[SPOILERS] Suboptimal's Arabian Adventure

[Emperor K]

Sounds good, i am in no hurry and actually getting in one last camping trip in oct which will put me out of civ range for half a week. Ill create the thread after the patch and see where it ends up. Keep it up, you never know were MP games can head.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

I've been enjoying your reporting, suboptimal! Can I especially commend you on your fortitude in the face of all-but-certain doom?

Most players get very frustrated and pessimistic, and their reporting suffers. You've been carrying on with such grace and good cheer that at times I found myself wondering if you even were aware how dire the situation is! 

It's refreshing to see. Congratulations and I hope you get the chance to annoy at least someone before you go down.

[suboptimal]

I've been enjoying your reporting, suboptimal! Can I especially commend you on your fortitude in the face of all-but-certain doom?

Most players get very frustrated and pessimistic, and their reporting suffers. You've been carrying on with such grace and good cheer that at times I found myself wondering if you even were aware how dire the situation is! 

It's refreshing to see. Congratulations and I hope you get the chance to annoy at least someone before you go down.

Thanks for the compliments!  I figure that if the community is going to allow me to participate in its events the least I could do is to "pay my way" with good reporting even in the face of certain doom.  A healthy sense of self-deprecating sarcasm helps with that, along with the fact that going into this game I recognized my lack of skill compared to others in the community so didn't set myself high expectations (despite my attempts at formulating Grande Plannes ).  

My current situation is quite dire, though I think I'll manage to stall out Ichabod for a small bit - I don't know that he can take both cities before at least one of them builds walls.  Then we'll get to see how fast he can get a battering ram to my neck of the woods.

[suboptimal]

Turn 73

Glenfarclas is in English hands.  The only question now is what Ichabod has named his latest conquest and if he’s bringing his troops towards Tomatin or Glenkinchie first….



OK...he hasn’t advanced yet (one out of two ain’t bad? ).  That buys me a little time.  "I Believe In You"?  I admire your....optimism.  Of course, if you did you'd declare peace and let me rebuild for a bit. (like, say, 50 turns or so )

Walls in 5, builder next turn.  I’m going to go straight for walls at Glenkinchie as that will let me hide the swordsman inside.  Building an archer would force me to keep a unit outside the city and it would certainly be toast if Ichabod comes calling.  

The warrior at Stockholm has 67/100 HP and has earned a promotion.  I move it to the pillaged farm and take the Tortoise promotion.  I’ll then pillage the pasture for 50 and then back off for a bit while Stockholm rebuilds.

In the southeast I get my first good look at an Indian city, Titusville:



Movement completed I hit next turn.  Builder will be out in Glenkinchie and I’ll be able to switch to a new government.  It’ll most likely be Autocracy for the extra yields in the capital.

Warrior at Stockholm gets bombarded...again.  At least it’s earning XP for that next promotion.

[suboptimal]

Turn 74

Start the turn, Political Philosophy is in.  <sarcasm> </sarcasm>.  I’ll deal with that in a bit.  There’s no movement of forces around my empire except for a promoted archer and a horseman setting up a perimeter (for now) at the former Glenfarclas.   America also remains stationary.



Moves first, then government.  Warrior moves to the pasture at Stockholm, will pillage that next turn.  Scout moves one more tile NE around Titusville.  Builder at Glenkinchie is complete.  Start Ancient Walls there, builder moves to the forested hill for a chop next turn.  Glenkinchie picked up the dye tile so I switch to that – it’s 2/2/1 so that gets the production up to 8.6 /turn.  Back to the government…

I am taking Autocracy as the diplomatic slot currently does me no good and it gives me extra yields in Tomatin.  Now, what about civics?  Well, Urban Planning is a no-brainer.  What of the other slots?  Well, first, let me introduce you to my new advisor:



“I have a cunning plan”



“Steal Boudica from Ichabod”

Ichabod is at 20 GGP and he’s getting 3/turn, most likely one from the Encampment at the former Kikyo and two from Strategos.  I’ve got 5 GGP and am getting 1/turn from my Encampment.  If I take Strategos to up my rate to 3 GGP/turn I remain 15 points behind in the race.  He would win this race 14 turns from now.  However, I think I can steal Boudica out from under him:

- He can’t run a project because the city his Encampment is in is occupied, so has minimal production.
- Faith recruitment costs for Great People of the Classical Age is 150 + 10 per GPP missing.  At present, I can recruit if I had 46 GPP.  This number goes down by one every two turns from my generation
- I estimate that Ichabod has around 100 faith and the number is probably a bit lower than that.  He most likely cannot recruit via faith at any point in this process.

If I run Strategos I could raise my GGP total to 41 in 12 turns, provided Ichabod doesn’t kill me off first.  I’d also have just enough faith to recruit Boudica at that point in time.  Of course, Ichabod could take Tomatin in that time, but that’s the operational risk at present.    Therefore, Strategos is in.  For the other two slots I’ll take Conscription and Maneuver.  Once Tomatin and Glenkinchie complete their walls it’ll be Heavy Chariots Until Death™.  My objective is to be as much of a pain in the ass as possible to any and all aggressors as long as I can.    Added bonus: there’s an active barbarian camp SE of Glenkinchie (the one I never did get around to killing).  Guess what I’d do if I get Boudica…. 



My next civic is due in….23 turns.  I select Games & Recreation on the off chance that I live long enough to work towards Defensive Tactics.  In a sure sign of optimistic ambition I queue up G&R, Defensive Tactics and Military Training.  If I’m still in the game by then I’ve either pulled off a miracle or someone else screwed up.

Stockholm bombard the warrior but it also sounds like they built a unit (I hear the “beaming in” sounder right before the bombardment).  

[suboptimal]

Turn 75

Open the turn and see that India has declared war on England!!! Oh, and this:



Looks like he’s going to try Glenkinchie first. Builder there chops the forest for 48 , walls down to 4 turns.  

I’ll probably have to get the builder out of there, just in case.  I bring the swordsman back into the city for defense.  That might slow Ichabod down a little bit.  Tomatin’s walls are due in three and it gained a population.  Depending on how he sets up is attack the Encampment there might be able to provide a little bit of defense as well.  

In the east, Ichabod’s scout is….gone.  I presume it’s dead.  Bacchus has three Varu and an archer in the area immediately south of Hattusa.  For the time being I keep the scout on the west side of that river.  I couldn’t advance further east anyway as there’s a Varu in the opening between Hattusa’s territory and the mountain tile that’s there.

Over at Stockholm the warrior pillages the pasture and Stockholm has built….a builder.  Oh yes, repair those pillaged improvements for me.  Hopefully the AI starts repairing the campus as well.  That would be helpful.

With the 50 in hand I take a look at my situation.  The walls in Glenkinchie are at 56/80 and with the chop my production is 7.6/turn, so four turns left.  I can cut the time to three turns by buying the stone tile and raising production back up to 8.6.  Better yet I can buy the tile and harvest the stone in two turns, completing the walls, if I can keep the builder alive that long.  That does mean putting my warrior at risk but I think it’s worth it if it gets the walls up.  I have to buy the tile now, though, due to how the math works out in case I do lose the builder.  The good news is that if Glenkinchie's fall becomes imminent I can swap that tile to Tomatin.

[suboptimal]

Turn 76



Hmmm...Ichabod has backed off.  That means I get some time to plan what, exactly, I want to do with my two remaining builder charges.  I also see that Games & Recreation now only takes 16 turns.  Something’s changed...looking at the city icons it seems that the extra population in Tomatin changed the amenities distribution which increased culture at Glenkinchie.  I….don’t understand, but will take the extra 1.2 per turn.     Bacchus has also come calling….



Open Borders straight up.  I’ll take it.  That’ll give my scout some room to move around and check things out.  He may be scouting me out for a future coup de grace or planning on coming in to defend me against further incursion.  We shall see.  He’s also entered the Medieval era.  



Over at Stockholm the campus has been rebuilt.  The warrior is at 78/100 HP.  I’ll circle to the south across the unpillaged farms.  If the unit’s HP gets too low I’ll stop for a pillage.  Engineering has 50 science left on it.  Dunno if I’ll put the pillage into finishing that early or put it into something else.

Over at Titusville my scout, despite the open borders, is a bit blocked in for now.  Bacchus has units scattered around Hattusa to the south and to the scout’s east and going into Titusville gets me nowhere fast.  I’m going to circle the unit around Hattusa to the west and see if I can scout out American territory.

That brings me back to the builder.  Two charges...what to do with them?  I think the “smart” play with Ichabod backing off is to save the stone harvest until Engineering completes and put the harvest into an Aqueduct.  The stone will get me 50 and the Aqueduct will cost 91 if I’ve got the math right.  I can then mine the hill to get back some production.  The housing will let me start to increase that city's population and work more of the Tsingy tiles over time.    If I were to slip back into Colonization the stone would get me 75/170 to a new settler and a third city. Of course, that still leaves me with the issue of where that city should go. I could also put it into military, though any units I can build right now would get chewed up in the event England attacked.    Yet another idea would be to crank out almost all of a trader.  That'd get me 1/2 to Glenkinchie, a road between the cities and the eureka for Currency.  I have a couple of turns to think about this. 

With moves complete I send Japan a straight up peace offer.  If he accepts that might help me clear out some war weariness.

Hit next turn, warrior gets bombarded.  Also hear the barbarian camp sounder.  Gotta remember to look where that camp got founded next turn.

[suboptimal]

Turn 77

Things to look for at the start of the turn...peace with Japan and what England’s up to.  Instead, I get messages galore:



Lots of notifications there.  From the bottom up, the warrior got attacked by Stockholm (yup), La Venta has made peace with me, Kaiser has made peace with me, Kaiser has accepted my deal and Bacchus declared war on Hattusa.  A side effect of peace that I should have looked into or remembered – my warrior has been booted out of Stockholm’s territory as it declared peace with me since Japan was its suzerain.  Well, crap.  Time to go around and spend ten turns scouting.  One for me on that situation.  At least England is quiet.  I do take a look at Japan’s diplo screen now that we’re at peace.  He’s got iron hooked up but almost no gold on hand (4) and bringing in 3 per turn.

Looking to the west, Hattusa is under siege.  The city center hasn’t been attacked yet.  When Bacchus takes that it’s going to drop my science a bit.  No much I can do there.  Scout moves up adjacent to the campus.  If it takes Bacchus more than a turn and the archer on the campus moves, maybe I declare war and try to get a pillage in there.  



Builder moves to the stone tile north of Glenkinchie.  On the hill it spots an American horseman sitting on Baltimore’s pasture.  Hmmmm….this could get interesting if he decides to go on the offensive.  I don’t think the horseman can cross the river to attack next turn – the river takes up too much movement.  Well, if Rowain gets frisky I’ll at least get the stone harvest to do something with.  

Walls due next turn.  The plan is to switch Tomatin to chariots next turn.  I’m still deciding between the trader or aqueduct builds at Glenkinchie, but leaning strongly towards Aqueduct.  

That barbarian spawn sounder from last turn?  Looks like a camp popped up SE of Geneva.  I also see that the one southeast of Glenkinchie has disappeared from the map.  No matter, I’m still going to go for Boudica.

[suboptimal]

Turn 78

Back from vacation.  Grabbed the patch and time to take a look around the world to reacquaint myself.  First thing that happens when I load up:



Complete mistiming on the tech as I forgot that I’d get the eureka.    The good news is that I’ve got walls in both my cities.  There’s also a few war declarations on the lower right...looks like Bacchus has suzerained Zanzibar, causing the declarations and a quick check of the city-state screen confirms it.  

The scout by Hattusa moves back east as there’s no route north.  What I’m not quite sure about is why Bacchus has declared on Hattusa but is not making any effort to attack it (except to place it under siege).  Hopefully I can go somewhere new with the scout instead of dancing around Hattusa.  The warrior at Stockholm moves east to start the trek around to the north for scouting.  

Looking at the great people situation I remain 15 points behind Ichabod for a great general.   As long as that doesn’t change my cunning plan still has a chance.  He does have a higher faith output now so it remains to be seen if he uses it to beat me to it.  

Tomatin starts a heavy chariot while Glenkinchie puts down an Aqueduct.  The stone harvest is good for 63 and the aqueduct costs 91.  The builder will use its last charge to mine the hill tile it is in.  For the time being the city switches to working the Tsingy forest for the extra culture and science for a turn, then it’ll be back to production for heavy chariots.

[suboptimal]

Turn 79

Open the save and...it’s quiet.  No notifications, no unit movements near my territory, just calm.  Over at Hattusa, though, that city is down to half strength.  It’ll most likely fall next turn.  The scout crosses the river to take another stab at moving east.  I’ll see if I can wiggle through or if I get blocked.  Builder at Glenkinchie uses the last charge to mine the tile it was on.  Citizens are shifted around and the aqueduct will complete in two turns.  Warrior at Stockholm moves NE onto the hill and my moves for the turn are complete.

The fall of Hattusa will decrease my science rate by 2 per turn.  However, I should slowly be able to make that up with some population in Glenkinchie once the aqueduct completes.  The cattle tile will be annexed in 8 turns and I can switch to food generation for a bit to gain a population or two, then get everyone working tiles at Tsingy.  

Tomatin will build chariots until G&R comes in, at which point I’ll change civics and build a few archers.  I’ll delay Machinery with one turn left to complete those builds, then finish the tech to start grinding towards upgrades.  I do have the case to buy the plains hill tile northwest of Tomatin and will make a decision in a turn or two (it’s “only” 80 right now).  

At some point civics, techs and builds will all become cost-prohibitive unless I can get a settler or two out or build units to take a city state or two.  Of course, the issue with the latter approach is that my units will get ground up as the city strengths increase and I fall behind.  Zanzibar might make a good target as it’s the current lowest strength at 17 and relatively close by.  It also appears to be food-starved.  I might wind up trying to get catapults built but those are 11 turns at Tomatin.  Buying the hill at Tomatin and taking Colonization would be faster (9 turns for the first settler, 11 or 12 for the second) but still leaves me with the dilemma of where to put them.  

In the cunning plan department, Ichabod has started constructing an Encampment at the former Kumasi.  That will change the GGP math a little once that’s complete. I will have enough faith to purchase the GG on Turn 85, when my cost will be 370 faith. Ichabod, however, will have 56/60 GGP, so it will be quite close.