I am about to finish Stonehenge, and my investment in this wonder is starting to show -- Rowain is pulling ahead on science, even though mine is growing as well, I'm now up to 14. Obviously, so far the Henge has been a pure loss to me, so let's see whether I recuperate. I do manage to clear the undefended outpost with a slinger, for another 50 gold, which is a really nice break. I also found my pantheon, Goddess of the Harvest, which will bring in 50 faith the turn after next, and then another 150 pretty quickly. Biggest problem currently is that I don't have a shrine to recruit a missionary, and it will be another ~10 turns if I build it naturally. I might buy it though -- I need to decide whether I want it more than another trader.
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[SPOILERS] Bacchus and India's many gods
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 Erm, well... I will just add that Japan's capital had two completed districts. What the fuck were you doing, Kaiser? Seriously, the capital has fallen 8 turns after the encampment completed (thanks for keeping track, great person points). Why on earth would you be building an encampment, even a half price one, when your capital is 8 turns from falling? And he had Defender of the Faith! Why get it, if you are not building units that actually get the benefit? Argh... So, what does one do? With science coming from pop, we can't keep up with England, even if we somehow manage to orchestrate a Triple Alliance in a CTON game. There really is only one option, and it's a complete Hail Mary in all senses -- a religious push. I have Varus, which are close to invulnerable until crossbows, and I can get suzerainty of Preslav to make them really fucking invulnerable. So I am going to go and hope that an armored fist of three Varus can push/maneuver through Ichabod's units and convert stuff. Ichabod has no easy way of fighting this, but there are so many other problems with this plan, starting with the geography, of which I know literally nothing. Still, for now the first two Varus will go and take Hattusa. That should at least keep me in the game for a bit -- I am currently drawn with Ichabod on civics and techs, and I think I will surpass him on civics, however briefly, next turn.
Rowain offered me friendship, which I took. I know he doesn't have too many units around Hattusa, so he won't be able to steal it from me -- I already have a Varu and a warrior in the theatre. I do get free access to convert his cities to Hinduism though. It's actually a boost for him, as Ichabod can't afford to conquer too many Hindu cities.
I did found Hinduism this turn. I originally was going to go for Church Property, for an immediate +4 gold, which would quickly grow to more, but whilst nice, that would be very much playing for second place. The only way to turn this game around is religion, so I went Holy Order for a 30% discount on Missionaries and Apostles. I did pick Jesuit Education for Follower Belief (build Campus and Theatre Square buildings with Faith) as per original plan, but I'm not expecting to make much use of it frankly. I did place down two theatre squares this turn though, as I completed Drama and Poetry, but I'm not building them yet. Next up -- Theology. Rowain makes 19 science to my 15, very nice. I started a +3 campus district down in Bobrka, and my newly chopped builder will harvest stone into it next turn. I make 11 faith per turn, and I will harvest around 300 faith in the near future (started this turn for 50), so I could crank out an apostle in 10-ish turns, not too shabby. However, it seems I should start with a bunch of missionaries whilst cities are still small. Now if only anyone knew how religious pressure works... Cities with religion exert pressure on 10 tiles around them. Having a holy site, shrine, temple or being the holy city increases pressure. Pressure is something like the probability of conversion of an additional follower (out of a city's total pop). That's as much as seems to be known, the rest is a complete black box. We know apostles are great for convestion because they can get promotions, and these can be ridiculously powerful (3x strength in foreign cities, for example).
I make contact with Arabia. Suboptimal has a military strength of 64 and is at war with Ichabod who has 170+ strength. Moreover, a large chunk of Arabia's strength is a sword which is positioned on the border facing Rowain. What is with this game?
I am lagging behind in science, but this will soon change -- next turn I am completing a second Varu to conquer Hattusa, and the turn after a +3 Campus in Bobrka. 
Hattusa is building a Library, so I want that to complete before I conquer it. Two Varus, a warrior (for blockade) and an archer (for kicks) are on the theatre to take the city down in what should be two turns.
My campus completed, for a healthy +3, and a near-parity with Rowain. After Hattusa I should shoot ahead substantially, and also net the Recorded History inspiration. I am researching Apprenticeship ahead of Construction though, so I may miss out on the G&R inspiration. Neither Rowain nor Suboptimal have Political Philosophy yet. Both of them are basically out of the game. I am building a third Varu to complete the armored fist of faith which will set off eastwards pretty soon. I am on 170 faith already, about to chop another 50, and I need something like 330 for 3 missionaries. I am gaining 11.1 per turn, half of which is coming from India's special -- very healthy. Once I gain Hattusa/finish the third Varu, I will switch into Classical Republic, which should be pretty huge with 2 campuses, a library, and a commercial hub. Will probably run the campus adjacency doubler (4 science), Colonization and the Great Writer wildcard. Sitting on a reasonable pile of gold (250), not sure what to do with it. Buying a shrine is not bad, but I also kinda like just sitting on it. Instant units!
Just wanted to say I appreciate your reporting this game, Bacchus!
Just 'coz the thread is quiet doesn't mean I'm not reading along with interest!
I Think I'm Gwangju Like It Here
A blog about my adventures in Korea, and whatever else I feel like writing about.
Cheers. I hope Ichabod will continue with full on military expansion, so that we can see whether religion can serve as anything like a counter to a war-obsessed leader. My guess is that it can't, but there is not much more to try. Certainly if India can't do it (Varus, extra faith generation, extra war weariness), it can't happen at all. Which in turn makes religion mostly busy work for MP purposes (plus things like Defender of the Faith and Jesuit Education which are completely game-changing, but only for those who got them)
Ichabod has found my borders (I can't see his unit, it's in the east). He makes 5 more science than me (25%) and 1 more culture (7%). This... is not too bad, actually. I will catch up, and even surpass him once I have Hattusa. He also has a ridiculous 7 cities. 7! Thankfully Kaiser still exists, so some are under occupation. That's the only reason he is not yet miles ahead.
I complete Theology, which increases the value of my chops to 54. Capital chops a forest into an almost-completed builder, overflowing into a Commercial hub. Just 3 turns to complete that, very nice. The chopped builder goes to chop a Varu and build two mines. I currently have 2 mines and will get another next turn, two turns after, and two turns after again. Apprenticeship will yield a lovely 5 cogs. With the chop I surpassed 200 faith stored. Another chop, and a couple of turns of faith production will get me to three hundred-odd required for three missionaries. I can send the theology envoy to suzerain either Preslav or Zanzibar, both have relevant bonuses. I also get a regular envoy pretty soon. Currently sitting on the Theology envoy to see what Ichabod does. Besides the faith gambit, Rowain and I should build each other up as much as possible, but I'm not sure what we can realistically do, given that we can't add science and culture rates. For Rowain specifically, I see no way of winning at all. He also has built two sets of walls already, which is not exactly a huge economy play. My first walls will probably go up in Hattusa.
Ichabod's scout showed up in range of the Archer assisting the still-upcoming capture of Hattusa. I decided I want another turn of Satyagraha faith and did not attack him. That may have been a mistake, the war weariness side of Satyagraha means that killing that unit (in foreign lands) will on its own probably be enough to make him lose an amenity. I hope he keeps investigating, as I'm chopping a Varu next turn in the closest city, would be good to use it.
Here is something I haven't done in a while, a strategic overview. There is lots to see on there, so do look around, there may well be things that I haven't even noticed.
![[Image: GOzse6K.jpg]](https://cdn.pbrd.co/images/GOzse6K.jpg) For comparison, these economy rates are... ok. We are basically neck-in-neck with Rowain, here is 0.5 ahead on science, and I am 1 ahead on culture. But Ichabod has 25 science and comparable culture. There is a major point though -- I have made a couple of large investments which have not yet paid off: building three Varus, and Stonehenge. Varus are about to convert very soon, earning me 6 pop and a +1 campus, which would actually put me an near-parity with Ichabod. Stonehenge is trickier. It was a very good build, I think, because it at least is giving me a chance for victory at the moment, but I don't think that chance is very high. This turn I declared war on Ichabod, and shot his scout to death. Eat 480 war weariness points, England! This had the added advantage of having Geneva delcare war on me in return for the Defensive Tactics inspiration. Geneva is around 20 tiles due east of Preslav, which you can see above. That's a lot of land that-a-ways, and a major conversion effort may be difficult. I am hoping Ichabod is to something like north-west of Geneva. Need to check whether Geneva has envoys from other civs. Next turn I complete a Shrine in Titusville (1-turned, thanks, boosted chop overflow) and a commercial hub in Apsheron, the first in the world. Both are integral to the push for religious victory. Shrine lets me hire Missionaries, and as you can see, I'm almost there in terms of faith saved to purchase three of those. The hub will let me run a trade route from Bobrka to Glenkichie, to greatly accelerate movement, especially as I enter Medieval era next turn with Apprenticeship. The economic value of that trade route would be low, but I think I have to focus on attaining the only probably victory condition, rather than play for second place in a hopeless economic race. |
