[SPOILERS] - social distancing with pindicator

[pindicator]

So when I checked the game just now to see if people could log in, I got this diplo message upon logging in:




I send fish-to-fish to signal peaceful intentions, and Mjmd's response is to saw "eh, I'll be peaceful if you pay me ... the smallest amount possible." One, if you're going to shakedown someone then fucking shake them down, don't ask for the literal least amount. Two, if fish for fish is signalling peace, you're kind of defeating the point by extorting me for it. All this tells me is even if I accept then you're just going to stab me in the back the very moment someone makes it more worth your while.

Fish for fish is kind of stupid, anyway. Maybe I should demand a fish from him when I play my turn, just to mess with him a bit. I wonder what that would be interpreted as... Give me peace, or else?

[Miguelito]

I like how you timed your GA with the Moai build

[pindicator]

I like how you timed your  GA with the Moai build

Thanks! I like that too.

I'd also like to think it was completely planned that way

[pindicator]

132

Well I didn't have anything in the southwest to fogbust the island and a barb galley has now appeared



Two cities settled this turn:




Because of how trade routes work, I'm actually going to want another settler for the southern island.  It would be nice if trade routes filled a little smarter, but ah well.  In any case, Columbia actually made me 2gpt and then Harney cost me 6.  I swapped the gold mine from Belisarius over to Harney while we wait for its borders to pop - and for the missionary to get over here.  I would have given Columbia the clams, but with Crook being my Moai city it just is too much to take away all that growth until we've filled out all those coast tiles.

I do need to settle that southern island now though.

Up north...




He could really make my life difficult if he brought all those units in now - more so because of the catapults while I do not have any.  I've retreated the 1 that he knows survived along with the other that I've built - but 2 will not make a difference right now and again, I really do not want to build military right now.  So... I offered peace




Hopefully Superdeath understands the trade route aspect of this peace deal, otherwise he'd just think I'm being an unreasonable dick.  Actually, he might understand it and still think that I'm being an unreasonable dick.  Well, I'm trying not to convey that I actually want him to stay back right now and give me 10 turns.  Maybe he'll offer straight peace in response.  Maybe I'll take it.  I've been in constant war for almost 100 turns now.

Out east, we saw AT retreat his stack from Charriu.




A shame for AT - he does all the lifting and Jowy gets to vulture up some easy cities.  However, I'm wondering why AT retreats without asking for peace?  He wants to give Jowy more cities?


PRO: 42 (1337)
FIN:  39 (1130)
Now with an island city it gets a little tricky to see if a city would have had an external or internal route.  However, I counted last turn and saw I had 14 unfilled routes.  This turn I have 18, which makes sense.  It also means that Cothons probably aren't worth building for a while if they aren't going to benefit from foreign routes.

[NobleHelium]

Shouldn't you be building a Granary before the Lighthouse? You don't get any discounts do you? Granary first is like always better IIRC.

I wouldn't have demanded anything from Superdeath if you actually want peace.

[pindicator]

Shouldn't you be building a Granary before the Lighthouse?  You don't get any discounts do you?  Granary first is like always better IIRC.

There are rare exceptions to this rule, and one of these is if it's a city that only has coast to work outside of one food source. What happens is that you go from 4fpt to 3fpt to 2fpt on your way to size 4 and it just is too slow for the granary to count for anything. So you need the lighthouse first to keep growth going. With Columbia it's only going to be able to work the crab to its east - I might borrow the clam to help get it running but really that Clam needs to stay with Crook because Crook has Moai and needs to grow.

So what I'm going to do is take advantage of the golden age hammers and have Columbia spend 6 turns on the plains forest to get to 30h, chop out the lighthouse with the remaining, and then once borders pop to the crab we'll have a work boat ready for the crab (already built, exploring Mr. Cairo in the east). We keep the clams with Crook because it's the Moai city and needs to grow onto all its water tiles.

Really, Columbia was only settled for the internal ICTRs. It's just a fishing village after that, and I probably just whip it every 10 turns and keep the infrastructure investment minimal.

I wouldn't have demanded anything from Superdeath if you actually want peace.

True, but I only half-heartedly want peace. Superdeath is the person I'm going to conquer after knights. I haven't really gone all-in to conquer him earlier because I had already taken over one player's amount of land and wanted to consolidate that before whipping myself down to go after a third. But now that we have Cothons and the economy is starting to stabilize a bit, it's going to be time to really gear up the war production. The thing is, is it better to give Superdeath the reprieve of getting +25cpt more in trade routes while I use the time to build up some infrastructure that's going to be a precursor to war - things like forges, barracks, libraries? Or is it better to keep the pressure up and run the risk of having to swap in more unit builds now delaying the stuff I want to get to later, but keeping Superdeath weaker because he isn't getting that trade income? I kind of suspect that it's better to just stay at war and keep denying him trade routes, but I'm just having a moment of war fatigue. So I figured if I do get peace and split the trade route income with him then I can live with that. (Well, 15gpt is more than a split but still.)

That said, if superdeath declines and does not offer any response then I'm probably going to have to mix in some catapult builds instead of forges.

[NobleHelium]

I would probably give the clam to Columbia after the GA is over. Crook will be size 9 by then.

[pindicator]

133

I don't think Superdeath and I are on the same page




I didn't even bother offer anything in response to that. If we've got irrational grudge match going on then that's what we've got. I didn't start this war.




Jowy took another city, but there was a lot of warring. Charriu earned TWO great generals and AT had a massive power spike dip. Again, I'm not sure what AT is getting out of this war aside from being a good puppet for Jowy. I'm sure Jowy will congratulate him by conquering his lands later in the game.

Also, Mjmd - man, what are you waiting for? I tried to give you the green light.

Superdeath, now out of a golden age, is up to a respectable +58gpt at saving gold. Trade routes would have bumped that up to low 80s so his economic woes aren't entirely due to that. Meanwhile Mjmd, Jowy, and Mr. Cairo are all in the low 100s. For all my cities, my economy is not nearly as good, and I'm going to have to make smart use of Wealth builds until I can absorb another enemy.

So naturally, I settled another city




Benton becomes city #18. I was pretty much forced to settle here to not orphan the clams - I already have the orphaned horse tile to the east that causes me pain every time I see it. The missionary finishing in Josephine is going to head straight here next turn. Benton cost me 5gpt net but once those borders pop and the fish get netted it will be able to pay for itself and then some. It's probably the best food spot left outside of the jungle.

Superdeath could make things a little difficult if he rotated troops down here. It's only a matter of time until he figures that out, but I'm getting closer to longbows and I feel like those should be a good deterrent once I can stuff a few border cities with them.

I also started another settler in Belisarius - a 4t build - that will go to the southwest island city and get me more trade routes. That's pretty much all the settling I'm going to be able to do unless I stake more of a claim to the jungle area between Superdeath and myself.

Found Mr. Cairo's stack:




Just noting that in case it becomes relevant later on.

Everyone else's power continues to creep up to mine. I'm trying to stick to the infrastructure but I did start a few unit builds.


PRO: 45 (1382)
FIN: 40 (1170)

[pindicator]

I would probably give the clam to Columbia after the GA is over.  Crook will be size 9 by then.

Yeah, maybe. I'm thinking if I do give it the clam it's going to be either just until the borders pop and I can work the Crab or just to get the granary & lighthouse whipped and then it goes back to Crook.

[pindicator]

What happened to our turn pace?