[Spoiler] Fintourist loses his multiplayer virginity

[Fintourist]

An undefended size five city is too good an opportunity to miss. Azza isn't all that far behind you and sareln, and while you are obviously a very kind generous person occasionally you have to be cruel to be kind!

* views of bloodthirsty lurkers may not be entirely sane.

Yeah, I'm struggling with this! I'm comfortable that I can beat Azza economically in the long term, but of course weakening the neighbor already now is valuable. The problem: Azza is the no.1 in power and production and I would hate to start producing large amounts of military.. Azza has at least a trireme and 2 galleys somewhere in the area (the same as I do), which means that I probably need to whip a trireme or two to have upper hand of those seas. So as summary:

Should I raze "GGG" if it's still empty next turn
+ I get gold
+ Azza is weakened
- I lose some trade route income, ~5 gpt now, more later in the game
- I have to build more military/navy probably during the whole game as the revenge can come at any time
- Possibility of an killing-you-will-be-my-only-goal-vendetta. (Sorry Azza, after following your other threads I feel that you are quite a quick-tempered guy)

So what to do... I'm sure that the answer from lurkers is a clear

[Fintourist]

Turn 111

War... It's not yet time to it.. I have to say I was quite disappointed when I saw that Azza had covered "GGG" with an axe. I spent some time wondering whether I should load 2 axes into a second galley and try to raze it next turn, but I decided against it. Sorry! I simply believe that peaceful turns let me run further away from Azza. However the situation in the waters is quite tense:



Azza can pillage my fishing nets if he wants to -> I can pillage his if he does that
Azza produced a second trireme in "Fast Fuse" -> I started my own in "Come on Tim!" and will possibly double whip it next turn so that I can match his navy.

One of the highligts of the next turn is to see where does Sareln put his overflow from Feudalism. Until now, he has always selected the tech that he is going to research next. This is again a reaction game, If he selects:
Machinery or Compass -> I continue as planned towards Gunpowder
Paper -> Liberalism race is offically on
Aesthetics -> This would be extremely interesting, I think I could then do a quick race to Music and get it first.

I have thought a lot whether I should go and get the free Great Artist. I have now the possibility to take it in 3 turns if I want (nobody has Aesthetics). I can 1-turn reseach Aesthetics and Literature easily and the overflow will be enough to get Music in 1 turn too. However, I probably prefer Drama to Literature because it gives pre-req bonus to Philosophy and therefore the plan would be to tech Meditation->Aesthetics->Drama->Music in 4 turns. I have now money exactly for 4 turns of full research. Denying the free great person from Sareln and his MoM could be quite valuable and thanks to the research visibility I believe that I can control the possible race to it. I don't really care that much if I lose the artist to someone else. Nevertheless, I'm going to wait and see what Sareln does and maybe run two turns of break-even research in order to maintain the flexibility provided by my cash reserves. Personally I find this extremely interesting.

Btw, Sareln's last two techs have been Construction and Feudalism. What is that? Cats and Longbows for defence while teching towards Knights? That would suit me well, since I expect me to reach Gunpowder at the same time when Sareln finishes Guilds if we beeline those techs.

And btw, I accepted Viqsi's trade offer: Silver <-> Gold. I don't exactly need that happy resource yet, but 1) Sareln has 3 gold resources and I don't want him to get that Silver for his forges and 2) I don't mind helping Viqsi a bit since I'm hoping her to attack Sareln at some point although I would not put my money on it...

[Fintourist]

Turn 112

I played the turn quickly and simply followed my rough micro plan with the only variation that I'll whip an additional trireme next turn so that I feel more safe from Azza. However, here's a screenshot of the religion screen. I guess that's a topic that has not been covered so much in my reports:


I think I have received 3 free hindu spreads, otherwise I have been quite active during the last 15 turns in building missionaries, making the most out of OR and speeding up the culture production of new cities. Come on Tim! will get the religion in just a few turns. You can also see that Sareln's buddhist shrine has been working for him. I guess there are around 15 buddhist cities spreaded across the map.

International news were extremely interesting. Viqsi settled her 10th city and landed the Hanging Gardens. That came to me completely as a surprise! Great move anyways! Now Viqsi is only 9 pop points and three cities behind me and her current tech rate is quite OK. I'm definitely not in a position where I can afford to underestimate her! Anyways, I'm happy that the wonder was denied from Sareln. Viqsi built the HG without stone or IND multiplier meaning that the investment vs. payoff rate was not amazing. I had pretty much calculated that Sareln will build a ~13-pop Hanging Gardens, but now I'm comfortably 25 pop points ahead of him, and there is no shortcut that allows him easily to catch me. Of course, because of Sareln's awesome wonder collection he has means for compensating the difference.. We'll see..

Btw, Sareln most likely teched Hunting with overflow and has now Archery selected while collecting cash, we'll see what route he takes when he starts researching again.

[Fintourist]

Turn 113

Domestically the peaceful building continues: Forges, missionaries, workers, necessary military units etc.
I also did a second consequtive turn of break-even research. I believe that Sareln finished Archery and next turn I perhaps see which tech path he chooses:



I'll post a top 5 city screen just because I guess I haven't shown it for a while:



I keep dreaming of a some kind of surprise attack to Sareln's second city Dill.. Before Astronomy it won't really be feasible though and even at that time still complicated.. Viqsi, please raze it for me!

[Merovech]

How do you rate your position in the game? Not many updates by anyone here.

[Fintourist]

How do you rate your position in the game? Not many updates by anyone here.

Yeah, it's a huge pity that people are lazy with reporting. I'm really looking forward to reading the thoughts of my opponents after the game. (And also the thoughts of lurkers, but I'm guessing that people are mainly following the vets game).

You can find the last overview graph from my T110 report. I haven't done yet the exact C&D for the last turn and I have not my excel in front of me, but the basic picture is this:

I believe I can objectively state that I'm either in the lead or in the 2nd position. I have the most cities, pop points and beakers gathered. I feel that Sareln is my main competitor due to his wonder collection: GLH, Pyramids, Buddhist Shrine, Colossus and MoM will definitely do good for him. Nevertheless, he is currently 2 cities, ~25 pop points and ~1000 beakers behind me.

I think Viqsi and Azza are in the next tier. Thanks to landing the Hanging Gardens Viqsi has by far the most pop points of my rivals and is 3rd when it comes to tech. Azza is the rival best in city count and has the highest power rating in the game, which surely is worth something.

Hydra is clearly in the last place with only 7 cities and least beakers gathered.

Here are the latest (T113) mid-turn demos (Sareln, Azza and Viqsi have ended their turns and thus grown while Hydra and myself are still to hit enter):



EDIT: My GNP here represents the break-even rate. I believe mine and Sareln's break-even GNPs are currently pretty much equal.

[Fintourist]

Turn 114

Interesting turn! The big thing is that Music race seems to be on. According to my GNP analysis Sareln reserached Aesthetics this turn. The sad thing is that the race might be already over since it is possible that Sareln can now 1-turn Literature and Music. It's a very close thing: I think he researched Archery with massive overflow on T113 and has gold for one further turn of full research (Literature). It's a close case whether he can then research Music in 1 turn with break-even research and overflow.

I've done a bit math and I can simply research Aesthetics, Literature/Drama and Music in 3 turns. And that's what I'm going to do now if Sareln is too slow. I have to admit that I should have done these calculations earlier, since I underestimated Sareln's research capabilities or/and how cheap those techs on top of the tree are. I was completely sure that I have a lock on getting the free great artist.

Nevertheless, it does not cost me much (I get the known-tech bonus ) to trail Sareln into Aesthetics and Literature and then one-turn Music if it's still available. The chance to deny the free great person from Sareln is just too delicious so I'm giving it a shot... If I lose the race, the overflow will go into education and thus into securing the Liberalism race.

An important game mechanics question(s): Does the music artist appear in the event log immediately after the player ends the turn? If it doesn't, will it still be assigned to the first player in the turn order or is there a some kind of coin flip chance?

EDIT: I had to do a quick test and at least in a hot seat game artist seems to appear immediately after one player finishes teching music. So nevermind.



Azza offered to trade world maps, I did not accept since I believe that my map knowledge is superior to his and I don't want to give away my city locations. You can also see that he has brought his new trireme next to "Bollittieri's" (that just whipped a granary). Of course I brought my own trireme to defend my precious fishing nets..

Come on Tim! preserves its whip overflow for one turn so that it can use it with OR bonus and continue building a forge.

As a conclusion: Damn! I should have just grabbed Music earlier and not try to be so clever and beat Sareln by one turn

[Old Harry]

I was wondering why things had gone quiet over here and I discover you're gallivanting halfway around the world! This just won't do. Think of the poor lurkers!

I take it things are too complex for a sub?

[Fintourist]

Turns 115 (1 AD) -116

And the game is on again! Japan trip was extremely fun, but it's nice to be back home. So let's do a mini-update!

Old Harry, I'm sure that you would have been more than capable of subbing me, but I had no time to write detailed micro notes and several choices (research, scouting moves, city builds) that I make are currently depending on the actions of my opponents. I could have given you free hands and I'm sure I would be in great shape, but as this possibly is my first and last RB-game I want to see how bad I can screw things up now that AD-years have started.

The main decisions from turns 115 and 116 are visible in this screenshot:



Sareln researched Drama on T115 so I decided to trail him to it and see if I can steal the Music artist. I was pretty sure that I had lost that race so I was surprised to see this turn that the free Great Artist was still available. I guess Sareln's overflow simply was not enough for 1-turning Music at this point or he simply did not realize that there was a race. You can see that he did put his overflow into Literature. Because I trailed him to Aesthetics and Drama, there was no other way except score increases (difficult even if one has done detailed C&D for the whole game) for Sareln to see that I was also researching the top of the tree.

So, as Music was still available on T116 I decided to grab it. I saw no real point in sandbagging it. Sareln surely could have one-turned it later with the help of overflow from Literature. Anyways, "free" Great Person has value for me and denying a cheap MoM-powered Golden Age from my main opponent is a success for me.

The obvious downside: I spent three turns of full tech that could have went into Liberalism race or Gunpowder. I feel that I'm still in the leading position to win Liberalism, but this side track has made me more vulnerable. I believe nobody else has Paper yet and I have almost finished Education in the bag, but especially if Azza puts military pressure on me and Sareln uses more than one bulb, I can see myself losing the race.

Current tech plan:
Almost finish Education -> almost finish Philosophy -> Education -> Philosophy -> 1-turn Liberalism -> "Free" Nationalism -> Gunpowder
That enables me to draft Janissaries in about 15 turns. I hope it's not too late.

[Fintourist]

Turn 117

Everything proceeds peacefully. Here is the overview shot of my empire and some border cities of Sareln & Azza:



Forges, couple of defenders, basic infra in new cities.. Nothing spectacular going on at the moment. I haven't been settling new cities for a while. That is mainly because I feel that I'm pretty close to the sensible economic balance currently with my 50 % break-even rate and new cities are so damn expensive. I will found cities 14 and 15 at around T125. Both will be slightly stretching high quality sites that get together 3 fish, crabs, banana, dyes and iron resources. After that I will have to see how the situation develops and my border areas look like. At that point I start to get my first courthouses up and running, which would again allow further expansion.. Unfortunately my neighbours Azza & Sareln are the two fastest expanding opponents with currently 13 and 12 cities respectively. If Hydra were my closest neighbour I could very possibly reach 20 cities just by expanding peacefully and maintaining an uniform empire. Somehow the land areas between my opponent also seem bigger than my border areas...

Assuming my plan works and I reach Gunpowder fairly fast and get free Nationalism. Should I draft Janissaries and go grab some land? They should do pretty well against ancient units.. Who should be the target. Hydra, the most backward civ with lowest power? Azza? He has settled one annoying but indefensible city that I could just take, but he has the highest power available for revenge.. Sareln? The most dangerous opponent, when it comes to winning the game. Or Viqsi? Just for the lols because she's so far away that it does not make any kind of sense.-