[PB25-SPOILERS] The Lunacy of the Reign of HAK Continues

[MindyMcCready]

Heh, was wondering when you'd "complain" about those Library builds.

I promise that I will complain less if you get OR in the cities building this so-called "infrastructure".

Belligerent could probably do something else at the moment. Hmm, maybe I could have it build the other Settler for that island...that way we don't even need to have a Galley over there to get it to the island.

I don't understand understand how we can get a Settler to an island without a galley,...did we hit the Star Trek era? :LOL:

JK,...looking at the map,...can Belligerent defend itself now? We're still vulnerable on that island and without a galley? Probably beset to just work on keeping what we have down there.

Oh and in my most recent sim that I just did, was able to get the whip on T160 to be only a 5pop whip. So now it'll be a size 9 city (and growing) while we're stuck in Bureau for a few more turns past that point.

Awesome,...a size9 with bureau is a little less laughable. If nobody has built Parthenon (pretty low demand wonder usually), I think that we could built it in the capital following Taj. It's actually useful with Merc + caste. I'm also ok with trying to fit in Notre Dame somewhere else if MC's not miles ahead of us on that one. The other civs with Engineering don't really have the city counts to be working on that type of a wonder. Ankor Wat is also mildly useful since a priest specialist will be the strongest specialist,...again a synnergy with Merc. If the game keeps going, getting the right type of GP for 4-person, 5-person GA will one day matter.

So we'll be in slavery from T159 to T164. During that time we need to research Aesthetics + Drama and then whip something like 7 theatres (50H build,...20H for a 1-pop whip,...13H if forge). Once we get Globe in Popeyes, that little area will be able to hold it's own against Gavagai with only a little support. One of the cities that needs to get a Theatre is McDonalds. Merc + theatre and we can run 2 artists (even without Caste) to see if we can capture the first ring of Five Guys,...we might be able to buy Five Guys from Gavagai if he doesn't think that he can defend it. It might look like a nice river-based split of the land rather than the next step in his (hopefully) eventual demise.

[MindyMcCready]

What time are you playing tomorrow?

We're still the #1 power and we have to get serious about what direction we're pointing that power and/or if we're pulling the trigger.

An updated map of MC's lands (Grimaceland) please. As well the culture levels around COA.

We should keep in mind that MC probably can't outtech us long-term given Rathuses. At the end of the day, he's going to have to come at us.

[HitAnyKey]

Speaking of Gavagai, I did notice this past turn he did move the StackOfDoom away from our borders (kinda straight west). Not sure of his intentions with it, but it would be nice if he's planning to go take Commdore's city over there. And hopefully not planning to use it to sail across and hit me on that side. Before we signed peace, he was blockading Grumpy and starting to sail 2 Galleys that direction.
I'll keep tracking the SOD each turn.

[HitAnyKey]

What time are you playing tomorrow?

We're still the #1 power and we have to get serious about what direction we're pointing that power and/or if we're pulling the trigger.

An updated map of MC's lands (Grimaceland) please. As well the culture levels around COA.

I have to head out shortly for my softball playoffs. So I can log in later tonight to get some screenshots. If you have time, maybe you can just log in yourself? It is tough (and annoying) to put together screenshots of lands while also trying to show where the various units are.

As for tomorrow, the 2nd round of playoffs are in the morning. We'll likely get lunch as a team afterwards. So I'm going to assume I'll be playing sometime between 1pm and 2pm or so. Possibly earlier, if the game ends earlier than I think it might and I'm therefore home for lunch. The time of our game tomorrow also depends on if we win or lose tonight. If we win, my game tomorrow will be earlier in the morning and hence I'll likely be home before lunch.

[MindyMcCready]

Speaking of Gavagai, I did notice this past turn he did move the StackOfDoom away from our borders (kinda straight west). Not sure of his intentions with it, but it would be nice if he's planning to go take Commdore's city over there. And hopefully not planning to use it to sail across and hit me on that side. Before we signed peace, he was blockading Grumpy and starting to sail 2 Galleys that direction.
I'll keep tracking the SOD each turn.

If you offered Gavagai OB he might feel more at ease (scouting our units) and be more inclined to hit MC. Gav should conclude that our stack is easily large enough to stop him, but not large enough to attack him. We will have to re-evaluate our defenses there once Gav lands Engineering.

The flip-side of Gav taking MC's city is that he can then concentrate his units while defending from us (he did that anyway,...).

I could see some limited warfare initiated by us such as taking Five Guys and/or razing Dunkin Donuts if he refuses us. Other than that, hostilites are probably on hold until we get Globe up and running so we could make real peace if he'll take it.

[HitAnyKey]

Here's they layout of Grimaceland:


Each of those Crossbows have 4 promotions, though they are all different. Dragon Thief is still completely empty. I'll have a spy built in 4 turns, and will send it to look at those 2 dark tiles between Spineret and Dragon Thief.

And here's the culture on the tiles around CoA. The first number is his percentage, and the second number is mine.


Hungry is working 4 Artists for the next two turns to get the city to 500 Culture for the next border pop. So we'll have to see how those percentages change over the next two turns.
There were CBs and LBs in that city....and 4 Catapults that were 1NE of it. He has moved all of those northwards.

[HitAnyKey]

Finally able to log in to play the turn. The playoffs ran long....because after we lost the first game of the day (it was double-elimination), we somehow kept winning. 6 total games today, starting at 8:30am and finishing at 5:30pm. Then we all went out for dinner (my only actual meal of the day), came home, cleaned myself up and now it's game time again....hopefully a quick one cuz I don't want to sit in front of this computer very long. EVERY muscle in my body hurts.

[HitAnyKey]

Here we go:

Another declaration of war from Commodore vs retep.....and probably another NAP setup. If that happens, I need to keep an eye out. He'll likely want to take another shot at the island. If they sign peace, I'll switch Belligerent from Settler to another LK. Actually, I think I may have done that before logging out anyway. To get another unit or two of defense on that island. Then I'll finish the settler.



Over by Gavagai, I have lost sight of the SOD. It would be in one of those tiles that I can't see. He also did not accept the OB request that I sent him last turn. And he sent his Sentry Numid to the area north of Popeyes so that he can see what's in all those cities and around them.



For Commodore, he also has now gotten a nicely promoted LB in Dragon Herdsman to pair with that CB. So that city now will be super tough to crack, even with a large stack of HAs. I am sending most of my HAs over that direction, just in case. Also moving some of the Catapults over that way, since we decided against going after Battle Island. Still need to decide what to do with the 7 or 8 Swords I currently have in Fort Anxious. Should I send them eastward as well, leave them in the fort, or send them back towards Gavagai? That's what I need to think about and decide on.

[HitAnyKey]

So I think the pain is coming in a few turns....Commodore NAP'd out with retep as I expected....and as you can see in the screenshot....he's got everything coming back towards me again.



And his power just increased a good amount. He is no longer in builder mode...he's in attack me mode.


So I'm starting to send those Swords & Catapults I had in Fort Anxious eastward to defend various spots. Already had the HAs headed that way last turn.
Gavagai also still has his SOD hidden away in those dark tiles. So I'm sure as soon as our Peace Treaty is done (which is the same time it ends with Commodore) they'll both hit me right about the same time from opposite sides.
Luckily the Chitzen Itza comes in next turn, so that'll help a bit. I'm just really sad that if we actually do get Taj, we're going to end up having to draft & whip away all of our population while in a Golden Age.

[HitAnyKey]

Mindy, in one of our recent chats you asked what it would take on the EP slider to get to see into Warhorse (which we believe is the only logical place for Commodore to be building Taj)....and I didn't bother thinking about it until we had researched Nationalism and Monarchy, since we absolutely needed those techs before our upcoming civic swaps. But I just looked (since we're now on a tech that's not as time sensitive)....

This is what it would take. Should I do it?