sticks and BRicks will break their bones! {spoilers}

[thestick]

Machinery came in, and I queued up my first Mace in Tibia. AT has a large stack of Axes and War Chariots in Be, no sense attacking. AT's Crop Yield has stagnated while mine continues to increase, so I'm hoping to take 1st in Crop Yield from him soon. I grabbed Masonry on the way to Construction.

[thestick]

For technology, after Construction I'm going to head up to Literature to unlock the all-important Heroic Epic for Tibia, and maybe grab Drama on the way there. After that, I'm not so sure. I want to hit Guilds to hit Grocers (money!) and Knights (units!), but then I'd have to research the Monarchy-Feudalism line and spend about 10 turns doing it. A religion might be nice, but Pacifism and Divine Right aren't so hot. Liberalism beeline doesn't seem like such a good idea on AW. I'm still leaning towards Guilds.

It turns out Kjn researched Alphabet. He has the Music Great Artist, Theology, and Machinery, yet doesn't have Code of Laws or Civil Service. No idea what's going on there.

[thestick]

It finally happened.




First in Crop Yield! Granted, this is mostly because AT's Crop Yield has been dropping at the same time mine was rising. But success is success!

I whipped a Forge in Ulna and will whip a Courthouse in Pelvis next turn. New Scapula is growing one of Sternum's new blank grassland cottages, while Sternum stole one of Os Coxae's lakes.

My current take on the situation:
thestick: He's been pushing Crop Yield and Research at the expense of MFG and Soldiers. He's pushed for the military and economic techs over religion, wonders, and culture. He's doing surprisingly well for being choked and losing his second city.
Kjn: He's been pushing GNP and staying competitive in MFG at the expense of Crop Yield. He's tops in Soldiers because he didn't lose a huge army a few turns ago. He's pushing for religious and wonder techs at the expense of economic and military techs (just researched Code of Laws!)
AutomatedTeller: He's been pushing Crop Yield, MFG, and Soldiers at the expense of GNP. I'm waiting for his Golden Age to end to get a better gauge of his GNP. My regular GNP is about as high as his Golden Age GNP. His techs are about the same as what thestick has; he has Civil Service, Machinery, and Construction (his roads have bridges). I'm hoping to attack him with a tech edge during the Renaissance.
Catwalk: He's losing. Last in Power, Crop Yield, and GNP. Built Shewegadon Paya, lost it to AT, then reconquered it. Has a ridiculous amount of culture. Still no Civil Service or significant numbers of Courthouses (his Espionage graphs are flat).

[thestick]

I sent my Sentry Chariot to find Catwalk's cities, but still came up empty:



I'm preparing to whip a Courthouse in Os Coxae:



Not pictured is the Market in New Scapula.

I forgot that Polytheism is required to research Literature, so I'm making a quick stop there.

AT's Crop Yield has been dropping for some reason:



I should probably be worried AT is whipping an army, but his power hasn't increased too much...

[thestick]

In domestic news, my core is mostly grown. Sternum is almost fully sized and is actually running against the health cap:



I still have my source of Sheep to hook up (never bothered to do so), but after that I'll be constrained for Health until Grocers come in.

New Scapula's Bananas came online, and the city will soon grow like a weed:


I'm holding off on whipping the Market until I either grow a pop or the Market drops down to a 3 pop whip. I don't want to whip away one of my riverside cottages.

Tibia's fully grown on lakes and cottages and can start working those Mines:



In foreign news, I finally found one of Catwalk's cities:


That city would be nice for resources, picking up Gold and Stone. Too well defended for a raid, though. Judging by the way this map is mirrored, Catwalk's capital is somewhere south of Os Coxae.

Kjn and AT are apparently skirmishing north of Ulna:



I'll probably grab Monarchy before the next major tech push. I'm starting to think that Paper-Education would be a good idea. I'm relatively secure, having achieved military tech parity with my rivals. Power's lowish, though... Universities would definitely be better than Grocers, since I'm swimming in cash right now. The main advantage of Guilds would be Knights, but I'm guessing people will hit Longbows or Pikes too quickly.

[Commodore]

Aqueduct?

[thestick]

Hmm, maybe. Seems like a waste, though. I'll need to wait for the Sugar to come online to raise the happy cap anyway.

This turn was uneventful. I whipped a Courthouse in Os Coxae. Literature came EOT. The Heroic Epic is a 7t build, subtract a turn or two from a forest chop and more Mines coming online. I'm probably going to lose 1st in Crop Yield to AT sometime soon. I think my biggest problem is my lack of cities.

Only minor question is what to promote my 10 EXP Impi to. Combat 2/Formation?

[thestick]

Horray, T100! The turns are moving along a little slower, though.

Domestically, my cities are mostly capped out. Sternum and Tibia are running low on food and tiles, while Tibia and Pelvis, as border cities, are running low on food and workable tiles. New Scapula and Ulna are still growing. Ulna's growing like a weed:



The Heroic Epic is coming along nicely in Tibia:



In tech news, Paper comes in in 2 turns. Education is in 6 turns at 100%, though it's probably closer to 7-8 turns due to needing to save up a bit more cash. It's pretty clear I need to get a military tech edge to finally get more land. I'm thinking Cuirassiers., though that's about 30 turns away. Preliminary tech path is Paper->Education->Philosophy->Liberalism (Nationalism) ->Military Tradition.

Graphs and Demo screens:

I'm pretty sure I've taken second place, having a good GNP and Crop Yield. Building the Heroic Epic and stopping the flow of units from Tibia caused my Power to flatline. If no one attacks for about 7 turns, I should be fine.

[thestick]

Kjn razed Catwalk's city of Varanasi, and has Crossbows and Skirmishers to keep me from moving south of New Scapula. AT built a Guerrilla II/Woodsman II Explorer that's sitting on my forested hill by Ulna. He has visibility into Ulna - uh oh. In retrospect, I should've moved an Axe onto my forested Deer.

Paper came in, I probably have enough cash to hit Education. Still feeling militarily insecure. I haven't been whipping units, but I'll probably skim a couple of Maces off of my core next turn.

[thestick]

I keep going back to the question on whether I should hit Education or Guilds, and the last time made me want to write out why I'm deciding Education. Education is about the same price as Monarchy/Feudalism/Guilds, and I'd take a beaker multiplier over a cash multiplier. Knights don't feel like a decisive edge, someone just needs to grab Engineering/Pikes to shut them down. Since I'm researching faster than AT, I just need to maintain military tech parity and build up a tech edge. As for Kjn, AT and I have surpassed him in Crop Yield and GNP. Kjn still doesn't have Civil Service, so I think time is on my side here.

I still think AT's winning. He has the highest Food, MFG, and Soldiers.

Just need to survive the Medieval era and keep AT's Mace/Cat and Kjn's Crossbow armies away. Horse Archers/Cats should deal with Crossbows.