[Spoiler] Suboptimal Goes on a Pseudorandom Walk

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Do unit builds show up on Strategic view? Interesting, I thought it was just buildings. TIL.

[suboptimal]

IIRC they show up as a hammer symbol in the city center. Now, I could be wrong on that as I don't use Strategic View as frequently as I perhaps should.

[suboptimal]

Turn 126

Swap civics over to Naval Tradition. Pindicator’s scout is hanging out by the Encampment at Ralakesh. Woden’s galley is still providing my scout with escort service. Everything is quiet. Good. Move my units around and everything ends as quietly as it began.

I also just realized I never updated my tracking spreadsheet for tech cost changes in Gathering Storm and the techs I thought were at eureka + 1 are at eureka + 2. No matter. Printing still completes in 4 turns.

[suboptimal]

Turn 127

I’m hoping for two more turns of peace and quiet. Open the save, am not disappointed for this turn. Get a notification for a drought ending and a volcano up north erupting. I also notice that Pindicator has a city up there in the tundra which I hadn’t noticed before (didn’t look that far up the screen). File that one under interesting. His milpower increased by 26 but since he’s been fighting barbarian pressure I’ll say that’s a swordsman that just got finished. Let’s see...that’s two turns for 90 production. Hmmm...with Agoge that would be a base rate of 30 per turn. I do see that his scout has retreated into the fog. Woden has recruited Sun Tzu. That means that El Cid is up and I’ll have him in...8 turns. Affects Medieval and Renaissance units and forms a corps out of a land unit. If the next one after that is also 120 points I’d grab that one 11 turns after that. Actually, I’d probably get all three of the current era’s Great Generals. My next Great Person will be du Chatelet in three turns.

Remaining builders continue about their day. At Threefry I put down a lumbermill. I’ve got three builders, each with one charge remaining now, in my core. One will put down a mine at Acorn in 4 turns. Another can put down a mine at Threefry in four turns as well. Builder at LinCon puts down a mine and expires. That mine lets me eke out one extra production there.

Woden continues to position his galley so that my scout cannot reach the coast by his city. That’s fine. I remain in the ocean but follow the coast line. The ocean opens up a little here I may just go eastwards to connect with the Great Writer coming in the other direction to try to get that circumnavigation era point bonus before Pindicator. Movement complete, this turn’s in the books.

Baldrick will be let of his dungeon on Turn 129.

[suboptimal]

Turn 128

Another turn of quiet. Pindicator has finished his barracks at Ralakesh and his milpower just moved up another 28 and near equal to mine. Mersenne Twister has expanded, the next expansion looks to be the plains hills woods in 13 turns. I’ll keep the builder around for that. That city will start building the amphitheater once walls complete in three turns and use the forest to chop it out. I switch civics back to Medieval Faires and this one’s in the books.

[suboptimal]

Turn 129

Medieval Faires is complete, Printing will be next turn. Completion of the Armory gets me the Gunpowder eureka and the completion of the Commercial Hub at Threefry nets me 3 era points and secures a normal age. My science went up by 5.9 points since last turn. Then I realize that the new Commercial Hub currently nets me 4 and increased the output of the one at Acorn. I also need to remember that those are generating 11 and will stop once this era ends unless I can find another 13 era points.

Select Naval Tradition to put one more turn into it before starting Guilds. The Intelligence Agency is complete and Hypatia () appears in LinCon ready to operate. I’ve got two governor promotions to deal with this turn. Builds in Acorn, Threefry and Xorshift are also complete with LFSR completing its university next turn and Mixmax and Mersenne Twister finishing in two turns. I move the builders and Great People around and find nothing interesting. Woden has started a build requiring iron – his tally is 36 which equates to three iron sources. I then hear a creaking sound behind me and turn to see the door to the dungeon opening...

“Hello, master. The door was unlocked.”
“Yes, Baldrick, I unlocked it several turns ago.”
“I have come from the deep dark depths of the dungeon bearing a gift.”
“What do you have for me?”
“I have a cunning plan.”










I don’t yet know what LFSR will build after the first catapult. Mixmax will start a Bread & Circuses project (to gauge loyalty effects on Arakaali) and then build its University.

I’ve made two suppositions about Pindicator’s current state which are forming the basis of my plan:

1) Though our military power is roughly equal he has a lower total number of units than I do. I’ve come to this conclusion because his milpower has been behind mine for most of the game despite minimal upgrades by both of us. He also upgraded two crossbows and one knight a few turns back and that didn’t push him to equal power despite me having nothing more modern than one lone swordsman.

2) Based on recent resource usage he may have one city capable of 30 and is netting 2 iron and 4 niter per turn. I don’t know that he has two such cities. I have three cities above 30 and am netting 12 iron per turn with Equestrian Orders. Therefore I believe that I can ramp up military production faster than he can respond and I can sustain production in an attempt to flood him with units. The build queues above will increase my milpower by about 200 in 7 turns, another 250 in four more turns (including two probable archer → crossbow upgrades) and an additional 400 five turns after that (nicluding five catapult → bombard upgrades), with LinCon able to build a knight every four turns and Acorn one every five turns from T137 onwards with no shortage in iron as long as I keep Equestrian Orders slotted.

The plan is to position three catapults and four knights in and around LFSR, upgrading three of the catapults to bombards (T139-ish) once they are close to their intended positions and all five catapults are completed. The forces would then move on Ralakesh’s Encampment while the two remaining catapults and knights 5, 6 and 7 move to the front. War would be declared around T147 and I’d upgrade the remaining catapults once I’ve accumulated enough niter (and possibly paying through the nose to do so). If I achieve complete surprise (aside from him seeing the ramp job in milpower) he’d have one turn warning before I should be able to raze the district. From there I’d turn most of the forces on the city center while trying to run a knight up the pass to defog Abberath’s city center. Once Ralakesh fell I’d regroup, position Victor in the city and then try to shoot my way through the pass. I’d have all five bombards and around 10 knights (minus casualties) in the area to try to force my way through. The battle at the pass could very well become a war of attrition but if my production and resource (iron) capacity indeed outpaces his I should be able to eventually punch through.

In support of this operation would be the following non-military units:

- The spy. I’m going to defog Tukohama Reborn and check unit distribution as well as better gauge the city’s production capability. It should also reveal the western part of Abberath’s land given the 3 range vision. From there it’ll move to Ralakesh to keep an eye on things and run a Listening Post mission for a promotion. If I can defog Abberath it’ll go there while I finish up at Ralakesh to monitor troop positioning and movement in the pass and to the north.
- Triple-A will remain just behind the front line troops, favoring the bombards, during the advance. His +20 healing will come in handy.
- El Cid will move with the troops. Siege units can still move and shoot on the same turn with a Great General in tow provided they only use 1 MP to get into position (2MP required to shoot).
- I should be getting a second Great General just before (T145/T146) I start the initial assault (T147). That will ease moving things around. It would also free up El Cid to form a corps out of something if needed.
- Xorshift’s horseman will arrive at Mixmax as it completes its second horseman. They will head into the desert, pick their way around Arakaali and then head into Incan territory. I may send Mixmax’s first one around Yerevan and the second two over land via the oasis (4 to 6 turns depending on routing). Their priorities will be to pillage out the niter, iron and terrace farm at Arakaali. Gruthkul’s Campus would be a bonus. If I can’t get through the pass at Ralakesh they will need to head for Abberath to defog it before doing any pillaging.
- If I take a city Victor will be assigned to that city. His added loyalty should prevent an immediate flip and after 3 turns he becomes a somewhat portable DotF for units on defense (+5 CS when defending within city borders). If I manage to take more than one city he’ll move with the front and I’ll backfill prior conquests with other governors to maintain loyalty pressure.

I did consider trying to get two military engineers out of Acorn to build roads for two of the bombards to move along. That would have allowed me to move the engineers up and then declare war, build more roads and do a move-and-shoot with two of the bombards. However, that would have delayed things to the early/mid 150’s or reduced the number of knights or catapults available and I want to be as time efficient as I can be.  The less time he has to react as my milpower starts to skyrocket the better.  

Civics priorities in the immediate future are to put one more turn into Naval Tradition then get Guilds and Exploration completed. I’ll use Naval Tradition to slot the upgrade policies, get the upgrades out of the way and then use Exploration to deslot those policies. The completion of Guilds will see me remove Caravansaries for Town Charters. I’d consider removing Retainers but the happy status of my cities is a bit important for my production counts right now. For techs the priorities will be Metal Casting (which I’ll hard research and try to complete by EoT 138), Industrialization and Military Science. I have not decided if I’ll trigger du Chatelet during the buildup to try to get the Metal Casting eureka or if I’ll hold him for more strategic use later on in the Industrial Era.

Lingering concerns and questions:

- His gold generation is continually fluctuating but appears to be about 65 or so per turn. That’ll give him ready money for upgrades provided his resources can keep up. Upgrading a unit or two to muskets would raise city defenses, slowing down capture.
- How fast would his milpower increase in response to the rapid rise in my own?
- He could crank out pikemen. However, the knights would still have the advantage in that fight.
- My gold generation will be stretched to the limit, even with Caravansaries (+8), Merchant Confederation (+16 currently) and Town Charters (+11) slotted.
- This is me leading an offensive military operation. Hopefully “offensive” refers to the (good) operational results and not lurker sensibilities.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Would you mind providing a picture of the projected battle front and your invasion route? It's been a while since I saw that section of map and it'll help us lurkers visualize your wicked plot.

[suboptimal]

Would you mind providing a picture of the projected battle front and your invasion route? It's been a while since I saw that section of map and it'll help us lurkers visualize your wicked plot.

Sure thing.  I'll get up some pictures and maybe a diagram or two over the weekend. In the meantime the first screenshot of the Turn 124 report is the most recent picture showing the LFSR/Ralakesh front. The first one in the Turn 122 report shows the Arakaali front. Neither has changed significantly so those will be enough for the Lukerati to break out their Telestrators and go all John Madden on the situation until I get the post up.

[suboptimal]

Turn 130

Should be a couple of quiet turns as builds turn over from civilian to military. The biggest looming concern right now is the World Congress in a couple of turns – what sort of monkey wrenches might arise there? The hoplite has completed, that’s four era points. 9 to go for a Golden Age. The completion of the University at LFSR also gets me the eureka for Astronomy. I swap civics over to Guilds, 5 turns until that is done. Printing is in. I immediately check one of Pindicator’s units for combat strength to see if I have the +3 diplomatic visibility bonus. I do not. Good to know. I switch to Gunpowder to finish it next turn and see that Pindicator has reached the Industrial Era on the tech tree. Amani is also established in Threefry.

I recruit Emile du Chatelet and he turns up in Acorn. I immediately relocate him to Mixmax. He’s going to preview the Yerevan end run for me and then go poke around in the seas north of Incaland. Builder at Acorn puts down a mine, raising that city’s production to 40 per turn. I had a slower build rate here as I forgot about both the Armory and the extra mine. That pace works out better but I’ll need to have Threefry build only one knight before the market instead of two. The upside of that is that LFSR gets the trader out earlier.

In the far east the scout finds more Persian borders:




I’m not going to disembark at this time – I want to get circumnavigation completed first as that’s era points.

In checking resources I see that Pindicator has started two builds requiring iron and one requiring niter. Wonder if he has the same idea that I do? Guess I’ll find out when the spy settles in at Tukohama Reborn. He’s also opened up a Qhapac Nan east of The Brine King:




That will either be to send his forces towards Woden or to assemble forces for an eastern approach attack on LFSR. I think I’ll send a warrior up there to investigate and move a chariot over to cover the southern land approach to LFSR. He is definitely up to something. I also think I know what LFSR is building after its catapults….

CMF requested some pictures of the areas of battle...I’ll get up some diagrams tomorrow (Saturday for the occasional lurkers). I’ve also fully tallied out the resource counts and this will have an effect (in a good way) on part of my plan. I’ll outline those changes in that post as well.

[suboptimal]

Turn 131

After thinking about it some more I’m going to apply Occam’s Razor to the Qhapac Nan and Pindicator’s military build up. There are two resources (bananas and stone) that The Brine King have claimed and he might be trying to get a builder out there for improvements. I’ll still send the warrior up for a look-see. As for the build up I will go under the working assumption that he’s gearing up for an attack on me. Just in case, though, when Guilds completes I’ll take out Retainers and put in Limes. Acorn would be able to get out ancient walls in one turn and Threefry in two and I may delay the knight builds to get those up. I’ll also have the Great Engineer at T145. During the build up I’ll keep the knights and El Cid centrally located near Acorn’s districts. Hopefully he’ll see my own buildup starting, along with resource consumption and replenishment, and think twice.

Open the save to the “Medieval Era Ends in 10 Turns” warning. Hmmm...nine era points in 10 turns. Can that be done? Not likely. Gunpowder is done, as it the first catapult at Acorn. LFSR and Xorshift get a touch of extra production from their quarries. Civil Engineering is boosted because I’ve completed the Entertainment District at Mixmax. I start Astronomy.

Builder at Threefry mines the hill. Emile du Chatelet starts his long journey around Arakaali and Yerevan. Warrior continues towards the Qhapac Nan. Acorn’s catapult moves to Threefry’s Aqueduct. I need to figure out where to “store” these things for a bit as I’ll have another one next turn. LFSR’s southern territory is probably the best bet.

Check the gossip. Woden has cleared a barbarian camp with a Great General and he’s adopted Theocracy. Pindicator has started a build using horses as well as two more requiring iron (his iron dropped to 6, his horses to 38). Given his techs I suspect Pindicator may building either Curassiers or Cavalry. That’ll put a dent in things, especially if I’m still on knghts. His city defense values over the next few turns will tell the tale. Yeah, walls are definitely going up. The Great Engineer at Turn 145 can’t get here soon enough.

World Congress is up next. I’ll be curious to see what the game throws at us this time around. I’ll be more curious to see how the voting dynamics play out this time around. Last time Woden was a clear leader, this time I’m not so sure who will be deemed the one to vote against. I would not be surprised if it was me, particularly given my Great People generation.