[SPOILERS] - social distancing with pindicator

[pindicator]

Because i currently am sitting on a great scientist and i want to make sure the next one is not a great scientist. So I'm going to get a market whipped out and then do Library -> National Epic.

[pindicator]

176

Time to assault Superdeath's last city:




That pike was going to claim 1 knight, and since my first knight got a bad roll and only did one damage it ended up costing 2. Ever tenacious to the end, superdeath. Hats off. I lost a C1 Shock and a C2 Shock, but then my C4 GG killed an archer at 88% and my C3 March Knight killed another, leaving me with 4 amphibious attacks to kill the remaining health archer and wounded pike.




They both won.




GG superdeath. Come stop by and we can complain about the map together.

Code:

C2 Shock Knight v Pikeman (9.6%) - loss, 1 hit
C1 Shock Knight v 84hp Pikeman (19.8%) - loss, 3 hits
C4 GG Jeanne d'Arc Knight v Archer (88.8%) - win
C3 March Knight v Archer (78.3%) - win
C2 Shock Knight v Archer, amphibious attack (66.4%) - win
F1 Sentry Knight v 36hp PIkeman (84.7%) - win

From here, I have a couple of priorities:

1) catapults. Mjmd is top power and rising, and while I think he is just being overly defensive (which is smart), I'm not going to risk all the land I've gained by not having enough catapults to repell an invasion. Right now I have 6. I want closer to 16.
2) Pillaging. It occurred to me that there are a bunch of tile improvements in neutral territory in the ex-superdeath lands. Many of these are easily replaced: mines and cottages that have not improved to hamlets. My workers are also looking for stuff to do. So the numids will pillage before coming south.
3) Economy. Let's see if we can turn this thing around?

Eventually I want to get this to Nationalism & Gunpowder before the next golden age, then start drafting Muskets. Then on to Cannons. Maybe Cuirs.


For the first time in 129 turns I am not at war.

PRO: 80 (3,370)
FIN: 53 (3,151) - had a miscount last turn, fixed it in the total here.

[superdeath]

Much complaints that i couldnt even get a coastal trade route to cairo till astro.. Really wish Japan had lasted longer in the war. Maybe whip a couple more archers/spears. Really surprised me how fast they got flattened which is the primary reason why i was cocky and had built 2 wonders ( although GLH was already on its way to being built before i noticed someone teching HBR... ) the Mid's were because i was confident i could raze several of your cities as i had figured that Japan would at least slow you down some. Other than some mild bitching about RNG on my side ( of course ill bitch about losing a 20% battle, stuff like that) I felt like Cairo could have joined in at ANY point during that and gained some city(s) but man... What a well played game from you.



Also that weird diplo trade? 123 gold 4gpt and war vs Mjmd?

 

[pindicator]

Also that weird diplo trade? 123 gold 4gpt and war vs Mjmd?

 

Okay, that's kind of hilarious now that I see it.

Yeah, I think the map really hurt us both. I never wanted to give you peace for trade routes because I could see that the only way you had to go for expansion was me, so why give you an inch? I think maybe if you were farther south so that Gira and you and I were a bit of a 3-way stand off - or if there was a connection to Mr. Cairo pre-astronomy, then we both would have been happier. Well, obvious still adversaries, but not stuck in eternal war.

I was also a bit surprised that you kept Coos the first time you took it. Burning it the second time was what I thought was going to happen from the start.

I've been trying to get on Cairo's good side all game. I think part of the issue are these narrow isthmuses between players that people are reluctant to attack down. Cairo went after AT instead - but maybe part of that was because AT had just gotten handled by Charriu. (Speaking of which, if I was in your shoes I'd be reading Charriu's thread right now. That guy has done an awesome job despite being handed a bad situation.) I was trying to get Cairo to join me to go after Mjmd around the time I was trying to get peace with you, but I think he's set on AT. We'll see where it goes from here.


177

I feel like I'm digging around in the cushions looking for spare change.




Still, that's 83g all together. I probably got a little over half of what I'm going to pillage this turn, and I'm happy with getting a turn's worth of saving gold out of it.

Mjmd teched Gunpowder this turn. I think he's being very cautious now that superdeath is eliminated. I'm not sure that any attack is going to do anything more than provoke him into more caution - and yet, that is what we need to do. We need to keep him away from the techs like Nationalism and Economics, and towards techs like Rifling (as crazy as that might sound).

It seems crazy to me that he still hasn't gotten Engineering though. Engineering is so good! The movement bonus itself makes the tech worth it.

Demos:




Food is catching up.

I'm really tempted to set up to burn Sugar Cookies next turn. Maybe I don't succeed, but I think what I would do is see if it is defended well, and if it is not then I'll send what I need to burn it then retreat back to my territory and try to goad him to where my catapults to be used against whatever he invades with. Except I need more catapults. And I need to grow more still. So ... maybe I don't.


PRO: 81 (3,451)
FIN: 55 (3,206)

[pindicator]

Well, if the game is broken at least I win the golden spear award

Oh wait, wrong game.

[pindicator]

178

Circumnavigation is broken




All of my coastal cities jumped up by TWO trade routes this turn. So now instead of 6 trade routes in cities with all the buildings (castle, cothon), I'm getting 7. If you only consider domestic trade routes (as more people go to mercantilism that's going to be a thing) then my coastal cities are earning a minimum of 13 commerce per turn just from trade routes and without any buildings.

I'm going ot want more settlers.

Here are the F2 screen with the new trade routes in action:




And here is me setting up to decide if I really want to do this next turn.




Here's the thing: I'm not sure that I should. But I want to anyway.

It might be smarter just to settle on the ruins of Lake and then surprise him when borders pop. Or maybe I just hell with it.
Mjmd got Gunpowder last turn. Jowy got Replaceable Parts this turn - he is making progress again against Charriu, capturing another city. I have to root for Jowy here I think, because then we have Mjmd in the middle.

Ugh, and so maybe I should not pull the trigger but instead keep building my own up so that I can be ready for that later situation.


PRO: 119 (3,570)
FIN: 57 (3,263)

[pindicator]

I tried recreating circumnavigation with 1.4.2 and I only get 1 trade route. Weird.

[Miguelito]

I tried recreating circumnavigation with 1.4.2 and I only get 1 trade route.  Weird.

did you do it with the Cothon and GLH included? Maybe there's an interaction?

[Miguelito]

Oh and congrats on 2nd place in the AI survivor contest! (I don't know the winner so I'll just congratulate you) An achievement to put on the CV ? But seriously, an impressive run, I scored like half your points.

[superdeath]