(October 28th, 2022, 15:05)Woden Wrote: I have to work out the timing but I think can get a 50/50 chance at boosting Buttress right about the time we will need it. The other tech will be Castles, so not a bad boost if we get it either, as it unlocks Medieval Walls, which will make our cities pretty much impervious to longboats. Other constraints will be getting through Feudalism, building 3 archers, and building an aqueduct, all of which I play on doing.
Maybe I can get three archers and research down machinery to help. I will already have 1 archer built anyways. If it frees up your tech path a bit, let me know. I cannot hope to get the buttress boost, so specialization suggests you should do what you need to to get that, and I can help get the other stuff.
No need for you to go after Machinery, all I need is the boost and once you finish Archery, I will 1-turn it after the era change and plan on spanning archers for a while. Will have more than 3. I am not building any wonder, the 1st GS gives the boost to Math (which I will get anyways when I build my IZ) and a boost to 1 medieval tech. I can get all the Medieval tech boosts except Castles and Buttresses, which gives me a 50/50 chance. We will have to plan our research strategy for both techs and civics after the era change.
For civics, you should let me research Drama and Games and Rec and give you the boost. My culture will start to rise soon, as I am putting more and more mines down and once I spend the next 6 turns getting 3 settlers out, 4 turns for another builder, and 4 turns for the IZ (17 turns), I will be 2-turning galleys and archers for the foreseeable future. In addition, my City 2 will build galleys and archers after the AH and a builder. I should be able to get both done before you need the boosts and waste any research. Then once those are done, I plan on hitting Diplomatic Service and Recorded History. I figure you can following me there too unless you get the boost for Recorded History on your own or Thrawn declares on us and we get the boost for Diplomatic Service. Once you can and if you can keep up with me in culture (possibly if I am researching the un-boosted civics), you research Civil Service while I research Feudalism. I can plan to have Civil Service done right after you or even have it complete when I get the boost so we can get a military alliance ASAP. That will be our next goal. Then after that I will race to Exploration for Press Gangs.
For techs, I will need you to follow me to Buttresses and finish it the turn I do so I can pass the boost to you and you can start Cartography. If it is done right, you won't waste science, since the boost is given on my turn, so your research will be applied after and any left over will overflow. I won't be able to boost Cartography, since I won't even have Celestial Navigation then. So, I will need you to research Cartography while I head towards Military Engineering and niter. That way, once you finish Cartography, I can and go after Square Rigging for Frigates. We are going to need lots of money for upgrades. I will have to see where my cities are, I might need to do CN if I have space for Harbors.
I think we can get all this done by T80-T90. Once we hit Cartography, the Vikings advantage diminishes greatly and we will have a game of it.
I figured you might be going after a wonder given all your IZ will net you an engineer. I take it the GE will be claimed too far in advance to make the boost timely?
The rest sounds good. I think for now, and after archery, I will research a number of techs down to 1 turn, starting with shipbuilding. That will keep my district costs from rising. The only one I am tempted to finish sooner is irrigation for more amenities, but even then, I do not yet have the tiles to build amenities anyways.
Turn 49-Gaul
Bad news, Zanzibar completed a galley and now has a DS of 33 with it in the city...
Probably better to retreat and heal and hope it leaves the city. Your ships won't have enough health to kill it with the galley in the city, at least not until you get into Oligarchy.
Internationally, another city state bits the dust and I think it was Thrawn again. His empire score is now 60. I start my assault on Ngazargamu and do 57 damage with 2 attacks. Next turn I get 3 attacks and should be able to kill the city the following turn. If not, I will have a fresh galley there the turn after that could finish the job.
Settler and Government Plaza finish next turn. City 2 will start the Ancestral Hall and the capital will chop out another settler that should only need 1 turn of production. Trade route completed and I reset from City 2 to capital to help get the AH out quicker. Should be done on T60.
This was honestly kind of a bad news turn all around for me. Yes Zanzibar got a galley out, so I pulled back to go heal. I will come back with full strength gallies and oligarchy. I did use my full health galley to go scout out around Zanzibar. There is a new continent up here which is good news for me, since I get free stuff every time I settle on a new continent. That is the last of the good news for the turn though.
Internationally, someone is making 3 GA points a turn. This has to be Incurian, only Phoenicia would be able to get three of their harbors out so fast. I will still get the first GA, but I may not get the second. Sort of a shame as the first GA is not great. I mean I will get more RND down so it is not the end of the world.
The worst news of the turn is that the barb scout moved closer to Leeds and therefore my trader. The timing is such that I suspect the scout will pillage the trader next turn. That is a significant loss. I tried to salvage this by eliminating the barb camp, to encourage the scout to suicide on Leeds instead. However the spearman in the camp was left with a sliver of HP instead. Nothing I can do about that. I need the gold I will get to buy the tile for the government plaza, so it will be a little while before I can replace the trader. I also shifted Leed's tiles around to get it to grow next turn. That will bump it to size 4 just as writing is done. I can switch back to full production mode after.
Turn 50-Gaul
Turn finally came after a few days. I hit Ngazargamu with 3 strikes and got a few good rolls, doing 118 damage to the city center. City has 48 health left, 68 next turn. Two attacks should kill it. One of my galleys was left with only 21 health but I don't think it will attack out with a redlined galley. It will get hit by the archer but should survive...
Also, they built a builder and as long as he doesn't move out this turn, I will have a builder to mine a few hills. Elsewhere, the GP finishes at City 2 and I start the Ancestral Hall. A settler completes at my capital and I start another. I put a forest and jungle chop into it and it will finish next turn....
Nothing of note that I could tell internationally but I really haven't been tracking it much.
Ok some good news. Frist off it seems London was within 6 tiles of the barb camp. The camp site itself was indexed to zero. That means I get +3 points rather than +2 bringing me to 13. I have the following for sure
+1 from PP
+2 from government
+2 from suzerain
+1 GA
+3 splendid campus
Which is 22 points, if I can find 1 more, that is a golden age. Again from last time the options are:
+2 if conquering Zanzibar (which is on a new continent) counts for "A city is placed on a continent you have not yet settled."
+2 if I get the GA, and use her with a galley to kill a barb or city state galley (Admiral Defeats Enemy)
+1 if we run into 1 one other civ
+1 if I can get the second classical GA before the era ends (takes 15 turns after I am done with the current GA, given current districts, maybe using faith or money could help)
+1 if I find a natural wonder
+3 if I am the first to find a natural wonder
Other good news is that the barb scout did not kill my trader. Also since I cleared the camp the scout should likely suicide on London this turn. Might take an additional turn, in which case the settler will need to stand around until the scout is done. Slinger is on its way back to London to upgrade in 7 turns. I also finished writing so bought 1 tile to get the campus space for Leeds and also laid London's campus. I will start working on that campus next turn when the settler is done. After that likely a lighthouse for the trade route and food.
FYI, your T49 post shows 12 turns until you earn your GA, so T61. The 10 turn counter did start this turn, which means you get your GA the turn after the new era starts. Your best bet is to find a couple of other civilizations. You should send you galley by Zanzibar east/NE and I will send one or 2 of mine north/NW, once I kill Ngazargamu next turn. We should stumble somebody, maybe a couple of players.
Sounds good. I might be able to also grab the GA a turn early if needed too as a back up, but lets look for others for now. I have been scouting up around Zanzibar, I will head west next.
My best guess on the cause of this drop in turn pace from TAD is that Thrawn has attacked them and they weren't prepared. TAD has a habit of playing quickly and being impatient when he is engaged in the game but becomes disinterested and painfully slow once his game looks bleak. Also, Ljubljana's post rate has significantly lessened in the past week, which probably means he is starting to lose interest. Probably should have been building ships instead of running religious projects. Japan and Dido can match longboats in strength. Let's hop Inc is building ship instead of something useless.
