SGOTM 08 - Smurkz

I think I'll get started in about 3.5 hours (around 1 pm my time). If anyone will be online then, I'd be glad to have you join me.

I'm OK with leaving the northern galley where it is at least until the isthmus intelligence comes in in a couple of turns; we'll have to re-evaluate at that point anyway. And I'll find something useful for the worker to do.

ChrisShaffer said:

Um, isn't that what I already said?

Click to expand...

Could be. I'm still in entertain-my-parents mode and only had a few minutes to catch up on things. Apologies for any other repetitions. Oh, and BL, yes, your shots of the "Southern Lands" were very useful and I had them bookmarked. Keeping bookmarks up to date and organized on three computers was taxing my brain, though, so I wanted Niklas to do it for me.

[Edit: Ah, Chris's post 825--I'm saying we should be able to see if there's a city after 2 turns, not 3. Oh, and regarding the northern galley, doesn't it seem likely that Joao is to our east? He sent a boat by, right? Given what we've seen of and to the west of Shaka's lands, it seems like it would take a long time to come from that direction--I think Joao's to the east and came by way of the northern island(s).

Good luck on the play, Renata!]

Shaka isn't cultural, has no religion and (iirc) can't build any culture-producing buildings. Thus, a city on the peninsula probably hasn't expanded to BFC. I think it will take three turns for the woodsman to see culture.

I suspect Joao's boat came from the west and saw the woodsman on the peninsula, then reversed course because it couldn't get through Shaka's culture.

I'll be on airplanes all day. Play well Renata!

Played!

The Save

The big news is that Joao is just west of Shaka, *on the same continent*. Argh! But anyway, we were able to get the galley over there via the isthmus, as anticipated, and Jacques found Joao's nearest town. We don't have a trade connection yet, but will probably have one soonish, for what that's worth.

Things went more or less according to plan, except for a few spreadsheet glitches. Our next GS doesn't come until next turn. We did get the Music GA.

The details and a bunch of screenshots soonish in a new post.

Turn 110/500
Taoism has spread: Hari-Smurkz

IBT:
Christianity founded in a distant land
Confucianism founded in a distant land
State Religion Change: Suryavarman II(Khmer) from 'no State Religion' to 'Taoism'

Turn 111/500 (100 BC) [31-Oct-2008 13:15:35]
Taoism has spread: Yosmurkzhappy (missionary)
User comment: Kwa garrison is 2 chariots, an axe, 3 impi and an archer
User comment: uM is just one archer
User comment: no HBR yet due to the revolt, of course. go to 0% next turn
Tech learned: Horseback Riding
Yosmurkzhappy finishes: Catapult
Hari-Smurkz grows: 7

Additional comment: Jacques found borders (Shaka) on the isthmus this turn.

IBT:
Taoism has spread: kwaDukuza (Zulu Empire)

Turn 112/500 (75 BC) [31-Oct-2008 13:33:32]
Research begun: Music (5 Turns)
Yosmurkzhappy begins: Catapult (4 turns)
User comment: yay for religion spread
A Quarry was built near Rockport
User comment: another Impi headed towards Kwa
Hari-Smurkz finishes: Catapult



IBT:
State Religion Change: Shaka(Zululand) from 'no State Religion' to 'Taoism'

Turn 113/500 (50 BC) [31-Oct-2008 13:40:26]
Hari-Smurkz begins: Stable (6 turns)
User comment: ooh, someone got a prophet. hope that's another shrine ...
User comment: Shaka has a galley 2N of uMgung
Yosmurkzhappy grows: 10

IBT:

Turn 114/500 (25 BC) [31-Oct-2008 13:58:52]
User comment: no shrine, boo
User comment: nobamba axe-archer-archer
User comment: ulundi axe-archer-settler (apparently just whipped)
User comment: Joao has an ARCHER 2S of Ulundi
A Cottage was built near Hari-Smurkz
Hari-Smurkz grows: 6
Hari-Smurkz finishes: Stable
Smurkz-harapura grows: 7
Rockport grows: 2

Joao has a workboat out.


Joao's archer.


IBT:
Civics Change: Joao II(Portugal) from 'Despotism' to 'Hereditary Rule'

Turn 115/500 (0 AD) [31-Oct-2008 14:13:25]
Hari-Smurkz begins: Ballista Elephant (6 turns)
Yosmurkzhappy finishes: Catapult
Smurkz-harapura finishes: The Parthenon



IBT:
Taoism has spread: uMgungundlovu (Zulu Empire)

Turn 116/500 (25 AD) [31-Oct-2008 14:32:54]
Yosmurkzhappy begins: Catapult (4 turns)
Smurkz-harapura begins: Barracks (4 turns)
A Pasture was built near Rockport
User comment: Shaka's settler disappeared somewhere north with an archer escort
Rockport finishes: Granary

IBT:

Turn 117/500 (50 AD) [31-Oct-2008 14:40:19]
Rockport begins: Angkor Wat (250 turns)
A Cottage was built near Smurkz-harapura
User comment: we're going to chop the forest south of Kwa
User comment: hammers due to Harapura on turn 120, i think
Yosmurkzhappy grows: 11
Hari-Smurkz finishes: Ballista Elephant

Green borders!


IBT:

Turn 118/500 (75 AD) [31-Oct-2008 15:00:16]
Hari-Smurkz begins: Ballista Elephant (5 turns)
User comment: Ulundi sword, settler, galley, archer
User comment: our galley is now on the west side of the isthmus
Tech learned: Music
William Shakespeare (Great Artist) born in Yosmurkzhappy
Yosmurkzhappy finishes: Catapult
Smurkz-harapura finishes: Barracks
Rockport grows: 2

Our galley, west of the isthmus.


IBT:
Taoism has spread: Lagos (Portuguese Empire)

Turn 119/500 (100 AD) [31-Oct-2008 15:09:57]
Research begun: Metal Casting (4 Turns)
Yosmurkzhappy begins: Catapult (4 turns)
Smurkz-harapura begins: Catapult (5 turns)
A Cottage was built near Yosmurkzhappy
User comment: shaka has currency (won't trade)



Not sure where this guy came from, nor where he's headed.


More comments: Our power is very similar to that of Shaka (despite his "ooh, I have a Swordsman and you don't" brag from a couple of turns back ), and the vast majority of his army appears to be bunkered down in Kwa. If we can break that down, we'll be in decent shape. At latest count, the garrison there was 1 archer, 1 axeman, 2 chariots, 4 Impi.

Shaka is Taoist since the turn after we were, and Joao picked up the infection as well on the last interturn -- he should be Taoist next turn unless it's too soon since his last change of civic (he went to HR somewhere in there). Joao has Monarchy (known from switch to HR), but no other new techs we can see; Shaka picked up currency on the last turn.

The defending galley is on top of Rockport's clams, as per our most recent discussion; the other one is trying to catch up to Jacques (but he's a fast bugger). Our one warrior in Shaka's territory has been shuttling between Ulundi, Nobamba and uMgung; our offensive stack is mostly camped out in some jungle west of Harapura.

We're chopping a forest south of Kwa, and if the borders there don't expand unexpectedly early, we should have a few extra hammers in Harapura on turn 120.

Ack, sorry! Will edit size of pictures shortly, but I don't have time right now.

[Edit: Never mind, got it done.]

looking good. Graet to see Taoism spread to Joao!

Our little pterodactyl on Halloween. Those are his grandparents in the first picture. (Under spoilers because Photobucket is being a PITA.) [Edit: of course, when I take precautions, it comes out the right size ... ]

Awwww......

Renata said:

Our little pterodactyl on Halloween.

Click to expand...

Awwww... Our 5-year-old really wanted to be a ghost using a pillowcase with holes for eyes and arms--done! My wife took her around while I got to go on a 2.5-hour campaign with our 10-year-old and her friends. "Boy, that bag must be getting heavy with all the candy! You getting tired or cold, sweetie?" "Da-aad!"

Nice play, Renata. Eh, so we guessed wrong on which to turn to find Joao way back--but now we can move faster with WoodsII--yes, all part of the plan. And now we have that galley to help when he hits a dead end.

So, some decisions coming up on the attack plan and what to do with our imminent Great Sci. Niklas is being awful quiet--looking forward to the discussion.

This is why I hate opening the save ...

Alan, when you see this -- I just had it open now and right clicked on something, forgetting that I have right-click menus disabled. This wound up moving the active unit, a warrior that was loitering in Shaka's territory. I think the best thing for me to do would just be to re-upload the new save I made after the accidental move, and I just want to confirm that wouldn't give the system any fits, it being the second save from the same turn, and all.

By the way, does anyone know how many hammers we'll get from chopping that forest south of Kwa-whatever? It's one tile outside of Harapura's current borders: W W W NW of the city.

Sorry for not being present yesterday, but I slept on the front of the laptop before dinner and only woke up at 1 am

Nicely played. I only hope that João won't convert though... that would make him a friend of shaka

I need to get a better look at the save though

I've never used Worldbuilder before; it's pretty intuitive. At any rate, I answered my own question about the chop on turn 120: 13 hammers in Harapura.

Question for the experts --

If you have a whip and a chop scheduled for the same turn, which happens first? I know that worker actions are delayed a bit in the turn, so can you ensure that the whip happens first by doing it first thing before moving any units? Reason is I'm trying to figure out how to get the most out of Harapura, and I want to whip a catapult for two pop there next turn (turn 120). It'll be size 8 (if you're looking at the current sheet, Niklas, I'd be planning to work a coast instead of a plains hill this turn to grow faster) with 8 hammers in the bin and 13 more due from the forest chop. Catapult costs 50 hammers.

They work slightly differently. The chop hammers are added to the hpt for that turn, whereas the whip hammers are added directly to the bin. So the chop hammers won't mess up the whip. Good idea on working coast.

I'll be active in the discussion soon - I've been busy updating the sheet to handle merged GPs. I think everything is as it should be now, I'll just tidy things up a bit and then I'll start doing strategy again.

What to research next? What to do with the GS next turn (I suggest settling)? Should we put the GA on the northern part of Stone Island to fogbust? (Do non-military units fogbust safely?) When do we "push the button" on Shaka? Could we spare a quick library in Harapura? In Rockport too? Sooo many questions, so few answers.

Ok -- of we whip 2 on turn 120 and 1 on turn 130, we can have our 3 cats *and* a library in Harapura on turn 131, compared to the 3 cats we'd have on the same turn with no whips. Of course the trade-off is a whole bunch of commerce.

Library in Rockport -- we could build it in by about turn 128 if we start now; AW (and the temple) would be delayed maybe 3 or so turns? Not positive without actually trying it and I'm too hungry to focus that much . Or we could build the library after AW, finishing about turn 145. 60-ish beakers versus 30-ish GP points. Heck if I know.

Good idea to whip on T130. I was already planning the whip of 2 on 120, and whipping again on 130 means 9 less coast-turns worked. That's more than made up by having a library, research-wise. Growth-wise we're at the happy cap anyway.

But that of course leads to the question if we'd rather want yet another half of a cat instead of the library... I say no.

I realize I forgot this - Roster:

• Methos - UP!
• Xcalibrator - On Deck!
• r_rolo1 - Warming up
• unkle
• ChrisShaffer
• Niklas
• Backwards Logic
• Renata - Just played

Methos?

The sacrifice is a little worse than that -- we have a new cottage available for Hari to work as of turn 126, so we'd lose a few cottage turns. (In addition to those we lose by hanging out at size 6 for four turns.) Also, we're not at the happy cap -- with Taoism in the town the cap is 10 (correct?), or 9 after a whip, which means we don't catch up to it for a while. I'm thinking it's worth it anyway.

I'm already accounting for the cottage and the turns at size 6. But you're right I had forgotten about Taoism. That means we lose another 5 coast-turns for 14 total. No longer obvious that we'd win out on it.