[SPOILERS] Bacchus and India's many gods

[Bacchus]

Grrrr at this UI. Rowain is about to get some barb trouble in Charleston from a barb horseman, but not before said horseman hits my scout, which for some reason beelined to it, when I was checking out the horseman's stats.

Rowain also showed up with a half-health warrior at Agra. I moved my battlecry zone-defender to meet that threat, and have a slinger completed, so the American will get smashed up nicely if he lingers.

I also made another mistake. I thought CS quests renew automatically when entering new era. Not so -- they do only if you completed them or lost them due to war. I couldn't have done much about Hattusa (you lose envoys when you declare war, right?), but I could have wardecced and peaced Zanzibar. Had to do that a while back though. Anyway, I'm now in the Classical Era having completed Currency. Hilariously, the Commercial Hub, after getting a new tech, costs less to place (92) than the Holy Site which I already placed in Agra (97), because patch. Thank God this is not leading to crashes.

[Bacchus]

Rowain is in trouble:



Would have been more in trouble if not for the stupid UI, my scout acted as a meat shield. I ran away towards Washington, Rowain has a slinger in each city, but depending on what the horses do, and whether he is running Discipline, this may not be enough. One of his Warrior is hanging around between Agra and Hattusa, and I imagine another is somewhere suboptimalwards.

[Bacchus]

Biggest news of the turn, which are non news for genlurkers -- Kaiser lost a cityworth of empire score and Ichabod gained correspondingly. Either Kaiser lost a city to barbs and Ichabod planted city 4, or there's been conquest. I can't imagine how the latter is possible except, again, barb troubles. Either way, this is very bad for game balance, and Kaiser paid for running with a military even smaller than mine. I think this is his first game here, so not really surprised. More amusing seems to be that AdrienIer is having a really bad run of advising newbies. First Ventessel in PB37, now this.

Barb horses are chasing my scout around, and I can't delete it because, apparently, rules (would love to know what these are)

Rowain declared war on Hattusa, I presume only to snipe or pillage.

[Woden]

If I remember this correctly, the first patch made it so only full strength units can be deleted.

Edit: and you no longer get gold.

[Bacchus]

Scout got killed, so I can't watch Rowain deal with horsemen. It appears he upgraded a Slinger to Archer in Charleston, which also got renamed Ohio. The horsemen are of the nerfed variety, so Rowain is in no danger. His power it a little high for my taste though, it's 115, I only have 84 (two warriors, three slingers). Why is Ohio founded without fresh water? I don't understand. Maybe some dotmap issues.

Not much is happening in the empire, Settlers are being built in both cities, ~5 turns till they pop. Trader has sorted out my logistics issues in the core, I have a bridge across the river, which gets used by the zone-defending warrior to move north. One of the two settlers will go there to establish a border with Rowain, another will probably go far east to settle the bananans on the coast on the other side of Brussels. 5-yield tile in first ring, another in second, plains hill plant, boost to Sailing, ability to produce Galleys withouth a harbor, all good things. I need a Galley for a free envoy in Zanzibar, it's not actually a bad quest, just a slow one.

I have an amenities issue, but it will finally get sorted next turn when I improve spices and coffee, also a nice boost to my income. Cities will go from -1 to +1, which is a really large swing, 10% on non-food yields.

Settlers will complete together with State Workforce, and I will switch into Ilkum (and Agoge?). I need another builder to chop Henge, improve citrus (need plantation for the Oral Tradition bonus and to make newly founded cities Ecstatic), and improve bananas for even more oral tradition culture in the west. Do I want Brussels sovereign bonus for Henge? Would be nice. But I need Mysticism to get it, and my Pantheon will only be founded in ~14 turns. Do I bypass the Mysticism Eureka? Brussels sovereignty will give me +15% cogs on those put into henge, something like 21 cogs. For which I'd pay 25 culture and an envoy. Not worth it by a mile. I'd rather wait until I have diplomatic league, send that envoy to Zanzibar with a bonus, and complete its Galley quest to get sovereignty and boosts to CH from there. Of course, Rowain may conquer it, so that plan is also not without fault.

[Bacchus]

My builders plantation up, for a sizable economic effect:



Two plantations and the foreign trade route mean that I'm swimming in gold, which is always nice. I have hit 9 pop, and the plantation raises Agra's housing, so it can continue growing decently even whilst building a Settler, which should speed its re-growth to 4 nicely. Again, amenities help, as they give a major boost to (net) food yields.

I immediately offer to trade spices for Rowain's diamonds. This would make the resources pillage proof by magic, but I mostly want to signal friendliness.

Settlers will pop in 4 turns, unless completion will one will boost the costs so much that the other is delayed by an entire turn. Not sure how the maths works there, wouldn't be nice if the cost increase didn't apply if they complete on the same turn?

The Agra builder actually has a charge to spare, I forgot about that. If he makes it in time, he might be able to land the forest chop into the settler in the capital, leading to the 50% boost. Would be nice for overflow into the Henge.

Overview:




The lay of the land is such that despite being alone on a large subcontinent, I'm spared barbarian troubles, I can fogbust everything I need to.

No districts besides Kaiser's Holy have been built so far. Capital completes the CH in just 7 turns at current pop. HS in Agra takes longer because no Palace bonus, no Brussels bonus, etc.

I'm also reconsidering city planning in the south. I think I want to build the Oracle.

[Bacchus]

It's been a while, a little difficult to get back into it. Settlers are still being completed, after which cities will knock out some districts and two Varus in Maneuver, those will take over Hattusa, that city is growing too fat to ignore. It will also fix my military power, which is currently 50 behind Rowain.

Worthy of note: Brussels's military.

[Bacchus]

Player eliminated! Judging from the score, Ichabod captured a city-state. That would put him on 5 cities and well ahead of everyone. Unfortunately I have no idea whether any sort of coalition is possible out there in the west to stop him, I don't even know what the west looks like.

Brussels military is even more ridiculous that previously shown:



Which is good, it means I can send the Settler to the eastern seaboard without even worrying about an escort.

[Bacchus]

Fun fact: Stonehenge, taking Church Property is +4 gold, +2 faith per turn, plus two inspirations (drama and poetry, theology). All for 180 cogs, a wonder that's actually worth it.

My third city can harvest harvest two stone into a +3 campus, which is not bad. It also pushed me to consider the pantheon that gives faith for harvesting (1 for 1, I'll get several hundred faith over the next 30 turns), and Jesuit Education. It all fits together just too nicely.

[Bacchus]

For context, the next settler costs 170, lol. Even with colonization, pretty much anything else has a better return.