Brick by Brick (Spoiler Alert!)

[NobleHelium]

Yes please.

[TheHumanHydra]

Okay, coming up!

So I probably won't be able to report tomorrow or Saturday. Murphy's Law indicates international events of incalculable importance will therefore occur that will no doubt incite me to declare war on someone random like Old Harry or something. You know, just like last time. (This, by the way, is the basis for all my foreign policy decisions.)

Okay, that was nonsense. Mmmm, Smartfood crack-corn. In other news ...

Here is the peacetime establishment of the Incan army, now that I've stopped drafting and all military builds. I do need a couple more longbowmen for new cities, though:







As you can see a continued military buildup is not really necessary unless I choose to go on the offensive at this time. I'd rather not, since while I can conceivably generate more troops than Azza through drafting, drafting is delaying my economic development, and said troops are not more advanced than his. I'd rather attack with technological advantage as against Serdoa (since even that was in a way close-run, and see what happened to Azza at tech parity), though if Old Harry goes on the offensive I likely will too - it'd be too good an opportunity to pass up. In that case I would go all-out on the drafting and military builds - it would be the victory campaign. For now it's all infrastructure builds.

Demographics before and after ending turn - 100% science (I'll have to drop it down 10 or 20% next turn), and Azza's Golden Age has ended (I thought he'd trigger another with all the Great People he's been birthing). Note unfortunately unsustainable GNP ratio after ending turn (I think Azza's saving gold) and how my population finally went back to #2 after I stopped drafting. I had been a little worried in that regard ...







Finally, the technologies breakdown:




The first column below will be what I'm up on each player and the second what I'm down. The second line under each shows what tech they researched most recently:

Azza: Meditation, Philosophy, Liberalism, Nationalism, Aesthetics, Literature, Music, Alphabet, Economics // Engineering
Last tech: Gunpowder

Serdoa: Monotheism, Guilds, Banking, Economics, Aesthetics, Literature, Music, Alphabet, Philosophy, Liberalism, Nationalism, Paper, Education, Gunpowder // --
Last tech: Feudalism

Old Harry: Meditation, Philosophy, Liberalism, Monarchy, Feudalism, Guilds, Banking, Economics, Nationalism, Literature, Music, Alphabet, Paper, Education, Gunpowder // Drama, Engineering
Last tech: Drama

I think I did that right.

So Serdoa is (understandably) hopelessly behind, Old Harry has done well with the military techs but is behind elsewhere, Azza is my most advanced opponent but lacks Renaissance techs besides Gunpowder. Cool!

[TheHumanHydra]

I finished Printing Press. Azza's researching the same; I guess he snuck in Alphabet under the radar.

[TheHumanHydra]

1400 A.C. (Anno Confucii, remember?). Old Harry's on the march against Azza, so so am I:




Most of Old Harry's army is outside whatever-the-flip Azza's northwesternmost city is called; it will fall next turn unless Azza hits Old Harry with his catapults: Azza has a strong force of catapults built up behind the city, but not much else, so the most he can do right now is slow Old Harry down. Of course, Old Harry may just extort something out of Azza again like last time. I'm not sure why he would go all-out to take Azza down when realistically Azza's all that stands between me and victory (Old Harry has a strong army that could fight on relatively equal terms with mine right now, but he's so far behind technologically that all I'd have to do to secure victory if he was my only strong opponent left would be to wait a bit till I had absolute military technological superiority. Or build the spaceship.)

But anyway, as I said, Old Harry pressing the attack against my only real competitor is too good an opportunity to pass up, so as long as that campaign persists, my army marches to war (my knights, damaged, are catching up). I did not resume drafting however; my cities just can't handle the unhappiness without military police, which would be counterproductive. I may resume drafting once the existing draft unhappiness and war weariness wears off, or wait until Rifling, which is roughly a half-dozen turns away. I am, however, resuming military builds everywhere as the present domestic builds complete, though I will want to get Oxford up as well:




As you might have seen at the bottom of that screen, I founded a new city:




My empire's now Huamangous. Not actually; it's on-par with Azza's, but three (soon to be four?) cities smaller than Old Harry's.

Interesting that in this game it's something like the janissary that would seem to be the most valuable unique unit. Or the cataphract; I could've and could still use those. The conquistador would be awesome in this situation.

Anything anyone would like to see or know?

[Qgqqqqq]

Why is that abnormal?
Apart from India, cataphract crushs opponents.
(Okay, some put the praet before it. But IMO, they rarely come when you can afford to conquer).

[TheHumanHydra]

Not cataphracts, that's normal. I meant the janissary part, then started rambling. Musket UUs are usually panned, aren't they?

[TheHumanHydra]

Serdoa captured and deleted two of my workers by galley - I had been guarding them previously, but for some reason last turn decided it would be a good idea to stop. I killed the offending spearman and archer. 80 more hammers for him, 39 for me. My workers have kind of run out of things to do, so it's not a big loss, and I got some more experience and Great General points.

At end of turn I got the Parthenon (why had no one built it yet?). That's good; I'm liking this Golden Age thing (I've almost never used them before), and I want to try and get my three-man Golden Age in in short order (I haven't calculated how long it'll actually take). I plan to start my National Epic in Wild West next turn (The Great Library - Great Person pump), and my Oxford University in Legoland. I started my Moai Statues in Pirates; I'm not sure why I didn't do that before. I hope to start churning out Taoist missionaries in Cuzco and Corihuaylaamammuhhh ...




What's with all the peaceful builds? Well, Azza and Old Harry made peace. I didn't think to check for what. So, the war's off. I ain't attackin' at tech parity without an ally. Good move on Old Harry's part; as for Azza, well, he's right back where he started before I attacked Serdoa and all, Old Harry having marched into his territory yet again and (presumably) demanded concessions. Good for me, even if not all it could have been.

Now for a mechanics question: when will my blasted war weariness wear off?!?! I looked at an article on it, but it seemed fairly arcane. It seems to go much slower than whip or draft unhappiness. I'd like it gone by the time I'm ready to start drafting rifles (only a few turns), but at the rate it's going, unless it all comes off at once of a sudden, it looks like that ain't gonna happen. What to do, what to do ... (don't answer that part).

[NobleHelium]

War weariness reduces by 1 point per turn while you're at war. It reduces by 1 point + 1% (rounding up) while at peace.

[TheHumanHydra]

How does the point total correspond to the actual war weariness in each city? (It's proportional by population, I know ...)

[NobleHelium]

I can't tell you that. Maybe you can get Seven or T-hawk to look at the code, I just remember stuff.