[SPOILERS] Roland and Suboptimal Team Up

[suboptimal]

The settler purchase sounds like a better plan. A second settler out of the city state for me to put up on that island is also likely a good thing - I can use some Kampungs to get the city going faster.

Turn 191

I accept the pearls for wines swap with China and then send 350 over. Ljubljana has sent a new deal over as well – I give 4 DV for 40 Not sure what that might be. Countdown of some sort? I refuse for the time being.

The barbarian musket has moved back to the camp and it’s going to take the jong another two turns to kill it. Builder embarks, musketman disembarks. The trader on Big Island has moved far enough to expose both nearby cities; there are no military units present in either. Lumbermill goes in at OC.

Nationalism will complete in three turns; that works out well as it’s simultaneous to both of my universities completing. I do have Machiavellianism available and will slot that to gain build times and mission times for the spy out of Graceland. I’ll also start a second spy at Diamonds.

[Bruindane]

Happy Holidays. Rainy day here, so snug, and a few stolen moments to look at the Christmas World Congress.

Points to Votes Rubric

0 1
10 2
30 3
70 4
120 5
180 6
250 7
330 8

Based on my turn save (could be trades that I missed)
Norway 72 (4 Votes), Phoenicia 344 (8 Votes): 12
Australia 195 (6 Votes), Russia 174 (5 Votes): 11
China 227 (6 Votes), Indonesia 40 (3 Votes): 9
Japan 108 (4 Votes): 4

Trade Policy

We won't win the vote in our favor, but if Japan decides to put its 4 votes to knock out China's trade routes, we could lose badly. We are at war with Japan after all, and Russia sees our traders go to both Phoenicia and Norway.  So that's 15 against.  If Norway and Phoenicia vote to block Russia in this scenario or if they vote to improve trade routes, we lose.

We can mitigate this by putting four votes on improving trade routes for Norway, on the hopes that Russia and/or Norway vote on themselves.

Public Relation

I don't truly understand the effects of grievances, especially with no AIs, aside from a reported max -10 malus on loyalty when more than 400 something.  That said, we could watch the world burn and choose A Russia, or B Japan if we ever intend to send troops their way.  Leaning B.

[suboptimal]

I think it more likely that Russia/Australia and Norway/Phoenicia attempt to boost their own trade routes or inflict trade embargoes upon the other. Everyone is going to toss their votes into Trade Relations because grievances don't do much in non-AI MP. We'd get 11 votes counting the freebies. Can't win but I think there's no harm in tossing all of our votes into the "enhance China" basket.

[Bruindane]

Turn 191 World Congress

Kept it simple, put seven votes on China, and one vote to reduce war weariness on Japan.




Took a look around, and the top of the diplomatic notifications is that roland accepted open borders, and we also have visibility on Borodino. I completely forgot about the 50 for the embassy, but your acceptance of the lux deal boosted my income to cover the difference for the settler.

[Bruindane]

Turn 191 addendum: measure twice, cut once




I checked gossip after I voted , showing Woden switched governments to Democracy, which is a huge target for this world congress vote. It also means I know that Democracy is after Natural History as Woden just entered the modern era. Time to build some sewers for the inspiration.




We see fleeting signs of battle, but I have yet seen Woden take advantage of our waters which are closed to Russia. That battleship is likely dead anyway, as ranged attacks can shoot into closed borders, but it could have moved and fired.

[suboptimal]

Three votes into China trade routes, one to reducing grievances for Japan.

[Bruindane]

Turn 192: Let's Make Chocolate

Victory points for Japan being at 50% grievances. Better trade routes go to ljubljana, which does net us 12 per turn, but a lux deal expired, so I offered to renew (diamonds for mercury) with them, though are 7 short for to buy a settler this turn.



We'll have four settlers over the next few turns, and I have one 'extra' that I initially planned on Oil in the ice north of Aribo. Tavernier is working on a factory, so there's some logic to settle in range, but Chocolate Island is tempting for the forest chops, and I could resettle a canal city. Choices.

[suboptimal]

Turn 192

Take a look around – Stephen Kelly is at full loyalty, my musket is just outside the city and my builder is offshore at the pillaged fishing boats. Do we/you want to do the handover next turn?

The barbarian musket on the island to the west shows no damage – there might be two of them. I shoot the one I can see and bring over the crossbowman, revealing the other. Clearing the camp will take a while since the muskets are a bit stronger than my man-at-arms.

I’ve just noticed that there is no iron mine at OC – I’ll need to fix that. Next up there is a lumbermill and I'll use the third builder charge on the mine.

[Bruindane]

Turn 193:  Surplus Settling

I purchased a settler at Stephen Kelly / Brussels to settle for the desert island oil, but I can't trade the city to you suboptimal. I noticed that there are two more turns until I can offer peace with Japan, so perhaps then. How much is it to purchase the next Indonesian settler?




I have a path to either settle the Chocolate Island or settle southwest of Goldson for the closer chocolate and offshore oil which I am leaning to do. A settler from Morelos would then resettle the canal city position of Fil Helander amongst other subs. This makes it easier for us, and more worryingly, those with open borders, to capture Valleta with ships.

The big choice of this turn is that I decided to build four sewers for the democracy inspiration instead of ships which we also need for eurekas but our spies can get those if need be.  With democracy we can build the next government building, and it opens open the possibility of an unlikely moonshot.

[suboptimal]

You might not be able to trade the city if it has any damage. Wait until the garrison is fully healed and perhaps repair the walls if they need it?