[SPOILERS] *Placeholder* Zakalwe plays a soldier

[zakalwe]

You managing to reach first place in score is symbolically impressive.

Thanks, although I'm pretty solidly in second place still.

Now that I have civil service I can see that Boldly has paper (and philosophy), so he may be the one who's landing liberalism. And he still has a decent lead in crop yield. And of course the score lead. I really ought to find a way to hurt him soon.

[zakalwe]

In domestic affairs, I improvised a plan for how to build the Taj reasonably fast in my capital.

It's now configured for 36 base hammers per turn, which is pretty much its maximum, without paving over villages or hiring priests/citizens. I need this turn to research 99% of philosophy, and then three turns to research nationalism. This turn it puts 72 hammers into a market, next turn it builds a catapult, on the turn after that a maceman, and finally it completes the market. The tile configuration stays the same throughout: that gains it 17 base hammers overflow from the catapult, 26 base hammers overflow from the maceman, and finally completes the market at 196/100, getting 48 base hammers worth of overflow into the Taj, which is just about the best I can do with the builds available to me, without whipping.

(I did consider delaying the bank in the capital for this purpose, earlier, but decided not to bother. A 6-turn plan leading up to the Taj is probably excessive given how clueless I am in the C&D department to begin with. )

With 48 hammers of overflow going into it, the Taj will be a 3-turn build, just in time before my golden age runs out. It takes 157 base hammers, and 48 + 36 + 36 + 36 = 156. I can get the final hammer by working a priest for one turn. More likely though, if I get that far before it falls, I will chop both of my capital's deers and make it a 2-turn build.

[Sullla]

You had full visibility that Bird was defended by a spear - why not attach the Great General to a mace instead of a crossbow? There has to be an old axe sitting around somewhere that could be upgraded to a mace for free, and the attack would have been 95% or higher instead of 77%. Otherwise, nicely played.

[zakalwe]

Thanks, Sullla. I didn't attach that GG very recently; I have had that crossbowman sitting around for quite some time, saving its mobility promotion. I used the GG mainly to get two navigation I galleys, and attached it to an archer for a free upgrade to crossbowman. But in hindsight you are right that I probably should have chosen a different upgrade path, even if crossbowmen were the state of the art back then.

[zakalwe]

I actually could have hit Novice's city earlier, too, when he just had a single chariot on defense. But at that point, my galley and crossbowman had already been waiting so long that I had lost patience and let them wander off elsewhere. When the opportunity opened, the units scrambled back into position, only to find that Novice had built a knight in the city. On the turn after that, he built the spear. And on the next turn, Novice had finally decided to allocate some EPs to me again, robbing me of my vision. Since I didn't want to move in blindly only to face two units, I had to wait yet another turn while putting a lump of EPs on him. And that's how I ended up fighting a spearman instead of a chariot.

Lesson learned: be more patient.

[zakalwe]

Now that I have civil service I can see that Boldly has paper (and philosophy), so he may be the one who's landing liberalism.

Ok, just to set things straight... Boldly can research both paper and philosophy.

Novice built the Taj, and I guess he will beat me to liberalism, too. I killed a small stack Boldly had on our border on the island, protecting two workers. Don't ask me why... I got paranoid that they were building a fort. After capturing them I could ascertain that they were in fact not doing that, they were chopping the forest. So it would probably have been smarter to wait for them to finish that, and try to hit his city in the same attack, after the obstructing forest was gone.

I feel like I need a plan, both strategically and tactically. In the latter department, I'm promoting some 10 XP knights from my successful western sea campaign to amphibious. I have a feeling that may come in handy on the east front, although they won't be ready for action over there for some time yet.

[Qgqqqqq]

Why promote them now and not later?

[zakalwe]

Why promote them now and not later?

They are badly beat up, so I wanted them to heal.

[zakalwe]

Looks like Boldly and Novice traded some shots, which suits me well. They each got a great general.

GNP comparisons show that nobody has paper yet, so I may be able to win the liberalism race. If there even is a race, that is. But I figure I'd better grab it ASAP just to be sure.

Still feeling the pressure of the tight map, with threats everywhere, but right now things are looking good.

[zakalwe]

T129.

Boldly got paper this turn, so he could beat me to liberalism if he bulbs education and completes liberalism on the same turn. Barring that, though, it's mine.

I put 6 galleys / 12 knights in my fort, here. I'm hoping to be able to raze Great Bend, Boldly's mega-moai-city, which only had two archers and a chariot on this turn. At the same time, I have moved some troops up to that size 6 city, so at the very least I hope to be able to take that. Next turn, if there are too many defenders in Great Bend, I can chop the forest outside the size 6 city, complete a fort, and unload my knights there for an immediate attack.






Ichabod had a border pop in my south and reclaimed some tiles where he had old culture, so he now has the cultural upper hand on both of our fronts. (And he stole my wheat.) I'm toying with the idea of running free speech for five turns, for the culture. Hard to justify, though, with Bureaucracy, Vassalage, and soon Nationhood as alternatives.

Someone got a great engineer last turn, and I got one at the end of the turn. Maybe I'll rush the Apostolic Palace and aim to build Sankore and Sistine's too. That would make for pretty nice religious buildings (and I get cheap temples).