eastways thread.

[Cornflakes]

You can check the civics screen to find out the draft limit. A whip is 20 on Quick. The penalty on wonders varies per wonder, but generally whips on world wonders are half as effective and on national wonders are 2/3 as effective.

Thanks! Draft limit is 3/turn.

I think my action plan for the 20 turns or so that I'll take will be peacepeacepeace. I'll tech in the direction of Rifling for the deterrence effect, but without any plans to go on the offensive. Quick investigation of the map suggests that none of the neighbors can be gobbled in 20 turns without interference from the neighbors, so my plan is to focus on the economy. The civ looks to have a good cottage base built up, and universities are already under construction in the key cities. My builds will focus on getting Universities + Banks + Grocers + Markets in all the cottage cities. I'm also going to pump Buddhist missionaries around and try for the monk economy. We have 5 ... FIVE! ... holy cities. State religion is Buddhism (2 cities), Confucianism is the most "widely spread" of our religions at 3 cities. I really wish our religion civic was OrgRel because that would help with the infrastructure push as I spread the religion around.

Militarily ... where are the catapults?! We have a dozen axemen, but only one catapult that was built this turn. I'm not going to fight an offensive war, but I am worried that one of the neighbors (AT or Cheater Hater primarily) would take a quick stab and knock out a border city or two. Right now we have nothing to throw at an invading stack.




Six universities are required to build Oxford. The one at Brithombar will be whipped in two turns, so that all three will be complete in 3 turns. I'm going slider at 100% gold until the universities come in. I'm not sure yet what I want to do tech-wise and that will give some time to decide.




I'm thinking move the capital here and put Oxford here for max economic benefit. The current capital does not have nearly the number of developed cottages. I can easily get this baby up to 100 base commerce per turn by the time Oxford comes online. Oxford first, and then move palace.




The current capital is a nice city, but it just doesn't have the cottage development that it should have for max Bureau + Oxford benefit. I'm going to push through Apostolic Palace after whipping the university for overflow next turn. I'll likely time Divine Right to begin Spiral Minaret as soon as Apostolic Palace completes.




I'm going to whip the university to completion in order to overflow into University of Sankore. While the monk wonders are coming online I'll be spreading Buddhism everywhere, starting in my hammer-heavy cities to immediately build a Monastery and propagate the religion as quickly as possible.

[Cornflakes]

Don't expect a report every turn. I'll provide details as I have time.

I'm going to try ignoring military builds and hopefully get the economy roaring for the hand-off early July. I'm hoping AT doesn't hold a grudge from PB9

[Cornflakes]

I feel like the civ is very vulnerable. There are three cities that can be hit in one turn by a knight stack, and at least three more that could be hit in two turns by a knight stack. And right now we have 1 catapult for collateral on a 3-road radius. I am banking on the fact that we are #3, and neither of the #1/#2's want to make a big enemy, and neither of the #4/#5 have enough muscle. I have the 8-or-so knights in a stack where they can reach what I feel is the most vulnerable city in 1-turn, and either of the other cities in two turns. I have OB with everyone except AT (assuming that's because of Great Lighthouse) so I have a net of NumCalv out monitoring troop movements in the fog. Of particular note and worry is a large stack of Roman Praets and Knights near Osgiliath.




I intentionally placed my knights within sight of the Roman peak this turn. They are within range of getting inside Osgiliath from this position, but also able to swing south if China gets threatening or pop south and then west if the Roman military trys to march over to the other front.

In two or three non-commerce cities I'm going to push some catapults out ASAP, but otherwise I'm going to go light on the military. We are only just behind TT at the moment, and at this point I don't expect any massive buildup before Rifles and I plan on getting those about the same time as the others. Universities complete end of next turn, and then I turn on research again.

Banking (start Banks in the cities after the Universities) > Repl. Parts > Rifles > Divine Right (Spiral Minaret) will probably be the tech order. I considered making a run at Statue of Liberty, but that would require Nationalism > Constitution > Democracy which are all expensive techs. If Espionage was on I might be more tempted because then that opens up the espionage economy and the opportunity of stealing the military techs ... but as-is the cost is just too high to make SoL worth it.

[Cornflakes]

Apostolic Palace in 4 turns (I decided to use the chop SE of the city for this to shave off a turn ... might not be the best use of the chop, but whatever).




Notice anything odd about this culture overview? ... ... ... so why is it that Rome exerts no culture influence 2S of Ancheim. As a size 7 city it must have been established for a long time. How is it possible that as a border city it doen't even have culture into the 2nd ring??? The only thing that I can think of is that it recently came out or resistance after being captured from eastway. But from the culture overlay I gather that Minas Anor and Hartchild were once Roman cities ... but if they were Roman cities with 3rd ring culture then Ancheim must certainly have been a Roman city and the jumping-off point for the other two.

[Cornflakes]

The only thing that I can think of is that it recently came out or resistance after being captured from eastway[/s].

On second thought, this was an absolutely absurd thought so I don't know why it was my only thought There is no ORANGE culture around Ancheim, so it could NOT have been recently captured from eastway.

[Cornflakes]

TT is heading for Rifling. AT just attacked B4ndit, and has enough force to begin overwhelming him. I was sorely tempted to move my forces into striking distance to try and wipe out his units in a counter attack after he hits B4andit, but I have decided to stay neutral and focus purely on getting the religious wonders and banks and other economic stuff rolling. AT is not yet at runaway status, and I think that we'll have a stronger chance at striking further down the road.

Rep Parts in 2, with about 90% overflow from the 2nd turn. Divine Right next in 1-turn (Apostolic Palace completes that EO same turn, so Spiral Minaret will begin there immediately), and probably Rifling in 3 turns after that but maybe 4 depending on finances and maybe needing another turn of saving. University or Sankore began last turn and will be finished in 8, probably about the same time as Spiral Minaret.

Religious fervor is spreading from the east. The state religion was originally followed in only 2 cities, but monasteries are under construction and the first missionaries have converted the nearby populous and hammer-rich city ... and in the most ironic turn of events, the religions fervor has led the governors to whip the people mercilessly in order to spread Buddhism as quickly as possible.

[Cornflakes]

Never have I ever built the three religions wonders, so I'm trying this out as much to learn whether it really works to focus 20 turns of building on monasteries/missionaries/temples/cathedrals.

Lets say we have 10 cities that get monastery + temple. That's 4 gold + 4 beakers/city, or 40gpt + 40bpt. hmmm, expenses are about -300, so that takes care of about 12% off the cash-piling time. Beaker output is about 850 without Oxford, 950 with oxford. So that's about 5% increase to the beaker output. hmmm, plus we have to account for modifier buildings, so maybe 10% total increase in tech rate? I'll have to see how it works out in practice.

[Cornflakes]

well ... ahem ...




AT beat me to Apostolic Palace by 2 turns (my timing was end of next turn). That changes things a bit. Since we do not already have the religions infrastructure in place, I'm thinking that building the other religions wonders and all those religious buildings won't pay off. I'm still going to pump out a few more missionaries for the high-hammer cities for the XP since we are in Theocracy.

Not really sure what I'm going to do tech-wise now. AT is now eating B4ndit alive, and there's nothing B4ndit can do about it anymore. I think AT needs to be attacked ... but how? And when?

[Cornflakes]

3 turns in <24 hours! ... Peace with Cheater Hater just expired. Last turn he moved ~10 knights into his border city. In response I re-routed my knights to the west. This turn he directed his ~15 or so Praets to the west (2 turns from my west border, now 3 turns from my east border). I'm guessing that was just because he sees the knights. He'd be crazy to attack, as he'd surely loose everything that enters my territory. I fell about 20 beakers short of finishing Rifling with just research power so I made up the difference with a research build and microing off some hills in favor of commerce. GNP is still in 3rd even after TT's GA ended

My nearest boarder cities are 3 tiles deep (2 cushion) so I can't be 1-turned anywhere by knight stacks. If C-H invades I'll probably upgrade 3 or so Rifles, and then the following turn throw everything at him, whether he continues to advance or decides to retreat. I'm not planning offense at this point. Saving hammers for Banks. I think next tech will be to get Corporation for Wall Street. Corporation is a pre-req for Assembly Line anyway. I'm skimping on military even though AT and TT continue to build up, but I'm betting that AT doesn't want to make an enemy, and I'm betting that TT knows that attacking me means AT wins by default. I can defend against C-H with ease, and B4ndit will not remain in this game much longer.

[Cornflakes]

Here's a tactical opportunity to hit when the time is right.




5XP (Nav 1) galleons can hit "Say My Name" in 1-turn from the little pond. That is a powerhouse of a city that also has about 10 wonders inside. You can stage a strike force out of sight and move the galleons through a fort from the western sea into the pond (make sure you haven't promoted the units yet to mask the danger). Then capture the border city, move the ships through, and raze "Say My Name" ... probably 3 ships would be enough if you can get some good attackers on board.