[Spoilers] AT (Charlie/Mongolia) has a thread. In which he shall post.

[GermanJoey]

Perhaps Molach was just enraged at the mere thought of unboiling an egg, the ultimate taboo... man meddling with forces that man was never meant to mess with...

[spacetyrantxenu]

I don't know why I keep signing up for new games.

[AutomatedTeller]

I'll post pics later on. He did take the city, losing 2 jaguars. I lost an archer, an axe, a chariot and the city. But, weirdly, I gained a worker back. I then mis-clicked and sent an axe to a place where it's doomed.

I offered peace - I dunno if he's going to take it or not - I could do with 10 turns of no attacks, so i can build up for my revenge. That said, I'm almost positive dtay is going to show up on my northern border with a stack of vultures soon. Cause of course he will....

I dunno how many people outside the US pay any attention to the US Presidential Primaries, but we have some odd-balls running (and doign well, at least now, 1 yr before the election and 3 months before anyone actually does any primary voting). One of them is Ben Carson, who is a neurosurgeon, who recently apparently stated that the Pyramids were used as grain silo's by the Egyptians, and not as tombs.

All I could think was "Man, that guy played too much Civ III"

[AutomatedTeller]

Turns 80-82, In Which AT Reports Some Depressing Turns That Weren't As Bad As He Feared They Would Be

So, this was what I saw on turn 80:




That's 4 jags, a spear and a chariot that can hit Germinal Choice. I was 1 turn late in seeing the spike, or that city would have an extra axe in it and it wouldn't have fallen - presumably, the first 3 jags would have died and then it's 3 vs 4.

Missed it by 1 turn. That said, also missed putting walls in, so...

Off to the east, I attacked a chariot with a chariot, forgetting that chariots get a bonus for cross-river attacks and it died. That chariot had captured a worker, which inexplicably was neither deleted or moved to safety.




He lost 2 jags and easily killed my other units. Moving the chariot in was the only way to keep the city, but it had the side effect of just losing the chariot to no good end. Keeping the city would have required the 1st 2 jags to die and deal very little damage, which could have happened, but obviously did not.




Turn 82 demos.




I'm still 5th, but both Adrien and dtay are close. Guess this is the military island...

I'll have more on strategy later - I'm going to pop out 1, maybe 2 more settlers - one to resettle that land, probably 1N of where Germinal choise was and one to get the pigs site - but both of them need actual defensive units.

[AutomatedTeller]

Turn 83, In Which AT Plans His Next Moves

So, first thing to pay attention to is how long I still have enforced peace - it's 4 turns with Molach and 8 with barteq. I don't think Molach will attack me again, but I have to prepare as though he is going to. His units aren't as fast without hills, so I'll get warning. He's barely replaced his power, so if he does attack, right now it looks like a similar stack.

Barteq seems likely to attack - I suspect he may be thinking of plopping a city in that space, which is kind of a dick move - I'll try to head him off from that, probably founding 1N of where I was (which, ironically, was one of my first thoughts)

If I do that, I'll have to chop in walls and garrison it stronger than I had, but I should be able to do that - I already have an archer, spear and 2 axes in the area.

I am still thinking of settling 3 more cities (well, resettling one and settling 2 more)




In the south, 2 cities - A is the replacement for the city Barteq killed, B is not where I wanted it, but it's an ok spot - PH, deer and cow. Won't grow, but it'll get walls/granary/rax/ger and will make military - the city can make 10 hammers at size 4. And I have 3 neighbors who haven't attacked me yet...




North is that pig site. I don't know if I'm going to be able to get it - at least, get it and have enough military to hold it. We'll see - I'll make a settler for it - if I don't use it there, I'll use it replacing one of barteq's cities.

How to get that pig site:

I'm going to have an archer from Urination Time and from Bloody Kids, plus an axe from Whale Breath. Combine that with a whipped settler from Urination Time a couple of turns after the archer and a spear with the overflow and those units (3 of which would be from rax) should hold against just about anything. The only problem with that is ensuring Huh? safety - he's going to get a border pop which gives him visibility into Huh?, so it needs useful defense - archer, axe, spear and perhaps walls. Maybe it makes sense the archer from UT to Huh and whip the archer from bloody kids and pick up another with the overflow?

Or, I can ignore the pig site and take back Unboiled Egg, by creating an army of swords myself




Demos are looking pretty mediocre now - middle of the road for an imp civ at this point is just bad. The civ is meant to get off to a fast start. I'm still in the top 1/2, but it's not really where I want to be.




I'm debating trying to play after Molach this week. I wonder if I'm in a settler race with barteq for a spot, since he refused to play his next turn, despite being last last turn.

[AutomatedTeller]

Turn 84, In Which AT Moves Units Around

Well, I also adjusted the slider to get Alpha next turn






Someone got a scientist this turn. Philo next? Still looking for a spread from Adrien, who still hasn't switched religions. He's also STILL not settled his fish/marble site.




Demos still mediocre, will likely stay that way for awhile. I still have fearsome military potential with the ger and imp bonus on great general (i'm just 9 points from one now, to be honest), though I've never been all that good at using Great General's effectively.




Power is still scary - all my neighbors are similar to me in power, except barteq who has (presumably) rebuilt his jaguars. That's ok - a city with walls and 4 good defenders is harder to take than a city without walls and only 2 good defenders. But it also sucks, cause I have to counter it in two cities, one of which isn't close.

I need some swords to make him spend on defense, too.




I'm debating making Urination Time a cottage city. That would stunt it's eventual size, but then, I can share tiles with other cities, anyway. Whale Breath is probably a better military hub, anyway, since it can build naval units, too.

[AutomatedTeller]

Turn 85, In Which AT Learns What Letters Are

Yes, dear readers, I have got Alphabet! I offer OB to adrien and dtay - Molach has enough financial advantages and barteq is evil. Well, not really - actually, I'm beginning to suspect I am completely wrong about how this land is set up.

I had thought we were 3 islands with 8 players, but I know think we are 4 islands with 6 players each. Which explains why Barteq settled so aggressively at me, since he can settle his backline in his own time.

Some other things from the relationships board:




One of the barteq or adrien has alphabet, since they have OB. I presume it's adrien, but I don't really know.

Also, Barteq only knows me and adrien, which is probably because his scout got eaten relatively early by a barb.




Demos. OB will help me quite a bit. If I get it, I'll send my scout through adrien's land to see if my theory is correct.




barteq's power continues to grow, which is worrisome. Particularly since I want to settle up on him.




The settler goes to the orange circle and then settles. That warrior destroyed the ruins and the road, which is interesting. I guess he's not settling in the area. The axes, archer and spear will be it's defense and I'll chop in walls->granary->monument. No more screwing around on D.

The other spear heads south, to Chicken Sticks, which already has a warrior and 2 archers. That city is in some ways safer, since there aren't convenient forests to hit me from, I think. It needs an axe and I'll send one there once I have one to spare from the new city.




It's safe - there are still 6 turns left on the peace deal. 2 turns left for the molach one, but he moved before me and his power has stayed relatively steady, so I don't think he's planning an assault. barteq is clearly the dangerous guy here.

[AutomatedTeller]

Turn 86, In Which AT Saves Up For Keshik's And Prepares To Resettle His City

dtay accepted open borders, adrien did not. After some consideration, I offered OB to Molach for 5 GPT - he has currency, so my OB is worth a lot more than that, particularly as I add more cities. That way, I can get my scout free. We'll see if he accepts it.




I don't have a good sense as to whether that's a good offer or not - it seems reasonable to me. If he just offers me OB, I'll take it as long as I can get my scout through.

OB with dtay means an extra 10 CPT, which cuts time to HBR to 7 turns at 50% - I'll save for a few turns and then power research it.




barteq's power continues to grow. I THINK that's a couple more jaguars - I'm not very good at reading this, but the dip is him losing 2 jaguars, then he gets some pop and the jags back and I think that gain is similar. I suspect he has the biggest army.




If he is, he gained 11K points in soldiers and 3 points in score, so call it 1K in pop. jag's are 6K and spears are 4K, so presume a jag and a spear and a pop point. That's not so scary - I'll have defenses that can handle that.




I settle next turn and working the copper, which gives 7 HPT. With a chop in 3, I think I can get walls and monument in 5 turns, or before I can be attacked. I might go walls->monument to be safe. The pick shows 2 axes being created, but it's really an axe in the cap and an archer in Sting Pain. The cap got all it's food for growth - it's going to grow to the happy cap and work mines, then give up the wheat for Sting Pain.





I whipped the rax in whale breath to grow power - I believe I can 1 turn the axe, as well. That axe isn't going south - I'm thinking of trying to settle the pig spot - 2 archers and an axe can do it, especially if I can follow up with a spear or another axe. Worker support is a problem, but I can pull those out from the cap and Huh, I hope.

[AutomatedTeller]

Turn 87, In Which Not Much Happens

Refounded Germinal Choice. In 4 turns, I shall have walls and a monument. 20 hammers a turn, baby!!

Molach acccepted my offer, so my scout is free. He'll head north to see what the lands up there have to show, since I can't go south.

Ichabod asked for OB, which I declined, since he has nothing to offer for it.

barteq's power continues to rise, but mine is, too. I feel somewhat confident that I can hold in the south. The problem is that, right now, I'm close to entirely focused on military, so my infra is suffering. it seems that barteq and I are destined for a long either arms race or war, which is entertaining for readers, but not very helpful for the winning

[AutomatedTeller]

Once again, barteq played last, rolled the turn and did not play the next turn. Is he in a turn split with someone else? Cause if he's not, it's kind of a dickish move. There's no race that i can see between us, so the only reason for him to do this is to move 2nd when we resume hostilities.