Hmmmm.......... with PB22 slowing down, I've been thinking about this game more... and I think my tech plan from Monday is just, like, the flat-out the wrong moves to stay competitive in this thing. (competitive for finishing Top 5, at least, heh) According to my "cost of Vassalage" equation from PB22, switching from Bureau to Vassalage in this game will cost 126ecpt (effective commerce per turn, i.e. commerce after its gone through libraries, markets, etc) and 4hpt, which is just obscenely expensive... and that's without considering Oxford, which I'll be starting soon in Zoo! It would be cheaper to grind up another 150XP than to spend that much money for the rest of the game.
Doing some calculations for State Property makes it lose some luster too:
1.) First, the food bonus. I'm working like, at most maybe 50 workshops/watermills, which would be +50 fpt. Nothing to sneeze at, sure, but then I don't actually have any new tiles to grow onto in most of my cities, either. So that's really like +25 specialists, gained slowly, in cities without good multipliers... at best, we can say +50hpt here, purely working engineers. With rep, we're talking about 50hpt + 75bpt.
2.) I'm making 510 hpt across my empire right now. So, at best the +10% hammer bonus would net me +50hpt again, although its probably more like 35-40hpt due to rounding and what not.
3.) My total distance-from-palace expenses are, despite having zero courthouses, only 97 gpt, believe it or not. Inflation is at 32% so that's 128gpt.
Optimistically, that's 128gpt, 75bpt, and 100hpt. Is that actually better than ~280gpt, which is about what I'm getting from Free Market? Hard to say... probably. Is it better enough than Free Market to justify 15000 beakers spent to get it? Hell no, not in a game like this.
Next, what about all those military techs? Do I want West Point? Yes, but does it do any good without the ability to get Commandos? No. Do I want Military Science? Yes, but only to enable the Commando Promotion and Grenadiers, the former of which is really only useful with West Point and Vassalage (or another GG) AND the era of railroads, and the latter of which is only necessary if TBS gets rifling, like, within the next few turns. If he goes for Rifling, I could get it immediately, otherwise I can skip it. Ships of the Line are particularly unnecessary I think, as I haven't seen any significant navy out of anyone. I probably have more+bigger ships than TBS+CH+plako+dazed+xenu+bacchus+HAK+yuris+AT combined. Finally, Rifling. Well, I sure do want that but... do I really need it immediately? It's a hard question because Infantry are right around the corner, just 2 techs after RP since I already have Chemistry and Corp. If I can stay safe until then, my GA could be used to bring up factories and coal plants everywhere (hey, I just remembered that I'm expansive, so no health problems!) and then, most importantly, secure the free GG from Fascism, allowing me to produce Commandos without switching Zoo away from Bureaucracy. It's a hell of a lot more risky but goddamn would it put me in a stronger position than my other plan. If all goes well, we could be looking at Commando Paratroopers in 25-30 turns... how do you lurkers like that?![[Image: alvRGED.gif]](http://i.imgur.com/alvRGED.gif)
I'm so glad I have research visibility on TBS, that has totally been EP well spent. I think what I should do is get RP next turn, and then start saving oodles of gold. If I see him start to tech Rifling, then I tech Rifling too, and I can match rifles with rifles and cavs with cavs if he wants to fight. Otherwise, I'll just save gold until I can get Steam Power and Assembly Line back to back, pretty much.
Doing some calculations for State Property makes it lose some luster too:
1.) First, the food bonus. I'm working like, at most maybe 50 workshops/watermills, which would be +50 fpt. Nothing to sneeze at, sure, but then I don't actually have any new tiles to grow onto in most of my cities, either. So that's really like +25 specialists, gained slowly, in cities without good multipliers... at best, we can say +50hpt here, purely working engineers. With rep, we're talking about 50hpt + 75bpt.
2.) I'm making 510 hpt across my empire right now. So, at best the +10% hammer bonus would net me +50hpt again, although its probably more like 35-40hpt due to rounding and what not.
3.) My total distance-from-palace expenses are, despite having zero courthouses, only 97 gpt, believe it or not. Inflation is at 32% so that's 128gpt.
Optimistically, that's 128gpt, 75bpt, and 100hpt. Is that actually better than ~280gpt, which is about what I'm getting from Free Market? Hard to say... probably. Is it better enough than Free Market to justify 15000 beakers spent to get it? Hell no, not in a game like this.
Next, what about all those military techs? Do I want West Point? Yes, but does it do any good without the ability to get Commandos? No. Do I want Military Science? Yes, but only to enable the Commando Promotion and Grenadiers, the former of which is really only useful with West Point and Vassalage (or another GG) AND the era of railroads, and the latter of which is only necessary if TBS gets rifling, like, within the next few turns. If he goes for Rifling, I could get it immediately, otherwise I can skip it. Ships of the Line are particularly unnecessary I think, as I haven't seen any significant navy out of anyone. I probably have more+bigger ships than TBS+CH+plako+dazed+xenu+bacchus+HAK+yuris+AT combined. Finally, Rifling. Well, I sure do want that but... do I really need it immediately? It's a hard question because Infantry are right around the corner, just 2 techs after RP since I already have Chemistry and Corp. If I can stay safe until then, my GA could be used to bring up factories and coal plants everywhere (hey, I just remembered that I'm expansive, so no health problems!) and then, most importantly, secure the free GG from Fascism, allowing me to produce Commandos without switching Zoo away from Bureaucracy. It's a hell of a lot more risky but goddamn would it put me in a stronger position than my other plan. If all goes well, we could be looking at Commando Paratroopers in 25-30 turns... how do you lurkers like that?
I'm so glad I have research visibility on TBS, that has totally been EP well spent. I think what I should do is get RP next turn, and then start saving oodles of gold. If I see him start to tech Rifling, then I tech Rifling too, and I can match rifles with rifles and cavs with cavs if he wants to fight. Otherwise, I'll just save gold until I can get Steam Power and Assembly Line back to back, pretty much.
), and I don't think he'll refuse as long as he gets his money. That nets me +250 gold off a 500 gold loan, a pretty solid rate IMHO. I don't know what on earth he's beelining that he needs this money for, but I bet its not Fascism so I don't really care! Go get your great spy or great scientist or whatever!!! Just keep your grubby paws the hell away from my bundle of sticks, thanks!!
Still, something to look forward to.
He's actually got more troops than I do now, at least numerically - something like 15 muskets, 8 longbows, 2 spears and a warrior. I'll need to wait for heavy reinforcements to avoid another Susa.
