[SPOILER] PB37 Dark Savant tries not to be a blatant MP n00b

[Dark Savant]

t142:

Whoa, Coeurva offered a straight-up peace treaty.  I think I have to take it -- I do still want to hold out as long as possible, and I don't think I'll be able to retake anything within 10 turns.

I'm not at war with anyone now.  Yay?

I'm still building mostly military for now.

[Dark Savant]

t143:

Coeurva and JR4 are both whipping a ton of stuff.

I can revolt to Vassalage next turn, so I hold off on completing any military next turn.

I'll be able to fire off a second Golden Age not long after the current one ends.

I don't think I can quite get Engineering in 2 turns.

[Dark Savant]

t144:

I can squeeze out Engineering next turn without going into contortions, though I'll just have 1 gold left.

I'm now in Vassalage.

I should start building settlers to fill in gaps -- those kinds of cities don't require that much defense.

I think there's a good chance I'll make it to the point where people will need rifles/cavs to eliminate me entirely.  I can think about things other than desperate defense, actually!

[Dark Savant]

t145:

Engineering is in.  Optics started, due in 3 but will probably actually take 4; the Golden Age has only 1 turn left, but I will get another GP to kick off another one shortly after it ends.

I'm going to take a flyer on Chichen Itza.  That one definitely falls in the category of "stave off defeat" instead of "I think this will help me win".  

Castles are underway in most cities.

GermanJoey just whipped a ton of stuff.  I suspect this is in reaction to JR4 whipping a ton of stuff, but who knows.

I shifted a couple units over to zone defense, and should probably shift more.  After I ended turn, I realized JR4 is putting a lot of EP into me -- I should probably do something about a possible attack from that direction, though it will be a few turns before he can attack me again.

[Dark Savant]

t146:

Oh, huh, Gavagai offered Open Borders.

Accepting this will put me in a strange situation where I'm trying to play nice with both Gavagai and Krill, but I think I'm in a situation where I don't want to upset Gavagai unless Krill is hitting him hard.  Also Krill just apparently bulbed two technologies this turn (one of them a Renaissance tech!) and suddenly is threatening to take off, despite still running a small military.  So I accept OB.

GermanJoey gets around to firing a second Golden Age, swapping to all of Caste System, Hereditary Rule, and Vassalage.  The peace treaty between us has expired.

I didn't mention this, but Krill fired one himself a few turns ago, swapping to all of those plus Pacifism from Shwedagon Paya.  He also just founded Taoism (in Room 101, huh).

yuris125 still somehow has two cities left.

I whip a bunch of castles; every city anywhere near JR4 will have one next turn.

I didn't think this would happen so soon, but I actually have to worry about the health cap now in a couple cities.

Optics is actually due in 2 turns even without a Golden Age -- barely.  I can fire a Golden Age next turn if I want to if I keep running a ton of specialists in Mist, but it can wait a turn while I recover from the whips I just did.

I actually wonder if maces are worth trying to research and build so I can go take some islands back.  The problem with that is they've got a narrow window that's going to slam shut soon, if it hasn't already.  It's probably actually better to use Oromo Warriors on the attack, though researching Gunpowder is going to take a bit even with a Golden Age.  Any opinion on the matter.

[ipecac]

Sounds like Krill bulbed either Gunpowder or Astronomy. Maces aren't worth it, so you should use your UU or Knights (1 more raw strength).

[Dark Savant]

Sounds like Krill bulbed either Gunpowder or Astronomy. Maces aren't worth it, so you should use your UU or Knights (1 more raw strength).

Okay, I figured as much -- even the buffed maces only really look worthwhile if you can get them earlier than I would be doing.

t147:

We have lots of castles now, with a few more completing soon.

Optics is due next turn.  One problem we have on our eastern coast is that Sorpigal is the only city we have there that can build anything in a reasonable time frame without having to whip.  It doesn't help I've lost two galleys on this sea, either.

We'll have the GP for a second Golden Age next turn -- I don't see any reason not to simply fire it immediately.  I may be able to flip back to Caste System in something resembling safety, too (let me know if you think this is a bad idea -- it didn't exactly go well last time, heh).  The Golden Age should be good for Guilds and Gunpowder if we want to do that.  We don't have Horseback Riding for stables/knights, nor do we have Aesthetics/Literature for the National Epic.  (Hey, I do have ambitions of surviving long enough to have a relevant third Golden Age!)

Coeurva just declared war on Krill.  I don't know what's going on there.  Krill still has a couple triremes wandering our waters doing I'm not sure what.  Keeping a lookout on how n00b-tactular I am being, maybe?    I'm going to move the navy I do have (2 triremes and 2 galleys -- yeah it's sad) on the eastern sea to possibly attack Coeurva once our peace treaty ends in 5 turns.

Attacking GermanJoey is also an option, but I don't have the navy on the eastern sea to make that viable unless he's also at war with someone else.

yuris125 is down to a single island city.

[ipecac]

One problem we have on our eastern coast is that Sorpigal is the only city we have there that can build anything in a reasonable time frame without having to whip. It doesn't help I've lost two galleys on this sea, either.

What's wrong with whipping?

Krill still has a couple triremes wandering our waters doing I'm not sure what. Keeping a lookout on how n00b-tactular I am being, maybe?

And probably to gift them to you if necessary. Gunpowder asap sounds good.

[Dark Savant]

What's wrong with whipping?

It'd be a problem if I swapped to Caste System, and I'd rather not do it in the better cities during a GA.

I do plan to whip some caravels in a couple turns.  I might flip to Caste for a while soon after that.

And probably to gift them to you if necessary. Gunpowder asap sounds good.

For some reason I thought unit gifting was banned, but it isn't -- just city gifting is.  In that case, he's probably not going to give them since he just got into a war.

Okay, straight to Gunpowder it is, then.  (I'd love to start the National Epic in Sorpigal, but it's going to help build a pile of galleys and caravels first.)

In the meantime I'm going to start staging to possibly retake cities from Coeurva.  If he stuffs cities full of longbows that's going to be awkward, of course, but I'll have something ready if his defenses are light.  It's going to be with going-obsolete units like swords, but for such units it's now or never.

I think Coeurva would actually be prepared for this if he were at peace with everyone, but I have to hope Krill will do something.

[Dark Savant]

Turn finally rolled ... I can't get to it just yet, but:

Coeurva just captured a size 7 city of Krill's.

Gavagai is suddenly whipping a bunch of what I'm guessing are knights, after whipping nothing the past few turns.  Though he must have had knights in production anyway to be doing this.

I don't know just yet what the best response should be.