[Spoilers]C6PBEM23: Krill sidles yonder, and probably fails

[Krill]

Turn 89

After the screw up with uploading the wrong save I think we're back on track.




greenline chopped a maize at Urtin Duu, which enabled a warrior to MaA upgrade (and ~90 gold left). He chopped a rain forest at Scarborough, and he has the Victor promotion of Garrison commander, and swapped into Oligarchy. I expect he is running Limes, but I do not know what else he is running. I know he has 5 gov'nor titles in play, but I only see two guvs in position, (Pingala, Victor). He probably has a triple promo Pingala, so I doubt he has Embrasure on Victor for double city attack.

His warriors are 29 strength (36 if Battlecry). The legions are strength 45 with GG, plus hill/forest defense, minus damage, but four archers should do 40 damage minimum, maybe 50. The city attack should do another 35+, so a warrior should be able to attack to finish off a legion, without bringing the MaA into play.

That means Whosit cannot surround Scarborough, so needs a quick frontal assault. That means the ram needs to on a tile the archers can't reach, once the ram is down the assault fails (I think it's failed already, unless Whosit can take the walls downm this turn). Whosit upgraded 6 warriors, there is one legion in the east, and one trailing, and a third damaged on the western edge of Scarborough.

I do not think Whosit will have that western legion on his turn. There are only two tiles the legions could be on. That's not going to be enough to take down the walls in one turn, and the trailing legion is out of position to replace a damaged legion, and there is no strategic reserve coming forward.

Now the question is what will be left? I think Whosit will lose one legion before he gets the turn back. He might lose a second. I'm not sure if greenline will lose anything now. The western legion can be killed without exposing any units to reprisals and then the legions will crash into walls and only need ~65hp worth of damage to die, which is a walls short and some archers. If anything, this justifies the opportunistic gold for city trade: I offered more gold than one maize chop would have given, so if greenline was not in position then the gold could have made a material difference. I expect this to be all over in 4 turns.





With this in mind, I'm preparing to improve my defenses. I'm using Manouvre for two turns rather than Ilkum to prep a horseman. I'm delaying the third mine until T93, which means getting IW and Engineering to 1 turn from completion and then putting excess beakers into Castles, or I can eat the increased IZ cost and just blitz through to Machinery. Mil Training done eot90, swapping into Veterancy T91, because I need to get those harbours down, the rest I can do with gold. All the feud farms complete T92, Feud should land eot96 so T97 definitely into Feudal contract. Expectation would be third archer eot98, and Machinery around T100. If I just went straight Castles I can get it once I get Feud on T97, I'm culture limited not science limited.

The next era should start T100, and I can will have the Heroic age with Monumentality/PBV/Free Inquiry dedications, so those harbours and growing Long should be everything I realistically need to manage tech and culture. This is partly relevant because Mercenaries should reduce to 390, and I would only need 156 culture to complete it, so Mercenaries should be done eot102 at the latest, very possible it's T101 or even T100 because of overflow.

I'm toying with spending 65ish gold on buying one more tile for Mullet (it's helpful for a micro perspective, and it's the better tile to mine for builder movement), otherwise I'm saving gold. I can have an easy 400 gold by T100, and Long should still reach size 10 around T105. I can emergency upgrade a warrior, and the horseman can be built without production modifiers (they are worthless for the last turn of production): Castles is a very strong option for me because with the Merc timing I could upgrade a bunch of horsemen to coursers so it gives both offensive and defensive options, but the policy cards aren't perfect: I'd have to give up veterancy to buikld the horsemen now, and thenuse limes after Feudalism landed.

There is also the option to send a DoF to greenline but I doubt he has any interest in that. It would give me the opportunity to buy some serfdom/Liang builders, and get all the lighthouses down very quickly. I'll probably do it as a test, if he accepts then fine. I can't really do anything if Whosit can't even crack the walls at Scarborough and I am still at a slight tech disadvantage.

[Krill]

Turn 90

Looks like Whosit lost a legion, but he retreated everything else.

That means there is no pressure on greenline, plus I spy a new upgraded warrior. I can't see any more chopped gold tiles, and Chev has given up 200+ gold somewhere. Maybe he did what I did and bought tiles...but his start is that slow he would have bought the tiles already if that was his plan. More realistically he gave gold to greenline, and now it might rebound in my face. I've offered a DoF because frankly, I can't deal with all this shit and I just want to sit in a corner and build.

I'm strongly considering going to Castles and not Machinery, but I do need ranged units for defence even with my terrain, OTOH this helps delay an attack if no siege tower in play.

[Krill]

Test

Edit: weird, the forum just went back in time to August 12th and would not show any newer posts more recent than that, and now it is back to normal.

[Krill]

Turn 93

Significant change in the political landscape over the past 5 turns, but that's not what I want to post about.




Whosit shouldn't be in this position. He is running his army through to Persian with another settler, spamming cities wide with no strategic depth.



The fact he can do this is because of the atrocious map generation, but whatever. He also has a hidden CS, so he had easy access to three of them without having to go through another civ. I do not know how much luck he has had this game, apart from the fact it was more than I had.

He has Suzerainity over Hong Kong, Zanzibar and is 2 envoys away from taking Preslav. Venice is gone and La Venta is the only remaining CS and that's in his back pocket. TAD could always take Preslav off the board, and Zanzibar will be challenging to keep from greenline in the present circumstance due to a giant mountain range, but HK is in the middle of no where and only available to Chev.

Also, I have the worst luck with quests: send a trade route to HK: not possible without trading posts in Scarborough Fair and in Chartreux. Might even declare to cancel it. La Venta: Build a Courser. Do able if I change entire tech plan around it. Zanzibar? Build a second encampment I don't even have a tile for, when Whosit has a good chance of locking everyone out of a GG (I will pass on Boudicca but he gets there first). Preslavs isn't that bad, I need two catapults to keep on upgrading for eureaks so why not build one.

Rule for future: use larger maps and fill it with CS, don't use smaller maps the game becomes far too swingy.

[Krill]

Turn 94




Tada, worlds smallest and most cramped empire.

With the pressure off slightly (until TAD desides to pray for an army with over 700 faith already banked), I'm focussing on tech. That means NT for the harbour multiplier card which will also double science for the next 40 turns. I'll save gold to buy the final settler for Walrus, except possibly one serfdom Liang builder buy first. I'll decide on Lilja (food) in Long after this harbour is complete, in consideration of the delay in finishing the lighthouse for another trader.

Traders will be built in MH and then sent out. Considering swapping Magnus and Pingala once Long is at size 10, so I can get 5 food trade routes to MH. It's probably worth it. Mullet is really tight on housing, so I'm looking going back to D&P and Recorded history for the guv title (Probably worth considering putting Victor into Mullet and then after placing all the fisheries at Ponytail swapping them), except the run to Medi Faires is actually not that more expensive (88+56 but need to build Campus at Long v 168 and need a fourth lighthouse at Long plus a trader). In fact I'm probably production limited at Long; I do not give a damn about any of the available cards on those civics, but it is easier to get to Exploration with the inspiration than Divine Right without it.

Feudalism has been put to one side as it will essentially complete after era change. The cost is a handful of food but the benefit should be paid back in faster growth in other cities (give a bit now, get lots more later). looking at about 1 turn slower growth in Long. At most 2. I would expect to get to Exploration before T115, the biggest issue is going back to D&P to trigger a card swap to upgrade two galleys to caravels for the inspiration.

Policy card wise Naval Infrastructure/Caravansaries/Charismatic Leader/Conscription looks to be the order of the day, but I will need to check the difference between UP and when Caravansaries becomes relevant

Tech wise I'm consider grabbing Castles (Coursers, medi walls, culture on great wall tiles) then blitzing through to through to Cartography (strength 55 boats available via upgrade) and Mass Production (production), which also puts me in spitting distance of Industrialization. For context once NT lands (T101 due to cost reduction) this bunch of cities should reach 55bpt, then Long grows to reach 65. Shipbuilding, Maths, Buttress and Mil Tactics should be done in 6 turns, then Cartography and Mass Production 6 turns each.

The IZ situation is lightly unusual. I'm probably not going to lay it out like this. I'm thinking I will chop the forest into MH after Magnus is moved to help the dam along then place the IZ from MH; that would mean the other IZ is unplacable. The aqueduct is a bit OTT but whatever. This single IZ covers all 6 cities (1 tile NW and it could also cover Close Shave but I'm really not sure I want to push that city).

The farm triangle is necessary to get Lumberjack to size 10, but not long term. The marshes will be chopped to speed along Lumberjack and Ponytail growth. Lumberjack doesn't need a guvnor thanks to freshwater (5), those farms and spice plantation (2), simply building a granary (2) and that aqueduct (2), which leaves Walrus to pick one up when possible. It will be the only city without a harbour.

I've calculated I need an easy 33 builder charges more, which means 6 Liang Serfdom workers. That's probably 1400 gold I need to spend, plus a bought settler at 640 gold. Two galley upgrades post Mercenaries should cost...around 400 gold total. I should be approaching 80gpt with Long getting to size 10, but thats a few turns in, maybe T105. That's a long time to accrue the necessary gold, hence the expectation of using a few close civic completions to get out two or three builders at a time. OTOH, if Zanzibar hangs around then I should quickly push past 100gpt by T110, likely sooner. I need to buy two second ring and one third ring tile between Ponytail and Walrus which should be another 300 gold with the policy card in place, but they will pay back in culture and gold well enough. Call it an easy 3000 gold without buying buildings. That is achievable in the next era IMO, but I will need to evaluate MH moving onto military once the traders are completed, I will need to have a standing army in position to defend against TADs finishing the GMC and deciding to clear out a route for his missionaries. The order of operations will also need to be worked out for the gold spending

OTOH, and a good reason to run for Industrialism: Frigates will obliterate anything running through the desert at me and TAD has no good coastal cities. I only need to build a single canal with MH and I will be able to shift a defensive force around quite easily. I would need a seventh city in the far southern snow and two extra canals to put the full defense in place (thank you military engineers), but it feels...reasonable for what is essentially a test game now.

[Krill]

T96

Pictures tomorrow but I think I've just really annoyed greenline.

I got my second envoy so I took suzerainity of Zanzibat. That forced peace on them and then I saw there was a Zanzibar men at arms with a captured builder. Woops.

And I no longer have OB with greenline so my GS is stuck in the middle of nowhere...but once I get ship building I can get him out. Its not actually a huge issue.

[Krill]

Turn 98

Slow day yesterday. Fridays usually are. I'm not planning on doing a T100 update, but will do a T101 update as that is when we enter the next era. I might do a T100 update about how each player has spent the classical era? Who knows. Depends how long I'm stuck trying to buy Oasis tickets.





Adding this for future reference, but I've got a plan for a potentially dreadful seventh city. I think I can get it to size 10, but it would cost me a little bit of gold, and a lot of time (realistically, it would need a factory, but it would actually be good use of blank terrain). There's a cheeky Amundsen-Scott option as well. Sometimes it's worth doing something just to see if it can be done.

MH will finish the first light house eot and start on traders. I'll need 3 so looking at somwhere between 7-10 turns depending on tile micro. I've reconsidered the districts, as Magnus will be in MH long term (for trade route food purposes), the last two promotions are still valid and I can stack the production here with all the other IZ.

Long is due to reach size 10 no later that eot104, but I might just use Lilja (food) for a turn or two after the lighthouse (due eot99) before I can get into colonization to hang build the settler for Walrus (5 turn build, save 640 gold, use that to buy something relevant with less production is a no brainer). The other option is a barracks on the route to an armoury. Each turn of Lilja will save slightly over 1 turn of growth. I'll acknowledge one mistake, the campus should have been 1SW to leave a space for a commerce hub (would have been a 5 adjacency hub as well in a good production city), as I don't have any other good options.

Ponytail is ready to buy two builders with Serfdom, but will provide the third lighthouse to keep MH in trader construction mode. I have no plans for what to do after that (will lumber mill the forest hill though, so production should be good). I might cave in and build another encampment for Zanzibar (and frankly, I will need the production options for military engineers).

Mullet is going to be stagnated at size 3 on max hammers to get as much production into the harbour as possible, and it will also be the last city to get a trader. Or I might buy the damned granary next turn just because, I dunno. I need to pick which guv'nor goes here, there are actually a couple of interesting choices. More on that later.

I realised that Lumberjack needs to build the commerce district ASAP due to Free Inquiry but also because I need two markets for Guilds. It will start sttealing high value tiles from MH to this effect, but also think I might put the chop in and give up the Magnus production bonus (it's the old question, do you put the chop production into the city that is production poor, or the city with lots of production but also has the better modifiers?) Given that MH can only produce traders for Lumberjack, there is little way to transfer the production benefit back so might just give it up. The spice should be hooked on T100.





Whosit has placed down two further cities. He essentially has unlimited space compared to everyone else. TBH I'm trying to figure out how the player placement routine worked during map generation. He stil has land for an unknown number of cities, I can see places for at least 5 more. He will be in a GA so his tech rate will remain good (he probably thinks he has the best tech rate in the game and the most techs researched. That strictly speaking true but not for long but I don't actually see how he wins here?

greenline has peaced out with Whosit now, and he has no further option for expansion except to take Zanzibar, and even that is a stretch due to the terrain. We have a DoF and I'm about to blow his tech rate out of the water, so he might plan to push me at the end but most of my idle speculation is spent wondering about the reverse option.

On a side note, Prince is far too low a difficulty for MP games. I think everyone is going to be in a GA next turn except greenline (he is will have significant challenge due to that). I reckon Emperor might not actually be a bad idea.




So...when I get into that heroic age the loyalty pressure from my cities triples. Mo Li Hua will fall to free city status, and then fall to Whosit via loyalty pressure (unless city states fall to themselves rather than free city status?) Urtin Duu will actually fall pretty close to +0 loyalty but I don't think it will lose loyalty (I am toying with the idea of Amani with Affluence in Mullet for laughs), but with the loss of Venice it might actually go slightly negative...except the guv'nor in Venice will be transferred to Urtin Duu so that plan doesn't actually work.

[Krill]

T99

Shock, horror, this turn. Players that area isolated build wonders and don't build military: TAD built the Colosseum and jumped to 64 culture per turn. That will royally piss off Whosit who was trying to build it.

I'd be concerned, but why be bothered about shit you can't change?




I thought that Whosit would be a counter balance to TAD, but that obviously changed when greenline turned out to be an unsurmountable obstacle to him. Now I don't really see what there is to stop TAD from trying to a straightforward space victory...apart from his failure to put himself in a position to build a working navy. Babelfish is coastal. Vogon Poetry can have a lake harbour. Mostly harmless and IID are land locked. Don't Panic can get a harbour though. But he can't get a navy into the Antarctic ocean short of a canal at Babelfish and a city crammed in minimum distance to VP and BF (just between that banana, stone and spice).

Culture is not going to be a problem for him. Maybe even a culture victory is on the cards. But his science, well, it only looks good because he picked up the Pingala promotion. I suspect that it might be about to drop through the floor (unless he also picks Free Enquiry on T101, but I doubt that. He is going Monumentality with 600 saved faith). 38 bpt. Whosit is making 64 and it will not drop as he will take Free Inquiry again. Mine is about to reach...70? bpt around T103? And 46ish culture per turn which is enough. And I have all the eurekas, the biggest eurekas (the best eurekas...*groan*) at that so I don't see him catching me, nor Whosit in tech. greenline doesn't matter in this comparison, except for how much of a pain greenline is for me and Whosit to deal with.

There is a single frontline encampment which will do nothing except open up an Alhambra build. Any assault would be naval in nature and simply bypass it. For me that requires a single canal build in the largest and most productive (well, possibly) city in the world. Chev is already on the other side of that ocean and he does like his naval invasions and he is about to get a science boost from Free Inquiry. Plus all the other stuff as he will get an Heroic age as well, do not count him out.

I don't think TAD is a runaway at this point. OTOH, his religion isn't going to spread itself now, so he needs to be proactive. And how can he do this without a navy? He could try and break through me, but he hits the same problem: If I have a navy anything coming down that isthmus gets turned to mush.




And here is another problem: greenline passed on the GS. TAD will get to Zhang Heng, and likely pass. I'm quite happy to let the GS rot, I don't need them except to help trigger the Enlightenment. But I will get a Medieval Great Admiral (Chev and I will be splitting them) and I only need one more. But that isn't the biggest issue.

Whosit is going to pass on Boudicca, he will get there two turns before me. And I'm going to pass as well. So that run down the isthmus is going to be done the hard way, and then the units will get pounded on by GA powered boats and faster movement. And Ponytail is only attackable from one tile!

No, I'm in a decent position. Get Military Engineering, but after I take IW (to clear the way for the eureaks to land where I want them, and IW costs me no beakers at this point once hte cost decrease comes in), and after I take Shipbuilding (one more turn). Stockpile niter. Then go straight through to Cartography for Caravels to unlock Exploration for the new government and head on to Square Rigging. Detour to Gunpowder if I can upgrade a warrior to a musket if barbs show again (Stirrups plus Gunpowder with both Free Inquiry eurekas = 444 beakers. Square Rigging eureka = 525 beakers). TAD doesn't have an awful lot of play against this IMO, so he probably plays the builder for a bit longer.

It takes 5 turns to get to Cartography. Military Engineering, IW take a further 2. Castles is a rounding issue. That's 13 turns, to get to Square Rigging, so I could start researching it around T115 as I'm pretty sure I'm underestimating this. I reckon SR could be done by T127? So If I were inclined to offer a DoF, I actually want to do it sooner rather than later. I'm not sure if I am though...

If I don't have Niter, throw the PC out the window.

[Krill]

T100

I had to trawl through the Canadian PBEM18 thread (epic as it is) to clarify a point: tech costs are reduced prior to culture being calculated. It screwed Williams over whilst teching Machinery. I'll assume that civic costs are reduced at the same time. I have a plan (finish Feudalism this turn is part of it), however I'll try to do a city by city update next turn because I still have a couple of choices to make (Long Lilja for a 1 turn quicker size 10, buy a 5 charge builder in Mullet or two six charge builders in Ponytail, UP or Land Surveyors for a single tile buy etc).




The big news is that TAD offered DoF and I accepted. I don't want to get into a pissing contest until I know where niter is. Also, I should get a diplo victory point every time I'm DoF'ed with the entire world.




Oh, and something else for lurkers to know: I offered greenline salt for silver. I have a duplicate hooked, but greenline does not. He does have a second source at Tourdin. I hope he does not see this as some form of a demand, I'm simply trying to communicate I'll trade him salt for silver if he will hooked up the spare. This is "bad" for me from a loyalty perspective, but given Venice would fall to Whosit, and I can't get Urtin Duu to revolt I son't really consider that much of a downside given I'm about to create explosive growth in three cities andd I want to maintain the ecstatic state in all of them for as long as possible.

[Krill]

Turn 101




I got the (un)holy trinity of FI, PBV and Monumentality.

Chev has an Heroic age, and obviously went PBV and FI (culture and science increases). I don't know if he has gone Monumentality or EoE. I'd guess Monumentality when he only has 4 cities.

Whosit is in a GA, his science rate didn't change so he has stuck with FI.

TAD is in a GA has just spent 650 faith and 350 gold and I see a settler in Babelfish. Thats Monumentality to fill out his lands given he can't get his religion any further than it already is (he went EotE in the last GA, otherwise he would have had a science and culture rate change, and spent the faith sooner if he was already in Monumentality).

greenline...look he is in a normal age, does it really matter? Probably in FI.





Lots going on here. Settler in Babelfish, I need to go and block the hill again. I found Crater Lake (and the first person to!) Whosit finished Oracle...why build that? To spend gold on buying GP? Don't you have better things to spend that gold on?





I decided against Feudal Contract and putting some production into an archer. A one turn faster trade route makes a minimum 3 food and 3 production, with the faster growth etc, and culture is going so fast I think I will get an opportunity to swap into Feudal Contract shortly before I need the archer anyway. The extra turn of Veterancy is another 6 production so it's actually a bit of a wash. I am going to throw the envoy into Hong Kong to open up options

On that note, there are so few options remaining that short of a long shot play that Venice comes back and using La Venta for a Levy to attack Whosit, I reckon Hong Kong is the best place to stuff envoys as it is the CS most likely to live the longest. Preslav will get removed by Archduke in the next 20 turns (before I can try and snipe it). Zanzibar is nigh impossible to surround so...efficiency: 2 envoys for the cost of 2 points.





Mo Li Hua is screwed. No way that I can see to save it, all the govenors are in place, there is no opportunity to grow it, can't really get amenities and withotu size 7 not going to get an Entertainment district with bread and circuses. I'm more surprised at Urtin Duu, that's a 14 loyalty swing and Mullet is about to explode, each 1 pop in Mullet or Long is 0.75 loyalty chunk taken out of Urtin Duu.

To be clear: I would happily take over Urtin Duu but I would rather Venice stay as a CS or in greenlines hands. I do not want to border Whosit.







Whosit never had a reason to scout the north as he never intended to settle it until late game. Chev wouldn't waste his time. greenline kept his units close to capture Venice. TAD got blocked. Hence not that shocking I'm the first to find it.




So...greenline accepted the trade. I'm not complaining. One benefit to him is the deal ends sooner so he may be able to renegotiate, but I suspect he just took the offer because he did not want to potentially lose the salt to someone else.





Plan: IZ until I can build the next trader. Place the Dam ASAP (realistically teh turn after the GS triggers so maybe T109 or T100. Fit in Colonization for a settler, but only to build the settler until one turn from completion, then wait for Magnus to establish. Workshop ASAP: I want Imhotep. Prepare to spam quadriemes. I need two catapults to upgrade to Trebs, which puts a solid crimp in any plan as that forces a delay on Military Engineering. Something has to give.

The turtles should be claimed by T110. One of the six charges is currently allocated to improve it (likely the last charge).





I could have used Lilja (food) this turn to grow (alternative to the archer), but I'm actually slightly limited by getting the GS back to a Campus. Excess beakers ends up dumped into Stirrups (not a bad tech to dump them into). Culture is also quite challenging: I'm limited by Ponytail completing the lighthouse to get the fourth trade route slot) for the Medieval Faires inspiration, and the tech to Cartography for Exploration, so extra culture just pushes me through Recorded History. But I also need production for a barracks and then Armoury to trigger Gunpowder, and I also need the Campus (for 2 universities) for the Printing eureka (and the Astro eureka as the Volcano is a mountain).

Magnus and Pingala will be swapped on T103. Long is going on a hard core building spree, and the 5 charge Mullet Builder will mine the two plains hills. I think the Campus and Barracks will be done in 8 turns, but the Armoury goes down ASAP for Gunpower, unless I have no niter, in which all bets are off. Given the catapult challenge, I possibly have to interrupt both Long and MH to build a catapult each (2 cats upgraded in Professional Army is 240 hammers and around 180 gold for 525 beakers).





Once Ponytail finishes the lighthouse it will move straight onto the encampment (Building for the +1 Zanzibar envoy). This is not my preferred encampment position but if niter popped on the wrong tile it could destroy any canal placement (or force the harvesting of the game tile). Builder is planned to improve the fish, game and lumber mill the hill tiles before moving to Lumberjack. Trader will be moved here T102 for a straight +3 food, and once Magnus is in MH, that increases to +5.





Mullet is tight. I need a guv'nor to get to size 10 or to steal lots of tiles (the guv is cheaper), but once the harbour is in and the fish (T103) and crab (T105) are improved it can start growing again. I will also swap over the 4 yield Long farm and the horses to ensure growth occurs ASAP. Lighthouse second because I need to work the cost to reach size 10 and that gives further housing. This will be the city recieving the third trader from Ponytails lighthouse. Very quickly surpass base 12fpt, should ultimately reach 18fpt or so, hence the rapid growth comment. Given that growth and housing via builder improvements and the lighthouse are so tightly linked, I'm not really looking beyond that. There are so few land tiles I'm strongly considering building a water park as the only other district: all the land tiles might get subsumed by MH and Long.

Mullet is not a bad city to production in the medium term, but given the long term likelihood of losing all the tiles, and the fact there is no way out of this Atlantic ocean, I doubt I need to build boats here. But if I really needed to Mullet can reach over 30 production per turn without a shipyard; with a shipyard and with some of the tundra forests it should still go over 20 before adding in factories etc.





Second trader gets moved hereI'm relying on MH and Mullet picking up the good tiles here. a monument just picks up the crud: I'd rather force Lilja the way to size 10 for the free culture, lumber mills on tundra forests are 2.5 food in that scenario. Granary later for the housing, and a market is needed but only for the trade route, I've given up on the Guilds inspiration. Aqueduct to be placed ASAP. The farm labelled is one of the Ponytail builder charges (I think fourth) which ups housing to 6 and buys some time. The forest chop is the fith charge and still not sure where that gets placed (good chance it is the aqueduct but still thinking into MH for maximum benefit).

This city is essentially useless for building military.





In the first vote, I hope Chev realises this is the best for both of us and puts his points into Great Admirals. If we put points into stopping anything else, there would never be good or effective co-ordination and hence this is likely the better option.

Urban planning was worring me, because if people voted against harbours I'd struggle now, However, why would anyone? Everyone thinks about what is best for them in a positive fashion, or what hurts the leader. No one is going to be worried about me in this position. a positive IZ vote seems like a safe choice. Chev and I mostly have lighthouses down so the harbour isn't actually that helpful in a positive sense. I don't want Campuses to benefit as that helps TAD (he can grow his pop all he likes but it will not be enough, but cripple Campuses and he's done for with tech hence my plan to lock out the GS if he doesn't take Zhang Heng). I can't get Chev to criple Holy Sites and I doubt he sees TAD as a threat, and Whosit will throw all his weight infront of anything that does not break his 4 commercial districts.

OTOH, every player just reached Apprenticeships and have IZ under construction (except Chev), so throw the vote that way and hope it wins.