Thread of Lost Tales: Bismarck of Japan

[The Black Sword]

Dreylin/Grimace - Charlemagne(Imp/Pro) of Rome




Seems to be Dreylin running the show here with Grimace as a ded-lurker. My impression of Dreylin is as a pretty erratic player. This is his 4th ongoing game I think, not counting any duels, maybe he just isn't devoting as much effort to a single game as others here do? Having a teammate could help with that though.

His pick is pretty scary. Apparently Rome retains S8 Praets in ToW. Imp/Pro will want to expand quickly, defend that extra land with Praets and then leverage it into a free hammer per tile with Chemistry workshops. Half priced forums doesn't really count as synergy. I guess this leader scares me more than all the others, even if I have to pay more attention to Qin. But there's a whole mid-game between 'expand quickly' and 'Chemistry' that Dreylin has to navigate.

[The Black Sword]

He's probably loaded the galley with more units. 2 axes probably shifts the odds to his favour, just 1 and they remain in mine.

He asked for the city for peace, which I have no incentive to accept. If I didn't think I could hold the city I wouldn't grow it to size 2 either. I did consider offering my worker as a snack to buy more time but it didn't seem worth it.

Hopefully we get the Mids next turn at least:




I met Dreylin somewhere, no idea the location. He's got a cool 7 cities though. Guess that GLH has worked out for him. Someone discovered Maths before me, probably Fenndit.

[The Black Sword]

Jowy asked for the city for peace again. Fair enough, it looked like he could take it before I unloaded the extra two units in. But he ended turn, so he's seen the city grow to size 2, he knows I've whipped an extra axe in. Hopefully we can stop wasting units now.

Speaking of wasting units, I had to overflow the axe instead of the WB I wanted here. My warrior garrison had to shuffle over to keep the capital happy.




But he didn't delay these guys.




Not sure about Currency, haven't decided on the next tech. Might be an idea to pick up Archery before something big since people are getting access to chariots soon.

[The Black Sword]

It turns out Dreylin is the guy directly north of me. He asked for OBs when we met, I initially declined but I logged back in and re-offered. Based on his resources he's already got 1-2 island cities. So essentially trade gives 1gpt to the other player for each island city they have. I'm not getting enough island routes from Bandit and Borsche to fill up mine yet. So at least for the next 10t we both benefit pretty much the same. With the Jowy situation, I could use the extra friendly gesture up there too.

[The Black Sword]

Trying to decide on my tech goals.

I make 25bpt now. I'll save gold for around 5 turns, when 2 Libs will come in Mengroth and Gondolin and 4 scientists get hired. I guess we'll be making ~70bpt breakeven then. We'll also get a 60/40 scientist/engineer in Gondolin about T90.

I've said before there are a bunch of techs I want:

Currency: 570b for around 30gpt.

MC: 400b for 1/2 priced forges, which are also a great way of getting new specialist spots. Triremes, maybe the Colossus.

Calendar: 500b for MoM mainly. There are 3 resources to pick up; incense, spices and silk. And dyes under some jungle.

Poly -> Aes -> Lit: 700b for Parthenon, ToA, TGL, NE. Maybe Paya and Zeus. We need to unlock the HE somehow, should keep that in mind.

Something war-related? Hopefully not, but maybe Jowy keeps pushing. Triremes are probably the best advantage to be honest. HAs don't seem to useful for island warfare, maybe construction for Elephants and catapults is the best land tech.

I'm thinking since there are a bunch of techs I really want, I might get Currency first to increase my tech rate to ~100bpt. Then MC followed by one of the wonder routes. Which come in about as my GP arrives. If Jowy is still causing trouble, MC might go first for some triremes though.

[The Black Sword]

Peace with Jowy: Check. Pyramids: Check. Island to dotmap:







The jungle makes the most naturally defined border but we don't necessarily have to follow that. That is Tsargon to our North East, he's got 6 cities but as Fin/Cre you'd expect him to expand a bit slower. We have top power and another 3 axes popping out.

[The Black Sword]

Well, I guess Jowy chose my dotmap for me.




Of course this city has that lovely (liberate) sign in the trade screen. I knew this was a possibility when I gave a peace treaty but I didn't really care. I thought it unlikely he'd try settle here in the first place. I mean he has better spots on his own southern island and instead he chooses to settle up on the guy with top power and twice his city count? In the case that he would settle here, it's better in the short term to get peace instead of skirmishing over improving my cities and chopping the forests. I don't need to settle that city right now.

It is the most likely place for me to come back for later though. I want my gems source.

I just got Jowy's graphs so here's my set. Tsargon's next on my EP list.
















Fenndit closed borders with me after the Pyramids showed up. They were getting 2gpt from me and I was only getting back 1gpt, so that's a bit confusing. It also cuts my scout off from continued exploration.

[ipecac]

It is the most likely place for me to come back for later though. I want my gems source.

Lurkers demand blood etc etc.

[The Black Sword]

Thinking about this city more, I'm not sure I see a good outcome. If I do manage to take the city from Jowy, he's dangerously close to 'no chance to win territory' and I could quite possibly earn an enemy for life. On the other hand, co-existing with the city in the long term is pretty disastrous. It steals my territory, my gems and forks almost the entire island.

The best solution to this predicament is usually just to kill the offending player and take his territory. But that's not going to work here, it's hard to see how I would get any productive territory from a Jowy invasion. It just opens up more borders with Borsche and Fenndit, who would take most of the spoils. So if I do take the city, I sort of have to leave him alive to harass me.

I'm not sure how I go about breaking this cycle of war. I guess I need to let him engage on other fronts but I'm also pretty tempted to try kick him out immediately after the peace is up. I don't really have anything else to do with my military right now.

At least, I think this means we need to be friends with everybody else for a while. Defend Jowy and eat Scipio is enough foreign policy goals. It's unfortunate because I think I could steal some island land from Tsargon if I wanted. It's probably best to be conservative there and just settle our side of the jungle.

[Ichabod]

Metal Casting for Trirremes, perhaps? More about the psychological effect than actually efficiency at stopping an invasion.