[Spoiler] Any volunteers for a human sacrifice? Brennus of the Aztecs, by Krill

[antisocialmunky]

I hope you beeline free market so you can discover the power of Crapitolism.

[Krill]

Turn 110 - Lockdown

So the turn, or more specifically, the missionary, has finally arrived and I can settle my tenth city. I'm not 100% certain but I think I'm the first there. This is not an important turn beyond this point.

So, Pingo slaved a bunch of pop last turn then had a large score increase, I'm pretty sure they bulbed Theo. So that is the GP from Henge gone. You'll also see my new city, with religion spread and that I got the SoZ.

Three turns to go for a nice little 7bpt boost.

Still boring. T122 GPP. I think, anyway.

T114 HE sounds reasonable right now. Next turn I'll move off the grass hill onto the silk tile, and grow in 3 turns. That gives enough overflow food that the new pop will work the plains mine for 2 turns, and then the grass hill for a turn for 3 turns growth from size 9 to size 10. GNAP will likely use the grass hill for those turns, and it will need it on t111 and t112. After that it can give the tile back to WTF? but there is enough leeway that WTF? can grow to size 10 in 6 turns and finish the HE in 5. The reason I'm happy to delay now and focus growth is because I am not beelining HBR If I did need HA online asap, I would have pushed out both the SoZ and HE asap, delayed growth and built the HA, and grown later on. Now I'm going to grow and make use of the river commerce. Let's face it, I really need every scrap of commerce I can get.

Probably going to build a settler after this archer, or rather, build it for 3 turns and leave it 5 turns from completion whilst building research. But is this wise? If I tech HBR after Alphabet, then build research only to pump out HA from SC means the settler hammers get left there to rot. Ideally I would want to MM HBR to finish the turn I finish the settler.

Actually it turns out that this warrior would not complete in time to keep WTF? happy so I moved the warrior from SC north towards WTF?. GNAP will steal the grass hill from WTF? next turn and continue to slow grow whilst building research; this is probably the best city to build research in as any units that are built here are far from where they are needed, and SC is at least 2 turns closer to any front or new city. Borders should pop no later than t127 to open up 3 new coastal tiles.

Still junk, but with SC likely to build a settler, it can keep the farm.

Woot walls. This city is just dying to get IW and Calendar. If I could average 90 base bpt from T115 onwards, then I would theoretically have all three of those techs at eot t127. And that is ignoring HBR, add that in and looking at t131. Fair to say that by then the city will have a granary and barracks at the very least.

Still junk.

Next turn the cow is pastured, so will work that. Then grow in 7 turns, and work the horse which will also be pastured. Monastery due eot t121, and then missionaries due every 5 turns after that. By the time IW is researched I will be able to farm a few grasslands so will likely use one grass farm and try to get a granary completed before food box is half full at size 3. With 1 forest chop and Maths, very achievable.

Compared to last turn, 1 less unit cost, 3 less supply cost, but city maintenance is up 7. Still, with the trade route and city tile, that's a net loss of 1gpt for a new city to guard an area I was already guarding. I should probably have settled hte city a few turns ago and been up about 10 food and have just ignored the hammer wastage. Still, dump the hammers into an archer with the city on a hill, that wouldn't be wastage but an insurance policy. I think that not settling the city was a poor play on my part.

My GNP shot up because of the SoZ culture. Can easily be ignored.

I hope to be back on top of the world in a few short turns...

[Krill]

I hope you beeline free market so you can discover the power of Crapitolism.

I have absolutely no idea what my civics are going to look like late game.

[Krill]

Turn 111 - No! No! No! It was not supposed to happen this way!

Gotta admit I'm enjoying thinking up turn titles.

So, what wasn't supposed to happen this way? Well, first up, I moved that W3 scout and checked out the event log...

Hmm, Confucianism got founded, meaning someone teched CoL. Not too big a worry, it was probably scooty as I would have seen a religion get founded with Nazul. They are AGG/IND, already have a religion, and don't have an awesome capital so a beeline to CS isn't like ZOMFGWTFBBQ awesome. Though if Nazul got it, I'd be a bit more bummed...they do have a good capital for Bureaucracy. And as you can see the peace treaty with azza has ended, but he isn't exactly in position to attack me and I have 3 archers on the way down, so I should be fairly safe.

This, OTOH, is much more "oh shit" category. This is what I wrote a few hours ago, before playing the turn:

"I am not 100% certain Commodore will give OB, but what are the reasons he would not? The only reason he would turn it down are if he was not happy with giving me a commerce boost. Perhaps he has island cities and so it's not a huge commerce boost to him, but it's still a commerce boost, and he has my graphs: he knows I'm not running away with commerce."

This would no longer be true, if Commodore has OB with azza. Commodore would get something like 1-2 commerce bonus from being in OB with me. I'd be the main beneficiary commerce wise.

"But there is another point. I offered Commodore wines for his world map more than 10 turns ago. I've left them with him, but as soon as I get Alphabet, I will cancel the wines and offer him OB for the wines, so it's not a straight swap. And he probably needs the happiness from the wines as well, so refusing the deal would be even more painful for him."

OTOH, this is still true, and I theoretically could offer a second happy resource, that I only have 1 source of. I would need an additional warrior in Crapital, costing me 1gpt, but that is worth it for trade routes to the majority of my cities. That would sweeten the deal a bit.

"But, no, I don't see Commodore turning down the offer with my current understanding of his position. If he does turn it down I need to reconsider exactly what he is doing, as i consider him my most likely ally."

So right now the biggest is that azza will offer OB to Commodore and Commodore accepts, but I can still get OB. Probably.

However, saying all that...azza has OB with Nazul. Unfortunately, I don't think they actually have a trade route for the commerce. So azza probably wants OB with at least yuris or Commodore, and then with the other once he gets Currency if researches that next.

I chopped on of the third ring forests this turn to make worker MM a bit easier, if the GL fell this turn, I get 32 extra gold in exchange for that single forest. I'm happy with that. You can also see that I'm researching Alphabet starting this turn. It might seem a bit premature, but I'm going to run 80% this turn, 90% next turn, and finally on T113 go to 100% and finish Alphabet with minimal overflow and gold in the bank. I want to limit the amount of time azza has to try for the OB with Commodore. I ran the numbers and on the last turn I'm going to end up making over 160 base beakers.

The other option would be to ignore Alphabet, and, say, tech HBR and go on the warpath. This ignores the fact that Alphabet still let's me build research, and I might be bale to get OB with other teams (including Nazul, not that I want to get OB with them). Whatever happens I don't see a downside to teching Alpha right now. Except maybe another war with someone.

T122 GP? Whatever, I can't figure this out any more, which is why I'm playing safe with the GL in Crapital. I'm still surprised I got this city so large...

This turn and t112 I make 10 base hpt, plus the forest chop from last turn, for 104 total hammers. t113 and t114 I'll work the plains hill, making 14 base hpt and chop another forest t114, for a further 96 adjusted hammers, hey presto, HE finish eot t114. Alphabet is finished eot t113...plenty of time to spam shitty chariots and archers

Still thinking that settler next is the best idea.

With WTF? not working the grass hill for the next 4 turns, I should be able to grow in 5 turns. As GNAP and WTF are tied together for MM, so are GNAP and Crapital. Crapital finishes the GL next turn, but Crapital could build a 2 turn missionary for GNAP, keeping the hills that GNAP could not work as it is growing. Yes, Crapital would continue to starve but it has enough food and I don't want it to grow above size 15. But that means Crapital could not be reconfigured for commerce on the last turn of Alphabet research.

Ultimately, Alphabet comes first, then making sure all the cottages are worked, thirdly growth of WTF? and finally growth of GNAP. This means that GNAP gets to work whatever crappy tiles are left over for it to work. Admittedly I knew this when I settled it, so I shouldn't complain.

Still junk.

What are the real options here? Granary? Barracks? Monastery? With a forest chop making up a further 20 hammers t114 and a farm on the grassland, the granary would finish with the chop t114. As would any of the other buildings, they all cost 60 hammers. I don't need more culture nor the ability to build missionaries in the short term, so the monastery is out. The barracks...I'm not build units, so no. THe granary could be used straight away with the farm, so I think that makes a bit of sense at least.

Still junk.

Yay for slow builds.

Stupid city maintenance.

2nd in GNP...how, exactly? scooty turned off tech after CoL, meaning that top GNP is Nazul. That's annoying.

[Ichabod]

I think I missed what you plan to tech after mathematics. Is it currency? Calendar seems like a good option too, due to all the resources you have. It'd increase your happy cap significantly and you could delete those warriors at the capital, if you don't plan to grow it anymore soon. And the tile yields are good too.

[Krill]

Maths is a 1 turn tech, and Currency is a 2 turn tech with a bunch of overflow. With the additional commerce from Currency Trade routes, the aim is to research two of Music, Calendar, Construction and CoL. It's all needs based, the tech I need the most, I get first.

[Krill]

Turn 112 - It's the Final Countdown

This turn report will be fairly quick, because I'm already half way down the path I chose.

God damn you azza. Now I have to hope that Commodore thinks the wines are worth the OB.

No overflow out of the GL, but Crapital is coming along nicely...when the third none granary building you make is the GL you know it's a fun game. Going to push a missionary or two I think, stabilise the city at this pop size, and reassess what I want it to do. I have to assess my tech path timings because with the soon to be GS I can pop means the Academy will skew all of the numbers. On top of that, I need to decide if I run scientists after the GP pops from DF to speed up the GS by 5 turns, and how worthwhile that would be.

Definitely getting the GP form this city prior to the GS pop now. Kinda think I would like the SP now to not have to tech Mono or Theology, like Pingo just teched, along with the option of Free Religion for a bit better tech and no happy hit. And it's cheap. Pacifism would probably just cripple me unless I was in Vassalage.

After some thinking, I changed a few things. I just realised that I somehow screwed up and went with 100% science last turn, and I was no longer certain I could get Alphabet in 3 turns. So I deleted 2 warriors and altered WTF? to not grow this turn, thus no cities would grow nor any units be produced so I could get Alphabet in 3 turns and have a grand total of zero gold in the bank at the end. Sure it sucks, but it's not the end of the world.

Time to build that settler...

Well, at least GNAP will be able to grow a bit faster if WTF? can't grow.

Getting there. At least it's a net positive now.

Woot, probably safe now with the archer in the city.

Still junk...

See, cities like this could really do with the commerce from trade routes. They'd just seem so much more...reasonable.

Finally got the unit supply costs down to zero.

Note that I'm 5th in power, but I'm only 7K from the top power. Things are starting to heat up, and the HE doesn't seem like a bad little investment. Seen worse numbers here before.

[roippi]

Could I request a graph or two in the T130 update? Cheers.

[Krill]

Turn 113 - Second Thoughts

So, did I get it? Did I get it?

Yay, MY PRECIOUS! The next 30 turns should show if it was worth it or not.

I'm scouting down here because I want to keep an eye on Nazul's expansion routes towards the barb city. I'm getting to the point now where I'm willing to consider settling the jungle to limit Nazul's settling prospects. I'll need to balance military to hold the entire jungle area, with tech: I need one of HBR or IW next, then need to consider the one I don't get, and Maths>Calendar. IW is cheaper, reveals iron for knights, let's me start chopping jungle with workers that I have nothing else to do with, and build jags which start with W1, and I can 1 turn them from WTF? with 6XP. HBR let's me build HA which will not be 2 move in the jungle area, but will flank cats, yet no one has Construction yet. IW actually seems like the smarter move, even if it limits my ability to attack Pingo and azza. I will need to make the decision by next turn, which should be sometime later today, if I decide to build research. If I do not build research for a few turns, then I can get away with not making a decision until about T116, T117 depending on OB.

16 free commerce per turn. T114 will be important.

So, what to do with Crapital. I have 4 cities that currently require a missionary, and a further 4-5 cities that I can plant will need missionaries as well. I figure that at least 3 of the missionaries will come from here, but when I build them I'm not sure about. I'll build one missionary for GNAP to pop borders asap, but after that I could build a barracks and military, a settler, continue to pump missionaries in preparation for the shrine being built. Note that culture pops in 12 turns, so that will get me copper inside my borders.

I don't have a lot of buildings I can make here. I can't build markets, universities, grocers or banks, nor court houses or anything remotely useful here. The military output will never compare to WTF? so why bother with that. Missionaries seems wisest, at least until I have religion in all of my cities. Then a settler or two is fine as Sportsmanship (SMS) can take up the slack.

FWIW, I will not be building the NE here, as I do not want a bunch of GS. I'm probably going to drop the NE into a jungle city that overlaps a bunch of food and try to abuse SPI and Caste later on in the game.

OK, so 4 turns to size 11, means I will make 72 hammers, on top of the 146 I already have. That makes 218, need a further 232. Chop 2 more forests, drops it to 152. That means SoZ would finish eot t123. After that it's probably going to be library and market.

The annoying thing about the HE is that it will lose the overflow hammer when it guilds archers, axes, spears and jags. Chariots and HA re unaffected as they are even in hammer cost. So, to make a jag a turn, I would need to get WTF? to 18base hpt. That's done by working all of hte hills, the horse and the city tile. The rest of the population can work grass farms to grow the city. That allows GNAP to work the wine as well. Archers need 13hpt, which can be done in a number of ways, working horse and two grass hills, city tile then 3 irrigated plains, or going for overkill and working a single plains hill and a few more grass farms. This can help create overflow that makes it possible to 1 turn more expensive units. Provided that unit costs are not prohibitive during peace time (and not even considering that if a war is on the cards), then I want to 1 turn a unit here from now until the end of time, excluding when I build a stables and forge. The forge pays off eventually, and I will need it for the more expensive units in the medi era.

Settler or build research? Comes down to when I want that settler I suppose, and just how much I want IW or HBR.

Sneak peek at the junk city.

Next turn, or the turn after, I offer Marble to Nazul for Stone and then straight onto Moai, and try to get it done in 10 turns. 250 hammers means an average of 12.5 base hpt; GNAP can make 13hpt just from moving 2 labourers from the coast onto plains hill mines, so that's easy. Even at full speed, Moai wouldn't finish more than a turn or two before the borders popped. 20hpt city at size 13. Easily obtainable, just takes time.

...

Chop comes in next turn, and finished the granary. Then it would be something like barracks>monastery? This is one of the cities that would seriously benefit from IW instead of HBR. Removing the jungle form the three sugars basically gives me another 3 grass farms, once they gain plantations, they are fp farms. It would greatly help in growing Opportunism up to it's happy cap of 12, 14 with Calendar resources. It would be strategically useful to have a really strong hammer city in the jungle to pump out units I need right now as WTF? is too far away to react. WTF? is there for the efficient, continued, construction of an army, but Opportunism is there for the turn to turn changes in needs. At size 12 it can make 24hpt, using the final grass forest for the extra hammer. With Calendar it can reach that at size 9. This is one of the reasons I'm actually reconsidering getting IW next, that and double move jags in the jungle could be an awful lot of fun.

OK, I admit it, I really should have reconsidered getting a missionary in some other way for this city. Still, IW and the border pop means the banana is hook able, and I can get two more jungle grasslands cottaged; these would be cottages that the yet to be settled double banana jungle city would work at high pop sizes. And it can work a couple of grass hills once it finally grows.

Once these borders pop, I will feel safer. With IW I could chop some jungle tiles for farms, specifically the banana. This city will lose about 4-5 tilesto the city I will plant 966, but they will be cottage grasslands, so SPS can work them whilst growing vertically with the banana, which can also be shared with the unsettled city. I have a bunch of workers (pretty much all of them except the two at WTF?) that have nothing productive to do, so using them to chop jungle now would save me having to make more workers later on.

Above all, I need to consider IW in the context of this screen. I need to settle new cities to work cottages. That means settling the jungle, getting the food hooked and growing vertically. The sooner I do this the sooner they pay off. All of the food is needs Calendar, so can I afford to get 1300 beakers of tech before I get HBR? That is decided by other players actions. I also need to consider ivory, and how I will combat WE and cats when they turn up, with flanking damage being nerfed by 50%.

This is in max food/min hammers FWIW.

Let's see if I can retake top spot.

Plako started in the very far right of the uncovered tiles on that map, next to Nazul. I wonder if there is more land up there, but I'm not going to find out any time soon, I don't want to trade maps atm. If I am going to be aggressive with Nazul, I want a city SE of NS on the hill and push culture (somehow), and take it from there.

Nazul is probably open to some level of aggression, as is azza, but Pingo, whom are my preferred target to take ivory from, are not really going to give up that city unless I get HBR and a good stack of HA. Need to make the decision about how I'm going to play out the next 10 turns and then choose techs to support that choice.

I think I said after the war with azza that he was going to drop off in the next 15 turns. This pic and the next two will show that point. Also, Commodore has pretty crap land, but he is doing pretty good compared to how bad his position could be.

The advantage of high happy caps. Note the huge drop in MFG from Pingo, to coincide with the war with Commodore. Commodore is going hard on the hammers again, but everyone seems to be close together in MFG. With the nerf to slaving, I think that this means war between the others will only be something opportunistic. I'm probably not considered a good target right now either, which is good...

Please someone reinterpret this for me. Are Nazul and myself about equal in GNP? Pingo are gradually improving, Commodore sucks, but I think the OB will help him a fair bit, and azza is doing OK as well, but the OB should improve his a fair chunk and keep him up with me and Nazul. So it looks like scooty are the only players running away in tech, and tech trading later on should make up for that. between them and now, I just have to manage the risk of them hitting me with tech superior units with numbers. I'm pretty sure I can do that.

[Krill]

Could I request a graph or two in the T130 update? Cheers.

Done, but I have no idea what a few of the teams are doing. The power graph is quite pleasing though.