Cornflakes Goes Classical ... or Quantum?!

[Cornflakes]

I still can’t believe that Scooter chose to rush the Great Library at most 2 turns before researching Calendar … which he could have researched 2 turns earlier by slotting it ahead of Literature.

And this turn it all became clear … Scooter completed the “build 9 libraries, and get an extra reward if you have Great Library” quest. I decided not to try pursuing since the reward isn’t worth the effort for non-CRE (libraries are expensive!). And I wonder if Scooter may have been distracted too much by the shiny object. Time will tell.

2 new cities. 2 turns turns to Apostolic Palace. 2 turns to Paper. Construction in hand. One HA on the board. Next …

Knights?
Universities + Oxford?
Spiral Minaret?
Music? I’m leaning Music as baseline.

[Cornflakes]

   

Oops, I upset Yuri. I upgraded an archer to a longbow so I have 1 archer, 1 LB, and 2 Phalanx on defense (across a river and on a hill). With 3 catapults he can definitely capture although it should cost all the catapults and hopefully a sword or two. But I also offered peace for 84 gold + 30 gpt. It's a lot, but he is really behind in tech and will only fall further behind with a hot war. And I have a very healthy economy. And that location will make an excellent border fortress for the long term.

I also swapped into Slavery and whipped 9 pop (mostly unimproved tiles waiting for watermills, or specialists). 7 HA completed EOT, and another 7 units can be completed next turn off of overflow.

[Cornflakes]

The problem with showing weakness vs. one neighbor only encourages other neighbors to consider piling on ... especially when the other neighbor is Commodore. I settled a stretch border city for Gems towards Commodore which is vulnerable, and would put me just 1 city away from elimination. Commodore's power has shot up to #1, and he now has Engineering (thanks to another GEgineer stealth-bulb) and 2 workers on standby meaning he can dump a stack of 1-movers out of Tin directly next to Frequency:

   

He's had a bunch of crossbows streaming in over the last couple turns. I put my stack of HA into a zone-defense spot, with a Phalanx guarding the worker that is completing the road connection. Guarding against a DoW teleport of the sentry chariot.

   

Here is where I stand on the Yuri front after ending turn and completing a 2nd catapult there:

   

I'm not planning and offensive vs. Yuri. I gain no ultimate advantage from Yuri's early elimination. That would only open up the entire north for now game leader Scooter. No no, despite Yuri striking a blow at me I need him strong now even more than I did while I was in the lead position. I offered peace with now strings attached. Let's both of us get back to focusing on the economy so that we don't just hand the game to someone else.

[Cornflakes]

Also I just noticed 40% culture defense at Tin so I’m going to lose the 1st ring of Frequency any turn now. I have a Confucian Monastery now but it will take 2-3 turns to reclaim the 1st ring after I lose it.

[Cornflakes]

Welp … I misread the signs. Commodore turned up with a real stack of a half dozen catapults in addition to the half dozen crossbows that I was expecting, and he showed up at Planck instead of Wavelength. Of course this means that my horse archer move last turn was exactly the wrong move to make. I logged back out to think through the best course of action before I move.

[Cornflakes]

When I logged in briefly last night I was really surprised at how badly I misplaced my HA stack knowing that Commodore's positioning was definitely threatening. I definitely remember counting tiles last turn specifically to make sure that I'd be able to protect Planck. But this morning I realized what happened.

   

Commodore flipped the culture on the tile 2NW of Planck, cutting out the extra turn that I thought I had I think I'm a gonner. I have 3LB on defense against 7 catapults and 11 hitters The city is definitely lost. But I should be able to wipe most of Commodore's stack.

In the east, Yuri tried to get an easy kill on one of further extended cities but it's not going to happen. I've been whipping pretty heavily and completing units every turn or every other turn in all these cities so I've built up a decent force in each.

   

[Cornflakes]

Indeed I lost Planck, and Commodore roaded the tile his stack was on and then pillaged the ruins and road where Planck used to stand. Meaning that unfortunately I wasn’t able to hit his stack in return (having only killed 5 suicide cats and a crossbow or two on defense). Frequency is now very exposed as the “insta-delete-the-Greek-army” button. I moved every available unit in that direction. The borders popped end of turn meaning that at the turn roll I should reclaim my 1st ring and force Commodore to step into my culture rather than hitting me from 3 tiles deep with Engineering roads.

In the east Yuri’s attack is halted due to the aggressive whipping there. If he continues to advance I’ll wip his stack completely next turn. I offered him a peace treaty if he declares war on Commodore. That’s the only way I’ll sign peace now that I’m secure there. Next turn I’ll have enough material that I can siphon off my HA to the Commodore front leaving my catapults, maces, and Phalanxes, which would take too long to relocate anyway. Yuri can’t fork me with mounted units without giving me a chance to reposition and get the first strike on his mounted stack.

My hope is that Yuri will see that Commodore took out a major city, and decide to let Commodore be responsible for deleting my army with the final kill.

[Cornflakes]

Commodore pushed a stack right at Frequency. But I was able to win my half of the coin flips and stave off defeat. A GGeneral spawned for me just 1 tile too far from the front to have a decisive impact this turn. Just one tile closer, and I would have been able to morale-promote a catapult which was targeting Commodore’s top Pike defender freeing up a couple HA. Plus turned a couple 40-60% battles into more heavily in my favor and maybe win a couple more, possibly flanking away the catapults.

As-is it’s close enough that Commodore might try for the coin flip elimination …….

[Cornflakes]

My position is extremely fragile at Frequency but I think that I've managed to stave off elimination. I think that I can just barely cram enough material into Frequency next turn that I can hold even if Commodore moves his stack in.

   

In the east vs. Yuri I'm 100% confident of success regardless of his target. Even my C1 maces get odds on his top defender on his current forest+hill tile, and I have a C2+shock Mace that gets 80% on the top defender (he only has 1 axe in his stack).

   

I withdrew my 4 HA from this front towards the west to help cover Frequency. Next turn I'll have 2 workers in position and enough beakers that I'll be able to bulb Engineering on the following turn, upgrade my roads to 3-movement which will give me even more of a movement advantage in the east as well as allow my HA to reach both fronts from a central staging tile.

[shallow_thought]

Good luck. I have no idea how to judge the position properly in this mode. It's obviously not great to be the target at any given moment, but your attackers must be very much looking over their shoulders as they throw their forces at your borders ...