Pong 3: Turns 90 - 109 of Russia

It'sa me, Peter the Great!

We got about 20 turns in tonight. The turns are getting longer, as diplomacy and small wars break out!

Right at the start, I assess the City-State situation. Up until now I've just been adding 1 to every one of them, focusing on Faith and Commerce.

As noted last session, I became the Suzerain of Hong Kong just to pass through their borders. No one seems to want to challenge me there.

I figure I'm going to push the faith City-States more.

Valleta's bonus is pretty interesting: It lets you buy city-center buildings with faith. This includes granaries, water mills, and walls.

I've got a lot demanding my faith right now, but this seems like a really fun bonus to leverage later, if I ever expand further away to grab some more luxuries. Being able to rush a bunch of buildings in a city with a mix of faith and gold should make for some fast-growing colonies.

Nate did a test, and yes you can still see pins marked for All in the fog, and even in parts of the map you haven't explored at all.

We're careful with our pins, only making them publicly visible when we're reasonably certain the other player can see them.

They're pretty fun! You'll see a bunch from both of us in the Screenshots.

My friendship expired with Nubia, and she refused to renew it.

I figured this would happen eventually. I've been killing her missionaries.

After getting the Divine Right civic, Corvée (+15% to Ancient and Classical wonders) becomes obsolete. I swap it for Scripture, doubling my Holy Site bonuses.

I don't have any crazy Holy Site bonuses, as I don't have dense forests or long mountain ranges. Still, more Faith is welcome right as I'm gearing up to fight Nubia's Protestantism.

I use one of my Apostles to Evangelize, adding a belief to the religion of Moo.

I choose Mosques. I have to build them (or buy them with Faith), but they provide a good deal of Faith each turn (6 with the right civics), and give my religious units an extra charge of Spread Religion.

I'm going all-in on Religion at this point, planning to pop into Theocracy as soon as I can and work on wiping out Protestantism.

Stop asking. You're looking desperate.

The Eastern colonies still need a lot of development. I've got a Truffle hooked up now, but it's still mostly unimproved land.

The barbarians to the north become a little more annoying, spawning two Horsemen. I rush a Spearman and plan to clear the camp.

I started Mont St. Michel in Kazan, because I noticed it needed to be built on floodplains or marsh and incorrectly thought I didn't have any in my heartland. I clicked quickly, and then looking at the turns to complete made my heart sink. I missed some obvious marsh outside Smolensk, and learned a new lesson: You can't abandon a wonder and start it someplace else!

I vow to use my upcoming trade routes from building Harbors to boost Kazan's production.

Finally in Theocracy, I go HARD on Religion for the initial phase of the de-Protestantification of Nubia.

Less than good. Nubia stopped being my friend, and soon after went friendly with Nate.

I certainly don't want to be sucked into a real war with her at this point. My religious units would be vulnerable to her military, and wouldn't be able to walk right up to her cities and convert them.

Seeing my galley, Nate shared some of his pins.

Still a lot to learn about Scandinavia.

It's getting worse. This manifests as a -8 to our relationship because I don't have enough districts in my cities. This is likely because of my two Eastern colonies.

I'm working on it, Amanitore.

All of you, stop it. Write your own stories.

I get two envoys and send them to Armagh. I don't intend to fight Frederick's 8 envoys, but I'll take the bonus faith to all my Lavras, which are quickly becoming my most common district.

I've got three already, Smolensk is about to finish one, and Tula is right behind it.

Nate declares war on Hong Kong.

The Caravel isn't too surprising, given the naval focus of his civ, but I'm still a little disconcerted to see one so close to my empire.

I'm not sure why he chose Hong Kong. I'm the Suzerain there, but I don't care very much about it. It's got one luxury, and I guess would be decently productive.

I'm winning the religious war, slaughtering missionaries and converting one of Nubia's cities. She's not happy.

I do not make any promises I don't intend to keep, and let he know that Moo is coming. Moo is eternal.

Nate has a lot more boats than I want to see on my coast. I figure this represents most of his navy, but I can't be sure of that.

He's destroyed their galleys, but with only two units able to attack the city at once, it doesn't seem like he's doing very much.

Apparently Quadriremes only have a range of 1, which makes sea-sieges difficult.

Hong Kong is pretty dumb with their Catapults, walking them around rather than firing them at the boats.

Not too many options to get Kazan production, because my core is too far away and I haven't built any Industrial Zones anyway. I didn't have many hills to mine and it never seemed worth it. I suppose I should have built at least one.

The City-States will have to do.

Having slaughtered several Nubian Missionaries in China and Russia, Amanitore sends the rest of them to the East, leaving her homelands ripe for my Apostles.

I quickly flip her two northern cities and move in on the Holy City, planning to attack any Missionaries that come out with my Apostle with the +20 Strength promotion.

Turn 104

Despite Nate's reminder, I forgot to take screenshots on turn 100. Here's when I remembered.

This is a perfect promotion for attacking the Protestant Holy City, assuming it works on it.

While my +20 STR Apostle keeps them from spreading or reinforcing their religion at home, this one walks down to put the nail in the coffin.

I don't think my army is that impressive: A handful of Archers and two Spearmen.

But I'll take it, Cyrus.

Finishing a Lavra and a Harbor triggers Nubia's district-based agenda. In less than 10 turns, this represents a 16-point swing in our relations.

She still won't be my friend. Between pounding Protestants into pavement and churning out wonders, she doesn't like me very much. If I let my districts slip, she may genuinely hate me.

Nate gives up on Hong Kong after they upgrade their Chariot to a Knight and station it in the city.

I worry about where the boats went to, if they're coming for me, but it seems like its easy enough to rebuke them, and my cities aren't very coastal.

Talking with Nate, he bemoans that the map isn't friendly to naval invasions. Looking around afterwards, I agree.

I ask him why he attacked Hong Kong, figuring he'd admit to my being it's Suzerain as the motive, but he simply said "Do you see any better targets?" There aren't many.

I get a Great Artist, a sculptor, but don't have anywhere to put his work yet! I need to build an Art Museum in one of my Theater Squares.

With his promotion and Religious Orders my Apostle is crushing it, killing Nubia's Apostle before it can leave the Holy Site and taking very little damage for its trouble.

Nate is scouting me out with a Missionary. I have an Apostle nearby, so I decide to run him off.

He embarks and heads into the sea.

Persia and Japan declare a joint war against me. This surprises me a bit.

I didn't have too many negatives with Persia, but was neutral. Nate says Cyrus was "barking up that tree for a while." I'm not sure what that means, but maybe he's been trying to convince Nate to go to war with me.

Hojo really liked me, I had met both of his agendas, was trading luxuries for gold with him, and we friendly. I don't know what negatives we would have had other than different governments and religions. I suppose Cyrus was the one who made this deal happen.

Persia and Japan are far enough away from me that I'm not really worried about them. By the time they get to me, I'll have some units to bat them away with.

Brussels, however, has a bunch of units on my border. Warriors and Swordsmen. Not enough to take the city, but perhaps enough to pillage my improvements and maybe capture the trade route to Auckland which passes through them.

I buy a Crossbowman in Kazan with faith. I'll have enough Faith and Gold to buy two more next turn.

Nate has settled a colony on my side of the continent.

Not a great city, but Wine + Whales, and a beachhead if he ever decides to attack China or me.

End of Session: Turn 109

Techs and Civics

Overall Victory

Culture Comparisons

Religious Comparisons

I'm crushing it with faith thanks to double-stacking the Religious Policy Cards.

In Theocracy, this offers me a lot of flexibility.