TheArchduke tries his best not to be overrun again as Pericles

[Bacchus]

Well, the only good longterm plan there is to continue expanding at the expanse of the two weaker players, Oledavy and Singa.

Woden is in outer space in terms of infrastructure.

Yeah, I think this is a must at as high-level strategy, but we need to transform that into more tangible steps -- expand when, with what kinds of troops, what techs do we need to get and at what timescale, what do we think our targets' development will be like, especially in response to ours, etc. For example, if it's Knights, we need stirrups, but if it's Cavalry, we don't really. But for Cavalry we need gold, so that affects districting and building construction. If it's musketmen, then something else entirely. There's also a decision on when to retire Sun Tzu, and what to do with Horsemen -- if we are not upgrading them to Cavalry, they are basically nothing but a drain on gold.

Also, which Great People to get and at what point. The Merchants which give gold and envoys would be good for the Cavalry scenario, but

[TheArchduke]

I am going to switch the +30% builders to the +2 per trade route. Oledavy has a whooping 324 gold, which means he can upgrade a massive amount of archers.

It is imperative that we snatch the next GG away from him.

Anyway, I know it is a filler city, but it would secure our backyard and I am not feeling too confident about settling in the north quite yet.

Settlers incoming. Pylos has been settled.
Singaboy is probably suprised by the speed by which I have resettled former West Germany.

View of the south.

   

[TheArchduke]

Yeah, the sudden jump to Strategos by Oledavy was fishy indeed. He just finished a project with his encampment.

Well, so will we next turn.

   

[Bacchus]

Wow, did China get the first Merchant and now on the way to getting the second one? Oracle is nice. I wonder if we can compete by building some commercial projects, Giovanni de Medici is excellent for a snowball.

The more I think about, the more I like the Cavalry route, I think that's the only chance for us, we need to really focus on a beeline to get a chance to push ahead. In the short term, we still need to have a go at Schuyler though.

What do you think about making a crossbow corps?

[TheArchduke]

Crossbowmen corps sounds like the way to go.

Turn 104 our DoF with Singaboy expires, he looks weak but he can upgrade 3 archers to xbowmen on short notice.

Our monetary situation improves, with a third commercial district and the trade route policy.

We could build 3-4 chariots and go for knights, but I think going for crossbowmen and cavalry is the smarter play, we are short on money for serious upgrades.

Maybe even a catapult might be an idea for the encampment at Shuyler.

Anyway, El Cid is ours.

   

[TheArchduke]

Well, turn 100 report. Rather nice timing because I finished my 2nd settler push.

New City, Abydos, former Mercury Coast Dot. An Industrial district is preplanned 1 NE.

   

Quite new, Dorium, the eastern outpost which REALLY needs that builder to become quite productive. Industrial district planned 1 SE and walls nearly totally prebuilt.

   

Helice, with a granary and a commercial hub, is building my third trader, walls are nearly prebuilt as well. One suboptimal tile thanks to a missing builder.

   

Ithake, only has a commercial district as it was next to my capital my main source of units, settlers and builders for most of the game. One suboptimal tile, the one jungle tile has switched to a mined hill since the screenie was taken.

   

Mykenes, the capital, all tiles improved, only a granary and an encampment.



   

The lack of monuments in Ithake and Mykenes is telling, always something else to do.

[TheArchduke]

Myrmidon, the most developed city in my empire, encampment nearly done, commercial preplanned 1 W, granary, monument and city walls. Conquering CS provides nice, if destroyed infrastructure.

   

Pylos, former Ironforge dot, former Garmish. A semi-decent city, preplanned Acropolis.

   

Zakynthus, preplanned industrial district, nothing else makes much sense, a filler city much more then anything else. I do not want barbarians to spawn and why not.


   

I just boosted Sailing by one turn, only this, Celestial Navigation are missing, else you see my progress on this screen clearly. Campuses are overestimated, POP is where its at.

   

My main issue, culture. Feudalism needs to be boosted and researched asap, I am behind the curve here.

   

[TheArchduke]

Basically, Woden is running away, Singaboy is falling behind and my culture rate is in an issue. The science performance of the "builders" Alhambram and Woden is disappointing.

   

All units have 1 promotion, 2 horseman 2 promotions

Horseman 6
Archers 4
Warriors 2
Hoplite 1

GG 2

El Cid (Medieval Renaissance)
Sun Tzu (Classical Medieval)

And GP overview. I am tempted to go for Gustavus Adolphus, a Bombard is nothing to sneer at. And I can boost it with El CID.
Oledavy has switched out Strategos, giving up a GG for now.

   

[TheArchduke]

I am on the fence if we want to push against Oledavy on turn 104 again.

We have one horseman in the north who can plunder and he has not rebuilt his military.

He could however promote 3 crossbowmen quickly.

We can build one in 9 turns in Mykenes if we wanted.

I am leaning towards infrastructure atm and Gustavus Adolphus. But we are in a better position against LaFayette thanks to our encampment. Need to think a bit.

[Bacchus]

Good overview and congrats on El Cid! Hopefully at the very least this will push everyone away from attacking us.

The Bombard would have 72 ranged strength, which isn't actually that much higher than a double-promoted crossbow Corp with Sun Tzu.

For strategy, the most important trends to me are these:

In any generic infrastructure race we are just falling behind, we can get ahead only by focusing on beelines and converting these into some sort of new advantage.

Our horsemen are a drain on the treasury, so we need to have a clear idea what to do with them if we are still keeping them.

If we start operations against Oledavy we have a natural ally in Singaboy, whose only chance in this game is to be a part of a 2v1. We need to think how Singa can be brought onto our side.

We don't have gold for upgrades, which means that we have a short window until our army is completely obsolete. If we don't use it now, we need to turtle up with a clear development plan. And I can't come up with one except to push for Cavalry. For cavalry upgrades we need a strong gold focus -- hubs, markets, and then a switch into international trade routes.