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

[Commodore]

Why not start them all over now?

[Ceiliazul]

I think you mean queue maces for the auto-upgrade? Doesn't work: I don't have rifling, so railroad tech doesn't obsolete maces.

[Ceiliazul]

T153

KJN Added 5 knights, but they aren't all that scary as defenders. Especially since I brought cannon to the table. The Hermitage flipped that oasis tile within the last few turns, giving him time to promote his troops... that's probably hurts me worse than the knights.

Code:

CR2 cannon (8.8%) = Loss
CR2 cannon (37%) = retreat!
B2 cannon (71%) = retreat
B1 cannon (71%) = Loss
(Mali general) :-(
B1 cannon (91%) = retreat
B1 cannon (94%) = retreat
Knight (71%) = win
Catapult (60%) = retreat
Mace (96%)    = win
Knight (89%)    = win
Knight (97%)    = win
Knight (97%)    = win
Knight (98%)    = win
Musket (99%)    = win
CR2 Axe (87%)= win
Knight (99.9%) = win
Knight (99.9%)    = win
Mace (98.7%)    = win

I fell short of taking the city by 2 attackers. Totally forgot to take a picture, sorry.

Cannons are amazing. I have a habit in single player of using City Raider promos on the first cannons to improve survivability, then using barrage on the rest. No idea if that's optimal... but it really mangled the defending stack. From there one more iffy battle rolled my way, and then it was a romp. Even my ancient catapult got an XP after the odds got good enough. (The little guy damaged one enemy with collateral. Cute.)



Here's the effect on the demos. We're all so close in power that this battle dropped KJN from rival best to worst. Boom. Somehow I didn't get a shot of the troops after the attack, but he has 2 badly hurt dudes (I think a pike and a knight) and I've got most of my guys promoting next turn. It's possible he has more relief troops en route, but most of his 1-movers are staying put for our long standoff down south.

(Note, KJN ignored 2-movers until very recently. Didn't even learn HBR until the last ~15 turns. Crazyness!)

As you can see above, Railroad is coming in. My workers are positioned to build railroads next turn, and my zone defenders have all moved to a pile near my cap: my workers can lay enough rail to speed them to ANY city in my empire next turn.

And I'll need those defenders, Stick's stack is a sign of the crazy times ahead. Collateral-proof machine guns are just the ticket!



That stack is parked where I recently stole 3 workers from him. I guess he didn't appreciate that very much! The purple line was done in the strategy layer to line up my railnet. Mobility first while hitting as many mines as practical, naturally.

[Ceiliazul]

t156

So I took Bjork and (stupidly) kept it. My border toward KJN is hopelessly strung out. He can fork 2 of my cities with slow movers if he gets his roads right. But for now I own the patent on the worlds first immovable object: machine guns. Full of rapid-fire confidence, we move forward.



My sentry knight on the Southern front, continues to pay dividends. Last turn there were 3 knights, 10 catapults and some muskets in this city. They went somewhere... and I'm guessing Yuris want to renegotiate my lease on Bjork. Anyway, Heracles is safe for now due to lack of siege in range, so:



Good luck with that yuris. Note the builds? Yeah, we're beefing up the defenses. I've spent the last 40 turns clawing back to real parity. Now I'm about to trigger a golden age that will end with Universal Sufferage and Emancipation. After that, I have the inside track on factories, as no one else has economics yet.



Also... something happened. AT was crowing about revenge (which I was sure was directed at me!) and Stick lost a fair bit of crop yield this turn. Stick lost ~60k in power, while AT's graph didn't flinch... I assume a city died, but it's weird.

[Ceiliazul]

t149:

Picked up music just before Ackyroyd came out of revolt, build culture to get to 3rd ring immediately. Now I'm making progress toward universal sufferage! But first, this intro to my turn has 3 interesting items:




1) The Stick *finally* finished the Kremlin 16 turns after discovering communism. If AT got this wonder I'd be worried, but Stick has no population to burn really. He does have cash though, and will have railroad in 4t.

2) Last turn I spawned a Great Scientist for a golden age. I initially planned to start my GA this turn, but by finishing constitution first I can actually revolt into Representation at the start of the golden age. Thanks to mercantilism and Catwalk's settled great people, this will be worth 45 raw beakers per turn... worth the wait.

3) KJN has put some workers in harm's way.



The dull purple lines are in-game, created by the strategic layer, to show my rail net. I have cannons spread about, and can instantly marshall forces anywhere. (Love Railroads!) In this case the first cannon got 87% odds, and it got better from there. All cannons will promote next turn too!

The big decision was to keep the workers or not. I actually have 10 workers already, and that's probably enough for a map this size. However, fast workers make *excellent* suicide scouts if needed. I can run them quite far into enemy territory to scout for bad guys.

I did keep the workers, covered with 2 machine guns and some knights. All of his collateral continues to be bunched on the other end of his territory, where my sentry knight moves each turn to see it. Without collateral, he can throw units against my machine guns but I don't think he can kill the stack. (Note to self: make more sentry knights before they obsolete!)



Remember that "something" that happened a couple turns ago? Well AT's power didn't bump on that turn, but he must have left his stack in a killing field because this shows about 160k in dead soldiers. That's a bummer for him, but AT has been pumping out army at an alarming rate so I'm happy to see that stack reduced.

My own power is looking very good, with the best defensive unit around. This is super because I'm about to spend ~20 turns on economy/infrastructure. This turn I finish Constitution, next turn I start a Golden age that will end with UniSuff/FreeSpeech/Emancipation*/OR. Then it's Corporation and Assembly Line for factories. The one who can hurt me the most is KJN on my long culture crushed Western border. I need to pump infantry before he can get cannons and rails... it will be close.

*Even though this is Duel/Emperor, it seems others only create 1 frown for my enemies?? Anyone know a thread with more info about this?

[NobleHelium]

Can we get a tech comparison?

[Ceiliazul]

AutomatedTeller is in serious trouble here. I gave him credit for education, he's due for a tech and if it isn't education... well then he's hosed. He's at least 30t behind me and Stick, and losing ground. His greatest asset is nationhood and a high population. He can definitely crack some heads... but he'll never catch up in tech.

TheStick has been the tech leader since I joined the game, but now I've caught up with him. We're jockeying for the lead, usually the total beaker count is within one industrial era tech. Stick has the opposite problem of AT: he has the tech but not the population to use it. His greatest asset is the kremlin and cash rushing.

KJN is falling behind in tech as well, but he's dangerous because of his culture. Thanks to Sistine's, he's winning the culture battle on all sides, and could annex cities in the near future if he can keep up in tech. KJN is the reason I will be adopting free speech: I *need* to dig my Western front out of the culture hole it's in. I realize now he does have steel, so he'll definitely have an opportunity to hit my Western cities with cannon before I get infantry...

[Ceiliazul]

t160

This turn saw the start of a golden age, and a change of civics to Representation - Caste. I'll run that for 5 turns, popping a Great Something from my grab bag Epic city. I spent a lot of time thinking about this turn, as this will likely be my last golden age for the game. I can tech to Communism or Democracy, but not both... and so civics require serious consideration.

Currently I'm in Rep, Bureau, Slavery, Mercantilism, Org Rel. Here's what swaps would bring:

Universal Sufferage: 24h, -90bpt
Gives up too much science for the hammers to be worth it.

Free Speech: -9h, -50bpt, 200cpt
This is a terrible tradeoff, but maybe necessary for the KJN border.

State Prop: 6h, -30b
also worth some food as watermills take over

Free Religion: -50h, 20b, 25cash,
Can build wealth to make up for the cash. no.

Free market: -25h, -50b
Ha. No.

The main threat to my existence right now is KJN's culture. He can attack 2 of my cities from the fog with slow movers, and 2 more with fast movers. In order to get more culture, I need Free speech. Otherwise though, there isn't anything here that beats Rep/Bur/Merc... hmm. Also there's this to consider:



Yeah, I'm not going to get infantry before he shells my cities. Free Speech will take too long as well. Not all bad news though, I did make off with those 3 workers from last turn. They helpfully mined the plains hill since they were in the area.



The plains hill tile is marked with the culture percentages as well... I actually decided NOT to road the tile this turn so that when it flips KJN won't have *another* slow mover opportunity. I have a total of 13 workers now, which I'm pretty sure is more than any of my opponents. I've captured six in the last few turns, and the timing couldn't be better. My strategic railnet nears completion, while my civ still owns the patent on the tech.



I'm building a lot of wealth in the push for Assembly Line. I'm also nearing completion of Ironworks at the top of that shot, in perfect time for some factory/coal plant action.



Achilles will be pumping out infantry every turn in the very near future. Combined with my heroic epic city, I'm looking forward to 3 infantry per turn in my empire in the near future. My capital is in full bloom here, representing half of my total empire economy. I left spot here for Wall Street, there's just no other city that even comes close to the commerce of Jesus.



The tech plan is Corp -> Assembly Line -> Rifling. My best cities will finish factories in 2-3 turns and start on infantry. If I can get those guys on the walls on my Western front, I'll feel a whole lot better about things. Until then, machine guns are the thing against KJN's massive collateral stacks.

[Ceiliazul]

t161

Well, If I'm not willing to adopt Free Speech for the culture, I still can mitigate the risks somewhat:



My sentry knight again shows that Mali's assets in the area have stayed put. That means I moved forward some knights and machine guns (positioned last turn) to pillage the roads leading to Bodhi.

I also found a good use for 2 of the 3 workers I captured from Yuri last turn: chop that horrible forest tile adjacent to Heracles. It would have afforded Mali's attackers a 50% defense bonus... which I can't allow. And a bonus! The chop cut down the finish time of Hermitage in that city.

The workers were deleted before EOT. I'm still up one workers from my recent raid, thanks Yuris.

Meanwhile, I keep pushing out Machine guns. My power is tops in the game for the first time in... ever!



3 turns to Assembly Line and factories!

[Ceiliazul]

From the tech thread:

I concede defeat to Ceiliazul.

well, I certainly am in no position to win

I should say "Good game, all!! Congrats to ceiliazul!!"

Well the only one who can stop me is Yuris... we'll see what he says. I see KJN posted in the lurker thread, not sure if that means anything.