[PB65] Pinch-Hitting Pindicator

[pindicator]

True. I think my problem is a bit larger in scope this game in that I have really failed to adjust to the increased maintenance. Or maybe it's something even more nebulous. My whole expansion > economy > conquest internal clock feels off, has felt off. I feel like the last thing I did right this game was the first golden age to get into Currency and HR quickly. (Was rather proud of that.) But I've just been on the wrong foot ever since. Lots of strategic decisions which have ended badly: initially trying to buddy with Mjmd and thinking I'd invade Superdeath only to have that go entirely upside down; thinking that growing tall all by itself was a fix to this maintenance issue; and then just the timing and fallout of the Bing war - just to name a few of the big ones. As a consequence, it seems like I'm always competing between 2 or 3 things that all needed to happen 5 turns ago. I'm now scrambling to react instead of the one forcing the action.

I suppose it's going to be a bit like chess: I've lost the initiative and am on the defensive now, and I'm going to have to just defend as best I can and hope my opponents slip up and give me an opening to take the initiative back.

[pindicator]

155

I don't think I ever realized before this game just how much of a bully Mjmd is




No fucking way. I will whip my army and die a slow death because this is too much.




Okay, this i can swallow.

But I am dedicating the remainder of this game to ensuring Mjmd does not win. I don't care if it's Superdeath, I don't care if it's Cornflakes, but it will not be Mjmd. I really can't recall the last time someone treated me like I was some stupid A.I. as much as he is doing in this game. And all these words don't mean shit if I don't make him feel it on the battlefield.




I told you before I needed those 10 turns to get back on my feet. Time to show what I can do with that.

Time to get to work: I can get to Engineering in 5 turns with heavy Wealth builds. Next great person is in 6 turns, and that will guarantee the next golden age. The goal is to get into Mercantlism & Vassalage by the end of that golden age.

He's shown me where he's going to try and hit me in 10 turns. I need to be ready.

[Zed-F]

Too bad about Ticket to Ride and Fireball Island. Will you be able to re-found anything on that border? Are you expecting Mjmd to be able to steal Risk's food again?

[pindicator]

He's alraedy planted 2 cities to prevent me from settling anything there - and the culture has grabbed the crab. Risk is a buffer city now with no good food for itself, and will likely fall in the 1st or 2nd turn of Mjmd's next invasion.

[pindicator]

Logged in to look around before my turn and because I was curious what was going on in the rest of the world.

First off, Mjmd continues his bullying:




It's tempting to childishly demand all his gold in response, but I'm going to go quiet on him. I don't want to clue my intentions any more than they are probably (easily) guessed. Hmmm, maybe I should ask him to go after Cornflakes with me? What is the best way to get him off his guard as to my intentions?

Second, SaC is now only at war with Mjmd and Superdeath has declared on Cornflakes.




And now I need to patiently wait for my turn.

[pindicator]

156

I'm still not ure what caused Superdeath to want to have lurker input in a sequential game, but I'm guessing he accepted a deal he didn't mean to accept.  And honestly, as long as he didn't gain any extra information from it, then I'm not sure it shouldn't have been granted.  In any case, whatever the thing, we have played on.  Worst thing I can see is he either took peace with SaC or declared war on Cornflakes on accident, and I don't see how either of those couldn't have been reloaded, so :shrug:

Let's look at graphs:













It was hard to keep track of, but Mjmd is finally out of his 24 turns of golden age, and we do have a demo lead on him now that he is done.  I am definitely happy to be getting our forced peace here because his lead is temporary and we will certainly make up ground as we get Castles and infra whipped over the next 9 turns.

Speaking of Mjmd, he didn't invade SaC with much:




With all of 4 knights I don't see him taking any more cities against SaC unless he really tries to grind him down.

Put in enough Wealth builds and whipped a few infra items, but we still gained over 200 gold.  We'll gain gold again next turn, and then it will be 3 turns of research to finish off Engineering.  Then castles go everywhere.

Some things I want to think about in the upcoming turns:
1. Where does Forbidden Palace go? Right now there are only 4 cities that don't have Courthouses, and I'll probably whip them in 2 of them in the near future. First thought is Scythe.
2. I think Forges only go in cities with high production, not everywhere. In the north that means Carcassone and Dixit. In the south, Sushi Go and ... probably just Sushi Go. Anywhere else? So other cities are just whipping barracks and then getting ready for the big unit push. Oh, walls: I need Walls in a few spots still.
3. Next great people? This won't be our last golden age as ultimately we want to get into Rep. That's still some time off, of course.




I took off Wealth builds and snapped the screenshot above. We are only #2 to Cornflakes, and he is in a golden age. If I wasn't in death-feud mode we would probably be in a good spot to win the game longterm.

[Zed-F]

Maybe if you can turn that death-feud into some gains it can morph into plan Your Mom and you can still be in a good spot to win the game long term.

[Krill]

GA in 6 turns with enforced peace? Max growth and plan for slavery/Merc on the last turn or so of the GA? Do you want to tempt a qu9ck 5 turns of Caste to prep for the third GA?

[pindicator]

GA in 6 turns with enforced peace? Max growth and plan for slavery/Merc on the last turn or so of the GA? Do you want to tempt a qu9ck 5 turns of Caste to prep for the third GA?

Yeah, that's basically the plan.  Great person is due end of t160 and we would pop the GA on t161.

Now here's something I'm grappling with: do I hire 2 scientists to speed us up a turn if it also gives a 10% chance of a Great Scientist and dudding the golden age?

I'm not sure about Caste yet. We do eventually want a 3rd golden age for Rep, but I'm also planting down windmills and so Serfdom would be beneficial for production and commerce.

[Zed-F]

I'm grappling with:  do I hire 2 scientists to speed us up a turn if it also gives a 10% chance of a Great Scientist and dudding the golden age?

Do you have a plan for what you would do in this case that is not terrible? If it would totally cripple you for this to happen it's probably not worth the risk, but if it's feasible to take an alternate route then maybe...