[SPOILERS] Roland and Suboptimal Team Up

[roland of gilead]

The Russia Australia combo is going to be ridiculous. They are going to get work ethic and Australia is going to get + 12-18 hammer holy sites.

[suboptimal]

Turn 47




Two era score, six to go. Hmmm...I might be able to get Monumentality in the Classical after all. I’m getting three when Al’s Holy Site completes. If one of my galleys finds Archduke & Kaiser that’d be two points plus maybe the 5 era score for meeting everyone else first (if that’s even available in a team game).

Based on their era score increases they have not “met” China. Russia has gypsum hooked up, Australia has horses. The deal screen shows Russia with two cities and Australia with three. However, I have had issues seeing cities in the deal screen in the past and Russia’s empire score progression definitely indicates three cities. Russia also has Early Empire as their borders are closed. Since I’m down here already the galley moves east. It briefly reveals a Russian warrior in the fog on the plains W of the mountain. I do hit the end of the line, though, and will need to go NE next turn:




Further north the eastern galley finds Brussels:




They want me to train a heavy chariot. I get no free envoy. More importantly, though, we got the inspiration for Political Philosophy:




The tree is a bit messed up but careful inspection shows that the only prerequisite is Defensive Tactics. It has a cost of 210 but the base cost is 175. Other galley and units move with no further results of consequence.

Builder at OC next turn, Holy Site at Al the turn after that, another galley the turn after that. I’ll likely put that one at Obvious Child and start working east from there. Obvious Child will also acquire the tea next turn. I don’t know that I’d work it when the city grows in population since I’d prefer to have production (and would likely work the diamonds). Pingala also establishes next turn so that’ll be a nice little bump in and .

Marcopolo got his third city down and picked up his fourth tech this past turn . Kaiser and Ljubljana got their sixth tech. CMF’s empire score went down; he may have another settler out.

Roland, one thing to be aware of with the boosts for China for techs/civics from future ages. The value of the boost is based upon the current value of the tech/civic. Political Philosophy here is base cost of 175, which would make your inspiration normally worth 87.5. However, it’s current cost is 210 due to the +20% age penalty. Your inspiration is actually worth 105. Something to keep in mind here is that boosts for techs & civics from future ages can be worth more than 40% or 50% by the time you’re actually researching the thing in question.

I also think your warrior should be fine; just be aware that the scout will also be attacking you. Given the type of game this is the tortoise promotion here is not out of the question -- Battlecry is of limited usefulness on this map.

[roland of gilead]

good stuff. Brussels could be huge for me but it will just be snapped up. I may suze it anyway.

Can you get a horse out in 13 turns for era score?

I know what you mean about tortoise and i know the scout will attack. i may well take tortoise.

that's some tec to political philiosophy. i can hard tech defensive tactics for us.

it also means a early declaration of war is unlikely as that's just helping someone.

[roland of gilead]

played the turn and took battlecry partly as it is immediately useful v this barb horse. Also partly because it leads to the plus 1 movement which is excellent. I also consider i will get terracotta army so hope to get to 3 promotions on this guy.

Brussels want me to build a holy site. Which will happen but not any time soon.

[suboptimal]

We don't know where Horseback Riding is and it'd likely take me too long to research. I looked at the list - I'll need a close barbarian camp and/or a barbarian camp + meeting Archduke/Kaiser to get a golden age. Time to take yet another look at the moments list to see where I can scrounge up three points. The Campus at OC is only a +2 so no splendid Campus there.

[roland of gilead]

I am at 21. i will get 1 for the dessert settle. I wonder if i will get one for a farm on the river that flooded.

I can certainly get 4 from a great wall. I will get a golden age which is important. I really would like to save the great wall for next era.

boat for 2 perhaps.

[suboptimal]

Yes...the first time you build an improvement on a disaster tile you get era score for it. You might also get one point for the desert settle and one point for settling within two tiles of something that can flood. Forget if those compound for desert floodplains, though.

My best route to a golden age is to locate the remaining pair of opponents quickly and then pick up a point somewhere along the way (natural wonder find, perhaps?). Taking Amani to suzerain Rapa Nui is too much of an investment - I'd rather promote Pingala for the at this point in the game. Come to think of it I should check to see that we're "on track" for a Turn 60 era change.

[roland of gilead]

we are on track i believe.

i will get a point for the desert settle.

so will get to 23

might be a natural wonder out there somewhere.

[suboptimal]

Turn 48

Pingala is established in Al and the builder is out at OC. One turn to go on the Holy Site and the Campus has 14 turns to completion. State Workforce will complete next turn. After that I’m going for Foreign Trade to get a trade route up and running. I take a quick look at the GP screen and see that Kaiser has completed a Campus last turn and is earning GSP.

Southern galley moves north and finds coast but exposes no new land. Eastern galley moves east and turns south of Brussels, nothing new there. Both of these islands are large. I’m going to buy the next galley in Obvious Child and send it down this way to do some more thorough scouting of these islands. Closest-to-home galley cuts south, finds the northern tip of an island I previously found.

I’ve figured out how I can get a golden age. I’m at 19 era score now. The Holy Site is a splendid one, so +3 era score. That gets me to 22. I can micro my citizens at Al to grow the city in three turns instead of four. That gets me to 4 population at which point I can buy the desert tile two to the east, place the Campus at 88 cost, swap the citizens around to get to 14 and build the campus in 6-7 turns. I’d get 3 era score for that and with it the golden age, along with a +4 boost. This is a definite win-win situation as no sell out is required. Roland, I’ve sent you a request for 15 so I can buy the tile next turn – the rounding is close enough where the cost might go up once Mining is complete.

There is a part of me thinking it might be a good idea to build a bevy of scouts at some point. Five scouts would give me eight land units and the Mercenaries boost. Having one or two ready to go when Shipbuilding completed would let me scout out the interior of the larger islands to the east/southeast and the others could be used for expanding my scouting net (ie the interior of the map, which is likely littered with islands).

I’ll have a picture of the civics tree next turn since we’re revealing something new. Definitely going with Pingala’s promotion. I’ll deal with population loss from settler purchases. A builder for a wheat farm or two will help speed up population growth. It’s also easier to regrow population while cities are still small.

[roland of gilead]

Good shout on the campus to get there. I may follow suit at capital and use the first charge on the builder to chop and build the campus if possible

what do you think a chop would be worth in 10 turns or so?

I want to buy a builder and need to buy 2 tiles at desert city but fine to send across gold. may not be able to buy the builder we will see.

i will take culture on pingala it will get me through defensive tactics faster and then i have 3rd one anyway.