[SPOILERS] pindicator prowls pacahuatl's path of pantheons

[pindicator]

Turn 060

Decided to keep pushing economy.




Culture idea is to aim for Recorded History and boost my campus output. With technology I want to get lumbermills to add more production to the capital. Having them at +2 is a nice boost.
Settlers next out of both my top 2 cities.

I need to think about what I want from my government plaza. Maybe I want to push for Ancestral Hall and just push settlers out of Abberath?

[pindicator]

Turn 074

Been a little bit, but time for an update




Ralakesh gets planted next turn. I really wanted to go west and claim the next iron first, but suboptimal parking his warrior there has made he wary that he has a settler coming this way and will be trying to plant right where the warrior is. I actually had thought about that spot for a city myself, but where the settler is now is a little more defensive and will be freshwater too. Plus my worker is about to add a 6f2h terrace farm that I can use to grow the new city. This guy needs to plant an encampment first, walls second.

The chop for the terrace farm went into completing the Ancestral Hall at Abberath. I know that the settler bonus there is local, so I'm going to be pushing out settlers like crazy there and so I decided to spend my new governor title on Magnus. Next turn we'll complete Recorded History and Magnus will get the upgrade that makes settlers not take away population, and all that should come into effect right before the next settler is finished. Abberath is going to pump out settlers for a while at that point: I want to fill the west and north.

I'm still leading in science and Recorded History should really help cement that, but I really need to have a better idea of what I'm going to do with that science boost. Initially I was thinking heavy chariots into knights - but I am really really in a bad shape as far as gold goes. So that means one of my next things to focus on is going to be getting commercial hubs down in my cities, and a harbor up at Ryslatha. I'm also considering Reina for my next governor title, which isn't too far away: I'm heading for Feudalism after this.

Really my plan is still to just tech away and out-econ. So we're going to pump out as many settlers and builders as possible, and then focus on gold buildings in the short term.

[pindicator]

Turn 080

Met the Ottomans out east. They are doing really poorly.




And seeing them be the top culture (due to their tourism) really makes me feel better about my position. Wozen has the next best culture generation after me; just need to meet him now. I'm not yet at the point where I start playing not to lose, but I could easily see this game continue to go that way if I'm left to my own devices.




This is a fascinating game in that nobody has even tried building a holy site yet! I've thought about it: at some point it has to be worth the investment, right? I'm really tempted to put it up north in Ryslatha - where I really don't have anything else except a harbor. But I want to get my harbor up there: having a strong navy is part of my long-term plan.

My plans are to focus on campuses and commerce hubs. Gold and science. Back to the basics really, and if I can manage to pick up a golden age then there are some good bonuses to be had with that pairing. I really do need to start planning my industrial hubs, though: those can be really really strong with proper planning and I'm pretty sure that I have missed some great spots already.




Wait ... rivers can't flood this game?

[pindicator]

Turn 083

Thinking out loud...




Knights can be in 7. I mean, I wanted to build Macchu Pichu but maybe that can wait. Not sure if I can get the gold in time for upgrades though....

[pindicator]

Turn 085

It dawns on me now that CFC Jester was offering a gift of his builder before. And I went and over-thought it and decided it was better not to hurt the weak guy and let him fight better.




Next time, just accept the freebie!


Funny idea: Woden has the worst science right now. Maybe my first war dec shouldn't be against suboptimal...

[pindicator]

Turn 092

Woden is the first to hit 3 envoys in a city




So like I said earlier, maybe I go east? I could capture Brussels pretty easily with knights and a battering ram. Of course, I have to build the knights first. Heavy chariots will upgrade to knights at 160g each once I get to Mercenaries. However, that's still some 10 turns away at my current pace. Another downside is that if I use tunnels to go east through the mountains I can kiss away any hope of surprising suboptimal.

Plus, that opens another front that I would need to defend....

I think we're sticking with the surprise suboptimal plan. If that attack is successful then that will probably be game winning.

Score can give an idea of my economic lead:




Suboptimal has a 1 civic lead, but we're all pretty similar in culture per turn (right now I have a minor lead). Technology is my strength - I'm up 4 techs on the field and finishing Math IBT. That lead should continue to grow as I am making 54bpt compared to 43 and 44 for my opponents, and I have another 10bpt coming in 7 turns when the campus at Gruthkul finishes. New city to the east will probably also go Campus first.... although I'm also considering just getting the aqueduct down first. I really do need to get some Industrial Districts, but I'm still unsure where to put those in the core cities. Capital could place on next, but I'm honestly debating between Theatre Square and Entertainment Plaza next. Or maybe even a Holy Site to finally break this odd Atheism streak.

Capital really wants to start on Macchu but I also need builders. With Feudalism finishing soon we're going to swap the settler card over to builders. I'm also going to delay settlign that next city until Feudalism is done and i can swap policies for +2 builder chargers.


My weakness is really having a lack of a plan aside from "econ!" I could have had a far more focused push towards a certain unit, but honestly I'm just not that good or experienced to know how to time those well like I would know in Civ 4. Oh well, econ is still working fine for now.

[pindicator]

Turn 094

Feudalism is done, and since I went a bit over on Stirrups, I now can build knights.  But will I?




I made sure to swap to the policy before planting my next city, so the free builder would get played.  I also decided that I wanted to get another tile at Abberath for production:  but the mountain tile we bought ended up being a 4f2h tile thanks to all the inca terrace farms.  Finally I bought another tile by the capital:  Machu Picchu time, about 10 turns later than it should have been started.  So with 2 tiles to purchase, and knowing I was going to be finishing Mysticism next (without upgrading knights there isn't any point to go on the top half of the culture tree), I decided it was better to head south to Monarchy and get a 6-tier government.  Which means I'm going to want walls .... but i really don't have time to build walls right now.  Maybe after all these districts finish.




This is more of a strategic location with an eye to the east, because all the nearby good spots are already taken.  But the spot is surrounded by mountains for good district bonuses with Machu and should give me a good Industrial District with the needed .  It also lets me plant a tunnel and head east whenever the moment strikes me as right.  Downside is it needs an aqueduct, but the aqueduct also goes hand in hand with the Industrial Zone.  Eventually.

This all means the knight idea is gone.  Which was probably true from the early game because i really needed to be building up more gold earlier for knight upgrades as well as pushing more towards Mercenaries and less towards Feudalism.  Again, I haven't been playing with a long term plan that is better than "that looks good for econ, let's do that next"

[pindicator]

Also, those of you familiar with Path of Exile realize that the last plant is out of order. I had been going on order of appearance, but got focused on the minor gods that I forgot about the Brine King at end of Act 7. He should have come after Ryslatha and before Ralakesh. This way he ends up near the coast at least.

Next city will be the spider queen, Arakaali

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

One thing I hadn't considered about the Inca is how their mountain adjacency really favors campuses, too. So much food + high adjacency science hubs = It looks like you're killing the economic game. I imagine the Inca would be equally strong at religion?

[naufragar]

Also, those of you familiar with Path of Exile realize that the last plant is out of order.  I had been going on order of appearance, but got focused on the minor gods that I forgot about the Brine King at end of Act 7.  He should have come after Ryslatha and before Ralakesh.  This way he ends up near the coast at least.

Next city will be the spider queen, Arakaali

There's an order? I thought you just stumbled on them accidentally and then had to back track when you inevitably missed a skill point by the time you hit Act Ten. (Looking at you, Shakari.)