[SPOILERS] Whosit Plays Alone for Fun (and Profit?)

[Whosit]

Wetbandit landed Taj, and pretty sure he's the one with MoM. Yayyyy

[Whosit]

I asked Dreylin if he wants to declare war on the Zulu with me in about 20 turns. Grimace isn't too far behind me in power, but I think he's behind in tech and he's smaller than Dreylin and I. I'm not strong enough to just conquer him myself, mainly because I'm sure Dreylin would jump on me if he saw the chance. I really wonder how wetbandit managed to get so strong so quickly. I guess combo of playing well and having neighbors who were unable or unwilling to oppose him.

Meantime, I'm getting Banks in most of my cities with any commerce to speak of. I don't have the resources to make Grocers worthwhile, and most cities that need the Market happy already have Markets.

I've been scouting out Dreylin, too, using that scouting clause he granted. I've only seen a handful of catapults, but he built up a decent force of Horse Archers. His army is much more mobile than mine.

[Whosit]

So I think Dreylin and I agreed to both attack Grimace on T170, 13 turns away. So when my major cities finish their banks, I'll be using my 2nd golden age to resume mobilization. Hopefully I don't get backstabbed. And hopefully I can amass enough troops to take my fair share of Zululand.

[Whosit]

So, I think switching to Emancipation will make the most sense once I no longer need Caste System. Seems pretty ideal for this map. One other person is using it already. I will also tech and swap to Theocracy once I don't need Pacifism's GP boost (when the 2nd Golden Age starts). I was thinking of teching Printing Press in a hurry, but I only have 28 Villages/Towns. I counted Dreylin's based on most recent map info. He has 24 (but a couple more Towns than me). I think comparing our non-GA economies, his is stronger though. Not sure how or why. I'd also like Free Market, but I don't think I'll hit that before the 2nd Golden Age ends. Might be worth the anarchy turns? I might just have to eat the anarchy either way, since I'm probably never going to get to the 3-person golden age.

For this version of RtR Emancipation, it looks like only cottages give the food boost? So once they hit hamlet, the food disappears? I also see it boosts commerce from everything but Towns. That's OK. I have a lot of mines (+2 each). +1 hammer farms will be nice, too. I might farm over some underdeveloped cottages so I can work more mines. I've been putting up a lot of windmills, but those could come down, too.

The one section of the empire this won't help as much is the island, mostly flat, few or no mines. I need to squeeze a couple more Settlers out though, a couple more spots I can take, and don't wanna let Dreylin get 'em.

The addition of Banks should help out an awful lot. I'd like to get in the 6 requisite Universities, too, so I can put Oxford in my Bureau capital, but that might have to wait for post-war. I really need a large, powerful army because I want to conquer Grimace's villages/towns (maybe he won't pillage them, I saw that debate come up again elsewhere). After I grab a couple more important techs, I might just save up gold as the Banks finish so I can mass upgrade my ancient-era junk units.

[Whosit]

Turn 160:

Normal:
-0%: 240 gold/turn
-100%: 621 beakers/turn
-Breakeven: 40%
-MFG: 274

Golden Age:
-0%: 419 gold/turn
-100%: 809 beakers/turn
-Breakeven: 50%
-MFG: 392

Civic Changes (Emancipation/Theocracy):
-0%: 618 gold/turn
-100%: 984 beakers/turn
-Breakeven: 60%
-MFG: 410

Yay.

[Whosit]

Hilariously, though I've had guilds faaaar longer than Dreylin, I think he already has way more Knights than me. Since I hadn't really been building many. Also, I'm in that sad position where I have to be in a Golden Age to even be competitive on demographics. Except I'm still barely middle of the pack in a Golden Age.

If I was Dreylin, I'd probably let me wear myself out fighting Grimace while doing a minimal effort, then backstab me. He still has a lot of troops on my border (well, then again, so do I). The next dozen turns are gonna be interesting.

Gonna sprinkle in some X-bows into my armies, like I see the others doing. I'm gonna get some Pikes (Dreylin is 1-turning Engineering without a golden age, ha....), and also a few trebuchets actually. Maybe about 4 to help with city bombardments.

[Whosit]

I popped another silver. Wow. I needed another of those.

Then I looked at what rivals have. Guess who has Gold and Gems? Wetbandit. He popped both, in his core cities, apparently. OMFG, as they say. He can also tech Rifling and Chemistry.

What a farce.

[Whosit]

Ugh, well, I have the feeling Dreylin will actually attack me. Or something. All his new troops he is massing on my border instead of Grimaces (he's also letting both Grimace and Me scout him for some reason??). I don't really know what's going on. I'm not sure where to put all my troops, and Dreylin has far more medieval units compared to me. I finally got into Merc, since it doesn't negate FTR. Mostly running spies, lol.

I'm not sure what instructions to leave yet and it looks like tomorrow is going to be pretty busy for me as I get ready to leave. I'll... try to figure something out. I guess worst case whoever covers me just makes sure to keep building units. There's not a lot of stuff for my Workers to do anymore. If war breaks out though, I don't know if that'll require a pause until I get back or if the sub can make their own call. To be honest, I don't think it matters either way 'cuz I'll get steam rolled by Dreylin alone, nevermind if Grimace piles on.

[Whosit]

Ug. OK, plan, for whoever covers my turns.

Password is: loveandpeace

New Serenity and Derp should alternate between Catapults and Tao Missionaries until all cities are converted.

Workers around Paradise should make farms, watermills, workshops. You can remove the cottages there if you run out of other tiles.

Everywhere else, just make Knights if the city has Taoism, or Longbows or Maces otherwise. If I have things queued up, just leave 'em. New units should go to the Rally in the north, but I want 1 Pike in Crab Cove to the south, and 1 Pike in Hope and 1 Longbow in Beacon. Hope that's enough. I might be able to drop in some more instructions while I'm away.

Oh, and try to keep at least 500 gold in the bank. I want a bank to emergency upgrade units in case of an attack. So do that if I get attacked.

Please post here if anything important happens.

[Whosit]

Well, I guess things worked out for me. I get to ride this trainwreck myself to the end. I'm still gonna prepare to fight Grimace, except I realized that even with Engineering, I have no tiles to rally my troops on that Grimace can't see. So... I guess I'll just have to see what happens.