@ipecac: I apologize, I apparently forgot to respond to your last post. Perhaps I am playing suboptimally, but unfortunately I've been distracted by war preparations and failed to start the Moai anywhere. Perhaps a post-war project.
On turn 90, Mardoc and Miguelitos started simultaneous Golden Ages. Miguelitos switched to Bureaucracy, Caste System, and Organized Religion. Mardoc switched to Hereditary Rule and Organized Religion. Both adopted a religion. Miguelitos has been building some Numidian Cavalry and now a catapult. Mardoc is saving gold on Guilds, and I can't tell what anyone else may be researching. Everyone's power is skyrocketing, but I know for myself that has mostly been population, etc., so it's difficult to tell if anyone is actually preparing an attack. The atmosphere is a little tense, like a storm is gathering and will soon break - grey clouds of iron horsemen showering blood.
At the end of turn 92 I teched Guilds. Over the past number of turns I've been whipping forges and barracks. Unfortunately Guilds came too soon for me to set up any nifty whip tricks with horse archers queue-upgrading to knights, but I've set up a number of knight whips to begin next turn. Unfortunately I have not had time to pre-build any auxiliary forces, either - but one lone Cho-Ko-Nu. I have twelve cities I can double-whip at least twice for knights; perhaps I can try and overflow from some of these to complete Cho-Ko-Nus in some of the cities closest to the eventual front. I will have five cities with both barracks and stables, and two more with just barracks, so I will have about an even mixture of trained and untrained units. At this point, I thought simply setting up to whip knights in the barracks-less cities would produce a better return than setting up to whip barracks first, for time reasons. Here's a look at my cities the past two turns so you can see exactly what I've been building as Guilds comes in:
And the traditional overview shots, to put that into context:
As you can see, I'm saving gold on Meditation, thinking of perhaps a run to Nationalism for the Taj Mahal Golden Age (I have marble), followed by perhaps the Music Great Artist if it's still there and Military Tradition for Cuirassiers (this requires Gunpowder too), or a run on Liberalism, since I would have Philosophy in hand. Or I could take a run straight at Liberalism. Or something else - take Gunpowder for defence, or Construction - Engineering for defence and movement. I also have five chariots I could upgrade to knights in time for the projected attack, at 140 gold a piece (I'm making 170 gpt at 0% right now, as you can see, though this will decline as I whip). I would appreciate everyone's thoughts on this - in fact I'm kicking myself I was so focused on the immediate goal I failed to take this into account before now.
Now, as for the larger question that must be on everyone's minds - if we've slid so comfortably into the path of war, who is the target? And how do we defend ourselves from the others, at least one of which (Mardoc) is also gearing up for a heavy-handed offensive. My fear is attacking and being taken in flank by one or two other opponents. Now, Mardoc only really directly borders me and Alhazard. Against me he might bear a grudge, though he can see I'm wary. Into Alhazard's territory he holds a salient, and would be able to take two cities out of the fog the first turn of war with two-movers. Is it too much to hope he will attack Alhazard instead of me? In any case, I should have city visibility on Mardoc in a few turns' time, which will hopefully provide warning of an impending attack.
Migeulitos is my preferred target. As Old Harry and I discussed in a chat some time ago, he is the most vulnerable to attack from my angle, as we share a very wide border without much depth beyond, allowing me to penetrate 'deeply' and threaten/fork multiple cities early on. Old Harry suggested an attack through Hulk in the centre, forking Barrow and the true prize, TheOtherSide, turn one of war. Kiwi to the east could also be hit turn one out of the fog, while Emerald could be attacked by galley-borne troops (or threatened by other forces passing through Hulk), though the galleys would be visible in Misericordia the turn before the attack (sadly I can't win cultural control of the tiles necessary to shroud this deployment, nor to hit TheOtherSide from the sea the first turn of war).
Unfortunately, visibility is a big issue. While open borders have been a great boon for my peace of mind, next to Numidian Cavalry- and War Chariot-wielding neighbours, both Migeulitos and Alhazard have warriors (and now, it seems, Miguelitos a chariot) running through my lands, whose movements I can't predict and who almost certainly would detect any concentration for attack - the necessary staging-tiles don't look much like zone-defence tiles. I can delay concentration to the last minute, but they will both assuredly see my masses of knights and respond appropriately, while I cannot hide the concentration - and thus the target - the turn at least before the attack. But closing borders would look to me just as sketchy, and since I would have to close them with both opponents to produce any sort of deception, would severely damage my economy (I do not have open borders with Mardoc - I've been liking the thought of the information advantage I should have over him with city visibility, but perhaps I should offer to preserve my economy?).
So: how do I achieve any sort of surprise? Also, what do you guys think of the target selection? I could go for Alhazard, but we have a choke-point border and thus the attack would develop much more slowly (since I would be attacking down the length of his empire), and his lands would be difficult to hold after. Or I could attack Mardoc, and defend on my perimeter, but he at least I know will have strong forces, since I know he is teching Guilds - unless I attack him very recklessly as soon as physically possible (as opposed to fully ready). Against him I could at least generate some measure of surprise - but he also has less cities for the taking. What do you guys think?
In conclusion, the sum total of my efforts to date:
And the demographics, as usual (before ending turn):
The crop yield margin has narrowed a bit since I started whipping again. 100% GNP appears to be competitive with Miguelitos' and Mardoc's Golden Age GNPs, unless they have just been saving gold. Despite his mere nine cities, Mardoc has regained a competitive stature. In fact, it might be Alhazard who is slipping a little - though not by much, not at this point. As for me, I just hope I don't get dogpiled.
Thanks for reading.
On turn 90, Mardoc and Miguelitos started simultaneous Golden Ages. Miguelitos switched to Bureaucracy, Caste System, and Organized Religion. Mardoc switched to Hereditary Rule and Organized Religion. Both adopted a religion. Miguelitos has been building some Numidian Cavalry and now a catapult. Mardoc is saving gold on Guilds, and I can't tell what anyone else may be researching. Everyone's power is skyrocketing, but I know for myself that has mostly been population, etc., so it's difficult to tell if anyone is actually preparing an attack. The atmosphere is a little tense, like a storm is gathering and will soon break - grey clouds of iron horsemen showering blood.
At the end of turn 92 I teched Guilds. Over the past number of turns I've been whipping forges and barracks. Unfortunately Guilds came too soon for me to set up any nifty whip tricks with horse archers queue-upgrading to knights, but I've set up a number of knight whips to begin next turn. Unfortunately I have not had time to pre-build any auxiliary forces, either - but one lone Cho-Ko-Nu. I have twelve cities I can double-whip at least twice for knights; perhaps I can try and overflow from some of these to complete Cho-Ko-Nus in some of the cities closest to the eventual front. I will have five cities with both barracks and stables, and two more with just barracks, so I will have about an even mixture of trained and untrained units. At this point, I thought simply setting up to whip knights in the barracks-less cities would produce a better return than setting up to whip barracks first, for time reasons. Here's a look at my cities the past two turns so you can see exactly what I've been building as Guilds comes in:
And the traditional overview shots, to put that into context:
As you can see, I'm saving gold on Meditation, thinking of perhaps a run to Nationalism for the Taj Mahal Golden Age (I have marble), followed by perhaps the Music Great Artist if it's still there and Military Tradition for Cuirassiers (this requires Gunpowder too), or a run on Liberalism, since I would have Philosophy in hand. Or I could take a run straight at Liberalism. Or something else - take Gunpowder for defence, or Construction - Engineering for defence and movement. I also have five chariots I could upgrade to knights in time for the projected attack, at 140 gold a piece (I'm making 170 gpt at 0% right now, as you can see, though this will decline as I whip). I would appreciate everyone's thoughts on this - in fact I'm kicking myself I was so focused on the immediate goal I failed to take this into account before now.
Now, as for the larger question that must be on everyone's minds - if we've slid so comfortably into the path of war, who is the target? And how do we defend ourselves from the others, at least one of which (Mardoc) is also gearing up for a heavy-handed offensive. My fear is attacking and being taken in flank by one or two other opponents. Now, Mardoc only really directly borders me and Alhazard. Against me he might bear a grudge, though he can see I'm wary. Into Alhazard's territory he holds a salient, and would be able to take two cities out of the fog the first turn of war with two-movers. Is it too much to hope he will attack Alhazard instead of me? In any case, I should have city visibility on Mardoc in a few turns' time, which will hopefully provide warning of an impending attack.
Migeulitos is my preferred target. As Old Harry and I discussed in a chat some time ago, he is the most vulnerable to attack from my angle, as we share a very wide border without much depth beyond, allowing me to penetrate 'deeply' and threaten/fork multiple cities early on. Old Harry suggested an attack through Hulk in the centre, forking Barrow and the true prize, TheOtherSide, turn one of war. Kiwi to the east could also be hit turn one out of the fog, while Emerald could be attacked by galley-borne troops (or threatened by other forces passing through Hulk), though the galleys would be visible in Misericordia the turn before the attack (sadly I can't win cultural control of the tiles necessary to shroud this deployment, nor to hit TheOtherSide from the sea the first turn of war).
Unfortunately, visibility is a big issue. While open borders have been a great boon for my peace of mind, next to Numidian Cavalry- and War Chariot-wielding neighbours, both Migeulitos and Alhazard have warriors (and now, it seems, Miguelitos a chariot) running through my lands, whose movements I can't predict and who almost certainly would detect any concentration for attack - the necessary staging-tiles don't look much like zone-defence tiles. I can delay concentration to the last minute, but they will both assuredly see my masses of knights and respond appropriately, while I cannot hide the concentration - and thus the target - the turn at least before the attack. But closing borders would look to me just as sketchy, and since I would have to close them with both opponents to produce any sort of deception, would severely damage my economy (I do not have open borders with Mardoc - I've been liking the thought of the information advantage I should have over him with city visibility, but perhaps I should offer to preserve my economy?).
So: how do I achieve any sort of surprise? Also, what do you guys think of the target selection? I could go for Alhazard, but we have a choke-point border and thus the attack would develop much more slowly (since I would be attacking down the length of his empire), and his lands would be difficult to hold after. Or I could attack Mardoc, and defend on my perimeter, but he at least I know will have strong forces, since I know he is teching Guilds - unless I attack him very recklessly as soon as physically possible (as opposed to fully ready). Against him I could at least generate some measure of surprise - but he also has less cities for the taking. What do you guys think?
In conclusion, the sum total of my efforts to date:
And the demographics, as usual (before ending turn):
The crop yield margin has narrowed a bit since I started whipping again. 100% GNP appears to be competitive with Miguelitos' and Mardoc's Golden Age GNPs, unless they have just been saving gold. Despite his mere nine cities, Mardoc has regained a competitive stature. In fact, it might be Alhazard who is slipping a little - though not by much, not at this point. As for me, I just hope I don't get dogpiled.
Thanks for reading.
. 
(But correct me if the longbow is significantly better.)
), the graphs!
It also seems a little too cute.