[Spoiler] Suboptimal Goes on a Pseudorandom Walk

[Quagma Blast]

1)The resolution says units gain 10 strength (combat and religious). Does that mean Woden's combat units get +10 strength, too? That seems really high, but I am having a hard time parsing what the resolution means otherwise - does it refer to religious combat strength and religious CONVERSION strength?

I believe the amount of 'religion points' given to a city when a conversion action is taken is directly proportional to the religious-combat strength of the unit. It may also be referring to the combat strength of specifically religious regular-combat units - as far as I am aware, only the Warrior Monk qualifies.

[suboptimal]

Avast!  Thar be lurkers about!

Thanks for continuing with the detailed updates, I really love them. I might be the only spectator of Civ VI left (although a few people join me now and then in the lurker thread), but I like Gathering Storm so far (although I note there have been no disasters yet).

Two questions:

1)The resolution says units gain 10 strength (combat and religious). Does that mean Woden's combat units get +10 strength, too? That seems really high, but I am having a hard time parsing what the resolution means otherwise - does it refer to religious combat strength and religious CONVERSION strength?

2)In order to move onto the flat jungle, wouldn't Woden's horseman need visibility of the jungle at the start of turn (since he can't move into the tile with your swordsman, only past it)? With the mountains and jungle hill, I'm not sure he has any means of obtaining that vision. You might be safe there.

Thank you for the kind words!  Regarding #1, I believe Quagma Blast has it correct.  I'll check as part of T104 as Woden's horseman will most likely be in view.  As for #2 you are also likely correct, I had forgotten about the LoS requirement.  However, I'd rather be safe than sorry at this point in time.  I'll have to see if he sends his horse for a swim in the Atlantic.

[suboptimal]

Thanks for continuing with the detailed updates, I really love them. I might be the only spectator of Civ VI left (although a few people join me now and then in the lurker thread), but I like Gathering Storm so far (although I note there have been no disasters yet).

You are not, I am still reading daily even if I am not posting.  I also keep meaning to come in here to say I appreciate the regular updates.  Its just part of my morning reading now.

Yes, please keep updating! I'm really enjoying following this game, even although I've not played Civ VI beyond the base game myself (and pretty badly at that).

Thanks for stopping by!  Glad to know that I'm providing some good reading and entertainment! 

[suboptimal]

Turn 104

Open the save, see that Pindicator has finished Macchu Picchu. It’s somewhere in the fog. The first thing to check out is if the World Congress resolution applied to Woden’s horseman, but it's still in the fog. The horseman is a bit of a concern, though, as my paranoid side has visions of Woden coming in, seeing no mobile units and deciding to declare war and make me play pillager whack-a-mole. Depending on what he does we’ll find out if he has Shipbuilding complete. I’ll also need to keep that horseman in mind for when I move my settler outside my borders. The good news is that LinCon’s first chariot is complete and can catch up for escort duty. To that end I switch to Shipbuilding (down to three turns due to era bonus) and fortify both warriors in their new positions.

Acorn has expanded and not having anywhere to put someone that citzen is in the library making me 2 and (I believe) 2+ GSP per turn. The city will take 22 turns to expand for the time being, though once the camp is down that rate will speed back up. The city will finish the market two turns before it culturally expands, and so far it’s flip-flopping between the two unimproved hill tiles. The plan is to swap over the lumbermill once Mixmax finishes its Campus. That will let me dump enough overflow into a trader to get it out in two turns and then I’ll build the Oracle on one of the hills, followed by walls and an Amphitheater (order TBD).

Looking at my amenities situation I’ve got five more amenities than required (2 surplus at Mixmax and LFSR, one surplus at LinCon). I’ve got 8 coming online at Mixmax in two turns and another 6 5 turns after that. I don’t think I need the extra at the NE location and having a fourth luxury resource will be more useful in the long run. Therefore I think I’ll send the settler to the furs location even though it won’t be as high potential as the science location. In fact, that may actually be a good thing – the city won’t grow too fast. In fact, my new calculus is whether to park it on the coast (for three housing and population) or put it right next to the furs to save me ~100 on buying them. The builder here would go camp → mine → harvest woods into walls and then leave for my main territory while the city finished its walls and slow-built a Acropolis to its SW.



There’s an interesting development in the north:




I have no idea where they came from. Now, I suppose I could have my warrior pick off that scout for 5 culture but I don’t know that I want to relinquish my current position. That western scout, though, is dead meat if it moves any closer as my rear guard can go after it. Actually, I move my warrior across the river to try to bait the AI into suidciding.

Elsewhere the embarked builder comes ashore and my scout moves down to the northeastern edge of Auckland’s territory. Neither find anything spectacular.

The GP generation rates updated during the interturn and I’m going to make a pass gambit for Omar. My scientist generation rate is up to 11.5 per turn and I’ll have the option to grab Triple-A in three turns. If I pass his cost will drop to 124, as will my own GS total. Woden would be at 132 and get the immediate decision to recruit or pass. If he passes, Triple-A falls to Pindicator, who would pick it up two turns later. Because of turn order, I’d then get first crack at the next scientist. If it’s Hildegard I could pass a second time and get Omar, or we sit waiting for Pindicator to pick up Hildegard and I get Omar. If it’s Omar I should be able to grab him immediately, or at least before anyone else gets the chance.

Hit end turn, no barbarian suicides.

[suboptimal]

Interlude

Time for an interturn diversion. In looking at the amenity situation I decided to look around my EoT save for a bit. I wanted to check out my opponents’ current district “saturation” as well as one or two other things which I’ll get to. With no further population growth in any of their cities, our collective ability to place new districts is as follows:

Myself: at capacity
Pindicator: 1 at Gruthkul and Ralakesh
Woden: 1 at Derecho, Thudersnow and Ground Blizzard

It’s a good thing I looked around...Pindicator has started (or at least placed) an Industrial Zone at The Brine King.

OK, so they’ve got a little room to run for districts. I’ll have some extra “capacity” once Acorn and LinCon both grow. I’m beginning to think that the Industrial Zone at LinCon might be a better option even though it’d cost me 100 to buy the tile. Why? Well, I could focus on growing LinCon to population 10 and Acorn to population 13 over the next 100 turns in order to get room for Spaceports at both cities (yes, that’s very forward and fanciful planning). Both cities would be helped by IZ’s and the engineers that come with them. At Acorn I’d either wait for Threefry to claim the jungle west of its own IZ and put it there or buy it in now and swap it over. Which goes first? Good question. First one in gets the discount, second one doesn’t. Acorn would get me more GE points quickly but LinCon has more room in its build plan.

The point of these IZ’s is not to generate production, but Great Engineer points. One needs points in order to snag the Great Engineers needed for projects. Of course, the extra production doesn’t hurt building the Spaceports out, either.

Why am I looking at this now? Simple – for the first time since this game started I feel like I’m in a position to attempt to cause things to happen rather than react to them. It’s just that my plans will take a little while.

Another cog in that wheel – civics, or more specifically, Monarchy. I could complete Divine Right in 12 turns, no inspirations required. Therefore my plan will be as follows,

- Research enough civics so that I’m about 10 turns out from completing Exploration.
- Research Theology and Divine Right, revolt to Monarchy
- Build the Intelligence Agency in LinCon while working towards Exploration.
- Finish Exploration right after I finish the Intelligence Agency.

That gets me the Monarchic Legacy policy (+1 housing per level of walls) which helps Acorn out a bit in the growth department. I’d also be able to flip into Merchant Republic with little delay. What I need to do between now and the start of that plan is to increase LinCon’s production capacity as much as possible to shorten the time needed to build the Intelligence Agency because being in Monarchy could suck. LFSR’s builder will be putting down three lumbermills at LinCon in order to add production capacity and I need to work out the civics timings.

Of course, after posting this I've realized that I'll need to get an Encampment out at one of my cities. I'll need to be able to build a Military Engineer if only to be able to get down some missile silos...

[suboptimal]

Turn 105

Playing a rare late night turn tonight…Threefry has completed its Industrial Zone. Aqueduct or workshop first? Aqueduct first gets me both in 27 turns. Workshop first takes...27 turns. However, I get GE points earlier, so I go workshop first. There will be a chop & mine in there for about 7turns’ worth of production. I also realize that I’m remiss in buying in the niter, so I do so now as well for 140. I think I’ll have the first builder out of LFSR do two lumbermills at LinCon, then chop & mine plus mine the niter. Up north one scout is dead, don’t know who killed it. The other has run away so I move my warrior back across the river to its sentry position. In the east Woden’s horseman remains a no-show.

Pindicator’s gold is shooting way up – it’s been +80 per turn the past two turns. Looks like he’s putting his Great Merchant to use. Woden’s science and culture have dipped by an amount suggesting he has a settler out. I also belatedly realize that Pindicator’s loss of decimals on his GP generation was his switch from Classical Republic to Autocracy for the latter’s wonder building bonus.

I shuffle some units around and call it a turn. Shipbuilding and Mercenaries in two turns. Mixmax’s Campus will complete next turn. I think I’ll hold Mercenaries at one turn while I get Medieval Faires done, then switch to the Monarchy line. That’ll let me research Exploration while I’m in Monarchy.

[suboptimal]

Turn 106

No notifications, look around the map, see Woden’s horseman has appeared out of the fog. Let’s take a look:




Yep, Quagma Blasts’ supposition is correct – regular (non-religious) units are unaffected by that resolution.

Campus at Mixmax is complete. As can be seen above, this also puts me in the science lead by about 8 points (actually 7.5). I should have the culture lead in 3-4 turns when my first Great Writer is recruited. I swap the lumbermill over to Acorn and move that city’s citizen out of the library for the time being. Then I notice that the city’s “expand to this tile in x turns” notification has disappeared. I swap back as I need the city to expand “on time” and don’t want to risk the swap delaying that expansion. Acorn’s market will finish next turn, I’ll crank out a trader or a monument and then get Oracle built. Mixmax starts walls, they’ll be done in 9 turns and then I’ll build a library there. LinCon’s second chariot is done, I send it towards Threefry. My plan is to mass chariots near Threefry as a response force in the event of aggression. The first chariot that was built has linked up with the settler. They’ll embark next turn.

With civics, Mercenaries is at one turn. I swap from Mercenaries to Theology. That will complete at the same time as my last chariot so I’ll be able to switch out of Mercenaries back to Conscription. I’ll also take Revelation out at that point in time. What I’m going to do is continue on to Divine Right, stop one turn short and switch back to Mercenaries to set up a double policy swap. I should have enough cash on hand at that point to use Professional Army to upgrade two archers to crossbows (Mixmax and LFSR). I might also consider upgrading one chariot at Threefry to a knight for city defense purposes.

Scout continues finding its way around Auckland. I won’t be able to get it to Persian lands unless I complete Cartography as Thundersnow has blocked the coastal route around this part of the sea.

Next turn I’ll be able to recruit Triple-A. However, after spilling quite a bit of…electrons...on being able to take a pass gambit I’ve realized that the turn order and GS costs have conspired against me. I forgot that after me the turn rolls and everyone earns more points. That puts everyone over the threshold for the next scientist (120 points). My best bet here will be to take Triple-A, explore for a bit and then use his charge. If the others leave Hildegard for me I’ll need to arrange to lap the field to get her and the first Renaissance GS.

[suboptimal]

Turn 107

Acorn’s market is complete, that’s the inspiration for Guilds out of the way. Shipbuilding is done, start Buttress. I’ll get that to one turn and find something else to also push to one turn until I run out of one turn techs. I’m trying to keep the cost of the next IZ down as much as possible. I look to see if there’s anything I can complete at Acorn two turns. Just military units. I start a trader, three turns for that to complete – I’ll get it to completion and run an internal route from Threefry to LinCon for some to speed up builds there. The builder has reached the ivory and puts down a camp. That gets me another per turn and gets Acorn’s housing up to 11. With the increase in housing the time to grow to Pop 10 is now 10 turns.

In the east Woden’s horseman has disappeared back into the fog for the time being. Up north the wounded barbarian scout reappears. At Ralakesh a builder has emerged from the fog. I’ll be curious to see if this is a chop or a lumbermill. The city does have a governor and Pindicator could be using Magnus. South of LFSR the chariot/settler pair embark onto the Atlantic ocean. That city will found in 6 turns.

The scout at Auckland makes an interesting find:




Another luxury resource, and probably the only one on the map of that type. The city won’t be grabbing it for quite a while, though, as it’s third ring to the city.

That leaves the Great Scientist to sort out. I take Triple-A and he appears in Acorn. I also get the inspiration for Enlightenment as he is my third Great Person. The screen after recruitment:




Hildegard is up, Woden will get first crack at her. Pindicator will get the leftovers. My expectation is that I’ll see a Renaissance Great Scientist next turn. For reference my current GS point generation is 12.6 vs. 5 for the others. I’ll be able to take Revelation out for a while and put something else in its place. With Triple-A in Acorn I transfer him to Xorshift. I’ll do some coastal scouting to the north and south (completely defog the island and west of the peninsula) and then figure out what to do with him next while I wait to try to game a Renaissance eureka.

LinCon has two more chariots, they’ll be done in three turns. I think what I’ll do with the policy change put in Feudal Contract, build two hoplites to get era points and be a rear guard if Woden’s horseman decides to swim around the coast. I’ll then get a builder done so that LFSR’s can head west.

[suboptimal]

Turn 108

Chariot number three at LinCon is one. One to go. Theology has two turns left. Look around the map, see nothing interesting. Pindciator has spent a bunch of his gold on something. Woden, too. As expected Woden took Hildegard and Pindicator took Omar. Next up: Emilie du Chatelet (3 eurekas from Renaissance or Industrial Age) at a cost of 310 GSP. That’d be 24 turns at my current rate. Time to start moving things around…

Chariot & settler start their sea journey in earnest. Scout moves to Auckland’s salt, finds nothing interesting. Triple-A takes to the sea, I head southwards first. I’ll finish defogging the area around the island and west of the peninsula, then make my way back to Xorshift to go north. That might involve disembarking near LinCon and transporting from there.

LFSR’s first builder is done, I start a second. The current builder will head immediately for Threefry for the chop & mine, then on to Acorn for a jungle chop and mine, then up to Mixmax for a lumbermill. LFSR’s second builder is going to lumbermill locally and then either go to Threefry for some improvements or chop down a jungle for an Encampment (once I get LFSR back growing towards Pop 7). LinCon is going to go builder→hoplite→hoplite and use that builder for improvements.

After running the cost numbers I’ve realized I can finish a couple of techs since the civics are where the big cost increases lie. I’ll switch out to Education next turn, complete it and LFSR will start a University once its builder it complete. That will also give Acorn something else to queue up after The Oracle.

[suboptimal]

Turn 109

Open the save to something interesting….




Woden wants a deal. Hmmm….




I have to wonder if he’s offered one luxury for one tea to Pindicator as well. I can’t get out to the main diplo screen to check things. Actually, I could and re-offer the deal. If Pindicator has been offered & accepted the same deal I’d see that. I cancel out and take a look…




Nope, nothing that I can see. I forget if Pindicator has one tea or two but he’s not taking in any additional luxury resources as far as I can tell and Woden had 2 of each when I met him. Woden is definitely resource-crunched as he’s only got two right now, though he’ll get a third when he hooks up cotton at [s]Istanbul[-s] El Nino. I’ll be getting a fourth resource when I settle the furs, do I really need a temporary fifth? No, not really – I’ll be using other means (policies and maybe a district or two) for amenities. However, the extra boost might put some cities into ecstatic territory for a little bit. Woden’s got 39 population on 8 amenities. Nine if you count the palace. I could support that population on three resources.

What’s this mean in the bigger picture? Well, from Woden’s perspective I might be the only one with a spare resource and he’s resource crunched. That means I should be able to command a premium for my resource. I’ll also have another one hooked up in 6 turns, so this resource, for the time being, is superfluous to me immediate needs, so the premium also needs to compensate me for my...lack of need. Additionally, freeing him from his resource crunch now when he has one he can hook up with a builder may allow him to pull further away. I don’t know that I like that, at least without extracting a price. He also has plenty of income. I send back a counter-offer…




Only 5 you ask? Well, it’s a carefully chosen number. I currently estimate his income at 30 per turn and mine’s at 20. I am offering him a resource he needs badly in exchange for a resource that’s nice to have and income parity. We’ll see what he does here. If he turns it down I don’t plan on accepting any further offers.

Yes, over the next 30 turns this may let him run away a little. However, if he is currently amenities-crunched and overpopulates because of my resource (even hooking up the cotton) he may find himself in a pickle later. Speaking of that cotton, it’s rather exposed. If he gets uppity he’ll have to protect it. At some point I think getting some horsemen for future courser/cavalry upgrades is in order.

Oh, that other notification about the volcano? Sawanqaya is now active. Where’s that? 2NE of Tsingy. Of course, my units are going to be swimming right by in a couple of turns. Let’s see how my timing is…

Up at Acorn the city has culturally expanded and taken the SE location (which I preferred it to take). I swap over Mixmax’s lumbermill. I’ll finish the trader and start The Oracle.

Out east I move the scout toward’s Auckland’s southeastern shoreline. I locate their iron resource 2S of the city center. They also have a Harbor with a lighthouse and I see they’ve started their Industrial Zone. First chariot reaches Threefry, second chariot is at the niter, third chariot will complete next turn. The settler and its chariot move southeast to gaze upon Sawanqaya’s smoking top. Triple-A gets to the island – I’ll send him down the eastern coast to defog the area NE of the island, then continue around the southern tip.

That leaves claiming a Great Person. It’s time.




Bhasa appears in LinCon. That’s convenient. He goes to the Acropolis and, inspired by the view (of horses and the Ancestral Hall) writes me a book…




Thanks to the UI the tourism shows up immediately but the culture does not. The Great Work should be netting me another 2 (though at one point wasn’t it 3 or 4?). Eh, it’ll turn up next turn. Next up for Great Writers is Murasaki Shikibu. She costs 120 points and will be along in 21 turns. That should be enough time to get another Amphitheater up.

I make two more “moves” before hitting next turn. First, I switch over to Education – I’ll complete that. Second, I move Liang back to LFSR. Her presence will no longer accelerate Xorshift’s Campus build (2 turns) and LFSR will complete its builder in 5 turns. I’ll get an extra charge out of it, putting one turn into a University while she gets settled before completing the builder.