[SPOILERS]PB34:Burnin' Daylight - DMOC/gsorel/Ichabod

[Mr. Cairo]

And for gratuitous reasons, here are demos and graphs:

[Mr. Cairo]

Oh, a long overdue thanks to DaveV for the info re: the flying camera; I've been using it in both my PBs for screenshots and it's been great. 

[Mr. Cairo]

OT4E got the Hanging Gardens. We are still #1 in pop.

Chumchu founded Confucianism.

We're getting currency next turn, we have OB with Elkad, for more trade routes, but it might not be enough. If that is the case, I'll ask for OB with Nicolae.

It'll be close, but I still think we can get to Philosophy during our GA. May have to run some wealth builds.

[Mr. Cairo]

Had enough overflow from Currency to get Med and Priesthood while saving cash, so that's going according to plan. We're settling at a rate of about 1 city a turn right now.

I did get OB with NC for the trade routes, Great Wall is 3 turns out; Temple of Artemis, around 8? The city gets Judaism next turn (I hope), giving the OR bonus and I haven't done the math yet.

I'll do a report showcasing our new cities next turn.

[Mr. Cairo]

Turn Report:
After seeing just how fast we can research right now, I've decided to get Monarchy as well as CoL and Philosophy in the next 5 turns, letting us switch into HR, Caste, and Pacifism at the end of this GA.
Demos:

In order to achieve this, quite a lot of our cities are going to be running research/wealth builds over the next few turns.

Expansion:

We have five settlers on the map right now, with worker support just barely keeping up, but the GA makes even unimproved tiles worthwhile. Here are the newest of our cities:


Settled this turn, a worker ready to start the pasture next turn, and a missionary two turns out, since there's no forest to chop into the Ikhanda. (It's currently building a granary, not Ikhanda)


There's one worker chopping out that Ikhanda, with more on the way. These last two cities are net negatives, as they're working 3f tiles, but our economy can support them.


Also with no forests, so the Ikhanda will be whipped. Settling on the gems was suboptimal, but was necessary for defensive purposes, and we lack IW so wouldn't be able to improve the tile anyway.


Deers are finished and Ikhanda completed by a chop. That riverside gl is being cottaged.


Ex-barb city. The spices and dyes are starting to be improved, although the workers here will also be heading up improve some newer cities. Contrary to that sign, I'll probably put that chop into a granary here and whip it to completion in the next few turns before we swap out of slavery.

We really need some contacts with the civs in the other ring, since the only player left here for us to get trade routes with is DTG, and I don't think that is worth it. 



Finally, with OT4E having his hands full with Stardoor (according to civstats), I feel comfortable about landing at least the Great Wall, if not the Temple of Artemis.

[Mr. Cairo]

Turn 115, 1 AD
Last turn of the first Zulu Golden Age.

As planned, I switched into HR, Caste, and Pacifism this turn, after making a few final whips. 



Taoism was founded in ParumDrumDrum. Also of note, OT4E founded Christianity; I imagine that he's going after the religious trio of wonders.

Speaking of wonders, we did get the Great Wall a few turns ago, and will probably get the Temple of Artemis next turn. So, yay? They're kinda underwhelming as Wonders go, but I think it's worth it to keep them out of OT4E's hands as much as anything else.

Anyway, the main purpose of the civic switch was to set up our next couple of Golden Ages, here are the cities where the next few Great People will be coming from (we already have one Great Scientist):


Blergburg will produce 2 Great Merchants, the first of which will be used to fire off our next Golden Age in 6 turns. The second will be used with the next two Great People to fire off our three-person Golden Age. That Great Merchant will come in 17 Turns, on the 11th turn of our second Golden Age.


This Great Scientist will come in 8 turns.


This Great Artist will come in 10 turns.

By getting the three GP we need for the third Golden Age in the second Golden Age, we can end up with 24 consecutive turns in a GA, and if we manage to get the Taj Mahal during that time, that can add up to 36 consecutive turns of a GA.
36 turns in a Golden Age might be enough to get out another 4 Great People for yet another Golden Age, although finding one that isn't an Artist, Merchant, or Scientist may be difficult.
Also, at that point, I might want the GP for other things, like an Academy, or for Shrines if we can get a Prophet.
And staying in Pacifism for that long isn't ideal. 
And it's probable that it isn't ideal to immediately trigger a Golden Age as soon as one ends, since we might not have the civics available that we'd want to switch into.

So, the current plan is to trigger another Golden Age in 6 turns, and generate the Great People for a third Golden Age during the second one. I'll reserve judgement on the timing of firing off that third Golden Age for now.

Long term plans do include the Taj Mahal.

[Mr. Cairo]

Turn 121 Report

I fired off Golden Age number 2 this turn. The plan for the next 12 turns is to get out a round of settlers and workers from the core, continue to develop the recent plants, tech up to Nationalism, and get the three Great People required for another Golden Age.

The other news of note is that we met OT4E, somehow, a few turns ago. He too is in a Golden Age right now, but I don't know when it started. He also switched to Vassalage and Serfdom last turn, giving some idea of his current tech progress.

The tech plan is to first backfill a few key early techs: Construction, HBR, and Metal Casting. Utilizing overflow, I should be able to get those with only 2 turns of 100% science. Those will be followed up by Feudalism and Civil Service, followed by Nationalism. To get Nationalism on time, I'll probably have to get my core building science or gold, but I want to revolt into Mercantilism, Bureaucracy, and OR at the end of this GA. I thought about swapping back into Slavery, but I think that Caste System + Mercantilism is more valuable, and with enough workers, I'd rather just grow my newer cities onto improved tiles than whip. I also want Nationalism so I can start the Taj Mahal in my Bureau- & OR-boosted cap ASAP.

The Empire:

We have the largest empire, both in terms of land area and population, although OT4E's Hanging Garden's boosted empire is catching up in that last category.

The area to be settled this GA:

I'll get out the settlers required for these 7 spots during the first 4 turns of the GA. With the Great Wall, we don't need a lot of military in the area to protect against possible barbs, just enough to screen the settlers as they are coming in. I am starting to build some more military in those outer cities that have finished their main infrastructure.

Demos and current military:

The number 1 MFG is almost certainly OT4E in his Golden Age, although I think that I'd be a lot closer if the three cities I have on Great Person duty were working all their available tiles.


Yes, I do need more workers. Too many of my core cities are working coast, which is ok during a GA, but non-ideal otherwise. I only have 5 or 6 workers currently in my core, and the workers by the outer cities are still busy there.

Cities

After this missionary, a 2T settler, then a worker or two before swapping to gold/research to get Nationalism. The plan is identical for most of the core cities.


Same as cap.


Somewhat different, after the settler Born Reckless will finish the library then start on Angkor Wat. In 5 turns it will be able to take the sheep, allowing the other ph mine to be worked. Temple of Artemis is kinda lackluster here, but the free priest is important, since I want to get a prophet out of here in the future.


Same as cap, although here we can see the need for more worker labour in the core. I'd rather be working workshops/cottages/farms on those gl tiles than the coasts. Coasts are tiles to be worked after all available land tiles have been taken up.


Same as above


Same as above


Same as above


This is the city most in need of worker labour. Despite being at size 11, it lacks the hammers to build settlers, so instead will build workers that will focus on improving its own tiles.


Source of the next GP, a scientist, in 2 turns. After that, workers.


Source of second GP, an artist (hopefully) in 5 turns. This city did have a pure GP pool, but at some point I must have ran a turn with merchants instead of artists. I think what happened is I double-clicked into the city, which occasionally (for some reason) turns on the governor, forcing me to have to reset the specialists. One turn when this happened I must have accidentally added merchants instead of artists. Since I'll be adding 250 more gpp over the next 5 turns, the odds of getting a merchant will be quite low.


This is where the Great Merchant that started the current GA came from this turn, and it will get another one in 11 turns. If The Longest Day does end up making a merchant, I'll swap this city over to artists, hoping to get lucky here. If that fails and I end up with 2 merchants, I'll go after the Music artist.


The best developed of the "outer" cities, with good infra. For now, it will continue to make archers to garrison the new plants.


The ex-barb city; next turn the iron will be mined and it too will be making archers.


Lacking early food and subject to a whip, Bat Flip is growing slowly, but there's a WB on those clams. Also going to make archers, although slowly for now.


Thanks to the caste system artist, Skateaway secured the border with DTG, and once those bananas are hooked up, it should be able to grow like a weed. Also going to build archers.


To the north of Karma, this city is about to finish its granary thanks to a chop. There are workers nearby to improve the iron and spices, and it will make an archer or two as well.


With plenty of food, Sultans will grow fast, esp. once that granary is completed. The borders expanding here revealed a crabs to the south that this city placement has orphaned, which is unfortunate, as I could have easily fit two good cities on this bit of land. But as it is, I'll get one great city instead.


A chop has finished that WB for the crabs, and once that silver is mined, the city should have enough hammers to complete the granary in a decent time-frame.


A chop will finish the granary, then the workers can start the improve the tiles here.


This city is lacking in food, but there are 3 workers on that forest to finish the granary, then they'll start to farm around that lake.


This city was mainly built as a canal to get a WB through to finally meet the civs on the other ring, but having met OT4E anyway, the most important of the other ring's civs, that purpose became moot, so the WB hooked up those crabs, and chops are getting the infrastructure, and this city is actually looking promising, despite the plains and tundras.


Workers are going to chop that forest, then farm the rice. Another slow-starter, but it was founded only a few turns ago, and spent the first three turns of its life running an artist to pop the borders. All those lake tiles are looking pretty delicious, this'll be a commerce city for sure.

[Mr. Cairo]

Everything is going according to plan, so far. Five settler finished this turn, with two more next turn. In the last three turns I got Construction, Metal Casting, and HBR. This turn I'm going to get Feudalism, and then Civil Service the turn after that. I'll save cash for a few turns and finish off a few builds before making the final run at Nationalism to round out the Golden Age. The main reason I want to get to Civil Service in two turns is that it allows me to get Bureaucracy much faster, as opposed to having to wait until the end of the GA. Getting Feudalism and Civil Service in one turn each is requiring some research builds, but fortunately the capital and Born Reckless, my two main hammer cities, were able to work on their forges.



The demos are looking good now that OT4E is out of his GA:

My soldier count has gone up thanks to HBR.

And our next GP is due in two turns:





In international news


OT4E continues to rack up wonders: two turns ago he got The Hagia Sophia and The Parthenon, and this turn it's the Apostolic Palace. Closer to home, Nic has declared war on Chumchu. Nic has fallen behind in expansion, and from what I gathered from the graphs, his previous target, Elkad, turned out to be a lot tougher to handle, with the war lasting only a couple turns before peace, and a sudden dip in Nic's power graph. Chumchu is in a vulnerable position, having revolted out of slavery recently (eating a turn of anarchy to get Caste and Bureau). But he does have Feudalism for Longbows, and Nic's army has got to be mostly ancient and classical stuff.

[Mr. Cairo]

It took putting all but three of my newest cities on to build research, and some creative tile choices, but I am able to get Civil Service in 1 turn.
I wonder how everyone else will react upon seeing this GNP:



OT4E got the Great Library. Him heading in that direction on the tech tree is making getting the Music GA unlikely, if he hasn't got it already. I need to see if he's in Caste, he got a GA a couple turns ago but I assumed it was from running caste artists, but maybe it was from Music. Isn't there usually a notification when a civ gets one of those "first-to" rewards?

Nic took a city from Chumchu, although Chum got a GG, so it might not be all bad for him. Either way, I need to start thinking of getting involved, either hitting Chumchu while he's busy with Nic, or if it looks like Nic will break through and start to roll Chumchu, I'll want to be ready to hit Nic as soon as he reached my borders. Either way, that's going to be a while yet, and ideally something I'd do with knights.

Power Graph:

Why does Elkad keep investing EP into me? 

[Mr. Cairo]

Got Civil Service, revolted to Bureau, and prepared for getting Nationalism in 6 turns:

Running only a few research builds I can get Nationalism in 4 turns, so I'm running wealth builds in most of my core cities to get the cash needed for those four turns.

In other news, I was not unlucky and did get the Great Artist, which means we are good to go for this Merchant:

It'll take back the corn next turn and still be on target for the Great Merchant in 6 turns. If all goes according to plan, at the end of this GA I'll be able to revolt into OR and Merc, have the 3 GP needed to fire off another GA, and start work on the Taj Mahal.