[SPOILER] Close to Win

[Charriu]

T150: The big report

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Who would have thought that I can still do a big T150 report. Like last time I will put a lot of the stuff in spoiler tags, so that it's easier to get an overview of things. Let's start with my cities:

Cities

AquaticGhoul - Capital:

The cottages are mature and I just need two more and more pop. I'm moving more military to the capital, both for protection and MP service. I fear that Jowy might use his GG to promote a unit with Morale and make a suprise landing attack on my capital.




BerserkHalfling - Holy City of Judaism:

Grow, grow, grow. Just as the capital a bigger garrison is needed.




CommandoPygmies - Intelligence Headquarter:

Poor CommandoPygmies. At least serfdom makes it look better.




DiplomatKobolds - Military Outpost

One good thing about the war I planned to keep this city small. Mission accomplished.




ExploringFauns - Military Headquarter

I will chop the forest N into the forge and then again it's time for units.




FlyingBarbarian - Finance metropole

Isn't it a beauty. Now if only there wouldn't be Mjmds city.




GoldsmithSkags - Fortress of the north

The forge is almost ready and then its units again. This time crossbowman.




ImperialRatmen - Passage to the backline

My next great person will spawn here, a great scientist. The great person after that will spawn in the capital, but I most likely won't wait to start my second golden age. The great person in the capital will either be a great scientist, who is useless for starting the second golden age; a Great Engineer, who I would love to build a wonder with; or a Great Prophet, who should build my shrine.




JuvenileWizards - City of Great Persons

Defense all the way.




KeenIceWitches - City of happiness resources

Hey at least I got silver from it too.

Current state of the empire

I temporarely stopped military production to get some buildings up during my golden age, but I need to build up soon again.





Next tech goal is Engineering for the movement, Castles and pikes. Further tech developement will be discussed in a future post, when I'm almost done with Engineering.




Some people teched Alphabet. AT is close by in tech, but as expected other players like Mr. Cairo are ahead of me.








There's only way for my civ and that is up.

The other empires

I will do this in order of best to worst, which is also how likely I see those players to win:

1.
pindicator
Charlegmane (IMP/PRO) of Carthage (Cothon, Numidian Cavalry, Fishing, Mining)
Past PBs: 7, 13, 15, 18, 19, 26, 31, 33, 34, 38, 46

Superdeath managed to stop pindicators advance, but I still kept him in number one as he's absolutely capable to win this. Thanks to girarober he has a lot of safe backlines. Superdeath is cornered behind him and should SD fall then there is almost no way of stopping pindicator.


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2.
Mr.Cairo
Tokugawa (AGG/PRO) of Zulu (Ikhanda, Impi, Agriculture, Hunting)
Past PBs: 32, 36, 38, 41, 42, 43, 45, 47, 49

Mr. Cairo used the peace and war times around him for his advantage. He build a good lead and took one city from AT without much effort I presume. He's also in a very good geopolitical position with his two stronger neighbors only neighboring him on an isthmus, while his weakest neighbor shares a long border with him. I assume he will start conquering more of AT in the future, which is the safest way to a top position for him.

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3.
Jowy
Hannibal (FIN/CHA) of Khmer (Baray, Ballista Elephant, Hunting, Mining)
Past PBs: 2, 6, 9, 12, 13, 17, 18, 28, 29, 32

Strong in tech thanks to FIN, Colossus and a lot of water. Has to break out of his isolated position, but thankfully both his neighbors are weak thanks to one particular players bad decision.

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4.
Mjmd+El Grillo
Victoria (FIN/IMP) of India (Mausoleum, Fast Worker, Mysticism, Mining)
Past PBs: 51

Currently on top of the scoreboard thanks to both of his neighbors waring in the other direction. He has a hard geopolitical position. Most notably he has no resource deals with anybody else only some gifts. If I can start allying with him then it could be to both our advantage. I'm also very lucky that he didn't join the dogpile vs me, which is one major reason why I want to repair relations with him.

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5.
Superdeath+Chumchu
Catherine (CRE/IMP) of China (Pavilion, Chu-Ko-Nu, Agriculture, Mining)
Past PBs: All of them since 38

He had a great start of the game and is still doing pretty good for all that matters, but he's boxed in behind pindicator and has no other way of expanding with his 11 cities. I don't think that he can overcome pindicator in time.

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6.
Charriu
Mao Zedong (EXP/PRO) of Celts (Dun, Celtic Warrior, Mysticism, Hunting)
Past PBs: 39, 40

We all saw how the last turns turned out for me - spoiler warning -  not that great. But I'm also not down and won't give up so easily. Next goal is to tech up on Jowy and maybe hopefully attack him together with AT.
 
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7.
Automated Teller
Boudica[b] (AGG/CHA) of Maya (Ball Court, Holkan, Mysticism, Mining)[/b]
Past PBs: 9, 18, 27, 32, 47

Attacking me was one of the worst decisions in this game so far. He wasn't doing that great before, but loosing his army to me and a city to Mr. Cairo might be the start of the end.

Now let's have a look at the current geopolitical situation and we start with a stitch of the current map:

Geopolitics and quo vadis

Behold the known world as of now.




Next plans as already discussed are:

• Allying with Mjmd
  
• Being very cautious about AT
  
• Attack Jowy and hopefully reconquer LavaTriton and HillstormGiants
  

[Charriu]

T151:

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Interesting turn of event. pindicator whipped a lot, which most likely means he's finishing guilds next turn and with that knights. Hard times for Superdeath. Speaking of him I had some strange trade dealing with him:

• He closed borders with me and offered OB for some of my gold some turns ago. I rejected as I don't need his foreign trade.
  
• In T149 he once again offered OB for some of my gold. He rejected. Hey buddy it looks like you need the OB more than I do.
  
• Still I send him a white OB offer back, just to be nice.
  
• Of course he declined and returning the offer with another OB for 5GPT, which is more than his last one. Of course I rejected.
  

I don't get what he wants to accomplish with this. He knows that we are bottom of the scoreboard. No reason to exort money from the other one or not work together.






Meanwhile I constructed something for Mjmd. I don't want to call it a deal as it's very demanding for him especially as he just switched into Mercantilism. Still maybe the fear of pindicator makes this deal work. Now I'm also loosing in the deal and that is one unique luxury resource from pindicator. But I have enough happiness in reserve right now and markets and forges are finished soon. My goals with this deal are:

• Establish better relations with Mjmd
  
• Signal that I want to work with him against our common enemies
  
• Secure me another iron resource as my only iron resource is way to close to Jowys border
  
• Sweeten the deal with a sheep, which he already has 2 of, but what else can I offer.
  

I know I'm asking a lot from Mjmd and I'm putting my whole trust into him. It's very dangerous for me to cancel deals with pindicator especially because of the iron. But I have to trust one of my neighbors and Mjmd seems to be the most trustworthy right now. The risk is also an illusion, because if he attacks me too together with Jowy and maybe even AT then it's game over anyway.

Serfdom yields:
Farm hammers (11+11 from golden age) = Total so far 80

[Charriu]

T152:

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Interesting, very interesting. So Mjmd did not outright reject my offer and instead is willing to work with me. I can understand that him being in Mercantilism, doesn't want the OB right now in addition to me being PRO. Not having OB with him has its advantages in him not spying on me, but I really would have liked another backup OB. Question for the lurkers: Right now I have OB with Mr. Cairo. If AT, Mjmd and Jowy all close borders with me, will I still have trade routes with Mr. Cairo?

I think I might send this offer by Mjmd back to him near the end of my golden age, when I know more about Jowys intentions. Speaking of him...




Not only will LavaTriton pop borders soon and take over the land tiles on that island, he also send in some reinforcements in that galley, or at least I think he will. He's also keeping only his catapults in the back of HillstormGiants, mostly likely to lure an attack on the city, which he then could crush with his cats.





Meanwhile in the north his small armada with two galleys seems to get into position to strike at my inner coastline. AquaticGhouls and BerzerkHalfling currently have 5 units in their city borders and will receive more with upcoming turns. GoldsmithSkags will finish my first Crossbowman in 2 turns. I think those will be a great addition against Jowys army, which mainly consists of Maceman.

Serfdom yields:
Farm hammers (11+11 from golden age) = Total so far 102

[Charriu]

T153+T154:

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Well that's unexpected. Not only did Mjmd stop trading with Jowy without any kind of deal from me, but Superdeath also closed borders with Jowy, who is now fully isolated. I think that's mostly because Jowy is currently making a butt-load of money during his golden age (330+GPT  ). Unfortunately this also means that there's not much more to trade with Mjmd. I'm curious if he expects me to stop trading with pindicator, but I can only do that if he gives me an iron for that. My iron resource will be the first thing that Jowy will pillage in any kind of conflict. I've also tested my question regarding trade routes from my previous post and even if all my neighbors close borders with me I will still have trade routes with Mr. Cairo, so the backup is provided.

Speaking of conflict, my golden age is coming to a close and I switched back from Serfdom to Slavery. Would have loved to run Serfdom longer, but it's a dangerous world out there and Jowy could attack me any moment after the golden age and with that our peace deal is off. He also unloaded one maceman into LavaTriton, while his inner sea armada is still stationary at the same tile as before. I also saw 2 catapults from AT in WhiteKeys. Really curious to see where he's going with his catapults.

Serfdom yields:
Farm hammers (11+11 from golden age) = Total so far 124

124 hammers and some faster worker turns, not to shabby considering that I wouldn't want to whip during my golden age anyway.

[Charriu]

T155:

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Knights on the border. Well this could be it folks. If Mjmd rushes me with knights I can't really do much against it. My main army is tied at the southern border with Jowy and my other smaller army plays defense in the north against the madman AT. Engineering is close by, but probably not achievable in time. I started spearman in the important production cities just in case. If they are not need they will upgrade to pikeman shortly.





Now the only slimmer of hope I have is that Mjmd did not go on a whipping tour through his empire like pindicator did once again.

[Charriu]

T156:

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AT is making preparations for round 2. Please do hit somebody else this time, like Jowy.

[Charriu]

T157:

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Jowy moved his catapults into HillstormGiants and in the north his galleys are ready to load up on maceman. Yep round 2 is about to start soon I guess, but unlike last time this time I have crossbowmen against his maceman and soon pikeman and better mobility from Engineering.




I also settled a new city: MerchantTrolls. I planned this city a long time. The main perpous was to secure more happiness with silver and use the marble for some wonders, but that was a long time ago. Total Mainentance also only increased by 6. Great.

Thanks to 3 new markets in AquaticGhouls, BerzerkHalfling and FlyingBarbarian my income got a nice boost.

[Charriu]

T158:

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A turn of tough decisions. First as expected Jowy declared war. The first offer I got was from Mjmd my sheep for his iron. He must have seen the war declaration from Jowy and wanted to support me. After that I got a white peace offer from Jowy, now that was unexpected. I declined to take a closer look.

Now first as you can see Mjmd took the brave step of declaring war against pindicator. He really is trustworthy. He could have ended me easily. Jowy did not engage and to my pleasant surprise I did regain tiles against him. The only problem is: I have no army to defeat him. My crossbowman are just being finished and I would want at least 10+ to engage Jowy. Jowy also teched Alphabet, which revealed that he has guilds and with that knights. Very dangerous especially because I only finish Engineering just this turn.
There's also the untrustworthy AT to the north. Therefore I decided to return the white peace offer. Those 10 turns will be crucial to build a stack of crossbowman, pikeman and a few Trebuchet to engage Jowy. It really hurts to let Mjmd down. If his war turns out to be serious I'm thinking about gifting him a "stop trading with pindicator".

[Charriu]

Looks like Jowy couldn't wait until the next turn to take the peace offer. That's a bit annoying as it means one fewer turn of peace for me, but nothing I want to make a big complaint about.

With Engineering finishing next turn, I'm also looking for new techs to start. These are my options right now:

Aestethics + Literature: All the wonders except for Statue of Zeus are already built, so the only thing going for them are the epics. Now those are nice and the two techs are quite cheap and have some KTB.

Calendar: Everybody except me already has this tech. The Mausoleum was already built by Mjmd so the only thing in here for me is connecting my 3 calendar resources (2 incense,1 spice at the capital and 1 dye in the third ring of GoldsmithSkags) Thanks to the 522 beakers and the KTB this tech is very cheap for me.

Alphabet: Criminally cheap, but the only thing here is building research. Good for knowing what the others teched, but all except fpr pindicator and SD already have it. Has a lot of KTB.

Code of Laws + Civil Service: Courthouses are nice, but not essential right now. Maceman would be great, because they can be built with copper. Irrigation is quite useful for me. With 1718 combined one of the more expensive options, but thanks to KTB and Feudalism I get some nice multipliers. Chichen Itza is still there, but not important.

Theology: Hagia Sophia and the AP are some nice wonders, especially the AP, because I already have quite a few monasteries in place. Theology civic is nice, but not necessary as thanks to Barracks and Vassalage I already get 5 XP on every unit. Tech is on the cheaper side.

Horseback Riding + Guilds: Stables and knights, enough said. Also opens up the path to gunpowder. Only problem how good will those knights be against Jowys elephants.

Compass+Optics: Now this is interesting. Harbors don't have much use as of now, but Optics has quite a few nice things. First there is the minor advantage of additional visibility across see. Then there is the happiness and improved tile from Whale for KeenIceWitches. But the most important thing here is the caravel. I can use those to get the naval dominance in the inner sea against Jowys triremes, which frees up units in BerzerkHalfling and the capital. But this isn't all. I can circumnavigate the world with them, which gives me +1 trade route. Downside here is that the techs have a combined cost of 1495 beakers and I only get KTB from pindicator on Compass.

Out of these options I find Calendar, Theology, Code of Law+Civil Service and Compass+Optics the most interesting. I think I will do the following.

Calendar->Compass->Optics->Theology (if I get a great engineer)->Code of Laws->Civil Service

[Charriu]

T159:

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Superdeath send me a OB for stop trading with pindicator offer. I'm willing to take that trade, but I wanted to send this exact deal to Mjmd one last time, once to show him my willingness to cooperate and second because I want OB with him. Should he reject I will offer this deal back to SD. This deal means one less happiness in all my cities, but Superdeath has a spare Gold maybe we can arrange something later.

Meanwhile the Crossbowman production is rolling along. I also started Castles in some cities either because they are a border city or because I already have a market in there. AquaticGhoul is especially interesting, because I also get an additional espionage point from there. As you can see I started Compass with the plan to continue to Optics. I skipped Calendar for now, because I think I can get along without the additional happiness from there and the only interesting tiles from it are the banana in GoldsmithSkags and the spice in AquaticGhoulds. I will collect on Compass with the plan to rush through both techs with enough gold. The reason for that is that my Great Scientist will be finished in 5 turns and I will use it to build an Academy in AquaticGhoulds and of course I would want to get the 75% for compass too.