed that given that the Oracle had vanished from the Top 5 Cities/Wonder Screen. How do I know? Well, I found the newly settled city of Constantinople northeast of First Touch last turn. They settled two cities on the turn they built the Hanging Gardens, Constantinople in the east and Thessalonica in the west. It all makes sense I suppose, I doubt they have enough power to hold a conquest that far east.

I'm still a little dumbfounded by it all. Yuri is no fool. I don't understand how you lose your capital on t72 to a dozen horse archers.

Since I failed with my MoM attempt Going to spend my GE on the Great Library. I need to ensure I get a religion first though, simply a more critical priority at this point. I have about ~60% odds of a Great Prophet coming out of Sur'Kesh in two turns, so I'm setting up to bulb Theology if that happens p researching meditation last turn and the remainder of Monotheism this turn.

Calender was at least good for getting the spices hooked up. I'm still a little about it all though. If I had only known I was going to get lucky and get a GE, I could have arguably the two most powerful wonders for this map under my belt.

I've been vaguely considering rushing the GLH. It would be worth 12 trade routes down the road. However, I feel the GL is probably a better call for a Rep SE.

[oledavy]

What do I have to do to get a religion around here

[slowcheetah]

What do I have to do to get a religion around here

Pray?

[SevenSpirits]

Dim -- dim -- bwey-dey-dey-didlididldildew-dewdewwwww