[PB59 Amicalola] The Vespertine Hour(s)

[Amicalola]

Turn 63 (Week 8)



You'll have to forgive the sign mess - my crazy week has necessitated very careful signs, so that half-asleep Amica doesn't ruin my micro.  My 4th city, Pagan Poetry, was founded on T61. with the goal of whipping a granary ASAP, and then using its food surplus to whip countless civilian units. Unison has a granary now, and grows like a weed, while Cocoon has exactly 20 foodhammers at size 5. My estimation for 5th and 6th city turns out to have been pessimistic; they'll both be founded T69.

A few days ago I did my micro for the Great Lighthouse, on pen and paper. I'll spare you the illegible picture, but next week I'll know if I got it. Most of the signs around Unison are for this - extra important not to screw up that micro! 

I've been thinking a lot about how to use the Great Prophet from Stonehenge. One possibility felt like bulbing Theology (I love me some monk wonders), but the problem is I only expect to ever get one prophet, so I wouldn't be able to get a shrine. So instead I'm thinking about teching Code of Laws after the basics are finished, as a pseudo-currency; it would net me a religion and ORG courthouses. Other options are the usual Currency, Calendar, and Metal Casting (IND forges). Those will definitely be the first four Big Techs I research, in some order. Have a couple of weeks to decide. 

I met Pindicator (Lincoln of the Dutch), his warrior is south. I don't think much of this pick. It's theoretically nuts after Astronomy, but not scary until then. Then again, Pindicator is on a much better tier of players than myself, so I expect he'll make it work; my understanding is he's great at micro, so it'll be interesting to see his demos in a few turns. Between Cairo, Pindicator and myself, the neighbourhood feels very slow. That's great for me, but it's also great for them - we all want slow neighbours. 





I keep expecting the demos to be depressing, and they're not great, but really I'm quite pleased with this. Considering I gimped myself both with poor micro and two early wonders (hopefully), being average in food and strong in MFG feels nice. I'm honestly confused, but my best guess is that the others are whipping more heavily. Someone is at 75 food and 400,000 population - if that's the same person, it's very scary.

[Amicalola]

T71 (Week 9)

Had a nice chat with Naufragar in-game today. I love that RB is small enough to know everyone, almost like a small town.

Domestic News


I've settled Hyperballad and Bachelorette, both on T69. Hyperballad will be a commerce city that can share food with Cocoon, and claims the wine island. Bachelorette is mostly a filler site that I settled because it could work strong tiles straight away. I really need to start laying down cottages; I have literally none right now! It looks like that's the main price for my mistakes earlier. 

The next two cities are a while away, but will be on the future-Moai island, and the northern fur island; my happy cap is horrible. I'm considering settling on the gems too, even though it loses the GLH bonus and the 1st-ring pig. I'm going for the northern island because I think I want to expand hard in one direction, and just get a decent border on the other. Cairo has drawn the short straw, because that island is easier to defend thanks to Pagan Poetry. I wouldn't complain if I manage to get the southern island too, though.

The big news of the turn was this though:


I've landed both the early wonders I decided to aim for. So that's pretty cool. 



The demos are, remarkably, still looking tolerable. Not good, but tolerable. They were much worse before Hyperballad and Bachelorette; I was last in food for one scary turn.


Foreign News:
I've been tailing Pindicator's warrior for about 10 turns, but now I have a chariot that can kill any aggressive moves, so I moved the spear up to annoy him instead. Maybe I should have earlier; my instincts are way too peaceful, I think. If he finishes this gold mine, I can theoretically take a swing at 2 workers... 

 
None of Cairo, Naufragar or myself know writing, but Pindicator does, and researched Sailing this turn. Of course, this turn I want trade routes, but only realised after I'd moved the spear up!!  So I offered Open Borders, and fish-for-fish (did I mention peaceful tendencies ) but I doubt he'll accept. Cairo's power is spiking, so I have a warrior sentry over there, and 1 turn into an axe at Pagan Poetry.


Other Thoughts
- Still not loving no-score. It's sad, because I think it's a great idea in theory, but looking at PBSpy is actually really fun, even for someone that sucks at C&D. It just gives you so much more to think about, especially in those early turns. 

- The game is getting interesting enough that these reports are getting long; I might start splitting them into two parts per week. I'm still trying to figure out a good format for these, and open to suggestion on anything lurkers would want to see.

- I actually really like this naming theme. The names are distinct and memorable, and I am already attached to the cities.

- My main goal for this game is similar to 56: to learn and be a relevant force. So far, the demos are only average, and I'm definitely behind the growth curve. But I''ve had some self-imposed practice at catching up from behind (56, 58); I'm cautiously optimistic.

[Amicalola]

I'm trying to decide between these two spots for the next settler out of Cocoon. The northern site is easier to defend, gets two lakes, shares stone, and is less antagonistic. The southern site gets a plains hill, an additional cottage, claims the fur (after 8 turns) and is more antagonistic.



If I get the fur island, the southern spot is much better, and it also makes that far more likely. So I guess the southern dot is the gamble, and the northern dot is the safe play.

I don't have a good grasp of Pindicator as a player, though my understanding is that he can be aggressive (52, 57). His pick certainly doesn't want to be, though. I will have to decide in the next 6 turns, but I am leaning towards gambling with the hill. Why fight for the furs if I can just obnoxiously settle for them?

[Amicalola]

T75 State of the Empire

Still on 6 cities, although 4 now have granaries. Cities 7, 8 and 9 will be settled between T80-84, with probably another break after that.


Here are the demos and graphs. I feel like I've fallen behind, which I guess I expected. I have started working cottages now though.

Tech-wise, I got Writing this turn and sent OB to Naufragar and Cairo. I also thought a bit more about my desire for early Code of Laws and religion, and realised it's probably bad. I want Metal Casting and Currency beforehand, and maybe Iron Working and Calendar too. Not worth a huge delay to those just for a small chance at Confucianism, and also I already have Stonehenge for border-pops. So instead the Prophet will be used for a GA, at some point. 

Instead, I'll go for Metal Casting ASAP, because of IND forges and also triremes to compete for islands. Then probably Currency after that, or maybe Calendar for MoM first. I'm not sure what lurkers are and aren't allowed to say, but I'd love to hear some opinions on generally "safe" dates for a MoM build (e.g. earlier I was thinking T65 for GLH)!


Let's talk general gameplan: Something that PB58 has taught me is the strengths and weaknesses of Roosevelt (and the power of not giving up). Put simply, my conclusion has been that Roosevelt is amazing in the medieval/renaissance era thanks to all the hammer saving, but pretty weak otherwise. So I need to survive until then, and use that era to crush someone and get ahead. The other thing I found is that cities actually developed really quickly after the granary; the trouble is more getting them out at all. So I won't be building any infrastructure beyond granaries/lighthouses/forges until I've settled basically every city I can. Then they'll all grow tall together.

I have a vague ideal scenario where I can land MoM, hit a double-MoM GA into Taj Mahal, and kill someone with cuirs. But that's definitely thinking way too far in advance; let's see if I can even survive until then, let alone build MoM or Taj.

[Kaiser]

I think 353 to 350 BC is perfectly fine if you check with the original builders. :D

[Amicalola]

That's only 25 turns away! I'm not sure I can compete with the apparent superhumans of real history... They were probably cheating by playing on standard size or something.

[Amicalola]

T76



Cairo is staking his own claim to the fish/wine island with Monkey; hopefully the free stele will ensure it for us. I turned on tech for Metal Casting this turn, should arrive in 7 (~70% the final turn).

[Amicalola]

T77


 
Scouting work boat has discovered an island chain, alongside a player.... Tarkeel! Offered OB for the ICTR, we'll see if he accepts. I believe it would be in his interest to.

Tarkeel (Hannibal, CHA/FIN) of Egypt (War Chariot/Obelisk)

I've been impressed by Pindicator's use of Charismatic, his capital is very tall. Meanwhile Financial I think was hit pretty hard by the lighthouse nerf (perhaps deservedly). Egypt I'm not sold on, mostly as the starting techs weren't great. I think this combo is average at best. 

Tarkeel as a player is overall better than me, but it's more complicated than that. On a good day the gap is small, but my bad days are a lot worse than his. We have played as a team twice (56, 58+Lewwyn), and I love playing with Tarkeel. We are both players with distinct strengths and weaknesses, covering each other well. In his case, Tarkeel has a very level head, rarely stresses, and makes great macro decisions; he is very much the steadying anchor of our team. The flipside is that he can get bored by micro, and can autopilot during long stretches of peaceful building. I expect him to perform decently here, provided he's engaged with the game. I'm excited to see his demos!

[Amicalola]

T78

Pindicator has landed a warrior on the southern fur island, which bodes ill for my hope to passively steal it:


Right now I am leaning towards the Northern site, as it can be settled 1-turn earlier, and losing 1-hammer-per-turn is better than having my city razed. I am also thinking about chopping MoM in this city, so it being vulnerable would be very risky in that scenario.

Tarkeel accepted Open Borders, so I get an extra 6 commerce per turn (I suppose this means he has 6 cities). I also met Mackoti's scout in Mr. Cairo's lands this turn, so it's time to write another Opponent Preview.


Mackoti (Genghis Khan, AGG/IMP) of the Ottomans (Janissary/Hammam)

I like Genghis for getting out to a fast start, and running someone over with Classical units. You can build cities quickly with IMP for a food/hammer lead, and use AGG to beat your opponent with better units, and then keep paying for them. Ottomans have 'meh' starting techs in CtH, and Janissaries don't seem strong unless you're ahead in tech; if that happens as Genghis Khan, you've probably already won. 

Mackoti himself is a legend on RB. The whole recent drama with the EitB game is unfortunate, and I really have no idea if Mack cheats or not (some suspicion seems warranted). He did seem to take the accusations really hard, and I couldn't help but feel upset on his behalf, even though I can't fully know what happened. Regardless, Mackoti is very good at civ, and I believe he's quite the general; I expect him be a top contender, and hope he's far away.

[Amicalola]

T79

Met a quechua while exploring Tarkeel's city of Marblehead, then found SD's borders. That's 3 players in 3 turns; I'm hoping they're going for Mathematics while I get Metal Casting done. It looks like Superdeath borders Tarkeel to the south.



Superdeath (Charlemagne, IMP/PRO) of Inca (Quechua/Terrace)

Charlemagne is good, guys. Like, 'Top 5 CtH' leaders good. He's got such obvious synergy, between settling cities fast and paying for them immediately, and it works as advertised. For example, Vanrober played a great game with Charlemagne in PB56. Inca we've never really seen (sorry Grillo/AT   ),  so it'll be interesting to see how they do; in theory, the terraces should also see Superdeath ahead early. I think this pick will be great at out-expanding the field, but if it doesn't do that Superdeath is pretty screwed.

Superdeath himself, well... it's interesting. I'm not inclined to put a blanket 'Superdeath doesn't improve,' or 'is bad,' like I've seen some people do. I think it's unkind and unfair; comparing Superdeath now to some of his early games, there's a big difference. To me, I think where Superdeath needs improvement is in his recognition of game states, and his own strengths/weaknesses. For example, in PB58 Superdeath has an aggressive leader/civ combo. He started next to us, and when we were attacked by AT ~T100, we were total sitting ducks for a SD invasion from the north (I'm glad he didn't though!). Instead, he's stayed at peace for ages, and gradually stagnated thanks to his early-game traits. I see patterns like this play out a lot for SD (in PB54, the opposite happened; he rushed someone with Darius). Anyway, that's my two cents; take it with a grain of salt.  As far as this game, I imagine he and Tarkeel will fight at some point, over pent-up aggression from 58 if nothing else (Tarkeel also just settled some jungle in-between them). It will be interesting to see who wins...