[Spoilers] Suboptimal - Welcome to the Tlachtli of Blunders!

[suboptimal]

Turn 87

Where does the barbarian horseman go and what is the scout’s status near Geneva?  Those are the pressing questions.  I get the message that rho21 has built Stonehenge.  His science rate has plummeted so he may have been running a science project, though he didn’t need it.  I also get notifications that an Eagle Warrior was attacked by a greek archer and that an Eagle Warrior has earned a promotion.  Let’s have a look around….

Up at Geneva there’s no sign of Greek units.  My scout fortifies in place to heal.  In the southeast the horseman is after the other Eagle Warrior.  I cross the river east to get some space.  I’ll use this unit to go find Japper.

As for the Greek attack, a doubly promoted archer has moved up to attack my Eagle Warrior.  It’s not helped by the Great General but it is getting a +2 support bonus from a friend.  My unit took a grand total of...13 points of damage.  I move SW onto the forested hill for a bit more cover.  The archer can shoot at me and then I’ll promote and maybe move in for the attack along the ridge line here.  He has withdrawn both the Great General and the swordsman from view, so I expect one or both of them to show up soon.  I’ve been storing the battering ram a few tiles west of Near – I’m going to move it to the frontline to display a threat against Xenocrates.  If rho21 decides that he wants to try to break open a lane up north I’ll cross the river with everyone in tow and go after the city.  

As for rho21’s religion…



When he gets an apostle I expect to see Defender of the Faith.  Of course, he’d need a shrine and a temple to do that and based upon his prior GPP generation he had neither.  In other news he’ll get Aryabhata next turn (landing him the inspiration for The Enlightenment and the eureka for Education).  I’m curious to see who the next Scientist will be.

I reposition a couple of units and lock down my new citizens in their designated tiles.  Harborcoat and Begin both have their builders at one turn remaining.  Harborcoat resumes its galley, Begin resumes its chariot.

[suboptimal]

Turn 88

Open the save to a number of notifications, the most noteworthy being that rho21 has put an envoy in Geneva and it’s now at peace with everyone.  My Eagle Warrior was attacked again by Greece and there’s also a barbarian scout inside Begin’s territory.  I dispatch the scout with the city attack and get that out of the way.  Up at Geneva my scout has been booted from the city-state’s territory to within two tiles of a greek archer.  I move to the copper hill in the hope the terrain will provide enough cover for it to survive until next turn (but I doubt it).  Back at the northern pass I see that a barbarian camp has spawned on the coast.  That’ll liven things up a bit.  I retreat SW behind the forested hill and promote, taking Battlecry and healing up completely.  I move the battering ram into the city at Near and will move it up next turn to show some of my cards, as it were.

Down in the southeast I continue running from the barbarian horseman.  I’ll try to use the river to keep it at bay for as long as possible but that’s probably a losing race there.  In the west the Eagle Warrior advances on the barbarian scout that’s leftover from the camp.  If the scout doesn’t attack and die during the interturn it’ll die next turn.  

My three new citizens are given their work orders.  Begin’s chariot is one turn from completion so it starts putting production into the Commercial Hub.  A number of other cities have builders or chariots at two turns from completion.  

The next Great Scientist in line is Emilie du Chatelet – like Aryabhata but for the Renaissance and Industrial eras.  Ghengis Khan will be mine in 8 turns as there’s no competition and no one is close.  Japper’s district last turn was a theater district. rho21’s income has spiked up to 17 gold per turn thanks to Church Property.

Turns have been slow here for now.  Next turn Find will harvest a stone and get out the first chariot with the overflow going towards its Commercial Hub.  Feudalism completes on Turn 90, the builder flood begins and things start to get interesting.

[TheArchduke]

How are the numbers shaping up? Science/Culture/Milpower/Empire Score?

That scout has been worth its weight in gold if you ask me. Keeping you away from Geneva (the best CS by far...) would have been worth a lot. I am kinda suprised he did not aim for our scout harder.

Remember kids, scouts need to be killed if you do not want snooping around.

[suboptimal]

The numbers are looking good - I'm firmly in the lead in most categories. As of the end of my Turn 88:

Me: 49.5 per turn, 31.7 per turn, 429 @ 27.6 per turn, milpower 417, empire score 126
rho21: 33.0 per turn, 20.4 per turn, 190 @ 17 per turn, milpower 246, empire score 76
Japper: 22.4 per turn, 17.7 per turn, 9 @ 3 per turn (not a typo), milpower 142, empire score 52

My tracking on empire score has gotten a little off-kilter. Near as I can tell I have 48 population to rho21's 26 and Japper's 21. rho21 has completed more districts that I have at this point in time.

Regarding military after next turn I'll have one chariot chopped out (Find) and five more at 1 turn (Begin, How, Cant, Oddfellows and Welcome). The builder flood unleashes on Turn 90 with all five remaining chariots getting chopped out by Turn 95. All chariot chops will overflow into districts or their buildings. Mercenaries will complete at Turn 95 and I'll have enough gold on hand to upgrade all six chariots to knights and start a proper attack on rho21. Going to go straight for Pythagoras first and I don't know that there's much rho21 would be able to do to stop it - they'll be defending at 53 and attacking at 58 with Ghengis Khan in the area. I won't need a battering ram if I come across any walls.

The end of the Turn 84 report has my planned district build-out and that hasn't changed. I'll probably use city production to get two markets completed as well for the Guilds inspiration.

[TheArchduke]

Your non a typo comment on his gpt says it all.

Yeah, the knight plan is good, at best you conquer Pythagoras, at worst you force him into military builds he can not afford. Keep the pressure slightly on whilst build up your lead even further, I say.

Try to throw in 2-3 crossbowmen for good measure if you can.

[suboptimal]

I need 540 gold or so for the knight upgrades (what is the upgrade cost for those?) - I'll have that amount as of Turn 93 with a bit to spare once Mercenaries completes. Once that's over I'm looking at 2-3 2nd ring tile buys (one for the Colosseum at Maps, one for the Campus at Near and one for the Encampment at Near if the tile algorithm picks the rice over the stone) in addition to upgrading archers to crossbows.

[suboptimal]

Turn 89

My scout in the north is not dead yet.  It’s horribly redlined, though.  It goes east in the only direction I can move it and get out of sight.  It’ll probably die next turn.  I’m also still able to just outrun the barbarian hoseman in the southeast.  Shipbuilding is done, so I might be able to pull a fast one here if I can get to the coast ahead of it.  I cross the river to the south.  Something has been attacking the barbarian scout north of Near.  Send the Eagle Warrior towards the scout and the camp is empty.  I guess the spearman went somewhere.  If Greece doesn’t get the camp and the scout moves out of the way I’ll claim the gold next turn.  Another barbarian camp has spawned at the southern edge of the continent, southeast of High Speed.  I’ll leave it be for the time being as it’s not a horse camp.

Elsewhere I move the ram at Near forward so that rho21 can see it with the Great General.  That should get his attention.  He has completed the Encampment at Xenocrates as well, so those defenses are live.  The Eagle Warrior in the west moves towards the scout, don’t quite have it cornered.  Builder at Kenneth repositions and unit movements are mostly complete.

Time for city management.  Eight cities have chariots or builders at one turn from completion.  With the exception of Find the River they all switch to alternative builds for the next turn.  In the case of Cant and How, these are libraries.  Welcome goes back to its Aqueduct, High Speed its galley, Kenneth and Oddfellows their Commercial Hubs and Maps starts walls for a future chop with limes.  With the stage set the builder at Find the River harvests the stone for 83 x 1.5 = 124.5.  Seven of that goes into the chariot, completing it.  The rest goes into the Commercial Hub, leaving it five turns to completion.  The chariot heads for Cant via Begin.  Once there it’ll stay put until the knight upgrades happen.  The builder at Find has two charges left and will go to Submarine to put down pastures on the sheep and horses.  Travel via water is the fastest route given the jungle belt to the north.

I start Astrology.  That’ll take one turn.  After that I’ll research Celestial Navigation to get harbors down.  Even without the eureka that will only take three turns.  After that it’ll be Stirrups for knights.

Next turn starts the builder flood.  11 builders in eight turns.  After looking at potential micromanagement strategies I’ve decided that all of my cities will start working on builders next turn, with the exception of Harborcoat (start on Turn 91) and Find the River (Start on Turn 93).  That actually gets the builders out faster than anything I came up with and also gets the builders out first in the cities with chariots ready to go.

Gifts for the Tlatoani

Builders Captured: 9
Cost to Build: 594
Improvements Made: 16
District Boosts: 15.6
Chops: 492 , 36
Craftsmanship Inspiration, Irrigation, Masonry, Wheel, and Iron Working Eurekas (20, 165)

(yes, I still have a builder that was a unit capture -- it was the one that harvested the stone at Find the River)

[suboptimal]

Turn 90



Feudalism has completed. Instead of a nice screenshot showing the civic’s banner you’ll just have to settle for it showing “Just Completed” in the upper left, along with the popup for the Stirrups eureka.

First order of business – slot Serfdom in and start Mercenaries.  I also start Celestial Navigation to get the Harbors down.  The scout at Geneva and the Eagle Warrior down south were both killed.  Up north the barbarian scout has disappeared and the camp remains empty.  I move to the camp for an easy 50 .  That does reveal a lone promoted greek archer who is by itself.   It’s only open terrain so if it shoots at me I’ll be able to attack it next turn.  We’ll see what rho21 does here.  Internationally, it’s all quiet, except for Brussels taking a little more damage to its walls.  I guess Japper is using the “bash walls for XP” approach with 1-2 units and no ram.  This isn’t a serious city assault and the city ranged attack has got to be doing some damage.  His milpower is back down to 111.  It’s almost like he gets a new unit and then gets it badly damaged or killed.

With Serfdom now in all of the cities that need to switch to their incomplete builders.  Harborcoat, Submarine and Find are the only ones not producing builders at this point.  Three should complete next turn (Begin, Cant, How) with 1-2 finishing each turn after that through Turn 98.

[suboptimal]

Turn 91

This turn I get to see if how I think how Civ 6  orders completing builds in cities is the same as how it actually works.  Given what we’ve learned about this game over the course of multiple PBEMs I have a feeling I’ll be wrong.    I’m expecting builders to be finished at Begin, Cant and How, based upon their order of appearance in my empire and their production totals.  

I open the save to get the notification that rho21 has built the Pyramids.  Someone went full builder mode here in spades, and it’s not me.  My supposition about build order is correct and the builders are in the cities I was expecting.    I also see further confirmation in the build completion order because Welcome shows the cost of a builder at 66 and it's second on "the list" (behind Begin) while Oddfellows shows the cost at 70 and it's fifth on the list (after Cant and Harborcoat and before How).   The galley in Harborcoat also completed.  Militarily there’s not much to do – rho21’s archer in the north has retrated.  I move the Eagle Warrior to the nearby forest for some cover and find…



Looks like he’s using Aryabhata as a scout for the time being.  I move my swordsman northeeast two tiles, behind the cover of forests and hills.  If Great People are restricted by Zone of Control he will not be able to proceed further west than his current position and I’ll send it back to Xenocrates or Menaechmus.  The Eagle Warrior’s position also threatens the archer again, so rho21 will need to move it or risk getting attacked.  

The galley at Harborcoat sets off towards the tip of the peninsula.  There’s some coast tiles that are a distance of two from the mainland and I can’t tell if the lighter shading to the SW of there is just the fog or a potential island.  The Eagle Warrior finally catches up to and kills that scout by Welcome.   The spearman by Submarine is slowly making its way east – there’s a patch of fog in the middle of my empire that might be large enough and far enough from my cities to spawn a camp.  

Build-wise, Harborcoat starts the Aqueduct – I’ll run that for a turn to capture the galley overflow and then restart its builder.  Begin will put another turn of production into its Commercial Hub while Cant and How put another turn into their libraries.  The cities’ builders position for chops next turn – those will complete their chariots and overflow to the current builds.  The overflow production will complete both libraries and overflow into the build after that.  In the case of Cant, that will be Ancient Walls.  How will probably put it into a Monument.  Begin will be one turn shy (or two, depending on rounding) from completing its Commercial Hub.  

In other news, Near Wild Heaven expanded to the stone where I want to place the Encampment.  That saves me 100 in territorial expansion costs.  Greece completed a Commercial Hub last turn.  Japper and rho21 still have a DoF so that must have been renewed a few turns back.  Japper’s attack on Brussels continues, 9 points of damage at a time. 

Next builder will come out of Oddfellows and then Welcome and Maps should have theirs ready to go on Turn 93.

[suboptimal]

Turn 92

As expected rho21 tried to slip Aryabhata through the gap.



Looks like Great People are affected by ZoC.  I move the swordsman to send him home.  This reveals the archer just outside the borders to Xenocrates (SW of the marble) and it has company in the form of a single support unit.  The swordsman might get shot at but I’ll move it back to safety on my next turn.  The western Eagle Warrior begins heading north – I want to defog the tundra north of the Pantanal.  The spearman continues towards the donut hole in the map.  I move out the archer at Near and kill the barbarian scout that was rendered homeless a few turns ago. The focus shifts to my galley:



Well, that pattern of available movement is...interesting.  The galley moves W-SW-SW and finds:



I doubt that there’s anything on the other side given that this is a pangea, but the map generator has done crazier things in SP games.  Fog gazing seems to confirm that what’s in the picture is all of the land out here but the galley will go around, just in case it’s a stepping stone to something bigger.  I finish out my military movement with the chariot at Begin moving north.  During its move it momentarily exposes a barbarian scout...from a camp that spawned right in the donut hole:



  At least it’s not a horse camp.  The spearman will be able to get there in a few turns with the trader’s road going right by it and I'll have that unit attempt to deal with the situation (and earn a promotion).

Builders completed at both Maps and Oddfellows this turn.  The latter moves up to the stone, the former moves to the Entertainment Complex, puts a charge into it and the city then resumes its walls build.  This is a little inefficient, given that the builder cost 74 or 78 and the district only costs 98.  However, I want conserve chops for the Colosseum and this gets the district completed in the fastest manner possible.  It also allows the city to get walls near complete (and a military unit also near completion) for overflow chops.  I’ll put 3 charges into the district, by which point I’ll know how much city production I can put into it.  I may try to overflow a builder charge into the Colosseum, just for that little extra bit of production.

The chopping starts, appropriately enough, at Begin.  Chop goes the forest, 102 goes into the chariot and overflows 92 into the Commercial Hub.  That will complete next turn and I’ll start a granary for more housing here.  I move the chariot up to Cant’s borders and reveal the scout again.  If it moves in this direction I’ll use the chariots to kill it.  The builder will mine the hill NE of the city center and then head to Cant for improvements.

Cant chops a forest, 93 overflow into the library.  That will complete next turn and the overflow will finish 1/3 of a market (for the Guilds boost).  The builder will mine the hill and then try to head west to Maps for chop duty.  

How was at similar numbers to Cant and chops out another forest, completing a chariot and setting up the library to finish next turn.  I’ll take the subsequent overflow put it into a trader.  This builder will now head to Near in order to be ready for the Campus build there.  

Chariot builds remain to be completed at Welcome and Oddfellows.  Builders to come at Welcome, Harborcoat, Kenneth, Near and High Speed.