Chevalier Absolutely Knows What He's Doing as Best Korea

[Emperor K]

I believe a size can be specified in the [img] tag, or the tried and true way of changing the image size are the only things that come to mind.

Give me some time, as I am not sure when I can work on the exporter. It is not user friendly but with a few modifications it would be usable.

[Woden]

You can try using the [screenshot] tag instead of [img]. I believe the [img] tag displays the actual size of the image, where the [screenshot] shrinks it. At least that is what I use.

[aetryn]

You can try using the [screenshot] tag instead of [img]. I believe the [img] tag displays the actual size of the image, where the [screenshot] shrinks it. At least that is what I use.

That worked. Thanks!

[aetryn]

No turn yesterday. Chevalier should be back today, so he should be able to take the next turn, but if it's on Korea when I get home I will probably play it to keep the game moving.

[aetryn]

Turn 66

This was a pretty quiet domestic turn.

The OCISLY builder moves for his next chop. Meanwhile, all but one of the archers have crossed to the south bank of the river near that city and are preparing to move out on Antioch.




The Dutch have a warrior in that area and we don't currently have a DoF with them, so I move our archer that's in the Vanguard away from him, trying to not to trip alarm bells that an attack is imminent. Albramham will probably find out in the next couple of turns anyway, but why give away information for free?




JRTI is 2 turns away from the builder finishing, but 3 away from Liang arriving. I left pin reminders to stall the production for one turn (temporarily slot something else) so we don't waste a builder charge.

At I Blame the Parents, the city grows and the time to build on the monument drops to 5 turns, as expected.

Everything else in the hinterlands seems quiet.

Internationally, we have some more excitement.

First up, it's HypatiaWatch. Japper's science rate has not gone up, suggesting he is not running a Campus District Project. Alhambram's Great Scientist point generation has gone down quite a bit. It looks like he has only 2 Campuses and was running the Wildcard Policy in Classical Republic to generate so many points. This turn he apparently switched to Oligarchy and dropped the Wildcard. With his reduced generation rate, and probably only the ability to run 2 District projects, he's almost certainly out of the running. Since I don't think Japper can possibly have enough faith or money to patronage and he needed to start the district project last turn to have any chance, I think Hypatia is Korea's for the taking (if, you know, you want to spend 440 faith on her).

Next up... wait, Alhambram is in Oligarchy? The government that gives military bonuses? And he hasn't asked us to renew our DoF? That's at least... slightly worrying? Maybe this is just defensive positioning, and I'm probably paranoid, but you never know...

Actually next up, I was wondering last turn whether Archduke attacking Granada was news or already known. It turns out it's new news. Or rather, it was last turn, because today the news is that Granada is dead. This brings Archduke up to 59 Empire score, highest in the game, which should make, well, everyone nervous. It certainly makes ME nervous. Also, Mongolia has denounced Cree. Was this done earlier and I didn't notice? What's the purposes of denouncing someone in MP when nobody cares about the Warmonger penalty, anyway?




Other notes from a score perspective:

• We are now up to 7 domestic tourists. Nobody else has hit 8 yet, so we're within 99 notes of the leaders in culture. This makes me feel better.
  
• Alhambram's gold per turn dropped by 5 this turn. He MIGHT have swapped out Caravanseries, though I have trouble believing anyone would run it this early. It's not upgrades - his bank is exactly where expected. He's not trading it, unless he's trading it to Archduke (only
  person whose GPT went up, but no by that much). Did he just finish a bunch of units?
  

Chevalier should be back for the next turn, so I'll step back to my role of asking awkward questions and demanding far too much planning for a game with a lot of unknowns still.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Quick post to let everyone know that I am home safely. Big thanks to aetryn for covering my turns - I'm extremely grateful! I haven't glanced through the turn reports yet, so if I find that the capital is overrun with howling Mongol horsemen everywhere, I'll be less pleased, but on the other hand there was probably nothing you could have done about that anyway. 

Sadly the save is still with Alhambram, so I can't play it before work. Might give Team Viewer a go.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

All right, back in the saddle for real. 

Chevalier's Trip and whatever the latest turn was

So, I had to run out of town this week to rural Missouri for a family funeral. It was good to see most of my family - it's been a couple of years, living apart from them. I often forget just how different the culture of southern Missouri is compared to St. Louis, where I live now. You have little hamlets of 100-1000 or even 5000 people, and scattered between are vast fields dotted with little farm houses, with extended families often rambling over several square miles. The land is devoted to raising cattle and the logistical support that enterprise needs. It's a quiet, out-of-the-way corner of America that few people visit, but it has its charms:


 

The sunset outside the church the evening of the visitation. Gorgeous church. 

It's also good to catch up with my family. My aunt has been having problems with the local animal control. Seems that local travellers often spot her horse and worry that he's been poorly cared for, skinny under-fed nag that he is. So they call, the sheriff comes out, and she walks him around the property, showing the horse's feed, his shelter, etc. It's gotten so bad that she had to put up a sign, which I find hilarious:




Skipper, of course, loves his sign and poses next to it at every opportunity. 36 and a half is ancient for a horse, by the way. My last horse, Feller, was old when he was in his early 20's. 

Finally, on the drive back, I stopped at Wilson's Creek National Battlefield. Wilson's Creek was the second major battle of the American Civil War, and the largest west of the Mississippi. I've been meaning to visit it for a while, and I had a whole day to myself to drive back, so I took my time and explored it thoroughly. The creek itself is gorgeous:




This particular quiet section was where a section of Union infantry crossed, to cover the flank of a more major force attacking to the west. The small 300-man force was quickly beaten and driven off by over 900 Rebels, though. 

The main battle was fought slightly further to the west. This is about half a mile downstream, looking northwest:




Here, the main Union force under General Nathanial Lyon, about 4,000 strong, attacked 12,000 Confederates encamped along the creek. I'm in the middle of the rebel camp now. The Federals drove south, but were bogged down on the hill pictured here by powerful artillery fire from across the creek. The Confederates formed a battle line and launched 3 attempts to storm the hill. 

There's still cannnon marking most of the major batteries:




Eventually, the rebels were able to blast the Union position using this battery (only a few hundred yards from Bloody Hill), killing General Lyon and driving the Union forces into retreat. Dissension among the Confederate leaders prevented them following up their victory, however, and the Federals were able to reorganize and rout the Confederate army for good at Pea Ridge about 6 months later, permanently securing Missouri for the Union. 




General Lyon was the first army commander on either side killed during the war. He became an early hero of the Union and abolitionist causes. 

So it was a good trip. But you guys want to talk to Civ. Let's do that. Start with diplomatic news:




Archduke has committed to war with Japper, it seems. 

This seems like the best-case scenario, for me. I've been over why I don't think a Mongolian attack on Cree makes sense, but let's hit the highlights again. First, Mongolia will be operating at the end of long supply lines with outdated units. Archduke will be invading with at best heavy chariots, while any horseman reinforcements have to be built in Georgia (or worse, Mongolia) and marched all the way to Japper's borders, giving the Cree plenty of time to see off the HC wave and prepare to meet horsemen. Second, there's no way Archduke could have exploited his trade abilities yet in this war. He only has the one trader (no commercial hubs finished), and that trader should be committed to Georgia for a while yet. Let's say he sent the trader T45, and the route worked out to be perfectly 21 turns, I believe the shortest possible - then he still can't send another until t66...so maybe last turn. But that's a long shot indeed. Therefore, in all likelihood, he's going in with no diplomatic visibility buff, so he's only getting the +3 horse bonus. No GG yet, either. 

Maybe Archduke thought that Japper's a soft target, given past performance? Possible, I guess. He does have the lowest military score in the game. But this smacks of overconfidence to me. 

How to respond? I think I want to carry through the Antioch operation, while using my scout to get more information. HCs aren't going to conquer Cree quickly. Japper has 4 cities, not 2. There's time to see to my own expansion, and then prepare an intervention if necessary. Important thing is not to overreact. I think the Mongols made a mistake, though - Rowain seems like a much better target. 

Either prodded by Archduke's war, or nervous about my own military sniffing around, Alhambram comes for a DoF:




I want him free to focus on Rowain, and I need to be free to send the military away to Cree lands soon, so this suits my purposes. I don't anticipate a need to attack Alhambram before turn 100, so I accept. 




I've now counted 3 warriors and an archer out of antioch. Worse luck, their city-strenght increased to 25 over 15. I think I'll go in with 2 warriors and 3 archers to start, though. Faster is better, I think. Another archer and warrior will be on scene soon. 

Second jungle chop completes:



The settler needs 2 turns, so I was slightly optimistic in my earlier calculations. BUT! I earned not 44 faith as I anticipated, but 88! You get faith from both the production and the food in a jungle chop! Awesome, I wasn't counting on that. We should be able to snipe Hypatia soon. 

Is it worth it to spend 460 faith on Hypatia? That's nearly three libraries, after all, or four monuments! I think so. First, remember that she gives a free library, so we can knock 180 faith off purchase price (we'd spend that faith on a library anyway). So we're spending 280 faith over and above what we'd normally spend on a library, to get +1 science per library for the rest of the game. A library is 2 science, and we're spending ~1.5 libraries of faith, so anything more than 3 science from Hypatia makes her a bargain at the price. That means that we need at least 4 libraries total to make her worth it - and we'll have lots more than 4! So yeah, it's worth it, I think. 

Score and overview:






Quite a jump between me and Archduke, but Rowain is close behind. I'd like to see him pile into Mongolia's rear while he's busy with Japper, bring him down a notch. And let me tech ahead in peace.   Yeah right, like that'll happen.

[aetryn]

Thanks for the trip photos - that was pretty neat to see!

I think you'll be short 2 of buying Hypatia when she's at 460, so it will probably be 440. You could even wait a few more turns - with the Mongol war declaration there's no way Japper's running a Campus project and his current gold and income are way too low to have any chance to patronage with money. Unless you think he's sitting around with 200 something faith when he probably makes 2/turn, I don't think he can do anything about us sniping it one turn before. On the other hand, possibly better safe than sorry.

Any plans to deal with that barb camp? Are you okay with the Monument build at I Blame the Parents?

I don't know if Japper has the resources to withstand Archduke. He's got a small army and he can't afford a bigger one. Maybe we send him some money after he's secured Hypatia?

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

The monument was the right call - in fact, I liked it enough that I started monuments in the other 2 cities, as well. May as well grab the tiles early, if I can, I could only build banana plantations until I hit the second right anyway. My initial thinking with builders was I'd use Valetta to buy the monuments, and seowons need a second ring tile, so builders were the only economically useful build to start. Now, though, with Hypatia, I probably won't be able to afford monuments for a while. I'll build the monuments, even though it's slightly inefficient, and use the faith saved on libraries or granaries later (OCISLY really needs a granary, it's at the housing cap again).

No plans right away to deal with the camp. After Antioch, I should have the military force to spare for it. For now, it's far enough away that the scout hopefully won't find me for a bit. I'm not sure if it's a horse camp or not, need to review.

Regarding Japper, yeah, I forgot how small his treasury/GPT was. Odd, considering he alone has more trade routes - but i guess he doesn't have the choco-economy that I do. Let's scout him out first, and see what the Archduke is up to. If he gets Iron Working or has a bunch of slingers that need upgraded, I'll see if I can float him a loan. If he balks at that, we'll even consider a straight up gift! Don't tell him that, though.

[aetryn]

The monument was the right call - in fact, I liked it enough that I started monuments in the other 2 cities, as well. May as well grab the tiles early, if I can, I could only build banana plantations until I hit the second right anyway. My initial thinking with builders was I'd use Valetta to buy the monuments, and seowons need a second ring tile, so builders were the only economically useful build to start. Now, though, with Hypatia, I probably won't be able to afford monuments for a while. I'll build the monuments, even though it's slightly inefficient, and use the faith saved on libraries or granaries later (OCISLY really needs a granary, it's at the housing cap again).

No plans right away to deal with the camp. After Antioch, I should have the military force to spare for it. For now, it's far enough away that the scout hopefully won't find me for a bit. I'm not sure if it's a horse camp or not, need to review.

Regarding Japper, yeah, I forgot how small his treasury/GPT was. Odd, considering he alone has more trade routes - but i guess he doesn't have the choco-economy that I do. Let's scout him out first, and see what the Archduke is up to. If he gets Iron Working or has a bunch of slingers that need upgraded, I'll see if I can float him a loan. If he balks at that, we'll even consider a straight up gift! Don't tell him that, though.

I Blame The Parents will want a Watermill when it picks up those wheat, which I think you can Valetta as well.