[SPOILERS] Magic Science and Nobody Else in Pitboss 66

[Magic Science]

Today I experienced the “joy” of playing a quick turn in a tricky environment. . This very rarely happens to me. Not in years, since... FLORIDA.
Well, things are simple here for me anyway, so whatever.
Report over the past 4 turns later.

[Magic Science]

Turn 104 to Turn 107 – 275 BC to 200 BC
   
Pig Island.
Aphrodite has finally been founded! . It will be the site of my last stand.

The idea behind this island retreat is that I should make the cost-benefit equation of eliminating me as unfavorable as I can for the players around me who have that power. (I say “cost-benefit” instead of “risk-reward” because I am too weak and too well-known to create any risk. For my neighbors, Aphrodite is a combat challenge like a big Barbarian city)
.
Plem-adilly and Civ-eel have the power to capture Aphrodite and eliminate me, sure, but will they want to do so anytime soon? Aphrodite is on Pig Island, and Pig Island is a pathetic place, so Aphrodite is a pathetic city. Also, Pig Island is a one-tile island, so Aphrodite can only be captured in a miserable amphibious assault with the -50% penalty against all attackers and without any bombardment (and Aphrodite will have Walls by Turn 125 at the very latest) or collateral damage to help them.

Small innate benefit, large innate cost. I think they will leave me alone here for a while longer. Turn 150? Third elimination instead of second? .

…

The puzzle in the Core for these past 15 turns, since the Battle of Poseidon, has been to effectively “transfer” as much production as possible away from defending Zeus, Hera, and Hephaestus to instead participate in the actual last stand in Aphrodite. I take the innate defensive benefit and cost effect of Pig Island as multiplicative rather than additive (obviously Aphrodite would be of zero use if it had zero defenders), so it gets better the more and the better units I bring there. Building units and shipping them to Aphrodite is how I transferred production.

I tried to defend the Core and delay its capture only as much as would benefit Aphrodite by increasing the amount of production I could transfer there, though I may have miscalculated in my attempt to do that. Also, some of that transfer of production happens by way of commerce. Zeus and Hera generated commerce which is effectively converted to production in the form of staving off STRIKE.

By the way: Fear of STRIKE is why I only founded Aphrodite this turn. The Settler was ready on Turn 104, but by waiting I transferred a few turns of Aphrodite’s production into money and then back into production in, again, the form of staving off STRIKE. However, this was a mistake. . Aphrodite is actually instantly profitable because it has a +4 ICTR and brings 9 units back into my culture. I should have founded it on Turn 104 and started constructing Walls immediately.

…

Then there are the Triremes, Scylla and Charybdis. Hera trained them both, and their job is to force the enemy to build even more ships to eliminate me. At the time it seemed like training them increased the cost of eliminating me by more than if I just built 4 more Archers or (about) 3 more Axemen, but now I am not so sure. The combination of the structure of the coast and Aphrodite’s cultural weakness mean I think the enemy will only be forced to actually ATTACK one of them, or maybe even none. I am bringing in some sentries, like Bro Jr. the Scout, to ensure that my Triremes cannot be caught totally out of position, but I think they are still questionable in retrospect.

Oh well. I love my ships anyway. .


   
The Core.
Plem-adilly captured Hera on Turn 106. The city was empty. The units went to Aphrodite.

Plem-adilly may capture Hephaestus on Turn 108. They will have to destroy a newborn Crossbowman to do it (first one in the Pantheon!), but I think they can. If they instead wait and bring reinforcements, I think I will evacuate all my units NW into Mjmd’s culture. Then those units can take a circuitous but safe route to Aphrodite, and Plem-adilly can capture an empty city.


   
The Blob.
Plem-adilly’s Galley attack from last report ended uneventfully; they simply retreated on Turn 104, and they have not returned. Then on Turn 106 I came within about 5 second of logging out with my 2 Workers undefended on the Marble. . Fortunately, at the last second I came to my senses, remembered that Plem-adilly has a Galley, and moved some units from Hestia to defend the Workers. But then they moved to interfere with a Praetorian and Axeman, so I guess I will have to wait for Crossbowmen to finally finish the 2 Quarries.

Otherwise, all is quiet. I keep expecting a second full stack to appear here, and it keeps not happening. Maybe this is another case where my Civ IV instincts are weak; I think I can instinctively interpret a power graph, but I cannot. Sure, Plem-adilly has a lot more units than me, but maybe they do not have THAT many more units? Hmm.

…

Aphrodite is the superior last stand site. Hestia should not be the site of a last stand, but it is, because the Blob cannot effectively transfer production to Aphrodite like the Core could. The land route is blocked by Poseidon () and the water route is too long for just 1 Galley, so the Blob’s production is trapped in the Blob. But that production must still participate in a last stand somewhere somehow, so Hestia it is.

Hera’s Dream will return soon to retrieve my Great General and 1 Crossbowman. She may have time to make another trip to retrieve 2 more Crossbowmen. Other than that, all the units here eventually go to Hestia. At least it is not a total waste, since it distracts Plem-adilly from Aphrodite. I am sure they will focus on capturing this region first, since it is better.


   
Daggerland.
…
I feel a strange mild combination of amusement and melancholy about that tile of dark fog separated by merely 3 tiles from my starting point. It is Turn 107, it is an important land tile, and it is so close, but I have not seen it. I will never see it.
I named Daggerland, and I circumnavigated it, but I never set foot in it.


   
Power graph.
Power graph.

[Magic Science]

Yes you can get a free upgrade from archer to crossbow by attaching a great general. And congrats on managing to get the Machinery and scrape together a better last stand

Thank you. The Archer in Aphrodite that my Great General is destined for has been renamed in your honor.

[Magic Science]

And don’t forget. AGG gets free Barrage I now as well.

EDIT: This note is to myself, not to Cornflakes or anyone else.

[Magic Science]

Turn 108 – 175 BC
   
Plem-adilly offered a Peace Treaty.
This is incredible.
I took 6 screenshots of this proposal.
Why did they do this?
What is happening? 
.

Also, you can see as I could see that their small stack retreated from Hephaestus, so the city will now survive at least until the first half of Turn 110, no matter what.

…

Believe it or not, my first instinct after the stupefaction wore off was to reject this Peace Treaty. . Back on Turn 85, I confidently rejected their Peace Treaty offer because I thought their willingness to send it meant they were not planning to do anything important in the war soon anyway, so accepting it was unnecessary for my safety. Then on Turn 89 they captured Demeter. . Now on Turn 108, I think similarly about this Peace Treaty. Hmm, are you sure that is wise, Magic Science?

Plem-adilly has little to gain from tying my hands like this for 10 turns, because I have little ability to even harass them, let alone hurt them, and they must know this. Therefore, they must have VERY little to lose from tying their own hands like this for 10 turns, otherwise they would not have offered a Peace Treaty. Upon reflection, this makes sense.

Thought it sometimes seems otherwise from underneath their cruel imperialist boot, Plem-adilly’s goal is not actually to cause me to lose the game. Their goal is to cause themselves to win the game. They are in the Fourth Greco-Roman War for their own profit, not for my loss, and there are some plausible reasons that they might not profit by pressing the attack in the next 10 turns.

For them, Hephaestus is an awkward stretch towards Mjmd, and there is nothing compelling about it to compensate for that awkwardness. Maybe they were just planning to capture and raze it for easy money, and the Crossbowman makes that too expensive, even if it is still easily possible. Also, more generally, they have 17 cities and I bet they are struggling with maintenance. Maybe adding 3 or 4 additional distant cities would crash their economy, so they need to wait more than 10 turns anyway. Lastly, maybe they are worried about defense on another border? Cassandra is exploring their border with Amicalola right now, and she has not seen anything too tense, but she could have missed something important.

Of course, the longer they wait the more units I can train, and they know I can train Crossbowmen. However, if they wait much longer, then they can train Catapults, so I think time is on their side.

So, what did I do?


   
WAR! !
Yes, I rejected the Peace Treaty.
(In fact, the game somehow rejected the Peace Treaty automatically while I was examining the Military Advisor. But that is what I had decided to do anyway, so whatever).

I really think that this time their Peace Treaty offer really means that they are not planning to do anything important against me for about the next 10 turns. Therefore, accepting their Peace Treaty will not benefit me much. However, it could actually harm me a bit. I am receiving free Iron from vanrober and free Ivory (also Copper) from Mjmd. Those are vital resources! Also, superdeath gave me 20 gold when I needed it a few turns back, and then he sent me a strange combination of deals about Copper, Crab, and Rice, so he might be planning something else nice. The point is, I am receiving a lot of foreign aid, and I worry what will happen to it if I announce that I am no longer fighting Plem-adilly by making peace. If I stay at war, my benefactors need not know that the fighting has stopped. .

Also, Plem-adilly is my arch-enemy, right? So should I spit my last breath at them and cause them to suffer and all that, right?

So, the Fourth Greco-Roman War (and the turn-split ) continues. After everything, nothing has changed.


   
However, this Peace Treaty business inspired me to consider some long-neglected “long-term” domestic projects around the remnants of the Pantheon.

Should I finish constructing the Granary in Hestia? Should I train a Work Boat for the Fish between Apollo and Hermes? Should I convert to Buddhism? Should I train another Galley to transfer production from The Blob to Aphrodite?

I do not know the answers to all those questions and more yet, but I should at least consider them, since it seems I may have enough time to do more than desperately whip units after all. .

...

It was a mistake to delete Argo I and all but 2 of my Workers so soon. They would be useful for this “long-term” initiative.


   
Hephaestus.
This what “long-term” thinking looks like in action. This is why I put “long-term” in quotes, . Hephaestus could have whipped an Axeman this turn, but instead it invested in Walls with tile production. If Plem-adilly change their mind immediately and advance on Hephaestus again, then it will not be defended as well as possible (but still better defended than if they had just attacked on Turn 108), but if they give me more time, then the extra happiness will pay off.


   
Demographics.
Demographics.
Who has less Power than me?

[Magic Science]

Turn 109 – 150 BC
The enemy units by Hephaestus and Hera continued to retreat.
No new enemy units came into view elsewhere.
Everything is fine.
Was I correct about the meaning of that Peace Treaty? Was I correct to reject that Peace Treaty?
Have I been granted a stay of execution? Truly?
Wow.
Now I must remember how to write entertaining turn reports that are not all about war. . Hmm.

…

   
This turn, I reviewed my Active Deals screen and thought about which ones to continue, and for how long, and under what circumstances. I have been very diplomatic this game, so these deals have bloated over time.

Plem-adilly (cut off at the top): Nothing. .

GeneralKilCavalry: He has an island city in The Archipelago now, so I could profit from offering Open Borders, but I do not want him snooping around The Blob. He is a hostile neighbor too, after all. Nothing.

Amicalola: Springer Mtn., his capital, is a big city, so Open Borders are profitable. Also, he has Iron now too, so I want to stay friendly with him in case the Iron from vanrober is cut off for some reason.

Mjmd: Open Borders are unprofitable, but I really want to stay friendly with him so he will continue to send me free stuff and not attack, and some fraction of the units in Hephaestus may need to flee into his territory at a moment’s notice.

Gin-guelito: They have an island city, so Open Borders are profitable.

Civ-eel: Open Borders are unprofitable, but I really want to stay friendly with them so they will continue to not attack, and so they will send me their spare Ivory if Mjmd cuts me off. Also, Hera’s Dream must pass through their culture on her vital route between Aphrodite and The Blob. Better to make that journey in peace.

Gavagai: He rejected my request for Open Borders forever ago and my request for free gold a moment ago, and that was the extent of our interactions. I could try offering Open Borders again. He might have a big city or an island city. Maybe next turn, for now Nothing.

van rober: Mr. Iron, my favorite player in all the game! . Need I say more? (He has an island city, so Open Borders are profitable).

superdeath: He has an island city, so Open Borders are profitable. He requested Rice as a condition for his free gold a few turns back, and I am afraid to cancel it because of those confusing but friendly-seeming deals with Copper and Crab I mentioned last report. Whatever.

Alhazard: Open Borders are unprofitable, and he is otherwise useless to me, so I canceled them. He has Currency, so he can have them back for 1 gpt. I also canceled the obsolete Crab for Crab deal from ancient times. So now Nothing.


   
The Core and Pig Island.
The bulk of the Roman army is out of sight, so it must have retreated at least as far as Zeus. I cannot know any more than that. Again, I wish I had not deleted Argo I. My economic situation was not as bad as I thought, and he could reveal the area north of the isthmus.

Again again, I also wish I had not deleted the Workers of The Core quite so soon. I should have kept them out of the way in the wilderness and only deleted them after the Hephaestus was actually captured. If I still had them, then they could build a direct (yet uncultured) road from Hephaestus to the coast. Also, Hephaestus is vulnerable to crippling by pillaging without any Workers around to repair improvements. I can only hope that Plem-adilly does not notice this.

…

Hephaestus is simple. It will construct the Walls while I still have Stone. Then it will let the 8/35 Axeman decay and train nothing but Crossbowmen until the end. I will try to stockpile population and avoid whipping for a while, since it has so much oppression unhappiness already.


   
The Blob.
The Blob is more complicated.
Hera’s Dream can make a round trip once every 6 turns, so The Blob needs to produce 2 quality units (Crossbowmen) to ship to Aphrodite every 6 turns. I think I can manage 2 units in 6 turns, but not 4, so there would be no use in training a second Galley.

However, I cannot manage that rate quite yet, or at least I do not want to quite yet. It seems that Plem-adilly will wait long enough for an investment in a Work Boat in Apollo and a Granary in Hestia to pay off, but I must start them immediately. And Hestia needs to construct its Walls immediately in case the Stone is pillaged in another Galley strike. And both Apollo and Hermes would greatly benefit from avoiding the whip for a little while.

Fortunately, the solution to this is easy. For the first 2 trips I only need 1 Crossbowman in 6 turns because I need to transfer my Great General (self-explanatory) and 1 of my Workers (to be a sentry by New Crushbone), and I already have 1 Crossbowman done and most of another in the queue. I have time to make the "long-term" investments before resuming maximum unit production

…

I will convert to Buddhism for the happiness at Apollo and Hestia in a few more turns when Apollo is over the happiness cap and Hestia is close to it. Just 2 more happy population is a significant fraction for me, so the anarchy will be worth it.

I may build a Galley or Trireme at the last moment in Hestia. It would be a good way to transfer otherwise mostly useless production over to Aphrodite, and the thought of pillaging my 3 Fishing Boats along the way pleases me. .

[Magic Science]

Turn 110 – 125 BC
   
It was a quiet turn on both fronts. That seems to suddenly be the new status quo, so I think I will now stop mentioning it every turn.

Their Core Forces Are: 3 Praetorians, 2 Axemen (1 is the GG Medic), and 2 Chariots (1 is the Sentry).
My Core Forces Are: 2 fortified Phalanxes, and 1 fortified Crossbowman, .
Their units all have terrifying promotions, while mine have none, but I am about to finish Walls in Hepheastus (and another Axeman if necessary), while they have no nearby production capacity.

Overall, I think that the current balance of forces in The Core is such that if Plem-adilly turned around and advanced on Hephaestus again, they would probably fail to capture it unless they imported more units.
Excellent! However, now I must worry more about Mjmd. His Chariot is watching. .


   
Hera’s Dream has a schedule now: arrival at the The Blob T111, T117, T123, T129, etc.

…

The Marble is hooked now. I considered selling it, but decided to keep it in reserve as a bargaining chip in case my Iron or Ivory gifts are cancelled. As long as I am safe from STRIKE, money is useless anyway. Diminishing marginal utility of money in action!

The possible importance of the Marble (and Stone, but I need to keep that for now anyway) makes me regret, yet again, how I casually deleted the 3rd Worker in The Blob a few turns ago. Deleting your own Workers is bad, who knew? . I might need those Workers to quickly rebuild my quarries if I make a vital deal with those resources and then they are pillaged. It might be a bad idea to send a Worker away to be a sentry for Aphrodite; that decision can wait until Turn 117.

[Magic Science]

Turn 111 – 100 BC
   
I think this must be a message, not a gift, but I do not understand it. Rejecting the offer and looking around did not help.

Maybe, I fear, the meaning is: “FRIENDLINESS SIGNAL! I am about to capture Hephaestus, but after that I will continue to be your friend and give you free resources. Be not angry or afraid! FRIENDLINESS SIGNAL! – Sincerely, Mjmd, XOXO”.

That would make some sense. Mjmd has a Sentry Chariot in Hephaestus, so he can tell that the fighting has stopped on this front despite the formal continuation of the war, and Hephaestus fits into his empire much better than it does into Plem-adilly’s. However, none of my other cities are within his reach, so then he would go back to cheaply supporting me against our mutual enemies.

If that is true, we will find out very soon. In the meantime, there is nothing I can do about it.

I did not return the offer.

…

Also, Gavagai did accept my proposal of Open Borders, so now all my cities have +3 commerce trade routes, except Aphrodite, which has a +4 commerce trade route. Pleasing.

And last turn Alhazard actually accepted my demand of 1gpt for continued Open Borders, so that’s cool.


   
Pig Island.
Aphrodite, the Last Olympian, may exist now, but its defenses still have a lot of room for improvements over the coming turns.

…

Crossbowmen are my wonder weapon, but Aphrodite has none, and it has no production capacity to train any. They must all be shipped in from The Blob through the Vital Strait. If The Blob/Apollo survives to the second half of Turn 129, then I can ship 6 or 7 Crossbowmen and 1 Great General to Aphrodite. Would that be enough to survive even past Turn 150? Maybe!

Aphrodite’s production capacity is sufficient to construct Walls, especially with Stone hooked, but they will not be finished until Turn 119. I doubt that anyone will attack sooner than that.

All those “sentry” signs are about me trying to make Scylla and Charybdis relevant. I need vision on every turn on every tile from which a 2-move Galley can make it adjacent to Aphrodite (EDIT: IN ONE TURN). Otherwise, the enemy could avoid attacking my Triremes. They could even avoid defending against my Triremes, since there is not much of a reason to take multiple turns capturing Aphrodite. There is no way to bombard and no way to build up a bigger force adjacent to the city, not since Pig Island is only 1 tile. Which was the whole point. Anyway, Bro Jr. was brought back from Mjmd’s area to be one sentry, and I was thinking one of the Workers should be the other. Do not pay much attention to the exact current positions of my Triremes; for now, I am being pretty casual and whimsical with them, since I doubt that an attack is coming soon.

EDIT: Plem-adilly's Sentry Chariot is standing on the hill where it can see inside Aphrodite. I cannot chase it off.


   
Cassandra discovered Amicalola’s big capital this turn, and it is nearer to Artemis than Zeus is (10 tiles vs. 12 tiles), so that explains the “(Liberate)” option from so long ago.

Also: Cassandra has discovered that Amicalola has built Barays in many of his cities. I thought they were bad UBs, but he is EXP, and maybe he knows something I don’t? I want to like Barays, I really do. I love those rare “free” yields, like Aphrodite’s Pig.
WHAT IS THE SECRET, AMICALOLA? TELL ME.

[naufragar]

Also, Plem-adilly is my arch-enemy, right? So should I spit my last breath at them and cause them to suffer and all that, right?

Sounds good to me.

Also: Cassandra has discovered that Amicalola has built Barays in many of his cities. I thought they were bad UBs, but he is EXP, and maybe he knows something I don’t? I want to like Barays, I really do. I love those rare “free” yields, like Aphrodite’s Pig.
WHAT IS THE SECRET, AMICALOLA? TELL ME.

With EXP, a Baray is what? 40 hammers? For +1food? Let's say that after a granary an average city needs ~15 food to grow, so 15 food will give you 30hammers in a 1pop whip. So a Baray theoretically pays for itself after 17ish turns. A long payback period but not completely unacceptable.

[Magic Science]

Also, Plem-adilly is my arch-enemy, right? So should I spit my last breath at them and cause them to suffer and all that, right?

Sounds good to me. 

You will be happy to know: naufragar I is the only unit so far to destroy a Praetorian and live to tell the tale. I just realized that now. A true hero, he is.

Also: Cassandra has discovered that Amicalola has built Barays in many of his cities. I thought they were bad UBs, but he is EXP, and maybe he knows something I don’t? I want to like Barays, I really do. I love those rare “free” yields, like Aphrodite’s Pig.
WHAT IS THE SECRET, AMICALOLA? TELL ME.

With EXP, a Baray is what? 40 hammers? For +1food? Let's say that after a granary an average city needs ~15 food to grow, so 15 food will give you 30hammers in a 1pop whip. So a Baray theoretically pays for itself after 17ish turns. A long payback period but not completely unacceptable.

You inspired me to think more about Barays and therefore Aqueducts too. Thanks, it was a fun way to spend some slow time at work today. .

Aqueducts provide food that is independent of tiles but dependent on the presence of excess unhealthiness. They are actually fine buildings, but they are unlocked about 2.5 whole eras before they are useful, and that distorts the issue. Of course, the suddenly become in the Industrial Era at Assembly Line with its Factories and Coal Plans and their unhealthiness, but I think their sudden usefulness has more contributing factors than just unhealthiness.

My idea is: When you reach Assembly Line, your cities are big, so you are working just about all your land tiles, including the food-negative ones. Food surplus is generally low. However, at the same moment, additional loaves of food are very valuable. One cause is just that food surplus is low, since there is a declining marginal utility of food, and another cause is that the population points additional loaves can support are very valuable. The tile improvements are all totally nuts by then, and so are all the multiplier buildings! In a previous era you could have acquired more food just by building a farm, but by the Industrial Era all the tiles are occupied. To build a farm and acquire more food, you must destroy the exact awesome tile improvement that you want more food to work! So you turn to the tile-independent food source that has suddenly become available, the humble Aqueduct.

Now, back to Barays...

At worst, Barays are, in their capacity as an Aqueduct UB, a small, fine upgrade over baseline that is too little too late. Like the Assembly Plant. However, the uniqueness of Barays is that they provide part of their effect, the +1 food, even when there is no excess unhealthiness. So, if you find yourself in a situation in an earlier era where there is no excess unhealthiness, because of course there isn't, but enough of the other conditions mentioned in the previous paragraph are fulfilled, then you can still construct your Barays and benefit from them.

I think those conditions will often enough be fulfilled in the typical wastelands of natural maps. There are some scraps of food resources (low food surplus), and some other resources like desert Incense or tundra Silver (commerce improvements that are totally nuts!) and a lot of coastal tiles, and nothing else (no tiles you can farm). The little cities that go in those area would benefit a lot from EXP Barays. Construct Granaries, Lighthouses, Ziggurats Courthouses, and also Barays.

But Torusworld does not generate wastelands like that, unfortunately. So I seem to have come full circle to doubting Amicalola's wisdom. . Oh well, it was a fun exercise.