Turn 68, 1325 BC

[nbarclay]

Do we have any clues about who's researching what on Bob?

[Shiber]

The primary targets on Bob are going to be Currency, Construction and Philosophy. Polytheism, being a low-priority tech and very cheap, would make an excellent research target for Vox.

[nbarclay]

I just sent Vox a message (posted in the ambassador's office thread) reflecting our current thinking in case the turn reaches them before we make a more final decision.

[alva]

Originally posted by Shiber
The primary targets on Bob are going to be Currency, Construction and Philosophy. Polytheism, being a low-priority tech and very cheap, would make an excellent research target for Vox.

If no one is going to research it, why let Vox do it and be able to sell it for beaucoup gold.

Serious; How are we going to make sure, either Vox or us aren't going to sit idle for too many turns,
waiting for the other one to do the last ancient tech?

Maybe we should leave the cheapest one to be done last.
-
Arian ;

I know we still need Poly, but the Hanging gardens comes with Monarchy right?

[Arrian]

Yep, HG is with Monarchy (Polytheism is a prereq for Monarchy). Not that the HG is all that great, but it would present a backup if we took a shot at the GL and missed.

-Arrian

[nbarclay]

Once we get in Republic, even Currency and Construction won't take us all that long. The real danger is getting stuck with Vox as a bottleneck, with Vox having to either finish its research at the pace of a despotic snail or lose time switching to Republic. Vox's transition to Republic won't be instantaneous, so if they're making the transition while we're finishing off the ancient techs, that won't be lost research time.

Also, Polytheism is probably Vox's only real chance to secure us a tech or two through trade without our having to give up the advantage of Republic. It may be a long shot, but at least it's a chance.

Nathan

[alva]

If we miss the GL, won't there be a good chance to other new possibilities? We should be close to the middleages by then, no?

[nbarclay]

There's no way I want us to research Monarchy just to build a wonder. Beakers are too precious for that. On the other hand, if someone else researches it and we can get a good deal, that might be worth considering.

[Aeson]

Sorry Nathan, something I was doing last night in my testing was giving me +1 gold. I can't reproduce it (by following what we want to do), so it must have been something we don't want to do.

I think Construction may be our most likely target. This guarantees us of being able to build an Aquaduct in Tempest at the right time (maybe 1 turn later), which is quite important for our overall production capacity. We get 19 shields per turn at size 6, which is horribly inefficient for building almost everything.

We may be able to beat any BOB civs to it as well, and the GW at least gives us a backup wonder that might be worth keeping out of the other teams hands. The shot at the GL in Tempest is a somewhat long one that could pay off very well. With the GL and Vox's help, we could end up with a quick 3-4 tech Middle Age lead which opens up a ton of opportunities. Of course with the GL we could also lay back off research a bit, save up gold and Horses/WC's, and have enough Knights to deal with Riders or Ansars (still a scary proposition though).

A Barracks and pure military buildup would certainly pay off if we are willing to use it against Vox, but then we end up losing our tech advantage (and Vox is likely to use The Republic to get some help). If we hit Vox and get a Leader for our FP, it might be game over.

Tough choice. At least most any direction we go with this is looking to be positive!

[Arrian]

Nathan,

I agree w/respect to Monarchy. No way are we researching it ourselves. Total waste.

So if Vox goes for Polytheism and we do Republic, yeah, Construction is not a bad idea at all since it allows aqueducts: expensive, yet important, city improvements. The same can be said for Currency, though. Either one works for me.

-Arrian

[nbarclay]

Our next research target past Republic will depend heavily on the trade situation at the time. Vox might possibly be able to acquire Currency and/or Construction through trade (maybe throwing in some gold); that's a bit of a long shot, but not impossible. Or we might be getting jittery that someone else is close enough on our heels researching Republic that we need to go ahead and sell/trade it. On the other hand, if we don't have Construction and don't want to trade for it, it's almost definitely our logical next target after Republic.

I'm working on an idea of using Voxian gold to pay for our expenses and beelining for Military Tradition. It needs testing (which I don't have time for right now), but if it works, that plus Leo's could more than offset GoW's Riders and ND's Ansars.

[DeepO]

okay, I'm a bit tipsy here, so pardon my expressions.

The problem is not so much as what we would get from the enxt tech, but what Vox might get from their next tech, I f we're not going to sell republic soon, let Vox reserch something they might trade, so we can benefit from their reserch, without exposing our own. Maybe polytheism gives us enogu to get to currency and construction without giveing away republic which would mean most civs are in the middle era, while only us and Vox are in a republic...

DeepO

[Harovan]

Playing the turn now. Vox failed to deliver Philosophy this turn. Leaving science at 0%

Score information:

123 (+3) Gathering Storm
129 (+2) Demogyptica
109 (+2) Glory of War
137 (+3) Role Play
95 (+1) Vox Controli
143 (+2) Legoland

[nbarclay]

Vox moved a laborer or some such and ended up not getting the tech yet.

[Harovan]

Turn and screenshots sent. Nothing else of importance happened.