[SPOILERS] Dark Savant leads the noble Inca as half-noble Churchiill

[Dark Savant]

Turn 123 (200 AD) - Part 1

Astronomy might be more valuable than I realized -- take a close look here.



Note the yield on the ocean tiles there.  Is that where the gold is actually hiding?

did indeed make peace with yuris125.



My scouting chariot takes a look at his yuris125's razed capital.



I don't see very many of 's units around -- that's a single chariot.

I get a look at wetbandit's capital with the Pyramids.



wetbandit's border city with yuris125 only has one mace and one crossbow.

JR4 has border encroaching upon WilliamLP's territory, not ours.



That's where Charriu happened to build a city, but JR4 must be fortifying it hard.

Other players are showing power drops this turn.



That shows Charriu and JR4 losing troops two turns ago, but Charriu still has two cities.

's power also declined slightly -- that's all he lost against yuris125. 

[Dark Savant]

Turn 123 (200 AD) - Part 2

Those swords I'm sending away from the eastern front are probably needed somewhere else.

I think I'll need to resume archer/spear production before much longer, though.

Still.  I whip my first two forges this turn, in Casterly Rock and Castle Black on the western front.  (Yeah, I realize this only has the vaguest connection of geography with the the books or TV show.  The Free Cities names I'm using are the only ones that come reasoanbly close.  Oh, Tyrosh got planted this turn.)  I'll have a lot of forges soon.

KTB investigation shows that one other player has Aesthetics now.  My best guess is that it's wetbandit.  I can try for like three of the top-of-the-tech tree wonders, and he probably can't beat me to them all.  I cannot get Aesthetics next turn without tying up my economy pretty badly, so if I get it, it'll be on turn 125.

Maybe I should plan the micro for these wonders better, but I still have some forests I can chop in mature cities.

[Dark Savant]

Turn 124 (225 AD) - Part 1

What is up to here?

 

Are those all domestic builds?  Mmm.  I'm shifting a bit of military to the west as a precaution, and upping my spear count on the border with .  It's currently two, which isn't exactly high against someone known to have a lot of horse archers. 

My scouting chariot does find yuris125's current western border with , and finds it's reasonably well-defended.



Charriu is still at war with both JR4 and WilliamLP, and is still hanging on to his two cities. 

My scouts are also checking out wetbandit's movements.  He has a low power rating, though he can whip a lot of maces and crossbows quickly if he felt like it.

I feel compelled to note that this single mace is moving north:





And wetbandit has a rather light garrison for a city so close to WilliamLP.



Even though I'm now at peace, I'm still worried about defending both frontiers and busy catching up on infrastructure.  Attacking even one mace and one crossbow is going to take a lot of units with my current military technology, anyway.

[Dark Savant]

Turn 124 (225 AD) - Part 2

One of the big concerns I have that I haven't voiced is that I don't actually have a lot of land for someone who has put a lot of resources into military.

I got squeezed on all three sides: is Imperialistic; I didn't know wetbandit was even there until a few turns too late; and Charriu also expanded in my direction first.

I have an ok amount of land, especially once I backfill land, but it's not anything more than adequate.

I need to build for now, though.  I whip two more forges this turn, and go for Aesthetics in 1 turn.  (Yeah, I'm going for that.)




Every turn I think I should settle my Great General to save a bit on unit maintenance, and every turn I think "eh, this could be attached to an actual unit in an emergency". 

I'm producing a spear out of Castle Black next turn -- first new military for a bit.

[Dark Savant]

Turn 125 (250 AD) - Part 1

Charriu's capital finally fell this turn.

I can advanced the scouting chariot towards Charriu's former capital; it discovers something very important.



Those aren't horse archers!  That's about 10 cho-ko-nus, quite a decent number.    He's also got a settler pair advancing to the south of Academia, so he'll beat me to that by a mile.

Spears don't do so well defending against cho-ko-nus.  I'm going to recall my razing swordsmen and move some spears west once they get close enough.

My other scouting chariot finds some of 's troops.

He has this in Agra:



and this in Madras (totally not Chennai ):



Considering 's still-very-high power, that's not much at all.  Where are his units?

wetbandit actually has a reasonable number of units in his closest city to WilliamLP.



I have enough scouting to tell that he's not moving units towards me.  His power is finally starting to rise, but it's apparently not aimed at me.

[Dark Savant]

Turn 125 (250 AD) - Part 2

Aesthetics is in, and I resume piddling away at Construction while I amass gold.

I'm going to try for the Statue of Zeus in Casterly Rock.



I can micro this to complete by turn 130 without serious contortions.  If I throw in a large whip, I can complete it on turn 129.  I decided not to plan for that, but I can change my mind as late as next turn.

I also start the Parthenon in Oldtown with the whip overflow; I still have four forests there I can cash in.

I also whipped three more forges this turn, including the one in King's Landing.  The demographics screen isn't going to be happy about this in the short run.




Demographics and graphics in spoiler:

Yeah, ouch, those forge whips really sting short-term.

[Dark Savant]

Turn 126 (275 AD) - Part 1

No one built any wonders this turn.  I mention this because I hope to finally start claiming my fair share of them. 

Charriu ... offered Open Borders?



This can't possibly do him much good, and I'll get no extra trade out of it either, but I accept just to get my chariot looking around his territory a bit.

It doesn't see a whole lot, other than JR4's cho-ko-nus hovering around Charriu's former capital.



That's a single slightly injured CKN on that hill to the northwest of Academia.

My scout in yuris125's territory still hasn't seen much of 's military.  Where is it? 

I should remind myself to start to move some spears on the eastern frontier west starting next turn, since the swords will be able fortify the cities there soon.

superdeath is putting +2 espionage points/turn into me for ... reasons?  I have no idea why, but I'm putting +1 EP/turn myself into him currently.  It'll still be a while before I can build my first courthouse, but those are starting to call to me now.  I'll probably get Code of Laws after Construction.

[Dark Savant]

Turn 126 (275 AD) - Part 2

I'm still fretting about catching up domestically.  I'm not seriously behind the pack in anything other than maybe GNP, though I'm still very much concerned.

I'm not going to repeat PB37 and let my power fall so low I become an obvious target for attack.

I made the call not to go into contortions to build the Statue of Zeus or the Parthenon a turn early -- the current plan completes the Statue of Zeus on turn 130 and the Parthenon on turn 132.  I'm also starting on the Moai Statues (in Sunspear), without stone (yeah, ouch), as stone probably costs too much to rent at the moment (there aren't enough even for six players).

Aside from Code of Laws, Literature is calling to me so I can build both Epics and perhaps take a swing at the Great Library.  It's not calling as loudly as Construction is right now, though I reserve the right to change my mind about it.  (Probably not.)

I add three more forges, giving me seven, and whip an 8th this turn.  I'm not yet done, either.




A Jewish monastery is now underway in King's Landing, continuing the slow spread of Judaism.  (I briefly considered spreading Judaism to people who hadn't founded their own religion, then came to my senses. )

The corn at White Harbor is finally developed, so that city can actually grow at a decent clip now.  (Could have developed it much faster, but I didn't want to tempt wetbandit with a target on our border.)

I'm not running specialists for a Great Person anywhere at the moment -- I'm a little busy with forges or recovering from whipping them.

[Dark Savant]

Turn 127 (300 AD) - Part 1

No wonders were built this turn.

There's a party in Academia!



Aside from my chariot, there's 4 of JR4's cho-ko-nus (and he does have horse archers -- I can see a couple of them now), that scout of wetbandit's which is wandering through, a chariot of WilliamLP's, and my own chariot.  Oh, and you can see JR4 got his flatland filler city planted.  It doesn't actually closely contest that pig in Tyrosh's second ring as I was expecting.

Conspicuously absent from the party is Charriu.  He's making his last stand here.



That's quite a lot of units.  JR4 has a stack of 5 cho-ko-nus approaching.  That probably is not enough if Charriu whips another defender or two and makes them additional catapults.  (Those other units of WilliamLP's are just a worker covered by a skirmisher.)

And that catapult is another reason to grab Construction soon.  You know, to get the known tech bonus from Charriu while he still exists. 

wetbandit picked up a Great Artist this turn.



I'm not sure what he plans to do with Beethoven, though he didn't bulb Music and get a replacement.

Boy, does wetbandit has a lot of income (and score) --but he still has a low city count.  He's playing tall much more than I am.

[Dark Savant]

Incidentally, I'm still judging JR4 ahead of everyone else, but it's not by a whole lot.  He'll indeed be defending one heck of a salient in between me and WilliamLP, and may vault into the lead with a successful resumption of war against yuris125.  wetbandit might likewise take the lead, as yuris125 seems to be more intent on defending himself against than either other neighbor.

superdeath doesn't seem to have reacted.  We do have border exposure now.

Turn 127 (300 AD) - Part 2

I forgot to mention that I planted city #19 last turn -- Lannisport, on my northern coast.  The settler for city #20 will be produced next turn.

No forges were whipped this turn, just a barracks and a library.  Sorry, whip fans!