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My personal preference in such situations is to let it slowbuild, but this is probably one of the areas where it's best to go hard as early as possible. Also make note that the whips will show up on PBspy, and it doesn't take much thought to realize what you're whipping.
August 12th, 2023, 18:39
(This post was last modified: August 12th, 2023, 18:45 by greenline.)
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t140: 9 phracts so far, on their way to the front. Engineering due in 2t.
In my scouting of Xist's land I saw plenty of Praets playing zone defense, but no catapults thus far. Encouraging.
Bing built Chichen itza and has a zillion spears stacked on the border, so I guess it was a good move not to attack him in the present.
It does feel good to finally be the one who got to Guilds first instead of being last and panicking over other player's moves, but I feel like I'm still going to lose the game because of Bing just being in a much better position. But that won't stop me from having fun on the way to losing 
Next tech might actually be Calendar. I am hurting for happiness without Rep or HR, and I have some silks that would provide some nice commerce when hooked. Plus a city by incense that would be worth founding once I can hook those.
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I think my military buildup must have spooked bing, because he did a bunch of 1 pop whips in his golden age. I'll take it.
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(August 12th, 2023, 22:02)greenline Wrote: I think my military buildup must have spooked bing, because he did a bunch of 1 pop whips in his golden age. I'll take it.
That's another benefit of the whips showing: They don't know where you're headed just yet. Sometimes provoking whips is good enough damage done.
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Oh yes, Bing is concerned
This was in addition to dropping however many hammers it takes for Statue of Zeus. Those are hammers not being spent on a ton of wealth builds to get to Liberalism, so I'll take that too!
Sent a countdown for 4 more turns on the war dec. 14 phracts built, on their way. I think I will just go in as soon as I can hook these wines:
August 13th, 2023, 10:34
(This post was last modified: August 13th, 2023, 10:58 by greenline.)
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Other things of note:
Xist researched Machinery. This would be a decent move, I feel, for someone playing as any other civ than Rome. He already has Praets as solid hill defenders. Maces will do nothing for him. His land is also foody enough that windmills aren't going to be a huge boon.
I think Notre Dame will be very much worth building if I can spare the hammers post invasion. Happy is pretty important and scarce on this map. No one else has engineering.
We get another Great Person next turn, and the next one in Dune some turns after that. The post war civics to aim for are Rep / Bureau / Merc / OR. Slavery or serfdom I am not decided on. Caste would be wasted since we have plenty of lumbermills and not the food to spare on workshops. GA would also be great for a big infrastructure push. Castles and courthouses everywhere. So I am going to try and get that ready as soon as possible, our economy is not the best right now.
Shrine is making 20gpt. Feeling like a good investment overall, it would increase in value by about 50% if I capture and convert half of Xist's cities.
Long term tech goals:
Steel for cannons and drydocks would let us threaten Bing navally and also build the Phract / Cannon doomstacks I was dreaming about at the start of the game. Astro would also make parts of his coast rather difficult to defend.
We would also want to deny Kremlin / Communism to Bing if at all possible. The main limiter on the whip economy is happy and he has Sacrifical Altars to play with.
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Noob question: i want to declare on Xist in a few turns for real. I don't want to be a jerk and make any turn splits go as painlessly as possible. Should I try to aim for a specific window of playing before / after him? I don't have a strong sense for who plays at what hour because of the crazy turn pace.
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is Bing freaking out and simming a bunch because I flashed my Phract stack near his city just to try and bait him into whipping more? 
August 14th, 2023, 00:08
(This post was last modified: August 14th, 2023, 01:33 by Tarkeel.)
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(August 13th, 2023, 13:45)greenline Wrote: Noob question: i want to declare on Xist in a few turns for real. I don't want to be a jerk and make any turn splits go as painlessly as possible. Should I try to aim for a specific window of playing before / after him? I don't have a strong sense for who plays at what hour because of the crazy turn pace.
The only turn that matters is the one before you declare, and only if you're taking the first half. You're free to let him double move you, so if you take the second half you don't have to worry.
Late Edit: While the above still stands and peacetime splits should be avoided, there are certain circumstances where you should try to avoid double-moving as it would give an advantage: mainly if he has units in your territory that you could shake vision from by double-moving. I don't think that applies here.
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Gotcha. I'll aim to take whichever half of the turn fits when Xist has or hasn't played.
We pop a Merchant from Huckleberry Finn. Now whatever great person we get from Dune guarantees us the second Golden Age. Rep / Merc / Bureau are pretty solid civics for the endgame, so I'm not bothered by how long GA #3 will take. Main thing we would be missing out is emancipation. Is the hammer bonus to specialists that good anyway?
We can declare next turn with these forces. Is this enough for an initial strike force, or should we wait an additional turn for stragglers to catch up?
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