[Spoilers] Biggus Decius and the Sucking Vampires (Bobchillingworth / Calabim)

[Bobchillingworth]

Not much happening with my civ; worker finishes the plantation at the end of next turn, so I'll try to remember to post an image of my improved commerce.


I haven't been following the demographics regularly this game, but I glanced at them a few turns ago and saw this (image is from this turn, but the important information in the box has remained the same):





Selharc has 9,000 land unit things over me; as I have no lakes or see in my borders, that must mean that he has a second city that hasn't expanded borders yet. Makes sense, he's had 16 extra turns to develop. Thankfully the slow tech pace and need to build hordes of warriors means that his early advantage won't snowball (hehe) into significant gains like it would in vanilla civ.

[DaveV]

Ouch. Looks like your some of your opponents have *much* better capitals: half your population, but 1.5 times your GNP and production.

[Bobchillingworth]

Yeah, although I think my opponents probably all got workers out more quickly than I did as well. A lot of them are new to FFH and I'm sure are playing more like they would for a BTS game than the Barbarian Armageddon scenario they ought to prepare for. We'll see how well they keep up when orcs pillage their plantations and mines =)


That also reminds me that I have a few screen caps to share for this turn:






My first event where I actually have a choice! The second option does nothing. I used to select it all the time in SP games in the hope that the "witch" would later repay my kindness, but subsequent testing and a quick Google search reveals that there's no impact, positive or negative. The +1 for 10 turns is nice, but not too important, as I won't have my gold hooked up by the time it runs out to make long-term use of a size 7 capital.


Here's my tech & commerce situation after ending turn and finishing the plantation:




+4 Commerce doesn't seem like much, but it marks a vast improvement for my economy, as I won't have any other tiles that produce over a single commerce besides the gold and eventually the Reagents for far too many turns, until Aristocracy.



Final image:




Binary Fission Bear has been busy! So far the lair has added a new bear every turn. As long as they stay in place I'm happy to see them pile up for my hunters

[DaveV]

I see you're now out of first place in score, so maybe the other players will start to forgive you for River of Blood.

I hope that lizardman doesn't sit there and keep you from irrigating the floodplains. Your earlier fears about wandering lilzards may have been a little too well founded.

[Bobchillingworth]

I think you jinxed me, Dave :P






Not only has the lizardman fortified in place, but he's brought along a friend. Hopefully they'll off themselves on Prespur's garrison shortly.

[darrelljs]

At least you have a steady source of free XP .

Darrell

[Bobchillingworth]

No kidding! That's actually turning out rather well, the lizardman in the picture threw away his worthless life on my bloodpet "Shrimp" between turns.


Grew to size 6 and finished crafting, boosting my score up by a fair amount.






12 turns for mining isn't too terrible, I guess. After that it's Ancient Chants time, then Code of Laws, then either BW or AH. BW is obviously more useful and will let me do some real scouting & crack barb heads with near impunity, but if AH is really cheap it might be worth it just to see if or where I have horses, before I place too many cities.


Hey Dave (or anyone else), when do you think I should revolt? I can go to agrarianism now, but haven't since I have no farms, and will later be able revolt to Apprenticeship once Education is in, and then Aristocracy. I'm thinking of revolting to agrarianism as soon as my first farm is completed, but then holding off on apprenticeship until I can double revolt to aristocracy as well. Not sure.

[Ilios]

Do you need the extra food at the capital? Otherwise you could wait until your settler is on the move?

[Bobchillingworth]

Well, I want to get the farms down now so that I'll be all set once aristocracy comes in & they start giving me +2 gold each. Farms will also have the settler and additional workers build more quickly, saving me time. And I can't road to the 2nd city site at the moment, as the lizardmen are blocking the way and I don't have enough guys yet to guard the worker(s) needed.

[DaveV]

Hey Dave (or anyone else), when do you think I should revolt? I can go to agrarianism now, but haven't since I have no farms, and will later be able revolt to Apprenticeship once Education is in, and then Aristocracy. I'm thinking of revolting to agrarianism as soon as my first farm is completed, but then holding off on apprenticeship until I can double revolt to aristocracy as well. Not sure.

Yeah, revolt timing is particularly important on quick speed. I usually do something like what you're planning: single revolt to agrarianism (extra food=faster settler), double revolt to apprenticeship+aristocracy. The only reason to do the apprenticeship revolt early would be if you're building a lot of bloodpets (if Orthus spawns nearby or you're building escorts for a second settler). How is your current crew of bloodpets doing for promotions? Orthus spawns in 5 more turns on quick, I think, so he could change your plans a bit (building more bloodpets=bad, axe=good).

I'd save the tile you're currently irrigating for last; since trees aren't growing on it, there's a very good chance it contains a hidden special: copper or horses if you're lucky, mithril if you're not. Next turn, the worker does one turn of roading on the pigs, then starts irrigating the floodplains the following turn. Keep those workers busy!