[spoilers] Pax Commodorica: Pharaoh of Rome

[spacetyrantxenu]

...the Last Mali will go out like men, not Maya.

[Commodore]

Okay, so, Dtay's memorial aside, I think it's fairly clear I'm most worried right now about Thoth hitting me while I'm weak and strung out. Nothing for it but to hope, though. In more interesting news, TBS has declared on Gaspar; no cities have yet changed hands but that's not going to last...Janissaries are better than muskets against cavalry, but not better enough.
   
Not point in assuming defeat, though, so I launched myself a bright and beautiful golden age. I'll bang out Education and Liberalism next, following with Scientific Method and Communism. State Property alone is probably worth it for me here, even if I miss out on the Kremlin. My GNP is looking sexy-fine!
   
Here's my first roll for either a turn faster speed on Scientific Method or an engineer to rush the Kremlin. I'm going to be sad to lose the Parthenon, but it'll have been enough to help along four great people so I'm content. Hate not working riverside villages in a golden age.
   
Legio is looking quite kingly at the moment. I'm starting to bank hammers for a good old-fashioned overflow sequence...although I'm reasonably sure TBS will be doing the same. Industrious is about Stonehenge, Oracle, and forges folks...when I fire the capital onto Kremlin Ind will be a tiny fraction of the boosts.
   
For completeness' sake, here is what the rivals know. Gaspar is slightly ahead on military tech, TBS is massively ahead, and Thoth is slightly behind. We're all within spitting distance, though...but that's because TBS used his snowball to gain about 35% more land than the rest of us. Good play, that.
   
Now go off back to Gaspar and TBS's threads, they'll be telling you if this is still a game.

[Commodore]

So...do we still have a game? Gaspar caved, but only gave up one single city. TBS has just been on fire for this game, that's another good judgement call. I'd have hesitated to push Gaspar, myself, but he's not up for a hardcore war with a tech-superior foe. Good job, dude.

Another good job? Dtay's defense. By clustering everything in Game and Watch, he delayed his death a turn more, causing much pain with extra war weariness. But in the end, I sucked up five more knight losses and charged. Did just get more XP on my two Combat 4 commando candidates. And a great general.


Good game Dtay.

[Commodore]

So, here we are at long last; the world is peaceful and serene, four remaining great powers flowering into the cusp of the Age of Enlightenment. The short and squat but still competitively sized Legion sits among lakes and seas, commerce flowing freely from the coastlines in the form of Colossus-and-GA-boosted tiles and the Great Lighthouse's contributions in every port. My lands are extensive; game winningly lush and vast in any other game. As it is, I might be able to squeeze one or two more cities in there, but by and large? We're done expanding, boss.


My insanely vast army secured very little additional land with this final extinction campaign. The prize that's been paying immediately, what made it all worthwhile, is the GLH, now in beautiful Isaura. The city itself isn't bad at all; it owns some great towns and a fine hill set. I'll need to wrest the deer tile back from Thoth's culture before I can grow here, but with Isaura and Duodevigesima both working on the problem I think we can manage that.


Speaking of, the former Mali capital of Master Hand, now Duodevigesima, is obviously a freaking fantastic city...once it finally regrows to at least a shadow of its former glory. This actually would be another excellent candidate for my Ironworks eventually, given the riverside density and how sick levees make this place. I suspect that growing the sucker from size one will make that a bit difficult, though. I'll be watermilling/workshopping the empty tiles anyway, though.


It wasn't captured in this offensive, actually the final prize of the long-ago First Blitz, but Undevigesima is also now an actual city in its own right, rather than its former dubious-utility turn as a forward fortress and cultural pump. It's quite excellent, for all that Gaspar's city in the north will always be culturally pressuring it. Pigs mean I can finally grow! I can't wait to see all the awesome mines this place can sport being used.


In the middle of a golden age, I am contractually required to show you gratuitous shots of my Moai city, so here's Flavia Felix. Please note this is with me giving away one of its fish tiles. Holy crap this place is sweet, best Moai I've ever had.


Finally in the tour of “cities I'm thinking about” we have Minervia. I decided to trade a slightly worse chance at actually coinflipping Communism for a slightly better chance at getting a Great Engineer to rush Kremlin out from under TBS' nose. On the turn flip we'll see what we get. If it's a low-odds GPro, GArt, or GM I might have to kill someone. Here's hoping I don't have to do that!


Pitboss Nineteen, baby. Answering that crucial question: How many boards could the Mongols horde if the Mongol hordes got bored?

[von Adlercreutz]

Awesome thread! That GLH city made me wonder, does the buildings required for a wonder built in a city always stay when the city changes hands?

[Commodore]

Awesome thread! That GLH city made me wonder, does the buildings required for a wonder built in a city always stay when the city changes hands?

That is...an excellent question. I'm not sure, actually.

[Ceiliazul]

That IS a good question. Certainl adds value to wonder cities if they get free infra.

Also "men not maya". Hee, silly apolyton in ISDG 1. Hehe

[Commodore]

Turn 176: Whereupon We Play Crappier Craps
So the dice rolled, and the most likely great person result of Scientist came roaring out of Minervia. Pity, but that's how the cookie crumbles. I bulbed with him, despite the event log showing that our dear Mr. Superstation has already landed Communism. Legio will need five turns to build the Kremlin, so I suspect that's a wash, folks.


Next roll for an engineer is in at the turn roll, but that's a mere 20% shot, so I have my doubts. On the plus side, I think my freight-train-like GNP will let me catch up completely next golden age, which I'm working on. Augusta here is going for a Merchant; I briefly considered Sid's but given TBS is already working on Biology and I'm also down Economics/Corp, I think I'll eschew that attempt. Nice as it would be to scupper one of his many first-to shots...


Never let it be said I'm unwilling to show places where I have just massively failed. I've been pushing improvements hard in ex-Mali, and my HE city and his friends are very well off as well. But here in my core second, third, and fifth cities? De nadda. Kids, friends don't let friends get by with this few tile improvements.


I took a look, idly, to see how the victory conditions screen looked. Um, wow guys. Are we literally all within just a couple citizens of each other?


My room issue got mildly exacerbated again, this time with a TBS plant invalidating the city I was going to push in ex-Maya. Them's the breaks, not like Mongolia's power is diminishing. Here's a pretty good shot of my own military; outdated and small. I also stopped the dang wrap from splitting off my empire, so you can take a good visual gander of my respectable if 4th-rate land area.


Still having fun, but a miss is unfortunately just as good as a mile in the game of “first-to chase”.

[Commodore]

Turn 177: Nice Screens
Boy that's a nice view. Sure, I have a ton of overflow, but still...choices, choices, choices! In the end, I opted for Communism still. Obsoleting the Parthenon delayed my great engineer shot by a turn, but it's going to be 25% chance. Legio can't make better than five turns to build, sadly.


I don't think I can afford anything other than Replaceable Parts-> Rifling next, though. This...ain't a good picture.


Scientific Method coming in reassures me that I do indeed have Oil, and am settled on my natural source. Awesome!


Scarily, though, that's it in Home Legion. In my captured Eastern Legion? Yeah, welcome to Alaska boys.

[Commodore]

Turn 178: Pax Revolution
Depressingly, I was slightly off on my estimate...Kremlin is going to be seven turns even with a chop. No way to improve it without bloody stupid capital whipping, either, and even then...yeah, TBS has this one, I think. Ah well, it'll be a lot of failgold, probably enough for me to beat him to Sid's.


Here's the new wave of civics. OR isn't just for the Kremlin, of course, I'm finally embarking on a mess of universities to get my late late Oxford cooking. Even though my civic costs doubled with this swap, my costs went down a ton...State Property is just that good. Weaker beaker rate though.



Turn 179: More Better, But Never Most Best
Avunt! A new era has dawned; I set fire to a great scientist and finished Biology. My score is now matching Thoth's, so it now reflects my second place standing just as well as my demos do. Unfortunately...first place is kind of utterly dominant.


I'm growing like a weed in many places. Weediest of all is the slightly culture-crushed formerly Mali capital. Man do I need to jack this guy up into the stratosphere; there is zero reason to not have him size 15 and hammering out the good stuff very very quickly. I'm loving myself some SP watermill food right now, to add to the farms and such.


Some places long stagnant need to take advantage of the Biology windfall, now coupled with the lack of war weariness and Notre Dame happy. There is no reason to not sport several grass farms in cities like Ferrata; farms and workshops going nuts just makes the modern era such a pleasure to play.


I know Moai-in-a-golden-age is cliché by this point but here's a fun one, Heroic Epic city in a golden age! Those nice hammer totals will go down soon but I'll get a solid dozen-knight stack before they do and railroad isn't all that far off any more.


Here's the Legion, as we twiddle into the quiet builder twilight portion of the game. Let's try and improve our citizen ratio with the rest of the world; alas we're not going to be doing much for the land. I do believe all four of us are formidable enough, and the corners are corner-enough, that no more major wars will crop up.


I'm going to decide on my Sid's shot depending on how Augusta's great person shakes out; a 22% odds prophet would kill any hopes there but the overwhelming top likelihood is for a Great Merchant. Let's see how that rolls!