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

[Magic Science]

Colossus obsoletes, let's have a look at what doesn't...

Galleons?

[Cornflakes]

Colossus obsoletes, let's have a look at what doesn't...

Sistine Chapel?

[Ginger()]

Galleons are excellent for burning down someone's empire but Civac's warned me, and I agree, that they're not too great at delivering enough units to fight off someone's main stack and actually conquer, and we just saw how inferior unit quality is made up for by collateral and quantity. Besides, what I need to do is conquer. I need to claim more land and get out of the stupid box the map put me in.

Sistine Chapel has the problem that Culture victories as opposed to the usual domination/tech/concession wins are possible only A) after Liberalism and Free Speech, and B) industrial era defensive miltech. Railroads/Artillery etc. Otherwise you become food if they don't want to concede to you.

   

This is the plan 
The capital alone would generate 40 more bpt from this civic, after Mercantilism, 9*3 is another 27 passive beakers. There is a holy shrine on this map and it sits in Gorbachev.
Arriving at this plan was fairly simple, if I've got water to the north and south, and I can't make progress going west, well boys, we're going east. Because we're going somewhere. I can't afford to twiddle my thumbs until Rifling or MilTrad. 
I had dismissed it out of hand initially because it's mind-numbingly dumb given that both SD and Gav's stacks put mine and Commodore's to shame. But I don't have that many options left so some things I just gotta accept and pray that they'll mutually combust. 

I wish I had still had my army, but as they say, you get knocked down, and you get up again, ain't nobody gonna keep you down

[civac2]

Hm, I think Commodore is edible if you have galleons and he does not due to the geography of his realm and his general weakness. You can can possibly cut off parts of his territory by landing blocking stacks but definitely block his sea routes. You will have likely have to burn and resettle cities but only his capital really matters anyway.

You will however have the same problem you had in this war where you needed all of siege, hitters and boats which is tough on 8 9 cities. It also doesn't seem you can generate a scientist for the bulb which would reduce the attack timing by a lot.

[Ginger()]

Hm, I think Commodore is edible if you have galleons and he does not due to the geography of his realm and his general weakness. You can can possibly cut off parts of his territory by landing blocking stacks but definitely block his sea routes. You will have likely have to burn and resettle cities but only his capital really matters anyway.

You will however have the same problem you had in this war where you needed all of siege, hitters and boats which is tough on 8 9 cities. It also doesn't seem you can generate a scientist for the bulb which would reduce the attack timing by a lot.

Yes, he probably would be edible (crunchy and sharp, but possibly digestible) in 20 turns if I rebuild and have naval supremacy (which are some hefty assumptions, but not impossible). However, the rewards of such a campaign would not be commensurate to the cost. The payoff is just too low.

I will get another scientist if I stop rolling fugging artists  
I get 4 more great people before we hit the dreaded PHI wall and the costs start exponentiating, and I'll have ~40% odds at a scientist each time. 

Idk my options are cramped but at least the engine is still chugging. Rebuilding that army is going take a while. I lost about 220k, or 22 knights equivalent, and my cities poop out about 1.5 knights a turn. So we're looking at 14 turns of units builds to get back to a stack that wasn't big enough to defeat the weakest player 5 turns ago, or 20 turns prior to the point where I will be. It's just not fun. I could start whipping, but then I lose about 6 gpt and 22 base hpt from Serfdom

[Ginger()]

I mean this game is just so totally scuffed I have no idea what's happening. When does it end? Who will get rifles? This is just, idk I just give up trying to predict the outcome. Amicalola has the easy mass/hammer advantage but I don't see them outteching Naufragar. And I don't see Naufragar successfully invading Amica before Rifles *and* Cannons because his MFG is so atrocious.

And where the hell do I go? I have a unique dichotomy of a Great Person driven tech engine for rapid bursts and a Serfdom-based steady military trickle over time. I genuinely don't know if I should have, or even could have, whipped myself down before invading Commodore. I was already at negative gold at 0% without any whipping. If I had lost 15 coast tiles and several windmills, where would I have been?

We can also see in the power graph that the tilt preventing me from recalling my losses on Galleys and instead sending more troops at Commodore had a decided impact in shoving me lower than Naufragar and Superdeath.

Speaking of, the big news of the turn is that Gavagai pulled the trigger... and disappointment is the word of the day. Gav is shattered, and as wounded and useless as SD's army is this turn, he'll heal. This means that Superdeath should be able to consolidate, which means I have to plan for the *even longer* term. Are we going to build the AP or some shit? This many turns into the game? I would've thought myself stupid, but what the hell else am I supposed to do? Where do I squeeze more from this stinking land? I've grown on all my tiles! Arghhh I don't know how to proceed.

Which leads me to my final prediction for the outcome of the game: apathy
I don't think anyone can develop a decisive advantage because no one has a sustainable economy. Amica or Nauf will get complacent and sleepy and the other will win because everyone's checked out. That's my prediction. Commodore or I might've had a chance if we were Financial leaders, but as is... eegghhh

[Charriu]

Out of curiosity and to confirm my data I looked at your war weariness and resulting unhappiness. Is this statement true. You had:

- 1 unhappiness in every 13+ pop city
- 1 unhappiness in every 17+ pop city with Odeon

during your last war turn with Commodore

[Ginger()]

Out of curiosity and to confirm my data I looked at your war weariness and resulting unhappiness. Is this statement true. You had:

- 1 unhappiness in every 13+ pop city
- 1 unhappiness in every 17+ pop city with Odeon

during your last war turn with Commodore

that is correct. I had no 17pop cities, but my size 13 non-odeon cities were indeed angry


Nothing much to report as the turns tick by, I'm steadily plugging away with my unit builds, but now I've swapped 3 cities to Banks and will swap a 4th to a library (need to specialist slot, too much food in the fishing village), so I expect that recovery rate to fall down for the next ~10 turns. 

I find it deeply ironic and karmically pleasing that Superdeath's gold assistance and stone trade to Commodore has forced me to turn around and go in the only other direction I have, straight into Superdeath.

[Charriu]

Thanks

[Ginger()]

How it started vs how it's going...
   
It's all about perspective