Chevalier Rides Again: A City Lights exploration

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Randoms - 66

Broke down the culture for ljubljana:



4 from Pingala 2
5 from districts (Nan Madol + Monumentality dedication)
5.1 from population 
1 from palace
1 from my amber
2.4 from happiness 

Nan Madol's bonus is repeated in most cities for +2 per city...in 5 other cities, so +10 total, or more than 25% of my culture.

Other players are probably reacting about as well as Sullla did when I pulled this trick in PBEM7.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Weekly map update. Only major changes is early campuses finishing, I met all players, and Bologna has been eaten. 

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Randoms, overview:

The western ocean up to Mordor:



Room for a dozen cities in wild, unclaimed territory.

The eastern ocean, from Indonesia to Scandinavia & Japan:



Norway and Japan are locked in a cold war, with fairly powerful (4-5 ship) galley fleets facing each other down and military units on the land chokepoint. Norway founded a third city last turn while Japan has a settler out, better research rates, and an encampment down. 

If I really wanted to, I could just eat Phoenicia and Indonesia without trouble - I have 6 productive cities to their combined 5 (with occupied Bologna) and vastly superior research. But that's easy and boring so I'll try and outbuild everyone now that England (Gondor) is wiped off the map.

Overview:

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Randoms, turn 78

Latest map, will update at work (PT conferences this week so I have lots of time at work these days):

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Quick hits, not gonna annotate the map this time:

- Science is through the roof and I am quickly grabbing important techs. Currency and Celestial Navigation are in to unlock my Commercial Hubs and Harbors, respectively. I have two good Commercial Hub sites (+6 gold each) and certain eurekas down the tree require two banks or markets as prerequisites, so I will build those. Every other city will get a harbor, which offers gold, production, and housing once fully developed - overall just a stronger district and if this was a more competitive game I wouldn't bother with even the two CHs. Next tech is Apprenticeship whcih will upgrade my mines and unlock a pair of monstrous Industrial Zones which in the late game will cover the entire core of the empire, as well as unlocking more eurekas and inspirations. 
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- Gondorian cities are walling up, with the Limes (+100% production towards walls) slotted. This will serve the dual purpose of warding away Indonesia as well as unlocking the Construction Eureka.

- Engineering is next, which will unlock aqueducts. I have 3 pinned, all meant for enhancing industrial zones in Gondor and in Mordor. 

[color=#333333][size=small][font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]- The Dark Tower is going to finish my Ancestral Hall next turn, which grants a free builder with each new city settled as well as a bonus to building settlers. It will also unlock a new governor title, which I shall spend on Magnus's second promotion, Provision, which enables cities to train settlers without losing a population. I've also gone ahead and slotted the Colonization card, +50% production towards settlers, one turn early, losing two turns of Caravanserais (+2 gold per trade route, ie 4 gold total) in return for one extra turn of boosted production. Everything is set for Barad-Dur to just spam settlers from now until the end of time, pausing only for a moment to place the Commercial Hub at size 7 and then later to polish up infrastructure like libraries and universities. 

- Roughly 10 more turns of production  will see my campus complex finished. All 6 cities will boast a +3 or +4 campus, and that is all doubled with Recorded History, so I can expect science to spike by about another 15 points over the next 10 turns before stabilizing around 60 beakers per turn, more than triple what the Japanese player, my nearest competitor, is making. I will blaze through the tech tree compared to everyone else, but I am starting to feel the pinch of my relative lack of production. My cities build slowly and will continue to do so, but I will find a city to start pumping builders and getting some mines and lumber mills down soonest. 

- Mordor's military is on par with the rest of the world. I have no DoF with Indonesia, but he has 2 cities, has just spent aaaaages (like, 20 turns) building a holy site at city #2, and is presently working on Stonehenge at city #1. Dude is not equipped for an offensive war with his, uh, 8 beakers. Japan might be more of an issue but his and Norway's militaries are mostly built for each other. Phoenicia had a terrible start and is desperately trying to catch up in city count, but will be space limited. I expect he'll compete with me for the western isles, so I may need to think about aggressive action there once our DoF expires in 15 turns or so. p

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Randoms marches on:

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Randoms update:

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Randoms, 92

No major changes since I took the lead decisively. Japan is in #2, and Carthage has clawed into third place with surprisingly strong culture. 



Next major push is for lighthouses and trade routes, while settling the colonies. Will reevaluate after that.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Randoms 94

Major international news as Japan breaks their long cold war and attacks Norway:



Military power is about equal, and Norway should have a decisive edge at sea since he can maneuver on ocean spaces and Japan is still bound to the coast for a while. BUT that means Japan has an edge on land, has a higher base tech rate, and Norway likely has ships scattered exploring while Japan has concentrated his stuff for this push. 

I predict long-term stalemate, but am dispatching an observation boat to the area to monitor things. I am a short ways from Caravels myself and while my gold income can't support upgrades until I get these harbors online, I should be able to get there long before Japan can and could intervene if things tip too far in his favor. 

Biggest issues I have are gold generation and production right now (eg Osgiliath only bringing in 10 production/turn - this is a former capital, nearly on turn 100! Borodino had more than 30 production at this same point). There's not a lot of mines available to easily boost production, but I do have a few forests. So after harbors->lighthouses for growth and trade routes I will do a builder push while Minas Morgul and Osgiliath build their IZs (+3 and +6, respectively). The IZs are long-term solutions, but should cover the entire inner empire in factories. Other possibilities are shipyards and internal trade routes, but that's about it. :/

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

City Lights Game 2: Turn 50

The one-turn-every-two-weeks pace has mostly killed my interest in these games, but worth documenting so I can remember my plans and so we can see city lights play out in the future. Maybe RB could do a City Lights game (but I'd actually prefer we get an Old World or Humankind game started). 



Overview of Equestria. This empire is powered by Desert Folklore Work Ethic, and my initial wave of expansions is finishing its holy sites. When the era changes, I will begin spending my stored faith in a rapid-wave of expansion that will cover my island and all the neighbors as best I can. I did spend some faith to evangelize, taking Religious Colonization - the savings in missionaries for the overseas settlements will pay for the faith pretty rapidly. 

Definitely Not Rapa Nui places a campus that will climb to I think plus 6 once the Urban District is finished:



Very timely, since Korea is doing the usual Korea explosion thing (not sure why no one's ever taken Korea other than me in a RB game. The only reason I didn't run away with that game is because the Archduke somehow chariot rushed not one but both of his neighbors. Neighbor luck is everything in some of these games. :/). I'm not overly concerned, because there's no way they have the productive base I do. For example, in this 5-turn old city:




Yeah, good luck keeping up with that. 

A look at hte Korean heartland, very lush terrain:




And at the Netherlands, much less fertile:




Appreciate the canal, though. 

Randoms, 95 and 96:

This turn sees me adopting the first tier II government in the world:




I slot Feudalism and immediately found Thangorodrim. I need to found 2 more cities to get the "largest empire" +3 era score for securing another golden age - Phoenicia is using his Cothons to the fullest. But he has no production, no research, and miles to catch up to me, so not a real threat. Norway begs me to join the war with Japan, but I demur, for now:




In the long run, Japan should overwhelm him, but a stalemate in the short term suits me. I will regather my scattered armies and prepare for upgrades, however, I do need to get gold generation going for a modern military. Then I will sail over and smash things generally in Japan's neighborhood, cutting him down to size. 

That process continues on the next turn as I pick up Military Training and slot the Veterancy card it speeds up, to speed up lighthouse and harbor construction by 30%:




Harbors are my key district at the moment - they generate gold intrinsically, will net me great admiral points, enable trade routes for mroe gold, and they come with food, housing, and production bonuses in their buildings which provide most of my city's present needs. AND they have boosts to building combat units, too! Really are fine districts all around, and the unique Cothon harbors Phoenicia has are the bread and butter of that civ. 

A look at the war. Note that Norway has parked a quad in deep ocean surrounded by coast, where it can control the passage and snipe at Japanese boats in peace:




Japan has a galley and an embarked archer NW of Stavanger on the fishing boats, but I didn't see where his army is positioned - I would guess east of that river next to Stavanger. City is neither under attack nor under siege, but doesn't seem to be building walls. Makes sense, since once Norway retakes control of his local waters - and mark my words, he will if he has any brains whatsoever - then this war will grind down to a stalemate until Japan can get his superior research into play (I wager he has a few samurai, which is why he attacked now - note Takamatsu's city defense strength up in the northeast. Cities defend at the strength of your strongest melee unit -10, indicating Japan has a strength 48 unit in play). 

Mordor continues to develop in peace:




Nurn will be founded in 6 turns, and the settler for Cirith Ungol will already be out by then. Utumno and Angmar will be next, and then I'll be dispatching expeditionary forces (preferably men-at-arms) to clear that large island in the northwest for settlement. 

Will halt Military Engineering research next turn, as my aqueducts completing will inspire and complete the tech, and swap to I think Buttresses. That's on the road to Cartography, which will unlock ocean navigation and Caravels for me, and give me a temporary window of sea superiority with which to assail Japan. Then Square Rigging for a few frigates and I can really take some cities.