[SPOILER] Close to Win

[Charriu]

T88:

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The moment I've been anxiously waiting for and ... he did not invalidate orange. That's very good. Now Jowy send another peace offer this turn, which I declined again. I'm not trusting this thing one bit right now and will most likely sign peace only in T91. Now I don't want to move in with my chariot as he most likely has his axeman still on the signed tile, where he can hit me immediately. I will need a unit with some defensive capabilities to cover me in the forest.

Now one bad news you can see is that Jowy completed the Colossus this turn. Mh, so he has enough water tiles to make Colossus worthwhile. Good to know.




Back on the other side, Mjmd send me a war/peace which I accepted. So I'll have another 10 turns of peace at that border, which is very good for me right now. As you can see FlyingBarbarian also popped borders this turn and will reclaim those lost tiles shortly. Oh and a lot of forests have grown: 1W of the southern sheep and 1S of DiplomatKobold. Now somebody here in the community wrote somewhere that forest don't grow on roaded tiles. Now this forest S of DiplomatKobolds disproves this.





While going through my thread I noticed that I never showed you a relations screen, so here you go. It looks like AT will be my best buddy for the foreseeable future so I send him a clams for clams deal, just to make sure.

[Charriu]

And AT took the barb city from Jowy. I think this will be very good long term for me as now I only have one border with Jowy.

[Charriu]

I'm thinking about accepting a peace with Jowy next turn if I don't see any units from him. In this scenario I will be safe to settle in T91 because I should still keep the first turn in any settler race. He could only move a settler to the forest 1W of cows in T90 and could settle the plains tile 1W from there in T91, but like I said if this should not happen because of turn order I will settle first in T91.

My main reason for taking peace is that by the time I could move in to attack (T91) I expect that he already reinforced his city.
I also would like those 10 turns of peace to bolster my defense in orange.

[Charriu]

T89:

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Another turn another peace offer from Jowy. I looked around and saw no movement in the south. I did saw that AT took the former barb city and Jowy retreated his units from there. I rejected the peace offer, because I'm still paranoid that he might make some movements in the south that would risk my city.

I did move my chariot out of sight in the south. I'm hoping that I can lure out the axe next turn.




Now this is the new Jowy stack that I'm a little bit worried about, especially because Jowy and AT signed peace. Those 2 axes and 1 warrior could move in. They can't endanger any of my cities here, but he could try forcing a peace out of me here. I'm very tempted to take that peace, because I do want to hook up the ivory, which is my first happiness resource.




Hey, the Great Wall gets another use. Now I wouldn't been worried about that archer and if it annoys Mjmd then all is fine. It's noteworthy that my plan to build the Hanging Gardens goes into full commitment next turn, with the first whip of the Aqueduct.

Lastly I noticed that pindicator did 3 double whips last turn, interesting.

[Charriu]

T90:

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This time without any screenshots because I was too stupid to take them.

Another peace offer by Jowy and no units from him towards me, even the once in the north moved away. After scouting ahead with a chariot I moved everything to the orange dot. Still no units from Jowy except for two workers on the cows. I finally returned his peace offer, because I suspect that by this time he already has enough spears in his city. I can settle my city in peace next turn and everything will be fine for now on this border. I suspect after all these peace offers he will accept.

The barb archer S of FlyingBarbarian moved closer to Mjmd and I whipped the Aqueduct in AquaticGhouls to overflow into the Hanging Gardens next turn. I also got a cow for pig deal from Mjmd. Now this is his only cow and I'm happy to take it.

[Charriu]

Interesting times. Superdeath whipped 7 times. Now who will be hit by this hammer. Good that I already know all my neighbors.

[Charriu]

How to cultivate a nice Hanging Garden:

1. Double-whip an aqueduct in T90 and overflow into the wonder
   
2. Chop a forest into the wonder in T91
   
3. Double-whip a library in T92 and overflow into the wonder
   
4. Chop another forest into the wonder in T93
   
5. Chop a third and last forest into the wonder in T94
   
6. Wonder is finished in T96
   
7. Enjoy
   

[Old Harry]

How many cities?

[shallow_thought]

Even if the absolute hammer benfit is marginal, denying it to an opponent who might have been able to profit more is worth something.

Also, in a game where eventual  victory consists of breaking your opponents' wills to continue while keeping yourself engaged, the psychological boost of a nicely done wonder is not negligable .

[Charriu]

9 cities, in addition to the denial effect I also like that I get 2 Great Engineer points in my cap. I'm also the only EXP leader, so I would like to profit from that bonus via the Aqueduct. Thanks to that bonus and the stone the actual hammer investment isn't that high for me.