Alhambram toast his first PBEM game with Russian vodka

[Alhambram]

Turn 138:

I converted oledavy's city Valley Forge with last charge of my apostle and thus oledavy is formally converted to Weedy Movement. But major news is at Woden's lands for two reasons, firstly I am seeing his inquisitors which is a bad news, they can eliminate my religion very quickly out his cities.
   
And another reason is also seen on screenshot: I converted Small World, but because Seven Dwarfs finally converted due pressure, amount Woden's cities converted is 7 from his 12 cities which means that Woden is also formally converted to Weedy Movement!

ONLY SINGABOY LEFT TO BE CONVERTED! 

Unfortunately religious victory screen don't update until next turn, so I shall take screenshot next turn of it. But at scoreboard it does update in form of filling up "glass bowl" at religious row:
   
It is going be very close with Woden's inquisitors and my missionaries are on way to convert Woden's Barnstormer and Soarin'. I decided to purchase one more missionary, he can sneak convert Nan Madol at turn 141 and that might flip amount converted cities of Woden in my favor again, you never know what might happens. At Singaboy's lands I decided to send my apostle to Seoul, it has lower population than Ulm and hopefully less charges and hopefully Singaboy's cities with low population are nearby, it is a gamble. Next turns are going be nail biting turns.   But I fear that power of inquisitors shall be too much for my religion.

At non religious side of my game, I got 2 envoy's and sent both to Preslav for 3, now I can slightly produce units quicker. Next turn I shall get envoy from Naval Tradition and Carthage shall also have 3 envoy's, same as Hattusa when I get eureka for siege tactics next turn. I need extra science since Woden did a rocket test with his science per turn: he got 93.6 science per turn compared with oledavy (69.7) and me (68.3). Woden likely got it by putting policy cards that improve science since he did also a swap to theocracy government to deal with Weedy Movement. I continue setting up my army over seas to attack TheArchduke at turn 145, by that time it is likely clear whether I manages to grab a sneak religious victory or not, I don't want fail religious victory because TheArchduke got too few cities due me conquering it.

West Russian Empire overview (forgot to zoom in eastern part due religious development):
   

[Commodore]

That gold income! Bet you wish there was a slider this game.

[Alhambram]

Commodore, well too bad that gold and science aren't connected in civilization 6 unlike civilization 4, otherwise I would be keeping up with Woden at science rate, now he is running away (altough Woden again made a policy swap and toned down science rate in favor or other things (military or religion?).

Turn 139:
Well, I was sure that I got 3 other civilizations converted and I wanted to get picture of religious victory page with 4 civilizations converted including mine, but Woden started his purge and removed Weedy Movement out Pirates and Small World. As I can see Woden keep purchasing inquisitors (at least Woden won't purchase Great Person soon with all that inquisitors and a expensive apostle to start inquisition). Maybe I can see the screenshot of Woden, oledavy and TheArchduke converted at threads of other players when I read them after this PBEM has finished. 
   
In response I converted Soarin' and used one charge at Small World. I shall convert Barnstormer in 2 turns if inquisitors reaches it too late and I try do a sneak converting Nan Madol and Small World. Now I have 6 of 12 Woden's cities converted, thus one more city needed. My apostle arrived at Seoul and shall convert it likely with 2 charges, hopefully again a lucky one charge so I can move to next city quickly. My missionary with one charge who had to choose between Pylos or Troy has chosen Troy since it is 2 population and I think that it was lucky that I manage convert Zacynthus with just one charge and I don''t count upon same at Pylos. Another missionary with 3 charges is going to Ulm in desperation. 

I got Naval Tradition and put its envoy in Carthage and I did make policy swap and upgraded 2 catapults to bombards with professional army which triggered eureka for military tactics and envoy for Hattusha. 
   
Gone is veterancy and enter professional army again. Also gone diplomatic league and enter Merchant Confederation for extra gold (9 envoy's, 3 in each remaining city states, so 9 extra gold).
In my enthusiasm I also upgraded last archer and heavy chariot into crossbowman and knight respectively. Also upgraded 2 swordsman into musketman for attack on Helice. But I forgot two things: extra maintenance costs and I am basically telling everyone that I am going attack due high domination score  (although 5 knights in sea do decrease domination score a bit). Metagaming isn't my strongest point but it is also first PBEM for me and I still have learn a lot and I am still learning a lot things now.  

St. Petersburg completed industrial zone and have 50 production per turn now which speeds up a lot things, starting art museum now (due in 6 turns). And my knights are in line towards TheArchduke's coastal cities.
   
The plan is 2 knights for Zaycnthus, 2 for Abydos, one knight on sea shall attack Helice from south. All troops around Sushigrad shall assault Helice. I am keeping them out TheArchduke's line of sight, cities do have one tile range to see but units two, so I need to beware of that builder. Meanwhile TheArchduke's domination score did decrease a quite, seems that Singaboy was in just time with musketman to stop assault on Aachen and Singaboy domination score did recover a quite and is now equal with TheArchduke. I shall monitor situation with my missionaries that are passing along. 

Empire overview:
   
   

[Alhambram]

Turn 140:

It seems that I won't win religious victory, no new cities purged this turn, but also no new cities converted. Next turn I shall convert Barnstormer from sea (yes, a missionary or apostle can also convert city while floating in sea tile adjacent city) and Woden's inquisitor shall come one turn too late due marshes.
   
I can do surprise converting Nan Madol and Small World, but at Small World I was forced to show my missionary, so Woden can see it. Maybe he shall respond with inquisitor, my missionary meant for Small World is still within my borders by the way. I shall convert Seoul and with bit luck also Ulm next turn but then still one Singaboy's city left, so no I won't manage to get religious victory. I shall also convert Troy next turn for extra gold per turn. So I shall come one Singaboy's city short to win religious victory next turn if all goes as planned. But then at turn 142 Woden shall mass purge his cities from Weedy Movement.

oledavy wanted to resign deal my silver for his 4 gold per turn, I considered to raise amount gold per turn, but I decided to agree anyways. Meanwhile my army is rowing towards TheArchduke's cities.
   
In Desertgrad barracks is finished and I started musketman there, he shall be finished on time when friendship with Woden expires. Astrakhan finished armory and started military engineer which can build 2 forts needed for eureka of ballistics.  

Empire overview:
   
   

[Alhambram]

Turn 141:

My final push for religious victory this turn. Woden managed to purge Splash Mountain and Jungle Cruise. I at other hand converted Barnstormer and Nan Madol. Small World ended in draw for my and Woden's religion:
   
Total converted Woden's cities this turn: 6 of his 12 cities.
At same time I converted TheArchduke's Troy and Singaboy's Seoul. Ulm need one more charge and after Ulm I still need one more Singaboy's city. But Woden shall purge Nan Madol, Barnstormer and maybe one more of his city next turn and with it shall be a decisive turn in favor of Woden. So no religious victory and this PBEM 2 continues into Industrial era: oledavy advanced to it with a tech (ballistics or military science? oledavy is bit further tech then me).
My missionary with one charge left who converted Woden's Soarin' shall explore area around magic carpets a bit and then hop in sea and swim to oledavy's newest city east of Seven Dwarfs and convert it with one remaining charge for extra gold. All other missionaries shall retreat at turn 142 to preserve Weedy Movement's majority in my lands against Woden's pressure.

While Woden has been busy with stopping my religion past turn, I spend building districts past turns and most of them shall be completed next turn.
I again need some new builders soon.   And I am considering to build Alhambra in St. Petersburg after art museum to grab extra military slot and it is also a nod to my name.
Meanwhile my knights are advancing (hopefully unnoticed) to TheArchduke's lands:
     

Empire overview:
   
   

[Alhambram]

Turn 142:

Woden purged Nan Madol and Barnstormer, also his inquisitor attacked my missionary next Small World. My missionary got injured (50% damage), it likely didn't get killed due me running theocracy government. I retreat my injured missionary and another missionary nearby Nan Madol to my lands. Missionary next Magic Carpets hops in sea and he shall go to Carthage. The newly founded city of oledavy Angelica got converted by pressure already, so no point going there with my missionary now. Ulm got converted and my apostle seeks for Singaboy's cities with low population, he should have two of them and my apostle have 2 charges left.

My friendships with oledavy and TheArchduke both expired and I didn't see any movements of oledavy towards me, so green light to attack TheArchduke at turn 145. I offered friendship to oledavy to see whether he shall accept, but I don't think. Also oledavy likely won't attempt to conquer Woden, because elimination of Woden now means religious victory for me. So I stand alone to deal with Woden now, to strengthen my science and culture even further to keep with Woden who still have room to expand, I need conquer cities and TheArchduke is ideal target at this moment.
   

At turn 143 I still hide my units, but at turn 144 I shall push all of my units to his borders and it is TheArchduke's choice whether he want declare war already upon seeing my invasion force, otherwise I shall do it at turn 145.
My knights shall hop upon lands at turn 145 and attack cities at turn 146, while Helice shall be assaulted at turn 145 already.

I finished siege tactics and restarted researching printing, so I shall have a choice what to pick first: field cannon or Cossack when printing is finished. I need to spam horseman or crossbow before either of tech is finished for upgrades. I shall get at least one of those units when my friendship with Woden expires.
Zanzibar is a bit problematic city, not only it went out Weedy Movement due population growth (I shall fix that next turn with missionary returning from Small World), also amenities -1. I shall gain new luxury resources when I conquer cities, but amenities problem might go worse when I go war, I shall see how I deal with it.

Empire overview:
   
   

[Alhambram]

Turn 143:

I reconverted Zanzibar and I shall use my last charge of my missionary next turn to strengthens my religious presence in Zanzibar. Meanwhile my apostle found and converted Koblenz and with it Singaboy is converted to Weedy Movement, so I was 5 turns too late with Singaboy (at turn 138, it was only turn that Woden got converted to Weedy Movement).

Meanwhile at TheArchduke's lands it seems that his knight has discovered my knight landing south of Helice, so I moved my knight one tile south to move out its line of sight. I started to move my units at Sushigrad to TheArchduke's borders. Now TheArchduke knows that I am going to declare him next turn. It seems that my knights at sea near Abydos and Zaycnthus has yet to discovered by TheArchduke (no frantically building walls starting over there). My goal for knights invading Abydos and Zaycnthus is not only conquering them, but preventing TheArchduke getting Niter resource is main priority here.
   
His city strength is still based upon knights, with Musketman it becomes more troublesome. If I manage to prevent TheArchduke getting his niter connected, only way for him to get is ask Woden. Woden might also offer some coin to help TheArchduke to upgrade his swordsman into Musketman. But it is going be risky for Woden, he just have one niter connected and he can connect second one right next my border. When Woden offer TheArchduke niter, it means that I can cut off Woden from his niter resource if I pillage it. Attack on TheArchduke is going be dicey since I can't afford to send my entire army due Woden. The success of my attacks likely depends upon oledavy. He has a some muskets supported by Great General and if I recall his friendship with TheArcduke expires at turn 147. And not surprisingly he rejected friendship with me, oh well I tried.

At score list I passed 300 points and I also am generating more science per turn than oledavy at this moment, but still behind Woden. So it seems that I am at solid second place at this moment, I didn't expect that after my disastrous start. I actually expected to be at same situation which TheArchduke and Singaboy are now. I also didn't expect that I was close with religious victory and when I started this PBEM I certainly didn't expect that I was going use Cossack since it was a industrial era unit, I initially thought that I would already been eliminated a long time before reaching industrial era. I am really surprised about myself how I preformed well at this PBEM aside some weedy mistakes which I did expected and feared. 
   

Emprie overview:
   
   

[Mardoc]

I am really surprised about myself how I preformed well at this PBEM aside some weedy mistakes which I did expected and feared. 

 Quite an impressive showing so far.  Within inches of winning by religion, and even without winning right now, you're getting a good number of benefits from the attempt.

I especially like that you played in such a way that the glib 'oh, I'll just declare war on someone who tries a religious victory' has turned out to be Not Correct.  Always fun to see someone demolish conventional wisdom.

Your reports are nice, too, I hardly ever have any questions left over from reading them.

[Ituralde]

Yeah, I have to admit I'd never thought that a religion attempt, even if it should ultimately fail, could lead to such a strong position! I also never figured Russia to be a strong civ. You proved me wrong on both counts and the game is getting more interesting with every passing turn.

[Alhambram]

Mardoc and Ituralde, thanks for kind words. I am happy to hear that I did change perspective about religion and Russia. I did say at first page that Russia is jack of all trades, if one way of victory don't work, then I just switch to other way of winning game, that is in my opinion one of strongest points of Russia. Some other civilizations are too focused upon one type of victory and if you fail it, it is basically over for you. I must also say that I start to see the true value of Lavra: cheaper and early available so easy inspiration for state workforce. Double Great Prophet points to get religion faster which gave me a lot gold in long term thanks Church Property which fuels my army's maintenance for domination victory. Finally it also generates GP for cultural Great Persons which are main cause of my huge culture per turn lead over others. Only terrain that it lacks is science (unless choosing belief that improve science). I did leave science part to Peter's ability, I am generating 9 science per turn from 3 trade routes to Woden at this moment.

About not declaring me war to prevent religious victory: two things are cause of it, firstly I made sure that I got deterrent army every time by time that my friendship with Woden expires. But I was surprised that nobody followed my military rise around turn 114, it made me unsure and I was wondering: what the heck is happening here. My mind was still telling me that oledavy and Woden are better players than me at that moment, while I had higher domination score than both combined at that moment.  
Secondly is that I kept signing friendship with everyone. At start of this thread Commodore asked me how to protect missionaries and apostles from players. While playing I found answer in declaration of friendships, so it sort of became my cornerstone to achieve religious victory. But it is a possible double edged sword, because your opponent might be better off with declaration of friendship. First two times that I signed friendship with Woden, I was weaker overall than Woden although our military score were roughly same. But Woden got production edge and if he wanted he could finish me off around that two times that we declared friendship (turn 52 and turn 83). But Woden decided to leave me aside in favor of his development I think. It allowed me finally reap fruits of my investments into Lavra's which is one of reasons (other being ruthless against city states) that I started to catch up with Woden a bit more at turn 123 when we signed our 3rd friendship. I gambled upon religious victory at that moment, but I didn't got it. So Woden is the one who benefited most of our 3rd friendship agreement, you never know who shall benefit the most when you sign friendship till it ends.

Now turn report with another declaration, but not friendship!

Turn 144:

TheArchduke sees my forces and he thinks that I want force him sign open borders for open borders that I offered him several turns ago due possible culture expansion.
But my heart is already set upon absorbing his cities into my empire, so I made a fateful decision:
   

My units surround Helice and one of my knights already attacked it, losing 40% of its health in process. It is going be long process, especially since TheArchduke did put a knight in Helice boosting its defense and also another knight beyond river to attack me. It is going be grueling battle.
   
I brings 4 knights, 2 muskets, 1 ram and 1 crossbow here, with later possible reinforcements from knights who are dealing with Abydos now.
   
Abydos is assaulted by 3 knights and galley shall join in at turn 146. Zaycnthus is attacked by 2 knights, but likely they need to wait till Abydos is dealt with to able take Zaycnthus. More importantly TheArchduke yet have niter connected and he have a builder over there. My knights shall be one turn too late to prevent it improving niter tile at turn 145, but I shall pillage it at turn 146.  

Big questions: Is TheArchduke able to bring his Great General powered army against me which should be in east now? What is oledavy going do at turn 147, attack me or TheArchduke? Shall this attack be ignition of first world war in this PBEM when oledavy decide to join at turn 147 and Woden possibly at turn 153? Interesting times indeed.

Empire overview: