[PB58] Tarkeel and Amicalola's rule through fear

[Tarkeel]

Lewwyn was wondering about the tech situation, and I promised him an overview.


Which means the situation by tech should be:

• Theology, Constitution, Democracy and Corporation: Monopoly by us
  
• Economics, SteamPower and Railroads: Known by us and Superdeath; Missing for Cairo and Jowy
  
• MilitaryTradition: Known by us and Cairo; Missing for Superdeath and Jowy
  
• Nationalism: Known by us, Cairo and Superdeath; Missing for Jowy
  
• Education: Known by us, Superdeath and Jowy; Missing for Cairo
  
• Liberalism: Known by Superdeath and Jowy; missing for us and Cairo
  

Superdeath is also missing Monotheism and Drama. Cairo and Superdeath are both researching Constitution, due in 2 turns, while Jowy is saving gold on ScientificMethod. Everybody is pouring EP into us now, and Superdeath and Cairo both have research vision on us. I've set research to ScientificMethod for this turn, so we can 1-turn it later on when needed, and possibly surprise Jowy. Given that he just researched Liberalism he might be heading for Communism, but we'd like to beat him to Physics.

[Tarkeel]

Turn 220 (1530 AD)
Jowy is definitely up to something, and has been dragging the last few turns. We're putting 10% into EP against him in the hope that it will restore vision on some of his cities. We're also putting a second turn into ScientificMethod so it has about 60 beakers left while he still can't see what we're researching, so we can beat him to Physics without obsoleting monasteries before we have to. The preferred research path right now is AssemblyLine->Combustion->ScientificMethod->Physics->Electricity

Our workers are busy completing the rail infrastructure, and next turn they will complete the line to Corulag just in time for Mon Calamari's new executive to get there to spread MinInc. Corulag will be responsible for spreading it to the rest of the western cities, and Kirdo will help with the southwest.

[Amicalola]

So we have the two-day pause to think about our current plans. I have a spare hour, so here's an Amica thought-dump.

Mining Inc. is a primary concern, currently at 9 hammers per city, before forges+factories. That's pretty good; I'm not sure it's better than a GA would have been, but the GA was blocked either way by that Prophet spawn (he has since been settled in Coruscant). It should be fully spread around when factories complete; our production would truly be stratospheric then, being already double the next-highest (Jowy; ~1050:520 this turn).

However, world events are finally turning against us. Cairo and Jowy signed a defensive pact last turn, and I've noticed Jowy moving up some units on the Ruff front; mostly grenadiers and some rifles/cannons. I'm pretty concerned. The question is whether or not we can handle a 2-way attack. Our land army is easily the best in the world, but our navy is probably worse than Jowy's, let alone his and Cairo's combined. As such, we could probably be blockaded and starved pretty easily. That doesn't even include Superdeath; it's really hard to tell what he'll do on any day, let alone after a crazy Vegas trip.

It doesn't strike me as very likely, but the other possibility is that Jowy and Cairo are preparing to partition Superdeath. This is possible because Superdeath is the weakest, and Jowy probably wants revenge for (imo) that very senseless war. However, I doubt it because the others need to stop us soon, or they can't at all; they surely know that. Furthermore, I don't think it's worth planning around, because in that scenario we will basically win no matter what we do. So I think we need to plan around an attack from at least those two, and maybe Superdeath as well.

[Tarkeel]

While I do worry about Jowy's actions lately, his land-based movement isn't too concerning; it seems he's mainly shoring up under-defended cities. Cairo hasn't made any threatening moves yet either, and I think they are mostly worried about being attacked.

Here's a short overview of our short-term research options:

• AssemblyLine (7475b): Unlocks (cheap) factories and (draftable) infantry; high priority
  
• Combustion (5382b): Unlocks destroyers (w/SciMeth & oil); high priority
  
• ScientificMethod (3588 60b): Obsoletes half of our monk bonus, but leads to important techs; Avoid as long as possible, has been pre-researched
  
• Fascism (3588b, req AssemblyLine): Unlocks Rushmore (which can be handy) and gives a free general (*)
  
• Physics (5980b, req SciMeth): Unlocks airships (which can help control the seas), a free scientist (which can be used on Sushi), and leads to other important techs; medium-high priority
  
• Biology (5382b, req SciMeth): We currently have 62 farms that would benefit from extra food; also leads to potentially more food at Medicine w/Sushi; medium priority
  
• Communism (4186b, req SciMeth+Liberalism): Kremlin isn't that good for us, but it would be nice if we could deny it from Jowy; great spy would be handy for golden age (**); medium-low priority
  
• Medicine (6727b, req SciMeth+Biology): If we have a spare scientist it would be good for Sid's Sushi; situational
  
• Electricity (6727b, req SciMeth+Physics): We currently have 69 windmills and 29 watermills that would benefit; leads to other important techs; medium-high priority
  
• Artillery (5980b, req SciMeth+Physics): Unlocks artillery and leads to rocketry; medium-low priority
  

We're currently getting 1350bpt at 50% so most techs can be done in 4-5 turns without saving gold. For space, we should probably hit Robotics (for space elevator) and Superconductors (for laboratories) pretty soon which is why we want Electricity.

(*) Fondor is currently 8 xp away from building commando cavalry out of the gate, and we have a spare general. With Pentagon and the Fascism general we're "only" 154 GG xp away from achieving that, so it's worth keepin an eye on.
(**) Next great person is due in 9-10 turns from Coruscant, with odds favoring merchant or scientist, but with our luck we'll get another priest.

[civac2]

Sid's Sushi requires a merchant.

[Tarkeel]

Ah, thanks. I must have confused myself when I was checking out the interaction between CreCon and AluCo. That would make the physics scientist more likely to be used on a golden age; we'll see what Coruscant spawns next.

[Amicalola]

Agree with all of the above about techs.

Something interesting is that Electricity, even with a large Serfdom empire that literally prioritizes the ideal improvements, is ~130 base commerce. That's certainly nice, but in the Industrial Age, it's also not enough to justify a beeline, or even research as something other than a prerequisite. I can't imagine us having a better empire for it, either. It seems electricity is doomed to be a prerequisite even in Serfdom empires, which feels a little sad.

[Lewwyn]

I'm a big fan of trying to get to commando cav. Just seems like "Game Over Man!" in the most fun way.  Assembly Line > Fascism > Combustion > Sci Meth seems reasonable.

[Tarkeel]

Turn 221-223 (1565 AD)
The main railline is completed, and we're working on spurs to the rest of the cities now. Fondor and Corellia have got MinInc now, and Coruscant completes WallStreet in 5.

Here's an overview of why we're worried about Jowy:


We don't have the forces to deal with that navy, but in the case of conflict we'll withdraw and defend the entrance to the bay, where our ironclad is. There are ship coming from the inner-sea naval yards as well. We spent 2x290g to upgrade a C2 Axe in each of Kiffex and Malastare to machine guns last turn, in the hope of dissuading Jowy from any attacks.

We also have vision on his main cannon and knight stacks, which are in the middle of the spine. I think Jowy is trying to cover of an attack from all other players, but his camping of the turn timer is worrysome. If it does come to a war we should try to capture or raze Henry's Joust, the Hindu holy city.

A parting shot of our demographics, where rival best GNP is MrCairo researching Education with KtB:


Jowy seems to be heading for Communism and Kremlin, and I don't think it's worth trying to deny him.

[Tarkeel]

Next turn will be 225, and I'm planning a small overview post. Now's the time to make any requests.