[SPOILERS] Four Score & Seven Dynasties Ago: Pindicator plays Lincoln of China

[pindicator]

Hey lurkers, do we have a Spirit of the Game award? Maybe the gentlemen's clock award fits that already, or maybe it can be changed to encompass it? Or maybe a new award is needed. Your call since you guys are the ones nominating just thought I would put it out there

[Injera]

Hey lurkers, do we have a Spirit of the Game award? Maybe the gentlemen's clock award fits that already, or maybe it can be changed to encompass it? Or maybe a new award is needed. Your call since you guys are the ones nominating just thought I would put it out there

There's about 40 awards now, so most of the bases are covered...

One of them is "making the most of your position in the game, good or bad, and showing good spirits."

[Gazzahk]

Well, Pindicator would win that award hands down!

Love the updates, thanks for the effort.

[pindicator]

You guys are too kind. I'll try to keep 'em coming and to keep the enthusiasm in the turn posts.

Speaking of which, today's was very interesting. But it looks like we're going to have a second turn soon so I think I'll hold off on the screenshots and post a 2-fer later on.

[pindicator]

Turns 076 & 077

On turn 76 I opened up the save and found this...



The two barbs in the southeast advanced as expected, and so did the one in the north, but a second barb in the north also had snuck along the mountains and was going to threaten Hammer Bros. So I had 4 barbarians to contend with, and 4 units to do it in.

This meant my axe by Hammer Bros had to stay put. I wanted to push him eastward to cover Spiny, so Spiny's units could cover the work chain. Instead I had to scramble just to cover everything. I had the spear in Spiny attack the barb warrior across the river; it was over 90% so I was confident enough in it. Then my 4xp axe moved into Spiny to keep the population content. Finally my Wood2 warrior moved to the hill SW to hopefully intercept our two southern barbarians.

He was the guy I was really nervous about. If those two barbs managed to tag-team him down (unlikely but possible) then my worker plan would be completely blown, a crucial component of "staying on target".

So what did the next turn show?



Relative relief. The warrior did win both battles, but we moved him back into my culture both to save unit expenses and to help speed up his healing process. After that he gets to help fogbust.

Since the barb warrior by Hammer Bros had been kind enough to go onto the road, we had the axe clean him up and then head back towards Spiny. Hammer Bros will finish its next unit in 2 turns, and then we won't have to worry about random barb warriors in the middle of our empire. Our spear promoted to C1 and retreated back into Spiny, which freed up the axe in Spiny to chase after those workers. Ideally I want 2 escorts, but I may not get to with how unit support is.

So the east is relatively secure. I'm sure more barbs will pop up, but for now we'll keep on keepin' on.

In the north, we've been working to raze that barbarian city. My axe has won 2 battles against barbarians up north, but is now down to 1.6 health. 1 warrior remains, although another is coming from the northeast. I'm hoping that I can promote the axe and then raze said barb city. The gold from it will probably secure a eot80 finish for Mathematics. Otherwise it'll be down to the gold piece.



So that's the story. I'm already a bit nervous about next turn: does sunrise have a WC in the area that will beat me to the barb city? (And then probably kill my axe...) It sounds like he is all tied up fighting off Rome, which I heartily approve of. I thought about telling him that I'm nearby, but I want to wait until this barb city is gone and my axe is back home first.

My other neighbor has been busy with plans of his own as well:



If I didn't want a GE first, I would have done the same thing by now. But it's a better play for him because his capital is so river and flood plains heavy. Instead I'm slow building the library in Piranha, putting all my whip overflow into it. Speaking of which, I've started a few workers in my unhappy cities.

I've taken the lead in another demo category:

[pindicator]

So I'm sure you guys know what's coming, since I've hinted at it long ago. But I am indeed going after Hanging Gardens. There are 3 (well, 4) major moving pieces to this plan falling in place. The first one is obvious: build enough military to stay alive. So far so good, but nobody is really coming my way and hopefully the barbarians are keeping everyone else as busy as they are me.

Moving Part #2 is the one I'm most worried about now. Finish Mathematics at end of turn 80. I just finished my library in my capital, which will help increase bpt. The problem isn't beakers so much as it is expenses. City upkeep keeps creeping upwards, no doubt because of my awesome population total (#1 baby, woohoo!), but as it stands right now I have to raze that barb city in order to finish Math in time. I'll fall 1 gold short right now (assuming there are no further upkeep increases, so it'll probably be 4 or 5g short in reality).

I actually thought about intentionally double turning sunrise between this turn & next to ensure I get to raze that city. But he's been holding saves lately as well -- I think the conflict with him and Nakor may be heating up a bit -- and when I thought about it, I don't want to intentionally double turn someone just to beat them to some raze gold. If I double turn it will be to burn cities and/or standing armies. And I will share ahead of time the plan with everybody when I do

Perhaps teaming up with Rego in PB5 means his thread spam habits are starting to rub off on me: successive posts within 10 minutes.

[pindicator]

Turn 078



:dancing5:

After promoting it was only an 80% chance. I thought about waiting another turn, but instead just said "screw it, it's just a fun game." I don't know if I've ever been happier to see 9 gold.

Expenses rose again, thanks to my ever-growing population. Gained 2 more these turn and I'm up to 24 citizens, 12% of the world's population. So in a game with 16 players, approximately 1 in every 8 citizens are Chinese. I whipped 1 of those guys away, so I guess I'm down to 23 now: Birdo will have a granary at end of turn.

So the 9g bought me a little leeway, but I had to reshuffle some tiles at the capital and at Piranha. Since the library is at Goomba I gave it Piranha's plains hamlet. Now if expenses stay the same I will hit 430 beakers on the dot at the end of turn 80, and have 2g left in the bank.

I am sad to see Lewwyn reveal he's not into this game, especially since he's one of the more entertaining personalities on the boards when he is into a game. So when the lurkers hand out awards, keep in mind that it really is a lot more difficult to keep interest when your land isn't good. Would I be posting at this rate if I didn't have a nice little hidden valley, full of food and tucked away from the rest of the world? I'd like to think so but then again maybe not.

[pindicator]

BTW, people, I've already built the Hanging Gardens, but I want to wait two turns until I found two more cities. I kindly ask that everyone refrain for building it, because you'll certainly lose it.

At least he was nice enough to warn us.

I guess the only hope I have is if he is bluffing. Why would he be bluffing? To scare someone off while he completes it a few turns later. But that seems like a long shot, especially because if I was building HG myself I would try to pull out all stops first. (But HG typically gets 1- or 2-turned since it's an early and competitive wonder.) And I know next to nothing of Ichabod's personality. On the other hand, I am 8 turns away from Hanging Gardens. I could possibly speed that up a turn or two but I won't even have Math in 2 turns.

I have been keeping track of score increases (even if I'm not trying to figure them all out) and it looks like Team FFH had a 17 point increase on turn 73. That could easily be a Classical Tech (Math) and 2 population. So odds of them bluffing seem very small.

Where did the HG plan go wrong? Probably a question for later on, because terrain could have made as much an issue as other things. But maybe settling cities 5 & 6 were premature. Maybe I should have gone Pottery ahead of Mysticism and settled Piranha in a different location. Like I said, best a question for later on, best not to dwell on it now.

Now... I think I have to abandon the HG plan; it was always a 'nice to have', a way of speeding up the Great Engineer so I could get to producing Great Scientists faster. So my workers that were roading towards the eastern stone need to be stopped. (Heh, good thing they announced when they did, otherwise I would have had a settler half-way to the stone when the message came in.) The settler in Spiny will probably head north, to claim the pig/rice location. The workers will be pulled back to help with that.

I guess the plan now is to expand to 8 or 9 cities quickly and limp to Currency. The settler from Piranha can still pick up the Marble spot, or maybe I get brave and try to claim the floodplains/corn to the north. After Currency I need to decide if I go for Metal Casting and start up the Great Engineer that way, or if I need to take a risk on going CoL and bulbing Philosophy with a GS to get a religion.

Aw man, now i have to redo all my micro

[pindicator]

Turn 080

Plan abandoned. If the Hanging Gardens are still unbuilt by turn 86 then I am a complete idiot. But if I had followed through on the plan, I would have had a new wrinkle to deal with...



Ladies and Gentlemen, the Road to Nowhere.

The workers are retreating back to Spiny. The forward worker started roading the flood plains NW of town this turn and next turn the other worker will follow up and help him finish. Then we whip the settler in Spiny next turn. Could have done it this turn but between whip unhappiness overlapping and wanting to get max overflow for capital projects I decided to wait. Overflow from that settler will finish the monument in Spiny, letting us grow to size 6. T82 the settler moves, and then T83 I have city #7 founded. Meanwhile our workers chop those neighboring trees so our new city has an instant Granary on T85.

In the north the two barb warriors attacked the shock axe in a forest. Even though he was at half health when they attacked he finished them off and now I have a second unit at 7/8 exp. One of those guys needs to find another victim and unlock heroic for me. With all these barbs that shouldn't be trouble.

I need to find some happiness. Monarchy, ice furs, and silk are all I've got right now. I'm pretty happy I ended up as CHR.

Turn 80 demos

[pindicator]

Just had a long think about my direction in this game and I almost talked myself out of the Great Engineer -> bulb Machinery plan. There are a lot of competing interests: I could start running scientists NOW and start building those up, bulbing techs like Philosophy and Engineering on the way.

By the way, nobody corrected me before when I said I was worried about War Elephants. Those things aren't allowed in the rules unless you drew the Khmer civ (I know, spoilers and all that.)

I could go for Literature after Math comes in and try to pick up The Great Library. I have Marble. I am Philosophical. That would mean I need to go Aesthetics, Polytheism, Literature for my next 3 techs to even have a chance. And then I may not have a great chance.

But while those may be better strategic choices, this is an Always War game. And intended to be a fun, "casual" game. So I want to play with some military. And that means Cho-Ko-Nus.

Tech path after Math: Currency -> Metal Casting. I may slip Archery in there. Maybe. But it's damn the torpedos and full speed ahead.