[Spoilers] Ibuprofen and Eyeglasses: Thoth plays a Middle Aged game

[Dreylin]

Some overview shots would be nice. View on the state of the world. Any expansion by Settler planned, or just by ? Do you plan to stick with the Pindicator attack, or is Scooter next?

Also how are you planning to counter Galleons in the short term before you have your own?

[Thoth]

My border with Pindicator:




I'm aiming to pillage everything in the area except for the Cows and Sheep which I will leave alone as a goodwill gesture/not doing a pointless small injury.  I like this as a border area after burning Yuris last city, there are no valid non-flatland city sites.


The other side of my empire, I still need to do some border adjustment but I do have my first super medic:




It doesn't happen very often but it's great fun to use Woody 3 units against wellies/cats in forest.  Neither get defensive bonuses from terrain but are affected by the W3 +50% forest attack bonus and neither is first strike immune.  C1/W3 Berserker vs full health C2 War Elephant was ~96% odds.  I've also got a C2/Formation/Charge Pike in that stack that plinked a pair of catapults after the stacks had been reduced to Wellies and Cats.

There is a school of thought that says it's always better to attach GGs rather than settling them unless you're making a Commando factory.

I disagree.  The ability to produce triple promoted units at will from a good production city is also very, very useful. 




4 promo Knights coming off the line right now.  At will Super-Medics with Theology and Theocracy.  Commando Melee and Gunpowder units with Gunpowder, Chemistry, and Military Science.   

But that's a lot of tech-that-isn't-Astronomy.  So I'm building Caravels, Castles, Longbows ect to fortify up my coastal cities (and provide extra MP happiness in the capital as WW is up to +4). 

I've got a Golden Age ready to go but I need to tech either Philosophy (if I'm going for mass GS bulbing) or Theocracy (if I'm going straight into buildup).  I also need another 4 missionaries before I exit Organized Religion.  Which is the third option for Golden Age:  run OR and get an infrastructure push done and exit in Vassalage/Slavery/Theocracy.  I'll need a few turns to get the missionaries built and get some more cash saved up which gives me a bit of time to plan things out. 

If I'm going the Pacifism route I want 4 GS for bulbing plus the National Epic built in the capital.  That's 1750 or so beakers into:  University, Printing Press, Astronomy, (finish Gunpowder), Chemistry, Finish Astronomy, finish Chemistry.  7800 beakers total and most of the way to Steel and Mil Science.  It leaves me needing  600 and 700 point great people for golden age #2.  Short term commerce and hammers are vastly reduced due to the need to run mass scientists in 4 cities during golden age.  This route also leaves me with no exp boosting civic unless I keep Vassalage rather than Bureaucracy and very high military support costs under Pacifism.  Tech path is Philo, Theology, Paper, University (bulb 1750/2152), Printing Press (bulb 1750/1913), Start Gunpowder, Bulb 1750/2392 into Astronomy, Finish Gunpowder, bulb 1750/2152 into Chemistry, finish Astro, finish Chemistry.

Option 2: Go Bureaucracy/Caste/Theocracy at the start of the Golden Age.  Halberd can produce a 5 xp Beserker a turn, Bec can produce a 13 xp Knight a turn.  Ports with Buddhism can produce 2 xp Caravels.  Push out two great people for golden age 2.  Short term commerce and hammers are better as only two cities need to work merchants/scientists though three might be better and aim for a Great Scientist to bulb towards Chemistry in which case might as well run Pacifism.  I need to tech Philosophy and NOT Paper in order to bulb Chemistry after Gunpowder.  Tech path here is Theology (pre-GA), Gunpowder, Philosophy (order could be reversed here if I want Pacifism), Bulb 1750/2152 towards chemistry, finish Chem--> Military Science (2392 beakers).  Then hand tech Astronomy.  Fire second golden age either consecutively or after a few turns to regrow pop/finish military builds in Vassalage/Theo in between golden ages. 

I've got some detail planning to do to see what's possible.    But no matter what:  I'm going to be building a ridiculous number of caravels because it's going to be awhile before I get to Astro.

I'm aiming for 5 or so settlers before my peaceful expansion options dry up but I need to get some courthouses built along side the settlers as city maintenance costs are spiking.  Lots of things to spend hammers on right now:  Navy, garrisons, quick response catapults on galleys, more Knights and Beserkers, Courthouses,  Castles, settlers.......Halberd wants a Grocer and the National Epic and I need to find the beakers to tech Banking as well for some Mercantalism action (and a Bank or two).

[Qgqqqqq]

By your comment, are you planning not to settle in the region of Yuris' city?

[Thoth]

By your comment, are you planning not to settle in the region of Yuris' city?

No.   It's a long way away and completely indefensible.

[Thoth]

International affairs:

(relevant bit starts at 25s)



I'm fine with war on two fronts when one is already won and in the mop up stages. I'm really not keen on a 2 front war with Pindicator and Scooter for at least another dozen or two turns. War with Pindicator would also cost me my only international trade routes since Commodore swapped into Mercantilism. I can ease that pain by teching to Banking before/during a Golden Age and getting into Mercantilism myself. My need for extra happy resources will alleviate somewhat when the war weariness from the Yuris conquests goes away so the loss of Fur from Pindicator in the event of war won't hurt quite so much. But what I'd really like is peace on that front so I can focus on doing some economic development and building up some defensive reaction forces throughout the empire.

OTOH Pindicator may decide that after pruning back Commodore in the centre, he should prune back some of my island holdings. He's got a GG galleon out there somewhere or he's got a settled one in a productive port or two. Either way, I need a better sentry net a few turns ago.

[Thoth]

Note to self: Colosseums reduce WW in this mod and are cheap for Charismatic.

[Thoth]

Logged in for a quick look around and found two things of note:

1) Pindicator sent "Fish + Copper" for same. Not sure what he means here, "Peace while we fight our wars"? In any event, it seems that I'm not in immediate danger of a Pindicator invasion. Maybe.

2) Pindicator sent in his trebs. Two withdraws but he didn't follow up with any hitters. His galleons have disappeared, presumably back towards his lands to pick up some more units.

[Dreylin]

An excellent reminder of why B5 was so good! 

[Thoth]

There is definitely action going on between Commodore and Pindicator. Pindicator looks to be down a galleon and is covering his loaded C2 Galleon + 2 damaged Nav 1 galleons with a caravel. At a guess he got a flawless win with the C2 galleon, lost a galleon on potted two more caravels with the other two galleons. Pindicator has evacuated his expeditionary force but I do not currently have vision on Commodore's (large) fleet and I don't know what has been going on on the mainland. Thanks to a massive whipping spree Commodore is roughly equal to me in power now.

I'm not sure what Scooter is doing with his great people. He's spawned a GM early (CS bulb) two GEs, a GS, and birthed a GM last turn (possibly more if I missed or misread something in the log at some point which is not impossible) . He doesn't seem to have done anything except trip an 8t golden age. He could have rushed MoM and be enjoying a 24 (more likely 36) turn Golden age or rushed Notre Dame. AFAIKT he hasn't bulbed anything since Civil Service and he's not stacking GS for a bullbing spree towards Astronomy. I must be missing something here.

[Thoth]

An excellent reminder of why B5 was so good! 

It's a classic and one of my favourite SciFi shows of all time.   It still holds up well even after all these years.