[PB73 SPOILERS] scooter's Oracle

[scooter]

Couple stray thoughts.


* I'm considering offering peace to Yuris. I don't know that he'd accept, but he also might want 10T to actually get his Phracts built, and that would let me squeak out a few more things first. I dunno, it's borderline, but that might be why he'd consider accepting. I think it's a bit better for me, but it's not clear he could actually damage me within 10T.


* Oxy just logged in briefly right after me, which he almost never does. I wonder if he was checking to make sure I didn't beat him to Colossus.

[Zed-F]

If Oxy already has metal casting, then he's well behind on the top of the tree, I would guess. I agree that drafting him to Metal Casting right this second isn't necessarily the top priority now. I'm thinking secure MoM first. Agreed that Hanging Gardens could also be something we can get, and should get started on at some point, but we have the tech we need for that and Oxy is probably making his way there now. It's a bit harder for me to pick when to prioritize Hanging Gardens relative to all our other priorities, though.

Oxy's probably seen our Galley and knows where to find us. He might build triremes of his own soon if worried about our 4-mover potential and try to blockade our access to his territory. Metal Casting might still be important to get. I'm not sure where to place Iron Working relative to Metal Casting but I'd guess those are our two next targets after Calendar, before we move toward Great Library. We can make our way to GL while Oxy makes his way to Currency.

I guess we could offer Luddite a couple gpt for Open Borders now, assuming that still makes sense.

When does it make sense to slot in Market / Library at the capital? I guess we want to get more happy there and the bigger it gets, the more those multipliers make sense. But we still need military in the short term and have Moai to think about. Maybe the cap is where HG is built because aqueducts are expensive. We probably want settlers and workers out of other cities, so the cap can keep growing.

[scooter]

FWIW I’m not super worried about Oxy + Triremes directly causing us trouble. It would take him ages to get here, and I could get MC at break-even quite quick at this point. After thinking about it, there’s also a small part of me that’s tempted to make a run at Colossus anyway.

The rationale is basically this - he cannot build it in the capital right now. The capital has Pyramids, and Oxy needs an Engineer out first for Kremlin. As a result, I would expect his capital to be building a Forge right now, not Colossus. If he builds Colossus, it will have to be in a different city. So the question is whether or not he has a city with forests ready to get it quickly, and if not, it might take him a bit to slow build it? It’s somewhat unlikely, but I do wonder if it’s worth trying. I could probably setup a 1T build of it, and it would only take me a few turns to get there. Hmmmm. The one nice thing about sequential is you do not lose wonders on coin flips, so I don’t have to worry about that at least.

One other factor in all this. Oxy does not have Marble hooked. I wonder if he even has it. If not, it makes MoM and GL trickier for him, which also contributes to the MC prioritization.

When does it make sense to slot in Market / Library at the capital? I guess we want to get more happy there and the bigger it gets, the more those multipliers make sense. But we still need military in the short term and have Moai to think about. Maybe the cap is where HG is built because aqueducts are expensive. We probably want settlers and workers out of other cities, so the cap can keep growing.

They would both be extremely profitable right now, but beakers/gold is the thing I have in spades right now. I really want both, but hammers drive expansion (which also generates commerce for me) and military makes sure I get to keep all this. So it’s hard to fit it in right now.

[Zed-F]

If we think we can actually win a race to Colossus and we think MoM isn't really at risk yet (the latter is definitely reasonable) then sure, we can go MC first. Oxy is much closer to HG than he is to MoM, realistically speaking, so if he's going to compete for any of MoM/GL/HG, it's going to be HG. Maybe if we fail to win the race to Colossus, we use that setup city to make sure we don't lose the race to HG, and still work toward getting MoM.

[scooter]

Oxy whipped his Forge this turn as his capital was size 10 the other day. I could probably work out his exact Kremlin turn this way by adding all the GPP generated by Pyramids through this turn, plus the GPP generated by 1 Engineer starting next turn. But ultimately it doesn't really matter. Also, I don't think I can race him to Colossus realistically. He'll have had MC for an extra 5-6 full turns before me, and I'd be shocked if I can make up that gap. I think I'll have to concede it. I sort of think Calendar is next then. Logan is at size 9 and happy capped, but Calendar is instant +1 from the Silk, and it also means a Market would be worth +2 happy (Ivory/Silk), which would let me get all the way up to 12. Given that I have both the food and the tile quality to justify this, I think it's worth it to get Calendar in.





HBR and Barracks in. I queued an Elephant in Logan. Yuris resettled his horse city this turn, so he can queue Phracts now. That said, the earliest he could get a single one to hit Kendall is like 6 more turns. I'm sort of tempted to slip in Moai which would take 4T, or at least start it with the knowledge that I could 2T an elephant at any time, not to mention that Kendall could whip its own too. Really would like the extra hammers from Moai. If things still look clear from Yuris next turn, I think I'm going to start it. (I'm shuffling around the builds in Roman/Shiv to preserve a whip but wait for unhappiness to wear off, don't read too much into those.)

Finally, Stonehenge is mine next turn if I want it. Connor has two chops that can complete next turn. I think I'm going to do it. It'll help the islands with getting online quite a bit, and the GPP and culture are really convenient for what is now a really cheap wonder. Oh, I also offered Luddite OB for 2gpt.





Another stone is on the east island. I think I'm gonna take that Galley that came home and send it back at Yuris again empty. I might be able to spy out incoming units, but more importantly I can potentially tie down defensive units by threatening another boating. It's been home long enough to have plausibly refilled.

[Zed-F]

Another stone is on the east island. I think I'm gonna take that Galley that came home and send it back at Yuris again empty. I might be able to spy out incoming units, but more importantly I can potentially tie down defensive units by threatening another boating. It's been home long enough to have plausibly refilled.

Does that mean we need to complete the Galley out of Shiv to ferry the settler out of Kendall, then?

I agree with Calendar next; we do want to secure MoM and growing the capital is important. Probably MC after that, I'm thinking, to get forge (more production/happy at the capital) and triremes. If Luddite takes the OB deal then IW can wait a bit. I'd thought the plantation site at Gerri was jungle, but on closer inspection it's forest, so we don't need IW for that at least.

Barracks into WE into Moai at the capital seems good; I am happy with the flexibility to be able to delay Moai to build more military at the capital in a pinch (as per my original suggestion) but agree that Moai should be a priority soon, and one that will matter all the more with forge/market coming available for construction.

I had thought that Stonehenge was only good on our continent, but I must be thinking of another version or mod of the game. If it helps our island cities, that's sufficient motivation for me. South Island is probably not top priority but this at least helps make it viable.

Speaking of settling island cities, we need more, but we also have wonders coming up that we want to prioritize, like HG and MoM. Do we know where we want to build these and in what timeframe that won't slow down our military / expansion too much? Where do the artist / engineer points fit best? I guess the capital will have a mixed pool anyway, but I don't think we can fit both wonders in there. Probably the capital can build aqueduct fastest and would benefit most from the extra health, though.

[xist10]

No much comments from me - I read all stories - but I have and follow your report

And Stonehenge is active in all cities.

[scooter]

Another day, another missed turn by Cairo. Still on our 5 turns per week pace. Feels bad, but sort of feels like we just have to live with it. I actually could live with the pace OK, but my concern is over time it will get worse.

And Stonehenge is active in all cities.

Yeah I think Zed-F may be thinking of Statue of Liberty or Notre Dame.

[Cyneheard]

Another day, another missed turn by Cairo. Still on our 5 turns per week pace. Feels bad, but sort of feels like we just have to live with it. I actually could live with the pace OK, but my concern is over time it will get worse.

I'd be more worried if Cairo wasn't having technical difficulties. This isn't "I'm too busy to play", which absolutely would get worse.

[scooter]

Last turn I offered Luddite 2gpt for OB. He had 4 cities. His routes are worth 3c apiece, so in theory that's 12c, however my IC domestic routes are 2c and mainland routes are 1c. Given that all 4 of those routes would (I think?) go to the capital, that would result in a 6c net income, so offering 2gpt for that was a shade favored towards me, but not unreasonable, especially as an opening offer. Side note: is my understanding correct? Or would those routes all replace 1c routes nationwide resulting in 8c net income? Either way, this counter from Luddite.





Is either some weird FU or some misunderstanding of trade routes. He did settle a 5th city which would increase the value of his routes slightly, but not really that much? At this point I'm slightly tempted to offer a deal to Oxy instead. Anyway I think even with 5 cities it's only worth 7 commerce net, so I re-offered at 3gpt hoping my small number insistence prods him to recalculate. I don't think it would be an FU offer given I did supply him with Copper for awhile.

Humorously, I think he has more cities than Cairo now. I haven't seen Cairo settle a 5th city on PBSpy, although it's possible I've missed it. Whereas Luddite resettled his 5th this turn. Honestly sort of wild that nothing ever came of that conflict. I know from Luddite's power that the conflict was real, but they seemed to have stalemated. Oxy got his 10th city down this turn, while I'm having to add some military. Yuris rejected my peace offer, which is not really surprising.





I did land Stonehenge at this very late date. This will cause Connor to pop borders in 2 more turns and set me up for a Prophet due T91 or so, however Logan completing Moai will push it ahead of Connor again. If I really want Prophet first guaranteed, it will require a Temple + Priest. Of course, it's not 100% clear that's what I want quite yet. Time to decide.

Another day, another missed turn by Cairo. Still on our 5 turns per week pace. Feels bad, but sort of feels like we just have to live with it. I actually could live with the pace OK, but my concern is over time it will get worse.

I'd be more worried if Cairo wasn't having technical difficulties. This isn't "I'm too busy to play", which absolutely would get worse.

True - his explanation wasn't there when I made that post. It's just been a tradition so far to miss at least one weekend turn at this point.

Does that mean we need to complete the Galley out of Shiv to ferry the settler out of Kendall, then?

Nah, I think I'm gonna ferry first, then send the Galley up the coast.