SGOTM 14 - One Short Straw

[Dhoomstriker]

If we really think that we have enough units, there's also this possible approach:
Revolt Civics/switch Religions next turn if we'll otherwise Strike (Religion, I guess), switch Religions/revolt Civics again at the end of that if we'd still be in Strike (say, out of Bureaucracy), use the saved-up Capture Gold for one extra turn of non-Striking, and then launch a Golden Age and settle our Warrior pumping Cities... buying us a couple of turns to get closer to the Wizard and less turns of units dying up front.

 

[Dhoomstriker]

The big outstanding question in my mind in terms of revolts is what happens in terms of the 5-turn countdown timer.

So, if we:
Turn 0 revolt into Bureaucracy netting us 2 turns of Anarchy
Turn 2 switch into Judaism netting us 1 turn of Anarchy (it could be 2 if we have a lot of Cities)
on which Turn can we revolt Civics again?

My guess is that it will be 5 turns from Turn 3, meaning that we'll have to "suffer" through a full 5 turns, regardless of any turns spent in Anarchy for switching a Religion... i.e. that we wouldn't get a "credit" turn in terms of being able to switch Civics sooner by revolting Religions... but I could be wrong.

 

[LowtherCastle]

Okay, it looks like we should be able to attack Oz in 10-11t. We need to keep our units disband-proof for that time. Mitch, if you could test it, I'd like to know when we can revolt again, assuming we revolt to 4 different civics on T+0. You'll need to use a pretty advanced test game, because it should register as a 4t revolt. As I recall, it's actually a function of the number of cities you have. If so, then you don't need an advanced game, but just enough cities.

xpost w/Dhoom: Which reminds me, how does revolting to a religion play into that? Say, when we revolt to the religion the turn before the 4-civic revolt, and the turn after.

 

[Dhoomstriker]

If so, then you don't need an advanced game, but just enough cities.

Yeah, just spam Size-1 Cities using the World Builder... the second tab in the "Player" area has one of the first couple of icons as "Build City"... if you can't find it, just spam Settlers and manually settle them... the "Build City" approach is faster, though, and lets you ignore the 2-square-distance rule for placing Cities.

 

[LowtherCastle]

"Playing."

(forgot...)

 

[Mitchum]

OK. I just ran a test. I changed into civics for a 4-turn anarchy period. After that 4 turns, I had to wait 5 more turns to change civics agin. I then did a 2-turn religion switch. After those 2 turns, I had to wait 3 turns to change civics.

If instead, we did the religion switch first, we could revolt religions (2T), civics (4T), wait 1 turn (should have enough capture gold to avoid strike), relgion (2T), wait 2 turns, civics (4T).

So, the 5-turn timer is separate for religions and civics from what I could tell.

 

[babybluepants]

How's it going?

 

[AlanH]

Please check the GOTM rules ....

 

[Mitchum]

From the rules:

Perpetual Anarchy: DISALLOWED: It is possible to operate in a near-perpetual state of anarchy to prevent losing units due to going broke with high maintenance costs. By revolting to anarchy, and ensuring that the anachy is a minimum of four turns, no units will be disbanded due to lack of maintenance funds during the anarchy period. On exiting anarchy, there is a one-turn grace period in which no units will be disbanded - long enough to produce more units from forest chops (that get stored-up in the production box during anarchy) and then revolt again. This is considered exploitive.

Playing Guideline: You are allowed to revolt however frequently you like, provided you can pay for your units! If you cannot afford your unit upkeep, you may not revolt until at least four turns* after then end of the last anarchy period.

 

[LowtherCastle]

Thanks, AlanH! Saved us from a booboo.

 

[LowtherCastle]

How's it going?

Just finished T163. Going fine. We'll STRIKE this turn, so I'm building anything but wealth.

 

[Mitchum]

I think we should launch the Golden Age, right?

 

[LowtherCastle]

Uploaded in case anyone wants to look at it. Do we want to revolt now? Then we would have 5t in which we couldn't revolt and we hopefully could avoid a STRIKE for one or two of those turns. After that, we'd possibly lose 0+1+1(+2(+2)) or whatever units. That would put us at 9t. Then we could easily judge whether to revolt again and for how many turns before we capture Oz. I figure we attack Oz in about 10t.

 

[LowtherCastle]

I think we should launch the Golden Age, right?

I think the GA would be certain death. I just don't think we can afford it, but you can take a look. We'd lose 30 units over the next ten turns. We're likely to lose half our armada en route.

 

[LowtherCastle]

RSVP if you're pondering my question, so I know whether I should wait for a few minutes.

 

[babybluepants]

I don't see why a 4t revolt is against rules. That exploit is obsolete, since they fixed it in game.
I agree with your plan, LC.
Wow! Shaka sent units out of Ndon. I thought at least two would stay in defensive role.
If we're not capturing Magyar for now, we need some units around in case he moves his C2 WE from there.

 

[LowtherCastle]

I don't see why a 4t revolt is against rules. That exploit is obsolete, since they fixed it in game.
I agree with your plan, LC.
Wow! Shaka sent units out of Ndon. I thought at least two would stay in defensive role.
If we're not capturing Magyar for now, we need some units around in case he moves his C2 WE from there.

I agree, but it doesn't matter. We play by the rules.

I suspect those units will move back in since we're now 2 tiles from his city. I'd rather they stayed out, so we could wipe them out more easily.

I have a mini-stack moving on Magyar.

Okay, I'm going for a 4t revolt, come heck or high water.

Edit: One good thing about revolting--no MM for 4 turns. That should speed me up a bit...

 

[Mitchum]

Go ahead and play. I'll be at the movies with my kids.

 

[babybluepants]

I have to go to a dinner party tonight. Can't believe it's been 11 hrs since I got up this morning, and we've only moved 3t. I thought we'd be done by now. This is one complicated game.

Try to do as much as you can, LC. If not, I'll just have to try my best for the last 2-3 hrs.

 

[LowtherCastle]

Okay. We only revolted for 3 turns. In fact, we only switched out of Bureaucracy, good for 3 turns. That leaves us in PS and Slavery for when we come out the of the revolt. Much better. We also started our trek for Oz 1t sooner than anticipated.