[Spoiler] Fintourist loses his multiplayer virginity

[Fintourist]

Turn 133

And quick reports continue, both an exam and work tomorrow.. Although with 5 PBs going it does not seem likely that many eager lurkers end up here..

Anyways, since Gunpowder came in, it is time to actually start building some actual military units:



So I started with first couple of Janissaries and as cities finish their builds, more will join. This turn I whipped two markets and a library.

Despite whipping my food lead remains strong. Here are the EOT133 demos:



Sareln's GA ended (although possibly only temporirarily), which enables again a fair comparison of our economies. We are both currently running 0 % research. With him getting surely a bit more culture, the situation seems fairly even. We'll see if I can do something about it..

Still no signs of Taj run from anyone: Azza has no Philosophy, Sareln has Machinery selected, Hydra is surely too far behind. So what is Viqsi doing? No idea! I doubt that she is close to Nationalism, but as I haven't done any C&D efforts I don't really know what she is doing.. I hope that she does not cause any surprises here!

I think I'll run a couple turns with 0 % research and try again to utilize known-tech bonuses from Sareln instead of giving him any. My next techs are Compass and Machinery in some order. Then it's time to push for Optics and Astronomy.

[Old Harry]

You have a lot of spare happiness - should you be thinking about Nationalism and drafting?

[Fintourist]

You have a lot of spare happiness - should you be thinking about Nationalism and drafting?

Yeah, My forges are worth +6 happiness as I have gold myself, get Silver from Viqsi and Gems from Hydra Additionally, being CHA and having Stonehenge also helps. And of course I'm in HR as well. And this map is quite luxury rich. Actually I feel I'm utilizing my happy resources quite much as I have stacked quite a lot of whip unhappiness in some of my production-poor but food-strong cities. I definitely think that stacking those unhappy faces is the correct snowball-play here.

Nationhood is surely coming and it hurts my soul not to draft those Janissaries. However, I'm getting quite much extra commerce from Bureaucracy through my size 17 capital. Also, Taj build would take even more time than it currently takes without the hammer bonus. So yeah, if I'm not attacked the switch to Nationhood will happen during my next golden age, which is 15-23 turns from now. If I get Taj, I will be 16 turns in a golden age with maybe 4 turns in between, which allows a 20-turn period where I can switch between drafting and Buro and hopefully end up with Caste/State Property/Nationhood civics.

[NobleHelium]

The forges are worth +3 happiness. The resources are worth +3.

[Fintourist]

The forges are worth +3 happiness. The resources are worth +3.

Aaaand that's the way it should have been written!

[Fintourist]

Turn 134

And game goes on. Let's provide some picture covering the Ottoman Empire:



I'll whip a settler in RG for a filler city S of horses next turn. After that RG will also go to military duty..



In the north Wimbledon double-whipped a courthouse, which saves me reasonable 5-6 gpt.



"Once a Glimpse" is actually Hydra's counterpart for my "Tennis is a...". However Azza was there first...



Tipsy Time whipped another piece of infrastructure and will next build finally a real defender. Not that I feel too threatened, but it's kind of far away from my core..

Overall comments

I'm again profiting from the research visibility on Sareln. I decided to run one further turn with 0 % research so that Sareln finishes teching Machinery. Using his, Azza's and Hydra's/Viqsi's known tech bonus it is a very close case whether I can one-turn it.

And yeah, no news is good news. There is still no sign of Sareln pushing towards Nationalism. I definitely did not expect that I could just slow-build Taj, but now it seems kind of realistic. Oh well, I still have a way to go, but every turn I come to closer the range where I can whip the wonder to completion... We'll see whether I can remain calm when that actually happens..

[Fintourist]

Bah, just like last weekend. Viqsi has held the save already for 47 hours. This simply kills the joy out of this game. I really like the map and things are about to get interesting, but this ridiculous turn pace ruins everything.

[Old Harry]

I was looking forward to an interesting weekend in both 46 and the demogame, but I got one (really dull) turn all weekend. I had to put up some curtains and a trellis instead.

[Fintourist]

Turn 135-137

As the first note, Viqsi had some kind of technical difficulties during the last weekend that are hopefully fixed and the turns keep rolling. When it comes to me, hectic work, studying, girlfriend and weekend activities have forced me to sleep less than 4 hours a night pretty much during the last 6 days. Now it should become better though.

Anyways, the game keeps moving again and I'm actually having quite much fun! Does this already look more like a military build-up?



I'm going to build about 15-20 Janissaries during the next ten turns. That is not a terribly threatening invasion force, I guess, but at the right time in the right place they might be able to do some damage... We'll see! Apart from Azza my opponents have only miniscule militaries, which might make my 145-180k power increase look like a real spike. I hope that it will only cause my opponents to throw away any hypothetical plans to mess with me, but does not encourage them to build real defenders...



My 16th city, "Not Serious!", was founded this turn. It's kind of a crappy filler city that only claims a horse tile and some coast, but it was easy to settle and close to capital. Despite the small distance "Not Serious" is currently a drain worth couple of gpts to my economy, but as it eventually reaches size 3/4 it will break even. Maybe it can someday provide my civ a ship or two. At the moment I'm still giving all the food-rich tiles to "CC" and "CG", but at latest during the weekend I will do a some kind of "minimize crappiness" plan for "NS".

In general news. I followed Sareln to Machinery (T136) and finished Compass this turn. Apart from trying to maximize my known-tech bonuses I am playing games by trying to hide my true GNP power by running some break-even research and timing my 100 % research turns so that they finish techs (meaning that I have no tech selected during my opponents turns). Currently Sareln seems to be collecting money for Guilds. This is actually good news! With Janissaries I'm not too afraid of knights, I see Astronomy as the key military tech that would force me to improve my defenses and Nationalism would cause me to start getting nervous about Taj.

Hydra seems to have waken up and has now 10 cities settled. Viqsi however is still sleeping with the same 10 cities since at least the last 10 turns. Azza increases his military constantly, but not too fast. I wonder why Sareln does not settle more cities with his GLH. Overall everyone seems to be still in the builder mode. I hope that this will also be the case in 10 turns...

[Fintourist]

Turns 138-139

Optics is in and grinding towards Astronomy has begun. Previously I thought that I will finish Astronomy EOT147, but now it looks like I might be getting it EOT143 already. This forced me to rethink all my logistics and unit supply plans. I literally sat 3 hours in front of the latest save and wrote down detailed plans what every city is building and when etc.



This turn I finished three Janissaries and next turn 3 more will follow. I did not check my soldier points after ending my turn, but I think I will take the power lead next turn unless Azza also pumps out some units.

I have already for a while had clear plans what to do with those units, but I don't want to reveal anything yet.. I want to do a detailed report on my failures or successes when I get closer to actions. Guessing is of course allowed..