[Spoilers] Whosit is playing for second

[Sullla]

Oh, no.... Sullla posted in the lurker thread. Is he talking about me?

Yes, we're all discussing how you need to watch out for the threat posed by Elizabeth of India.

(Really enjoying the reporting thus far even if I've been staying in lurker mode. )

[Whosit]

Oh, no.... Sullla posted in the lurker thread. Is he talking about me?

Yes, we're all discussing how you need to watch out for the threat posed by Elizabeth of India.

(Really enjoying the reporting thus far even if I've been staying in lurker mode. )

What?! I thought I already found all the civs on this map.

Glad I can remain entertaining, if nothing else.  

I have this funny feeling that I'm going to end up at war with everyone.







Korean front. At least Zanzibar is producing swordsmen now, but those warriors really did jack all. What a missed opportunity to pillage some key improvements. Tourdion is safe by virtue of being in the middle of nowhere without good routes to attack, though I would love to burn it down to deny the silver to Korea. It has such low production that it would ought to be difficult to quickly raise defenses, but that would only matter if I could hit it in half a dozen turns, which I can't do.

What I do in Bengal depends on next turn. Will greenline push in? I can upgrade my own units to Man-at-Arms and even up the odds with the great general. I hate to upgrade a Legion that hasn't spent its charge yet, but I'll do what I must. Those archers of mine are exposed but I don't think they can die. I'm not even sure that they can be hit this turn. I'll need to hold out for Machinery and upgrade an Archer immediately, as that will also boost the damage of my walls.

As tough as Man-at-Arms with the oligarchy bonus are, and as weak as my archers are right now, hopefully greenline still won't want to attack into the equivalent of 5 archers next turn. I'll make sure that my commercial hub is defended, since it is a bit exposed.




New era, new civics. Learned/was reminded that tech/civics pop before city yields process, so the cities building troops and builders didn't actually benefit from the policies that were obsoleted.




Civic path. I can definitely get the boost for Medieval Faires, but I might have to rawdog Exploration. I'm hoping to get another galley out of Burmese at some point, and if I can rush to the right tech, maybe upgrade both in time, but since my war on Korea went pear-shaped, I will probably need to focus my tech on the bottom of the tree.




What are you up to, Fet? I still think an attack is coming, just a question of when. I don't like this, what with my Settler on the way. As much as it pains me, even if I'm going to have to defend the border with Korea from a counter-attack, I need my Great General with the Legions heading east, just for the speed boost. I'll probably have to delay the settle by a turn, just for safety, but if Japan hasn't declared war on my by then, and is still hanging around, I might just have to push him out again. We'll see how THAT goes....

Again, I'm not too worried about losing cities, but if Fet pillages all my improvements, he'll get a ton of gold and I'll be annoyed.

Japan has 3 harbors now, so they're no longer bleeding money.




Happened to check the era screen, and we're rolling sooner than last time! 6 era score in 10 turns? I'm guaranteed 4 from the great person I'm about to get and the commercial hub I'm going to chop out at Burmese. Hence why I really, really should have made sure I got that Great General win earlier.

Options I am aware of:
Great General win (if City State units count)
Levy a City State (would wait until the last possible moment for this).
There's a barb camp that spawned south of Chartreux. It's close enough that it would be worth 3 points. If the spearman and archer currently at Chartreux head south, they can attack the camp with 5 turns to spare. Together, can probably kill it. I will only consider this if the area is safe from Japanese troops in a couple of turns.....

Maybe I'll find a couple other points out there. But I'm 90% confident that I can secure another golden age. I'm not sure what the threshold for the others will be, but if the calculations it shows hold true for the rest, then the dark age threshold is 42, though it could be lower for players that didn't get a golden age. Still, it's possible that Korea could end up in a Dark Age. Wouldn't that be interesting....

Khmer will almost certainly get a Golden Age. Likely picks Monumentality and spams settlers and builders with the faith bank.

[Whosit]

So I noticed something interesting while going over the books. I thought it was strange to see TWO man-at-arms when greenline shouldn't have had the money for that. Upgrading a Warrior to a Man-At-Arms costs 250 gold. And in the last couple of turns, Japan and China both spent about 240 gold each. Which at first looks like a Monument or Archer, but I was puzzled when I didn't see the increased culture or power I'd expect.

Some of the numbers don't quite line up like I'd expect, like, if Korea got 240 this turn and spent 250 and still had their normal income.... that doesn't seem to add up. But the evidence of seeing multiple upgraded units and the timing I think are pretty solid points of evidence.

Looks like my other neighbors are funding Korea. Not surprising, but interesting. Japan is almost certainly going to start a hot war in the next couple of turns. Hopefully not before I can get my reinforcements over there.

[Whosit]

Save didn't get to me this morning, so I have the whole day to stew on the situation, although I've probably already gone over everything a few times. I think that Korea has 3 m-a-a now, but power total will tell when I get the save. Oligarchy puts them at 49 strength which is not chump change. The only silver lining for me is that most of the buffs Korea's units have are only on the defense in Victor's city. Worst case scenario, if greenline continues to advance on me, I think I can hold. I will upgrade a Legion to m-a-a this turn, which will increase my city defenses. Upgraded unit will defend Bengal's Comm Hub (-2 defense for flood plain). I think I can position my 3 archers to cover most positions. Archers can only do chip damage but it's something. I'd almost certainly have my southernmost mine pillaged.

If greenline produced a battering ram, that would make things trickier. Hopefully I could focus it down and kill it before my city walls are demolished.

If it's clear that Korea will push the counter invasion, Bengal will build a m-a-a and delay construction of Entertainment district. I think that's a 4 turn build. It will also be.... 3 turns from now that I can upgrade an Archer to a Crossbowman, which will also boost power of wall attacks. I would also leave my General behind to buff the Frontline troops and just hope that my eastern cities can hold off Japan a few turns longer.

Also, I realized with how many Great Merchant Points I'm generating (7 currently, 8 after my next comm hub finishes), I may have a shot at faith purchasing the last Classical GM for some extra era score. I will check this turn (1 turn from getting next merchant) to see what cost looks like.

Other question will be if Japan and China keep bankrolling Korea. I think my gold income equals all three of theirs combined. At the very least, I don't think I'll see many more troops upgrades from Korea in the short term. I'll have Mercenaries soon and will be able to do some mass upgrades.

So, once again, all I have to do is NOT DIE and I think I'll be ok. I may suffer some pillaging, but with the info I currently have, probably won't lose a city.

Now just waiting to see something horrific when I do get the save later lol.

[Whosit]

Held my breath opening the save. Looks like greenline is not interested in pursuing me, which is fine by me. Zanzibar also upgraded its unit to a man-at-arms too, so I think that city state should be fairly safe from attack if Korea was thinking about it. Of course, I think my failed little escapade could end up costing me a lot. We'll get to that.




I wouldn't have quite enough to faith buy the next great merchant, but I could probably gold buy if needed. Again, I shouldn't have a problem securing the next golden age.




All quiet on the Korean front. Bengal is going to begin the Entertainment Complex in earnest. However... I noticed that Khmer finished a new civic and I happened to check the diplo screen and saw that they changed governments to Autocracy! This only makes sense if Archduke is going for Wonders. Now, there are many wonders he might go for (like the Mahabodhi Temple for example), but the presence of that Entertainment district and some score increases that could be an Arena have me worried. If he's going for the Colosseum (and it would really benefit him, too), then I may have already lost my chance. 

(also just somehow missed that China got a 4th city a few turns ago--clearly my attention was elsewhere )

My read on this could be totally wrong. Khmer has River Goddess for +2 amenities in every city with a riverside holy site (and most will), and Khmer has access to 3 luxuries, assuming they aren't trading with China. Though I don't think China has any dupes. So that's enough to keep 10 citizens content. Yeah... I feel like Archduke would want that +2 amenities and +2 culture for all cities in range.

However, there's an outside chance that if I chop like a madman, I might still be able to get the Wonder. This assumes that, if Khmer is building it too, that Archduke doesn't chop into it. That's a.... optimistic assumption, but still. I have a plan, and I think I can go from nothing to Entertainment Complex, Arena, and Colosseum in 10 turns.




Builder threw down a mine here, which cuts a turn off the Industrial Zone. I won't actually finish until my new city is founded and finishes its Bath so I get the era score for a IZ. This builder is going to have to run a loooong way because I need him to harvest stone near Bengal.




Continued Shenanigans. Gonna see if I can track down those warriors that were hanging around. Hong Kong has walls, but hopefully it upgrades its units soon.

Meanwhile, I hope I can take La Venta BEFORE it gets walls and upgrades units lol.

[Whosit]

OK, I did some testing and I did some math. I've been learning a lot about how overflow and production modifiers are applied in this game.

I had the chance to test how modifiers work on a chop by opening up the current save. Burmese popped a new builder and I could have it immediately chop the nearby woods (base 61) into a district. Not only does Liang's 20% modifier apply, but so does the 20% Ecstatic bonus from the city! I... think I forgot that the city happy modifiers apply to chops/harvests?

I also learned the production bonuses from policies apply AFTER city happiness bonuses. So +50% to troop production applies to the total you see on the city screen, NOT the base production!

So, knowing this, I simmed some things out in a notepad, and if NO expenses are spared, I can complete the Colosseum on Turn 100! Seems insane, but I think I can complete the District, Building, and Wonder in just 8 turns.... So if Archduke IS going for this, and isn't particularly rushing, I think I have a shot?

None of you better tattle.  

Doing this involves pulling back one of the Legions heading east (because he still has a build charge) and I'll need to spend 140 gold to buy a jungled tile, but what's really going to cinch things is that a Woods and Stone (I think they are worth the same) would turn into 132 production with Magnus and Corvee! I will spend more time building the Entertainment Complex and Arena than the actual wonder.

The one thing that has me worried is the smoking mountain right by the stone I want to harvest. Disasters ARE set to the lowest setting, but it would sure be my luck if that stone got annihilated right before I could harvest it, lol.

Unrelated, I totally forgot that Bombay will complete a Splendid Theatre Square, worth 3 era score itself. And if I DO get the Colosseum, it will be 1 turn before the end of the era (it would also boost Buttresses for me, which would be quite nice).

If I do end up missing out on the Colosseum... I don't really have any good fallback Wonders. Maybe Machu Pichu just to boost Buttresses? It wouldn't really do much for me, though.

[Whosit]

I swear to the Goddess Artemis, every time I think I've figured out how Civ 6 calculates something, I am proven wrong.

My experiment yesterday CLEARLY showed that chopping Woods into a district with Liang in an Ecstatic city gave it a full 40% bonus. I chopped Jungle into Bengal, and of course got the Magnus bonus, but I appear to have NOT received the 20% bonus for the city being Ecstatic. Either my observation yesterday was wrong, or there are other funky things going on with Civ 6's calculations. This hurts because now I certainly won't make the target time for the Colosseum, but I'll just have to live with it.

At Burmese, I cleared the build queue to harvest the stone before placing down the Commercial Hub. I think that only provides the base 61 production shown on the UI, but I assumed that was because it was being chopped into an empty queue....

(Did another experiment reloading save.... This time harvesting Stone into a district got me 73 production, so the 61 base with Liang's 20% bonus. I must have just... seen something wrong last time? I didn't take any screenshots so I have no visual proof now lol.)

If any lurkers have any insight onto how these chop mechanics work, please let me know!

Anyway....




Went from 31 to 76, so got the 45 production from Magnus boosted Jungle. Did not get the extra production I was expecting, so I'm going to need to recalculate everything. Gut says this adds a couple of turns to the completion time. Fingers crossed that I'm not actually in a race for this wonder.




Fet is being very squirrely with his units. I lost track of one of the horsemen, but based on last turn's positioning, one must be heading northwest. Warriors are still hanging around. I suspect he's probing for weak points or looking to harass me from several directions? Still hoping that I can get away without putting walls up here, too. I should have enough units in the area soon. Escorting the Settler is going to be risky business but I think it should be fine.

I would like to conquer La Venta before starting conflict with Japan so as to avoid a two-front battle, but I will have to dedicate my forces to protecting my settler first. Then I can probably double-back and take the city state. My worry is that every turn that passes is a turn that La Venta will upgrade from warriors to something stronger, which will make the city that much harder to take.




Flooding in Korea, but since the disaster settings are so low it doesn't look like any damage was done. Of note is the Industrial Zone going down. I want to delay finishing mine to get the Splendid district bonus, but I should make haste to start getting more of my planned IZs down because I want to stay ahead in the Great Engineer race.

Oh. And got the next Great Merchant. The benefits are pretty weak, so I think I'll try using him to scout out China and Khmer lands!

[Whosit]

Just noticed something had prompted greenline to update his thread a couple day ago. Likely my retreat. Well.... As Arnold once said....




First, I'm going to have to come up with a plan to deal with Japan. I don't have one yet. Right now the plan is to make sure that my two settlers are able to found their cities in peace, and then I want to nab La Venta. Then I can figure things out. Chartreux has a Encampment placed, but I'd like to wait until I can run Veterancy to start building it, and maybe get Liang over there, too. I want to put a stable in this one.

I'd like to have a couple of Light Cavalry of my own when I go against Japan to help counter the mobility of Japanese forces. Of course, I'm still expecting an attack to come any moment.

You can see that I finished my spearman and am showing him off, but I was recently reminded how poorly spearmen do against cavalry from the same era, so it's probably not going to spook Fet too much.  

However, my forces in the area are now 3 Legions, 2 Archers, and 1 spearman, so 6 units to deal with 3 Horses and some warriors. I'll probably upgrade at least one Legiion to a Man-at-Arms soon, but I want to wait for Mercenaries before doing mass upgrades. I'm going to get a Trader out of Chartreux and Burmese to get the boost for Medieval Faires... I think I can get my 4 trade routes before the era ends, so I'll get the boost while MF is more expensive, but keep all that culture invested when the era turns and the tech becomes cheaper. I think I did the math and in those circumstances, a 40% boost becomes 47 or 48%.




Local Legion chopped down the banana rainforest, and the builder used its last charge for a plantation. Persian really is my gem of the east.




Haven't shown off Bombay in a minute. It's down 2 pop due to two settlers, but look at the disgusting amount of food its producing each turn.




I remembered that this exists. Doesn't tell me too much I didn't already know but probably worth checking it out now and then.




Overview of current Roman territory. Will have two more cities down in, oh, 5-6 turns. Most of my best expansion options are still to the east, both peaceful and otherwise.  

Look, I know my invasion of Korea was an abject favor, but I think my odds of taking Japan are much better! Really.... Hindsight tells me I should have just gone for Japan in the first place, but I really thought I had a shot at dealing a crippling blow to Korea.

One upshot of all this, besides Korea being stuck in Oligarchy for a while, is that Korea is nearly broke. "Nearly." Seems like they're getting 10.5 gpt or thereabouts. Still, should make it very hard for them to rush buy or upgrade things in the future.

Speaking of money, Khmer spend a load on something. I estimate 324 or 325 or something like that. I don't think it was a single purchase, but I'm not entirely sure what it could have been spent on. Culture went up by 2.3. I know their 4th city grew to 4 pop, so my guess is that it was maybe a monument (240) and 100 gold on something else? Don't hold me to that, though.

Bengal is so large because of all the Magnus-boosted rainforest that have been chopped into it, but it will be size 10 soon. I'd want to throw down a district asap, and I think it'll be a theatre square. Assuming I do land the Colosseum, it'll be worth 4 culture (+2 wonder, +2 entertainment complex). I have a spot for a industrial zone marked, but I'll have to get the city to size 3. However, Burmese can put down an IZ at size 7, and the planned city in the east, Aegean, will probably do an IZ as one of its first builds. Hopefully, that will be enough for me to be comfortably in the lead for Great Engineer points.

Edit: Oh yeah. I've been meaning to make a note of it, but we're starting to see the limits of Rome's cultural advantages, especially since I stopped spamming cities. Even without Choral Music, Khmer's unique building gives them a lot of bonus culture. Rome only gets a head start on culture, but can start to fall behind, like I am, if efforts are not made to keep ahead. However, I'm planning to get a few theatre squares down, and I think my next governor title will be for Pingala to get the culture bonus.

[Whosit]

Alas, despite the turn coming around really quickly, seems Archduke went to bed.... Still, I suppose I shouldn't complain about 3 turns a day at this point in the game.  




Greenline let me finish off this scout. Not sure why. I shot at it last turn. It survived with like 1 hp. Maybe he felt like it deserved to die?




Era score.




Gotta keep my galley away from Korean archers! Also, look at my science/gold up top.




Entertainment district complete, time to knock out this Arena.

Khmer gained like 10.5 culture, and stats confirm that it's their unique Temple which provides a huge culture buff. Gained 4 Empire score... but it's a unique building, not a unique district.... Mostly Harmless grew to size 8. At this point, I have no idea what size the Khmer capital is. So, assuming that a Unique Building is still worth 1 Empire Score, means Khmer either got 2 more buildings/pop, or a district.

China got a new city. I think Krill has been good about hiding when Settlers are produced? Or I've just gotten real inattentive.

My plan going forward....

When Mercenaries finishes on T99, plan is to slot in: Veterancy, Corvee, Charismatic Leader, and Professional Army. I'm going to rely on the builders I've produced, and the free ones from settling cities to carry me for a little while. I'll need to chop some Rainforest at Burmese to get it to size 7 in a hurry so it can throw down the Industrial Zone. I thought I'd be moving Liang but not for now.

Chartreux will be busy building its Encampment and Stable. So what to do with Persian? I decided I will actually try to build the Hanging Gardens there! Not because I really want that wonder (though the bonus growth would be really nice). I want to set up some adjacency bonuses for theatre squares. My non-military victory condition is Culture.

As for Japan.... heading into the Medieval era, I think I want to gather a force of Man-at-Arms, Crossbowmen, and maybe some cavalry units if I can swing it, and see what I can conquer. Technically I'll have Hong Kong to help, but.... seeing what a disaster letting Zanzibar go on its own was, I may want to see if I can save up the money to Levy the forces. Though it's looking like it would be prohibitively expensive.

How many troops will I need? Japan has no iron now, but I expect that someone will donate when war breaks out. But with such low science and culture, Japan is stuck in the early classical era right now, so I probably wouldn't face anything worse than swordsmen. So.... 6-7 melee units, and 3-4 ranged units is the goal, I guess. It'll take a fair amount of time to train them all up, though.

EDIT: Once again, noticed something I missed first time I was in game. Greenline is building a harbor at Mo Li Hua, but on the interior lake. Seems a waste, but I guess he's not going to build on the coast when he's at war with me.

EDIT EDIT: Sorry, one more thing... /Columbo

I believe the combined gold per turn of all my rivals is 100. I make 82 gpt. Sure, a lot of gold isn't going to win me the game all on its own, but it's a fun stat!

[Whosit]

No full report today, sorry.

Big news: greenline offered peace and I took it. Gives me 10 turns enforced peace so I can march all my spare troops east. Once I upgrade my existing units, I'll have the army I need to conquer Japan.

Krill gained Suz of Zanzibar back, so all my cities are back to just Happy, except Bengal because of the entertainment district and arena, ironically. Colosseum has begun.

I also began hanging gardens in Persian.

2 new cities next turn. CMF's horsemen are still circling. Legion and Spear defending new city location.

The Khmer now have one more civic than me, the first time that's happened all game lol. They're about to get GA Monumentality, and have a huge Faith bank. I will only be able to compete with them if I can keep settling more cities and conquer what I can as soon as I can.