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Turn 116
One last turn before turning in for the night. No attack yet!
Looks like my paper army is working a little...
I previously sent the horse down to check out if he had units in the fog and now I see he has upgraded the archer to a crossbow and has a few knights hanging around. I move the ram down to the encampment and move the sword closer to the encampment. I will keep the units here to draw his forces around this area and keep them away from my fragile eastern flank. I also notice something when looking over his empire...
Looks like he is building the Mahabohi Temple at Astrakhan. You can see the start of it. It is not a lumber mill since it is different from the one to the northeast of the city. I hope he has more than 8 turn left. I chop the shrine at SM2 and overflow into the temple (due in 3). I will then start the Mahabohi Temple and it will take 6 builder''s charges but should be able to get it done in 5, maybe for if I continue to work on it while using the builder's charges.
I send a trader to one of Pericles cities to bring my income to the positive. I will send the other to Hong Kong to get the addition 25 tourism from Gorgo. I will have a market finish next turn and I switch to a market at JC. I can always switch back to units if Russia attacks. I will start a CH at PC next turn after the builder completes. Teh builder will go hook up the Niter and then go fix the tiles around Nan Madol and chop a little at JC.
Here is the score for reference. I am still in the lead, even without my wonder points.
Pericles and Germany are starting to fall behind. It really shows the impact of multiple wars.
June 16th, 2017, 09:19
(This post was last modified: June 16th, 2017, 09:21 by Woden.)
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Turns 117 - 120
Played most of these turns remotely (even though I said I wasn't going to do that but I just can stop), so not a ll of screenshots. We have be racing though the turns lately, doing 2 or 3 turns a day.
Losing Zanzibar really wrecked my economy but I am starting to recover but I can't afford a war with Russia right now or maybe war would be good, it would get ride of some onf my unit upkeep costs (?). IDK. Anyway...
Turn 117
Not much going on this turn, I start moving my Builders towards Splash Mountain to get ready to build the Mahabohi Temple as son as the temple is finished in 2. Big news this turn is that the Greek war is over, Gorgo and Pericles signed peace! That is not good! I switch the builds in my 2 eastern front cities to walls because Russia or Gorgo may try and bring the other into a dog-pile war. I still have friendship with Pericles until T121 but may have to worry about him after that if he won't sign friendship again.
Turn 118
This is not good...
Only one thing could be going on here. Since he is building the Mahabohi Temple he is going to attack Splash Mountain if I start it. Otherwise, why would he go for this city. If he was looking to take a city, why not Space Mountain, I only have old units there. I check and all of those knights have the +7 against ranged units promotions. They will be tough nuggets to crack. So, I thought about this for a minute and decided if he wants the temple, so be it. Since I have to use more than 1 builder, It will be hard to protect the builders with all those knights. I can use the builder elsewhere to a greater effect than the temple will provide. The builder I just produced at MCA will move down to mine the Jade at Small World and then go build the Terracotta army. The other builders will improve elsewhere. The only other change will be that I build a Holy Site at MS before the TD. I may be mistaken and he may attack this turn, we will see...
Turn 119
No attack, I am now convinced I am reading this right. I shift units around just in case. Not much else going on. I did notice his militray power is still going up...
940 now to my 690-ish. I would say we are about even if he attacks (with my city defenses) but no way can I attack.
Turn 120
No war yet...I finally hook up Niter and could upgrade to muskets if I had the gold. Market due at JC in 2, CH at PC in 12. Since my economy is wrecked right now and I need to improve it, I decided to see where Russia is at with his desire to attack. I offer friendship again. I will see how he reacts. Best case scenario is he accepts, then I will have 30 turns to beef up my economy and get my last 4 wonders. Then I will go full on military stomping. Bad part of it is that I probably face cossacks and they are no joke. Hopefully I can get ahead in tech and have infantry. Worst case scenario is that he attacks because he thinks I am weak and don't want a war. Of coarse, he could reject the offer because he wants to wait until his temple is done and sign after that, we will see...
I did check the cultural victory screen...
Seven tourists. Russia is now the one I have to beat for tourists. His culture has jumped due to great works, so I think I will have to work towards some of they soon, my wonders won't do it by themselves.
June 16th, 2017, 10:48
(This post was last modified: June 16th, 2017, 10:55 by Woden.)
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Turn 121
Well, Russia rejected my offer of friendship but did offer...
I think he means peace, maybe in 5 turns with the added gold? I was thinking of using gold to tell Pericles how many turns if he came asking to attack Gorgo. Could be he is attacking in 5 turns but why would you broadcast it. Most likely he will have the temple finished in under 5 turns and will sign friendship after, hopefully, but...
Looks like Gorgo is going to attack Thunder Canyon. 3 turns until he can attack the city. WHY? This was expected but I don't understand why? I don't thing the war wariness from the last war has wore off yet and he wants to start another war. What are you going to do, take my buffer city and hold it for a few turns until my 3x size army comes and takes it back. He probably is thinking he will goat Russia into war, S%$T! I hope Russia honors his word about peace. I start shifting units towards the front. I don't think, or care if, I can hold Thunder Canyon but the city was a buffer city anyways. I need to hold 7 Dwarfs, then at least I own the bottleneck points and it will be hard to come at me by land. I am going to switch to Limes next turn when the market finishes at JC and finishes Guilds. Probably not matter at Thunder but will at 7 Dwarfs, I will mine the copper next turn and with Limes, should drop the time down to 6 or 7 tuns. I will ask Russia for friendship in 3 turns if Gorgo doesn't attack by then.
Main Street will grow to 10 next turn and I will start a Holy Site. I am going to take a minute to bitch about the religious pressure and Scripture...
Scripture has to be broken. PC has been sitting at 2 pop following my religion for some time and a city right next to my holy city should not take this long to convert. Look at Soarin' in the north, unless Russia sent a missionary up there, how the hell does it have 1 pop following Weedy Movement? Maybe he did send a missionary around the coast, IDK. I just don't understand why PC has not converted yet. Scripture is worthless...Ok, back to the game...
Nan Madol finishes walls and I start a Campus. I really need friendship with Russia now (and he needs it with me). We are getting to the point where population alone won't keep you ahead. Look at how Russia and Gorgo are able to keep up. Gorgo with his science CS and Russia by taking developed cities. I NEED to start building more districts. This was evident when Zanzibar was lost. My income went from >40 gpp to -2.5. I didn't have the infrastructure to withstand such a hit. I need trade routes, gold, science, and culture, otherwise someone else will pull ahead.
I now have more time to write things up, my work report went out. I will try and get some strategy stuff done tonight and then try and write the stuff I skipped earlier over the weekend. Exciting times are a coming....
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Turn 122
Market finishes at JC, giving Guilds and Banking, but most important...
Finishes Guilds and lets me make a policy swap. After I made a few moves and chops, I switched into...
I put in Limes for Bastions (if Russia attacks, I can switch it back in 3 turns). I also switch out Feudal Contract for Town Charters and Serfdom for Caravansaries, both to get more gold for upgrades. They add +10 gpp, not that much but better than nothing. I want to upgrade the units I have and don't plan on building any more soon and I chopped a builder out of MCA, so now have 16 builder charges to use and can wait to build more.
I have notice that last 5 or so turns, Gorgo and me have been switching places in science victory. I regain the lead again...
We both have the same number of techs and similar rates but...
Education will finish next turn, I have 1 turn left in Castles and Metal Casting. Mass Production and Banking are already eureka'd and are 4 turn techs. A tiger is due next turn at Space Mountain and I will start a university for the Astronomy Eureka and I have a campus going at Nan Madol that will get chopped as soon as the builder gets down there and will build a library and university for Printing Eureka. I can pull ahead again any time I want unless he is facing the same situation.
I throw down a harbor at MCA and a Holy Site at MS but switch to commercial project to get gold and hurry up the GM. I am actually doing another CP at JC. I should have the GM in 7 or so turns and will us him at PC when its CH is done. I probably should have waited on the HS at MS. I don't want to give a reason for Russia to attack. I am pretty sure he is going for a Religious victory, so I started surrounding MS with units and am moving some of my ancient stuff around the city to prevent the apostles he will get when he finishes the temple from converting my city. I send 1 horse to the northwest because....
A barb camp. Can't have horseman coming to bother my cities, plus extra gold. Also...
My friendship with Pericles has ended. I send him a request to continue it. I want to send him an alliance to get the inspiration but he doesn't have the civic yet unless I am missing something. the options is not available and I did check before my friendship ended. I am sending a few units towards Thunder Canyon. With Limes, the walls are due in 11 and 6 at 7 Dwarfs. Maybe I can hold of Gorgo that long, IDK. I upgraded the archer to a crossbow and am moving a knight and another horse that way plus will have a Tiger out of SM next turn and can upgrade another crossbow when I get the gold (moving archer that way). At 7 Dwarfs, I am moving a Tiger and Sword up from Splash Mountain. I should be good at that city. We will see what he does soon...
June 17th, 2017, 23:16
(This post was last modified: June 17th, 2017, 23:17 by Woden.)
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Turn 123
Pericles accepts my friendship for another 30 turns. More interesting...
Russia comes asking for friendship. He must feel confident in landing the temple. My suspicion is that he is close and Gorgo came asking for joint war and it is his way of saying no way. I just want to say I underestimated Russia when I signed the friendship last time. I figured he would remain weak and I could deal with him at my leisure but boy did he prove me wrong! Way to go Alhambram, I didn't think you were ever going to be a threat and nice turn around! But, you probably should have attacked me, you could have at least take most of my eastern cities, especially with Gorgo's help. Now, I hope you asking me for friendship is as big a mistake as me signing it last time. This should give me time to build up my cities, my religion, and economy to prevent you from winning via religious victory.
Education finishes and I start Banking. I don't know if I will finish Banking and may start Mass Production. I want to put a Harbor down at PC and the tile grabber will grab the tile in 6 turns. If I wait, I can put it down to lock in the cost and maybe a few other districts in other cities and then finish 4 techs in 4 turns to increase chop value and chop into the districts. One thing that is nice about chops, is they scale the same way as districts, so as districts get more expensive you can get roughly the same effect from chops no matter where you are in the tree.
Turn 124
Big, big news on the home front...
He totally asked Russia for joint war. When he didn't get it, he knew his forces would last long so far away. Nice, potentially 30 turns of peaceful building. I accepted and...
Let see if he will accepts an alliance. I give it a 75% chance he will accept. It will give both of us the inspiration and knowledge of the map. In addition, I chose to do this for a few more reasons: 1. Who knows how long it will take TheArckduke to get Civil Service and I didn't want to ask Russia because we are still in a religious war and I don't want him to have visibility of my lands; and 2. I hope he has visibility on any city-states near him and I can get contact, especially the science one. There is still 2 CS I don't know about, the science one near him and one other.
I almost have MS surrounded by units (should be complete next turn) to prevent a missionary or apostle from converting my holy city. I will start my Holy Site at MS after the current project (3 turns). Once I have a shrine, I will buy a missionary to convert PC and some of the others with little weedy movement in them and once a temple is built, I will buy an apostle to start the Chinese Inquisition...
Once I can pull some weeds in my cities, I might actually switch some of his. Desertgrad, Astrakham, Toronto, Vilnius and Zanzibar are already feeling some pressure from my religion. If I convert my cities and get Printing (which adds to my religions pressure due to one of my beliefs) he might have a hard time keeping his cities his religion. This is one reason I think he made a mistake in signing friendship and not attacking. I can build out my religion instead of units, especially now with friendship with Gorgo.
Here is my land in the core...
I put down a industrial zone at JC now that it reached size 7. I will finish the project there and then start the IZ and chop a few jungle to move it along. Then I am thinking of putting Chichen Itza there to add production to the jungle I am not going to chop (4 or 5 tiles).
Here is the east...
I think I will bring the walls to 1 turn left and not complete them, save on maintenance. I am going to nee more builder labor soon and will start some so I am close to finishing them when I can get Serfdom going again.
Here is the current score...
Russia did get the temple this turn, ruining my prefect game of building all the early wonders but you can't win them all. I guess I should have focused on it sooner. I still need to update my strategy, hopefully I can find time tomorrow. Kids kept me pretty busy yesterday and today.
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Turn 125
Turn-wise, not much going on. Germany asked to exchange cotton for Jade. No reason no too, he is no threat. Another than that, my cities just keep building. I do send my knight to take out the barb camp in the northwest. Something gets an eureka or inspiration for killing something with a knight. I will have to check and see what it is, Military Science. The big news of teh turn is Gorgo accepted my offer of an alliance. Didn't know it right away because I assumed the inspiration would show up but didn't. I did get it but no message. Anyways, this means....
I meet his science CS. Hattusa! My next 2 envoys are going there when I have the 2 for 1 card in place. I should have 3 campuses by then for a nice +8 science (+6 from campuses, +2 to capital). I can see Preslav but he doesn't have eyes on it or its units, so I haven't meet them yet. That should do it for CSs (Toronto, Vilnius, Zanzibar, Nan Madol, Hong Kong, Seoul, Buenos Aires, Carthage, Hattusa, and Preslav). No religious CS this game.
Here is his core...
Seven cities with 47 population, not bad. A bunch of nice sized cities. Looks like he has a nice Petra location in the center north. Must piss him off in my bad location. I would guess Hong Kong or Georgetown if he was going for it. Looks like he has a few city locations to expand too, 4 or 5 good locations and maybe a few more shitty filler cities. Here is the southern city and Pericles' land...
I wonder if Frankfurt was where Dorium is currently. It is right next to Germany's capital and does have iron. Here is what Germany's land that Gorgo has mapped out so far...
Not much but it must drive Gorgo crazy to have Germany right next to her capital. Speak of driving Gorgo crazy, I can't wait to read oledavy impression of my lands and what he thinks about Russia's decision to not attack with all those knights. I do believe, with both of them, they could have shaved off all my eastern cities. Good thing it turned out the way it did. Russia crashed my economy taking Zanzibar and I had, still have, a lot of old units and all his knights had teh promotion that gives +7 against ranged. It would have been tough even with my Tigers at 50 strength attack. I am guessing Russia probably would have lost 75% of his army but would have gained some nice cities. Like I said in the previous post, hopefully I can make that as great a mistake as me not attacking when we had equal armies but I had the production edge. Now I have 28 turns to fix my economy and come up with a plan.
Strategic review (so far)
Since we are talking about Russia and the 28 turns, I figured I would briefly lay out what I plan on doing. I will tell you, there will be no more friendship between Russia and me. He caught me with my pants down this last time by sending that envoy into Zanzibar, teleporting my units out and taking the city and ruining my economy. That will not happen a second time (famous last words). I should have the rest of my wonders and then what is left for me in this game? I want to build the wonders to see what impact it has but I also wanted to play a MP game to see how fun combat against someone else could be. So, I came here to build wonders and kick ass, and soon I will be out of wonders.
My plan so far is to spend the next 10 to 15 turns to improve my lands, more importantly get a holy site and buildings at MS, an industrial zone at JC, and get Nan Madol improved along with all my new cities. After that, I am going to start building my military, especially at my most productive cities. I should have a fairly stable economy going and have a good number of trade routes. My back line and smaller cities will continue to improve and expand. I want to get 7 or 8 commercial hubs up and running and save 3 envoys after I put 2 into Hattusa. I am done upgrading units for the most part right now and will build new ones as an initial attack force. My attack plan right now is to liberate Zanzibar as soon as possible, while running the commercial adjacency. Once Zanzibar is liberated, I will put the 3 envoys into them for an instant +16 gold per CH. See, CS bonuses to districts are treated as adjacency bonus and with the card that doubles it, if I have 7 CHs that will give me +112 ggp. That should be some nice gold to upgrade my old units quickly. I will have to keep a bunch of units to protect it because once he realizes how good it is for me to have Zanzibar around he might raze it if he can take it back. I still need to figure out how to waste a bunch of faith beforehand so he can't pray for an army right out of the gate but I have some ideas and will share later. Luckily he has only 1 horse and can only pre-build Cassocks at encampments. I still need to figure out how to deal with them, I don't know if I can get to infantry by then, maybe. Now I just need to figure out how I can get from where I am at now to fielding an army that can take his cities.
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Turn 126
Not much to say. Russia asked to trade silver for mercury and I figure why not, it helps both of us out...
The only other thing I did this turn was look to see where I can fit additional cities. In the east...
I have 1 spot up by the Dover Cliffs and one where Gorgo's knight is but he maybe holding that spot from himself. If he doesn't take it and it is still available later, I might send a settler there as another buffer city. In the west...
I have the spot by the mercury and wheat that is my #1 priority and tehn probably 3 more cities up north. So in all, 5 good coastal cities with a chance at 6 but I probably will leave that one until last. Better to have the undeveloped ones in my back lines that can get support (builders) from other back line cities while my major cities are building military. I think during my next card switch, I will run the settler card and start settlers in my small cities and get 3 out right away.
Turn 127
Still building stuff. A CP finishes at MS and I start the Holy City (out in 10). Hopefully I can speed that up with a jungle chop if I can get a builder over there. Maybe have to flow it into the shrine or temple. The tile picker at Thunder Canyon did pick the right tile...
The builder coming down from Seven Dwarfs will harvest the stone in to the Limes driven walls for maximum effect and nearly finish the campus. That should give a good boost to my research (+5). I also earned 2 envoys, so teh next swap I will put in the 2 for 1 card and send both to Hattusa for more beakers. Maybe I can get to infantry, I will have to run the calcs. That is about it, I should have the GM in 2 turns. Plan on teh next 10 or so turns to be boring as I build out my cities.
June 19th, 2017, 21:44
(This post was last modified: June 19th, 2017, 21:44 by Woden.)
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Turn 128
Not much this turn, I switched to Castles to start my 4-turn, 4-tech free for all. I will go Castles->Banking->Mass Production->Metal Casting, finshing about the time my Builders are ready to harvest some stone (1 at Thunder Caynon and 1 at Nan Madol). I laid down a bunch of districts where I could last turn and double checked this turn if anymore options were available (nope). I was going to wait 5 or so turns for cities to grow anotehr population but I want the science from the campuses going sooner, should be +7 in adjacency bonuses plus +2 each when I put a few envoys into Hattusa in a couple of turns. I also should get some nice overflow into Astronomy. I did check out teh barb camp in the north and there is a sword outside the camp and a spear inside, so I decided to send a sword up north and will upgrade it a The Barnstormer and get teh Eureka for Square Rigging. I have been thinking I might want a few Frigates to attack Russia's coastal city, Rostov-on-don. I don't think he will be expecting it or it will force him to keep forces down there when I attack.
Turn 129
Castles finishes and I start Banking. I get the GM and send him to PC, CH due in 2 turns. The next GM gives 200 gold and 2 envoys, pretty meh! Gorgo can have it. Speaking of Gorgo, she has eyes on Preslav because I met them this turn. Quest is sending a trader but I don't think my traders can go that far now, maybe when I can travel the ocean. Hattusa's quest is eureka Cartography. Should be do-able after the Harbor at MCA and PC finish.
Nothing really for screenshots this turn, so here is the current score...
That's about it for the turn.
Strategy Report (continued...)
I wanted to layout some tech and civic goals for the next 25 turns.
Civic-wise, I want to head to Civil Engineering as soon as possible but first get Reformed Church. I don't think I can make it to Civil Engineering before the friendship ends but I should be within 10 turns of it. This will depend on city growth and getting a theater up asap for added culture.
Tech-wise, I want to head to Replaceable Parts for Infantry. I don't know if this is feasible to get close to it by the time our friendship ends but my science rate is going to get boosted in the next 10 turns, so we will see. I will have to make sure to get the eureka along the way. A few that I need are to build a Military Engineer, 2 Bombards, 2 Universities, 2 Banks, and upgrade or build 3 muskets. I also need to build a few workshops and another IZ. I also should get the 2nd GS, which will give me 3 Eurekas but I will want to use him when I have teh ones I can get so I don't get easy ones. I also may tech to Military Science for Calvary. Basically, I will cahase techs I have the euerkas for and head in those direction.
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Turn 130
I open the save and find something I don't like...
A frick'n barb musket. That could hurt. Good thing I have a knight, musket (upgraded the sword), crossbow, and a horse heading in that direction. I also start moving a Tiger up that way. Banking and Diplomatic Service finish and start Mass Production and Reformed Church. May have to slow research Reformed Church since it will be a while before I have 6 cities following my religion. I do a policy swap, forgot to take a screenshot but I replace Professional Army for the 50% melee card and the +2 gold on trade routes for Serfdom. I keep teh CH adjacency card for a little bit, I want to finish the round of graineries before starting settlers. Also switch in the envoy 2-for-1 card and put 2 envoys into Hattusa for the +2 science to campuses. Not to helpful now but I should have 2 more in 3 or so turns. The CH at PC will finish next turn and GM is ready to build market and bank.
I will start to pull away in science now...
I forgot what Gorgo's rate is but she is still in the 50s. I am up 2 techs and will have 2 more in 2 turns plus my science will jump 11 more when the campuses are done plus a little more when the university is done at SM1 for +4 beakers and I will start/chop a library and university at Nan Madol next for +6 more.
Culturally, I gained another tourist from Pericles...
Problem now is Russia is starting to put out more culture than me and his domestic tourism is starting to rise faster thanks to his great works and it will only get worst when he gets printing.
My next set of builds is going to include a lot of builders (4 or 5 or more). I have lots of tile to improve and a few wonders. I probably will have Splash Mountain keep building them and may put out one at PC and Nan Madol before there next builds. I will have to think about where it is best to build them.
Here is the score for reference...
Russia is now tied with civics and will take the lead soon until I get some theater districts up. I have one placed at PC and will put one at MS when I get to 13 population. I may speed it up by harvesting the bananas that I just put a plantation on. The theater district at MS should have an adjacency bonus of +4 culture because it is surrounded by 4 districts and 2 wonders. I will have to think about that and see where I am at when I have the builder to do it. The current builder on the bananas is going to chop the jungle then improve a few tiles at Small World. I also need builders to put some farms down to speed growth in a few cities, namely PC and MS. Too much to build and too little time. Only 24 turns left in friendship with Russia. I won't sign again but might wait for him to attack. Of coarse that will probably mean Gorgo and/or Pericles attacks too but I will be in better shape and I am think of a few tricks I can use to distract them.
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Turn 131
Mass Production finishes, start Metal Casting (due next turn). I am now up 3 techs on Gorgo, soon to be 4. I check Gorgo's and Russia's science rates: 58.6 with 25 techs and 58 with 23 techs, respectively. For comparison, I have 28 techs and a rate of 63.7 and rising.
I finish the CH at PC, start a trader, and use the GM to build the market and bank for an additional +7 gold. One more bank and I will have the euerka for economics. Not much else this turn. Here is the score for reference...
Looks like Russia built a district and Gorgo put out 2 settler.
Turn 132
I take my knight in the north and kill the barb sword and get...
The weaken the musket a little with my crossbow and the knight should survive an attack and gain a promotion. I ill have him go and clear the camp as my musket takes care of the barb musket. Builder at Thunder Canyon makes it to the stone and an harvest it, thanks to the road on the stone tile...
119 cogs doubled for 238 minus the 9 left in the walls but it still leaves 8 turns to the campus. I need to get some mines going in this city. I might send the trader out of PC to MS to finish it quicker and I will start a builder at Space Mountain after the university. I will harvest the stone at Nan Madol and that should finish the campus there, then I will start a builder before working on the library, university, and CH. Once I get a few mines going there , things should start moving along. That is about it for the turn.
My holy site will finish in 4 turns and it should take 7 turns to finish both the shrine and temple. Then I can buy an apostle and start my inquisition. I should have enough faith to buy the apostle and a few inquisitors. Maybe I will buy a missionary to convert PC finally. That city has been sitting at 2 population following my religion forever and I don't know what the hell is going on. Does religion not spread naturally to the point of converting a city? Or maybe I need more than just 1 city to do it. Anyways, I have 4 cities currently following Weedy Movement, so it should be too hard to get rid of it. Then I can start spreading my religion. One problem I can see is that Russia is generating 80-100+ faith per turn and that could be an issue with apostle spamming. The good thing is apostles are a lot more expensive than inquisitors.
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