[SPOILERS] Banzailizard and Woden go hunting!

[Banzailizard]

England Turn 42

I am also starting to get worried about Thrawn's rapid expansion.  On my end the news is all barbs.  Warrior did follow me south like I thought.  So I moved my warrior and slinger around.  My warrior is at 16 strength.  With the defensive bonuses that is 27.  I really just need to survive the 1 combat, then I get a promotion and can heal up.  I also located but did not exactly find the barb camp.  Basically there is 1 tile in the fog it can be on, I will see it next turn.  I might need to run away though if Galley's spawn from that scout.  To some extent I might prefer the galleys.  More land units will get in my way as I try to take out the camp.

   

Pingala is established in London, in 3 turns I get the second card.  Overall it says 17 turns until PP is done (including the three from state workforce) putting me at a government at turn 58 as I expected (I think I said 48 last time for some reason). Obviously getting some more culture per pop will reduce the time to a government.  RND will be chopped out next turn for a galley and some extra income.  The copper mine will go down in Leeds in 3 turns.

Colonization will get swapped in with Discipline in 3 turns, then London can start on a settler after the RND and galley are done.  Once Leeds is done with it's RND, it will also start a settler.  That will also make 4 gallies, and maybe a chance to capture a city state under Oligarchy.  If nothing else I can help support your capture and vice versa.  Taruga is a tempting target, as it can be attacked from 3 sea tiles. I need to establish suzerain status over it first though to get the era points.  I suppose Zanzabar can also be attacked from three tiles as well.

If you need the gold just ask, I should have a sufficient income with the RND, +2 from London, +5 from Leeds.

[Woden]

I will probably need about 75 gold around T50. I have negative income right now but have plenty to last the next 6 turns and will run conscription but I think I will need the money to buy the tile around T50. My plan is to build ships until PP completes and then take 6 turns chopping out settlers and builders. Then, I can get back to building ships for a bit.

Starting on T45, City will start the GP and then go right into the Ancestral Hall. I think I can get away with one Magnus chop n T59 to finish it if I go maximum production and the city grabs the plains forest as its next tile. I almost think it would be better to just chop out some extra builders instead of the AH to get my cities going but I think I need Pingala for science and need to lock the Oligarchy legacy card for when we reach the next tier of governments.

[Banzailizard]

I also think the AH is the better call, save those chops for districts and military.

I can get you the gold when you need it. The only thing I need the gold for right now is to purchase a campus tile for Leeds. Eventually it would be helpful to have it back for either a great admiral purchase or to purchase traders. Speaking of, when my current route is done (should be turn 61) I can send it off to one of your cities for more gold and some science. Production too if you have an industrial zone down by that point. We can choke off the north of our little sea to keep routes safe from barbs and thrawn, the south might be harder.

[Woden]

I will have a IZ complete at my capital shortly after the era change, ~T60ish. I think the AH is good, if I get 3 settlers out and settle after the AH is complete, the builders will more than pay for the AH production costs and I think Pingala with the science promotion will pay for any lost science for delaying the settlers a few turns.

When do you think you can get Archery researched? No rush but I would like to build some archer shortly after the era change and would rather not have to upgrade slingers. I think the north will be very easy to defend. Clog the straight with a few boats and group a bunch of archers (then crossbows) on the island between us. Normally archers such against ships but I do get +2CS per adjacent unit, so I can overcome the ship penalty ranged land units get. Long-term plan will be to a city on that island and place an IZ and encampment on each northern corner.

You are right, the south will be harder to defend, at least by your side. Again, I think I should settle a city or 2 down there depending on big the island is and stack it with defensive districts. I think those cities will be my next round of chopped settlers out of my sheep city in the north, probably T70-T80 timeline. My southern coast is protected by the 1-tiel straights around the natural wonder, so we really only have 1 approach to our capitals that we are weak and can focus our defensive efforts there.

My trader will redo its current route. I think it has 1 more round between cities, so I think 7 more turns. Then, I will resend it to help with the AH production. After that route is over, I will send it to London, since I should have Shipbuilding by then and it should be worth 10+ gold and 1 science. We will have to save money for crossbowman upgrades and ship upgrades but we should also look to buy lighthouses for more routes. I think after my loan and your campus purchase, we save to buy both lighthouses and maybe even traders. Production into ships might be better than into lighthouses but maybe not, I haven't ran the numbers. If you send those routes to me too, they will more than pay back themselves in the long run.

[Banzailizard]

I will have to double check either my spreadsheet or the game, but as I recall, it should be 18 turns until archery is done. Tech path is pottery (4 turns) -> writing (5 turns) -> animal husbandry (4 turns) -> archery (5 turns). Maybe growth or science overflow will shave off a turn, but let's not count on that. I could swap and go for archery before writing, but I wanted writing first to keep campus production costs down.

[Woden]

Random thoughts and a loose mid-term strategy. I still need to work how it will all go but I have an outline.

Once I get PP, City 2 will build the AH and my capital will chop out 2 builders and 3 settlers. Then, I shift Magnus to City to chop the PFH into the AH. Not sure if it will complete it or if there will be a turn or 2 left. It will be close. After that, the capital will build archers and an IZ. City 2 will probably build a few archers before starting its campus.

For research, I will go as fast as I can through Iron Working and then research other techs down to 1 turn until I settle my 3 cities. Each city will start a campus. Once the campuses are place and there production costs are locked, I will finish all the cheap techs and hopefully be able to overflow into Shipbuilding. This will be juiced by taking the science-based golden age dedication that grants +10% to boosts. Once Shipbuilding is done. Once Shipbuilding is done, I will hit Engineering to build aqueducts before heading towards Cartography. I should get the 1st GS as I am the only one with campuses and will chop out a bunch more once I settle my new cities. I will already have the boost to Math but if I build a spearman and race towards Feudalism, I can get all but 2 boosts in the Medieval Age, so I can have a 50/50 chance Buttress. If I get it, I could pass the boost to you and then you can research Cartography and pass the boost to me while I research Military Engineering for niter.


For civics, I will race to Feudalism for the boost to Stirrups and then go to Exploration for Press Gangs. Hopefully, Thrawn goes after someone else as his first target and leaves us alone for a while. The longer, the better. If we can get to Cartography and Caravels, we should be looking good, even if Thrawn conquers another player. He is not focusing on infrastructure but can pillage to keep up in science and culture. I just hope everybody has learned from PBEM20 to keep units on coastal improvements. Longboats can't attack land units (only settlers and builders), so any land unit will protect from pillages unless he brings quadriremes along but I don't think he will build those as he doesn't get his shipbuilding bonus on them.

[Banzailizard]

I think the thing I most need to figure out is the timing on my settlers and campuses. I need to be at 4 pop in both my cities to put down a campus, but since I also plan to get a settler out in each city that will drop my population down. London I think should be fine. It will be size 4 soon, and last I looked, it should generate enough surplus to grow back to size 4 the turn a settler is done. Leeds I still need to adjust the spreadsheet for the 15% growth penalty. That will be a little tricker. I do want both campuses done ASAP to get the district discount for the government plaza. I won't be able to make use of my own AH for the next 2 cities, but at least I can get it done for future cities. This also means after the campus chop, I should move my builder to the government plaza tile and get ready to chop that forest into the plaza. Hmm I might need to buy that tile as well.

As an aside, between the bonus AH production, colonization, magnus, your pantheon, and the builder you captured, you are effectively generating an insane amount of production. It is really quite impressive.

Odds are still good that Thrawn will not find us first. Even if he is looking for us, and even if he knew for sure where the other teams were on the map (but not who is who) he would have a 33% chance of hitting us. And of course he does not know exactly where the other teams are which makes the odds lower. I actually did not know about land units preventing pillages of coastal tiles. I will keep that in mind.

[Woden]

Turn 43-Gaul
As expected, the barb galley came and attacked one of my galleys. I could attack back but unless I get really luck with both attacks, the galley would live and run away. Better to let him attack 1 more time and then I can kill it with 2 attacks and plug the hole with the healthier galley. The other barb galley ran away towards Ngazargamu. Should be able to catch him next turn and hopefully the city state attacks him so I can get the kill next turn. Checking the rankings, we are now 2nd in MP...
   

This is not very good, since Thrawn looks to be the only one who has built boats in significant numbers and the more cities he captured, the more ships he can build. I figure he could be 2-turning them at his better cities and 3-turning them at his not so good cities. He should be close to 20 ships soon, so whoever he plans on attacking first is going to have a bad time. 

I will have 2 more boats in 2 turns. We are leading in science, so that is good. Nobody has completed there 5 civic, so I am still in the lead for getting PP done first. Oligarchy will help with barbs and Thrawn if he shows up soon.

[Banzailizard]

England Turn 43

I found the barb camp.  One galley near it so I backed off in case more spawn from the scout.  I chopped out my RND and got the free galley at London, which is on its way to support this galley. That also got me the boost for SB.   With the science overflow from mining I shaved off a turn from the Archery timing, so only 17 (now 16) turns left to go.  Galley at London says 2 turns to complete but I do not think that yet adds production overflow.  I slotted in a settler after that, says 8 turns. So 6 turns if boosted by colonization (maybe a bit less when I hit 4 pop and can work another tile), putting that out at turn 51 or so.  Leeds continues to work on its RND, done in 4 turns.  Builder there will improve the copper in 2 turns.

State workforce in 2 turns, then I can go on the attack against the barbs.  With my warrior upgraded with battlecry it is at 38 strength vs 16 from the barb across the river which should more or less suicide against it next turn.  With battlecry and discipline, I am sitting at a minimum of 20+7+5=32 strength against barb units.  Add in some damage from my slinger and I should be able to clear the camp in 5-7 turns no problem. Oligarchy would bump that to 36, but I should hopefully be done with the camp before I get a government.

   

Regarding the military strength difference, I trust that the other players are seeing this now and adjusting plans accordingly. Japan will get its coastal bonus and so will be harder to attack than it looks. AD is a wargamer at heart so I am not too worried there.  CMF also has a ton of experience so should be keeping an eye on the military situation. In short I have confidence that thrawn will not just run over whoever he first meets.

[Woden]

Turn 44-Gaul
City 2 grows to size 4. I place the GP and have it work a high production configuration. It shows 5 turns and will start the GP after it completes the galley next turn. I killed a barb galley and will get another kill next turn. That is about it and I forgot to get a screenshot this turn. Next turn, I will need to switch off Bronzeworking for something else until I can get the 3rd kill. There is an injured barb galley near Ngazargamu that I could of killed this turn but they brought there galley out and would have killed my galley in return. Better to preserve the galley then to get the kill. Still have some time for a 3rd kill.