Brick by Brick (Spoiler Alert!)

[TheHumanHydra]

Big update for turn 80/200 AD:

I was greeted by a proposal from Old Harry to trade Crabs for my Horses. I accepted; I'm not sure why he offered the Crabs, since I already have two, but I was afraid sending the offer back as Horses for free would delay the deal a turn (I don't think it would have, but why risk it?) I'm not using my Horses right now, and I need Serdoa to not steamroll Old Harry right now for me to have a shot at winning the game. In retrospect, I probably should have asked for gold per turn in exchange, but I didn't think of that at the time (and I did ponder it for a few minutes). At least this will come as close as one can to building good relations in a non-diplo game.

Obviously, this meant Old Harry's supply of Horses had been cut off. Sure enough:



I should have taken a screenshot from when I had line-of-sight on Exeter as well; it contained maybe a half-dozen units, divided evenly between axes and chariots (no spears; no wonder Old Harry wants Horses). Of course, Serdoa's wounded units will be behind the city; for now I wanted to see what Old Harry had left to determine if Serdoa would be able to waltz through Old Harry's remaining cities like he had through old Ipswich and Halifax (whose ruins you can see in the top right). Probably not, but I don't think Old Harry will be in a position to counterattack anytime soon, either. The best we can hope for is that he'll be able to slaughter Serdoa's stack in the open ground between Exeter, Crewe, and Altrincham (by the way, what is Old Harry's naming scheme? I can't figure it out).

The power graph is frightening:



Apparently Serdoa did not take many casualties in that assault, but Old Harry did. How is that possible? Did Serdoa not have to trade units to take down the defenders' health? Not even catapults for the collateral? Does he somehow have units more advanced than the rest of us, that I by chance haven't seen yet? If so, we're in trouble. Or did he produce so many units this turn that it just looks like he didn't take many casualties? Presumably, and it is to be hoped, the latter.

Speaking of how advanced Serdoa's units are, it appears I did not gain research visibility on him because he dumped a bunch of EP into me (I know, who ever shows a screenshot of the espionage screen?):



At the end of last turn it was 108 points invested, 108 to see research. Also, it seems his espionage spending has gone up (I know, who ever shows a screenshot of the espionage graph?):



Surely that means he's researched Code of Laws and built a courthouse. Well, I just researched Code of Laws too; as you can see, I'm on to Metal Casting.

My current tech plan (subject to change, since it's long-term) is Metal Casting - Construction? - Machinery - Civil Service? - Feudalism - Guilds. My current general construction plan for my mature cities (now including Machu Picchu) is finish current builds - whip courthouses - regrow on barracks - whip forges - regrow on catapults? - multiple rounds of crossbowmen, plus catapults and spears for support. We'll see how well I can make it work (keeping pace between the techs and builds). It has long since become obvious to me that Serdoa is everyone's top enemy in this game and needs to be stopped. If I can put out crossbowmen while Serdoa's still on ancient units I think I can win some significant victories without overwhelming force ratios (which I will be unable to reach). If not, I will have to use them for defence while continuing up that path to knights, and hope for knights against crossbows and longbows and not cataphracts or pikes. Again, it would be really helpful to have tech visibility on Serdoa here on in, especially since this plan involves whipping a lot of commerce tiles and sacrificing markets for crossbows on the assumption Serdoa has crashed his economy. Sadly, I'm not skilled enough in reading the graphs to know.

Anyway, I won't discuss specific war plans at this point because I am still considering them, but now you all have some important and hopefully interesting information about my future intentions: I have decided to launch an offensive war against Serdoa at the earliest opportunity (which I feel is daring for me to do in my first multiplayer game ever, against such a skilled player). I don't feel that either letting Serdoa conquer Old Harry while trying to tech up or attempting a parallel conquest of Azza will result in anything but my eventual destruction at the mandibles of a monstrous Zerg empire. I feel I must walk the path of war, even though it is uncertain and I don't know if I have the skill to pull it off.

Now, what you really want is screenshots. First, the rest of the graphs:











Now for my cities:

















Yeah, I need to get some workers over to that last one. They're coming.

Finally, the location of my next planned city:



Pretty marginal, really, but it seems in this match number of cities is the name of the game. This should catch me up to Serdoa and Old Harry (pre-war, at least). I don't really want to be paying for another city right now, but again, name of the game. I'm not going to settle any other locations at present; I don't need to totally crash my economy while trying for a tech advantage.

I think that's all the screenshots I have; hopefully that gives everyone something to consider even though I know the main spotlight will be on Serdoa and Old Harry right now. Also, don't expect any drama here for several weeks; it'll take that long to prepare for war (if I'm even in a position to wage war vis-a-vis Serdoa at that point). Let's hope it's not too late.

[Fintourist]

[TheHumanHydra]

Can I has some popcorn too?

Edit: Nevermind, I have Smartfood downstairs.

[TheHumanHydra]

The Smartfood was good ... I ate it while playing the turn.

As usual, I was greeted by a city capture message: this time it was Jarrow, the city I was worried Old Harry would settle 1N of where he did and prevent me from settling Tiwanaku. It was probably razed ... shoot, I forgot to send a unit to check next turn.

I also gained LoS on Serdoa's stack:



Holy smokes ... I mean, I knew it would be big, but ...

I guess the good news is that my fear of advanced units was irrational. The bad news is, well, Serdoa has a 100% chance of winning the game outright if he makes the right move in the next <10 turns. That move is marching almost that whole army north and hitting Tiwanaku as soon as our treaty expires. With an army that large, he will be able to roll up my cities the way he has Old Harry's, no matter what I do. In that case, the three of us will have no reasonable choice but to concede the game.

If, on the other hand, he renews his march on Old Harry, and Old Harry is able to put up a stiff enough resistance to bog Serdoa down, I may be able to get to crossbows fast enough to whip a bunch out and secure relative, if temporary, immunity. My two advantages right now are crop yield/population, for whipping, and GNP, for teching ahead. If Serdoa leaves me to them, I may be okay; if he sees his opportunity, this game will be done inside of two weeks. I really hope it isn't; I'm really enjoying it and can't wait to get the save every day. I would also be very disappointed if the game ended in a series of ancient wars like one of those silly real-time multiplayer games people blaze through in an evening. That's ... not why I play Civ. (Apologies to those who enjoy that kind of game; there's nothing wrong with that, of course.) But I shouldn't grouse before I see it happen.

For reference, here's my army:



Every one of those units is necessary to compose what I consider minimum safe peacetime garrisons, and many of them are doubling as military police as well. Any army intended to oppose Serdoa will have to be conjured out of thin air. I debated this turn and last switching over to military production wholesale and starting whipping, but ... I resisted. I don't know; I'm torn. I might have enough time to assemble an army that could prevent my collapse before the peace is over, but do I want to sacrifice my only chance at victory (teching ahead) to do so? What if Serdoa doesn't come after me - what if he isn't crazy enough to declare war on both his main rivals at once? Do I keep calm and carry on, or prepare for Armageddon? Gah!

As you can see, my psychological state regarding this game (not in real life, don't worry!) is deteriorating rapidly as I contemplate ever more drastic courses of action to deal with what appears to be the climax of the game about 50 turns before I expected it. Well, nothing I can do about that. This is Serdoa's game to lose at this point, not mine to win. It will become mine to win if he can just leave me alone long enough ...

Must find more popcorn before next turn - stress eating ...

[NobleHelium]

Uh, what is Smartfood?

[TheHumanHydra]

A brand of white-cheddar-flavored popcorn that appears to be laced with crack. Now it's all gone ...

[TheHumanHydra]

No more popcorn for me this turn, but no more of Old Harry's cities were razed (that I know of) either, so I guess that's a break-even.

Large dips in Serdoa's MfG. and crop yield indicate he's been whipping, probably units given the increase in his power. Thankfully, Old Harry's power has increased more than commensurately, though his MfG. is tanking. Would you look at my demographics, though (from after I ended the turn):



Note that that GNP is at a measly 30% science. Also, my population is more than double massive-expander Serdoa's! After he whipped, of course. And I'll be whipping next turn - courthouses in four to five cities. I've also been chopping madly. I'll whip the courthouses, regrow on axemen (not barracks), whip forges in a couple turns when Metal Casting comes in, then build axemen the seven-to-eight turns after that (at present rates) till Machinery comes in. Serdoa can still stomp me at any point, of course. Oh, and I decided at the last minute not to settle that next city just yet. With Old Harry beaten back, there's no need to rush to that spot just yet, and I want to keep my economy as lean and mean as possible to get to Machinery fast. I'll store the settler in Machu Picchu till I want him. That also frees up a couple units to go destroy the roads up from Exeter; maybe that'll buy me a few turns if Serdoa comes calling. I slaughtered the horses outside the city this turn before it could come out of resistance and claim them.

Ok, I think that's all for now. Still crossing my fingers and sweating profusely, though I'm not sure if that's more from nervousness or withdrawal from the crack-popcorn. Talk to you tomorrow!

[TheHumanHydra]

As you already know, Serdoa moved his army out this turn; I can't tell where, but presumably toward Old Harry, because he only left one injured axe behind as defense, and Old Harry got a Great General this turn. I changed my plans slightly on the fly and only whipped one city this turn, to time the completion of my courthouses to coincide with getting Metal Casting at the end of next turn so I can start on the forges right away. The city I whipped I did so before realizing this was a better idea; game mechanics question: if I set it to build wealth next turn, the overflow will carry over and not get put into the wealth build, right?

End of next turn: Courthouses, Metal Casting
~Seven turns after: Machinery
One turn after that: Crossbowmen (if I dry whip; hopefully I won't have to)

[NobleHelium]

Yeah, you can't use overflow on wealth, research or culture.

[TheHumanHydra]

That's good; thanks, NobleHelium.