[Spoiler] Suboptimal Goes on a Pseudorandom Walk

[suboptimal]

Turn 91

I get the “Classical Era Ends In 10 Turns” message as Apprencticeship and Defensive Tactics complete. I start Military Engineering and Feudalism. Once Military Engineering completes I’ll put research into Mathematics, Stirrups and Castles, bringing them each to one turn from completion.

After running the numbers I think I’ve determined that I can get the district discount for the Industrial Zone at Threefry if I can complete the Commercial Hub and Acropolis at Acorn first. Finishing techs in that time could raise the production cost as high as 170 but the discount would drop that cost to 102. I’ll finish Military Engineering and then get several to 1 turn left. The two district builds at Acorn will take 10 more turns, 7 for the Commercial Hub and 3 for the Acropolis. After that I’ll put down the Industrial Zone. If I do get the discount then the deer harvest at Threefry will finish more than ¾ of the district build.

Builder at Xorshift puts down a mine, cutting the Campus production time to 27 turns. LinCon has three turns left on the builder so I’ll need to stall the city for two turns. I’ll put two turns into a monument, finish the builder and then finish the monument there. The swordsman is also done healing; I move it north towards LFSR, where I’ll fortify it on the Campus and send that warrior south for potential barbarian busting duty.

I have a governor promotion from Defensive Tactics. In looking at Magnus I have three planned chops – jungle at Xorshift, deer harvest at Threefry and a forest chop at Mixmax. Outside of that there won’t be any chopping going on. I’d rather have the extra GPP, so put the promotion into Pinagala’s Grants ability as I previously outlined. With three districts in that city it’ll be generating a lot of GPP.

I also do a policy swap, taking out Colonization and putting in Conscription. With the builder at LinCon completing in 6 turns and Feudalism being at inspiration + 1 in 7 turns I’ll get the extra cash now. Once Feudalism completes I’ll put Maneuver in for the larger cities to build some heavy chariots to 1 turn from completion, keeping them in-queue until I need to complete Stirrups to avoid paying the maintenance costs. As for Inspiration, I’ll keep that in place for the time being. I want to be able to get a comfortable second place position in the race for the Great Scientist before I slow down GPP generation.

I think the World Congress will give an indication as to Woden’s thinking – he has double the diplomatic favor that Pindicator and I do (67 vs 31 & 32, respectively) and we’ll see if his votes could be taken as targetting someone.

One GUI note (frustration) – Linear Congruential does not show as a trade route origin in the “Available” screen on the trade route display. It only appears as a destination.

[suboptimal]

Turn 92

It’s another quiet turn. Take a look around the map, nothing interesting. No techs, civics or builds completing. Units move around, builder puts down a mine at Acorn. LinCon has gained a population, the governor put it on the 13 plains forested hill. That’s a good spot so I leave it be. Builder at Xorshift repositions and will quarry the marble next turn.

[suboptimal]

Turn 93

I’ve got my third envoy in reserve, I’ll hold onto it for now. Woden has put down the city of Thundersnow:




This is actually a good thing for Pindicator and myself. We now have visibility as to his garrison strength and his most powerful unit. He’s also placed it in a coastal position but what he doesn’t yet know is that there are at least two barbarian quadriremes in that part of the world.

Threefry has grown to pop 2 and the city s now working both available 22 tiles. I sleep the builder there as it will be eight turns before I place the Industrial Zone and need the deer chop. The builder at Acorn starts making its way back towards Mixmax for a chop. The city has settled on the jungle tile north of the mountain pass as its first expansion. The good news is that Acorn will expand to the forest I want Mixmax to grab...in 11 turns.

Builder at Xorshift quarries the marble. A couple of turns ago I said that fromwhat I’ve seen I don’t expect there to be any more luxuries to be found. I stated that because Pindicator and Woden, each on their own continent at this point, have only two luxuries. However, my continent has three. That leaves me wondering where their third luxury resources lie, if they even exist or if I got the luck of the draw.

Down at LinCon I switch over to building a Monument. I’ll put two turns into that while Liang finishes establishing, then finish the builder and the monument. Once the builder completes I’m going to send Liang to Mixmax for a bit, then on to Xorshift, in order to speed up the Campus builds a little bit. Up at Mixmax I may buy the forest tile currently marked with an Encampment pin. It would be 85 or 90 to purchase for 59 (~71 if Liang is there) and would clear the tile for a mine. I’m not sure if an Encampment in that spot is necessary, particularly since it cuts down the available workable tiles for that city. At some point I’d be looking to get an Encampment down for the associated eurekas and insiprations. That task may fall to the settler awaiting completion in LinCon, though I should be able to get an Encampment down at a discounted cost.

[suboptimal]

Turn 94

Open the save to Woden having built Stonehenge. He’s founded Confucianism:




Woden’s also shot up from 23 and change to 36 and change. This also presents a slight problem as it puts religious victory in play, especially since both Pindicator and I are currently heathens. The next prophet would be “only” 60 GPP, so I suppose one (or both) of us could raise a religion if needed. His score spiked 63 points as a result of all of that as well.

Pindicator also dropped a bunch of cash, about 170 or so. Don’t see a milpower spike so I’m not sure what he’s done. He also founded The Brine King somewhere north in the fog. After moving my scout I soon find it:




Looks like he’s got the passes to his section of the land mass bottled up nicely.

I’m currently rethinking the chariot idea – not the building part, but the keeping them in the queue part. I think I may want to build three of them and park them all at Threefry for future upgrades. That puts the entire squad in a central location. I’ve got a few turns to contemplate that.

I was looking around a bit after last turn and noticed that Pindicator has an unfinished Harbor in one of his cities (it’s unfinished because he’s not generating any Great Admiral points). That means he’s researched Astrology and Celestial Navigation. He’s also researched Irrigation in order to get his tea resources hooked up (or he settled two cities directly on top of them, which I find unlikely). That’s three techs that he’s researched that I’ve decided to skip, quite possibly for the entire game (though two are 1-turn techs at this point). That makes his five tech lead a little more like a two tech lead. The other effect is on district discounting. He’s unlocked nine district types that are affected by the discount formula, whereas I’ve only unlocked seven. That means he’ll need to finish a total of nine districts before he can start working the discount mechanism; by my count he’s got three to go. As for me, I’m five or six turns and two districts away from starting to get the discount.

Pindicator will also lap me on the Great Merchant points like I’ve been able to lap him (so far) on the Great Scientist points. If the district discount formula does kick in as expected and it applies to Commercial Hubs I’ll buy a tile at LinCon and put down a Commercial Hub at the marked location. The city would be able to build it quite rapidly. I also think the builder may put down two farms (for Feudalism), wait to chop (for the Commercial Hub) and then complete a farm diamond on the emptied tile.

As for Woden, well, because the GUI won’t show me any of Arabia’s former cities in the trade screen (but I can see ALL of Persia’s self-founded cities) I can’t get a good read on what his situation is. I’m effectively half-blind to what he’s up to. I do have to wonder if Pindicator has the same issue or not.

[suboptimal]

Turn 95

Liang is established in LinCon. Switch back to the builder. Swordsman reaches LFSR city center and will swap places with the Campus warrior next turn. Builder at Mixmax is now between the tiles I want to chop. Mixmax is being wishy-washy about tiles and may grab any of the second ring 22 tiles in 9 turns. Acorn will grab the forest south of Mixmax in less than 7 (pop growth in two turns may speed that up a turn or two). I’ll send Liang straight to Xorshift for the Campus build there next turn.

Up near The Brine King the scout runs out of room in the north so I’ll backtrack it and fogbust between Auckland and Granada. Over at Xorshift the builder sits tight to go for a swim in two turns. So ends unit movement.

Next turn Military Engineering will finish and I’ll get to see where the niter is located. It only appears on flat tundra, plains, grassland and desert tiles with no features. Given the terrain the likely locations are going to be near Xorshift, near Threefry, somewhere south of LinCon in the tundra (that would be a major bummer). There’s also a possibility of being between LFSR and LinCon, which would be gettable (all tiles there are second or third ring) or out on the isthmus to the west.

Looking at the trade screens I see that Pindicator has found his continent’s third luxury resource – jade. That’s likely why he settled The Brine King. Maybe I can get the scout down there to take a gander and check.

[suboptimal]

Turn 96

Builder completes at LinCon. A lack of notifications shows that I have no niter in my territory. So, where is it?




Well, that’s mildly inconvenient. The good news is that Threefry’s tile picker is now going to take the 13 tile to its south as that now has a higher weighting that the hills to the northeast. That will take about 10 turns. It’s also convenient because I was planning on chopping and mining that hill (and the desert hill next to it) for the Industrial Zone’s adjacency.

The search box says there’s two. Where’s the other one?




Not anywhere I’m going to get it. Third ring to Gruthkul and fourth ring to Tukohama Reborn. Gruthkul’s tile picker will most likely grab the second ring plains next and Pindicator could buy in the tile.

So, there’s the two niter that I know about. There is none anywhere in the vast expanse between the Greco-Incan lands in the west and Persia in the east. Absolutely none. I checked the trade screens and neither Woden or Pindicator have any hooked up yet. So, what’s the plan now that I know where niter is?

Well, I’ll buy that tile in at Threefry once the city expands normally. That’ll run somewhere around 130 or so. I could, in theory, park the settler directly SW of the niter and save the cash. However, that city would not be very productive nor could it be made useful by building Petra (no where to put it). The settler’s got four real options as I see it:

1) The builder finds more than single tile islands that have something really good on them. I don’t expect anything “spectacular” and unless there’s a large island here it’s not worth it. The settler would move overland while Shipbuilding is researched (4-5 turns)
2) Across the Atlantic Ocean for the furs resource. This gets me a decent (+2 adjacency), (very) slow-built Campus location, furs and a short-distance trade route with Bandar Brunei. It’s 15 turns by land, 10 by sea with Shipbuilding completed.
3) NE of LFSR. This has a +5 Campus location and I could get the Campus done very quickly by harvesting both stone resources into it. The issue is that in order to get the Campus placed and the stone harvested into it I’d need to get something built first. I’d also have a relatively short trade route to Grenada for and .
4) There’s a “donut hole” north of Threefry at the southern edge of the mountains between my lands and Pindicator (11 turns to settle). On Settlervision it is a 2-tile-wide window and would need an Aqueduct for water. This location is interesting if, and only if, Pindicator winds up in a dark age and I was willing to park Liang in the city long-term during my golden age to try to force a loyalty flip. I’ll evaluate that remote possibility once Turn 101 rolls around.

It’ll be about four turns for me to find out what’s in the ocean. In the meantime I’ll finish the monument and most or all of a chariot at LinCon, then complete the settler. Option #3 is the probable location. If the ocean location proves out I can send the settler over land while I research Shipbuilding, which would take 4-5 turns to complete.

Getting to the turn at hand, not much going on. Sword at LFSR moves into the Campus, warrior heads south, archer moves back into the city center. Builders at Mixmax and Xorshift stand pat and I set Sailing as the next tech. That will complete next turn and the builder will go swimming. Scout starts its journey around the mountains – I’ll poke The Brine King’s borders then defog Auckland.

Down at LinCon the builder crosses the river and puts down a farm. I’m going to chop and farm the forest which will require stalling Feudalism for one turn. Since I can’t yet place the Commercial Hub I’ll direct the chop into an Amphitheater and build that to completion. I do, however, buy the tile for the Commercial Hub now for 90. The builder will then drop a lumbermill east of the iron and call it a day. No need to complete a farm diamond yet as I have more improved/workable tiles than citizens once the lumbermill is down.

Pindicator’s and dropped, so he’s probably got a settler out of Tukohama Reborn (where I assume Pingala is located). Woden’s empire score is down by 1, so he’s got one out too. In looking at the amenity situation I’m wondering how his cities are doing. I think they’ve all showed up in the GUI – he’s got 26 known population and only two amenities. I’m assuming he’s running some amenity policies in his Autocratic government in order to keep people content. OTOH, he could be willing to accept the amenity penalty for larger cities. Time will tell.

[suboptimal]

Turn 97

Sailing is complete, as is Acorn’s Commercial Hub and new population. Acorn starts the Acropolis, that’ll be two turns due to overflow. Once that’s done I should see some discounts kick in for non-Campus, non-Commercial Hub districts.

At Xorshift the builder goes for a swim and has an interesting development:




Coast tiles three spaces offshore. That probably means land in that direction. I need to go check what’s out west, just in case.

Over at LinCon the builder moves to the forest tile for a chop next turn. I’ll need to switch out of Feudalism next turn to not waste any . The city has completed a monument and starts the Amphitheater. I forgot to move Liang to Xorshift and do so now. The warrior I had blocking the pass at LFSR advances west – I want to keep an eye on that spot in case there’s a settler coming down from The Brine King, though there’s not much I could do about it. The scout likewise continues circling and that’s the turn for me.

I resume Mathematics – I’ll get that to completion for some more embarked movement to speed up the builder’s exploration. My notes indicate that the overflow from Sailing will finish the tech next turn but the GUI says 2 turns. We’ll find out next turn.

I’m starting to fall further behind in and . Pindicator finished his Campus at Gruthkul for 10, putting him at 65.2. Woden is also outpacing me at 53.3 to my 48.4. On the cultural front Woden’s got 36.3, Pindicator has 25.5 and I’ve got 27.2. I’ll have another 9 in four turns (Acropolis at Acorn in two, Amphitheater at LinCon and Monument at Threefry in four) and the Campus districts at Mixmax and Xorshift will get me another 10 when they complete. Acorn’s Acropolis will also get me 2 more due to increased adjacency with the Campus.

I’m leaning more towards getting the settler up to LFSR for that sweet Campus location and to catch up on science – I can make the first build there walls and perhaps slot Limes in for some building.

I also see that Woden has suzerained Jerusalem and gotten his Great General. Goody.

I’ve also decided that I’m going to try to recruit Triple-A rather than attempt to game the pass on the scientists. Woden could use Hildegard (and would probably take her) and that solves that problem for both me and Pindicator).

[suboptimal]

Turn 98

Market at LFSR is done. Start a trader, that’ll take a little bit (7 turns or so). I’ll relocate it to Xorshift and run another trade route to Bologna. Mathematics is just under completion. Feudalism is just under inspiration +1 so switch to Military Training. Look around the map, see nothing alarming. Look at the diplo ribbons, see nothing alarming. Woden’s science dropped by 9 or so, he’s back down to 45.6 per turn. I go look at Istanbul’s Campus, it’s dropped to 3 - for some reason Woden has dropped Natural Philosophy from his policies.

I start moving units around. My scout gets a glimpse of the Incan scout on a rice resource SW of Brussels. My scout is now just outside The Brine King’s borders and I should be able to get a view of the city center next turn. Swordsman moves up to take over pass blocking duties and my warrior is keeping an eye on things just to the east near my tentative city location.

Down at LinCon the warrior from LFSR has reached city limits and is just outside the borders. Builder chops the forest for 59, cutting two turns off the build time of the Amphitheater. Farm next turn for the Feudalism inspiration. To the north, Mixmax is being waffly about which tile it’s going to take as it’s now on the one marked for the Encampment. Acorn is still targeting the other forest in Mixmax’s second ring. In thinking about it I think with Mixmax where it is in the build (12 turns to go) instead of chopping I think I’ll put down a lumbermill. The extra 2 will help Mixmax get things done faster and also give me a tile to swap to if Acorn needs some.

Now for the turn’s “main event”. What does the builder find to the west?




Nothing ventured, nothing gained, but this area’s a goose egg. The area under the fog I saw through the fog-hole was coast, it’s just surrounded by ocean. Two turns to the known island and perhaps one more to suss out what’s SE of there. I’ll complete LinCon’s settler after the Amphitheater is complete and send it towards LFSR. The wait will keep the time with reduced population to a minimum.

Acorn’s Acropolis will finish next turn, giving me 5, 2 and 1 through adjacency bonuses. That should kick in the district discounting mechanism:

- 7 “counted” districts unlocked (Campus, Comm Hub, Industrial Zone, Acropolis, Gov’t Plaza, Entertainment Complex, Encampment)
- 7 finished districts (2 each Campus, Acropolis, Commercial Hub, 1 Gov’t Plaza)

That should make my next placement of any district except a Campus (because I’ve got two more down) discounted. That’ll let me get a cheap Industrial Zone down at Threefry and hopefully some other cheap districts once population grows in some of my other cities.

[suboptimal]

Turn 99

Mathematics is complete, start Stirrups, will run that for three turns then switch to Education. Pindicator has retreated his slinger and brought forth a chariot in the north. Dunno if that’s a show of force or just swapping units around. I’ll leave my warrior fortified where it is for the time being as the chariot would be severely damaged if it attacked (and my warrior would survive the turn). Woden seems to have founded another city

The Acropolis at Acorn is complete. I start work on the library first as getting my up is more important than getting my up at this point. That’ll be done in four turns. I’ll follow that with a market. Annoyingly the district discount hasn’t kicked in yet. I don’t know if that’s because techs/civics happen before production or not. Builder at LinCon puts down the farm and I switch to Feudalism. That will complete next turn and I’ll get to see if the discount is active.

Units at the LFSR pass both fortify to observe their surroundings. Scout moves towards The Brine King and…




the only way Woden can get to Pindicator is via ocean, through me or with military engineers. Yeah, if I were Pindicator I’d be playing isolationist builder all game long. Move the embarked builder back east and the turn is done.

The amphitheater and settler at LinCon will complete EoT101, as will Military Training. I’ll slot Maneuver and start the chariots while working on Mercenaries and Medieval Faires. After four chariots I’ll complete Mercenaries and swap out Maneuver. After that I’ll put Serfdom in to get a few builders out at Acorn and LinCon.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

 After four chariots I’ll complete Mercenaries and swap out Maneuver.  After that I’ll put Serfdom in to get a few builders out at Acorn and LinCon.

Does that mean that, apart from your scout, you've only got 3 military units? I feel like I must have miscounted, your milpower seems far higher than that.