Depraved Danish Debauchery - Catwalk cooking up a storm [SPOILERS]

[Ceiliazul]

I'm just realizing that AT took a gnp hit of 237. That's almost half his national total! Holy cow, that's harsh.

[Ceiliazul]

Opened the turn to find that AT declined to attack my knights. The razing of Lava will not cost me a single unit! Interestingly He's moving his forces dead south with speed... Pitch was undefended last turn. There's no way I could make a play for Pitch, I wonder if KJN is also attacking AutoTeller?



I thought about using my knights to pillages some towns. With 6 knights in the area, I could probably have pillaged over 100g with measured risk to my knights. Unfortunately, I found this in the West:



The Red line is my visibility before I moved in the sentry knight. Those workers smelled like a trap, and the knight revealed KJNs stack! They're perfectly positioned to strike Heracles out of the fog, and I can't cold-whip walls. Thankfully, I have a zone defense stack in the area. An LB, Mace, and spear joined the city to exceed the number of real attackers KJN can bring. There may be some chariots out there in the fog, but I'm hoping the KJN calls off the attack.

However, the threat from KJN is enough to recall my knights from the East side 4 more knights can join Heracles next turn if needed. No pillage gold for me.

Yet.

What struck me this turn is how close everyone is in the demos:



I'm really proud of the Indian comeback here. Honestly if this is the high-water mark for our civ I wouldn't be disappointed. 15 turns ago we were a complete also-ran, last in every demo that matters. By a lot!

Now look at that crop yield! The difference between best and worst is a wet rice tile. Amazing.

I know I've enjoyed mostly peaceful growth exactly BECAUSE I was so far behind, but it still feels good. Here's where we were on t107.

[Ceiliazul]

t129

So, quick update:

Teched education, hoping for a scientist for Printing Press. Spawned a low odds prophet instead. Catwalk, why did you build Paya?!

KJN continues to fortify his troops on my border, pinning my own troops in the SW... the opposite corner from the guys who I'd love to attack. They've been there ~10 turns and show no sign of moving. This bit of stupid diplo by KJN, takes both our troops out of the fight against the real threat.

Stick killed Lazarus (again!) using trebs and muskets. He suffered minimal losses, I lost 3 longbows, 2 maces, 2 cats and some trash. Grr.

TheStick looks like a runaway winner, unless things change fast. The moronic cold war is keeping me and KJN tied down, and as far as I can tell AT doesn't actually want to punch anybody. If all 3 of us could attack TheStick the game would change. For that to happen KJN needs to plug in his brain fast. Otherwise Stick rolls someone with grens and this game is over by t160.

Still no one except Stick has HBR. Boggles my mind. You'd think after razing AT's capital he would've seen the value they can give?

Is AT a pacifist at heart?

*I know my updating went to crap quick. Family events are making even the turns difficult, so this is what you get.

[Ceiliazul]

I'm really proud of the Indian comeback here. Honestly if this is the high-water mark for our civ I wouldn't be disappointed. 15 turns ago we were a complete also-ran, last in every demo that matters. By a lot!

With the loss of Lazarus and KJN's recent decisions, this statement is likely to be true. KJN and I have a combined 350,000 soldiers on the border, just standing around. I cannot overstate how stupid this is.

But I'm still pleased with what I pulled off in that brief heyday. The priest will be saved for a GA cuz really, there's not much else for him to do.

[Qgqqqqq]

Are they in sight of one another (none of your pics are loading - including your profile).

[Cornflakes]

pics loaded fine for me ... Ceiliazul can see kjn's stack with a sentry knight.

[Ceiliazul]

Qgq, sorry you can't see my pics, I haven't heard that from others.

[Ceiliazul]

t130

Well, we learned education t127. Then instead of a scientist we got a priest at ~25% odds. That was a couple days ago, I've since stopped grumping: I got the merchant I needed for banking, so this is acceptable. Also, a golden age is more useful a printing press bulb anyway.

Naturally, with education in the bag, a round of universities is in order. Jesus built the thing in 2t with overflow help thanks to PHI. The rest of the build queue looks like this:



The Capital is saving hammers to start Oxford next turn. On this Duel size map it only requires 4 universities. Oxford is crazy expensive but absolutely necessary. Gotta keep up with the Joneses. Check out that GNP spike... yikes!



Double Yikes:



Note that only Stick has HBR. Seriously, what's up with that??

In good news, Useless Priest will have a pretty good shot at a non-priestly buddy here soon. I'll hire scientists after the university is done to hopefully trigger my 2-man golden age in ~5 turns. I gotta get some defense fast before Stick arrives in force.

The Golden Age now would help me knock out Oxford, and probably tech me to grens myself... or steel. We'll see.



In even more good news, KJN has finally drawn down his troops along our border. He has 9 real attackers and 11 siege on the Square of Stupid, so I pulled out some knights to leave 11 real defenders. Lets hope this is the start of a beautiful return to sanity.

[Ceiliazul]

T132

KJN is not getting the memo. Guys at the bottom of the demo pile should not be attacking each other!

I dry whipped walls, and stacked 8 bodies on the wall. He only has 10 real attackers, but they are high quality. Also he has 4 cats. I think he'd take the city if he tried, but it would be expensive. 8 additional defenders move in next turn.



In better news, that shot also shows my National Epic completing in Gandalf. The city can push out a Great Person in the next 3t. Gunpowder is complete, onward toward Grens.

Meanwhile, Stick and AT continue to put distance between us.

Grr KJN.

[Ceiliazul]

Note, KJN's score is so high because of wonders. He still lacks Civil Service, HBR, and other important classical techs. Meanwhile, Stick is stacking Grens.