[SPOILER] PB37 Dark Savant tries not to be a blatant MP n00b

[Dark Savant]

t195:

Nothing much happened -- I think, I was in kind of a hurry to play this turn.

A random frigate I have just recovered, poked into Gavagai's territory, and found a stack of like 10 frigates and a Ship of the Line.

Well, if I get invaded, I get invaded.

Military Science due next turn, GP roulette from Sorpigal in 2 turns.

[Dark Savant]

t196:

It's Thanksgiving week here in the US, I hit travel delays -- I should probably start saying these are expected, as this is what, the third time I've delayed the game because of travel?

Anyway, I have Military Science now; I started grenadier and ship of the line production.  I was considering researching Steel next, but it's not that much more expensive to get all the prerequisites for Rifling and Rifling itself.

Nothing much on the war front this turn -- I don't think JR4 is willing to commit that much to the war, especially since he probably realizes I just don't have that much production.  chumchu/Coeurva should be eliminated imminently.

There are rifles on that front.  If dtay decides to show up with 40 cavalry, there's not much I can do to stop that.

[Dark Savant]

t197:

chumchu/Coeurva got eliminated this turn by dtay.  I plant a city in the now-neutral territory -- dtay can easily run this over if he feels like it, as he might the rest of my civilization.  Since he already finished this turn, at least I know he didn't just declare war right away. 

I got a Great Merchant and fired off a Golden Age.  I also get Theology.  Seeing as how getting 4 Great People for another Golden Age is very probably Not Happening, I go ahead and immediately revolt to Theocracy from Pacifism.  It doesn't actually save me much money over Pacifism, and I still need to get Buddhism to something like half my cities, but I could use a few extra XP.  I don't revolt to Police State, mostly since losing Hereditary Rule will cause Sorpigal to go deep into unhappiness.

1-turn research of Paper is up next.

JR4 is content to not do anything else in our "war".  Peace won't happen because the war is still only +3 unhappy (no real impact, actually) and I'm still hoping to pull enough of JR4's resources offside so that he and not I am next to be attacked.

[Dark Savant]

t198:

dtay's newly conquered territory appears lightly garrisoned.  GermanJoey also has some troops in the area, though it also isn't really a lot.  I move some troops to play zone defense, and some workers to block attacks since there aren't many visible troops.

JR4 vs. me is the only war currently ongoing now.  If either one of the major powers were to attack me, I expect it imminently (before culture adjusts), though I'm going to hope that both of them think that if that happens, Gavagai is likely to get my core instead.

Paper in, Printing Press due next in 3 turns.  Er ... I didn't think about this since it only happens in this mod, but I suppose I should check just how far behind I am in tech when I load the game on Thanksgiving. 

[Dark Savant]

t199:

Not much happened -- no new wars in the world, or military activity of note.

I'm spreading around Buddhism some to take advantage of Theocracy, and I have a settler in production to replant a city of c/C's that GermanJoey razed (it's covered by my culture now that c/C is gone).

If the hammer doesn't fall soon, I might actually make it to Rifling. 

[Dark Savant]

t200:

Okay, I really should be researching Nationalism, shouldn't I?  Drafting Oromos is going to do more for desperation defense than anything else I can do soon.  I'll do that after I wrap up Printing Press.  It's also a rather cheap tech since four other players have it.

It's still rather quiet.  Everyone else has Paper and can simply see that I can build Grenadiers, but I flash one in the area where dtay and GermanJoey's troops are running around just to emphasize that.  If someone invades, I'm going to move all I can in the direction of the invader.

I have three Ships of the Line ready to crack the three-frigate siege around Fountain Head next turn.

[Dark Savant]

Something I should have noticed: dtay and GermanJoey are both clearly drafting the maximum number of rifles every turn, showing as 4 2-pop losses in CivStats.

Someone may get hit by a horde of rifles.  Grenadiers won't really work for defense, against those kinds of numbers.

[Dark Savant]

Also, if someone knows offhand if researching Nationalism shortens a Mausoleum-lengthened Golden Age in RtR, let me know.  I'll sim that before actually doing that in-game if I don't get a response before my play time tonight.

[Dark Savant]

t201:

Printing Press in; Nationalism due in 3 next, as rendering the Mausoleum obsolete turns out not to shorten an ongoing Golden Age.

Everyone else now has Steel, as JR4 just showed up with it, but that would take the rest of the Golden Age to get even at a deflated cost.

JR4 chose last turn to move in and sink a single guarding frigate, which meant he saw the ship of the line stack I had and disbanded the victorious frigate.  Oh well.

I'm still wondering when the hammer is going to fall.    I have a light military on both borders, with a decent number troops ready to move to either front.

[Dark Savant]

t202:

A hammer did fall this turn -- it was GermanJoey declaring war on dtay.  And in that action, GermanJoey just razed Ignus Fatuus (and captured one other city).

I should have razed that thousands of years ago, but I can produce a settler next turn and plant on the same tile, if the road on the tile doesn't get pillaged.

This still might be bad because JR4 will be free to make a move on me as long as that war is active, but I'll see what I can do.

I also wonder what Gavagai is up to.  He's got a very lightly defended city near me I can easily take (yeah, I can take a whole two archers even amphibiously), but I've seen he's got a stack ready to just retake it.  Not falling for that!