[SPOILER] - Suboptimal finds trees, still seeks forest

[suboptimal]

The three australian troops in the screenshot are all rentals. I would not gain suzerainty but I would cancel his as we'd both have three envoys in the city-state. The suzerainty bonus for Kabul is units earn double the XP in combat. Useful if I were to get suzerainty off an easy quest in the Classical.

Our other options for envoy placement are:

Nazca: would be our second, doesn't do anything. Suzerainty lets us place Nazca Lines
Brussels: would be our first (and second), +2 to buildings, districts and wonders in the capital. Suzerainty is +15% to wonders.
Kumasi: would be our second, doesn't do anything. Suzerainty gives trade routes to city-states +2+1 for each luxury resource at the origin. Useful for a route from Dauphinoise.
Valletta: would be our third. Suzerainty allows purchasing of city center and Encampment buildings, with reduced purchase costs for walls. Of course, with 83 and +2 per turn right now this isn't worth much. Suzeraining it would also reveal it to Pindicator and I don't know that I want to do that right now.

Speaking of the Classical, any thoughts on dedications? We're in a normal age so it's not really good pickings:

Monumentality: +1 Era Score each time a district is completed
Pen, Brush and Voice: +1 Era Score each time an inspiration is triggered or a building with a Great Work slot is completed
Free Inquiry: +1 Era Score each time a eureka is triggered or a building that generates is completed
Exodus of the Evangelists: +2 Era Score when you convert a city to your religion for the first time (NO).

Free Inquiry might get us the most era points.

[suboptimal]

Turn 61

The Ancient Age is over! Long live the Ancient Age! Check things out before proceeding with the dedication. The only notifications are new city-state quests. There’s been some unit repositioning in the south, but that will come in a bit. Based on era scores both Pindicator and myself are in Normal Ages while everyone else gets a Golden Age. Oh, bother. As mentioned previously I take Free Inquiry for +1 era score per eureka triggered or science building that gets built. AS for the city-state quests:

Kabul: wants a trade route
Kumasi: recruit a Great Scientist
Valletta: wants a trade route

I think only Valletta’s will be doable in the immediate future, but not until I get a galley to defog in that direction.

Up at Mashed the builder harvests the stone for 38. Government Plaza goes down, two turns until completion. The builder will mine the iron in three turns. At the Australian frontier I send the archer due west two tiles for maximum defogging. No borders yet, but lots of jungle to the NW and open ground south:




Down in the Abarath River Valley:




Pindicator got his city back right quick. Ah, well. So much for a delay in getting his city back. Alhambram appears to be sending his units south to act as a blocking force, so I bring the archers and warrior up and around the volcano. It’ll be a couple of turns before they’re home (Maris Piper will be in the city center in two turns). I send the Campus warrior across the river and move the archers northeast. If Pindicator continues his northwards movement with that warrior I’ll shift the unpromoted archer to the geothermal fissure, the promoted one will back up to the Campus and shoot. If he advances past that the unit will be subjected to as many as three archers and a warrior.

Builder moves to the bananas, plantation there next turn. Northern archers move into the jungle crossing to the western side of the sea. Trader at Hasselback is sent to Marshed for +2+1. Population growth there in two turns but it will start building the horseman next turn (as will Dauphinoise). Speaking of which I swap back to Military Tradition for next turn’s policy swap.

I’ve realized that I can zoom out and show the entire interior ocean on our continent:




Australia is roughly due east of Kabul and south to southeast of my archer. BTW, that archer has a promotion pending but I figured I’d save it for the time being, in case it gets into some trouble.

[suboptimal]

Jester/Banzai - would either of you be interested in taking over for about a week and a half? I'll be going on vacation and most likely civ-less from 27-Feb through 07-Mar. I'd be able to pick up the game during my usual window on 08-Mar.

[Banzailizard]

I cannot take over that week. I have spring break and will be doing a mix of travel and working on my MA thesis due this year.

[CFCJesterFool]

Jester/Banzai - would either of you be interested in taking over for about a week and a half?  I'll be going on vacation and most likely civ-less from 27-Feb through 07-Mar.  I'd be able to pick up the game during my usual window on 08-Mar.

I can fill in provided a general plan of what you want done. Also would need to know the procedure since not sure how subbing works with PYDT client.

[suboptimal]

I will put together a general plan as things unfold, as well as a second attempt at an overall long-term plan.

As far as substituting in on PYDT I believe I can send you the login token via PM and you should be able to access the game.

[suboptimal]

Turn 62

The turn opens with a notification that Hamp’atu has blown its top. Where’s that? It’s the tundra volcano near the northern iron. Interestingly it’s made the area a bit more hospitable for settling:




Note the one tundra that picked up a yield while everything else got food. That does mean that a volcano-side city up here, while in harm’s way, won’t necessarily starve and could actually (but slowly) grow a bit.

Horseback Riding and Military Tradition are in. Builder at Dauphinoise is complete. Unexpectedly the Government Plaza at Mashed also completed. That’s quite odd as I have it being 5 from completion and last turn it said two turns from completion. This is an apparent gift horse and I’ll give it a carrot instead of looking at it in the mouth. Hasselback’s tile picker is playing resource whac-a-mole and has flip-flopped over to the salt.

Down in the Abarath Valley:




Looks like Alhambram is withdrawing via the volcano pass and Pindicator is staying at the copper. I suppose I could advance and potshot but that doesn’t get me anything right now. If Maris Piper was close by I could kill it but that spud gun is indisposed at the moment.

With the preliminary look-see out of the way it’s time for some changes. Agoge is out, Manuever is in. Everything else stays the same. Start Wheel, will get that to eureka + 1 then start Iron Working. I’ll put one more turn into Mysticism for the time being and then start Drama & Poetry. I also have a governor promotion – Pingala gets Connoiseur, getting me an extra 5+culture: in Dauphinoise. That gets my culture up to 17.2 which is still just above half of Alhambram.

Dauphinoise starts a horseman, 4 turns to completion, and puts a granary in the queue to follow it. Hasselback would take 11 turns to complete a horse; it’ll keep building the monument. Mashed, however, would only take three turns. Due to the +4 bonus from the militaristic city-states. I start the horseman there and will follow with the Ancestral Hall (11 turns to build that right now). Builder at Mashed heads for the iron; its peer at Dauphinoise heads for the bananas. I’ll plantation first, then mine one of the diamonds and then….figure out what the last charge will be. Maybe I’ll pick up the salt at Hasselback. Likely the pyramid unless it’s worth putting a fourth builder charge into Hasselback. The builder at Fondant puts down the plantation, netting that city some and .

Archers there generally shift westwards. I’m sending the unpromoted archer near Fondant with the two others ones around the sea – that’ll give me three archers and two horsemen to try to do some damage with. Warriors hold their position and I move the promoted archer onto the Campus to set up defensive shop.

Over on the other side of the...Ocean with No Name Because It’s Obscured in the Fog...the archer moves south two hexes. Nothing on settlervision but loyalty so far.

[CFCJesterFool]

You need to get Mysticism to 1 turn remaining. If Alhambram were to upgrade his warrior rentals (to swordsman), you'd want to negate his suzerain status so that the gold (and iron) spent would be wasted. I usually keep at least one civic one turn from completion to guard against surprises.

[suboptimal]

I had two turns left on Mysticism when I started the turn. I put this current turn into it so it will be at one turn. I'm going to swap into D&P next turn to go D&P -> Recorded History. Hasselback will go monument -> Campus so that I get the eureka for the latter before it completes.

[suboptimal]

I've taken a look at the transit times for the archers and the horsemen (once they complete) to get from where they ended on Turn 62 to when they will be assembled within striking range of Res Publica. Here's a screenshot of everything between Hasselback and Res Publica for reference:




The archers in question are the two north of the Nazcan archer and the one NE of the geothermal fissure at Fondant. They will reach the Nubian Desert on

Archer NW of builder: sheep under the "D" in "Desert" in three turns
Promoted Archer: hill just east of the sheep in 4 turns unless the Nazcan archer picks a bad spot to move to
Archer E of builder: salt in Nubian Desert in three turns

The horsemen complete EoT 65 (Mashed) and EoT66 (Dauphinoise). They would both arrive at the salt in the Nubian Desert on Turn 71.

It's a shame that one tile is fogged. If it's not a PFH then both horses could attack Res Publica on Turn 74 with the archers following. Whether or not he could get walls up in a city by then is uncertain. If he doesn't it might be possible to pull his forces west towards Res Publica and make a second delayed assault on Wealth of Nations with the units at Fondant. We could use our Mysticism envoy to break Alhrambram's levy just before moving in.