SGOTM 21 - Xteam

[Folket]

You can ignore any city without harbours or customs houses. Customs house is worth 20 population and harbour is worth 10 population.

At size 21 we get 2700 gold from cities below size 20 and 2900 for cities at or above size 20.

Assuming they are 21 tiles away and have harbour and customs house.

 

[Dhoomstriker]

We could technically be okay without altering the AP voting cycle, but it would be very, very tight. So, now that Shaka only has units inside of uMgun remaining, I'm going to give him York and see what happens.

 

[Folket]

Unless Beijing will grow to size 20 picking any city with harbour and customs house 21 tiles away should work.

 

[Dhoomstriker]

Shanghai is Size 19 with a Customs House. It is 33 squares diagonally and 8 squares horizontally away from our capital. I'm assuming that the distance is: 33 * 1.5 = 49 + 8 = 57


Mao is 7 turns away from Steel.

For 1 turn of Anarchy (slowing down his Research and having him get 1 less turn of City growth), we could bribe Mao out of Slavery into Caste System, using Steam Power, saving Physics to get Steel out of him.

This approach assumes that we'll sell Gunpowder to Mansa next turn, then sell Rifling to Mansa for Corporation on the following turn, then will start on Assembly Line -> Industrialism.

If Mansa instead goes for Assembly Line, we won't take Corporation in trade and will instead self-tech Steel.


So, do we put Mao into Caste System so that he won't Whip his Cities? Or, do we leave him in Slavery so that he won't waste a turn in Anarchy?

 

[Folket]

My guess is that caste system is more likely to get him to grow the city to size 20. But he is already slow with steel so I say let him stay in slavery.

 

[Dhoomstriker]

The distance to Beijing and Shanghai is equivalent, assuming that we send our Galleons to Beijing.


Also, I'm assuming that our Galleon chain for Catherine will be north of Isabella, as that direction looks to be much shorter than going west past Louis.

 

[Dhoomstriker]

Should we be thinking about disbanding any Military Units? Since I'm not sure if we'll want to be in Hereditary Rule again, especially if multiple AIs go into Emancipation, I am hesitant to disband our Military Units and I think that it will just be safer to hang onto them

 

[Folket]

Let us see if we get great merchants. With 1/2 great merchants we might have enough money anyhow.

 

[Dhoomstriker]

If we were to get Golden Age Hammers, Piscatorium could build Rock N Roll manually within the span of 15 turns. So, while we could still plan to Chop out that Wonder, we could also just slow-build it in Piscatorium instead.

We'd build it a bit faster while in Org Rel, but I think that Research, not Hammers, is still our primary limiting factor.

But, it does bring up the point that a City such as Piscatorium should probably be connected to our Galleon chain, as it is a City that could make a Tank.

Forest Chops could theoretically be used to make an 180-Hammer Tank.


Mansa has started to tech Rifling, making for a pain in the butt.

We cannot get Corporation for Rifling.

We can sell either Radio (a poor choice) or Chemistry + Rifling to Mansa for Corporation. He will not throw in Democracy unless we also give him Radio.

Chemistry unlocks Privateers.


We basically have 2 choices here:
1. Gift Rifling to Mansa so that he picks a different tech and self-tech Steel ourselves. We will probably be disappointed, but Mansa will have the chance of picking Assembly Line
OR
2. Sell Rifling + Chemistry to Mansa for Corporation and then self-tech Assembly Line + Industrialism. We'll likely get Steel in trade from Mao, but it is hard to tell as we lost eyes on Mao's Research. Mao's Golden Age just ended, though, so it could be tight. It will probably take us about 10 turns to get Assembly Line + Industrialism, especially since we'll obsolete The Great Library as soon as we take Corporation in trade.

We won't know what Great Person we'll get from London until next turn.

What do you want to do?

 

[Folket]

I would say we should trade for Corperation and tech assembly line. We know we will get steel. And perhaps Mansa will tech something useful.

 

[Dhoomstriker]

Taking Corporation loses us an 11-Commerce Trade Route in X-ops

 

[Folket]

I know. But I do not see that teching something we know we can get in trade can be better.

 

[Dhoomstriker]

Okay, so to be clear, you want to sell Rifling + Chemistry (not Radio) to Mansa for Corporation (but not getting Democracy), then self-tech Assembly Line -> Industrialism. Does that approach sound correct?

 

[Folket]

Yes. That is my opinion.

 

[Dhoomstriker]

We have an extra Settler, say, in case one of our Galleons carrying a Settler gets sunk. I think that we'll just hang onto him. I'm not convinced that it will help much to settle a City to the east of Utrecht, as we don't want to steal the Deer from Utrecht. An island City with primary Clam Resources (Clam City) probably won't be worth settling at this point.

 

[Dhoomstriker]

Once we have a complete Galleon chain to Catherine, I think that it will be wise to send our Riflemen and Great General over to her. While we could wait, to save on Unit Supply costs, it will be a while before we will get our first Galleon chain complete, and by that time, it could take us several turns to get everyone transported over anyway. So, Riflemen will start working their way toward our Fort canal.

 

[Dhoomstriker]

London gave us a Great Artist. We will get another Great Person out of Utrecht in 3 turns.

When do we want to launch our Golden Age? Right now, it would use up 1 of 2 Great Artists, our Great Scientist, and our Great Engineer.

Should we wait to see which Great Person we will get out of Utrecht?

 

[Folket]

No need. I do not think it can be any worse then what we have. =P

 

[Dhoomstriker]

So, are you suggesting that I launch the 3-Great-Person Golden Age immediately?

We can only get a Great Artist, a Great Merchant, or a Great Engineer out of Utrecht (unless we hire Specialists other than Merchants), so you're right that there is no point in waiting to see what Great Person we will get out of there.



Is there any chance that we'd rather switch Civics near the end of the game?

Other than that possibility, I can't see any reason not to launch our Golden Age now. Do you concur with launching it now?

 

[Dhoomstriker]

Also, I plan to capture (not raze) uMgun pretty soon, which will eliminate Shaka, to get rid of a bit of remaining War Weariness. Mansa does not appear to have sent a Settler Party our way. We'll probably complete Rock N Roll in Piscatorium, though, so we can probably keep Umgun.

If we REALLY need to Chop the uMgun Forests into Nongoma, we can always gift uMgun to Elizabeth later.