[SPOILERS] This Land is Your Land, This Land is My Land. But Mostly Mine.

[Boldly Going Nowhere]

Man all sims are looking very good.but i dont think you shoul setle the filler city so fast , you have it for turn 81 or something.beter get that corn first.

Are you talking about the corn on the other side of the western sea channel? I've been operating under the assumption that anything on that side of the water is out of my area of influence. A city 2W/1S of the fish that would be able to share the fish and clams, as well as collect the corn, would be amazing but it isn't something that I'm considering in the sandbox. If in reality I can grab that, I'll certainly give it a try. For reference:

Here is why I think that I am very unlikely to have any decent claim to that area:

Map total land tiles: 4706
Map total land/33: 142.6
Unfogged land tiles on "my" landmass so far: 174

I have yet to meet a neighbor on my side of the water. With so many players in the game, I had assumed that I would be relatively close to a neighbor. My only point of reference so far:




By my count, that puts Mardoc's capital 7S/12E of my capital. It could actually be 13E, I can't remember. If that is an average distance for capitals, and I have no way of knowing whether it is or not, it would appear that I have already explored more than my "fair share" of the land, so I'll have all I can do to settle what I've uncovered so far. I know (or think that I know) that teams are more limited on space toward the center of the map. Since this is a cylinder and not a toroid, I know that I will have a slightly larger share than teams on the interior of the map. I'm on the outer edge, so I should have a bit more space. I'm not sure it would be ~50-75 tiles more though, which is what I think it will turn out to be once I've explored the area SW of my capital more fully. I am kind of expecting to meet another civ in that area within the next 10 turns. However, if I keep finding goody huts, with the corresponding assumption that no one has scouted the area yet, I may do better than this number. Since I know that I don't have anyone to my east or direct south, I'm probably going to push expansion in the west/southwest where I'll have more competition. If Mardoc wants to settle in my back yard across the channel, I'll deal with that when the time comes, like coins shooting out of a slot machine.

I certainly appear to have NO complaints with the map to this point. Good land, lots of it, and one flank secured by the edge of the map. Other areas can become back line with some investment in a proper navy once the land grab phase is over. All in all, looking good.

Commodore: I don't know how I feel about praising a mapmaker, but....

It's better than an Ocean of Tears.

Edit: Since I took this picture to get land numbers, I'll post it here.




Note the edge of the world. If fences make good neighbors, an abyss of nothing must be great!

[Boldly Going Nowhere]

T33






T34




More huts for me? I must have been good in a previous civ life...





Dhal revolted to slavery, but has not yet settled his city. I expect one this turn. Or not, I really have no clue what he is doing except wasting a lot of scouting turns and playing the shortest turns ever except when he accidentally stays logged in for five hours. I'm getting a sense that he's not totally focused on this game. Just something to file away for later use...

[Boldly Going Nowhere]

Has anyone ever experienced a bug where a tile does not put the proper amount of food into the city's food box each turn despite the tile yield displaying correctly? Fortunately, I've experienced this in my sandbox and not in the real game, so I can correct the issue. Look at this.

Live game:




The correct amounts are displayed on the tool tip and the proper amount of surplus food (+5) is going into Lake's food box.

Sandbox:




I am only receiving +4 food in the food box despite the tile yield indicating the proper amount, +5. I was able to correct this in the sandbox by assigning the wheat tile to Yellowstone and then swapping it back to Lake. For some reason, this then produces the correct amount of food in the food box at Lake, +5. I'll make up the food difference by putting a banana under the city tile for a turn now that I've fixed the issue then removing the banana next turn.

Weird.

[NobleHelium]

Lakes are sometimes bugged if added in after the game starts.

[Boldly Going Nowhere]

T35

Ruff - Augustus Caesar (IND/IMP) of America (Fishing/Agriculture) - STONEHENGE




Wonders are worth 17 points, Ruff gained 18 points, so Stonehenge + population growth. With IND, it probably didn't cost all that much because he should have been able to grow his capital to ~size 4 and be ready to whip for a worker. Possible start: worker, warrior, Stonehenge (120h -50% = 60h)? Half creative for an early game worker isn't so bad, but he had to research Mysticism. I wouldn't be surprised to see him try for Judaism, but if he does, he'll be behind on other important early techs like AH or BW, unless he has had good hut luck. I'm guessing he has popped at least one tech to have his score this high, even discounting the Stonehenge score boost. But, this is all shady guesswork, so it's worth about a bucket of warm piss.

For some reporting on things I actually do know, I popped another goody hut. This time I once again received gold, and on the paltry end, but so it goes. It's hard to be disappointed by free money. Yellowstone's worker C has been named Cascade Lake, in honor of an out and back five mile hike that is popular leaving from the Canyon location in YNP. This was my home base both times I worked in the park, and I've taken this hike several times. It is a treat. More than once I had to wait to start my hike for a bison to clear out of the way so I could proceed without being trampled.

T36




Things running according to plan.




Not much to add.

[Boldly Going Nowhere]

T37




Caledorn - Brennus (SPI/CHM) of Sumeria (Wheel/Agriculture)??? Cultural borders: I think it is Caledorn, but it could also be AutomatedTeller or possibly even Whosit, but I think Caledorn most likely. Caledorn popped a hut on T35 and settled his second city on T32. I'm going to try to delay contact for now, until I get closer to having graphs on Dhal. Also, I'd like to circle around his borders and make contact from the west, if possible. He is closer to the gold than I am, so I'll need to prioritize settling here if I want to beat him.




Not much to say on this for the moment. Crop yield looks good with the second food resource connected at Lake.

T38




I did some thinking, and decided that with so many cities being founded elsewhere that it would not be much longer before barb warriors appear and begin to enter borders. Barbs will enter cultural borders when NumCities > 2*NumPlayersAlive (68), so as soon as the first civ gets to 3 cities is most likely the time barbs will enter cultural borders. How I would know exactly when this will happen this without extensive C&D is anyone's guess, which I'm unwilling to do, so I'm hedging my bets with Archery. I don't plan to build any immediately, but I can build them with the whip in an emergency. Also, my next tech is Animal Husbandry (which would take 6t), but my micro plan has my workers busy for the next 10-12t already getting up cities #3 and #4, and I'm not 100% sure that I'd change all that much if I discovered horses nearby. Lastly, I don't feel terribly pressured to hook up horses just yet, especially if I already have Archery. I'm largely isolated, and my nearest neighbor has apparently not scouted me. It is possible he has scouted near but not made contact as I have done here seeing cultural borders in the fog, but I think it is unlikely given the number of huts I have found between us and my exploration west with my warrior earlier. But, if I'm wrong, I'll whip out a couple of archers if I need to. I don't plan on going on the offensive with so much good land nearby, and I can alter plans to hook up my copper at any point if I am really pressed.

Worth noting, MarBRick have still not settled their second city. They have finally revolted to slavery, gut have not yet whipped their capital. It remains at size 4. Dhal settled on T34, but not where his scout is fortified.

Last thing here, my scout discovered marble! So....the stone is on a two tile island. Is the stone intentionally isolated because having it immediately nearby a starting position hinders the competitive balance for the important early game wonder races (Stonehenge, but most importantly, 'Mids) for everyone else? Very likely. Marble is less game breaking early on, really only good for a cheap Oracle, so it could be on a landmass a bit further from a start. So, either that landmass is a large-ish one that has two or more civs like mine is, or is instead a buffer/barrier island between larger landmasses that several civs are intended to fight over. I think the latter scenario is more likely. Commodore designed the PBEM 49 map I played and in that one he put stone and marble on islands in a contested border region. Stands to reason his map making habit hasn't changed all that much, and bloody competition for resources makes fun lurking for lurkers. For now, I'll be working under the assumption that this landmass across the channel is a small/narrow buffer island. I'm thinking of moving my scout N/SW to the forest next turn to see what else is on that landmass, and then continue further west avoiding Caledorn for a while longer.




Micro plan for those who are interested (Also linked into the first post if you want to keep up in the future). I've decided on the four cities by T50 plan. This delays the granary in Yellowstone until T51 or so, but I'm not putting food into the food box until I put hammers into the granary anyway, so the granary doesn't help until then. I don't intend to whip much either, so no loss there at the capital. The last thing in favor of delaying the granary is that I don't have sufficient worker labor to grow it tall just yet. By T50, I will have the labor available to continually grow the capital onto cottages until it finishes the library in the mid T60s. Then I'll work a couple of scientists for an academy and peel off excess tiles to neighboring cities. Getting to four cities by T50 will cost me four pre-math chops, but I've decided that getting the cities earlier is worth the lost 40h later.

I will grow Lake to size four, where it will work wheat, corn, gems, and the GH mine that will be ready on T42 when Lake grows to size four and starts a settler. From that point going forward for many turns, I anticipate Lake just building workers after finishing the settler, probably until just before Math finishes when I begin another settler. With me just pumping foodhammer units and not whipping, I am not in a hurry for a granary that won't give much benefit. The wheat will go back to Yellowstone as soon as I have a good fourth tile (the PH mine 2S of the pig) at Lake, allowing Yellowstone to grow very quickly. For those who like digging into the details, if there is something in my plan that you hate that isn't spoilerish, let me know. I've been over this plan a few times and I know there are slight improvements to be made that I'm still ironing out but this is mostly what will happen going forward.

Hopefully it won't be so long between reports this week, so long as we can get the turn to roll a bit more regularly.

[Boldly Going Nowhere]

T39




Nothing new really this turn, so I drew in the spawn-bust area to see where I ought to put my sentry units. I'll put one 2SE of the wheat to give visibility over the area I'll be settling T49 for fish/cow/wheat/silk. Still no contact with Caledorn, Dhal is still putting EPs into me, and his scout is still inexplicably hanging out at the beach. I hope he doesn't intend that as his Moai city. That just wouldn't work for me. MarBRick finally settled city #2, named Troubleshooter, this turn. I don't know where, but for now it really isn't important to know.




Getting the gems makes a nice difference, an even 20% boost to my GNP. I'm pretty happy with where I am right now. Looking at the scoreboard, it appears that novice/Krill were not the early game hut lottery winners. I wonder if they are intentionally keeping score low so as to minimize their neighbors' collective terror at having the misfortune of starting next to the prohibitive favorites to win, if you can have any favorites in a field this big.

Lurker question: Is there an over/under bet in the lurker thread on which turn this game will implode? I recall that being the general sentiment during the sign up phase, that the game would never finish, but things seem to be running mostly smoothly apart from the predictable frequent late turns.

[Gaspar]

Re: Favorites - I don't know that you can have favorites in a game like this. The potential for randomness is so high that basically if they game lasts to a conclusion the winner will be the person who takes advantage of the most bad fortune of other players. Plus some players will take a realistic accounting of their chances and just play crazy, so really I think winning is as much about landing in the right neighborhood as it is about playing well.

I think the game will implode in the early t100 era. That's when the sheen of the OMGHUGE game will have worn off and lots of players will realize their position sucks at that point, you're just not going to get 30+ engaged people logging in to play their turns regularly, and there's pretty much no hope of replacements.

[NobleHelium]

Cultural borders do not fog bust out to two tiles if the tiles are not visible. Lurker civ perturbs the barb calculations. Wonders are worth 16 points (actually 15.99 I think).

[Boldly Going Nowhere]

T40