[SPOILERS] yuris125 on a Pitboss77 boat

[yuris125]

Can you guys remind me the formula for how many beakers a great scientist bulb gives? Google suggests 1500 + 3*total_pop - is this correct? does it scale with map size?

[T-hawk]

Correct, 1500 + 3*pop. Does not change for map size (directly; indirectly it will by having more pop.)

[yuris125]

Thanks! Needed to understand how much of Astro I would have to self-tech (or if I would need the second scientist). The answer is - about 900 beakers, so the same as Machinery. I have 112 total pop as of this turn, and Astro costs 2790

The unfortunate truth is that by beaker count alone, two great scientists would be almost exactly enough to bulb Optics + Astro - but of course there's no overflow from bulbing

Spent some time mathing, and ended up firing the golden age this turn. This ensured I will get the next great person out of Tokyo before the one from Kyoto. That one could be anything - high chance of a prophet, but also a decent chance of another scientist. A non-scientist would be saved for the second GA. In Kyoto I fired the engineer to put it behind Tokyo, and maximise the chances of getting a scientist (should be near-guaranteed, but for the artist points from National Epic)

The reason to wait would've been because I couldn't get Shwedagon Paya completion to under 6 turns, so thought I would have to whip it at the end to ensure it finishes still in golden age. Turns out golden age duration of 6 turns is still stuck in my head from back in the day when we played quick speed PBEMs. It is 8 turns on normal! I have time for everything!

Machinery due in 2 turns, then I research Alphabet, bulb Optics (need that asap for visibility as well as for better ships), and start working on Astro (didn't math yet if I will hard-tech 900 beakers or double-bulb - will also depend on whether I get lucky with the roll in Tokyo)

No military action to speak of the last few turns, I'm taking this opportunity to explore Bing's land. I have to start thinking about who is getting samuraied post-Astro. With how the game played out so far, Bing would be the most logical target, if not for the fact that he currently has the strongest army in the world, and is Scooter's neighbout, so weakening him would help Scooter as well. Geopolitically, the most logical target is Superdeath, with the weakest army and max distance from Scooter. Tech-wise, it's Bing again, I think he pretty much ignored the Astro bulb, and is likely to be well behind on the way there (or is he? will know more once I have Alphabet)

[yuris125]

Judging by PBSpy, Scooter settled 2 new cities this turn - he must be settling the Astro land. I may end up at war with him, having to contest the Astro land once I get there. Which could be a skirmish, or could have devastating consequences for at least one of us. Going to a 1v1 war with the leader is rarely the winning play, but so is letting him claim all of Astro land uncontested

[yuris125]

Completed Alphabet and bulbed Optics. As Astro research starts, here's where we stand




Unsurprisingly, no one else has the Aesthetics branch. With no warfare happening in the galley era (even my war with Bing has been little more than a skirmish so far), no one has Heroic Epic unlocked, and with me cleaning up the wonders, there isn't much reason to go there for others. Scooter remains significantly ahead of the pack, already having Engineering and Civil Service (I think Cairo has Civil Service as well). Myself and Superdeath are the players with Astro in sight, Bing and Cairo still need to go through Machinery and Optics, and since both have Philosophy available for research, they will have to hard-tech Astro

Looking at my beaker rate and GP prodcution, looks like I won't have any issues getting the 900 beakers needed to get to Astro with a single scientist bulb. With this in mind, I fired an engineer in Tokyo to put it behind Kyoto in line for the next GP, since Kyoto's GP is very likely to be a scientist, whereas Tokyo would at best be at 50%. If I get a low odds artist from Kyoto, it will be very upsetting

Still thinking what I want to do with the civic switch at the end of the golden age. I should have just enough time to get Monarchy, and will not be able to get Feudalism. There will have to be a second golden age for switch to Vassalage/Theocracy and army build-up, while also pushing towards Gunpowder and Chemistry, the next big tech milestones. However, with Shwedagon Paya completing soon, I do have the option to pick whichever religious civic I want, and they all have merit. Pacifism would let me have the second GA sooner, Theocracy would let me get the first promo on ships, and even Organised Religion would be useful, as I will have to work on Courthouses in a very near future

In general, I'm not sure how valuable Shwedagon Paya is going to be. Monotheism and Theology are cheap techs, and since I can't delay CoL much longer, I will have to get Philosophy out of the way relatively soon to unlock more valuable bulbs. The main value of the wonder will be free pick of the religious civic at the end of the current golden age, and maybe at the start of the next one. Is it enough to justify the hammer investment? It is a very real cost, as these hammers could've been going into settlers or galleon pre-builds in preparation for Astro

[yuris125]

This may be a terrible idea, but I'm actually considering delaying Astro for a few more turns, and instead completing Monarchy and Feudalism in the golden age, so that I can switch to Vassalage / Theocracy. If it was a matter of being behind Scooter by a handful of turns, there would've been a genuine race for Astro land between us. But when the difference is between being 12 or 15 turns behind, I don't know if it matters that much. Scooter likely already settled everything he wanted, and if there's Astro land I can contest, I will have to fight for it. Meaning better units are more important than unlocking galleons sooner

[yuris125]

Going for Feudalism. Will be tight completing it before the end of the golden age, but with Shwedagon Paya finishing this turn I will have a high hammers city to run wealth it. Should be doable

Dodged the 7% artist chance in Kyoto, once I press the bulb button I will be less than 600 beakers away from Astro. After Astro I desperately need CoL, then on to Civil Service - Gunpowder - Chemistry

[yuris125]

Feudalism was less tight than I expected - didn't even need additional wealth builds

Starting to see catapults in Bing's land, so he might actually ferry them over and make a more serious effort to take Ise. I will see what I can do to hold it, but in the end, if he takes it, it's whatever. I may need marble again for Sistine and Taj, but for now I'm done with wonders. Builds coming up are courthouses, ships, and units

[yuris125]

A lot of wealth builds, but I just about scrounged enough beakers and cash to finish Astro at the end of the golden age




Bing got the first catapult to Ise. Just one for now, but looks like he has more to be ferried across. I now have caravels looking at the waters, but only a few (those wealth builds do have a cost) - if a galley is covered by a trireme, I can't yet threaten it. As I said, me losing the city is not impossible - but it has so little invested into it that I don't really care

That said, I think Bing will be the samurai target. He invested so much into this war, he probably can't afford peace with me with nothing (or even just Ise) to show for it. Meaning the consideration of "me attacking him will help Scooter" turns into "I should attack before Scooter does, so that I can claim a bigger share"

T150 next turn, will give a full overview then

[yuris125]

If you're wondering if I forgot that galleons need Paper - yes, I did

As a result, I am keeping some wealth builds. It is all the more important to get through CoL - Civil Service - Paper quickly. Would've even considered bulbing Paper if I got a great scientist, however wasteful that feels. But CoL unlocks Philosophy bulb, which has higher bulb priority, so nothing to think about. I will get out enough caravels to keep Bing's ships pinned in cities, but other than that, wealth builds are still the order of the day

The state of the empire:

The core




Kagoshima is the main production city, I could grow it further onto coastal tiles, not sure if it's worthwhile. It is also home to two wonders, Parthenon and Shwedagon Paya, and will hopefully get Sistine and Taj down the line. It is not considered one of the top5 cities in the world, which is very rude

The south




Satsuma, the holy city, got its Moai since we last saw it. I do need to improve defences around here a bit - if Scooter decides to attack me, this is the most likely direction

I did build walls in Yokohama following SD's diplo message, even those the threat he seemed to warn about never came. I may have misunderstood / misinterpreted the message, SD's diplo is not always clear, but better safe than sorry

There's also something to be said about settling a new city on the plains tile 3S of Satsuma, and stealing a fish from Nagoya to feed it. Not a high priority, but having some land with no city on it feels wasteful

You can see Scooter's borders further south - the caravel from Yokohama will go on a scouting mission down there

The east




Still very much work in progress, I settled the cities back when I didn't have enough workers, and only now finishing land development

The besieged Ise (and possibly future acquisitions?)




The big stack south of the city is mostly triremes in the fort, other units on the tile are an axe, a catapult, and a few workers. He just started working on city defences with a single catapult, and as it stands, I still don't think he has enough to take it (and that crossbow under construction is now whippable)

So as you can see, every established city is working either on wealth or a caravel. I should be able to get CoL in 2 turns, and then build courthoses literally everywhere. Some cities are still missing harbours, but I'm actually not sure they're working correctly? At least the UI isn't showing the extra 50% from circumnavigation, even though you can see from the minimap that I did complete it




Tech situation







Scooter is well ahead of the pack, already having Engineering, Paper, and Guilds, and closing in on privateers. Looks like myself and SD are about even in 2nd?

Demos




GNP is in first at 100% science, but my breakeven research rate is like 20%, maybe not even that without wealth builds, so running 100% science is little more than a dream at present

Graphs - I don't have them The cost of not having any courthouses