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

[Mr. Cairo]

Last turn of GA demos:




Next turn we find out what it's like to live like everyone else as my 24 turn Golden Age finally comes to an end.

I'm hoping that I'll still be number 1 in every category, but we'll see.

I also swapped into slavery and free religion this turn.

[Mr. Cairo]

First, let's take a look at those Demos:



-278 GNP
-258 Mfg

A significant loss, especially the hammers, but I'm still number 1 in all three categories. I'm quite pleased with the GNP, especially as OT4E, my closest rival in that category is currently teching at 100%. I lost research visibility on him however, so I'm not sure what he's getting.

Power graph:


Elkad's losses at Eridu are visible here, more on that later. For now, I'll talk about my own military plans.
Rifling takes me three turns right now at 100% science, and I don't quite have enough cash to get that right now, so I'm going to get Drama whilst saving, and start on rifling next turn. I've got a lot of muskets currently queued up all over my empire. In my core cities I'm going to put as many hammers into them without completing them as I can before swapping to knights to do the same (in preparation for when I get Mil Trad). In my outer whipping cities I need to get at least 40 hammers into them so I can 3-pop whip them after they become rifles in the queue. I had thought of whipping them as muskets and then again as rifles to maximize whip efficiency, but 10 hammers aren't worth the extra unhappy face, since they already have whip unhappy and I'll be whipping cavs out of them afterwards. Long term, that extra happy face translates into one extra 1-pop whip, so I'm actually gaining 20 hammers this way. Maybe.

In any case, all these units need to go somewhere, so here that somewhere is:


I'll take both border cities on the first turn with knights and cavs. I plan on upgrading a lot of my knight to cavs, but not the ones with only 3 (or less) xp. Those I'll use here to weaken the top defenders so my cavs get good odds. I don't want to lose any cavs taking these cities if I can help it. After that the rest of my cavs head into the interior to take as much a possible while my 1-movers of rifles and cats follow up for the inevitable clash with his own stack of maces and xbows that are currently down by the border with Korea. I'll also build a few galleons to go after his cities across the water from his core.
DTG is in a war right now so he might appear to be a better target, but his border cities are much better defended, and he has better tech (Chumchu is several techs away from Feudalism as he lacks both Poly and Priesthood). Also, Chuchu's empire is right next to my capital, so better re: maintenance concerns. It'll get harder if he does get Engineering before I attack, more for the extra road movement than pikes. But overall, Rifles and Cavs completely outclass everything he has right now.

Speaking of DTG:




Elkad's not going to last. I didn't see what he put in Uruk this turn, but even if it's enough to stay alive this turn, it wont be enough. I don't even know if he has the cities and whippable population needed to turn it into a slog for DTG. DTG has 25 knights here (I have 39, by comparison), and I think that Elkad lost the majority of his pikes and all of his collateral in the battle for Eridu. So DTG looks like he'll eat up Elkad without too much more trouble. Whether it's already been more trouble that it'll be worth is another question. If all goes according to plan, I think I'll get a lot more out of eating Chumchu than DTG will out of eating Elkad.


Finally, some domestic stuff. I've started to turn a few of my outer "food" cities into hammer cities to join the ones in the core. There aren't a lot of good spots, as there is a lot of less land in the absolute sense than in the core, but there are a few with potential:

By taking the Sheep, and with all those lakes, Fuel will be able to work all of those workshops and generate 25 base hammers, which is enough to be worthwhile. 

Without as much food, I'll probably never whip Juliet once it's up to size, but with those workshops and the two mines, it too will make 25 base hammers.

Those three mines are being used by the city to the south of So Far Away to build the Forbidden Palace, so this is a much more long-term project, but once finished (and with the mine to the north as well), I'll get 30 base hammers from here.

Finally, my Moai city. Without the Moai Statues, this city doens't have a lot of hammer potential, but with it, and all those lake tiles, I can make a monster city here. Working every land tile but the one mine going to So Far Away, and every lake tile, Money gets 28 base hammers, going up to 32 with all the coast tiles.

[Mr. Cairo]

More War reporting.

On turn 162 DTG had this outside of Uruk:


And this by Eridu:



I didn't see what Elkad managed to put into Uruk, but this was what I saw on turn 163 (I tend to play before them):


He clearly attacked Uruk with that stack of 12 Knights and lost 5 of them (none of his other knights could have reached that tile in 1 turn). He then moved his collateral and most of the rest of his knights onto that hill the 12 were on the turn before, while keeping most of his one-movers in Eridu.

On turn 164 (this turn), this is the situation (again, before either of them play the turn):


By my count he lost another 3 knights taking Uruk.
This is what I could see of Elkad's forces in the area:



Closer to home, everyone who had research visibility on me (OT4E, Pin, Chum, and DTG) are dumping EP into me like crazy, I guess seeing rifles on the horizon has spooked them. I had debated trying to keep Chumchu from having tech visibility on me, but I realised that dumping EP into him would be all the warning he'll need. So instead I'm not going to spend any EP on him to try and convince him I'm going to attack DTG and not him. It may work, he has started to move more units closer to my border, specifically a single WE on the border halfway between his two cities there. Maybe he's flashing it at me to try and dissuade me? I can't think of any other reason to put it where I can see it. Obviously, WEs are not particularly scary to Rifles and Cavs. If he does suspect me and load units in his border cities then I'll have to attack with Rifles and Cats first, sending in the Cavs after I've broken through.

I'm currently two turns from Rifling, I plan on then saving for 1 or 2 turns on Corp (however many I need to get enough cash) before getting Astronomy. Then saving on Music + Corp before Mil Trad. In that time I'll be building as many Rifles as I can, while also preparing to turn Knights into Cavs in the queue. However, most of my Cavalry for the attack will come from upgraded Knights.

[Mr. Cairo]

Got Rifling this turn, 3 rifles completed, and a bunch more next turn:

7 of those were whipped (most for 3 pop), and will overflow into galleys, that will be whipped into galleons when I get Astronomy in 3 turns. My core cities can all churn out a rifle in 3-4 turns. The settler there is for my next bit of (peaceful) expanding, I finished one this turn from Skateaway and it's going here:


Future expansion plans:

Marginal locations, but beyond them is much better land, as well as that barb city:

I've got a bunch of left-over axes heading this way, and one of the rifles I complete here will join them to take the city.

I also finished my Oxford this turn:

I debated cottaging over every tile in sight, but I decided that would be too slow to be worth it, so I'm going to windmill the hills, and replace the farms with workshops so it can still contribute hammers. I'm farming over that silk tile 3W of the city so that irrigation can spread down from there instead of through this city. I'm also going to get the National Epic here and try and churn out Great Scientists for bulbing purposes.

Speaking of, I got the Great Scientist I was expecting as well, who is (probably) going to go build an Academy up in my Oxford city. I won't need him for my next GA as I plan on getting the Physics GS, but I might see what I can bulb with this one, it might be worth more than the Academy. My next Great Person is coming from here:

Hopefully a Prophet, an Artist will be fine too, but a Merchant will mess up my plans (already have one from Economics)

Moai city:



This also appeared:

But I saw a galleon with one of my scouting impi's in Pin's territory a couple turns ago, this Impi to be exact:

So I sent 6 knights up just in case. I'll also flash a rifle at him. I doubt he's trying anything, but I can't be too careful.


My tech plans are to save for one turn on Corp, get Astronomy in 2 turns, save for 2 turns on Music then Mil Trad in probably 3 turns. 

Current demos:

[Mr. Cairo]

Turn 188 - 1 Turn from Astronomy

OT4E launched a GA after getting a 10-turn peace treaty with Pindicator. He's got Mil Trad and will get Printing Press next turn. He's showing as still making cash in the diplo screen, so I'm thinking that he's probably building a bunch of wealth to fund his teching towards Rifles. At which point he'll presumably attack Nyles.


My GNP is comparable to his when I'm teching something that gets a pre-req bonus, so I don't think that he's going to catch up in tech any time soon. His GNP is quite impressive however, especially as mine is somewhat overinflated by all the citizens I'm running atm.
I'm running citizens so I can get at least 30 hammers into a bunch of galleys/galleons by next turn so they can be 2pop whipped:

9 of those galleys will be whipped next turn, the others shortly after, plus another that will be upgraded, giving me 11 galleons. Most will head over the Chumchu, while a few will cover against potential naval attacks from Pindicator. The ones going to Chumchu will at first be used to cut off those of his cities that have no land access (they're not really islands, but might as well be). Here's the rest of my Domestic advisor, showing the six Rifles finishing next turn:



Speaking of Chumchu, he's still keeping his main army over by his border with Korea. I can only assume that he's convinced I'm going to attack DTG. By my count he's got 26 maces, plus a few WEs, cats, trebs and xbows on that border. Assuming he has more elsewhere, I still don't see him having enough to deal with my attack, he's espeially lacking in collateral. However, he's in a GA, and is currently drafting Muskets. They could make things more difficult. What I find strange is that he hasn't canceled open borders with me, despite the Impi I've got hanging around his army near Korea and my obvious military build up. He also hasn't sent any scouting unit into my territory. If he did I would cancel OB, which would give the game away anyway. In any case, here's the power graph:



My capital has completed the Heroic Epic just in time for copper to appear on one of its plains hills:

Should be able to one-turn rifles from here for a while.

I also decided to use my extra Great Scientist for an Academy in my Oxford city, where I'm going to build the National Epic:

Perhaps not the most effiecient use of the GS, but that depends on how long the game lasts. Once I build the National Epic I'm going to re-farm the workshops and windmill the hills while running as many specialists as possible, especially scientists.

In Sumeria, DTG took a turn of two to heal and is now advancing on the next of Elkad's cities:

I don't think DTG can take it this turn, but will probably be able to next turn. He's starting to run short of collateral, so after this city he'll probably be forced to hold up for a while until he gets enough cats and trebs to continue. I don't know why Elkad is building knights, they seem like a waste of hammers, he'd be better off just building more pikes and longbows if he wants to just hole up, or cats if he thinks he can kill DTG's stack at some point. Unless perhaps these are upgraded from Chariots and Horchers.

[Mr. Cairo]

Mil Trad in 2 turns. OT4E is 3 turns from Rilfing. After a few whips this turn, for what I think is the first time ever, I'm not 1st in any demo category.   



Nevertheless, I still have a significant tech lead. I also 6-pop whipped (!) my forbidden palace this turn, which should result in a lot of savings. I decided to whip it that way so I could give the mines that were being used to a city with a forge, and all I whipped away were coasts in any case. It's not in the most ideal location, but it was available, and could afford to be busy building it for a dozen turns or more. It's also close to DTG's cities 

Empire shot showing FP city in lower centre:



The barb city I'm advancing on/settling towards:

I have a bunch of axes and a rifle heading up to take it.

Elkad is down to three cities, and is preparing a last stand in his (new) cap:



My attack on Chumchu is on schedule for 4-5 turns. For some reason, last turn (the 6th turn of his GA) he revolted to OR and staying in Caste. So, he wont be able to swap to Slavery/Theocracy without eating a turn of anarchy. I don't get it, can't he tell that I'm going to attack him?
Current military:

I have five more rifles coming next turn, but most of my cities are getting ready for Cavalry by putting hammers into Knights and/or WEs, or building catapults.

After I get Mil Trad I'm going to go to 0% science for as long as it takes to get Corp (4 turns probably), and use the cash to upgrade knights to Cavs. I'll probably save until I have enough to do 20 or so in a single turn for the surprise factor.

[Mr. Cairo]

In preparation for getting Mil Trad next turn I whipped a bunch of knights and WEs this turn, often in the same cities thanks to my preparation. I also don't think Chumchu remains unaware that he's the target, as he's finally started to put EP into me again, although his army is still mostly down by Korea.

[Boldly Going Nowhere]

Did you sim being able to upgrade both WEs and knights into cavs? My understanding is that if you have more than one build in the queue and both builds upgrade into the same unit then you will lose one of the builds.

[Mr. Cairo]

Did you sim being able to upgrade both WEs and knights into cavs? My understanding is that if you have more than one build in the queue and both builds upgrade into the same unit then you will lose one of the builds.

Huh, I was worried about my WE's not turning into cavs, so I simmed that and it worked, but I was not aware that I might lose one of the builds. If that is the case, it'll suck, but wont be a huge setback. I only whipped 6 WE's, and I only whippedaway  coasts, and the WE's had only 1 turn of production per city each, but it would still suck. I'll sim it out now.

[Mr. Cairo]

Update: I just simmed it, and yes, one of the builds does disappear. All told I whipped 5 WEs. All but 1 of them had less hammers in them than the knight the city was also building. Added up that means 5 pop and 300 total base hammers wasted, so 150 natural hammers. Put that way, it's not a whole lot, around 3 rifles or cavs worth post-modifiers (all five of the cities had forges).

Not a huge setback, but still, I wish I had simmed it better, or reported with more detail so someone might have mentioned it earlier. Oh well, at least it's not going to be an unwelcome surprise next turn. Thanks BGN.