[PB58] Tarkeel and Amicalola's rule through fear

[Tarkeel]

Turn 224-225 (1575 AD)
The turns haven't exactly been flying past, but there hasn't been much interesting to report. Jowy is still up to something, but the entire eastern seaboard of our core now has machine guns defending, and next turn we'll start drafting rifles. SD researched Constitution last turn, and while we've lost research vision on him, we expect him to go for Corporation next, and then probably AssemblyLine.

The economy is decent; we're forced to turn it down to 40% to spread MinInc, but once Coruscant completes the WallStreet (and a grocer afterwards), it should look better.





We're still churning out some ships and defenders, but are also pushing infrastructure.


Here's a closer look on some of our cities:

Alderaan; once a peaceful commerce city that now can churn out economic infrastructure.

Corulag; has always been decent, but is now helping to spread MinInc.

Nal Hutta; finally has gotten some tiles to grow fat on.

Carida; fishing village turned into shipyard.

Kirdo III; growing back from the war, and will help spread MinInc in the south.

Corellia; once of the main prizes from the war, soon finishes ironworks.

Gall; once of the last cities founded, but still manages to be a productive member of the Empire.

Rendili; the other city we founded to fill out unclaimed tiles, also growing up nicely.

Speaking of MinInc, we've spread it to 8 cities in total so far, and it seems to be giving us 1.5 hammers per excess resource, instead of the 0.75 promised by civpedia. Costs are about 12g per city, which is the breakeven point when Coruscant has WallStreet and grocer (Kirdo and Yavin don't have courthouses yet).

[Lazteuq]

What is your thinking on courthouses? Considering that you're ORG and have a corporation, do you just automatically spam them everywhere, or is it still a calculated choice?
I've only been part-time lurking this game, sorry if I'm being ignorant.

Also, 44 cities is kind of insane. That's got to be the biggest empire RB has seen in the past year, right?

[Tarkeel]

Every city has been getting a courthouse, it's mainly been a choice of when in the build order it comes. Typically we've been building monasteries (until recently), temples, granaries, forges and then courthouses. Most of the cities then get libraries, barracks and barays before going on unit duty.

Corporations make courthosues extra important, as they almost double the cost of the city.

[Amicalola]

It feels like for a lot of the game, we’ve been joking about building too many buildings, but then we both keep wanting them anyway. It’s just so satisfying watching the demos improve!

FWIW on the map size, I totally agree with some of the returning vets that the bigger map is way more fun than the smaller ones we’ve used recently. Maybe it would get old, but it’s very refreshing. The huge number of cities and space is a big plus in my book, and one of a few reasons that this map is amazing.

[Charriu]

FWIW on the map size, I totally agree with some of the returning vets that the bigger map is way more fun than the smaller ones we’ve used recently. Maybe it would get old, but it’s very refreshing. The huge number of cities and space is a big plus in my book, and one of a few reasons that this map is amazing.

[Tarkeel]

Turn 225, Part Deux
We interrupt your scheduled programming to bring you this news bulletin:


Free speech is going to be annoying in the border with Jowy, but he's not running slavery (and can't run nationalism) so he has no current method for rushing. If we were looking for a fight, this would be the opportunity to strike. State property means that he can't take advante of MinInc even if we wanted to spread it to him. Free speech is more baffling, I would suspect OrgRel to push infrastructure.


An updated look at demographics shows that we're still ahead in GNP (barely, Jowy's saving gold) and MFG (comfortably).

[Mjmd]

Large maps are nice because you get to develop nicely and in peace, but they have some downsides.
1) Time management later in the game (even if you aren't super serious).
2) People who can execute an early snowball can get WAY ahead.
3) Interacting across such large distances is hard especially in the early game.
4) I would say it makes certain traits and civs A LOT worse, which is limiting.

Not that I'm opposed, but just to give some food for thought.

[Amicalola]

Large maps are nice because you get to develop nicely and in peace, but they have some downsides.
1) Time management later in the game (even if you aren't super serious).
2) People who can execute an early snowball can get WAY ahead.
3) Interacting across such large distances is hard especially in the early game.
4) I would say it makes certain traits and civs A LOT worse, which is limiting.

Not that I'm opposed, but just to give some food for thought.

I think this is interesting, and you make some good points. I agree with most of them!  

1) I think this is by far the one I agree the most with. We spend an hour per turn now, combined, despite being in peacetime. So for people who like to check every little minutiae every turn (Noble comes to mind), I could definitely see that being a problem.

2) That makes sense. For whatever reason, it didn't happen in this game though.  For the 1st 100 turns it looked like Serdoa was going to win in a cakewalk, but then he stagnated for unknown reasons. Meanwhile we looked like dead men walking. Then it looked like Jowy would do the same, but Superdeath's attack slowed him back with the pack. Finally, we now look like the snowballing monster, but a committed dogpile could still send us reeling by starving all of our cities (they have another 10? ish turns to do something before we'll be too far ahead). I don't know fully why, but this game had some amazing rises and falls. 

3) I don't necessarily think this is bad, but I like building.  But AT's war against us was somewhat early, and Jowy/Ruff/Serdoa seemed to have some skirmishing, so it wasn't like the game was a total sandbox either (unless you were named Superdeath   ).

4) This is the only point I disagree with (that it's a problem, not that it happens), because small maps do the same. You know how IMP is basically just The Best Trait on our recent small maps? Not this one! Or how ORG is too slow when you're fighting over your second city? Not here! Meanwhile EXP is much better here, because you actually have time to use your granaries to settle faster cities, instead of the IMP leaders stealing your land first. I think differently sized maps will always have different 'trait-metas,' and that's not really good or bad.

[Mjmd]

I mean I think there is a spectrum of sizes and traits ect certainly change based on size. No one would even think of picking aggressive on a large map though vs someone may still want organized on a 100 tiles / player map.

PB 4 is a descent read for a large size game. Sulla played under an alias but started on opposite side from eventual winner. Had an early game knock out despite distance. Was still full diplo so lots of drama. Ect Ect.

[Tarkeel]

Turn 226-228 (1590 AD)
We've got a few infantry defending our borders now, and the first two factories are online in Corulag and Mon Calamari. Both cities will hit 100 hpt once their coal plants complete. Coruscant completed WallStreet and we're back to making decent money at 50%, having just two-turned Fascism for the free general and working on three-turning Combustion. Jowy has turned on the wick and has a GNP of 3.1K, but that's researching Constitution as the last player alive to do so.

Edit: Here's our economy post WallStreet: