[SPOILERS] Roland and Suboptimal Team Up

[roland of gilead]

On my many trips to Scotland I've heard of two solutions for a rough night.  Scotch and Buck Fizz.  Not taken together, mind you, unless it was really rough.

i went for fruit juice and sleep. Worked fairly well. 

wasn't sober until lunchtime on Sunday frankly. 

turn still hasn't made it to me....

[roland of gilead]

Turn 125 finally arrived.

First things first i lost a Quad that was wandering about down around the north of that Niter. It appears to have been one shoted which must be a Caravel i think. So we have some trouble roaming about round this area.



Next up the bruise brothers have a deal for us. I don't accept you can always offer them a deal on your turn if you like.



Square rigging is in and reveals some other stuff. I start on cartography but may delay it's completion if possible to build galleys.



i swap policys to maximise gold and military.



Completed the harbour at startfish. for more gold. Up to about 150 a turn for now.



This is strange and annoying. Why can't i upgrade in Sub's territory.



I do get to upgrade 1 frigate.

[suboptimal]

Turn 125

Square Rigging’s eureka came in but the tech didn’t complete. I resume that tech for completion next turn and will use the overflow into Cartography. More importantly I am no longer suzerain of Valetta – Marcopolo is up to 7 envoys there. The good news is that I will be in two more turns as I get two natural envoys and can retake suzerainty. Elsewhere my swordsman and knight were destroyed by a Russian frigate and Aussie crossbow.

Shift some units around at home and on Big Island. The Aussie galley has disappeared. Archers have reached their destination cities. Jong goes out for a 3-tile look, finds nothing, returns home. I pull the trigger at Under African Skies and buy a 6-charge builder for 110. I’ll have the settler purchase ready in four turns. Swordsman embarks at Midway and it turns out that was a bad idea:




I think that’s going to embark and return to Big Island to heal up. That also means that I don’t need a settler purchase over there because, well, I’m not clearing that mess any time soon. Instead I buy a trader now and will buy another builder on Big Island in two turns and then take out Serfdom with the upcoming policy change. There’s a trade route from Al to Wodi(n) and it’s worth 161 and should be relatively safe for the time being. In good news, Fifty Ways is now picking the southern forest, which provides a swappable tile with Skies.

In Australia, Confucius has been returned to Demak Sultanate once more. I head 2SE of the city to scout some more:




I’m willing to bet that the city will only be mine for a few more turns. Once the frigates get here that man-at-arms will take the city and Australia will get 10 turns of production goodness. To the east my chariot moves to the middle of the desert. I’m sure it’s just a matter of time before the courser or crossbow hunt me down. Yet further east, Marcopolo has landed his prophet. I travel east and run into a Russian writer. The good news is that he can’t continue to shadow me – everything east is coastal and I’d send him home. I think I may cut northeast once I pass The Compassionate Society’s longitude. CMF might be sending a frigate east to intercept and if I can pick my way northeast I can get up to the known Phoenician coast.

Galleys complete at Al this turn, Good Time next turn. Going to send the two galleys currently at Good Time west for eventual upgrades.

In outside news, Kaiser has constructed a Theater Square somewhere – he’s generating GWAM points. CMF continues not to do so.

[roland of gilead]

Didn't have time to do my report before leaving for work but Phonecia has declared on England.

[suboptimal]

I didn't get to read your turn report before doing the turn. Looks like our read on Bruise & Red/White was correct. I'll DoF Phoenicia on my turn, as well as extend one to Red/White (Kaiser, since the one with Archduke is still valid) in order to extend that one further. They can fight while we deal with F-Crew (cmF and mptF).

Your quad wasn't one-shotted since the killing galley only did 14 points of damage - the two galleys that killed mine are likely there and they'd be able to two-shot a quad. There could also be a frigate in the area. The Russians are either scouting with their galley or are going to approach Hearts & Bones from the somewhat "safer" west (a southern approach is suicide, imho).

I don't get why you can't upgrade in my territory unless this is another instance of the game decided that "friendly territory" only constitutes your own territory and that of suzerained city-states. I suggest you move that quad north immediately, form up your navy and prepare for battle. We'll both have Cartography in 5-6 turns. The overflow I'm getting from Square Rigging takes two turns off my completion time so I should have it in 5 if the numbers are tracking right.

[roland of gilead]

Good news is i can still build quads as long as i have no niter.

with my economy i can rattle them out and upgrade with our combined niter. Niter is going to be our limiting factor but i can upgrade a quad every 2 turns.

i have 9 now with 2 building. i can get 7 or 8 up to frigates in 2 turns and still have cash for you.

the other thing is i only need to be at 19 niter to do this. i can actually transfer niter to you and que up quads then get it back to upgrade.

[roland of gilead]

question do we consider peace with russia (unlikely to accept but we can ask.) and look to take over norway?

[suboptimal]

Hmmm....regarding niter I've got a little spare capacity (at 30 right now) so you can bleed off some to me if you need to.

As for peace with Russia I suppose you could ask. He'll likely reject or, at a minimum, go to me and ask for his cities back plus a hefty fee for deleting half of Australia. However, I think he's out for a bit of revenge as he has (or thinks he has) the upper hand. In addition to caravels I'm looking at some potential land unit upgrades at Big Island in case Russia shows up with a landing party.

There are two sides to not giving Bruise a DoF and considering taking Norway:

- the up side is that we take Norway and/or cripple another weak civ
- the down side is that Phoenicia doesn't fully commit against Red/White because of the backline threat and gets crushed in the upcoming battle.

Now, granted, Ljubljana might still get crushed against Archduke but I think if those two teams are fully committed to each other that's likely better for us long-run, so I lean towards the DoF. It also gives us a nearby trading partner for big routes. Woden's development has been uncharacteristically slow and though he's slowly catching up he's still behind and will likely still be behind in 30 turns. I also noticed that he and Ljubljana are also sharing space with Russia south of Rapa Nui so that might naturally lend themselves to some conflict down the line.

[roland of gilead]

That all seems fair enough. Russia may see my upgrades and feel more reasonable. Up to you. on your turn offer Russia peace with no concessions or friend us up with Bruise brothers.

I have asked you for niter which i will spend on upgrades wiping us both out for now.

Can you look at where my quads and Frigates are and see what you think is a sensible plan for attack or defense.

[roland of gilead]

Turn 126

CMF taking Valletta provides me a headache or some opportunities perhaps.



can kill it next turn. Might upgrade a frigate and go shoot at valetta a bit for experience.

Recruit and use this GM for gold.



This bad boy is off my coast. Still traumatized



Gies your niter Sub.



i upgraded a few Quads and moved others back towards my territory to upgrade.

i wonder if i can't at big island as those citys haven't been ceeded yet.