[Cornflakes] 57 Christmas Treats That Will Make You Hungry

[Cornflakes]

I have a new toy to play with

   

My real target is TBS since he is the only one currently developing in peace. If I can find and raze the Great Lighthouse city from the fog that would be huge. However this turn I declared war on OH for two reasons
1) To reduce TBS suspicion
2) Trying to induce Pindicator to reciprocate a similar declaration of war on TBS to maybe draw any lingering troops towards that border.

I offered Pindicator his DOW on TBS for my Fish + Crabs. Then followed up with a straight him declare war on TBS with nothing else.

   

Top food and production are both TBS by a wide margin. At 89 MFG mid-turn I was 2nd so TBS has a 50% lead there over 2nd place. Food is slightly closer but he still has at least a 20% lead over Pindicator and OH and a 50% lead over me.

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Pindicator accepted the war vs. TBS deal ... and immediately made peace with OH. Seems like his DOW vs. OH was also a smokescreen  I wasn't sure what to do at that point. My aim was a quick city raze and/or induce whipping from TBS at minimal cost to myself, while OH was whipping to defend against Pindicator ... but now OH is free and clear for 10 turns. I decided to proceed with the war to honor my signaling with Pindicator.

   

There is a warrior behind the bowman, so I essentially have a 23% chance to raze the city ... LOSS bowman survived at about 40hp. If that had been a normal archer instead of a bowman the odds would have been >50% in my favor. I considered offering peace, but decided again to honor my signaling to Pindicator and remain at war at least a turn. I killed the bowman with my other unit on ship and moved back north and loaded up a 5xp spear (an amphibious spear gets better odds than a non-amphibious axe that I could have loaded instead).

Next turn the city popped a GScientist and dry-whipped a bowman. So Bowman and Warrior defending a size 8 city + GScientis.

   

My axe was heavily damaged from finishing off the bowman last turn so I took the 14% spear battle. Not great, but considering the risk/reward calculation I went for it ... LOSS oh well.

I offered peace. With OH now free to develop for another 10 turns he is now the favorite, and it is in my best interest to maintain the balance of power between the other three.

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I’m up to 10% break-even!!! But I’m close to popping the GProphet from Oracle. I’m just about grown out to the happy cap everywhere except the newly founded city so I’m going to launch my GA immediately and hopefully make it to Currency.

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Tied for firsts in production! Currently I'm putting this production towards forges and lighthouses. When I launch the GA I'll head to Alphabet > Currency so that I can turn some of this production into research and gold. Food is average, but considering that Gavagai is dragging down the average I'm still below average for the contenders.

Fun fact: I'm working 10 non-lighthouse FIN coast tiles ... and only 3 of those tiles are resources These are in coastal cities that have grown to the happy cap. Food is abundant on this map and with no specialist spots unlocked the best I can do is 1/0/3 for the commerce to help dig me out of the economic hole.

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OH declared war on Gavagai. I got excited about an opportunity to pile on and gain some additional territory. But then they immediately signed peace (although Gavagai’s had a non-trivial power drop on the graph )

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Great Prophet was born this turn. I held off for one more turn so that I can complete a library in one city to run specialists for GPP, forge for a happy face in another city, and growth in 4 cities. I'm planning to launch the GA next turn. I'll pick up Alphabet first and then run research builds in most of my cities ... I have no more infrastructure to build in my core cities, so it's either units (for which I would have to pay maintenance) or research.

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I was able to swap tiles around and squeeze out enough commerce to 1-turn Alphabet on the first GA turn. I was then able to 1-turn Monarchy with research builds everywhere. If I continue building research everywhere I can now tech Feudalism in 3 turns for a civics swap into Serfdom and Vassalage. I’m still deciding whether to pick up Organized Religion by the end of the GA as well. I have a self-founded religion which has barely spread (in think only 1-2 free spreads) and I also have the Apostolic Palace religion of Buddhism in a single city that I could spread. Advantages of religion are a happy face from religion, 25% production towards buildings now, future option for Theocracy XP, potential for +2 hammers on Temples in addition to the happy face.

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Golden Age update

   

Empire overview ... notice all those juicy FIN coast tiles! I'm still working 6 non-lighthouse-non-resource tiles for the commerce. I backed off a couple research builds now after completing Alphabet + Monarchy. I'm confident that I can pick up Currency + Feudalism in the remaining 4 turns left in order squeeze in an end-of-GA civics swap.

Also notice that the top 4 players all have 13 cities each!

   

Demographics actually look respectable for a GA in comparison to the competition. The MoM was completed though and I suspect OH will be launching a super-GA any moment to catapult ahead.

   

My 30-turn recovery in graph form. Food and MFG trended up to meet my rivals, but I went 30 turns at 0% research and only saved 100 gold much of my GNP spike now is fake from building research. Normally that would hut development, but I have literally built all of the available infrastructure in most cities simply because I have been running high production and low research.

   

And finally the finance advise for those who may be interested.

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Here's a look at everyone's finances now that I have Currency.

   

   

OH has assembled an impressive portfolio of wonders!

   

Here's a look at my build queues ... all wealth and lighthouses

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TBS just razed one of OH's cities worth 64 points. TBS's score increase/decrease from the raze was 50 points which corresponds to size 9 ... Accounting for a pop loss on capture that means OH lost a size 10 city. I'm now only 11 score-points behind 2nd place! Which also means that TBS is starting to separate from the pack.

What is my mid-term strategy? Production is my strength, FIN commerce is helping patch up that weakness. I'm going to knock out a round of Courthouses everywhere to reduce costs, then start building up military to keep my options open to pile on someone if the opportunity arises ... or to eventually take a crack at lifting more territory off Gavagai.

   

I was able to achieve Feudalism end of next turn in order for the end-of-GA swap. I'm leaving slavery behind for good I think, unless I convert at the end of my next GA to whip down for a conquest.