The Pen vs The Sword (Gandhi of NA)

[The Black Sword]

I think BGN's is probably still better. It looks like a lot of work to play out though, so in that sense I might prefer FinHarry. I actually made a few changes to my gameplay a few turns back because the turns were becoming unenjoyable to play - my map used to be covered in signs for example.

Miguelito; I wouldn't really say I have research phases right now. I was just in Pacifism for a stint, which probably coincided with a research jump since I was hiring a lot of specs, but the aim was to get the GP, not the extra research. Now I'm back in OR for infra-building during my golden age. I'm hoping to switch to Nationhood/Theo once the GA is over and I will complete some built up troops. I'm in Bureau for the GA and leading up to it too. I could see Vassalage being worth it on occasion in combination with Pacifism, because I tend to build troops in Pacifism, but I haven't had the case where that was worth it yet. Rep/Caste/FM are too good to change, though I could see myself in Police State and either Free Speech or State Property when I eventually turn off tech.

Both Environmentalism and Free Speech would be good to use but they fail the litmus test of paying back the cost of Liberalism before I hit Plastics.

[The Black Sword]

Domestic Update. Here's an overview of my land again:


My cities are specialised according to a couple of ideas. First, in order to compete with the more island nations to the south, every city on the southern coast is set up for max production. I also want to focus on tech during the next period to get 3 Gorges Dam ASAP. A lot of cities with already built Universities and a reasonable number of land tiles are going to get observatories and farms, and run scientists for the next 20-30 turns. These include cities like New Silverhead, Cynsaun, Kesorak, Astral Port, Aethermaw, HGB. Importantly, I don't plan for any of these cities to produce great people, these are research sites. I have some dedicated GP sites set up elsewhere, the goal being to get the 4 person golden age and then focus on artist production. These include Hornshark, Pure Lake, Shard, Basilisk caves, Alekhar. Of course we also have our 3 culture cities, Weldyn, Elensefar and Frontline, who will also produce Great Artists. Other cities' roles are determined by the number of hills or cottages already in the BFC. One other important city is Valath, future site of my Ironworks and 3GD. Almost every hill in Wesnoth has a windmill on it these days. This might change as the golden age ends and we pick up Railroad.

Most cities want to build Factories, since they're essentially +75% power buildings with the Dam. The weak ones don't need it immediately though. There also some good economic buildings that take precedence for the same reason. We have a few units still in the queues from the Pacifism period, which I'm finishing case-by-case. We're also on a bit of a religion push right now for the culture cities.

My army right now is equally spread about my territory, with an emphasis on the southern ports. I still have a GG saved up btw, I'm just saving him for the moment. I don't really think he's worth settling because he won't do much when I'm in Theocracy, which is the late game plan. I think sprinkling xp on some ships could be almost as good and keeps my options open elsewhere. I'm looking at about 10 Frigates in the south as a deterrent, hopefully more can wait until the drydocks are complete.

Here's the tech situation:



The plan is to optimise our time to Plastics. If I feel safe enough to skip Artillery I will - my fleet would then mostly be composed of Battleships and Galleons. Right now, I'm trying to get all the monasteries built in my culture cities before researching Sci Meth. I want to finish Steel, the get Sci meth almost done. Save up enough gold to run to Biology. Then maybe Physics, and decide an order on Electricty, Industrialism and Railroad. Finish with Combustion and Plastics. Then we re-evaluate everything else, but at least Flight and Radio will be important.

A run through a couple of important cities:



The 3 culture cities are aiming to have the infrastructure pretty much finished after the GA and we can focus on artists and farms.



Heroic Epic, West Point city. Will be switched more to mines soon. I'll probably be 1 turning Infantry during the GA, hopefully I can build up some overflow for the factory.


One of my top cottage cities.


National Epic.


Moai city. Will be hiring artists when the Observatory is done. I just want one more artist out of here.


An example of one of my specialist research cities, once Bio comes in to change those plains to farms.


The fortress of Arcanclave - ex-Incan capital and my most important port.


Not too important a city, but does anyone know why I'm not getting the levee hammer in my city centre here?


I'm setting up overflow here to 3t the National Park when Biology comes in. So it will be a very effective GP farm.



After it completes this Merchant, Pure Lake will probably stop with the GP generation.



My ace in the hole for 3GD. It's focusing on food, despite the excellent buildings to complete, so as to be at maximum capacity when time comes.


Another important southern port, where Dazed settled a GP.


And the old Khmer capital, with its built up cottages and Academy.



Final Great Artist farm.

Graphs:





Techs:



Questions appreciated.

[The Black Sword]

Oh, and here's our crushed little state 100t ago:




I might not be one of the two contenders, but I'm really happy at managing to catch up so much over the last 100t.

[Qgqqqqq]

Again, great report!

(For anyone who didn't look, TBS did update his post to talk briefly about Dtay, GJJ, and Krovice.)

How do you plan on handling health issues? Simply reassigning/micro, or will some buildings be coming out of the mix?

[Ceiliazul]

Not too important a city, but does anyone know why I'm not getting the levee hammer in my city centre here?

It is because the grassland tile wouldnt normally produce any hammers, but the city tile gets a free one. Now your tile is producing one naturally... but the city doesnt get a free hammer on tiles that produce hammers on their own.

What do you think joey and dtay will do when you hit the slider? How many turns will you be on the slider before victory?

...why the jewish monastaries?

[The Black Sword]

Health won't be such an issue for me, there are some advantages to not using coal plants. It will save 4 health per city compared to the others. The biggest cities will still have some problems though and will get aqueducts and Public Transport where applicable, hopefully that will be enough.

It is because the grassland tile wouldnt normally produce any hammers, but the city tile gets a free one. Now your tile is producing one naturally... but the city doesnt get a free hammer on tiles that produce hammers on their own.

Huh, weird how I never noticed that before. I guess I tried really hard not to waste river grasslands.

The Monasteries will obsolete with Sci Meth, but their culture won't. So, 60h for 2cpt before modifiers is a nice deal.

What do you think joey and dtay will do when you hit the slider? How many turns will you be on the slider before victory?

I think Joey's best move would be to let OH and BGN do the hard work of stopping my culture run. Let them deal with my armies defending my culture cities. He can then go after my relatively undefended borders. I guess the same should hold for dtay, though it might be harder for him to take stuff. That might suit me ok.

I haven't run the numbers on the slider yet, because it's still a moving target. I'll probably do that once the GA is over and the Cathedrals are up.

Oh, and I started a GA this turn.

[Ituralde]

Just got around to reading your T200 update and it was really much appreciated. Loved the international overview on the other major powers and the domestic report was interesting as well. I usually zone out when there's too much cities being shown, but interestingly this was not the case this time.

I'm looking forward to see your culture attempt!

[The Black Sword]

Thanks guys.

This opportunity was so tempting yesterday:


But I left it alone in the end. The Aztecs are my biggest export market and I don't want to lose that pre-Plastics. I figure the foreign trade is probably worth more to me than the percentage of that city's output which will be used against me. I must admit, part of me wanted to do it just to spike their momentum right now. I ended turn in the city, so hopefully they notice I was nice there.

[Commodore]

Wait, explorers can attack now?

[The Black Sword]

Apparently not. Shows how much I use Explorers.