[SPOILERS] naufragar and Rusten get nickel-and-dimed

[naufragar]

I'm away for most of the 5th, but I should be able to sub in any case.

Thanks very much.

I mentioned that instead of whipping Pajarocu, we can chop the eastern forests. This gets us the forge, and with it Machinery, one turn slower. We could use other forests at the gems city to get a size one granary, so that's not an issue. How do you feel about delaying Machinery a turn for some happiness relief? I'm very hesitant, especially since we'll get gems to relieve some pressure. (Although chopping three forests with two workers for a quick granary pushes the gems mine back a bit.)

[Rusten]

I think a 1T delay is not a big problem. It depends on how much Pajarocu suffers from the whip, I'm still not sure what tiles we're running which turn, but from what you let on earlier I'd be inclined to avoid the unhappiness.

More happiness means more production and we need a lot of units still, but I'm happy to leave the final decision to you as you have a clearer idea on timings/builds/workers/etc.

[naufragar]

North scout finds land, but it's not super exciting...


It'll be an above average ice ball, thanks to horses.

South scout finds...


Food for a whales city!!    (Another city that wants a barracks before granary?    )

PBSpy says I spend 45 minutes on the turn. Most of it was trying to decide if I was declaring war on Superdeath.


I moved our axe up to his warrior. Note his pair of axes. I'm guessing he's making a play for gems. I'd expect him to plant on the grass hill that grabs gems second ring. Any city of his down here isn't great, but if our own gems city is a legal plant, we can make it work. (Darn you, Creative culture.) We are in a cold war. I thought about declaring to force him into a turn split and was withing inches of doing so. I think my mouse was hovering over the button. If he had perfect information, he could send both axes to Pajarocu. I'd send Gaon's warrior to help stall for a turn for our own axe to get back. Superdeath would have about a 10% chance of taking the city before the second axe arrived. I figured I didn't want to push him down that path, so we're at peace nominally. I expect Superdeath to retreat his warrior. If he doesn't, I don't know if I can actually attack it. It puts the axe a turn too far for my reinforcement plan in case SD pushes Pajarocu. The city is completely safe. We could always emergency whip an axe.    But for obvious reasons, I'd prefer to lay off the whip for a while...  (And when I say "completely safe," there's a nightmare scenario if two chariots show up anytime after two turns from now. I think we've indicated our interest in the gems. Might be time to bring the spear back.)

Speaking of laying off the whip, I decided to chop the two forests. This gave us a free worker turn to road our cows, so that's nice.   The city grows next turn and for the next two turns needs to work the forests plains hill, both for hammers and to avoid growth. I still haven't decided whether to avoid growth or to become unhappy and work a civilian unit. A settler would be nice. We're not doing well in the demos, and I was struggling to figure out why. We're taking forever to grow from 2->4 or 3->5. We're really feeling the fact that apart from our capital, which can't share, all our food tiles are 4f. Painful.

[naufragar]

I forgot a picture. Superdeath's empire stretches far to the east.



If Superdeath grabs our gems (ours! ) I'll be sad, but the silver lining is that that city would be a good attack point for samurai: it's close to us and it would hopefully draw his reinforcements north and open an opportunity for a surprise galley attack by us.

[naufragar]

I leave in under an hour. Still haven't figured out how I'm getting home, so I don't know when on Sunday I'll be back. Thanks, Rusten, for taking the turns.

I wacked Superdeath's warrior.






What's that Machiavelli line? "Make sure to do your enemy small injuries when possible?" The warrior got three hits in, which was less than a 30% chance of happening.   I hope I've been clear about my reasoning for the attack. Warrior gave vision, harrassed gems area, was a free experience point. I've offered a ceasefire. We'll see if SD takes it, or moves his axe pair up. I've split off the spear to go back to the homeland. With average combat luck, our wounded axe beats Superdeath's pair if it fortify heals next turn and takes its promotion when the enemy is one tile away. (I'm pissed the warrior got three hits in.)

I was a colossal moron and didn't check if Superdeath has horses hooked before I declared war.    (MSCC does, by the way, and they've settled their seventh city.)

I spent some time in turn doing micro    which is dangerous, but I figured out a new plan for Pajarocu.


Instead of chopping two forests, we just keep working the forest plains hill and chop one forest. I've doubled up workers, but they don't both chop. One chops; the other roads. This speeds up gems city by a turn. I'm pretty sure we're in a settling race with Superdeath and he intends to plant where is axes are fortified. This would invalidate our plant.

I'll be brief with micro for the upcoming turns.

I've described what the workers by Pajarocu do. They chop and road. When gems city gets founded, they chop its granary. It should be a size 1 granary but I doubt we get the full 11 food.
The two workers up north are moving to the floodplains closes to the capital to cottage it. On their way down, they drop a road onto the grassland 1SE of the mine. (One worker has already put a road turn in.) This speeds up horses settler by a turn (eventually).
Lander worker keeps chopping and then mines.

The scout boats scout, although the galley should turn around turn after next.

Lizard (Capital) completes the settler EoT and should start on a forge.
New Viron completes its work boat and starts to grow to size 4 while building something. (An axe?) I'll be back before size 4, but the plan is to get a settler from here.
Other cities just keep on keeping on.

Obviously, I think you don't need my advice, but I've laid out the above to help you play the turns as quickly and painlessly as possible. If Superdeath moves his axes to the gems and it looks like he's invading, my suggestion is to use the two southern workers to road.

Thanks a million times for covering for me. I'll have my phone and I get email notices about the thread, so I should be around in some form.

[naufragar]

....You know? I realize I just declared a war and then left the nation to you.... I'm very sorry about that.  

[Rusten]

....You know? I realize I just declared a war and then left the nation to you.... I'm very sorry about that.      

PB41 scarred you so bad that you make up going having to go away the moment you declare another war.

Thanks for the instructions. I only skimmed the post but I'm sure it will be fine.
Might've been an idea to double up and road on the PH to settle 1N of gems instead of 1NE if we're in a settling race. Less good, but faster. Your way is better if all goes to plan.

[Rusten]

One of my finest sub performances. Break the server on login and have it come back just in time for you.

When on the 6th are you returning? If it's late I can pick up the save tomorrow morning if the game is back up to keep things moving.

edit: Actually I have visitors until the afternoon, so playing before you get back could be tricky.

[naufragar]

I'm getting back at 03:30 UTC on the seventh. No idea what the status of the turn will be by then, but I've been paying attention to PBSpy, so I can ask for a pause if things look dicey.

I'll be honest, I checked PBSpy yesterday before the forums and thought "Oh no. Rusten's spent over an hour on the turn. He must've seen my micro is garbage and Superdeath is invading with horse archers."

[Rusten]

Alright, I'll play before the timer runs out tonight then. All the bad news will be relayed then.

Edit: Couldn't connect and posted in the tech thread. Might not be able to play before you return at this point.