[SPOILERS] TheArchduke blasts into Space as Russia

[Sullla]

A couple thoughts on the (incredibly slow-moving) turns:

* I know that my biggest weakness as a player is falling too much in love with building and elaborate micro plans instead of taking the ugly/aggressive steps necessary to ensure military dominance. Conversely, one of your biggest weaknesses is getting bored with the economic/building side of the game and heading off into tactical combat because it sounds more interesting to play. I do think that it's prudent to be in a position to defend yourself but be careful about going into full-fledged war mode over this current situation. These things can get out of hand in a hurry: you start building units because of TBS, then he sees you stacking up units and feels compelled to respond, and so on. Remember, a war with Cree doesn't serve any purpose right now. You're just trying to defend your southern border and secure Cardiff in preparation for teching to cossacks later. I would advice not going nuts with the military builds or swapping into Oligarchy (a terrible government for anything other than war) or picking up Victor as your next governor. If you're concerned about military safely, picking up Magnus and chopping out city walls (with Limes policy in place) and an Encampment district is much better for safety than Victor anyway.

* Prepping Stirrups tech to finish when you research Feudalism civic is a solid idea, especially since it's on the path to cossacks anyway. In an emergency you would be able to upgrade the chariot into a knight to boost the defense of all cities to a base 38. I still don't think this will be necessary - I just can't see TBS attacking into equal military power that also has Defender of the Faith and the defender's advantage. Again, be safe but don't overcorrect and slow down the growth curve unnecessarily.

* I would badly prefer a shrine/temple combo in Fogger over the Agoge-less archer build but this is probable one of those places where we disagree. You're 12 culture/turn behind Rome now (9 culture/turn behind Cree) and getting some more shrines and temples up for culture feels like a priority to me. Atreides is going to build shrine/temple in anticipation for Magnus-chopping out the Mahabodi, right? I think you can establish Magnus somewhere else first (probably Spice Melange) and get in a chop before moving it to Atreides afterwards.

* What's Funky doing next? I would suggest either shrine or a builder in anticipation for getting the 5 charges post-Feudalism, maybe even 6 charges with Liang in place as the next governor. You have a lot of forest hill tiles at Hell March/Funky which would benefit enormously from lumbermills and a 6 charge Liang builder would be awfully nice to have.

* On Cardiff: a single galley can put the city under blockade, or alternately two embarked units on the two water tiles northwest and west of the city center. If you can get another Declaration of Friendship with TBS or see him back off, a pair of embarked warriors would likely be sufficient to take the city with horsemen attacking from the land.

* Last question: did Alhambram found his religion and pick his beliefs yet? That will affect what's left over for Russia to grab with the Mahabodi later.

[TheArchduke]

Turn 78

So a lot of stuff happening. We suzerain Hattusa by finishing a commercial district.

   

We uncover Australia and Alhambram lands Stonehenge for a religion.

   

   

I start several shrines and temples and forgot to make a screenie of Spice Melange.

Suffice to say that Cree has no access to Cardiff but continues to build military.

Magnus is established and I keep Victor in mind next turn when defensive tactics finish. I am still not feeling too good about the Cree.

Pindicator as always being the bigger man has a peculiar religion it seems. I have to assume that he means the nubian archers?

[TheArchduke]

A couple thoughts on the (incredibly slow-moving) turns:

* I know that my biggest weakness as a player is falling too much in love with building and elaborate micro plans instead of taking the ugly/aggressive steps necessary to ensure military dominance. Conversely, one of your biggest weaknesses is getting bored with the economic/building side of the game and heading off into tactical combat because it sounds more interesting to play. I do think that it's prudent to be in a position to defend yourself but be careful about going into full-fledged war mode over this current situation. These things can get out of hand in a hurry: you start building units because of TBS, then he sees you stacking up units and feels compelled to respond, and so on. Remember, a war with Cree doesn't serve any purpose right now. You're just trying to defend your southern border and secure Cardiff in preparation for teching to cossacks later. I would advice not going nuts with the military builds or swapping into Oligarchy (a terrible government for anything other than war) or picking up Victor as your next governor. If you're concerned about military safely, picking up Magnus and chopping out city walls (with Limes policy in place) and an Encampment district is much better for safety than Victor anyway.

* Prepping Stirrups tech to finish when you research Feudalism civic is a solid idea, especially since it's on the path to cossacks anyway. In an emergency you would be able to upgrade the chariot into a knight to boost the defense of all cities to a base 38. I still don't think this will be necessary - I just can't see TBS attacking into equal military power that also has Defender of the Faith and the defender's advantage. Again, be safe but don't overcorrect and slow down the growth curve unnecessarily.

* I would badly prefer a shrine/temple combo in Fogger over the Agoge-less archer build but this is probable one of those places where we disagree. You're 12 culture/turn behind Rome now (9 culture/turn behind Cree) and getting some more shrines and temples up for culture feels like a priority to me. Atreides is going to build shrine/temple in anticipation for Magnus-chopping out the Mahabodi, right? I think you can establish Magnus somewhere else first (probably Spice Melange) and get in a chop before moving it to Atreides afterwards.

* What's Funky doing next? I would suggest either shrine or a builder in anticipation for getting the 5 charges post-Feudalism, maybe even 6 charges with Liang in place as the next governor. You have a lot of forest hill tiles at Hell March/Funky which would benefit enormously from lumbermills and a 6 charge Liang builder would be awfully nice to have.

* On Cardiff: a single galley can put the city under blockade, or alternately two embarked units on the two water tiles northwest and west of the city center. If you can get another Declaration of Friendship with TBS or see him back off, a pair of embarked warriors would likely be sufficient to take the city with horsemen attacking from the land.

* Last question: did Alhambram found his religion and pick his beliefs yet? That will affect what's left over for Russia to grab with the Mahabodi later.

I kinda agree, but as you know by now, I err on the side of caution and more units so if push comes to shove I am prepared.

[williams482]

Is this a spot for a horses/horses deal? Are those allowed still, and would TBS understand?

Trusting you if he does understand is another matter, but I doubt it could hurt to try.

[Sullla]

A little hard to see what's going on this turn but the pictures of the Australian coastline are appreciated. The last remaining two civs can't be too far away; is there a Great Writer scout heading in that direction to check them out (?) I can only assume that pindicator has completely checked out on this game by taking Warrior Monks as his founder belief, there's no way that he'll ever have enough faith to make that useful and it's basically variant material anyway. No surprise that Church Property is gone, the good news is that Tithe is still available as a somewhat weaker gold-granting belief. Tithe and Wats are probably going to be the choices for whenever the Mahabodi finishes. Wats won't be that expensive with the amount of faith that Russia's outputting.

I was surprised to see that the Commercial district finished in Hell March this turn and Russia became suzerain of Hattusa. Wasn't the whole point to wait a couple more turns to take advantage of the 2 for 1 Diplomatic card policy? It feels like a mistake not to wait two more turns and get the free envoy for 3 total (thus picking up the library beaker bonus) as opposed to dropping in the envoys now and getting stuck at 2 envoys. Wasn't that the whole reason for not finishing the Commercial district a few turns ago? Or am I missing something here (?)

I'm guessing that Hell March went back onto its temple and Atreides started a shrine based on your comments? More culture would be a good idea since Cree/Rome have been opening up a bit of a lead there. (They might just be running Meritocracy though which would be worth almost 10 culture/turn for Russia when it arrives.) And weren't you going to purchase a missionary to spread religion to the three western cities? I don't know if that happened and it was missed in the screenshots. I'm not trying to nitpick here, I just felt like I didn't get a great sense for what happened this turn and that some of the ongoing topics we've been discussing for the last few days were dropped. Remember, this game is moving at a completely glacial pace - you don't need to rush the turns.

What's the next civics research goal? Feudalism into Civil Service seems ideal to me for the moment unless you can spot something I'm missing. And as far as governors go, I'd still suggest picking up Liang with the goal of setting up a 6 charge builder with the Serfdom policy card if possible. I don't think TBS is planning to attack you but then again I'm not the one playing the game. With Defender of the Faith plus defender's natural advantage I think you'd be fine if he did come after you right now. Best to get another Declaration of Friendship if possible though.

[TheArchduke]

My apologies for the bad report. I clicked to quickly on end turn.

Yeah, we are going for shrines atm, and the decision is what we do next. I lean towards chopping out 1-2 ships to conquer Cardiff more easily.

I will delay the governor decision until a ReDoF. If he declines, the course is clear.

A missionary was bought.

I highly appreciate your attention and input, so next turn the report will be a lot more comprehensive.

[Sullla]

No need to apologize, you don't have to post anything in this thread if you don't want to! We're just the peanut gallery, hopefully offering some helpful tips as the game rolls along. We're able to post more thoughts when there's more reporting but that's a luxury, not a necessity. I've noticed that some of the turns have looked a bit rushed so I've tried to stress that you can slow down a bit and take more time to think things through. With the glacial pace of this game there's no need to hurry through turns and potentially miss something.

Maybe if Chevalier ends up playing the turns for TBS you'll be more likely to get another Declaration of Friendship when the current one runs out.

[TheArchduke]

Turn 79

I am working in pharma, so unfortunately I will continue to work in the current situation.

So we start up. I have considering going Oligarchy, but I rather have it as a fallback if a war with TBS is in the cards. His milpower continues to rise.

So we repair a road.

   

And of course strike Cardiff to establish facts on the ground ASAP.

   

After the strike.

   

I am sure you will disagree but I decide on 2 more chariots so we can have 3 knights in the worst case, or cheap chariots which are inexpensive. I go autocracy so I can get mil costs down and at the same time build up more.

Overview.

   

Switch:

   

Autocracy is especially important as I want to switch to Naval Industries in 6 turns because:

[williams482]

I have to say, I don't love putting an encampment down on a forest hill without chopping. Wait five turns for magus+chop and you come out well ahead on build time for a weak startup city like this one, and it's not like dumping hammers into a monument would be a waste here. On the plus side, the chosen site is probably the least impactful for long term faith production, so that's a perk.

[TheArchduke]

Hmm, what could Cree use Admirals and Ships for I wonder.

   

Cardiff and Spice Melange will need to chop some ships as soon as Feudalism hits. I will not prebuild Ilkum Warriors if we do not get a DoF. Else I will.

Cree has a harbor at the capital and probably one down south.

   

Income is 24 to 36. But we have thanks to a barb camp some reserves which I will jealousy hoard until mercs can be researched.

   

Homer is our explorer and early warning system east, where greek milpower grows steadily. Albeit his units will soon be obsolete.

   

Bhasa in the west.

   

You should be able to get a view on the situation better now. And I know, I know, I am paranoid and building too much military.