[SPOILERS] Cornflakes and giraflorens PB49 - any stock traders out there?

[Cornflakes]

T50: The first Carthaginian chariot appears on the horizon!

   

Thanks to sailing I have copper connected at the front even though I don't yet have a road. In order to help keep up the appearance that I'm copper-less I started the worker roading the plain 1N of horses and didn't cancel the action. If the chariot moves next to Technical Analysis next turn it is 96% dead (even across the river) with the added bonus of a promotion on my spear and 4 GG points

   

So far the war hasn't hurt the demographics, as non-EXP/IMP.

@Charriu ... what does the espionage symbol on the scoreboard mean (next to Inca/India/Japan on this turn). I have graphs on the four rivals with the power ratio displayed on the scoreboard. I'm currently investing espionage points into Fintourist's Inca, as one of the presumed top teams now that I have graphs on all my neighbors. 

I probably won't invest EP into Carthage any longer. By the time I lost graphs in a few turns I won't get any meaningful information from them. I'm not doing extensive demo tracking and I'm not keeping a light military on the border. My sentries will be able to patrol for the information that I need ... being 2nd in turn order helps with emergency whips. Although it is a pain having to wait each turn. For quality of life I prefer first in turn order but 2nd does have it's advantages in more flexibility (Ras took 1st in turn order at the start of the war).

[Cornflakes]

Chariot advanced
Spear whacked
Sweet victory

Spear got hit hard though down to 1.0/4. Carthage has at least 1 more confirmed chariot in their 2nd city. I need the spear to cover the settler as it advances to double-wheat so I will promote-heal next turn. Spear would be defending across a river so will do fine but I still moved up the additional bowman + medic scout from Technical Analysis to cover.

[Cornflakes]

Made a mistake and allowed Carthage to occupy the plain hill between the wheats with 2 archers and a warrior. Let's see if I can turn this mistake into a "well orchestrated plan" to get Ras to leave the horses city under-defended  Now planning to settle 2S of the PH, 1E of spices.

[giraflorens]

It is difficult to me to identify the tiles you say. Could you add to the pictures the tile resource icon? thanks.

[Cornflakes]

Sorry, I did a longer post with pictures Monday evening but it looks like it didn’t post I am working overtime again (which is a good thing in this COVID environment) so reporting time gets squeezed.

[Cornflakes]

Here's a quick update with a screenshot. I planted Candlesticks as shown. GNP is getting precarious. Library is to bulb Math while saving gold for Construction to take out Carthage.

   

Carthage has another settler in their 2nd city. I unwisely moved my guerrilla 1 bowman onto flat land and lost it. It wasn't a misclick but I immediately regretted. I don't even have a good reason why I moved it   Now I only have 2 bowmen guarding the copper tile. If Carthage blitzes the copper I may try sniping the 2nd city while their military is away. I only have 2 axes, 2 spears, and 2 bows though which would also need to defend Candelsticks. I think the longer game of Maths bulb while saving gold for 100% research through Construction is the best way to leverage my Carthage "choke". 22-ish turns to Library + GScientist, putting the beakers into Alphabet for the double-arrow currency research after Construction 

Elkad made it to the island already   He planted city 3 there so it did cost him some mainland development. I would have been on approximately the same timeline if I hadn't declared war on Carthage (My city 4 was planted on the same turn as his island city 3 so I could have been competitive ... my settler for Candlesticks had a long walk and also delayed a turn for escort.

[Cornflakes]

Commodore planted a city where is warrior is fortified in the above screenshot. And RAS has a settler 1W of Copper. I wonder where the next Carthage city will be planted? I wouldn’t mind it there on flat plains.

[Cornflakes]

Elkad gets a city autorazed by Fintourist   lots of conflict early in this game as Carthage, Rome, and Khmer are all hit early. Despite my early conflict and high power I have been 2nd in crop yield for some turns now ... although the gap was much larger until FT whipped 4 pop last turn coupled with a wheat farm coming online and pop growth for me.

   

   

My GNP took the biggest hit from the war. I paid unit supply for a couple turns and have been paying 2 gpt unit maintenance for about 10 turns. I signed peace with Carthage 2 turns ago in large part because I couldn't afford to continue the war without falling hopelessly behind. I wanted to get the two bowmen back from Copper so that I didn't have to build more to defend my cities. Sure Carthage can build axes/spears now, but on defense my bowmen can handle that better than Chariots. Conquest will require Catapults and for that I need research.

   

I hired 2 scientists at Technical Analysis to study Pottery full time while musing on the mysteries of Mathematics in their spare time. In about 300 years I expect them to have a lightbulb moment with a major breakthrough. Meanwhile the tax collectors are greedily stuffing the coffers in anticipation of future funding of Construction research. The settler under the sign was completed a couple turns ago. I was hoping to plant a city on/near Copper to squeeze Carthage more, but once Carthage planted there 1W of Copper I decided that it makes more sense to plant for overseas trade boost rather than reaching for barren lands across the jungle. I whipped out a workboat first ahead of a galley. Even though this slows down settling by 2 turns I don't want to settle blind and I'm hoping to make up the two turns in growth by immediately improving a sea resource at the island city

I'm running out of improved tiles (ok, I've been out of tiles for a while) so I desperately need worker labor. Risk Management is letting whip anger wear off while slow building a worker and probably another following ... maybe a settler depending on how large/good the island is. I turned on research this turn for Pottery so that I can start building and growing some cottages along the rivers.

Here is an overview shot of the surrounding area without resource bubbles so the culture is more clear:

   

Notice how Commodore's city of Called Ryukyuan is being pressured by Indian culture. Raskol had been offering peace every couple turns and a peace offer happened to pop up on the turn Commodore settled his city. When Commodore first planted there with a warrior to defend I was tempted to declare war immediately and move my axe + 2 bowmen + spear over to raze. I factored that flexibility somewhat in my decision to re-offer peace to Ras while moving my units such that I could invade Commodore in 2 turns if I wanted to pursue that course. However when the Indian culture immediately claimed the gold from Commodore I decided it was in my best interest to remain peaceful and allow that border conflict to simmer into hopefully open war. Some day I would like to lift Called Ryukyuan off of Japan and set that up as my border fortress to the ease (whether raze/replace or keep) but first I will eliminate Carthage and give an opportunity for Japan and India to bloody their noses first.

[giraflorens]

How did you increased the gold so much?? Did you put the Research at 0% any turns? In 11 turns you went from 36 to 166 of gold!!

[Cornflakes]

I have been running 0% research the entire time, no progress up the tech tree since T55