It looks a lot like Vox will be off our continent soon, one way or the other...
We've started the Courthouses and Marketplaces, which is good, but where from there?
Forbidden Palace:
Our shot at another Leader for the FP is pretty much nill in the near term future, and so building it by hand is going to be a key project. While building it near the bottleneck would be the best position, it's also going to take far too long without a Leader.
Arashi can be quite productive within just a few more turns, and IMO is the best bet for now. Later, the Palace can be moved, and most of our current cities will still be in pretty good shape with Courthouses. This will 'hurt' Hurricane's production somewhat, as Arashi moves in front of it for closest city. It helps Arashi though, and Arashi is a bit more productive short and long term. The 10% boost in optimal cities from the FP should mean that none of our cities actually takes any perceptible hit from their current corruption levels too.
To build the FP in Arashi, I think we should switch from a Market there to a Courthouse and have it as one of our first rushes. The commerce boost won't be quite as high, but we'd need all the extra shields we can get. With a Courthouse, and boosted to size 12 with workers (some Irrigating of Grasslands to support it), Arashi should be at ~15 turns to finish the FP. It will be a major boost to overall efficiency.
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Tech and Wonders:
We need to decide which branch we want to run up. We should have Theology and Engineering in time to choose either one, but Education is probably going to be available to research before Invention. I'd prefer the top half, as it gives us shots at Copernicus' and Smith's, not to mention Banks and Universities. We're going to want to start the proper prebuilds very soon.
Tempest is an obvious choice, and would probably be timed very well for Smiths if we start it after a Marketplace and Library (and don't push the tech rate too fast). If we have the Marketplace and Library up aroudn the time we get Theology, and then average 6-8 turns per tech on the way (Education, Banking, Economics, with Astronomy thrown in along the way) it works out very well.
If we can get the Collosus (200) in Hurricane, we probably can also get Copernicus (400) there, as that would put us at roughly 30 turns for both. We'd need to start the Collosus within the next couple turns. I would expect Astronomy to show up in roughly 25 turns (5 for Theology, 10 for Education, 10 for Astronomy, unless we're pushing it). Newton's (400) after that is a possibility too, given the tech rate the others seem to be content to keep.
Copernicus is one we could really use though, and it might be worth it to try and guarantee we get it by building in another city without the Collosus (if we do go for/get it). EotS would be a good spot for it after their Marketplace/Library, and would be able to build it in 20 turns, but runs the risk that it's prebuild options get built in the meantime (somewhat unlikely). Tempest could do it the same way, but then we likely miss out on a very good shot at Smiths. That would allow us to time it so we finish it the turn we finish researching Astronomy, and no one is likely to beat us to that point. We could use the Great Wall (200 shields)/Great Library (400)and then later Leo's (600) (trade Education for Invention, or something along those lines, if the GL gets built first) to get to it.
Leo's itself is one that would really help too, but if a Bob war breaks out, it's far and away the most likely one to get rushed by a Leader IMO. I also think GoW may very well be using the Great Library as a prebuild for it (they may just want the GL themselves though), and if that's the case I can't see any of our cities beating them to it. We are at 30 turns for it, and GoW's Capitol is size 7 and probably at ~300 shields into the build.
The other civs have their GA's coming up... but perfectly timing prebuilds can still beat them to wonders if they aren't doing it themselves (and pushing tech faster than we are). If we get enough of the right wonders (Smiths, Copernicus, Collosus, Newtons, and ToE), our land is good enough to keep us above the commerce/research capacity of any non-dominant Bob civ, and maybe even Lego as well since at least some of their land will be in the hands of Vox, and is rather dismal land in any case.
Most of these prebuilds preclude building Universities first, but our research should still be fast enough with just Libraries to time it right. In a disaster (meaning we lose a wonder, with no others to switch to), Universities are the best fallback options to build. Universities are also things we can't be 'beat' to as postponed builds.
We've started the Courthouses and Marketplaces, which is good, but where from there?
Forbidden Palace:
Our shot at another Leader for the FP is pretty much nill in the near term future, and so building it by hand is going to be a key project. While building it near the bottleneck would be the best position, it's also going to take far too long without a Leader.
Arashi can be quite productive within just a few more turns, and IMO is the best bet for now. Later, the Palace can be moved, and most of our current cities will still be in pretty good shape with Courthouses. This will 'hurt' Hurricane's production somewhat, as Arashi moves in front of it for closest city. It helps Arashi though, and Arashi is a bit more productive short and long term. The 10% boost in optimal cities from the FP should mean that none of our cities actually takes any perceptible hit from their current corruption levels too.
To build the FP in Arashi, I think we should switch from a Market there to a Courthouse and have it as one of our first rushes. The commerce boost won't be quite as high, but we'd need all the extra shields we can get. With a Courthouse, and boosted to size 12 with workers (some Irrigating of Grasslands to support it), Arashi should be at ~15 turns to finish the FP. It will be a major boost to overall efficiency.
---------------------------
Tech and Wonders:
We need to decide which branch we want to run up. We should have Theology and Engineering in time to choose either one, but Education is probably going to be available to research before Invention. I'd prefer the top half, as it gives us shots at Copernicus' and Smith's, not to mention Banks and Universities. We're going to want to start the proper prebuilds very soon.
Tempest is an obvious choice, and would probably be timed very well for Smiths if we start it after a Marketplace and Library (and don't push the tech rate too fast). If we have the Marketplace and Library up aroudn the time we get Theology, and then average 6-8 turns per tech on the way (Education, Banking, Economics, with Astronomy thrown in along the way) it works out very well.
If we can get the Collosus (200) in Hurricane, we probably can also get Copernicus (400) there, as that would put us at roughly 30 turns for both. We'd need to start the Collosus within the next couple turns. I would expect Astronomy to show up in roughly 25 turns (5 for Theology, 10 for Education, 10 for Astronomy, unless we're pushing it). Newton's (400) after that is a possibility too, given the tech rate the others seem to be content to keep.
Copernicus is one we could really use though, and it might be worth it to try and guarantee we get it by building in another city without the Collosus (if we do go for/get it). EotS would be a good spot for it after their Marketplace/Library, and would be able to build it in 20 turns, but runs the risk that it's prebuild options get built in the meantime (somewhat unlikely). Tempest could do it the same way, but then we likely miss out on a very good shot at Smiths. That would allow us to time it so we finish it the turn we finish researching Astronomy, and no one is likely to beat us to that point. We could use the Great Wall (200 shields)/Great Library (400)and then later Leo's (600) (trade Education for Invention, or something along those lines, if the GL gets built first) to get to it.
Leo's itself is one that would really help too, but if a Bob war breaks out, it's far and away the most likely one to get rushed by a Leader IMO. I also think GoW may very well be using the Great Library as a prebuild for it (they may just want the GL themselves though), and if that's the case I can't see any of our cities beating them to it. We are at 30 turns for it, and GoW's Capitol is size 7 and probably at ~300 shields into the build.
The other civs have their GA's coming up... but perfectly timing prebuilds can still beat them to wonders if they aren't doing it themselves (and pushing tech faster than we are). If we get enough of the right wonders (Smiths, Copernicus, Collosus, Newtons, and ToE), our land is good enough to keep us above the commerce/research capacity of any non-dominant Bob civ, and maybe even Lego as well since at least some of their land will be in the hands of Vox, and is rather dismal land in any case.
Most of these prebuilds preclude building Universities first, but our research should still be fast enough with just Libraries to time it right. In a disaster (meaning we lose a wonder, with no others to switch to), Universities are the best fallback options to build. Universities are also things we can't be 'beat' to as postponed builds.
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