[SPOILER] Dark Savant's thread: Competition for limited resources remains a constant

[JR4]

TURN 144

Everything worked fine and I was able to log in. But it took a while as this game is played on a huge map.

Superdeath came up with an offer.. which was declined. I don`t think there is any value in giving up trade routes for a 5 turn peace treaty.

   

The power graph shows that Superdeath did indeed take a big hit to his power. Bart Trunke will come out of revolt end of turn and then that city should be reasonably safe from Superdeath. All collateral units were moved towards the front and I moved a fifth Trireme to threaten the three marauding Triremes on the eastern sea. Maybe you feel like taking a swing at them next turn if Superdeath doesn`t move them?

I did realign a few tiles so that the cities could grow right away (and made three whips for infrastructure). Still saving gold on Monotheism.

[Dark Savant]

Thank you for playing the turn!  It's now turn 150.

I've been keeping up with the turns, but not much else lately.

I made an offer to superdeath for both of us to cancel Open Borders with Rusten, to try to slow him down, which got accepted.  It probably will only barely dent Rusten, really, but it'll help.  I reserve the right to declare war on either superdeath on Rusten; most of what I'm doing currently is domestic.  Rusten has just declared war on 2metraninja and took a city -- I'm not going to get attacked right awayl, so I have a bit of time for that.

superdeath is repeatedly offering Open Borders.  I most recently counter-offered him paying 20+ gpt for such a deal, which I think is about fair.  He still hasn't shown any sign of either longbows and crossbows.  I have one spy trying to scout the fog in his territory, but it turns out RtR spies cannot actually use roads in fogged terrain, so it's being rather slow.  The other two are keeping an eye on his borders.

I did get two work boats past Rusten's territory, which are scouting out 2metraninja and have found Borsche as well.  There's actually still significant island space for the two of them to expand into, which I ran out of long ago.

OH is now successfully counterattacking Elkad, wherever they are.  It's pretty much a two-horse race between OH/Hitru and Rusten.  Still no contact with the former, so no idea how that's going.

AT is definitely on his own landmass, which makes his whips concerning.  He'd need a significant number of galleys to crack the closest island city at least.  I'm about to drop off a chariot to keep an eye on him.

I have Chichen Itza underway, which is more or less an admission that I don't even have a 0.1% chance of ever being a contender.  

Research lately has been Monotheism -> Monarchy -> Horseback Riding, each 1-turned.  Currently 2/3 of the way through Feudalism, due next turn.  I have a substantial number of known tech bonuses now, so things are moving along decently.

I'll have a second Great Person in several more turns and can fire a Golden Age whenever I feel like it.  I'll finally be able to adopt civics other than Slavery.    superdeath hasn't done so yet either.

[Dark Savant]

Rusten is hammering 2metraninja very hard; he's captured like 5 cities in the past two turns.  My work boat wandering through 2metraninja's territory, which soon won't be, shows some of the new unique Indian pikeman.

pindicator is now at war with Mouseferatu, and has taken two cities quickly.

The chariot I now have in AT's territory shows not much in his cities -- enough that if I could get the nearest city's garrison across the water, I could capture the Colossus. 

superdeath is continuing to ask for Open Borders, which I continue to decline.  There's no way I'm accepting unless he pays for it.

It didn't occur to me until now to look, but superdeath is all the way up to Paper so I know what his technologies are.  The only religious tech he has at all is Mysticism.  He does have Machinery so he can build crossbows now, but I haven't seen any.

I can fire a Golden Age in 2 turns.  I can easily get Guilds during that as it's now available for research, but I'm not sure how worthwhile building knights will be.  Then again, if I don't get Guilds I can't get Banking.

[JR4]

It`s not so easy to surprise Superdeath on this map over land but if you`re halfway to Guilds you might as well go for it. Knights are good in numbers, of course and they`ll act as some sort of deterrence too. I`d be inclined to try to take our Superdeath at all costs as that Great Lighthouse would do wonders for the economy. Plus, well, having half the territory of the contenders won`t be enough when they come knocking.

How do you take out Superdeath? By having some sort of unique advantage. It could be total control of the seas or perhaps going for Rifles asap.

[Dark Savant]

It`s not so easy to surprise Superdeath on this map over land but if you`re halfway to Guilds you might as well go for it. Knights are good in numbers, of course and they`ll act as some sort of deterrence too. I`d be inclined to try to take our Superdeath at all costs as that Great Lighthouse would do wonders for the economy. Plus, well, having half the territory of the contenders won`t be enough when they come knocking.

How do you take out Superdeath? By having some sort of unique advantage. It could be total control of the seas or perhaps going for Rifles asap.

It helps that I no longer think AT might attack imminently; I was concerned about that the past half-dozen or so turns.  AT has Paper so I also know he doesn't have Astronomy.  So I have some time to build up to attack superdeath (which if I do it right, he's going to have a hard time stopping even if he knows it's coming, no different from my major attacks in PB39), as both other neighbors have enough on their hands.

I should probably work out how soon I can start a third Golden Age after the second one I'll soon begin.  That's how I was able to run over ipecac in PB39, though I won't be able to manage 24 straight turns here like I could do there.

One problem with this is that I'm completely not set up for Pacifism -- I didn't found my own religion (PB39), or get an early religious spread to core cities (PB37).  I don't have the National Epic built, I have to build missionaries to get Judaism to all three cities that can generate decent Great Person points (two of them with lots of food, the third is Porto-Novo with Stonehenge and the Mausoleum and possibly Chichen Itza), and I don't have Shwedagon Paya or Philosophy.

The Parthenon is still unclaimed; I do plan to make a dash for that as well once Chichen Itza gets built.  I just 1-turned Aesthetics for that reason.

If I do get attacked in overwhelming force, Porto-Novo will probably be the last city on the main landmass to fall.  It's a hilariously tiny (size 9) city for how strong it is; at this point it's worth considering researching Civil Service just to get it (and no other city) more food.

[Dark Savant]

I guess superdeath didn't like me not signing Open Borders, because he's declared war, on the first half.  OK, so it'll be nice to be second half.

Nothing much has happened so far.  I've positioning troops to invade next turn.  He's ripped up some fishing nets, no other incursions.

He's almost certainly researching Astronomy currently.  No idea how far along he is; he can easily be bulbing it.

I don't think it's actually wise to follow him there.  Well, I do plan to get Optics in 2 turns to get caravels, but I wonder if I can deal with superdeath by invading and building longbows and knights; his attack unit is probably going to be maces, I should probably disperse existing crossbows and produce some more actually.  Plan after that is Guilds -> Banking.

Open Borders offer to Rusten was rejected.  I now offered him fish-for-fish.  He's still busy with 2metraninja.

I spawned a second Great Person and started a Golden Age, revolting to Hereditary Rule/Vassalage/Caste System/Organized Religion.  I did a lot of whips just because I'll be out of Slavery for at least 5 turns.  Caste System is mostly so I can generate three Great People for the next Golden Age.

I should get Chichen Itza next turn.  5 XP longbows are currently being produced in a lot of places.  Triremes are fortunately not that expensive to upgrade to caravels.

[Dark Savant]

Chichen Itza is complete, and to show you how much I've been closely paying attention , the Parthenon has already been built by AT.  I'll build the National Epic, then.

Rusten is refusing fish-for-fish.   I think he knows I'll slowly grind down superdeath if no one else interferes.

superdeath whipped a lot this turn.  I don't see any mobile defense near Wally Wexler, so this stack moves in:



It's defended by four archers currently, but I expect more defense next turn.  Maybe I should advance on the eastern peninsula cities, but surprises emerged from the fog last time.  I'll know better once I take Wally Wexler.

I'm only median production in the middle of a Golden Age.  Not a good sign at all , but also not really a surprise.  There's apparently space for others to expand into; cities are still being planted out there.

I don't know how long I'll be able to stay in Caste System.

[JR4]

Exciting stuff. I don`t think Rusten has any interest in showing peaceful intentions as you`re clearly busy waging war against Superdeath. Also, Rusten might just be a tad grumpy about you canceling OBs a few turns ago. Let`s just hope that Rusten has enough on his hands already.

I still think that the only hope of getting back to relevancy long term is to kill off Superdeath. After Wally Wexler hopefully falls next turn, Superdeath won`t have any fortress cities on hills left nearby. Knights like attacking cities on flatland.

There are still 11 turns left of the Golden Age - that should help in getting a military edge.

[Dark Savant]

Commodore is suddenly capturing superdeath's cities!  Plural; two got taken on his turn.

I still have no contact with Commodore, but that may explain why I've seen relatively little military from superdeath.

I think it's time to push the invasion timetable.  The massive stack outside Wally Wexler is probably serious overkill after all, as there likely isn't a major stack coming out of the fog.

I should get out some knights ASAP too.

[Dark Savant]

The spies I had wandering nearby missed superdeath's big stack, which he did have.  It attacked and wiped out most my attack stack.

I guess next time I should build more spies, or at least have retreated the spy JR4 moved deeper into superdeath's territory -- 2 spies isn't enough to find stacks like this, as it turns out.  Ah well.

Commodore is attacking superdeath now (a third city fell); I'd like to remain at war just to maintain the pressure.  I may have to revolt out of Caste System just to whip more units, because Rusten may want to attack soon otherwise -- 2metraninja isn't going to last much longer.