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

[Dark Savant]

Turn 135 (500 AD) - Part 1

Making it "official":



That shows how long you can last before you're finally eliminated outright, if you don't have a ton of border exposure.

The aftermath looks like this.



That's still a lot of cho-ko-nus.  Also, what are all of WilliamLP's workers doing there?  Is he already scouting with them?

's single horse archer doesn't bother to attack my unguarded worker.



I do see where at least some of his horse archers are now, though.



I wonder where they're going?  That isn't actually enough to crack Vijayanagara -- he probably has reinforcements behind it.

Neither nor JR4 appears to be done with military, either.



That's a rather impressive amount of whipping.

[Charriu]

A quick question because I'm just curious. How did this emoji came to be called ipecac?

[Dark Savant]

Turn 135 (500 AD) - Part 2

I can get a Classical technology this turn, or half of a Medieval one.

Count of researchable technologies known by rivals:

• Calendar: 5 (, JR4, wetbandit, yuris125, ?)
  
• Code of Laws : 3 (superdeath, wetbandit, ?)
  
• Compass: 0
  
• Drama: 0
  
• Feudalism: 3 (JR4, wetbandit, ?)
  
• Horseback Riding: 5 (, JR4, ?, ?, ?)
  
• Literature: 3 (, wetbandit, ?)
  
• Machinery: 2 (JR4, wetbandit)
  
• Theology: 0
  

People don't seem to be in any hurry to get Code of Laws, so I'll get half of Feudalism this turn.  (It's for all of Vassalage, longbows, and a prerequisite for Civil Service.)




The roll of the dice for a Great Person is in 9 turns.  I can get three more Classical technologies or Medieval half-technologies by then.

If no one else still has the Mausoleum by then and I happen to get a Great Engineer, I can rush it.  It's unlikely to last so long (neither nor JR4 is in any hurry to launch a Golden Age, so perhaps they're both trying for it), but who knows.  I'm also continuing to spread Judaism, enough to make a shrine worthwhile.

[Dark Savant]

A quick question because I'm just curious. How did this emoji came to be called ipecac?

You plant one city on a sheep (wasting some food), you get an emoticon, apparently.


I think he also did it with a cow. 

[Dark Savant]

Turn 135 (500 AD) - Part 3

Demographics and graphs.







Not looking better than "okay, I guess", though a lot of the above is because two rivals are in Golden Ages.

Speaking of Golden Ages, I should remember to run specialists to generate a possible backup Great Person soon.

[Dark Savant]

Turn 136 (520 AD) - Part 1

wetbandit isn't running maximum culture in his border city; it just spawned a Great Merchant.



Half a world away, shows off some shiny new longbows, and his stack hasn't grown any larger. 



yuris125 isn't going to be caught off guard this time.  Here are his defenses in Kolhapur ...



... in Vijayanagara ...



... and in New Hope (replacement for his razed capital):



can beat that, but he needs a lot of force ... ideally, knights, which he'll take a while longer to bring to bear.  I'm not certain is actually going to attack here, come to think of it.

Elsewhere, JR4 has this on the border with WilliamLP:



That's not much at all for a border defense squad, and suggests that they have very good relations, which is concerning.

[Dark Savant]

Turn 136 (520 AD) - Part 2

 I suddenly lost graphs on wetbandit this turn.  I hadn't watched closely last turn.  I'm going to push all EP into him and hope I get them back, but I might need to start on courthouses sooner rather than later now.  I'll move back my scout and watch for troop movements too.

I'm going to run Wealth heavily for one more turn, but after that my western border cities are going to build some more catapults.




The three technologies I want soon are Code of Laws, Calendar, and Feudalism.  I can get Literature and Civil Service during the Golden Age.

I should probably finally squeeze in Horseback Riding sometime too.

[Charriu]

.I read your thread and I'm back for the post-mortem you promised in the tech thread.

Turn 62 (1520 BC) - Part 4 (C&D)

I'm still wondering just what Charriu is up to, and what his plans are.

After looking back at my thread and with now more experience, I'm also wondering what I was up to, too.

Other reasons to declare war, which I'll recap (mostly for Charriu's benefit, if he eventually reads this):

• That frontline city claims more than its fair share of land, as its first-ring borders expand beyond the halfway point between our capitals.
  
• You can do that if you back up your claim ( did exactly that), but one axe does not a strong border claim make.  wetbandit also has one axe in his border city, but he'd be much more difficult to attack.  (I may have attacked wetbandit if Charriu hadn't made for an easier target.)
  
• I know that Charriu purposely expanded in my direction rather than either of his other neighbors.  That's decidedly hostile strategy.  I'm well aware isn't doing so (he's expanding everywhere, like Genghis Khan of the Zulu should).  wetbandit, I'm not sure about.  
  
• Charriu recently connected Iron, which isn't a peaceful move, and I need to move before he does.
  
• If I don't attack Charriu in force, WilliamLP probably will.
  
• Also, that tall scout that forced an axe whip.
  

Normally, you attack with more than a  SINGLE-CHARIOT ASSAULT FORCE , but this is likely to actually go well.  If he doesn't have a chariot of his own already in position, he'll have a lot of trouble retaking Taixue.

Thanks for the great feedback. You were right in assuming that I was not aware of my aggressive behaviour and I learned to fear that Single-Chariot Assault Force (SCAF).  Have to remember to give that name to any future chariot.

Turn 82 (825 BC) - Part 1

Charriu was alert enough not to leave his worker on the gems.  (It would have finished clearing the jungle if he weren't.)

One of the few moments, where I did something right

Turn 130 (375 AD) - Part 2

Charriu did survive this turn.  There's quite the crowd there all set to watch his elimination.

 Yeah, that's a lot of popcorn being eaten there. 

I never new that I could attract such a crowd I hope I offered them a good show.

[Dark Savant]

Really, the most important thing you need to do is to make sure you push food production hard in the early game (first 60 or so turns).  You can always use more workers and settlers then; the economic bite doesn't start to seriously set in until your fifth or sixth city.

Pushing hammers is OK if you're Expansive or Imperialistic, too.

After looking back at my thread and with now more experience, I'm also wondering what I was up to, too.

Like most other strategy games -- chess, Puerto Rico, Heroes of Might and Magic, whatever -- gameplay goes so much smoother if you have a plan, and then stick to it unless very good evidence shows up to the contrary.

It's also, in my view, far more interesting that way.  "What am I doing this turn to push my strategy forward more?"

Turn 130 (375 AD) - Part 2

Charriu did survive this turn.  There's quite the crowd there all set to watch his elimination.

 Yeah, that's a lot of popcorn being eaten there. 

I never new that I could attract such a crowd I hope I offered them a good show.

That was probably a little excessive of my scout, but I play this game for entertainment, too.  

I did want to actually watch your last city fall -- that way, I retain vision on it.

[Dark Savant]

Turn 137 (540 AD)

It's the fine structure constant turn!

JR4 starts his Golden Age.



He's got Banking too. RtR-Aggressive + Great Lighthouse + Colossus must provide quite the economy. 

He didn't revolt to Caste System, for whatever reason.    wetbandit did that, I'm planning to do that ...

He's chosen WilliamLP's religion.  Despite that, a scout catches this.



A Hindu missionary?  Does JR4 actually have the hammers to play around with non-state religions this early?

I'm going to claim Calendar next turn -- I'll need it to push the happy cap more soon, and it's not going to get significantly cheaper to research.




The plan is still to slam-dunk the Mausoleum if I happen to get a Great Engineer and it's still available.  (JR4 firing a Golden Age makes that significantly more likely.)  A Great Prophet would slam-dunk the Temple of Solomon.  Oldtown is going to grow another size, then start to run more specialists for the first Golden Age.

Western cities are still pushing catapults.  King's Landing is still pushing Jewish missionaries.  (That doesn't remotely correspond to anything in the books or TV show, I'm afraid.  )