[SPOILER] PBEM21, "Zero to Hero" (Kuro, Pericles' Ottomania)

[Kuro]

So, Equius completed it's Monastary. I wasn't sure what to build there once more, but I ended up deciding on a Hammam, which I will hand-build probably, which should coinencide almost exactly with when it will grow to max happiness, by then some whip anger will be down and I can whip it as well. Sollux will also whip a Hammam next turn. Work those slaves! Pew! Pew!

Sollux's Worker, which I dub Cayden, will go over to help get Karkat up to date. Karkles, yay~

Trace and Fin will give Sollux another cottage. Eridan whipped it's Axe and next will complete our obligation to Ellimoogle by giving him a Buddhist missionary. Bro and Humbert move to Erodan in preparation to ship out. Eggs and Curie start on Tavros' Pigs. Abby/Cans and Itchy/Ducky begin their, respectively, cottage and mine.

EOT, Eridan grows, Erodan grows, Sollux grows, their whipped builds complete. Yadda yadda.

[Kuro]

Turn in, Eridan's Axe completes and, ofc, stays there for the happiness. It'll put overflow into a Buddhist Missionary and whip it, then deliver it to Ellimoogle and thus fulfill our obligation to send a missionary. The overflow from THAT will go into a Worker to build something w/o growing while whip anger recedes. Hammams whipped at Erodan and Sollux. HA arrives in Aradia Megido and fortifies there whilest waiting for war news. It still looks like he is lightly defended, too.

Rose's cottage is all complete ritty racky, I guess they'll go after another cottage that cuts down a forest.

EOT, Hammams finish, HA in Karkat done, Metal Casting be in, when the next turn ends the AP will be in.

[Kuro]

So, MC is in at the start of the turn and cappy here needs a build item. FORGE IT!

Sollux also needs a build item and I'm going with a Market. I don't want to fall behind in tech especially if to NH due to the distance involved.

Oh, yeah, and Karkat a whole HA.

Crowbar and Cayden begin giving Karkat a cottage. Our tech rate is being a bit of a dick, due to the whipping, but I'm thinking Aradia and Sollux will be "whip free" for a while, except for Sollux's Market, which will help some. As will Leijon, Rose and so on getting improved up. Can't fall behind.

Tavros whipped it's Granary and Eggs + Curie are off to get that Rice going. Ducky and Itchy go to give Aradia her final mine, which will also help alleviate the need for whips. Fin and Trace will give Sollux another cottage.

I don't like our tech rate suddenly, because our GPT has dropped. Need to get Sollux regrown and on cottages. Humbert and Bro on the way to the mainland to help improve everything fast. Maybe I should get out a Settler or two soon. Oh, because I forgot, Karkat is going after another HA, which I will whip for overflow into another HA. Abby and Cans work on that mine for Leijon, that could help production there too.

Oh, also, whipped Ellimoogle's Missionary out. EOT is the Great Person, come on Prophet...

Damn, it's a Scientist. I did, however, unite all the Christian faithful under the AP. Equius is already getting 4 HPT now, or a turn off the Hammam. I also got tech visibility on NH, which shows me that they are going after CS. The fact they do not have CS, like me, bodes well.

[Kuro]

Based on the turn by Kuro.

Took some thought on what to build in Eridan, but I went with a 13T Settler that can be whipped @ 40 hammers due to max happiness, so I wanted to keep it low in food but building something. Also lets it work those cottages to mature some more. With the AP in, Captor can 2T a HA, while Aradia can 5T one. However, Aradia will actually go on a cottage for 3T for growth and then grab the mine at the next pop, which should delay the HA by 1T but help the econ.

Karkat, on the other hand, just whipped a HA out. The NobleLewwyn "attack force" against Jkioan appears to be 2 Chariots so far, so I should beat them out to the goodies. Missionary and Scientist both went towards Erodan to get Galley'd: 60% chance that Ellimoogle will get a Prophet for trading, otherwise it's a Paper bulb or an Academy. Paper does not seem bad, actually.

Feferi also fired her Prophets for Scientists this turn. Whooooooo!

Ducky and Itchy keep at that Aradia mine, Humbert and Bro dumped to the mainland. Oh, also, Tavros is going after a Library, for culture + Science + Scientists.

[Kuro]

So, Karkat's HA goes into a HA. Something worrying to the eyes, however:



Yes, that IS NH 2Ting Civil Service. I am pretty sure he has been saving for a while, but this is quite worrying all the same: Including his GNP balloon to 382(Ours at 100% is 253). Mmmm, maybe should of masked that a little, buddy? Showing such a high GNP puts quite a bullseye on your back...all the same, I feel that absorbing Jkioan is definately a priority now.

The bigger issue than NH's GNP, though, may be that we still only make 63 GPT @ 100% gold. Yes, Markets completing will help that, but that is still quite a worrying number...even if it's equal to Ellimoogle's GPT ratio. His stupid island diplomacy really messed stuff up, let me tell you.

Anyway, on to DOMESTIC AFFAIRS! *Jazz hands*

Cayden and Crowbar will go up to 2T a Cottage for Karkat, Humbert and Bro move up to help chop out units from Equius, while the Buddhist Missionary and Great Scientist go up to the mainland. I decided it would be more profitable to trade the Scientist to Ellimoogle for a shrine than to create another Academy, so I'm going with that. Unfortunately, NH birthed Cai Lun, a Great Engineer, which will increase their lead...thanks to them getting all that free land from Ellimoogle and being ready to absorb the costs, it could be quite disastrous if they, as I expect, rush the Great Library in the Mids/Gardens city for a ton of Scientist + Engineer points.

Oh, also, Doze is building a cottage at Equius...Abby and Cans will help chop at Aradia, which will hopefully allow me to raise an army fast enough to crush Jkioan into a fine powder. Except his home island. Impossible to get an appropriate Galley force there before he whips over9000 defenders. His five mainland cities will hopefully suffice, combined with home-grown expansion.

Fin and Trace will go give Sollux the what for building that mine. Dash.

No whips missed that I can see...end turn!

Feferi's Market completion, combined with Sollux and Erodan's growth into half-mature cottages raises my GPT to 76, which makes me feel a bit better. Leijon and Rose can hopefully get up to speed fast enough to keep me competitive with the Noble Not-So-Roman Empire.

[Kuro]

It turns out Equius does NOT need ZE WHIP yet, since with overflow it can just 2T a HA, which I set it to do. Karkat finishes a HA, overflow into HA to whip it(Yes, I am basically morgaging Karkat's future to build myself an army). Captor has hit it's happiness limit and since I do not want to whip it yet due to producing my army, I set it to avoid growth: However, due to whipping unhappiness in Karkat and the Captor thing, I've offered a small trade to Ellimoogle for one of their spare Gems, to the tune of 4 GPT, which can be easily made up with Rose growth.

Speaking of Rose, I whipped the Monastary there, which will overflow 17 hammers into the Library, not to mention that +2 hammers from the Monastary going into it. With 29 hammers already in the Library, it should be done relatively shortly, while Rose also regrows in 2T. After the Library there, I'm thinking a Temple(For +4 hammers and paying for itself in happiness for the whip), a Missionary to spread Christianity or maybe a Worker or Settler, but that seems kinda slow from there.

In Worker news, Eggs and Curie cut down the jungle on the rice and are now farming it, which combined with the Pigs means super-growth for Tavros Nitram. Abby and Cans begun chopping the forest for Aradia, which will pause growth as it is at it's happy cap, in addition to coming off a cottage for a mine, bumping up HA production by 1T and only losing 1 GPT.

Doc Scratch and Gemini up at Rose? They'll be going up to clear a jungle for a riverside cottage. Rose makes a nice little cottage city, eh?

Oh, also, Bro and Humbert's completion for a chop means Equius' HA is actually 1T with 16 hammers overflow. Delicious. This is also the last turn of gold saving, then I will bump research to 100% for a 3T Civil Service.

I'm also considering, after that, saving up for 1T of 100% Espionage on Jkioan for about a turn before my invasion, to see exactly what he can do.

EOT, Sollux grows, Rose completes Monastary, Equius grows AND completes a HA, Erodan grows, Leijon grows(Which will allow it to whip it's Granary), nothing else to see here. Perhaps there will be something worth screening next turn, like the Demos screen for when I crank it to 100%.

The other thing is that Ellimoogle is considering me and him embargoing NH on trade routes, which combined with Jkioan's inevitable defeat would slash a good 30 or so commerce off of NH, if not more. I'm thinking of telling him I would not do that until I finish CS, since CS and Bearu should help alleviate my own loss of income.

[Kuro]

So yeah, turn in and junk. We see Equius finishing it's HA, I put the overflow into a Forge...which I can whip next turn for 3 pop and one instantly regrowing, which should also gimme some overflow into anything I want. So that's nice. Equius' HA will take 6T to get to Aradia, which brings to my attention that my road network is somewhat poor, so I resolve to improve that: Bro/Humbert and Fin/Trace both build a road in a good spot(The tile they are on) and will be building some for the next 3T or so. My road network should look better by then.

Ducky and Itchy, however, are just out to chop a forest for Aradia, for another HA. Gemini and Doc Scratch are chopping a jungle for Rose. Karkat, to little surprise, is whipped for a HA. The fact it's almost single-handedly building my army is well worth slightly crippling it, though. Depending on if I can secure happiness resources next, it's next build is either a Hammam to help the happiness or just another HA to whip.



Yikes! That's a frightening GNP number...but then I thought about it and such an unnatural jump seemed...well, unnatural.

Then I realized I hadn't checked the Event Logs this turn.



That's right, a Golden Age AND free switch to two economical civics. Um...yelp!

I guess I've just been too slow this game, though I still say a large part of this is Ellimoogle's silly island gambit and diplo...but eh, I've clearly made some mistakes. First game x2, you know?

Saved at EOT for any future screenies, but for now, ended turn and packaged this turn report up. A good 3 HAs finished to be sent to Aradia and deployed to Jkioan, so war should begin soon enough. Thanks to some good overflow from Captor's HA, I'm considering it building one of a Temple, Monastary or Forge over a HA for extra HAMMAHS. I suppose it's a matter of if other HAs it builds will even be ready in time.

[Kuro]

Aradia finished a HA, shockingly, putting it's production into another HA. I also decided forces Captor made ASAP wouldn't be needed, so I can fit in a 4T Forge first, while allowing it to grow due to some SIlver/Gems I'm buying...and the Forge will help with that happiness, too. The primary good thing about the happiness is Karkat being able to be whipped more, though. Also, Tavros Nitram whips it's Library. I also noticed this turn that I gravely miscalculated earlier: I am just a few beakers short of finishing Civil Service with my current gold rate! Therefor, I have put Feferi on gold for this turn and, after whipping Tavros will see if putting it on Wealth is nessecary.

IN WORKER NEWS...

Ducky and Itchy finished chopping a forest for Aradia, which will complete a HA with 20 hammer overflow. Bro and Humbert finished another road, while Captor's HA is gallavanting off to Aradia. I'll probably launch an attack when it's done, which should gimme around 10 HAs: So far, I only see defenses of an Archer in Jane Smith...



And an Archer, Axe and just this turn Spear in the fortunately flatland John Smith...



Since it's on flatland and I can get there fast and it's only Size 2, I should be able to take it and Jane Smith. It's the cities past that that may be tough. Doze is making another cottage for Equius...

EOT, Eridan's Settler finished(Put it at Vriska Serket?), Tavros Nitram's Library finished, Aradia Megido's HA finished,

[Kuro]

After the whip of the Settler, just building a Worker straight up in 5T is faster than whipping it in Eridan, so do that. Aradia produces and then sets to build a HA. Tavros finished it's whipped Library, so I decide to put in on a Forge next(To be whipped and possibly helped along with a chop?). Karkat actually isn't able to whip it's HA, but I am moving the one in garrison with it to Aradia. Makes Karkat unhappy, but adds to my POWER. Unfortunately, Captor has to 1T Wealth so that CS research is finished faster. Nothing else really happened, except Gemini/Doc Scratch starting on a cottage and the Settler moving to be Galley'd.

War begins next turn or the turn after. Got to scout Johny English this turn: Same defenses as John Smith. Erodan whipped it's Forge for 2-pop and will regrow one at the EOT, so that's good. Sollux delayed whipping it's Market for 1T so I had the correct research to finish CS.

EOT, CS in + whipped Forge in. Whoo.

[Kuro]

So, turn in, I kinda realize it was dumb to push CS last turn, because I'm not going to convert this turn anyway to make sure that an extra HA is finished at Aradia. Stupid, stupid. Karkat whips a HA, even if it can't immedietely join the assault, not really much happening this turn, a road or two build, Bro/Humbert start on a cottage, Oh, and putting Erodan on a Trirme to help patrol my seas.

Oh, right. Sollux also whipped for a Market and Leijon for her Granary.