[PB 64] Ginger plays as Charlemagne, famed man of letters

[Ginger()]

So the target for the GE is Great Library?

No, beakers are rarer than hammers and I have marble. I plan to bulb Feudalism with the Engineer, but I’m going to hope that it acts as a deterrent for competition so I’ll delay the bulb for a while. Bonus for the bluff/claim is that my techs are public since I researched Alphabet, so if I can step to Aesthetics, no one should follow.

[Ginger()]

   
   
Quests done,
Engineer birthed,
Knuckles cracked. etc.
After hiring scientists next turn, Golden Age is due 131. 
Now I'm going to twiddle my thumbs while I stockpile gold. The total economy after maintenance is about 70% wealth builds, so not sustainable, but at least it's working. This recovery was really only made possible by the luxury resource trade shenanigans, helped by Gavagai and Naufragar. (And Commodore's tribute)

[Magic Science]

I love that you really chose the +1 food option for that quest.

How many mills of all sorts do you have in your empire?

[Ginger()]

I love that you really chose the +1 food option for that quest.

How many mills of all sorts do you have in your empire?

Well, the stables were always a hammer sink; when I built most of them, it was before I had Alphabet to build Research. Units would've further tanked the economy (was spending 20 gpt on units at one point) and I didn't think I would make progress before Cats, so it wasn't worth building them, even if I will eventually need military police for Hereditary rule. 
So, it was a way to store production and either pop out several HA at a later date or get a small bonus for my troubles. Had I been able to build/whip GNP instead, I would've done it. The map, while it has a respectable density of food resources, is very hilly, so the bonus is not shabby.  

I'll have 7 lumbermills next turn, 1/3/1 or 2/2/1 are very nice tiles, and it's that extra commerce from Machinery that really tips them into relevance vs chop & cottage. Up until 4 turns ago (went up to 9 cottages), they were my most numerous non-resource tile improvement. non-resource mines are third at 4 total. 
Windmills are something of a bust, I'm realizing how essential serfdom (and by extension being Spiritual) is to them, and I've only built 2 and only worked them when they break past a Forge threshold. When you're happy capped, the comparison to mines becomes even less rosy, although they are better than mines for golden ages.

[Ginger()]

Plans are to launch golden age in 6 turns, and revolt to HR and Serfdom, with Vassalage/Theocracy and a possible return to Slavery at the end of it. I will be building the Shwedagon Paya in Dune to unlock Theocracy and one monastery in Pillars to build the remaining 5 missionaries I need. The choice of city is because the culture will be most useful in either Dune or Embassytown (my two border cities), but only Dune has enough production to finish it before the end of the Golden Age. Might build Parth in Embassytown if Gorbachev hits 4th ring and takes the diagonal tile 2SE of Embassytown.
I think I will be skipping Code of Laws for a long time, don't need Caste with Nat Epic/Great Lib and maintenance is low with 8 cities, and no courts + forges all finished means there's little use for Organized Religion beyond saving me one Monastery worth of trouble.

Hmm now that I think of it, between Heroic Epic, National Epic, Parth(?), one Monastery, and possibly ToA in the capital, it might be worth using Organized Religion. But I don't want an anarchy turn to have to switch back to Theo once I start cranking units again. Although after Guilds I'll probably try to hit Banking and will need a civic swap then... so maybe OR and then Theo and Merc double swap? Ehh. not the most terribly consequential dilemma but frustrating to solve.

Edit:
It's funny trying to shake out how I'll work this predicament with Imp/Pro. I read players saying that traits like SPI and PHI require planning to effectively utilize, but I find the opposite to be true. While they *do* require slow setup and out-of-the-way tech paths, Golden Ages or civic swaps on demand make long term planning *less* important and allow you to be more flexible to changes. My 2c

I've decided for Theo in the end because it allows me to get a level 4 unit without attaching my GG, and instead just settling him in Dune (Heroic Epic slated after Paya). Also, I may not get the luxury of choosing when I go to war, so while Theocracy might cut the theoretical maximum output of my empire vs Org Rel, it's a good hedge to make.

[Mjmd]

Are you in organized right now? I always like organized during golden ages if I'm not in a war.

[Ginger()]

I could research it before the Golden Age, and it is +60 gold for Monastery and a prereq in Monarchy, so maybe maybe it’s worth the beakers? But the whole point of Paya was to save me from tech going Mono-Theo. You bring up a good point about modifying GA hammers, but I still think I’ll largely be building wealth everywhere.

[Mjmd]

For some reason I just assumed you had already, but ya building Paya it may not make sense to research. /shrug. I love doing it, when I'm not in a hot war lol.

[Ginger()]

   
It seems Commodore is back, with a vengeance... and two catapults...   
His 7 HA are a little more consequential, but I *think* only 1 has promos. 

He's probably angling to move in on the hill north of Dune, but I can block that by splitting my stack, as he won't get odds on the city after walls get built. I'll resume construction of the Shwedagon Paya next turn, plus whip a Phalanx in Dosadi in case he gets frisky and tries to end-run with the HA. 
I swapped 3 cities to unit builds with saved overflow, they'll go back to wealth next turn as well.

[Ginger()]

Well Commodore razed my little Hamlet then sent peace, which I of course accepted, truth be told I find it a little strange. I suppose 10 turns ago I tried to extract more money from him for his city back so this is just a natural continuation of that, but if he wanted to inflict pain on me, why pull back?
I clearly signaled I didn't care to fight when I burned the road on the choke strip*. So this could've been an email. Just war-peace when the treaty runs out, keeping your stack inland. Maybe he wanted to burn that Hamlet and force me to whip/sink production into military.
I know Amica declared war on him before he declared on me, but if they're tussling or war-peacing over Comm's island empire, I doubt that influences the direction of his mainland stack.

*I just realized I could've trolled him by placing a sacrificial unit on the forest hex, so if he declared war, he'd be bounced back into his own territory, and I could've gained a prep turn like that (not that I ended up needing it, all productions were one-turned before wealth was turned back on, since I'm so desperately dependent on MFG->GNP conversion).

The main takeaway though is that I can probably expect something similar, with more catapults and Horchers, in 10 turns at the end of my golden age (launches in 3). I really wanted to go Poly->Lit->Guilds, but I might have to detour for Math->Construction for catapults of my own. While PRO Xbows/Lbows, Phalanxes, and hilled cities means that Embassytown and Dune are safe from a frontal assault, I realize I'm vulnerable to Gav or Comm's stack simply walking past my defenses and burning the countryside if I don't have catapults. Gav is ages from Construction, but the lumbermills I have around Embassytown and Revelation Space are a unique vulnerability to some kind of creeping attack or choke.

Teching math does open me up for Music, but I still think Nauf could contest with his Darius/Sumeria nonsense GNP.
I think the biggest winner of the Gav/Nauf-Amica war is probably Nauf? Amica will probably fend both off with access to Cats, but GA whipping must be a kick in the pants. I can't fault Gav given that his options are limited** and the writing is very much on the wall for both him and Nauf if Amica gets a free build, but I don't see a future where Gav doesn't crumble before Nauf's better tech if Amica can't counterweight.

**Well, he limited those options with his early aggression, but with the hand he's dealt himself, this is the only way forward.

In other news, I recently learned that tech prerequisite/KTB multipliers work differently than production's and I could've set up some truly massive overflow out of Masonry, but I missed that opportunity, I'll keep it in mind for future games though.