[SPOILERS] Roland and Suboptimal Team Up

[Bruindane]

Idly wondering if the World Congress ever votes in suboptimal's favor.

[roland of gilead]

Bruindane. You are up for next turn.

I can play the other games for another 3 or 4 days so will PM you about those separately on Sunday.

Will get you a handover typed up today at some point.

[roland of gilead]

Capital is working a frigate.

Be sure to keep Niter below 20 by either upgrading Quads or sending to Sub. That way we can build Quads and Men at arms to upgrade with policy's in place and only use 10 niter.

this turn 2 galleys will finish and research should be switched to Square rigging ready for caravel upgrades next turn. after that go back to musketmen research.

Sub Square rigging incoming

[roland of gilead]

Tavernier is producing a spy then should probaly do knights.

a spy in the Russian capital would be good for listening post mission.

Goldson is doing a IZ it should finish that for the trade routes bonus then do the aqueduct then army or maybe workshop. probabky army.

we will need pike and shots to counter Cossack but that is more niter. Maybe pike to upgrade though.

[suboptimal]

Idly wondering if the World Congress ever votes in suboptimal's favor.

In the three games where the WC played any role (PBEM 15, 18, 20) it's sure seemed like the WC is out to get me.  I don't fully understand how the game decides what resolutions to put forth in a given World Congress but in PBEM 15 and 18 it felt like at least one resolution in each vote was being driven by what I had been doing over the prior 30 turns.

Here the world religion resolution was just bad luck but makes sense when considering that all great prophets have now been taken and the various religions seem to be at parity with regards to the number of followers.  I was surprised that the great person resolution appeared twice in a row.

[suboptimal]

The initial plan looks good. We can't get a spy in the Russian capital because we haven't defogged it. However, a spy in any city, followed by Listening Post missions, will help us out by getting a +3 CS bonus for diplomatic visibility (or cancelling out any +3 they might add to their +15).

We'll see what we're in for later when I get to the turn.

[suboptimal]

Turn 132

Well, we already know the results. Let it be known henceforth that the World Congress is now known as the “Deliberative Body of Suboptimal’s Eventual Doom” because Bruindane has made a good point. So, the next 30 turns will be a giant turd pile of eating attacks at +15 CS from Russian half of F-Troop. Yeah, I know….I pretty much wrecked MptF’s game over the past 30 turns, karma’s a bitch and all that jazz. Bruindane, welcome aboard. It’s gonna be a wild ride. Let’s...get into it.




Well, that’s not where I expected to start the turn. Over on Big Island the Russian fleet is still there and the chariot hasn’t disembarked. Archduke has accepted my DoF. Cartography complete, start Gunpowder. Civil Service complete, start Naval Tradition. Take out Urban Planning, put in Professional Army. I’ve got 550 for upgrades. I can upgrade all my units around Under African Skies for 520 Make it so, though the horseman moves into the Holy Site at Fifty Ways to do so. I also get the eureka for Metal Casting. Where is it on the tech tree?




Diamonds grew a population and finished its granary; 7 turns to build the library. Graceland’s Harbor will finish next turn, the granary at Fifty Ways and library at Mother & Child in two.

I leave the galley in Good Time to heal up and assume the Russian galleys are still there. The other galley continues west towards Al. Jong in Hearts & Bones checks west, finds nothing. Magnus is established in Fifty Ways and I move the builder to the Commercial Hub location. I’ll chop next turn after the population growth in the city and put granary overflow into the Commercial Hub here.

The fleeing chariot attempts to make a break for open water, moves two tiles and finds a Russian caravel. I move back into the fog and hope I haven’t been seen. My fleeing jong has made a friend:




While I’m talking about jongs just how bad is my disadvantage against the Russian navy?




Hmmm..not that bad except for relative units counts. . However, that +3CS for diplomatic visibility means he’s got a spy stationed somewhere. If I had to guess it’d be at Under African Skies and that’s why his chariot hasn’t come ashore yet – he knows I’m waiting for him. I move northeast and reveal the city of Freyr:




This is at the south end of Bruise’s starting land mass.

Movement complete I start polling alliances with Woden, Roland and Archduke. China:




I forgot to take a pic of Norway, they’ve got a military alliance and an economic alliance.

England:




OK….I know that Roland and Woden have a military alliance. Archduke, though, cannot be in any alliance except with me (and he couldn’t be in one yet) and Kaiser (allies). That means we certainly missed a trick here with the alliance mechanism.

In looking at the milpower numbers there’s been a LOT of ship sinking going on. Archduke’s once mighty milpower is down to 652. Phoenicia is down to 703. Woden’s has been going up and Russia sits on top of the pile now. That may turn out bad for everyone.

Shades of PBEM 18:

[Bruindane]

Turn 133: A Race for the Great Lighthouse

Faster (potentially) and stronger ships are on their way to our shores.


I go off script, on my first turn of care-taking, and place our own Great Lighthouse at Helander. With faith, I buy a Liang boosted builder, and we now have the option to rush build the wonder with one, and harvest the deer and forest with the builder from Aribo.

I fully expect Russia will chop it out next turn, though I should have transferred Magnus to Helander just in case.


Aside from switching Tavernier to build a Spy and putting new builds to ships, I didn't move units much. Did spot a Russian galley southwest of Borasic with our new galley, hopefully it is just a scout (didn't do the support bonus check).

I forgot to send an alliance, as there's no reason for us not to have one, unless we want to wait until we can get a military one again.

PYDT worked like a charm, after being little apprehensive about the Phoenician Loading screen, and when to end turn and save. Writing posts in myBB is dreadful, but I'm sure I'll pick up all the tip and tricks like not closing tabs mid-post

[suboptimal]

Good catch on the Great Lighthouse though it is only +1 movement. An advantage, to be sure, but if it's taken away from other things that's fine by me. My experience in PBEM 18 is that fail production on wonders may be buggy - I had one or two instances in which I lost wonders to others and didn't get any of it.

I'll likely be coming around in a few turns for a major ask to get my fleet upgraded. Then we'll need to go hunting and see if we can sink some Russian stuff.

[suboptimal]

Turn 133

I’ve got a notification that my heavy chariot has died. One less thing to worry about. I have a deal waiting from Woden:




He wants a research alliance. Why does this sound familiar? I do have a trade route running to him. Bruindane, since we do need and Bruise is not currently on the menu I decided to accept the offer. That gets me 2 more plus a little from Pingala.

I can call the World Congress if I want. Actually, I can’t because I don’t have the 30 diplomatic favor required to call a motion to the floor. It’s just city-state emergencies anyways so...whatever. . I’ve had enough of that institution for a few games.

Down at Big Island there’s a curious development:




The Russian navy has left. Dunno if the upgrades chased them off or not. Vigilence will be required here. I do move a crossbow back into the city and will start wall repairs (and upgrades) once another two turns have passed. Fifty Ways has grown a population; the builder chops the jungle where it stands, the granary completes and a Commercial Hub gets started. That adds a population to the city, adding to the one that just appeared this turn. This city has the same problem as Skies – more citizens than workable tiles. The courser moves onto the road and then fortifies.

Proof also has the overpopulation problem – 6 citizens, 5 workable tiles. The good news is that it will claim a useful tile – the Government Plaza location. It will also grow to 7 population faster than Under African Skies and is a bit more secure. Graceland has completed the Harbor and I start the lighthouse. I want to get that spare trader going. Mother & Child Reunion will finish its library next turn; dunno what I’m going to build there yet. I’m currently entertaining the notion of a discounted Encampment to the NW of the Campus.

I check the Russian galleys at Good Time. Based on the support bonuses there’s at least 8 ships there. Interestingly I am NOT seeing the bonus from the WC resolution appear in their combat scores. I re-read the resolution, see the phrase “for all units of this religion” and have a light bulb go off. The only units that have a religion are...religious units. I confirm with a quick web search and realize that we’ve over-reacted to the resolution. The military units of Russia are not getting this bonus. Life is better but we’re not out of the woods.

The jong checks the waters to the southeast of Hearts & Bones.




The unit is by itself so it’s a picket. I expect the frigates that were at Under African Skies are on their way over.

Bruindane, the age rolls in 8 turns, at which point I lose the benefit of Monumentality. I’ll likely be purchasing one builder on Big Island and two at home once Naval Tradition completes in two turns and I can re-slot Serfdom. My home cities need some improvements (lumbermills, farm triangle at Diamonds, tea plantation and rice farm at OC) and there are a few more improvements to make on Big Island (two wine plantations, a salt mine and maybe a jungle chop or two).

Archduke’s milpower continues to drop; he’s under 600 now.

Bruindane, for budgeting purposes I’ve got five galleys to upgrade to caravels at 180 apiece, plus a slinger on Big Island that should get upgraded to a crossbow (150). I think at this point in time the caravels might be more important. Your expectation for my coming around for would be for your Turn 140. I’m taking Professional Army out when Naval Tradition completes and I’ll put it back in when Guilds completes on my Turn 140. There’s a small chance that overflow on Naval Tradition shaves a turn off that, but keep that in mind when looking at expenses.