[PB22 Spoiler] Joey and Borsche puke on the funny pages

[GermanJoey]

lmfao, somehow mackoti got Education and then Economics in back to back turns, ninjaing the Econ artist on the turn Gawdzak woulda selected it from Lib. freaking amazing, I have no idea how he did it. a bunch of bulbs, maybe? Gawdzak took Nationalism from lib instead, I guess hoping to get the Taj. Maybe REMAI will give him marble again?

Mack revolted into a whole bunch of various civics, including, beyond the obvious Free Market, Vassalage, Police State, and Slavery. Why? Good question...




Well, it's because HAK made peace with both Gavagai and Mackoti, and the next turn Gavagai declared war on Mack!!! If Mack is setting up his civics like this, I guess its a serious war. Good, glad to have these guys off my back! It looks like Gav will be able to make some early headway, as his power is quite a bit higher than Mack's. I'm not sure which border they'll be scuffling over; most of their armies are probably on the western HAK front, which doesn't make a lot of sense to fight over. Perhaps Gav has a secondary army on their eastern border? Here's what their power charts look like:




Note that REMAI have yet to recover to their pre-war peak, while I'm almost 200k beyond where I was.

Mack asked for spices for 5gpt, which, after thinking about it, I sent back to him. Commodore also asked for spices, in exchange for gems. I'm already getting gems from Gawdzak, so presumably he wants me to cancel my deal with Gawdzak and deal with him instead. Well... no need to worry about Gawdzak running away with the game anymore, so I'd rather keep good relations with him for the time being.

In the next turn or two I have to decide between two paths... commit to something I've been building up to for the last in-game few centuries, or back down from it, continuing to grow economically. I'm about 75% sure I'll commit... but we shall see!

[GermanJoey]

Well now, howdya like that!!!




I'm now about 90% sure I'll commit to my plan... next turn is my last chance to back out!

Also... forgot to mention this before, but who totally called this? (hint: it was me!) Gavagai just got the tech too, but these guys were first. They don't have caste or bureau to switch to in their golden age, but they made sure to get 'dem pikes just to spite me.




HE is online next turn, oh boy.

[GermanJoey]

T148 Furungy. Note the workboat. 8 Numids upgraded to Knights, 100% on Engineering to get it in 2 turns. This is a 1100 gold investment, which slows down Economics by like 5 turns, costing me another ~1100 gold from trade routes.




T149 Furungy border. All's still well, strike force finally in place, ready to hit the city next turn...




T150. God. Fucking. Dammit. ARRGHHH!!!




Not actually the end of the world, but may effect whether I have enough momentum to push all the way to his capital or not. I'll have more details about my army and his when I get home to play my turn.

[GermanJoey]

I got so excited about the war that I forgot to declare it before I moved my stack in. Thankfully, because I had engineering it did not end up mattering, I still moved my forces where I wanted them. ALL PART OF THE PLAN, BOYS.



(C2+Shock get 74.1% odds, if you're interested)

Regarding army strength, here's an analysis I wrote up on T147:

The lowest power on the demographics charts is 217k, which, guesstimating from the charts, should be Furungy.

Techs eat up the biggest part of it. He has:

8k - 4*2000 soldiers – Sailing, Hunting, Mining, Animal Husbandry
+12k - 3*4000 soldiers - Wheel, Metal Casting, Construction
+12k - 2*6000 soldiers - Mathematics, Archery
+24k - 3*8000 soldiers - Guilds, Bronze Working, Machinery
+10k - 1*10000 soldiers - Iron Working
--------------------------------------
66k from tech

I also counted 89 pop in 14 cities = 44k soldiers

I've seen 17k in units - 10k (2 spear, 1 axe, 1 archer, 1 warrior) garrisoned in border city of Tonsberg, and an axe and an archer garrisoned in two different cities on his eastern frontier. He's also got to have a galley (2k) somewhere, as he's settled on the eastern side of his continent, separated by a mountain.

127k - how to account for missing 88k?

From a visual inspection of his cities, he has zero barracks, stables, and forges! Believe it or not!

He's got to have 11 other garrisons - a mix of warriors, chariots, archers, and axes ~2k per city, 22k power. say 3-4 barb busting axes/chariots, 10k to keep numbers even.

So that's 159k in total known power, or 217k-159k = 58k in "loose" power, which is probably somewhere between 12 and 17 ancient/classical/medieval units spread about wherever. He's had a minor spike recently, so some of that may be medieval too... maces or longbows, as he still doesn't have HBR for Knights.

His power has gone up to 232k by this turn, 6k of which is from population - including pop he's settled 3 new cities in unknown locales. His empire is extremely wide... I don't think that, even if he starts whipping longbows everywhere, he'll be able to reasonably get troops to his soon-to-be-rapidly-shrinking frontline from more than 3 cities.

My army consists of the following:

11 Knights (including my GG super-medic), many with 3 promos; two of these guys are still on boats, so they're not shown in the previous screenshot.
3 Numidians (which I might upgrade next turn after I take the city; gotta feel this out.)
6 Amphibious Swords (on galleys)
2 5xp cats (on galleys, reaver-drop stylin; these are for Uppsala, where Furungy will likely try to make a stand)
5 galleys (various XP, some 0, some 2, some 4)
1 trireme (4 XP)
1 C2 Shock axeman (9 XP! can take amphibious next promo...)

This is a total of 134k power, over double what I expect Furungy has at the table at the moment. I'd have like to have brought more, but I've already thinned out my most important garrison by quite a bit already:




The only reason I felt comfortable on this advance was because of my HE starting to come online:




In just a few turns, the rest of these tiles will be improved and I can 1-turn 11 XP Knights here. Combined with Engineering's extra mobility, and with many more cities finally finishing forges and also contributing to military construction, I think should be able to repel a potential REMAI invasion happening within the next few turns, if they choose to try to take advantage of my Furungy land-grab. That's assuming it would be approximately similar-strength to the one before; their power is only about what it was before, and they have a few extra military techs and far larger cities. No more GA to rely on either.

But anyways, yes, land. Lovely lovely land. My goal for this war is, very simply, land. I want to take Furungy's four western cities in order to a.) take these 4 cities, duh, b.) open up filler spots for 3 additional ones, and c.) open up access to these big, lush islands that Furungy has bafflingly ignored:




At the same time, I have a galley w/ 2 settlers (and a couple workboats) moving up to secure this islandia that Gawdzak has similarly ignored:




I estimate that this war will thus eventually net me about 14 cities total within about 20 turns, bringing me up to 35. We'll see how it works out!

Demos:




CY gap is closing further, to 52 food, even though dtay is up 4 cities on me now. He's very very aggressively settling the islands towards Gawdzak, I hope that guy wakes up. MFG is looking fantastic considering that IIRC 5 other civs are currently in a GA yet I am not. Average power is very high now. Here's why:




Mack, Gav, and I are all neck-and-neck here. Gav seems to have drawn himself into a blood feud, wonderful news for me.

One last bit:




Note the sign, "move out spawnbuster t147?" I've had a 5xp chariot there for the last ~80 turns busting spawns, that I just moved away, upgraded to knight, and added to my invasion stack 3 turns ago. A barb, of course, then spawned there two turns later.

[GermanJoey]

T151.

I log in to find....




Everyone's still there! Furungy's drywhipped Jelling (probably into a Longbow) but his ancient junk is still in place in Tonsberg. He's whipped nowhere else, as far as I can tell. He shoulda moved this stack out last turn, but I supposed correctly realized it was too late to do so this turn, so - so it goes for him. He upgraded the warrior to a spear, but it's still not even top defender because it has no fortification bonus. I cross my fingers and....




Success! Victories at 74.1%, 74.1% (C2+Shock Knights vs the unpromoted spears), and 70.1% (C1+Shock vs C2 unfortified spear). These knights only take 1-2 hits a piece. Cool! Next, we just have the axe and the archer, and at 88.9% and 95.1%, respectively, they prove to be no problem. Nice! I get some 50 capture gold, no buildings, but it fits into my dotmap so I keep it.

Next up, I take a peak into Jelling and...









This guy came with a granary, not too shabby. It has some very nice tiles to work, it'll be an excellent addition to my empire once it has popped borders and a lighthouse installed. I was unfortunately not able to reach Oslo this turn, as the remnants of my horse stack were 1 move short, but it remained empty when the turn rolled so hey, there's another free city for me.



I also snagged a worker on the way. Furungy got HBR this turn after getting Paper T150, but fortunately (for me) I don't think unpromoted Knights will save him.

Elsewhere, my southern neighbors are being cheeky, thinking they can get these forests in the DMZ. I flashed a C3 Knight to let them know that I am, indeed, paying attention.




Gavagai made peace with Mackoti for some reason, so I flashed a C3 Knight at him too.

Lastly, here's a few random shots. Take a look at DNF's production; they're not in a golden age yet are even higher than I am. Their crop yield is really bad, but still this is impressive considering how little land they have. Where is all this coming from? They're in serfdom, not caste, which is interesting... I wish I could see their land, but they've so far refused to trade maps with anyone.




Here's GoatKCD, now installed with a Bank. I saved gold this turn to make use of it (100%ing last turn), and then I'll finish Education in 3 turns starting T152. First size 17 city in the world!




Here's my second-best commerce city, Claretin, the second size 17 city in the world! This guy really stagnated on infrastructure after the switch away from slavery, which is why I had to mine that desert hill. Thankfully, I finally got a worker back to RIPFF's island to plant a workshop in the one unimproved tile there. I'm not sure whether its worth it to get a forge going here... I suppose its now or never, but, like, it's only an extra 2hpt? Hmmm...

[GermanJoey]

MMmm, I think Furungy is pissed:

1/11/15 6:11 am Furungy Logged out
1/11/15 6:11 am Furungy Finished turn
1/11/15 6:10 am Furungy Score decreased to 591
1/11/15 6:10 am Furungy Score decreased to 593
1/11/15 6:10 am Furungy Score decreased to 598
1/11/15 6:10 am Furungy Score decreased to 604
1/11/15 6:09 am Furungy Score decreased to 609
1/11/15 6:09 am Furungy Score decreased to 617
1/11/15 6:09 am Furungy Score decreased to 618
1/11/15 6:05 am Furungy Logged in

6 minute turn (including the time it takes to load the map, which is a minute or two), after making me wait all day to play (despite playing minutes after him yesterday), three 3-pop whips (fairly sure these are knights) and a couple doubles, and no pause for me despite asking for one. I captured Oslo (which was not whipped) and advanced my troops; I can hit Uppsala or his capital T154, as there's a spot that forks both of them.




I learned from Adrien's PB23 that it might actually be possible to double-move the barbs, so I gave it a try, since I was forced last in the turn anyways... and it worked! How about that! Something to remember, folks!




Oh, and by the way, Gawdzak landed the Taj!

City counts:
Plako: 26
dtay: 26
Me: 24 (settling 25 when I get to play)
Gawdzak: 21

[Boldly Going Nowhere]

I can't read Adrien's pb23 thread for the double-move the barbs explanation, but does it involve moving your unit real fast as the turn rolls? I seem to recall a slight lag after a new pitboss turn rolls as everything processes before the barbs get their turn and I can see this being enough time for a quick hand to steal an extra move. Nice job!

[Krill]

[GermanJoey]

I can't read Adrien's pb23 thread for the double-move the barbs explanation, but does it involve moving your unit real fast as the turn rolls? I seem to recall a slight lag after a new pitboss turn rolls as everything processes before the barbs get their turn and I can see this being enough time for a quick hand to steal an extra move. Nice job!

Yeah! Basically, what happens is that barbs don't actually move when the turn rolls, but actually move 10 seconds after. So, what I did was just select my garrison chariot in Ray's Toilet (the city nearest by), hit end turn, quickly grab the newly-produced longbow in Oglaf, and use it to murk the barb sitting on my marble before it could raze the quarry. 99.2% odds - booya, ya barb baby!

It was particularly handy because I finally started on the NE in my ToA city this turn - it should be done on T166.

[GermanJoey]

1/11/15 1:35 pm Furungy Logged out
1/11/15 1:34 pm Furungy Finished turn
1/11/15 1:32 pm Furungy Score decreased to 571
1/11/15 1:30 pm Furungy Score decreased to 580
1/11/15 1:27 pm Furungy Logged in

8 minutes this time... 2 more huge whips, a 4 pop whip in Birka (I think it must be another Knight) and a 3-pop dry whip in Nidaros. (likely a longbow)

Here's what I saw when I moved onto the choke:




Only the Numid on the fork and my ships have moved at the point of this shot, and I think one of those Knights might have been a chariot upgrade due to the C1, because, again, he had no barracks or stables. (the F1 promotion is from the Trading Post). I ended up moving one Numid 1SW of Uppsala, hoping to bait a Knight out, 2 Knights from the 4 stack (these guys are all 8.2 or 8.4 hp, btw) 2 S1W of Uppsala and 2 others 1SW of the fork, along with the axe, and the 6 Knight stack onto the fork. So, it looks like 6 Knights (one of which is my GG medic) + 1 Numid vs 3 pretty much unpromoted Knights + 2 unpromoted, unfortified Longbows + 60% cultural defense. Gotta sim that but... it's not out of the realm of possibility to take both cities next turn. My ships (5 more swords and 2 bombardment cats) are 3 moves away, so the alternative is to wait on them and hope that my reinforcements are better than his.

More city counts:

dtay + 1 to 27, plako still at 26, me +1 to 25, gawdzak still at 21, Commodore has 22, Gavagai at 20, Mack at 17, DNF at 15, HAK 11, REMAI 10.

dtay got Printing Press this turn. He cancelled our incense for silk deal in lieu of an identical deal with plako, so I canceled our wine for wheat deal too and sent him back wheat for silk. Gawdzak has 2700 (!) gold saved. He got marble from HAK this time, at the low, low price of only 15 gpt for it, heh, HEH. HEH. The only other interesting things in the relations screen was this:

Every other civ has contact with everyone else barring one or two, except for Furungy, and the only civs he has contact with are civs that reached out to contact him, rather than the other way around.




DNF (although, maybe I should call them ONF now since it seems OT4E is the main turnplayer) has had Optics for a few turns now... I wonder if they're planning to use Carracks to grab all this great land that HAK and REMAI have been ignoring? The Portuguese empire seems to be semi-permanently in Serfdom too, so the jungle won't even be a big deal for them... seems like a smart move.




I'm also hoping they'll just tear into dtay's underbelly or something like that. Unfortunately, their power is very low:




Gavagai's been pretty much keeping pace with me, although I was ahead this turn by 18k. OTOH, Mack's leveled off a bit.