Pong 3: Turns 144-175 of Norway (Nate)

This week's session (6) was fun! We pick up in the mid-Industrial Era.

When we left off, the Viking Age had come to an end, and we were settling into a Golden Age of development and expansion. My plan had been to switch to Merchant Republic, but the diplomatic penalties for warmongering loomed large among the peoples around me, so I decided to stick with Monarchy (the government of the majority of the world) and build up my walls and society.

Turn 144- Policies update

Thinking long-term here. My culture hasn't been especially great, but having lots of walls will create a bit of tourism later in the game, which will help off-set Russia's (Joe's) super strong culture.

The Cold War of Sail (1540+ AD)

145- Russia builds the Venetian Arsenal

I was a mere 4-5 turns away (of like 22) to building this, and Joe managed to grab it. He said it was thanks to a Great Engineer. It was a smart move because this will allow him to quickly build a navy to rival my own, which is exactly what he does. This leads to a situation that extends throughout the session where we are both expanding our navies in the Great Sea leading to greater and hotter tensions.

In the subsequent screenshots, you'll see that I pulled back my fleet to Trinkenhalle and kept them together to prevent him from making any surprise sneak attacks with privateers, which I occasionally spied moving around.

146- Spy Freja is caught trying to steal art and is imprisoned

This was a bit of a gamble, but I felt it was worth it with the first wave of spies. I believe I mentioned it in a previous report: it had 50% chance of success, and I thought it was worth the low chance (~25%?) of capture the first time around. Unfortunately it went all super bad and she was captured on her first mission. I lack the ability to build a second spy and there is no chance Joe'll trade her back to me for anything affordable so she is gone, and I have no spies again.

This became a problem about 10 turns later when I started having tech stolen from me in waves. By the end of the session something like 6-7 techs have been stolen from me already, and although I'm pretty sure only 2 of those were Joe, it is still closing the lead I have in science.

146- Our apostle crushes an apostle of Moo in Scandinavia, purifying the land.

147- News of the world

152- Japan still dislikes me for the wars of Kyoto Bay

156- Policies

I needed to switch to a naval focus to keep up with the Russian (Venetian) Arsenal. My Norway bonus and massive naval infrastructure combine to make it possible for me to build a frigate or privateer every other round in Nidaros and every 3-4 rounds in the other Scandinavian cities.

Around this time, Joe started saying that the Arsenal is so good it feels broken. I disagreed. While it's certainly very powerful, I could pretty easily keep up with his production here. And large navies are expensive. Does he also have the economy to support them? They provide little advantage for him except as a check on me, which I don't think he can really win anyway.

158- Russia and frigates in 1660 AD

Turn 160: Empire Update (1670 AD)

Heartland: Scandinavia

Strategic

Midlands

Hong Kong and Icestan (new Bjarkoy silvermine)

Farshore

The North: Russia

The Great Sea

Tech

Civics

Map, Score, Rankings

More Events of the World 

168- Scythia turns Theocracy

The two theocracies, Nubia and Russia, were close to each other but generally disliked by everyone else. Is this an effort to get closer to the theocratic states?

The Birth of John Rockefeller

171- I buy John Rockefeller with faith patronage

172- Rockefeller activate

This is a big get for me. He immediately grants one oil resource, which means that I can immediately build modern units when I get the tech, even without looking for oil. Moreover, he makes all trade routes gain +2 gold per strategic resource at the destination, and with my 11 trade routes this could be anywhere from 22-50+ GPT.

175- Events of the world

175- Russia builds Broadway

Russia's ability to build wonders (due to good tiles, good development, and strong industrial city-states) is impressive. He easily builds wonders (this is like his 7th?). I like Broadway too. It gives strong writer and musician bonuses as well as an Atomic Era civic boost. 

More concerning (and not visible in this screenshot) is the fact that Nubia successfully launched a satellite beginning the Space Race. This is crazy, it means that she has already built a space port and has Rocketry, Chemistry, and Radio. Joe and I are in trouble. 

End of Session 

I'm not in any kind of position to stop Amanitore: all of Nubia's cities are inland. If I attack St. Petersburg (as I had been planning) then I'd cripple Russia just as we need someone to attack Nubia. This is pretty frustrating because I just discovered Steel, granting me the ability to build battleships.

Over the next several days (in real life), Joe and I have been entreating with one another, discussing ways to demilitarize the Great Sea in time to stop Nubia, if indeed such a thing is possible.

Plan: Honestly, I had fully planned on surging into St. Petersburg with a fleet of battleships, stealing all his relics and great works of writing/art and then taking on the rest of the world when they inevitably come after me for it, winner-take-all, but I am really far from Nubia and really not in position to attack a land-based civ. If Joe is willing to demilitarize the sea then I'm willing to downgrade my navy in order to work on better weapons, something capable of hitting Nubia fast enough to conquer the world before they can colonize mars.