EOT94 - Got the Great Library, got the great artist. Apparently I haven't bothered with Monotheism thus far - might as well research it before triggering the golden age. All the more reason to wait for MoM to complete, either by me or someone else. Currently due in 5.....
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[SPOILER] Glory and redemption. yuris125, PBEM77
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Mausoleum was BIADL on T97, 2 turns before I could complete it. This meant that waiting on a golden age no longer made sense - in fact, the earlier I kick it off, the earlier I would be able to start getting benefits of Bureaucracy. So went ahead and started it last turn. Forgot to convert to Confu on the same turn - the consequences of playing at 2am - but did it just now
The plan for this golden age, apart from doing civic swaps, is to backfill the science. My tech tree is kind of ridiculous at the moment, extending all the way here while lacking techs like Archery and Iron Working  But I should be able to research a tech every turn during the golden age, with overflow left over. On the first turn I got Metal Casting and started some Forges. This turn I'm researching Archery at 0% - the gold from this turn plus the failgold from the Mausoleum should fund the slider for the remainder of the golden age. This is the approximate plan for the next dozen turns or so  I'm making over 500 bpt in the golden age, the only tech more expensive than this on this list is Feudalism. So researching a tech a turn is not an overoptimistic hope - it's realistic  Now for concerns  10 turns ago I talked about how Commodore's power graph was skyrocketing. Well, that one is stable now, but look at ipecac. He's China, it makes sense for him to take advantage of Cho-ko-nus when they're in their prime. But that's a lot of power And here's his attack force building up  Now, the fact the he kept open borders going and allowed me to see this force makes me think I'm not the target. In fact, I'm almost certain I know who is the target. I talked about how India was the weakest civ in the game, it's bottom of the power graph, and you can see India's border in the previous screenshot - they're right next door to China. AdrienIer is getting attacked, and he's getting attacked soon As I keep mentioning, I want a slice of India for myself. But I won't be ready to attack for 10-15 turns still. Before I can do it, I need Triremes to protect my navy, and I need Catapults. I will start building them after Forges - hope they'll be ready in time. Would've liked stronger melee units too, I'm not far from maces - but don't think I can wait for full stacks of those, Axes will have to do in this attack AdrienIer is tempting me already though....  Undefended city on the border at this stage of the game? Don't know if I like this idea (the city was founded a couple of turns ago, I won't try to autoraze it, would much rather wait and capture if still undefended) One more concern can be seen in the screenshots above. Commodore is on Astronomy. It's not unexpected, he's not quite there yet, and he's not building up for an attack right now. But it does bump Astronomy even higher up my priority ladder quite a bit. I don't want to be the one trying to defend against Galleons with Triremes.... 
Surprisingly enough, despite me being at war, there hasn't been too many interesting events going on. Because I chose to make an opportunistic strike, I had a fair number of fishing nets pillaged by AdrienIer's Triremes and later Caravels. This image sums it up nicely - note all the purple ships in my waters
 However, it didn't stop me from using up the research overflow from the golden age to research all the way to Optics, then get Astronomy in 3 turns. Nor did it stop me from taking another city  AdrienIer just researched Astronomy himself, and might send some Galleons and try to retake it. But I should be able to hold it. I think Worth mentioning that he made a few attempts to retake Ahmedabad (the city I took at the start of the war), but my Axes were spirited on defence (amphibious penalties played a role, but I must have gotten a few good rolls)  In world events, Commodore declared war on ipecac. See how much China's score has fallen in screenshots above. Also note his research - 9 turns to Astronomy?! Guess he ended up being the guy attacked by Galleons without a counter. He does have Colossus, so there were reasons for him to delay Astronomy, but as a result his attack on AdrienIer, which could have resulted in him consuming most of India, instead backfired when he was attacked by Commodore - his units were out of position, with no way to get them back, and no way to contest the seas I hope he has means to protect his core though. Commodore is already in the lead, we'll see if his attack makes him a true runaway I have a more immediate reason to worry though  Alhazard's power spike is out of control. If he was going to attack one of the weaker civs, either joining the dogpile vs India or siding with Commodore against China, he likely would've made his move already. I think he's targeting either Commodore or me. I want to think he's planning to do the backstab number on Commodore when his units are out of position, like Commodore himself did against ipecac. I have to be prepared for the possibility of him targeting me though. It's not like my units are all ready to defend against his potential strike, and not tied up in India With this in mind, the current plan is to get Nationalism asap. Via Liberalism if possible, by normal research if not Aside on Liberalism race. I can see Alhazard's tech situation, he researched Alphabet. and he doesn't have Paper yet. He does have Philosophy, and Paper is a cheap tech, but I'm sitting on a great scientist to bulb most of Education. I'm fairly confident I can beat him. AdrienIer and ipecac are not in contention due to having other priorities. It should be between me and Commodore, and while I lost research visibility on Commodore for the moment, when I had it it looked like he was making a beeline for Chemistry and Frigates. Which is scary down the line, but is off the Liberalism path. Unless he plans to Lib Chemistry, which of course is not impossible. But I have at least a decent shot End aside. TLDR - it should be between Commodore and me, and I think I have a decent chance In a few turns, as I get close to Liberalism, I will try to get peace with AdrienIer. With his navy currently in control of the seas, I don't think I can make significant further progress against him at the moment. Regrouping and avoiding a 2-front war in case Alhazard attacks me seems like a good idea The plan for the next dozen turns should be to go into Nationhood and draft a bunch of Oromo Warriors while building Galleons and researching toward Chemistry. With Alhazard's power the way it is, that's the best approach I can see to defend myself against his potential strike. If he doesn't attack, I'm sure I'll find a way to put several dozen Oromo Warriors to good use  One thing that saddens me is that I will have access to Astronomy and Education, but will have to prioritise Galleons and Maces/Oromos over Observatories and Universities...
Thought I took some screenshots today, but only found the demos screen in the folder after playing the turn. In any case, it's currently T119, and not much happened since the last update. I healed and consolidated my stack and tried to stab at Varanasi (the city to the north of Madras), landing a stack of 4 Cats and 8 Maces/Axes
If AdrienIer couldn't bring reinforcements, I was very likely to take the city, but I couldn't prevent him from ferrying units across. I bombarded away the defences, then found myself facing 3 Crossbows, 3 Maces, a Longbow, and a couple of worse units. So I couldn't take the city even if all rolls went my way, and considering there were going to be Axes going into Crossbows, I couldn't count on winning all combats So I boarded the units back onto the ships and offered peace. AdrienIer declined. It's understandable - he can't win the game, but he certainly can make my life difficult. Especially since I now faced his GG-powered Galleon, that things has Combat 4 + Morale, I currently have nothing to argue with that unit. He also has a lot of Crossbows on defence, meaning my army, which mostly consists of Maces and Axes, is severely disadvantaged. So there was no real reason for him to make peace - but I certainly hoped he would. Right now I wouldn't mind a dozen turns of peace, maybe even two dozen So here's the situation. I just finished researching Gunpowder this turn. Once I can assemble a large enough stack of Oromos, the advantage AdrienIer's Crossbows have over my attackers will disappear. But I would've liked to build that stack of Oromos without being harassed Also, I have to keep other players in mind. Commodore and Alhazard both have Chemistry at this point. I can't delay it myself, or I'll end up like ipecac did, facing superior ships and being able to do anything about them. Commodore is also going for Military Science, so in half a dozen turns he will have a unit which is stronger than any pre-Rifle unit and defeats Rifles when attacking. Oromos maybe be a unit with the best chance at stopping Grenadiers - but I need the numbers! On the bright side, both Commodore and Alhazard went to Gunpowder and Chemistry via Guilds. Neither has Education. Meaning that if I can take a break in building units, get Observatories and Universities and Oxford up, and defend myself against an incoming attack (and I have to assume there's one incoming), I do have a long term advantage So here's the plan. Pull out of active war with AdrienIer. He can run his ships around and pillage and harass, but I'm fairly certain he doesn't have the land units to take my cities. If I can harass him back, so much the better. In the meantime, research Engineering, then Liberalism into Chemistry. I weighed the advantages of researching Liberalism rather than Chemistry itself - it isn't that much cheaper, and doesn't give any immediate benefits. But it does save a couple hundred beakers, there's denial value, and it will be required if the game goes to the point where Communism becomes relevant. Once I have Chemistry, I can spam Frigates to make sure I don't die, while researching Nationalism and (hopefully) building Taj. After that, research Constitution and Guilds -> Banking for end game civics, go into Nationhood, draft a million Oromos, and (re)engage with (hopefully) overwhelming advantage Here is that demos screenshot I mentioned. I'm leading in population - I can just feel how some of that population is itching to become Oromo Warriors. Especially when seeing how Alhazard has almost twice my Soldiers number  I will post actual game screenshots next time
I will do a proper overview this weekend; T125 is coming up, seems like an appropriate time. But I did get Liberalism EOT123, and will pick up Chemistry as the free tech next turn. This is much later than Commodore (but we're on good terms at the moment), and just a turn later than Alhazard. Now to get Frigates in numbers and finally make progress against India
So here's the situation on T125
Empire screenshots The core  The west (where Alhazard will attack if he attacks me)  The Midlands (north of the core)  The Far North (Ahmedabad still requires a lot of effort before it becomes useful)  The east (Madras is the other city captured from India; the marble island was not reachable without Astronomy; it's a fresh find and will be settled next turn)  Here's one more sport I'm considering settling; I don't have ivory at the moment, and expect to accrue a fair bit of unhappiness when I start drafting, so every luxury is going to matter  As you can see, I have a fair number of large cities at the moment, which is where my lead in population comes from. Immediate concerns are:  I haven't been unable to put a serious dent into India. Apart from two cities (one of which I captured empty), I have nothing to show for this war so far. A large part of why is that I neglected barracks and did not go into experience-granting civics, so my ships are unpromoted, and even single Combat promotion on AdrienIer's ships makes naval combat very unfavourable. This should be addressed once I have a good number of Frigates; however for the moment I had to cede control of the seas. With the stack in the screenshot above, he seems set to try to recapture Madras before I can get enough Frigates to sink his ships. That's why I built Walls in the city this turn; the problem is - a large part of its defences is Axes, and I really don't want to spend money on upgrades until Nationalism is done. But if all 7 of those Galleons are full of units, I think he's likely to retake the city. Especially if he sends a lot of Crossbows The other problem is Commodore's attach on China. This past turn he razed Shanghai, which according to the list of Chinese cities is their second. Ipecac is near dead, and Commodore is going to have his land. That's yet another reason why me begin unable to make gains in India is so bad. On one hand, the longer I can't make progress, the more time Commodore has to benefit from his conquest. On the other hand, his conquest likely puts pressure on Alhazard to make territorial gains as well, and I expect myself to be the best target for him. He's far away from India and is unlikely to want to attach Commodore, who's ahead of the field on military tech thanks to Grenadiers. I've been snooping around France with a Caravel, and haven't seen his attack force yet. But he's been at peace with everyone forever, while maintaining the lead in power rating, so he must have one somewhere, and must be planning something with it Also, Commodore has 6 move Galleons. Talk about scary  Scarier still is the power graph. When I decided to put the war against India on hold and build some scientific buildings instead of units, it showed  It will recover once I upgrade the units and start drafting. But I need to survive until then I keep talking about how I plan to upgrade the units, and this plan contributed to my decision to Liberalism for Chemistry. Over the last few turns I have been agonising about it - spending Liberalism on Chemistry felt like a waste. The reason I decided to go for it in the end was that I felt the need to get Chemistry asap, I felt the need to deny Commodore or Alhazard from getting the freebie, and I wanted to turn off the science for a number of turns after getting Chemistry and Nationalism to upgrade units and save gold for post-Oxford (and hopefully post-Taj) research. Liberalisming Chemistry was going to be worth about 400 beakers - less than a turn of research. But denial value + fitting better with the mid-term plan made it worthwhile. Plus it actually allowed me to get Chemistry a turn earlier This is how my science looks at the moment (missing techs to the left of this screen are HBR, Alphabet, Theology, and Drama)  The plan after upgrades is to try to get the Economics great merchant (especially if I don't get Taj and need great people for a golden age), as well as Constitution for the late game civics. If I can get to Communism by the end of the golden age, I'll adopt State Property, but hopes aren't high for that one. Especially considering how likely I am to have to focus on military research after the detour to Constitution (which I think does have to happen) As for Taj, I have doubts I will be able to get it. T125 was Alhazard's 5th turn of a golden age; he's had Nationalism for a while, so I have to think he's going for Taj and planned the build to complete before the current golden age ends. I still need 2 more turns to research Nationalism, so if my assumptions are correct, there's no way I can beat it. If I do get a chance to go for it, I will whip it as soon as it's an option - at best, I expect to be in a race for it and behind Current demos (keep in mind Alhazard's golden age)  If there's anything else you would like to know, please post
I think you've covered the bases pretty well - thanks for reporting! I guess I did have one question: You mentioned upgrading your units, but you haven't said which units you'll be upgrading as far as I can tell (and into what). Of course that'll be obvious when the time comes, I suppose, but given the updates, I figured I should ask something so you know they're appreciated!
November 27th, 2017, 19:00
(This post was last modified: November 27th, 2017, 19:03 by yuris125.)
Cheers
Here's the F5 screen (non-combat units not shown are 8 Workers, 1 Workboat currently enroute, and 2 Great Generals waiting for Frigates to be attached to) Highest priority is to upgrade naval units, Triremes into Frigates first, then Galleys into Galleons. Don't know if anything else will get upgraded this round; Axes unfortunately don't upgrade into Oromos, and upgrading them into Maces doesn't help too much if the opponents has Crossbows. If at any point I think an upgrade would have a chance of swinging a combat, I'll do it, otherwise they'll stay as Axes until Rifling Most if not all Triremes are near Madras, best place to be to take part in battle immediately after upgrade. Just need the money... By the way, if Alhazard gets Taj before I finish Nationalism, I'll switch science off right there and then. I won't be switching to Nationhood until I can get a golden age, and that likely won't happen until I reach Economics (and I'm not that certain I'll get the free GM there). There's urgency in finishing Nationalism research only if I can contest Taj
Alhazard got Economics 2 turns ahead of me
 I currently have a great scientist and am trying to make another great person for a 2-gp golden age - but it's over 50% to also be a scientist. If that happens, my best shot for a golden age is a Communism great spy. I'm also considering just eating a turn of anarchy, however ugly that idea isI'm also building Sistine, likely not the most impactful wonder, but it's cheap with marble, and with Mercantilism on horizon it will give plenty of free culture. With (hopefully) me getting territory from India, it will help to push borders Funnily enough, I had the score lead for the last few turns, and score is usually a good indicator of position at this stage of the game. But it's fairly close between Commodore, Alhazard, and myself, and I think I'm behind those two - my score is just inflated by very high pop. Commodore is best positioned long term thanks to his acquisitions in China, and Alhazard has the lead right now thanks to his at least 16 turns of golden age |
