Score is notoriously useless until around T100 in these games, but after that it does help guide understanding as much as GNP, MFG, CY and power graphs.
RtR is also fundamentally different compared to base BtS. In base BtS, once a player builds a tech lead it is usually self sustaining, and the game is less about land area and absolute crop yield and disproportionately about GNP. In RtR, because we rebuilt the known tech bonus and essentially doubled tech costs from the Renaissance onwards, tech became windows of opportunity and not just a win condition of its own.
With that in mind, every player here has kept up in tech to some degree or another, and has varying advantages and disadvantages compared to the others, except for the aforementioned three players who...have fuck all.
I have the most land, cities, population and a fucking awful tech rate field by MFG and fail gold, with a window of weakness right now for about 12 turns. Gav has an unknown tech position and about as good land cities and pop position, plus Swedagon Paya so saves 1,4k beakers to get Theo. Superjm has Mids and an unknown tech lead, but needs to take land, and usefully developed cities but unknown power with which to invade. OT4E is ahead in tech, but behind in land and pop compared to Gav and I, but has MoM and a route to islands towards Lewwyn, DZ and superdeath, and no one that can easily contest that land because they have ruled out Astro bulbs with an early CS research. OH has the more unusual position of limited land, but he has a shrined religion, GL, Parth and SoZ and very easily accessible targets, and is about to hit his UU which has to give him a perfect opportunity to eat DZ and still prepare for a double Astro bulb from his capital which opens up superdeath after DZ as an encore of Ode to CKN. Then there is Cairo, bordering OH and Gav, with limited opportunities for warfare but great wonder targets if he can reach OH, all his courthouses are down and he can whip out an army quickly, and recover from the unhappy, but the food costs to recover mean it is a one shot opportunity. He has finished his first GA, and opened that window, and has HR and Vassalage. But he is running out of growth room right now.
All in all, initiative is with superjm and Cairo, but in about 20 turns Cairo will be staring at OHs galleons and a fucking huge Gav empire. Superjm I'm not sure about, he probably has land to his east to grab and I need his graphs to be more sure of his options.
RtR is also fundamentally different compared to base BtS. In base BtS, once a player builds a tech lead it is usually self sustaining, and the game is less about land area and absolute crop yield and disproportionately about GNP. In RtR, because we rebuilt the known tech bonus and essentially doubled tech costs from the Renaissance onwards, tech became windows of opportunity and not just a win condition of its own.
With that in mind, every player here has kept up in tech to some degree or another, and has varying advantages and disadvantages compared to the others, except for the aforementioned three players who...have fuck all.
I have the most land, cities, population and a fucking awful tech rate field by MFG and fail gold, with a window of weakness right now for about 12 turns. Gav has an unknown tech position and about as good land cities and pop position, plus Swedagon Paya so saves 1,4k beakers to get Theo. Superjm has Mids and an unknown tech lead, but needs to take land, and usefully developed cities but unknown power with which to invade. OT4E is ahead in tech, but behind in land and pop compared to Gav and I, but has MoM and a route to islands towards Lewwyn, DZ and superdeath, and no one that can easily contest that land because they have ruled out Astro bulbs with an early CS research. OH has the more unusual position of limited land, but he has a shrined religion, GL, Parth and SoZ and very easily accessible targets, and is about to hit his UU which has to give him a perfect opportunity to eat DZ and still prepare for a double Astro bulb from his capital which opens up superdeath after DZ as an encore of Ode to CKN. Then there is Cairo, bordering OH and Gav, with limited opportunities for warfare but great wonder targets if he can reach OH, all his courthouses are down and he can whip out an army quickly, and recover from the unhappy, but the food costs to recover mean it is a one shot opportunity. He has finished his first GA, and opened that window, and has HR and Vassalage. But he is running out of growth room right now.
All in all, initiative is with superjm and Cairo, but in about 20 turns Cairo will be staring at OHs galleons and a fucking huge Gav empire. Superjm I'm not sure about, he probably has land to his east to grab and I need his graphs to be more sure of his options.