[SPOILERS] Magic Science and Nobody Else in Pitboss 66

[Magic Science]

Turn 90 – 625 BC
Q: I constructed The Colossus, but can I protect its home city of Poseidon?
A: Yes, I can.
Fun Fact: The Colossus was immediately worth 7 commerce from Seafood alone.
…

   
The Front.
Plem-adilly did not charge boldly and cleverly forwards with their Chariot(s), so I should be fine. They still pose an immediate threat, but I should be fine.

After this turn, there is no clever way for them to evade my units and reach Poseidon. After next turn, 3 Axemen and 1 Phalanx will arrive in Poseidon, and more units can arrive every turn after that if they need to. Also, Poseidon itself is now free to build more units if absolutely necessary. Plem-adilly has revealed another Chariot now, so I think they have 3, but despite this their opportunity for quick and clever attacks on Poseidon should be over. Poseidon is safe until their main army is healthy again.

However, in the meantime, their little Chariot force is still a problem for my activities in the no-man’s land of “still-uncultured roads”. I want to pillage those 3 dangerous grassland flat roads and connect The Core to The Blob with 2 new roads along the coast instead (planned route labelled with signs), but the Chariots make the pillaging part difficult. And I want to bring the Phalanx and Axeman who were defending the lakeside Workers safely home, but the Chariots might be able to destroy them, especially if there are 2 combat Workers in Demeter to rebuild the road so their 1 healthy Axeman can reach my units as well.

I think their main army should be healthy again on Turn 93 at the soonest, so if it moves out immediately and combat Workers build roads on every neutral tile in its path, then it could attack Poseidon as soon as the first half of Turn 95. I will discover Masonry EOT94 and can arrange overflow in Poseidon to construct a Wall EOT95, and then it should be safe, but that is very close. I think it will be fine. They will probably not move quite as fast they possibly can. Also, Poseidon is in The Core, only 2 tiles from Zeus itself, so I can muster a LOT of Axemen to reinforce if necessary. I think it will be fine.


   
The Blob.
The 4 cities of The Blob are busy working on self-improvement. First construct Granaries, then construct Lighthouses, then just relax and slowly train military units while growing to the happiness cap on cottages and coasts. Apollo is already in that blissful last stage (it will finish the Lighthouse in time without whipping), Artemis will reach it on Turn 95, Hermes on Turn 99, and Hestia on Turn 101 (but I might find a way to be faster in Hestia).

Interesting things:

All 4 of these cities have 5 or more production invested in an Axeman. In each case, even if I am left in peace, I should be able to finish my infrastructure and return to training them just in time to avoid hammer decay.

Apollo (for Fish and grassland), Artemis (for riverside plains), and Hestia (for Marble and Stone) need culture soon. Could it work to use Libraries instead of Monuments for this?

The Blob only ever had 3 forests, and one of them was destroyed when I settled Hermes. None of the cities there have benefited from chops.


   
The Core.
The 4 cities of The Core are busy working on diverse projects.

Poseidon has so many lovely commerce tiles, and I want to work all of them as fast as possible. Those cottages were left fallow(?) for too long during Project Colossus. Ideally, it will use tile production to construct a Lighthouse to upgrade the lake tile to +3 food for total +4 food surplus, then grow to the happiness cap. But I need to invest at least some production in a Wall to bring it into whipping range, and maybe some more in a unit just in case, and then of course even more in both if Plem-adilly actually attacks and forces me to make good on those possibilities.

Zeus and Hera are training 2 units each. I have not decided what they should do after that. Plem-adilly might force them to train even more units, of course, and Zeus MUST continue working that Engineer specialist, and Hera needs to finish its Trireme and Lighthouse soon (let me show you Hera’s city screen next turn, my indecisiveness has made the build queue so silly), but I am otherwise uncertain. They are both languishing under the happiness cap, which makes this more difficult.

Hephaestus: I cannot decide how to improve the tiles around Hephaestus. My original plan was for it to be a productive border stronghold like Demeter was supposed to be. That is why I founded it inland on that hill. However, until its borders expand, it only has 2 hills for mines, and workshops are still weak at this stage. Making this even more complicated is that I have an idea to try to construct the Mausoleum of Msomething in this city (maybe, depending on research rate and Great Engineer outcome), so I want to save the forests for now. Also, I need to save those tiles labelled tiles for farms to irrigate the Corn. Maybe I seriously build lumbermills? Is this what you do in CtH? I suddenly have a surplus of Worker labor, so maybe building improvements only to chop them would be alright.


   
Daggerland.
I should settle this region very soon. It is important. I have the galley and the money now but not the military.
Time is short, so I will talk more about this next turn, or maybe even this turn if GKC takes much longer to play.

[Magic Science]

I want to play a short and simple turn again someday soon. None of them have taken me less than 45 minutes in-game for weeks. That is partially my own fault for being anxious and indecisive over everything, but seriously, I have not experienced a turn of real peace since Turn 68, and it gets exhausting.

[Magic Science]

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCMENT from The Ever-Correct Magic Science Prognostication Department (ECMSPD):
(this is about Gavagai's activities, so it really is a PSA instead of self-aggrandizement)

We formally predict that the Great Scientist born on Turn 88 was born to Gavagai.
Furthermore, we predict that he used that Great Scientist to bulb Mathematics.
Furthermore, we predict that he is even now completing The Pyramids with Mathematics-boosted chops.
Furthermore, we predict that this project will conclude successfully EOT 94.

[Magic Science]

MECHANICS QUESTIONS FOR LURKERS:
   
Question #1: If I settle a city on tile with the “Big Island” sign, and that city expands its borders, and then I improve the island Fur tile with a camp and a road, will Fur be connected to my trade network? Or would I still need to build a fort or found a city on the Fur tile?
Question #2: How often does the power ratio on the scoreboard update? Does it update in real time? At the end of every turn? At a delay like the graphs?

[Magic Science]

Turn 91 – 600 BC
   
Buddhism has finally spread to the Greek Pantheon!  It arrived in both Apollo and Hestia, both of which need culture to claim new resources. Excellent. .

Meanwhile…


   
The Expanded Front.
This screenshot does not show it well, but I have made a terrible mistake. In my head, I categorized the cities of The Blob as “Not Part of The Front” therefore “Not Threatened by Plem-adilly”, but that was wrong. The Still-Uncultured Road from Demeter runs not only to Poseidon, but to The Blob as well. Plem-adilly has 3 healthy Chariots, one with Sentry, on the fogged tile marked “ENEMY”. Those 3 Chariots could move along the Still-Uncultured Road on Turn 92, and choose between attacking Apollo, Artemis, or Hestia on the first half of Turn 93.

Those cities are not safely behind The Front at all! ! They are not just possibly threatened by my amphibian neighbors, but also definitely threatened by the land neighbor that I am at war with right now! !

If the Chariots move to The Blob and fork those cities, I will have no choice but to whip units in Apollo, Artemis, and Hestia. Maybe Hermes too. Then at least Apollo and Artemis will be safe, but Hestia can only whip 1 Axeman to supplement RefSteel I the Poet, so if they choose to attack it, then they will still probably capture it.

I still might not suffer any consequences from this mistake, but it depends on Plem-adilly not recognizing and exploiting the opportunity that I have left for them. Again. How likely is that? They explored The Blob and learned the exact placement of its cities and roads during the enforced peace. That seems so long ago…

…

This continuation of the Fourth Greco-Roman War is so frustrating. Just as I finally improve my economic situation so I can expand again, my military situation deteriorates so I cannot.

...

I am up for Turn 92, so I will again cut this report short. Stay tuned.

[RefSteel]

Question #1: If I settle a city on tile with the “Big Island” sign, and that city expands its borders, and then I improve the island Fur tile with a camp and a road, will Fur be connected to my trade network? Or would I still need to build a fort or found a city on the Fur tile?

Resources on one-tile islands can be connected to your trade network only when a city or fort-in-your-culture is placed on them. A regular tile improvement gets the yield but not the resource.

Question #2: How often does the power ratio on the scoreboard update? Does it update in real time? At the end of every turn? At a delay like the graphs?

The power ratio on the scoreboard works exactly like the graphs: It's a numerical representation of the ratio displayed in graphic form on the graphs themselves (for the most recent turn they show only).

[Magic Science]

Thank you, RefSteel.

And your Axeman has been given the title "the Poet".

[Magic Science]

Turn 93, they captured something of mine that caused me to lose 15 points. So at least it cannot be Poseidon. Artemis?

[Magic Science]

Yes Artemis. Maybe Poseidon soon. Will I even survive to Turn 150? This is my worst game yet.

[Magic Science]

Turns 92 to 94 – 575 to 525 BC
   
The situation is dire.
On Turn 95, Plem-adilly can attack Poseidon with 2 Praetorians, 4 Axemen, and 5 Chariots.
Turn 96, 2 more Axemen.
Turn 97, 1 more Axeman, and maybe more from the dim fog.
And many of their units Shock or worse, and there are 3 combat Workers lurking (1 of those Workers is mine. I used some to desperately scout, and some were captured).

On Turn 95, I can defend with 2 Phalanxes, 4 Axemen, and 1 Warrior behind Walls.
On Turn 96, 2 more Axemen.
On Turn 97, 1 more Axeman.
None of my units are promoted, and few are well-fortified.
So, the situation is dire. I think they will capture Poseidon.


   
The Greek Pantheon in the World.
(Oh yeah, they captured Artemis on Turn 93. They got me with my own favorite tactic: an amphibious attack. 2 Praetorians off a Galley from the fog vs.1 unfortified Phalanx. Just like with Demeter, there were units with invested production in the queue and surplus population remaining when it happened. I knew this could happen; I saw their Galley a while ago. I was so careless with Artemis. What a terrible way to die).

How did everything go so wrong so quickly? Well, it was a dark and stormy night (where I live), and it happened like this…
• My economy crashed too hard, too soon. I discovered all the basic improvement technologies, then Sailing EOT 60, then Metal Casting EOT 78, then Masonry just last turn EOT 93, and nothing else all game long. The key is that Plem-adilly discovered Iron Working for Praetorians, and I discovered nothing to counter that. If Demeter had Walls, they would never have captured the city. If Demeter had a Monument and expanded borders, that may have made the difference. If I had Archers, likewise (use Archers for The Blob, and send more Copper units north). I think this could have been prevented by building cottages on the riverside grassland tiles by Zeus instead of waiting to build farms to feed specialists in the distant future, and arranging to build The Colossus in a city other than Poseidon so it could work those cottages. Alternate Coastal Hephaestus could have done it instead by the same date, I think.
• I badly mismanaged my production because I badly underestimated how much Plem-adilly wanted from me in this extended round of warring. Remember: ON TURN 85, THEY OFFERED ME A BINDING PEACE TREATY. And I laughed and turned them down! I thought that offer meant the war couldn’t be anything more than a skirmish for them. You don’t plan a war of conquest and then offer a binding Peace Treaty to your target on the eve of battle, right? I still don’t understand this. Was it a brilliant or lucky ploy all along? But why? Anyway, because of that, there were 2 or 3 less units in Demeter then there could have been if I had understood the danger and whipped properly. Then the same thing happened again, but all across the Pantheon. For these past few turns, I figured that the earlier Peace Treaty offer meant that they couldn’t be planning to go any farther, so they were just at war still to scare me away from settling the border region. All I had to do was not leave them any stupid easy openings. Which I failed to do . WRONG. Their power was still growing rapidly, so this was just stupid wishful thinking. What happened to my paranoia? I used to be so paranoid. So I lost Artemis when it could have held with proper whipping, and now the same thing is about to happen to Poseidon. It was only last turn that I finally forgot about domestic considerations and turned entirely to war production. Not “How can I get by with as few defenders as possible to maximize growth, my real concern?” but “How can I maximize defenders to survive at all, no matter the cost, because defeat is near?
• Maybe something about Hera’s Dream? I have been so indecisive with my southern Galley, just moving her back and forth futilely ever since the end of the First Greco-American War. Surely, I could have found something better for her to do, like sailing north to Artemis? I considered that.
• Maybe something about a Horse resource? Plem-adilly would never have gotten away with this unit composition if I had a Horse for Chariots. But what could I have done differently? Considering different dotmaps and founding orders is such a complicated web of counterfactuals, but surely there must have been something.
• Many other smaller things that go unmentioned, some of which also go unknown. These games are so much more complicated than my reports convey. All the thoughts, even all the things that actually happen. My thread is just the tip of the iceberg.

…

They will capture Poseidon on Turn 95. I never did rigorously analyze my chance of victory like I said I would, but that at least will be a sure sign of defeat. That loses me my best asset, The Colossus, and disconnects The Core from The Blob by land and sea. It also loses me my native Copper, but I have another 1 at Apollo and another another 1 from Mjmd, so that should be fine for now.

After that, well there is nothing to do but keep whipping Axemen and supplementary Phalanxes for now. Whip to the bone and then to the marrow. I think that this round of war will not eliminate me, not quite, but I could be wrong, and it will cripple me at least. Plem-adilly can then easily wait until Catapults to eliminate my last strongholds in the most efficient fashion. They have Writing already, and their economy is fine.

The extra goal will be to prolong the end, of course. I can try to found cities on Pig Island, in the Archipelago, and in Daggerland. Then my last strongholds will be scattered across different water bodies, and some on miserable 1-tile islands. I can try to research Machinery (via Great Engineer, if Zeus survives to my half of Turn 98. It wouldn’t be best for me or fair to the field to gift Plem-adilly The Pyramids, even though it would be fun to own them for a moment, though that really should be moot anyway, I mean seriously, EOT 98?), Iron Working, and Archery for Crossbowmen to be my final defenders. I can try to research Feudalism for Longbowmen as the ultimate final goal, but that seems impossible.

I can try to never give up, never surrender. We will see how that goes. Maybe I can start reporting about my exploration again if the situation at home is, uh, “simplified”. . I met Gin-guelito last turn! Only 1 to go! That will cheer me up.

Oh well. Any questions? I do know many things about the wider world that may be unreported elsewhere, for as little good as it will do me.

EDIT: