[SPOILERS] Nakor and Jester..Second time's a charm :)

[CFCJesterFool]

We'll add the other mine once we grow to sz 6 and time growth to sz 7 to coincide with the rest of the whip anger disappearing. Also, we'll have another GScientist in 15t. An Academy might be useful but given the cold war we are in with Gavagai, bulbing Alphabet (to build research) might be a better use. Another use would be to start a golden age. Hard to say what we end up doing.


Taking a risk here (that the war restarts sooner than the axe can finish) but we really need more axes. The plan is to time growth to sz 4 in 8t (having finished the axe with some hammers into the walls), 1 pop whip the WC which will 1t the archer and then go back to building the walls using the same tile configuration that we are using now.


We'll add the silver mine next turn and 1 pop whip the granary at sz 3. This lets the whip anger cool down a little and also we can use both the wheat and farm tiles for regrowth to minimize the time not spent working the silver mine. As much as we need to grow this city, in our situation, the commerce is more important. I am going to try and see if we can get at least one worker back here to farm the other grassland. Probably put the OF from the granary whip into the archer.


Mids is gone so don't have to worry about that. I think 1 pop whipping the granary at sz 3 probably best here. I think one of the five workers will go back to Rohan to farm and the rest will road and pre-chop the southern PHF tiles first, then do the same for the other forest tiles. I am going to make sure that at the very least, the southern forests are chopped away (into military units) before the war restarts. As long as an axe will finish in 1t, it should be a safe build (assuming the turn split stays the same since it would take Gavagai 2 turns to cut off copper if that were the case). The demos and power graph...




What can I say? An arms race that hurts our economy much more than Gavagai's. We have no choice in the matter...it really is a question of survival. Look what we have here...


Looks like a junk city but it does have fish (along with one hill that we can see) so might not be a bad settle eventually. Something to keep in mind although the clam site would be the better island grab. Full steam ahead on Construction next turn. We'll have to come back to Sailing later.

[Nakor]

I'm not sure I would build any walls. Don't think they'll do a lot of good.
Where can we build our next settler? I'd like to see Redemption build a Galley to get an Island city up and running.

We can't bulb Construction, right? We need to tech that asap. But we need Sailing as well....
Maybe an Academy is the best option. GA is not that good with all the whiping.

Let's grow our cities a bit untill Gavagai declared again.

[CFCJesterFool]

I'm not sure I would build any walls. Don't think they'll do a lot of good.
Where can we build our next settler? I'd like to see Redemption build a Galley to get an Island city up and running.

We can't bulb Construction, right? We need to tech that asap. But we need Sailing as well....
Maybe an Academy is the best option. GA is not that good with all the whiping.

Let's grow our cities a bit untill Gavagai declared again.

Walls do give 50% defense and makes bombarding cultural defenses take longer (i.e. gives us more time to whip). Not really planning on building them though. The main problem is we don't know when Gavagai will re-declare so building any sort of metal unit comes with the risk that we'll lose any hammers we put into them. I really have to micro every turn (which I am doing) so the build queues are likely to get changed based on the situation we have at the start of our turn.

Redemption probably builds the next settler although we need to get to Construction (which we can't bulb) before Sailing. If we don't have cats ourselves when Gavagai gets them, one island city won't matter. Having cats should make it safe enough for us to settle the clam site.

The soonest whip I had planned was in Moria (8t) and that city will take too long for the whip anger to fade. Might as well get out another WC and archer for 1 pop. If you feel that strongly about it, I'll hold off though.

Rohan and The Rock are both going to grow to sz 3 at least. 1 pop whipping the granaries (off non-food tiles) is better long term for growth. We are going to need the granaries. It would make sense to just chop out the granary for The Rock though. We can re-evaluate whether to whip once these cities are at sz 3 since that is some turns away. However, let me know if you think chopping out the granary for The Rock is your preferred option and I can set up the micro to do so.

An Academy might be the best option (assuming we don't get attacked before then) for the GScientist. However, our bpt are pretty low which is the reason I brought up the Alpha bulb. Redemption could output 10 bpt by building wealth (13 bpt if we can improve the other mine) although not sure if that would be higher output than an Academy. Maybe I need to get a worker down to Redemption and start cottaging some of the plains tiles?

[CFCJesterFool]

Yeah, I don't think we have much time...

I noticed Gavagai already had Math which means he was running scientists for a long time (but just made sure to get the GProphet first). Quite possible he is changing his tech path after ending turn (he logs in frequently after ending turn and it's not like others haven't done this before). I logged in because I noticed he was logged in (after he had ended turn already) and was curious as to what he was doing. Went ahead and accepted open borders (even though it is definitely a mistake, which I knew but wanted to see what he would do). Gavagai then proceeded to move his chariot to the PH (violation of the turn split since it does give him an advantage) even though he had already ended turn. Fair enough. I changed all metal unit builds to archers to be safe (since they won't finish in time and I chose not to whip). Also switched research to Construction (although we probably can't get there fast enough). I really should have whipped metal units but decided to take the high road. Still possible he doesn't plan on attacking as soon as the turn rolls and his chariot is just meant to keep an eye on how many units we have closest to our former cities. Still, it bothers me a little since we really should be following the turn split to the letter (i.e. no changes after ending turn which is how I have been playing...reason why I don't log back in until the turn rolls). I don't feel bad about my response to the double move on his part and would argue that I would have been justified in whipping metal units this turn even though I didn't.

@ Nakor : Am I misinterpreting the double move rules? Gavagai could declare once the turn rolls (and the chariot would still be able to move after it gets kicked out of our borders) and in effect get a free scouting of Moria. If he had followed the turn split (i.e. waited until next turn to move the chariot to scout) the chariot would get kicked out without having any movement left.

[Nakor]

Good to see you are not planning on building the walls.
Whip when you think we need it, but bigger cities regrow a lot faster. Thankfully we have Granaries!
I'd chop the one in The Rock and whip units afterwards for faster regrowth.

Seems like Gavagai is planning to attack, but maybe... to bad this is AI diplo....
Construction it is... Is there another metal we can claim somewhere?
I wouldn't bother to much about the possible double move. We'll have to see what he does first.
Let's keep to the split from our side.

[CFCJesterFool]

No double move so glad about that. However, this picture sums up the folly of defending against chariots and axes with just axes...


No chance of winning this game (but that was obvious many turns ago). And to think at one time we were doing well. Not having some sort of anti-chariot defense is really the major mistake that was made. Glad we put up a much better fight than PB 8, but still, what a disappointing game...

[CFCJesterFool]

Um okay. I'll play along. Naturally, I looked for the positioning of his units.


I guess Gavagai's chariots are going to do some aggressive sightseeing not far into the future. In response, I went ahead and sent a second spearman to Rohan. The Rock finishes its granary this turn and with a chop finishing next turn (plus 17 OF from completing the granary) we will 1t a second spearman for that city's defense. Sacagawea is doing some scouting of our own...


If we can get to Construction fast enough we might have possibilities although we would also need Sailing as well. Still keeping hope that we can do some damage when the time comes. The demos...


We're doomed! j/k However, it will be a hard uphill battle. Problem is, time is definitely on Gavagai's side (FIN ). If we can hit Gavagai with cats before he realizes the danger (i.e. he burns through his gold researching Currency) then we should have a shot at reclaiming our cities.

[CFCJesterFool]

Sorry, no reporting this turn except it looks like every city Gavagai has, except for our former cities, are garrison less. Really couldn't believe my eyes. Still possible he has garrisons in his capitol and the other western city but haven't scouted that far yet. I might grab a screenshot later if I have the time.

I think something strange is going on. Not sure what yet but I can't account for where all his power is. It definitely isn't in the middle of his empire. Makes me wonder if there is another player south of Gavagai that we haven't met yet. Two or three chariots might be south of Rohan in the fog but I have enough spears and WCs available in the north to defend against a pure chariot force rather easily. Still might be a good idea to send a warrior to find out for sure.

I promise I'll post screenshots next turn.

[CFCJesterFool]

Yeah...




Gavagai has a chariot in his capitol as well.


Going to try and sneak another axe out. Soon we might want to get out another settler to either claim the fish + corn site to our east or grab the pig + shared wheat site to our west. Could also try and claim the GH plant (grabbing a fish) to the east of Wall St. although that site is pretty risky. I'd sure love to chop out all those forests though. Making steady progress on Construction (6t at 100% science which means we would need roughly 100 gold due to running scientists). Finally started cottages in the capitol.


Another axe if possible. Only 22t left on the whip anger.


Will add a farm once Rohan grows to sz 3. Hopefully I can get the other farm improved shortly so we can grow to the happy cap relatively quickly. We'll then need a plains cottage, grass cottage and a GH mine to be stagnate at sz 6. Went ahead and deleted one of the warriors to save gold (so we really are at 13 gpt) and sent the other warrior to scout south to see if Gavagai has any units hiding in the fog. I have a spear playing zone defense between Rohan and the Rock so we should be safe from chariots. Probably be a good idea to send over an archer from The Rock at some point.


Originally, I was going to build a barracks first but decided against it. Not only do we get bonus hammers on the library but we have plenty of grass tiles to cottage here. Both of the remaining forests will be chopped in 3t. The road is mainly for tactical considerations and also to speed up the 2 workers' movement from the southern PHF (overall neutral so we don't lose worker turns). If we have time after the barracks, I'll sneak in another axe, otherwise probably an archer for Rohan. When the time comes, I want to be able to send every axe we have to the front line (so we'll need archers to protect any spears left behind).


Although I didn't count troops, I think we now have just as many units as Gavagai does. However, he has Monarchy and way more whipping power than us so unfortunately, we still need to keep building units. I am taking a big risk by building libraries and barracks in The Rock and Rohan. However, we do need long term teching power (i.e. scientists/cottages) if we hope to ever reach Currency/Monarchy. Also, we can't exactly afford to add too many units right now (so a barracks before more units in these cities is not a terrible idea). Keeping my fingers crossed that we have catapults before Gavagai does.

[Nakor]

I think Gavagai really wants peace for the moment, therefore the offer.
Can we build a few settlers instead of units/barracks? If we get a few more cities up and running, we might be able to produce more catapults before going back to Gavagai.