[SPOILERS] Suboptimal's Arabian Adventure

[suboptimal]

Turn 65

Going to hopefully be a quiet turn of keeping units in place and getting things built.  The only action should be the scout in the southeast and the warrior in the west.  I’m also keenly interested to see which tile the picker will go for at Glenkinchie. Let’s see what I’ve got….



Scout at Geneva died, Kaiser has suzerained La Venta as it has declared on myself and Ichabod (and Geneva, in turn, declared on it).  I’m a bit surprised that Glenkinchie didn’t grow to population 3 this turn, the overflow must have been cut in half from the housing penalty.  It is slated to grow next turn, though.  The tile picker has done me a solid, though, and Glenkinchie will grab the deer tile in three turns.  I start the turn out by making peace with both Geneva and La Venta.  

Up north, Rowain has brought down another archer and move the other closer to Tomatin.  This could get dicey if he gets frisky.  I don’t have the military to withstand a sustained attack from either of my more heavily armed opponents at present.

The only notable military moves are the archer at Dalwhinnie potshotting the Encampment for XP and the warrior up in the west moving onto Stockholm’s campus.  The city-state is lightly defended, with only a warrior and a builder in the immediate area.  I expect something to be bought in the interturn.  I’m going to try to get both the campus and the quarry before retreating to heal up.

While waiting for this turn to show up I’ve had a bit of a mea culpa regarding production, or specifically, the ability to replace lost production (from dead units), when the opponents are capable.  My losses around Kikyo total 280 cogs of production, or about 190 if Agoge is being run.  That’s about 10 turns of empire wide production, but will actually take longer to replace because of the production rates in individual cities.  If I am able to build my military back up and get back to infrastructure without falling too far behind that will be a lesson taken to heart going forward.  

Another lesson is that I have neglected culture (this is also a downfall of mine that I keep doing in SP games).  With the exception of Kaiser I’m willing to bet that the others have constructed at least one monument, if not more.

Internationally nothing new of note outside of the suzerainty at La Venta.  Ichabod’s military score is approaching 300 (he’s at 276) and is the big kid in the playground in all aspects of the game right now and, though it’s still relatively early, he’s probably the one to beat unless Bachhus has something up his sleeve.

Hit end of turn, get the barbarian sound effect.  Don’t know if that means a new camp popped up or if a scout showed up.

[suboptimal]

Turn 66

The only notification this turn is that barbarians have been spotted approaching Glenkinchie.  It’s a lone warrior.  At some point I’ll need to do something about that camp.  The city has grow to size 3 and is working one of the Tsingy grassland tiles.  It’ll pick up the deer tile next turn and production should increase significantly there.  Rowain hasn’t advanced any troops beyond last turn’s movements.  

There goes the neighborhood....



Kikyo has fallen.  That means that Dalwhinnie is under immediate threat as it’s next in line for the advancing English army.  No sign of advancement yet, but it’s only a matter of time.  My reasonable expectation is that the city will fall to England in 5-6 turns, if that.  Notably Kikyo's borders also expanded to the marsh tile next to the iron, either by culture last turn or because Ichabod bought the tile.  

Both archers at Dalwhinnie potshot the Encampment for the XP.  Up at Stockholm the warrior pillages the campus.  I put the science into Masonry, finishing immediately.  Dalwhinnie starts walls but it’s going to be 16 turns until they’re completed.   It's most likely too little, too late.  Once whatever forces took Kikyo heal up they'll be taking Dalwhinnie and then Ichabod will most likely finish off Japan prior to swinging north through Glenfarclas.  Once Dalwhinnie falls I'll have no strategic resources and I probably won't be able to build melee units to boot.  I'd say that'll be the start of the decline of Arabia, but I put myself on that path 5 turns ago, if not earlier ("yes", say the lurkers, "much earlier").

I will finish Wheel next turn and start Engineering to try to get to crossbows quickly.

[suboptimal]

Turn 67

Except for a probable English invasion of Dalwhinnie I expect the next several turns to be quiet.  The only question right now is when does Ichabod come knocking with archers and horses?  

Start the turn to find out that Bacchus (“Unmet Player”) has built Stonehenge.  No religion yet, but that’s more likely because I haven’t met him and therefore can't see what he's founded.  The warrior at Stockholm was attacked by the warrior there.  The builder disappeared, probably off to farm one of the wheat tiles.  Given the situation there I might get to pillage the quarry and the pasture there without too much difficulty.   Over in the northeast Rowain has started a trade route between Baltimore and Chesapeake – the road stops on the horse tile between them.  That partly explains the positioning of his troops there.  

In looking around there doesn’t seem to be any immediate threat yet – Ichabod has moved a warrior into the Encampment, bringing its defense value to 30.  That’s OK.  I attack it with the archers for yet more XP.  At Stockholm I  move over to the quarry.  I’ll pillage that next turn and put the culture into Drama & Poetry to help make up for the fact I won’t be building any wonders.  With the movement of the scout in the south my unit movement is complete.

Glenkinchie has expanded to the deer tile so I rearrange the citizens to get production up to 7.  The next tile it will take (for now) is the stone to the north in 7 turns.  If I wanted to spend some cash on tile expansion grabbing the tile W of Tsingy and immediately swapping it to Glenfarclas might not be a bad idea for the increase in science and culture.  



Up at Tomatin the Encampment will complete in 2 turns.  I take a look at Holy Site placement and realize it’s something I really should have done a lot sooner:



The NW rice tile would be a reasonable spot for a Holy Site had I been paying attention and not gotten locked into being “perfect” about it.  Since I don’t need that rice tile with two other around, I place the Holy Site now before it gets any more expensive.  I’ll need to debate building it out (at a cost of 131 cogs) after I get a swordsman or two out.  

Hit end turn, the warrior at Stockholm got attacked again.  Might have to pillage a farm at some point….

[suboptimal]

Turn 68

Take a look around and don’t see anything too alarming. I keep expecting to open the save and see Ichabod’s troops in Dalwhinnie’s territory. Up at Stockholm the warrior was indeed attacked, though that may stop for a turn or two – my warrior is at 53 HP while the Stockholm warrior is under 40. I’m going to delay pillaging the quarry to next turn – both Military Tradition and State Workforce will finish (research and inspiration, respectively) and I’ll put the 25 culture into Political Philosophy. That’ll get me to a new government in four turns instead of eight.

The archers at Dalwhinnie potshot the Encampment. The one defending the city needs to do so twice more for a promotion, while the one atop the iron mine needs three more turns of target practice. The scout by Preslav has made it back around to the north of the mountain enclave and has resumed heading east towards the presumed lands of India.

Internationally I don’t see anything much different. Things could get interesting once Rowain gets the horse outside of Chesapeake pastured up. Domestically the tile picker is up to its old tricks. Tomatin is wavering between a grassland hill and the grassland forest – that’ll be 25 turns so any expansion before then will be the cash kind. Glenkinchie is moving between the grassland stone to the north and the dye tile to the south.

Sounds like my warrior got attacked again. Gotta be careful to not lose it.

[suboptimal]

Turn 69

Open the save and both State Workforce and Military Tradition complete.  Start Political Philosophy and swap in Urban Planning for Colonization.  Dalwhinnie’s downfall is at hand:



I don’t expect to have the city next turn.  Archer attacks the warrior, gets its promotion but that’s rather meaningless at this point.  Tomatin starts a swordsman.  IIRC if I start building it before I lose the resource I can finish it.  I’ll find out next turn.  With the pending loss of Dalwhinnie I upgrade the warrior at Glenkinchie to a swordsman as well.  Now it’s just a question of whether Ichabod will send his troops north to Glenfarclas (which I also can’t hold) or go finish off Japan.  Given that Glenfarclas is undefended he may very well turn his forces north.

In the southeast the scout moves east and sees Indian borders through the fog.  I should meet them in the next turn or so.



Before even looking at Stockholm I realized that I should have moved to pillage the farm before the quarry in order to heal the warrior up.  The good news is that the Stockholm warrior died so I’m left to pillage freely.  



I move to the farm now, pillage next turn then back to the quarry to finish off Political Philosophy with the pillage.

(I've got a poor internet connection right now...images will be up tomorrow evening.  For the time being I've provided descriptive text for your bemusement ).

[Back home, images added]

[suboptimal]

Turn 70

I expect to open the save finding Dalwhinnie in English hands and Ichabod’s forces beginning a swing northwards towards Glenfarclas.



One out of two ain’t bad.  For now.  I never did like Dylan.  

Also on the screen – I’ve finally met India, though not down by my scout.  Clicking the notification centers the map east of Glenkinchie.  Bacchus has also requested a friendship.  Let’s check things out…



He’s got coffee, four cities and no strategic resources.  His per turn rates are 15.4, 13.7 and he has a military power of 126.  I take a DoF because it seems like the better option at present (OK, I admit it - why not given my current situation?).  The coffee also means he’s on a different continent than myself and America, which offers him a little bit of protection from America’s bonus.  I also realize that way back on Turn 13 my scout was thisclose to coming across India when I turned it to the southwest to come back east.  Ah, the joys of scouting near-misses.  Off to the few things not related to the coming English apocalypse…

Stockholm built walls and bombarded the warrior.  The warrior pillages the farm and is back to full strength.  Out east I move the scout closer to Indian territory to take a look around.  Unfortunately the terrain only allows me one hex of movement in the correct direction.  Back to the English Situation…

Glenfarclas is toast as soon as Ichabod decides he wants to come north.  If/when that happens I plan on swapping the Tsingy tile over to Glenkinchie to keep that out of his hands for as long as possible.  Tomatin is continuing the swordsman build, so that’s a plus if I want to keep it going.  “Warrior” has also shown back up in the build list, which is good to know.  Decision time:

- Tomatin has 5 turns left on the sword build.  It can build walls in 8 turns.  If I build walls: I can’t complete the swordsman later, I’d have two points from which to bombard any approaches from the south/southeast and I’d have to spam archers, warriors and spearmen (or chariots) to have a chance at extending my survival.  If I finish the swordsman: I’m making the leap of faith that England won’t show up in less than 13 turns and take my capital.  

- Glenkinchie has four turns to the builder, after which I was going to mostly build an archer and use Agoge overflow to complete walls in one turn.  It’s ten turns to straight build walls.  It’s ten turns to finish the Builder (4), four turns into an archer, chop on the 9th turn and then finish walls on the following turn.  Assuming that England hasn’t run me over by then.

OK.  Glenkinchie is straighforward – continue as planned.  Tomatin?  I opt for defense and start walls.  Around the time they complete I’ll have enough gold to make a tile purchase and consider grabbing the plains hill north of the rice for the extra production, then start cranking out the ancient units – archers for the city & Encampment, then a few warriors and maybe some chariots.  When I make the change I see that the already put into the swordsman is not lost.  A small plus, considering the likelihood of me regaining iron this game is....on the none side of slim to none.

[suboptimal]

Turn 71

Open the save, take a look around.  The warrior at Stockholm was damaged for...4 HP.  I'll have plenty of health to pillage the quarry and consider going after the pasture.  Down in the southeast Ichabod’s scout is giving chase to mine.  I suppose I could attack it, but there wouldn’t be much gain out of it.  Besides, I'd rather use the scout to check out India and America further than to take pot shots.   Back at Glenfarclas he has a horseman positioned north of the former Dalwhinnie but no major unit movements yet.  Things also remain stationary on the American frontier.   The Indian unit that found me is visible this turn – Bacchus has a Varu three hexes east of Glenkinchie’s center.  

Scout moves northeast one hex….I’ve got to go around Bacchus’ lands in that direction as the seam between two of his cities is blocked by a mountain.  Up at Stockholm my warrior moves to the quarry.  It will be pillaged next turn and then off to the pasture unless some major damage is sustained during the interturn.

In looking around at international affairs it looks like a bit of an envoy fight has broken out at Zanzibar – Bacchus, Ichabod and Rowain all have two envoys there.  

Hitting end turn brings the sound of bombardment at Stockholm and barbarian war horns.  Wonder if the camp southeast of Glenkinchie just went on a rampage?

[suboptimal]

Turn 72

Open the save, look around and the situation at Glenfarclas is:



It didn’t fall, so I immediately swap the Tsingy tile over to Glenkinchie.  Given the forces coming up and the rate they’re moving I probably won’t see Turn 85 unless he slows down enough for me to get walls up.  At Glenkinchie if I continue with the archer → walls idea it’ll be Turn 81 when the walls complete.  Going straight for the walls puts it at Turn 79.  I got two turns to figure out which path I’ll take - building without a chop takes longer than either of these routes (Turn 82-83) and leaves me with less to work with.  Of course, with Rowain’s scout in the south he might see the carnage and try to pick over what’s left of my “empire” before Ichabod is on his doorstep.

Over at Stockholm I pillage the quarry - Political Philosophy is now due in 2 turns.  In the southeast the scout moves one hex up through the jungle forest belt and my moves for the turn are complete.  Warrior is bombarded at Stockholm in the interturn.

Kaiser/AdrienIer and myself are both comfortably ensconced into non-recoverable positions. And I’m not talking “recover to win”, I’m talking “recover to become a minor pain in the ass”.  Provided I keep my two remaining cities it’d take me 11 turns with Colonization to get a settler out for a third city, less with a tile purchase or two at Tomatin to increase production.  Of course, that leaves me with the continuing puzzle of where to put it.  Any locations I’ve looked at are either food or production limited and would not be up and running anytime soon (and be completely defenseless in the meantime).  In any event I’ll figure out if I make the attempt if/when I get walls up or if I’ll start cranking out military units for some sort of last-ditch defense.  In the meantime, sulking is not an option – so long as I have a city there are things to try to get done.

[Emperor K]

I have enjoyed your reporting, though since i have been viewing all threads i can't give any advice. Also wanted to ask PBEM 5 started and filled up in about 10 hours so I am wondering if others would like to start one. Not sure if this is the best place to ask you, just thought i would toss the idea out.

[suboptimal]

I have enjoyed your reporting, though since i have been viewing all threads i can't give any advice. Also wanted to ask PBEM 5 started and filled up in about 10 hours so I am wondering if others would like to start one. Not sure if this is the best place to ask you, just thought i would toss the idea out.

Glad to hear you've been enjoying my reporting!

If you want to start another PBEM the "General Discussions" thread would be the place to do it.  Once it hits critical mass the mods will move it to its own forum.  I would suggest delaying starting PBEM 6 until after the next patch hits, which is currently predicted to be the week of the 16th or the 23rd.

I would play in a PBEM 6 given that the time I spend playing and reporting has diminished significantly since my early 60's follies (looking at the map, moving two units and reporting on it doesn't take that long ).  However, I'm on vacation from Oct 19th through Oct 31st and am Civless (but not internet-less) during that time.  If you're willing to form up a game that doesn't start until Nov 1st, count me in.  If you want to get going earlier I'll lurk PBEM 6 and be on the lookout for (or organize) PBEM 7.