[Spoiler] Suboptimal Goes on a Pseudorandom Walk

[suboptimal]

Turn 160

Back from vacation, well rested and my body clock is mostly in the correct time zone now. Time to get the ball rolling again. Skim my own thread, download the save (last turn played 308+ hours ago), start up the game and proceed at my own risk…

Open the save to Mass Production completing, Woden completing the Great Bath and me losing suzerainty of Antananarivo. I open the city-state dialog to see what’s going on – Woden has placed Amani there for +2 envoys. Well, I’ve got three in reserve and put one down. That brings my culture up from 79 to 102.8. I had selected Industrialization as the next tech and it’s got 8 turns to go.

After remembering what I was doing with LinCon’s builder it heads northeast towards LFSR. Gotta get those lumbermills back up and running. Builders at Threefry and Acorn move towards their next tasks (repairs and a jungle lumbermill). Acorn’s got a second builder that’s one turn from completion. I see that other than putting a second builder into the queue I didn’t note what I was going to do with it. Whoops. It can work on lumbermills west of Acorn and at Xorshift.

Time to start moving Great People around. In northern Persia Murasaki continues poking around Drought and finds the Persian forces that killed off the barbarian camp that was up there. Chaucer was booted out of Persian territory by Sun Showers




so moves to the coast NE of Bomb Cyclone. I’ll disembark on the hill to see what I can see next turn. Out at Sea, Rublev has found some of the Persian navy:




I skirt them to the south to defog the open ocean and see if there’s anything behind them. They appear to be alone. I’ll be curious to see where they go next or if they’re just pickets for an attack that will never come…

[suboptimal]

Turn 161

Last turn before World Congress III – Randomly Generated Screwage commences. The good news is that I’ll have the option of suzeraining Bologna with one of my spare envoys to further boost GP generation. I’m curious to see if any of the resolutions will wind up hurting one of my opponents more than myself. Likewise, I’m also curious to see if there’s another shift in voting “alliances” this time around. On the first vote it was Woden that seemed to be the odd man out while I had that distinction on the second vote. This time around, however, I’m no longer at the top of the totem pole on science or culture and it’s unlikely that another GP nerfing resolution will show up. Before we get to that, though, I gotta get through the actual turn...

The only notification at the start of the turn is a tornado family named Kuntur. Kuntur may actually cause a problem as it’s headed southwest from its current position:




Of course, if it hit that cuirassier I don’t know that I’d complain….

I get going with the builders, moving the one near LinCon towards LFSR and repairing the mine at Threefry. The latter builder will now put down a farm (to solve the negative food situation) and then two jungle lumbermills (for more production). At Acorn the second builder is done, so it moves to the ivory and will move to the jungles west of the city next turn. The initial builder puts down the first of five lumbermills – it will put down two more for Acorn and two for Mixmax. Acorn has resumed its bank, 6 turns to go. At Xorshift I rearrange the catapults for my formative shore battery. I do see (or rather, not see) that Woden’s galleys have moved off from their prior position in the ocean. I’ll be curious to see if they encounter that barbarian caravel that’s lurking about. I send Rublev back towards Xorshift. I don’t need him to scout Persia with Chaucer and Murasaki over there so I’ll use him to try to keep tabs on things until I get an art museum built. He doesn’t find anything of note in his travels this turn.

Chaucer disembarks and finds that Bomb Cyclone’s library was also pillaged by the tornadic visitor.




The trader from Antananarivo also reveals that Woden has a bombard. Good to know.

Movement complete my turn is over. On the Great People front I should have James Young (2 random eurekas for the Industrial and Modern ages plus reveals oil) in four turns. Bi Sheng could be mine in 12, Machiavelli in 14 and Ana Nzinga (Great General for Renaissance and Industral units, retire for 1 envoy) would be in 23 turns, all barring projects or invasion.

The Enlightenment will complete during the interturn. In looking at my policy set up I think I’m OK. Serfdom can come out for something else. Free Market only gets me 3 per turn until Acorn’s bank is done, at which point I’d get an additional 5. Rationalism would get me 6 with another 4 once the universities at Xorshift and Mixmax complete (12 and 9 turns, respectively). I could put in Civil Prestige for some amenities and housing – that would give Acorn a slight boost to yields and allow it to grow to 13 population in 10-11 turns.

I’m also giving serious consideration to building Chichen Itza at Acorn. The city is currently working 6 rainforest tiles and the wonder would be worth 12 (plus Pingala’s bonuses) and 6 more per turn. I could, with another couple of population, push that to 8 rainforest tiles. It’d take 16 turns to build.

[suboptimal]

Turn 161 World Congress

Here we go. Based on the EoT Diplomatic Favor Pindicator can purchase 4 votes, Woden can purchase 5 votes and I can purchase 6 votes. We also each get a freebie. This round’s resolutions are:




Hmmm...interesting.

I don’t know how voting would go for Border Control Treaty. I think if there’s any votes going here it would be to prevent cultural border expansion, but by whom and to what purpose? I don’t know that anyone has anything to gain from having a culture bomb from new districts since we’re fully built and restricting border growth wouldn’t really do much either. I suppose Woden and Pindicator could attempt to vote that option against me as I’ve got room to expand. That’s fine, I can still plop settlers down where I need them. I will put my vote into Option B and pick Woden given his cultural generation.

I think Luxury Policy is going to be where the intrigue is at. Luxury resource counts at EoT 161 were as follows:

Me: 2 ivory, 1 fur, marble, amber
Pindicator: 2 tea, 1 jade, 1 mercury
Woden: 2 furs, 1 salt, 1 cotton, 1 spice

I also know from gossip that Woden and Pindicator are trading, presumably 1 tea for 1 fur. Pindicator also has some amenity issues as a coupe of his cities are showing a -3 loyalty penalty for lack of amenities. If I’m correct about the trading then they don’t have multiple copies and voting for this resolution does them no good. The good news is that it’s a bit difficult to gang up (on me) with the ‘B’ option since in order to be effective they would both need to pick the same luxury from three different choices (they wouldn’t want to negate furs if they’re trading them). What to do here?

I could put all my votes into Option B and target Tea. That would cost both of my opponents 4 amenities if I’ve got the trade correct. In looking at the Loyalty lens Woden has 5 cities at Happy, and three of the four Incan cities I can see are unhappy. This is the “politically agressive” option, though it would penalize Pindicator and only inconvenience Woden. Alternatively I could put all my votes into Option A and select Ivory, which would get Acorn back up to Happy and provide some amenities for any new cities I plop down. Then there’s whether or not I should, in my current position, make a vote that ticks someone off too much. Negating tea for 30 turns would hamper Pindicator more than Woden but do I want to do that given that Woden is the immediate concern given his and rates? I choose A, put all my votes into Ivory to try to help myself and we’ll see what happens.

[suboptimal]

Turn 162

Results are in…




Judging by the Diplomatic Favor totals it looks like Pindicator couldn’t be bothered voting for anything. Woden will get culture bombs from district builds and I’ll be getting an extra amenity from ivory. In the subtotals for Border Control, Pindicator voted for my borders to not expand. For the Luxury Policy resolution Woden voted for furs to get extra amenities, I voted for Ivory and Pindicator voted for Marble to not provide amenities. I guess Pindicator is still sore about getting pushed back on is attack. Perhaps I should have voted for Tea to not provide amenities. For being on the winning side of a vote I get a Diplomatic Victory point.

Close the World Congress screen and The Enlightenment is complete. Clear that out (and the eureka for Scientific Theory) and I see that LFSR’s university was pillaged by Kuntur. That’ll take 6 turns to repair, so I immediately start on that. What civic to take next? Four turns to Colonialism, five turns to Civil Engineering, nine turns to Nationalism. Raj might be helpful given my suzerainty (and it gets me two envoys), the other two will get me a governor promotion. I go with Colonialism.

Looking at my policies I take Serfdom out and put Civil Prestige in. The additional housing will get Acorn up to 13 pop in nine turns at which point I can take out both of them and put in Liberalism and something else (Rationalism?).

I move the builders around, placing a farm at Threefry and then realizing that I”m not working the tile and it won’t do me any good unless I get a 3 tile. . The city can build a granary in two turns and that will solve my food issue. I also only need to put down one lumbermill as I’m not working the flatland jungle.

Rublev defogs the ocean, sees nothing. Murasaki embarks north of Drought, finds a Persian Galley in the sea there. Chaucer embarks to head for home; I’ll use him to defog the northern Pacific on the way back, just in case there’s an island up there or something.

Threefry has completed its trader. Tukohama Reborn remains the most economically profitable so I send it there. That’s two traders going to Tukohama Reborn and they’re in a convoy as they’re one tile apart. This should be interesting.

LinCon’s settler has three turns remaining. The city will be claiming the western iron resource next turn, though I don’t currently have a builder to hook it up. Industrialization will complete in 6 turns. What I think I may do is to hold the settler until coal is revealed and build the spy in the meantime. If coal can be settled then the settler will go there. The other consideration is that I’ll be able to see oil in three turns due to James Young. Depending on where that pops up I may send the settler there instead.

Lastly, I’ve got two envoys left and will get two more in four turns. I drop one into Bologna for the extra Great Person Points.

[suboptimal]

Turn 163

With the World Congress out of the way and knowing what the resolutions are I can begin to look at my plans for the next 30 turns. I’ll see oil on Turn 165 and coal on Turn 168 and I’ve got the settler at LinCon one turn from completion. LinCon’s spy is 6 turns from completion, which dovetails a bit with the coal reveal. Looking at techs the “critical” one is Steel – if I complete that then both of my opponents will have a bear of a time taking any of my cities. That would currently take me 31 turns to complete since I’d need to complete Siege Tactics, Military Science and Rifling on the way. That time will come down with Universities being completed (Xorshift, Mixmax, Acorn) or repaired (LFSR). Once Industralization is complete that will be my research path unless I divert for two turns to Celestial Navigation for Harbors.

I touched on civics last turn, with my current research of Colonialism for the Raj policy. I am inclined to do Nationalism next for a third spy slot and to start combining some units into corps. Naturalism looks appealing as I could get Mixmax working on an arena and a zoo – that would get me some extra amenities in four cities and some extra from the rainforests nearby. Longer term Mobilization is the goal to further reduce unit maintenance costs.

From a military perspective I’d like to improve my defensive forces a bit. My cash situation is improving with the trade routes to Incaland so I can probably afford a bit more maintenance. Once the infrastructure builds are complete at Acorn and LinCon perhaps I’ll get some more units out. Speaking of builds, my current build queues for cities are as follows:

LinCon: Settler, Spy, Art Museum
Acorn: Bank, University, Amphitheater
Threefry: Granary, Bank, Factory, Coal Plant
LFSR: University repair, Bank
MixMax: University, Arena, complete Campus Research Grants
Xorshift: University, ???
Mersenne Twister: Granary, ??

I could theoretically divert from my tech path and spend two turns completing Astrology and Celestial Navigation. The latter would let me build a discounted Harbor in Xorshift (+2 adjacency) and then follow it up with a lighthouse for another trade route. I could also do a tile purchase for 130 or so at Mersenne and put in a second Harbor & lighthouse there.

I also need to figure out where to get era points from – I’d like to reach the threshold for a normal age but need 22 to get there.

With all that out of the way, on to the turn…

Open the save and see that I’m still the suzerain of Bologna. My GPP generation is currently tops in all categories. Mersenne Twister has completed its granary. What to build next? Medieval Walls is a bit redundant since I’m going to work towards Steel – they’d take 19 turns to complete. I start an Art Museum, that’ll take 25 turns. Buidlers at Threefry and LFSR move into position. Builders at Acorn put down two lumbermills, raising the city’s production to 50 and taking a turn off the bank.

In the Pacific Ocean Rublev does some defoggging to the south and finds a reef:




Interesting. Off the Persian coast Chaucer heads northeast and spots a Persian galley and Gaius Duilius in Ha Long Bay:




Murasaki steams westwards across the northern ocean. I’ll try to see what I can see of Incaland before bringing her home.

LinCon switched production over to a settler. It will grow to 9 population next turn.

[suboptimal]

Turn 164

New population at LinCon is in. The governor AI assigned it to one of the high production tiles and I’ll leave it there for the time being. Up at Threefry the granary is complete. Builder puts down a jungle lumbermill and the city starts its bank. That will take nine turns to produce but I’ll likely switch over to the factory once Industrialization completes. Builders at Acorn shuffle to their next target and the one at LFSR puts down a lumbermill. It will repair the pillaged one and put down a jungle mill before returning to LinCon for an iron mine. The extra production from the mill takes a turn off the university repair.

In the South Pacific Rublev locates a one tile tundra island by the reef




Up north Murasaki passes one Persian galley and finds a second. Looks like Woden was building a bit of a naval presence up here, just in case. In other news, Pindicator spent a bunch of last turn, about 500 from the looks of it.

Next turn I’ll get James Young and we’ll get to see where oil is.

[suboptimal]

Turn 165

There’s a Crippling Blizzard that’s formed south of Mersenne Twister, though it’s moving west. Woden has taken suzerainty of Antananarivo with a total of 6 envoys so my culture has dropped to 81.7. That keeps Colonialism at two turns for the time being. I decide to move Amani over there so I can keep my future envoys in reserve. That does drop LFSR down to Happy from Ecstatic, but I could use the extra culture more than a small yield bonus right now. I also notice something else:




My diplomatic status with Woden is Open and I can see where his governors are. Magnus is there, Amani is at Antananarivo and Liang is at Thundersnow. If he has another governor (or two) they’re at cities I haven’t revealed. I take a look over at Incaland and see that Pindicator has Victor at Ralakesh and Pingala at Tukohama Reborn. In checking gossip I also see that he’s started Huey Teocalli in his capital. He’s likely doing it for the amenities. This does make me rethink (a little) about going to Chichen Itza – 12 and 6 for 14 turns of production. Perhaps after I get the University out...

First off, I recruit James Young and he appears in Acorn. Next scientist up is Dmitri Mendeleev (trigger eureka for Chemistry and one random tech from the Industrial era). I’m not going to try to be cute with Mr (Dr.?) Young so I send him straight to the Campus and activate him.




Well, that takes 5 turns off Steel and saves me the trouble of extracting an artifact for a boost. Actually, where’s the oil? Well, there are nine on the map that I’ve revealed. Closest to me:




Well, fresh water and a fish resource so it ain’t all bad. As for the others:

- one in the tundra SSE of Flash Flood
- one under the Pairidaeza directly E of Flash Flood
- one two tiles E of Sun Showers
- one under Petra at Arakaali (!)
- one two tiles E of Micro Burst
- two in the unsettled land NE of Micro Burst (in the area that I think I previously mentioned as settleable)
- one four tiles NE of Drought

So, Pindicator gets one oil once he unlocks Refining, I get one oil if/when I settle a tundra city and finish Refining and the rest are in or near Persia. I think if I really want oil and want to get in Woden’s grill a little bit I’ll get Steel done and then go park a city NE of his territory. For the time being, though, I’m more concerned about coal, which I’ll find out about in three turns.

Builders put down lumbermills at Acorn, production boosted to just under 55. Builder at LFSR moves to the pillaged lumbermill. Single charge builder at Threefry heads for the iron west of LinCon – it’ll get there faster than the builder by LFSR.

I have a decision to make with Rublev – defog towards or away from my territory? I decide towards so he heads east, finding nothing but ice and open ocean. Murasaki moves westwards and finds the Incan...”navy”:




I don’t know yet if I’ll try to disembark to the south or to the north. I might just putter around in the ocean for a while to see what I can see first (and take advantage of the 5 movement rate). Chaucer continues his east/northeast sailing, finding a Persian galley in the ocean.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

 Murasaki moves westwards and finds the Incan...”navy”:

Psh, that's some mighty high talk from a civilization that doesn't even know how to build harbors! 

[suboptimal]

 Murasaki moves westwards and finds the Incan...”navy”:

Psh, that's some mighty high talk from a civilization that doesn't even know how to build harbors! 

What's a Harbor?  

[suboptimal]

Turn 166

The world is a little more dangerous as forced peace between myself and Pindicator has ended. His milpower has not risen appreciably (if at all) over the last ten turns so I don’t know that he’ll be coming back for seconds in the very near future. That leaves me wondering about Woden….

The save begins with a notification that Hypatia the Sneaky has completed her counterspy mission. It’s already been 16 turns. That big snow blow in the south has moved to the area west of Tsingy and is turning northwest. It’s also pillaged the Acropolis at Mersenne Twister. I’ll be curious to see if it makes it to LinCon or not. Then there’s this:



Interesting. That will boost diplomatic visibility if I permit it. Do I or do I not take it? Of course, I can’t back out of the screen without responding. I decide to say “Goodbye” and then immediately follow with an offer to establish my own embassy. If he accepts and re-offers a delegation then I’ll accept them. Part of me wonders what he’s up to and part of me thinks he might have come to the realization that this game may very well be us vs Woden and he might be trying to make amends. Time will (hopefully) tell what he’s up to. I also have to consider that he might have used his spy to run a Listening Post mission somewhere.

Acorn’s bank is finished and it’s five turns from completing the university and my decision about Chichen Itza. Mersenne Twister starts repairs and I send the builder over to the mine to repair it. Interestingly the tile is up to a 4 food yield. Didn’t realize that blizzards did that. It also added a second food to the forest SW of Tsingy.

Builders around the lands reposition and repair the lumbermill at LFSR. I’ve moved my chariot south of there out of the way to provide Pindicator’s pike & shot a route to the Atlantic so that it can leave my territory. To the north my traders are just outside of Ralakesh’s territory. I’ll be curious to see that they turn up. Great People in the Pacific continue defogging ocean looking for any hidden morsels of land. In the far north I send Murasaki towards The Brine King to see what I can see:




A Harbor in a lake (wait, what’s a Harbor? ). Interesting but reasonable if it’s discounted and one wants another trade route.

My last move of the turn is Hypatia. With the other spy three turns from completion I decide to send her to Tornado. That’s Woden’s westernmost city and a good spot for observation to be conducted. She’ll settle in and run a listening post mission. The spy at LinCon will go to Tukohama Reborn and run a listening post mission there.

Hit end turn and a barbarian camp has spawned. Oh joy.