[SPOILERS] AlaePB1 - the ol' Nile blues

[Bacchus]

Getting Iron next turn (well, I hope) and will have to think about how to convert this depressing situation into a winning one. It seems I don't have space to settle past 9 cities, and of these 9 one is the shit copper city with no food besides the spices. I guess I have to content myself with having 3 luxuries, too bad I can't sell my spare gold.

Gavagai is still the only neighbour and increasingly looks like the only direction of expansion. Chu-Ko-Nu's pretty much preclude Maces. So either a HA-WC, or a Knight-WC attack. Given that I am leading on GNP, I'm tempted with the latter. In the meantime, I will build Moai in the capital to push my MFG advantage even further.

If I tech Alphabet, Great Merchant could bulb CS, and I could then pop another Merchant from Caste to bulb me Guilds. Alphabet is a waste of beakers with spies and tech trading banned though :/ But then I need to clear it for all the Scientist bulbs too.

[Bacchus]

My preferred image hosting is down, but nonetheless, I give you the sole source of iron across all land tiles I have uncovered by T99:




I'll get the hammer into the city tile, and everything. And there is a fish! :D

[Bacchus]

Big T100 update.

Here's the overview of out T-Shaped empire, sprawled over four landmasses, soon to be five:




There are no resources bubbles, but Giza is actually very well-fed -- there's a fish and a pig (currently in jungle, but being improved)

Here is the same lot on the domestic advisor for a sense of the economy at 50%




See that colony release sign? An interesting one, the colony menu shows:



We do have another neighbour! Can't see him, but he's there somewhere.

What the empire adds up to in aggregate and at 50% science



Crop yield sucks. Let's look at it a bit closer, using the only graph we have:



Yeah, that doesn't bode well. And Gavagai has Pyramids, so long term this is particularly poor.

What do to about it?

Well, here's the tech tree:


Given that GNP is our big advantage, that we can switch into Caste easily with SPI, and that we have food aplenty to grow specialists in capital, Giza and Elephantine, I'm thinking the route here is to go bulbtastic into Guilds. Merchants can grab CS, Machinery and Guilds, I just need to clear Alphabet, and self-research up to Feudalism. I probably need to do the Aesthetics line and build NE first for efficiency of GP generation, though, especially as I would prefer to be building Knights in a Golden Age.

This also gives up Academy, but at this point science isn't my bottleneck now, and later the Academy won't make enough of a difference. If I can't bring it around with expansion into Gavagai's lands*, the Academy would only let me fall behind slightly less that I would otherwise.

*I probably can't

[Bacchus]

Some kind of a record with -rival worst export/import of -45. Somebody is getting seriously exploited.

[WilliamLP]

Some kind of a record with -rival worst export/import of -45.

[Bacchus]

Well, in comparison to GDP levels and generally allowing for the fact that it's T101. Otherwise, yeah, post-Astro deficits laugh at -45.

[Bacchus]

Gavagai went for Lit, Great Library and Music. Perfect. In the meantime, I grabbed Feudalism, will complete Machinery in 3, HBR in 2 and pop the Merchant to bulb me towards Guilds. I'll then grow another GP for GA and spam the knights.

[Bacchus]

Damn, I was nowhere near sneaky enough. Should have left Machinery within a turn of completion and switched into saving gold until I had that Great Merchant to bulb Guild all at once. Now Gav must have seen Machinery in Tech Screen and switched into it himself, instead of Philosophy :/

[Bacchus]

Got city visibility on Gavagai and it's a thing of wonder:



The other two dots in Kitezh are two Great Engineers

He is also in GA, as you can see.

I have a small attack force of 4 maces and 2 War Chariots that will set out in 3 turns with a primary goal of sacking Kitezh. He has neither Feudalism, nor Machinery (albeit Machinery is researched to within 1 turn of completion), nor Construction. I will have Guilds next turn off a GM pop. Alas, I had to self-research Paper, but no matter, I do want Education, and I will grab an Economics GM whilst Furungy and Gavagai are racing for Liberalism.

[Bacchus]

Gavagai managed Machinery and Engineering in a nick of time and put out a bunch of maces into the field. I decided it's not worth it, and redirected the fleet to MYKI, who was at with Zanth, and apparently skirmishing on the frontlines. Arrived next to this capital, saw two longbows and a holkan, with a whip of the next longbow, 60% cultural defense and realised that 2 knights and 4 maces are not going to be enough. Still, my units are invulnerable in the field, so I proceed to pillage a Town(!) and 3 villages to the ground, raising over 150 gold in the process. The stack will then move south, where I am about to capture a barb city (defended by archers, free experience for a couple of knights), and will also settle a location which has been conveniently improved for me by MYKI and cleared for settlement by Zanth. I will have 4 knights and 6 maces on the theatre, which at the current tech level is enough to defeat anything the locals could throw at me.

Researching Economics for Free Market and a Great Merchant to launch a second GA (assisted by a capital-grown GP), then Gunpowder to protect from Gav who is about to get Guilds. My tech level here has surpassed my tech level in 13, where I had much better land, and where the game is 20 turns further ahead.