Gavagai's thread

[WilliamLP]

What's next for you, for techs and gameplan? If you were considering MT, are you thinking of a Cuir invasion of someone?

[Gavagai]

MT is out. Furungy has Optics and will have Astro in a couple of turns. It looks like a big war between Furungy and me is forthcoming. It will cripple us both and give others a chance to return to the game.
My plans are mostly defensive now. I will have Guilds in 2 turns, then go Gunpowder -> Chemistry. I have an engeneer whom I will bulb into Chemistry to speed up the process.
Also, my Taj GA is starting next turn. I will try to generate 2 scientists for Astronomy bulb. So, Furungy will have his window but a very short one. A thing to remember is that he doesn't have a ground army yet, his best unit now is Mace and he got Machinery like a couple turns ago. Also, he doesn't have Construction IIRC. And he is going to attack into castles and CG2/CG3 longbows. So, I will be safe but Astronomy bulb will eat away like half of my economy.
I'm not sure, if I would want to divert resources to conquest but Bacchus looks really vulnerable, in less then 10 turns I'd be able to drop something like 12 knights right next to his capital. Without naval parity he doesn't stand a chance and he won't be able to get frigates in a reasonable time. On the other hand, I probably wouldn't have resources for a large scale invasion into Myki/Zanth.
Really, you'd better ask Furungy, what will happen in the game next. He is having an initiative now, I'm just reacting.

[Gavagai]

Furungy has Astronomy. I think I will have frigates in something like 10 turns, so this is his window. I doubt that he will be able to make anything happen in this timeframe:



My power has only started to surge. I'm building a bunch of knights now. Depending on what Furungy does I may want to take this:



Good, well developed land and for practical purposes undefended.

Also this:



Zanth's army, well-promoted but ridiculously obsolete.

Cities and demos in golden age:















Observe that though Furungy's GA ended, he somehow still has a pretty high GNP.

[Gavagai]

And yes, I don't have courthouses in a few cities where I badly need them. A pretty serious mistake on my part, actually.

[WilliamLP]

I wonder about them. As non-Org it's 120 hammers. How much GPT is that worth? Seven has stated a law before where the global interest rate is about 5% per turn, so assuming that, and that you could replace a courthouse with another "average" build, the 120 hammers would be worth 6 hammers per turn forever. It's fewer base hammers than 120 (because of forge + OR) but the gain isn't base commerce either, but unadjusted GPT. And hammers are worth more than gold. (Putting 120 hammers into wealth would be 150 gold or 38 turns of a 4 gpt courthouse).

On the other hand the courthouse also produces EP, contributes to unlocking the FP, and its value rises over time as the city and empire grows.

So I don't know where the threshold is. There's also the argument that you want them in every city eventually so earlier will be better. Especially this issue, of the here and now vs long term investments, is one thing I'm trying to learn about in this game.

[Gavagai]

Yep, Courthouses are complicated. I usually start considering building them when I have a city with maintanance >5 gpt (or expect a city to go above this threashold pretty soon) and when maintenance hits 8-9, it is clearly a sign that a courthouse should be built ASAP. But this is just a rule of thumb.
In this game my courthouses got delayed because I try to build mostly units during golden ages when I run Pacifism which, amusingly enough, gives building units a relative advantage over building infra which I prefer to postpone until flipping back into Org. Religion. And between my two golden ages I was busy constructing Barracks and Stables. I now think that at least in some places I should have built courthouses before temples as additional pop isn't everywhere as good as would be saved maintenance. And now courthouses are pushed in the end of the queue by more pressing priorities.

[Gavagai]

Got a low odds Prophet from Kitezh. Having shrine is nice but it doesn't really worth too much at that point - I think, there are something like 13 cities in the world which have Confu. On the other hand, it most likely delays Astro by a couple of turns...

[Commodore]

I typically push hard early for the forbidden palace number of courthouses, then the rest kind of trickle out. Typically, not many are needed.

Although hey, you got a Prophet! Divine Right bulb for Versailles right?

Could you show us a wide shot of your entire empire?

[Gavagai]

Here you go:



I don't have as many cities as I could have. There are a couple of filler spots on the mainland (pretty bad ones, I admit, but with Chemistry-powered workshops still worth settling) and a place for a Whale city on the northern island (will be settled in a few turns).

Also, I really should settle this island, may be should have done it much earlier:



It's something like three more cities.

And this is Furungy:



He has vast holdings, more than double of my land.

Zanth:



He, actually, has great potential, if allowed to digest Myki in peace. I always planned to push him back with advanced units but Furungy may very probably interfere with these plans.

Bacchus:



His start was even crappier than mine. He is actually doing great, if you take into account that his land is more than 50% deserts and plains.

Hum:



He has some nice stuff, actually, not sure why he is struggling. He actually still can make a come back, if Furungy overcommits to his naval assault against me.

Myki:



This guy is almost dead.

[Gavagai]

Made a pretty embarassing mistake. I was so sure that my engeneer would bulb Chemistry that never cared to check it and even didn't check when actually clicked "bulb" button. And guess what, he bulbed Constitution instead. I pleaded for a reload and was granted with one. Still, it is really unpleasant. I saved my GP but was thrown back in my frigates schedule.