[SPOILERS] Woden gets swept away by the Gathering Storm in PBEM15

[Woden]

Turn 114
Open the save to...



Before I change my policies, I need to do a few things. First thing is to settler my next city...



Welcome to Sun Dogs. I figure Sun Dogs kind of look golden orbs in the sky. And with all that crab gold, it sort of fits, right? Builder immediately mines the salt. He will add a Pairaeza, grassland mine, and fish 1 crabs before moving on to Derecho to mine and harvest some stone. I place a Harbor and start working on some walls. 

Next, I buy a builder at Thundersnow and move Magnus to Micro Burst. Now it is time for a policy change...



Serfdom is out and Land Surveyors is in. I buy 2 tiles at Thundersnow, one for 84 and one for 128. I will buy the Colosseum tile and a grassland mountain at Derecho before I need to start saving my gold for an arena. 

With the salt, all my cities are now happy...



But bumping up against the housing cap. I need to start buying granaries after the arena. Need to grow them bigger. I figure this will be a good time to go over my civilization and discuss my current building strategies. Here is the north...



I will go north to south:

Drought just started working on a Commercial Hub and it will take a while. One of my new traders will start here, which should help speed it up a little. It will work on a market next and then possibly a Holy Site. It will eventually need some Builder attention but should be good for a while. 

Micro Burst is currently working on some walls and then will start a Holy Site and fill it with a shrine and temple. then will work on an aqueduct and industrial zone. This will be a nice production city once it grows. My next trader will start here to help with that. The builder I just bought will also come over here and chop the plains hill forest to speed teh Holy Site along. 

El Nino is large and happy. It is currently only costing 1 luxury resource and still has room on its housing cap. Its market finishes next turn, then will start some walls before buildings its Holy site (already placed). It still needs a library and university but I think the faith is more important. There is over 20 turns until the next Era and I have lots to faith buy. It is a little light on production and may need an Industrial Zone sometime in the future. The best spot would probably be northwest of the encampment. It would only get +2 adjacency but it would be better than nothing. El Nino will also spit out a settler or 2 during my next settler push. 

Thundersnow will have its Harbor finished in 4 turns. I will chop the jungle where the Holy Site goes into the lighthouse and then one more jungle chop into it and it should finish quickly. Holy Site will be filled and then probably build a Campus or Encampment. Not sure yet. This city is in desperate need of a granary, especially with the jungle chops. 

La Nina will be another good production city. After the market, I will work on the barracks and an aqueduct. Might fit a few units in there once I have walls up in most of my cities. Once it hits size 7, I will build the Industrial Zone and Dam. Builder there put down a mine this turn and will mine the other grassland hill next turn. 

Further down south in my original core...



Bomb Cyclone will finish its market next turn and start an aqueduct for the boost to Military Engineering. Then it work towards an Armory for that boost. Will probably push out a few units in between builds and work on an university somewhere in there.  

Ground Blizzard will finish its Harbor and start a lighthouse afterwards. This city needs its borders to expand and pick up the grassland forest so I can lumbermill them and get some much needed production. One of my new traders will start here too.  

Polar Vortex is in desperate need of a granary. It will be the first place I buy one. It will finish the shrine, then a temple so it can start the Mahabodhi Temple to fill out my religion. After that, it will push out settlers for a while. Magnus will come here after the stone harvest and I will use my next promotion to no lose a pop with settlers. This city will be my primary settler building city since it has the Ancestral Hall. I will need to build my next government building here too and will probably fit it in after the first settler. 

Derecho will finish the market in 2 turns and start the Entertainment distinct. I will buy the tile for the Colosseum and a grassland hill when I have the money. I will buy the arena and then go directly to the Colosseum. Magnus will come here after the forest chop at Micro Burst to aid the stone harvest. Afterwards, I will build an university and am thinking about an aqueduct and industrial zone. 

As for new cities, I think I will settle the Petra city first to get that wonder going and then southeast on my capital. Both those cities will benefit from the Colosseum. Then I will fill in the rest. I have lots for room to fill. 


Turn 115
I start off by moving my galley along the western shore of the Pacific Ocean and stumble upon...



There bonus is something about extra gold for foreign trade posts. Not something I can current utilize since I have no vision on the city center of any city of either players. They want me to train a Skirmisher. I could do that. Maybe I slot the 2-for-1 card and use my spare envoy to get the extra gold for markets. Might be a while though, other things are more pressing. 

Both markets finish, Bomb Cyclone starts an aqueduct and El Nino starts walls. Couple more turns until I can buy my next Trader. Internationally, suboptimal has picked up a Great Merchant; the one that gives envoys and gold. Next up is Marco Polo, which grants a trade route and bonus gold to/from the city. He would be a nice pick up but pindicator is much closer to getting him. Not sure if I can beat suboptimal to the next Great Merchant. I am making 6 points to his 9.3 but I will have one more next turn, another in 5 turns, and one more a little further down the line. I will have to keep an eye out, maybe I can poach whoever it is with faith because I believe the one after that will be from the next era, i.e. more expensive.

[Woden]

Turn 116
Open the save and my first movement option is Buadica...



If I can get a few of those barb boats in range, I might use her to get them. I want to save this camp to kill it with a muskets and get the boost to Square Rigging. Derecho finishes its market and I start walls. I won't have enough gold to buy the arena when the Entertainment Complex is complete, so better to use the bonus production on walls now, so I can get into a unit card sooner. I do harvest teh marsh and place the Complex...



The district is discounted, costing only 115, instead of 194. I will have to check next civic/tech completion to see if I can get a second one discounted. Not going for another Complex but would be nice to know if I can get more Theater Squares discounted. I guess I could calculate it out but am being lazy. 

Polar Vortex completes its shrine and starts a Temple. Now that I have a few markets finished, I check everybody's income. Pinidactor is making 43 and suboptimal is making 27. I am at 56.3 Pretty gold. Both have more in the bank than me ut not sure how long that will last. I have one more market finishing soon and 2 Harbors. Add in my trade routes (now have 3 empty routes available) and I should be sitting pretty for income. 

Turn 117
Start the save off with my first Trader purchase...



145 I think these guys are tech/civic progress dependent on cost, so the next few should be the same. I should have enougn for another one in 3 or 4 turns. Harbor completes at Thundersnow and I start the lighthouse and chop teh jungle where the Holy Site will go. I hold off on placing it as the tile is a 1/2/2 tile now and the added production will help complete the lighthouse sooner. One more jungle chop and it should be mostly done. Over at Sun Dogs, the Builder fishes the crabs and next will make his way over to Drecho to mine a hill and harvest some stone.  

Out west...  



Horseman finds a dead end by land. No way to get west by land except through the pass that suboptimal has blocked. Horseman will go south now to check around the city states. I could go in the water but want to wait on that, better to no alert the others yet, that I am scouting them out. In the south, my galley fits a dead end by Bandar Brunei, blocked by ice. Once global warming starts and the ice melts, there may be options to naval raid my neighbors but that will be awhile. 

My extra builder is up at El Nino and quarries a stone. Drought has hit there and damaged my cotton. Luckily that is the only tile. Hopefully it doesn't last long and I can get it repaired. You can't repair it while the event is happening. 

I will swap out of Castles and Guilds next turn. Don't want to increase district costs just quite yet.

[Woden]

"T100" Strategy Update.  
Okay, it is not turn 100 but last turn report, I went over my short-term building strategy. This got me thinking about mid-to-long term strategies and I started writing them down. I figured I better get something down and not just let it slide and forget about it. I am sharing it here so you don't have to go searching for it. The information is more relevant to what is going on now instead of 16 turns ago. I am still planning on a general summary of what everybody has at T100 for posterity but will just refer to this turn for a strategy update.

Anyways, here is my current thoughts...

Where do I stand in this game? I think all three of us are contenders right now. I might have a slight advantage since I took out my neighbor and have a bunch of land to settle but I am a little behind in tech and have the lowest science rate. I don't think I am in a position where this is my game to lose yet. Might be in another 50 turns as I continue to develop and expand but if I don't watch out I might become a target for a well planned attack. I don't think that is where this game is going though. Military conquest is going to be hard. If I learned anything from attacking suboptimal in PBEM14, it is that an attack through narrow openings and rough terrain will get you bogged down and  you will stall out, then the advantage will be on the defender, even if the attacker has better units.  Both suboptimal and pindicator are behind a mountain range with a single pinch point and I have a pinch point at Jester's old capital. Given that they haven't fought each other yet, there may be some mountains between them. I guess pindicator should have the advantage right now, since he can create paths through mountains but I think he is being careful since anybody can use them and they are two-way streets. My best hope right now would be for pindicator and suboptimal go to war and have a stalemate between them, but we haven't seen any rise in military power for a while, so I guess both are content with building right now. I don't think either will come after me anytime soon, there is too much land between us. They may try and push east towards me and I will have to keep an eye out but it will take a while for the "no man's land" between us to fill up and get enough infrastructure to support any major military action (i.e. roads, walls, and production to build reinforcements). I think the changes to production overflow and the rough, expansive terrain is going to make this game go long. No quick, decisive victory where one player steamrolls half the field. 

Quick side rant here since I was talking about production limitations: 

I really dislike the changes to overflow. Production has always been the limiting constraint. It takes forever to build much of anything. And they nerf it? And the nerf is broken at that. You lose all overflow if whatever you chop takes more than the unaltered amount of production. At least they could have made it proportional. I blame all the whining babies over at CivFanatics that don't know how to play this game or don't ever adventure into MP. I best guess as to why production has always been hard to come by is that they designed the game where Industrial Zones and factories where shared with every city and you could get good production in most cities. When they took that out and made it only 1 factory, they didn't adjust production costs, so now in SP, you can race though technologies and barely build what you unlocked before the next level of stuff becomes available. 

End of Rant

Sorry about that, back to our regularly scheduled program....

So, long game... What do I need to do to get an advantage and how am I going to win this thing without doing my usual, falling apart when it counts. Well...

Development
Last turn I gave you my short-term builds, but what about longer term? After my current phase of getting districts and wonders out, I am going to go for an expansion push and see if I can double in size (going from 10 cities to 20). I have the room. I think once I get into my next Government, most of my higher production cities will pop out a settler and then Polar Vortex and El Nino will continue with a few more. While they are working on settlers, my weaker production cities will push out some units to help defend my large empire. Once I have pushed expansion, then it will be a push to improve science, culture, and production. I should have enough districts built to get a few discounted Industrial Zones and Theater Squares and have enough population to place them. Hopefully about that time, I will have a clearer path to victory and become more focused. 

In the shorter term, once I faith buy all the available Traders, I will slot Serfdom again and buy as many builders as I can before the next Era. Once the Era changes and I loss Monumentality, I will start spreading my religion and will need lots of faith. Around this time, I will start buying monuments and see my culture really take off. 

Techs
I am current behind in science rate by about 10 per turn, maybe a little more. I am in the middle with number of techs completed but think suboptimal must have a few 1 turn away and is waiting for some boosts or to place some districts. Pindicator could be doing the same since I cut my deficit form 4 or 5 techs to 1, all the while having a lower rate. I guess I could be getting more boosts but the ones I have are fairly easy to get. Anyways, my science rate should improve shortly. With the Mahabodhi Temple, I will grab my other 2 beliefs, taking Wats for the religious building and most likely Church Property for extra gold. That will add +2 science per Holy Site. Also, I have the Great Person that adds science to a Holy Site that will be used at Thundersnow. I have a library to build at El Nino and 3 universities to build at El Nino, Bomb Cyclone, and Derecho. I will probably need a few more Campuses, so I need to find places for them. 

As for techs, I am going to try to get as many boosts as I can and work around getting them. I can probably stay relevant while running a lower beaker rate. This also means I can't take the barb camps as soon as I want. I can upgrade a knight and kill the camp for the boost to Military Science and kill another with a Musketman for the Square Rigging boost. I should have many other boost with buildings being built, like an Armory or Universities. I will research a tech if it will take to long to finish it but try to keep that to a minimum.

Civics
I am dominating culture right now. I am leading both in rate and civics and I haven't built any "true" culture buildings yet. No monuments, no Theater Squares, no Luxuries that provide culture. My rate is mostly from the Pairidaezas. I have 2 civics to get and then I am bee-lining a deep tech...



The civic path to get there is:

• Medieval Faries: 4 trade routes. 1-turn when boosted in a few turns.
  
• Guilds: Already boosted and is almost completed.
  
• Humanism: Earn a Great Artist. (540)
  
• Diplomatic Service: Have an alliance. (540)
  
• Mercantilism: Great Merchant (655)
  
• The Enlightenment: Earn 3 Great People (655)
  
• Nationalism: Use casus beli (920)
  
• Civil Engineering: 7 District Types (920)
  
• Colonialism: Have Astrology (725)
  
• Urbanization: 15 population (1,060)
  
• Natural History: Archaeological Museum (870)
  
• Scorched Earth: 2 Field Cannons (1,060)
  
• Mass Media: Research Radio (1,410)
  
• Mobilization: 3 Crops (1,410)
  
• Ideology: No boost (1,500)
  
• Cold War: Nuclear Fission (2,185)
  
• Rapid Development Build Aerodrome on a foreign continent (2,415)
  
• Space Race: Spaceport (2,415)
  
• Globalization: Build 3 Airports(2,880)
  

The ones in BOLD are ones I should be able to get the boost. That is 18,344 needed, not including Medieval Faries and Guilds, which are both almost done, or Divine Right and Reform Church, which are not on the path and add another 690. So, let's say I need 20,000. That is a lot of culture. Give it another 50 turns and my culture should be in the high 200s, low 300s. I have no monuments right now or Theater Squares and my religion is not spread. By the time I spread my religion, I should have 4 more Holy Sites with Shrines and Temples for +6 each. The Colosseum will add +2 to at least 5 cities. I can get a few +4 Theater Squares and each trade route adds +1. Add in the new Pairidaezas and adjacency to Theater Squares and Holy Sites, plus the additional +1 after Diplomatic Service and I should have at least double the culture as everybody else. 

What is the big deal about Globalism anyways? Well, I will tell you...you should almost always beeline Globalism after getting a Tier 2 government because it unlocks Ecommerce that adds +2 and +5 to trade routes. I should have at least 22 trade routes by then. That is 88 and 44 added to a city building space parts. The speed racers that go for fast science victories start by going high culture to get to Globalism. It helps you build and buy things. There also is lots of important cards along the way. Besides, there is not much off the beeline path and I can go back and pick it up afterwards. I should be at least a whole era or more ahead of everybody...well, at least I think I have that worked out.
 
Governments
The next level of governments will soon be available. I am not going to switch out of Autocracy until the Colosseum and Mahabodhi Temple are complete or at least close to being finished. I should have Reformed Church finished by then and will go directly into Theocracy, skipping Monarchy. After that, I won't change Governments until after Globalism is finished, since none of them are on the direct path. After Globalism, I will go back and get a Tier 3 Government. Next Government Building is going to be the Grand Master's Chapel to be able to buy land units. Why have all this faith if you can't use it? Once I have a Tier 3 Government, probably build the Royal Society to be able to speed along spaceship projects unless I am close to a cultural victory and then it will be the National History Museum. 


Victory
Right now, it looks as this game might not be decided by force, so how can I win this game?

Honestly, I am not sure. The plan right now is to set up for all possibilities and see what shakes out while not getting lost in my indecisiveness. It would be better to pick a single victory condition and focus on that but right now, I am not sure what that could be. I think it is better to just build a strong empire and pick something a little further down the road. My options are:

Religious Victory
I don't think I can do what Alhambram did in PBEM2. I don't think I can get a friendship with either player and then convert them. Maybe if I they go to war with each other, they might sign friendship to keep me out of any conflict, so I will have to keep an eye out for that. They would be stupid to sign friendship with me, since I have the only religion. They both can get a religion if at least one of them gets a Great Prophet before the Industrial Era because (unless they changed it in the last few patches) there are no Prophets in the Industrial Era or after. If not, only one of them can have the Prophet available now. There might be a way to attack them strictly to convert them but I will need to get more map information to find out if possible. Religious victory changes are slim to none.  

Cultural Victory
Cultural Victory is possible and I am set up to try it. It would be difficult against human players, especially with Gorgo and Greek's acropoles. I am pretty sure suboptimal will get plenty of Great Works and have a fairly high culture. Not as high as I can get mine but still hard to get enough tourist to win. I plan on building the Eiffel Tower to get more faith. I could spam resorts and national parks and get my tourism quite high but will it be enough...Maybe. I could use spies to steal Great Works. A cultural victory might be possible and I will keep it as an option.  

One thing I need to look into is the amount of tourism to get a tourist. The formula I think is still: Tourism = Number of Civilizations * 150 per tourist. This is a small map, so 6 players by default but we started with 4 players. Is it going to be by map size (900 tourism) or the starting number of civilizations (600 tourism). That is a big difference. Add in the lack of open borders and a cultural victory could take a while.

Science Victory
I see a spaceship victory as a default victory. It is easy to do and pretty straight forward. If I beeline Globalism and the Ecommerce policy, I can move all my trade routes to a single city and get the production fairly high. I can also save enough faith or gold and buy a few Spaceports to speed things up. I would have to improve my science rate but given the many cities I have, or planned, it shouldn't be too hard to get a lead in science. I will have a few high production cities that could have Spaceports and I can get a good amount of faith saved up to buy the needed Great People when they show up. I am keeping this options as my default. 
 
Diplomatic Victory
This is the new victory in gathering Storm. I need 20 diplomatic points to win and already have 2. I will get another 2 when I build the Mahabodhi Temple, another +1 point if I build the Potala Palace and +4 if I build Statue of Liberty. That would be 9 points. I can earn +1 point for each vote in the World Congress that I vote for the winning resolution. And can also get points for a vote on the victory condition but that's not going to happen and most likely, probably lose points, because that is an option (vote to subtract 3 points from a player). I don't really see this as an option, given it takes cooperation from the other players. I do plan on building the Temple but not sure about the other wonders. We will have to see how the World Congress votes go going forward. I put this at slim to no chance of wining this way.

Score Victory
Someone will win before we get to Turn 500. I should be able to get a science victory or cultural victory before T300. 

Domination Victory
I know I said I don't think this game will be won by military might but I still need to consider it. Once I get Cartography and can sail the oceans, I will get a better idea of the coasts around the other players. If I can find an island off their west coast, in my east, I might be able to sail a large army over and attack from both directions. I would need a city close to them so I can upgrade units before an attack. I would then use Military Engineers to tunnel the mountains blocking my route in the west and have a coastal attack in the east supported by ships. This would probably happen around the time tanks came online as I would need time to build an army and navy. I am going for a very high faith game so I can buy units with faith. I should be able to put a decent army together fairly fast. Sail all my out of date stuff across the ocean, upgrade them when they are at the island and then faith buy an army at home to attack through the mountains. This all depends on the lay of the land along the coasts but is probably the most fun plan. I am going to chew on this as I get more map information and develop my empire. Both the science victory and domination will require some high production cities, so there is no harm in developing a few. I will need a Harbor at Drought to get a few boats in the water if I want to attack pindicator. We will revisit this option once Cartography is complete and I sail across the eastern sea. .

So, there are my thoughts on my mid-to-longer term strategies, the victory conditions, and my options. Right now, the plan is to continue to develop and get the most out of my empire while not really focusing on any given victory condition. I have lots to improve that won't push me in one direction or hurt me with any of the conditions and lots of room to expand. I will chew on this over the next 50 or so turns and see if anything looks promising a little further down the road.

[Woden]

Turn 118
There is a barb camp in the northeast. I want to take out with a knight and last turn I took a shot at the barb boat just off the coast. I moved up my chariot to see if I could draw the spear out and then I could take the camp without killing the spearman. Well...



It worked. Spearman moved up and now my chariot can run pass him and get the barb gold. Chariot will get hit by both the spearman and boat  between turns but should survive and get a promotion. Hope I can get him out of this situation alive.

Micro Burst has a trade route to start...



I go with Bomb Cyclone because it has the best food/production combo. It should take 22 turns to finish. Speaking of trade routes and traders, I have changed my mind on buying them. I think I can get 4 Settlers bought before the end of the Era, which would speed up expansion quite a bit. I can also get traders out in 4 turns at Bomb Cyclone and La Nina, which is faster than buying them. Both will start Traders when they are finished with their current builds. 

Everything else is chugging along...


Turn 119
El Nino has a drought and has had one for a few turns now. This isn't the first time since I had vision here but it is the first that I seen a tile get destroyed. I check to see how long it will take...



8 turns until I can repair the cotton. Consider that each turn is 25 years, so that makes this drought a 250 year long drought. A little excessive I would say.

Thundersnow gets its last jungle chop for this round of chopping. Lighthouse drops form 5 turns to 2. Micro Burst also gets a Magnus-charged forest chop (108) into its Holy Site and then Magnus moves to Derecho. Builder will mine the hill and then quarry some stone before heading to fix the cotton. 

Up north, chariot was attacked by the barb spearman and boat. He moves to the unoccupied forest and promotes. Probably be attack again next turn, so I take the +7 strength to ranged attacks for a little protection against the boat. I take a pot shot at the spear. 

Internationally, suboptimal has completed the Oracle and pindicator has started collecting Great General points. I will have the next General in 8 turns and it looks like some competition for the next one. Suboptimal's scout is snooping around the land bridge by Brussels. I wonder if this preparation for an attack. There has been a bunch of chatter is the Lurkers' thread. No increase in military power, just a little bit by pindicator. Will have to keep an eye out.

Turn 120
Chariot was again attacked by both the spearman and boat. This turn I can move onto some rough terrain and get some protection against the spearman...



Boat will be able to attack but the spearman can't. The chariot will survive and head down to Micro Burts to heal and become a knight, then return for some revenge.

Suboptimal's scout has disappeared by my horseman that is heading south locates him by the coast. He might be going for a swim. I will have my galley that is checking out the south pole come up and watch him. Speaking of suboptimal, the Oracle, plus the Bologna, is really helping him. He is making 13.8 Great Merchant, 16.1 Great Scientist, and 11.5 Great Writer points. He is also making 1.1 Great Engineers and I didn't check the Artist or Musicians. I will have to keep an eye on these. He will pass me on the Great Merchant next turn, so looks like he will get the Merchant after pindicator picks up Marco Polo next turn. Oh well, I can poach him because I need the faith and gold for other things. Hopefully I can get the 1st Renaissance one. Or wait, will the next one be in the Renaissance. I will check after pindicator gets his.

La Nina finishes a market and Bomb Cyclone finishes an Aqueduct. Both start Traders. The Aqueduct boosts Military Engineering, bring it down to 1 turn. I won't finish it until after Polar Vortex grabs the stone in 6 turns. There is a desert tile in the 3rd ring and since Niter is usually on desert tiles, I don't want Polar Vortex to grab it if Niter appears when I finish Military Engineering. Niter is either there or south of Bomb Cyclone. No need to risk it and I don't need ME quite yet anyways. La Nina and Bomb Cyclone still need Barracks before they can build an Armory.

[Woden]

Turn 121
Pretty boring turn. I did check the GP screen and pindicator grabbed Marco Polo. Irene of Athens is up. She is a Medieval GM and provides a Governor's title. Suboptimal is 0.1 Merchant points behind me and making 13.8 to my 8. No way of getting her. 

Builds continue to build and units move. Not much more than that. Here is the current score. 



Not much to say about it. I am leading in Empire (good), tied with pin for civics (not so good), and behind by 2 techs (bad?). I do switch to finish Guilds this turn. The chariot is still running for his life. Next turn he can finally move out of range of the boat.


Turn 122
Start turn off with...



Took out the discount tile buys card and put in Scripture to get 100% Holy Site Adjacency bonus. The Governor Title goes into Magnus so I can buy settlers without losing a population. Overflow from Guilds shaves a turn off of Divine Right, due in 2.

Finally...     



Chariot is out of harms way after getting pelted by the boat a few times. This pair will head down to Micro Burst to heal and get upgraded. Chariot will come back as a knight and take out the spearman, who should be still here. In my experience, barb spearman don't do much if they lose their camp, just kind of stick around if they don't see anybody and this guy should not be able to see my units as they retreat. My galley is healed and heading back up here to take out the boat.


Turn 123
I wanted to check on the number of droughts that has hit El Nino (Istanbul) this game and see how many storms have occurred Figured I could showcase the new climate screen...



This is the overview screen. It shows the chances of each event and level of climate change. There is a CO2 screen that I can show later when power plants start coming online. I noticed that there is 0% chance of river flooding. I think there is a bug in World Builder with flodd plains, this must be linked. I believe they fixed it in the last patch, so the next game should have it. Also, looks to be a 4% chance for a drought. Here is the event history...



El Nino/Istanbul has had 4 droughts so far. Luckily, only tile damaged. The red tile icon is damaged tiles and the green is added benefit, something like added food or production. Interesting that there has been no volcano eruptions yet. Better watch out at Bomb Cyclone, we should be getting due for something.

Not much going on this turn. Divine Right finished next turn, along with both traders. I checked the Era clock...



Minimum of 18 turns until next Era. Does anybody know if the actual number could be less? Or is that a minimum? I was hoping for another turn today but pindicator held on to the game too long and sent it after suboptimal's window. I get to start my first wonder next turn.

[Woden]

Turn 124
Rare morning turn that I was able to get to before heading to work. Open the save to...



I could switch to a Tier 2 government but I am not going to, better to use the wonder bonus from Autocracy. I now heading to Reformed Church to unlock Theocracy and will go in to that government in 6 turns. I do do a policy swap though...



I swap Land Surveyors for Gothic Architecture. One recent change that I really like is that productions card now apply to everything previous, like Gothic Architecture applies to Ancient and Classical wonders too. Same for the military cards.
Both Traders finish and go to Thundersnow. I want to finish that Holy Site quicker to get the added science plus the faith.  Polar Vortex grabs the stone and I swap it over to Derecho, where I move the citizens around and shave a turn off the Entertainment Plaza. Since the stone has be picked up, I slot Military Engineering to see where my niter is located.

Suboptimal's scout has found Sun Dogs. I don't like it. I am starting to worry he has plans. Him scouting me out, all the chatter in the Lurker thread over the last week, and now this... 



He is now making 6 Great General points . This has got me worried and I think my period of unfettered building is quickly closing. I need to get some military out soon. I think I can get through my current plans (about 10 turns worth), but then military everywhere until I get some decent forces together. Also need to put up Medieval walls and spread my religion. 


Turn 125
Start with...



Where is my niter? One is at Polar Vortex, where I suspected and another one is under Drought. Good, already started collecting it.

Once I clear the tech notification, I see...



Nice! I was hoping to draw at least 2 of them in but didn't think I could get all 3 into such a good position. I used Buadica and gain 3 new ships. I will get Sun Tzu in 2 turns, so no worries about not having a General if someone comes calling. The Traders at Thundersnow are ready for routes. I send one to El Nino and one to Bomb Cyclone for a total of 5 562. Holy Site goes from 10 turns to 7. 

Out west, my horseman finds something...



I can see suboptimal's borders just under the fog. I wonder if there is an island sea with land wrapping around it. He might be closer to me than I thought and a back door down in the south. Horseman will go around Bandar Brunei and then head west.

Since I played this turn in the evening and T124 in the morning, this game was on my mind today and I had an epiphany...With a little work, I might be able to get another Golden Age. And with another Golden Age, I will be able to extend Monumentality another 30 turns. I did check and Momumentality is available in the Renaissance Era. And my faith is about to double, maybe even triple. Should be able to get it above 120 in the coming turns. That would be a settler every 4-6 turns and I land to fill. 

Right now I am at 78 era points and need 106 to get my third Golden Age. I spent a little time during the turn tonight to see if it was possible and it think it is very do-able. I need 28 points and I can get them by:

• Recruit Sun Tzu (+1)
  
• Enter the Renaissance on the tech tree (+1)-Banking is at 1 turn but the others are already there, so 1 point;
  
• Enter the Renaissance on the civic tree (+2)-Reformed Church in 6 turns. I am pretty sure I will be first with my culture rate, might be +1 point;
  
• Enter Theocracy (+2)
  
• Build a Splendid Holy Site (+3)-At Thundersnow;
  
• Take out a barb camp (+2)-the one in the southeast; 
  
• Use Sun Tzu and Immortal to kill spearman (+2);
  
• Build the Colosseum (+3)
  
• Build the Mahabodhi Temple (+3)
  
• First to Full Religion (+4)-from Mahabodhi Temple Apostles
  
• Have a Musketman (+1)
  

That is 24 out of the 28 needed. I have a space for a +4 Industrial Zone at Micro Burst. I would need to build the Aqueduct first but I do have a few stones and/or forests I can harvest. Magnus can head there after I harvest the stone at Derecho. That would give +3 era points. Still would need 1 more...but why go for 1 when 3 is better. I could build the Great Bath or Hanging Gardens at El Nino is 6 turns. I don't thing I would normally build either of those, especially with flooding being broke but it would set up a nice +5 Theater Square and it would only take 6 turns. I am not sure with one is better. The Great Bath would help El Nino grow bigger with 3 Housing and 1 Amenity, but the Hanging Gardens gives me 15% growth across my entire empire and with an extended Golden Age, I will have lots of new cities. I will have to think about that. I have 3 turns until the shrine is complete and then it will start working on one of them while I am working on the other wonders. I could also get some points by faith buying a great person. Suboptimal is getting the next Merchant next turn and we will see if the next one is desirable. Buying them would give +3 points (I think). I also might get the first Admiral before the end of the Era. I will have to double check that one.

And before you go on thinking "Didn't he just say he needed military units. And now his brings this up?" Most of this was already planned, I am just adding a few things to it. I think I have time to do this and get some military out...hopefully!

[Woden]

Thought of the Day

Actually, going for the next Golden Age will free up my options in the near-term. I won't have to push faith generation so hard before the end of the era to buy as many settlers as I can. I can slot a military production card in the wild card slot of Theocracy instead of having to run both faith generation cards, plus the wonder card. I can also buy a missionary next turn to spread my religion to Micro Burst so I have a city in the north for emergency religion spreading (DotF) if someone attacks and give the city some culture to expand borders.

[Woden]

Turn 126
Open the save to the eureka for Civil Engineering, meaning my Entertainment Complex has finished at Derecho. Time to...



600 is pretty steep but it cuts out 9 turns if I build it. Better to use all of the production bonuses while I can. I start on the Colosseum and it says it will take 16 turns. Right before I switch Governments I will harvest the stone. I should get 151 for it and the Colosseum should finish in 8 turns. I also switch El Nino to the Hanging Gardens so I can make use of the +10% while in Autocracy. I went with the Hanging Gardens for the empire wide growth bonus and I could place it in a location (north of the city) that worked with my current Theater District location, plus it didn't mess with the nice farm triangle I have east of the city. I will need as much food as I can get because I want to grow El Nino as fast as I can. 

I buy a Missionary at Polar Vortex that will head to Micro Burst to convert it and then to Thundersnow to try and convert it. That way I can get a few cities around El Nino to start applying pressure, so it takes fewer missionaries to convert it. 

Suboptimal's scout sails south of Sun Dogs. My galley will keep an eye on him to make sure his is not up to no good. I check the Great People screen and suboptimal has recruited Irene of Athens and now Jakob Fugger is up. He provides 200 and 2 envoys. I will probably buy him once I get closer to recruiting him to get the inspiration to Mercantilism. I also notice suboptimal is now making 9 General points. I think he only has 1 encampment that just completed his barracks/stable. It is most likely in the city with the Oracle and Pingala with the 100% GPP promotion. I will get Sun Tzu next turn and he will get a Medieval one in 11 turns or ~24 turns if it is a Medieval one. Of coarse, he could build the Armory for another 2 points, speeding it up a little. 

My 3 boats head out to explore the area in the southeast...



They find a nice tundra island full of furs with some crab and fish. Could be a nice little fishing village. No too high on the list but could be worth settling. Also find another possible island east. I don't think this is the other end of the landmass, since I have not seen anybody else on my east coast. I will keep a few galleys around the barb camp in case another boat comes out before I can kill the spearman with Sun Tzu nearby. 

4 turns until a better government. I will swap out for Medieval Faries in a couple of turns but still should finish Reformed Church in 4 turns with the overflow. Hopefully...

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Looking forward to seeing how your beeline works out!

[Woden]

Bunch of quite turns. My cities are just cruising along working on their current builds. Not much to report but here are the highlights.

Turn 127
Finally get a notification that rains have ended the 250 year drought at El Nino...



The waiting builder repairs the cotton for some much needed happiness across my empire. I recruit Sun Tzu and send him to Polar Vortex to help out with the camp and gain some era points. El Cid is up next for 120 points. Suboptimal should have him in 10 turns, maybe less. His scout is sailing around Crab Island with my galley keeping an eye on him. 


Turn 128
My galley has finally made it back to the north and found the barb boat...



Boat dies and the northern waters are now free of barbs. Galley will head east until it hits ice to make sure. Builder at El Nino heads east to harvest some stone at Micro Burst. Not much else happening this turn. Reformed Church is at 2 turns, so I switch to Medieval Faires to complete it next turn and have the overflow shave a turn off of Reformed Church. 


Turn 129
Open save to...



I do a policy swap, Professional Army for Veterancy so I can upgrade my chariot, which I do. I will ahev enough next turn to upgrade an archer and then switch back to Veterancy. I get a Governor Title from Medieval Faires. I choose...



This should help cut the gap between me and the others. Right now, should be worth 2 merchant points and 1 scientist point. I am planning an encampment after the Hanging Gardens and should fill it with what is available for 6 General points. Should be able to keep up with suboptimal soon. Not much else, cities keep building and units keep moving. I slot Banking to gain the era points, along with Reformed Church. I will be first to the Renaissance on the civic tree and should get 2 era points but only 1 for entering it on the tech tree. 


Turn 130
Start turn off with...



And...



Time for a new government but before I switch, I upgrade an archer to a crossbow and harvest the stone at Bomb Cyclone for ~211 into the Colosseum after all the modifiers. Colosseum will finish in 4 turns. Here is my new government...



I place Feudal Contracts in the wild card slot, as I plan to build some crossbowman and immortals to upgrade into musketmen. After I switched into Theocracy, I bought a settler at Derecho and then shipped Magnus to Micro Burst so I can chop out an aqueduct and industrial zone. Here is my core, since I haven't posted any cities yet...



Suboptimal's scout has disappeared into the ocean. Galley will move along the coast and hopefully intercept him next turn. I kill the spearman in the barb camp and will grab the camp next turn. 4 different rounds of era points this turn, +1 for banking, +2 for reformed church, +2 for theocracy, and +2 for killing a unit in range of Sun Tzu. 

 
Turn 131
Start turn off with the "Medieval Era Ends in 10 Turns" message. Should have plenty of time to get to 106 points. Missionary has finally made it to Micro Burst and converts city with only 1 charge. He will go to Thundersnow and convert it with the remaining 2 charges. A trader finished last turn and I sent him to Drought. He makes his route this turn, sending him from Drought to La Nina. 

Galley finds the sub's scout by the shore near Derecho. He might poke around Derecho by land. I have an archer coming over watch over him. I buy a builder at Thundersnow, even thought I am not running Serfdom. I need to get a few chops in to rush the Shrine at the city and a unit at El Nino and make a few improvement changes. Not the most effecient but the guy still gets 5 charges. 

Not too many moves this turn, so I took sometime to look around and I spy...  



Pindicator has an Industrial Era tech. If I had to guess, I would say it is most likely Ballistics. I think that would be the easiest beeline and has the most useful techs along the way. Don't think it is the top of the tree as there is mostly ship stuff up there and I have not seen any other ships besides mine and barbs and he won't have any boosts. Military Science is a stretch, but maybe. He might be expecting an attack from suboptimal or planning an attack on someone. Good thing I have a round of units after my current builds. I don't think I need to rush Gunpowder. I think I have time to finish an Armory. I might go straight to Ballistics afterwards to keep up and get some good defense. I will build Medieval Walls as soon as I can get Limes in play...maybe next policy swap. 

World Congress voting is the next round. Crossing fingers for something good. Hopefully the bonus to unit production or a type of district buildings.