[SPOILER] Suryavarman II of Maya - Whosit & Ravus Sol

[Whosit]

Ah well, ImpiShortARush then?

That works, but perhaps a bit provocative? I think I'm going with NailShortARealm on this one. In other news, I think I can get the Hanging Gardens chopped out on Turn 54. Not sure if I can speed that along any more, but I'll try.

That also means that I may want to get a 5th city before then? Might be possible. Need to fiddle around with my plans some more. +5 pop would be nice. We really need to meet the other two civs. I half suspect that no one else will be going for it so early just because getting the HG for a couple or three cities is kinda meh, but who knows. The lurkers know! They know what, er, lurks in the hearts of players?

EDIT: (So as not to add frivolous posts.) Turns out I can have an escort and Settler ready and in place just in time for the HG. Will settle at site marked "Yellow." Probably reaching too far, but we'll see....

[Whosit]

Bluhhhh... my calculations were a bit off. Settling NailShortARealm increased costs about 70%, from 7 to 12 (4 from increased city costs, 1 for civic upkeep). It's making me doubt the wisdom of planning yet another city in 12 turns. Of course, since when has wisdom guided my actions? Ravuuuuuuuus... this is where you're supposed to make me not be stupid.

In goodish news, DropShortALiter will finally whip its Worker next turn. I've decided to just go straight into a second Worker and chop it out because the city is going to need as much help as possible. I've let it be a drain on the treasury long enough. Another problem I realized is that I have not yet planned when and how I'm going to connect it to Nail/Realm. Still need 4 road tiles through forests, two of which, well one of which, will be outside our territory (until both cities reach level 3 borders). Problem is, Drop/Liter needs its Workers to actually improve its terrain (note to self: Chop out a couple Holkans, too, just in case) before they can run off connecting roads. Of course, without the road connection, it gets no luxury resources and has a tiny happy cap. Ahh, well. I can manage that fairly well enough. Likewise, Nail/Realm needs some Worker attention before I abandon it.

At a very rough guess, very, very rough, I'd say that a 5th city will cost.... another 4, rounding up. Oh, yeah, at the moment, costs outstrip income (lose more at 100% than we earn at 0%). Of course, that's probably 'cuz we're no longer working the Gold and Gems. Should fix itself. Supposing I do decide to go ahead with City 5 (part of me still believes I can somehow manage those logistics, even though it will be yet another fresh city without adequate Worker support), that should be the last time I whip the capital in the near future.

Currently have 4 Workers to 4 cities. Except one of the cities has 0, so does the cap, 1 has 1, and the last gets 3. But in two more turns, Worker count goes up to 7, and a few turns later, 8. So it's going to get better!!

And after the Hanging Garden, I can redistribute some Workers to the new place, if I found it. Well, it could work out.

Diplo

Nothing new, but Ravus, what do you think about sending GE a new note asking about them poking around? Does that show too much weakness? We haven't gotten a response from what we sent, either. Dunno, just want to throw it out there. Don't like 'em poking around. Damn gids get off mah lawn!

/Diplo

OK, and to cap off these ramblin's, some pictures, I guess.

Finances before:



Founding:



Finances After:



Lookit them bears!



And more stuff:



Oh, right, never got vision into barb city 'cuz I forgot that Oasii block vision. I hope that my new city causes a still, but we'll see. If I do settle 5, that ought to do it. Of course, I half suspect that the Indians (Kyan/RefSteel) are easily keeping pace. They're certainly doing something to garner that huge lead. Techs, wonders, what have you.

I can't remember if I mentioned this, but if I go after any religion, it might actually be Islam. Mainly because Divine Right unlocks Versailles, and that would be quite useful to our game plan.

[Rowain]

I think if you will have 8 workers you can found the 5th city (and build 2 more). After the 5th city I think you need to stop City-spaming a bit and grow.

Of course those many woods make the Indian Workers really shine.

[Whosit]

I should have that many Workers. Main question is "where will they be and what will they be doing?" At the moment, all of them are going to be occupied when city 5 is put down, and will not be especially close. Of course, half will have been chopping out the Hanging Gardens, so a couple of those can dart out. Assuming I land the HG, city 5 will have 2 pop almost immediately, so I plans to have it whip a Worker right away.

Current plan has Drop/Liter building/whipping/chopping like 4 Workers all by itself. Excessive? Nahhhh. Two of them will end up heading north to build a road. Downside is, this isn't really schedule to happen until the T60s, which may be a tad too long, but it really seems more important to get chops and improvements in the city first.

Shakarite units are still snooping around, so I may substitute a Holkan for a Worker at Drop/Liter. We're ranked 4th in power, above only the Voet-guys and the Koreans, meaning that Mr. Shaka-man is stronger than us. I don't think by an awful lot, though, and I don't think that it's due mainly to units, but I'll take a closer look at the power progression.

Oh, yeah, played T43 yesterday. Nothing really noteworthy happening. Building the road from capital to Eve/Ning! Yay! Ah, and Masonry is done, so I'm going to work on Currency next, as I think that it's the tech we'll find most useful, what with my city spamming and all.

A little worried about where that wounded Incan warrior is going. I wouldn't put it past GE/Sandover to trade a Warrior for a Worker if the opportunity arises. All my cities have only one unit to defend them. Nail/Realm has a Holkan, at least, and it can beat that warrior, even with forest cover. So I may leave the city to cover the Workers.

Need more troops. Well, that's what Eve/Ning is supposed to do once the HG is done.

Also: SUMMON: Ravus!

....Yeah, that tends not to work.

[Whosit]

Fuck.

Kinda thought this was coming, but not so soon.

GE/Sandover have 3 Quechuas and a Warrior outside of Drop/Liter, and their other Quechua snooping up north. All I have defending the city is one warrior. It won't be able to grow in time to whip out a new defender, and the Worker it just built couldn't put a chop out in time. I'll just have to run. Will also send a (useless) message to Sandover/GE to see if he'll reconsider.

Fuck.

Hanging Gardens are indefinitely postponed.

Edit:

GingerEagle and Sandover,

I ask you to reconsider what you are about to do. You would do well not to have me as an enemy.

-Whosit

I'm pretty sure that they will just have a jolly ol' laugh over this (everyone knows Whosit is a loser and weakling!), but not much else I can do. Hooking up Horses is going to be priority #1. Odds are they will just burn the city. It would actually be luckier for me if they captured it. An actual counter-attack into their territory is probably out of the question. Could easily have Spearmen ready. What's funny is that losing Drop/Liter will, in the short-term, anyway, help me with costs. Little has really been invested in it except TIME. *sigh* Annoyed. If I'd listened to the more paranoid part of me several turns back, I would have kept another Warrior in the city instead of having 'im continue scouting. Two Warriors might have held, if my luck wasn't terrible. But the 3 Quechuas will easily take the city. I'm just hoping I can escape my Worker and have him survive the trip back to my core territory.

So, need to get more troops, then re-expand.

[Whosit]

More grumbles.

The timing of those Quechuas is particularly bad. A turn earlier, or a turn later (well, two turns later) and I'd be able to whip out a Holkan in time. But they showed up right after I whipped down to size 1. Could they have been waiting for that? Possible. I wouldn't put it past Sandover's C&D abilities.

*Sigh* I suppose the lesson... don't make such a huge leap like that without either knowing who you're next to, or without a couple of troops. This is just going to be a huge set-back, and I'm hoping I can bounce back from it. All I know is this: Once they declare war... well, I don't think I'll sign peace for quite some time. Construction will have to be my next tech.

Anyway, I'll probably be posting a lot of angry ramblings and rantings for the next several turns. Have fun with that.

Aughhhhh.... should have seen this coming... SOONER than I saw this coming.

[novice]

Fuck.

Fuck.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LN5eYFH8H...verified=1

[spacemanmf]

Ah, a classic.

[Whosit]

OK, so here's how the next few turns will probably go down. Now watch as nothing goes right. Damn. Getting chumped like this already makes me feel like, well, a chump.

First, I think I now know what his wounded warrior is doing. It wasn't just snooping out the extent of my borders. It has been placed to intercept fleeing Workers. And while I could loop my worker around, like originally intended, I think I'm going to do a U-turn and just head straight for the mother-fucker. Yeah, I'm pulling my Warrior out to cover the worker. The city is toast. Even if my Warrior kills one of his, the second is going to win. And even if I was so luck to kill two, the third is sure to win. All his Quechuas are promotable, for sure. The odds that one Warrior is going to hold out are infinitesimal. So, yeah, full evac, goddammit.

Assume city is burned. As I said, if they choose to keep it, I'm pretty sure I can take it back with Chariots before they have a chance to reinforce.

Nail/Realm: Putting Chop into Holkan rather than Granary. City is probably safe but I'm damn well not taking a chance now. Granary after the Holkan. Hooking up Horses is prioritized over developing food resources. Will probably be connected in 6-7 turns. Still a painfully long wait.

Seed/Melon: Will get a couple Holkans out. I think I'll whip the one currently in production. Should have done that this turn, probably. Enough overflow to go into a second. The first will head out to protect the gems/gold. Incans were actually in a great position to sabotage one of them prior turn, not sure why they moved. Still, they'll get there first if they really want to. Second will hang out in between capital and Nail/Realm to reinforce either as necessary. After 2 Holkans, Barracks, then probably Chariots as Horses should be connected by then.

Eve/Ning: Barracks > Troops. No point in Wonders now. Probably another Holkan to help defend city, then Holkans until chariots are available.

[Whosit]

Sanibona Whosit

As I write, His Illustrious Majesty [may his lips never lie] is about
to give the order for our Quechua to enter your lands near the lake
you know as "Lake Liter".

It has come to this as you took about 6 days to respond to my first
message. And when you did reply, all you suggested was for us to
settle elsewhere. It should have been obvious that we would have built
up forces accordingly.

If you wish to avoid bloodshed, His Illustrious Majesty [may his
breasts remain small and humble] would accept your lake-side city as
reparation. The lake itself will be renamed as "Lake Shakira" in
honour of Number-One-Wife. In addition, His Illustrious Majesty
[Tsaminamina zangalewa] would like to offer you a NAP until turn 100,
with the one condition that your units do not deliberately come within
2 tiles of Shakirite culture. Any transgression, without immediate
withdrawal, will result in the resumption of hostilities.

I should advise you that we have Axemen en-route to your other cities.
In addition I have units ready to pillage your Gold & Gems. You should
give serious consideration to giving up your outpost. Otherwise we
will be drawn into a long-term war. I have Barracks in addition to the
Aggressive trait, should I give the order for the Axemen to attack?

I trust you will respond in a timely manner, i.e. before my next turn.

Sobanana,

Ambassador GingerEagle
on behalf of His Illustrious Majesty,
Shaka Rex of The Shakirite Empire
[may His hips never lie, may His breasts remain small and humble]

Why do I suspect that he was going to attack me even if I had replied right away? Of course, if I later learn that it was the cause, well, 1) I was right to worry about delaying responding to them, 2) that's a really, really stupid justification. Fuck it. I'm not going to respond to them. I'll hope the Axe-man bit is a bluff, but if it's not, I think I'd better have plans to get those Horses connected ASAP, so I think that I'll divert even more Workers. *sigh* I'll sim it later to see how fast I can speed it up.

Really, what the hell was I on, thinking I could continue the Farmer's Gambit with a Shaka next door?

All right, so I hereby declare that, on principle, a peace treaty will never be signed with these wretches, even if it leads to my grave!! Fuck. Even if I build Chariots, they'll probably have some Spearmen, too.

Psst, Ravus, and/or dedicated Lurkers: This is like, your last chance to stop me from doing something stupid. Honestly, I'd consider giving them the city if I thought it would actually prevent them from attacking me, anyway. If they really have Axemen en-route, and I give them the city, why would they not go ahead and attack, anyway, and just use that stack of Quechuas to help take my core? *siiiiiiiigh* Don't do stupid farmer's gambits in RB MP, moron.