This is gonna be good: von Adlercreutz and Taotao

[taotao]

Ok, so I moved 1SW and this is what I saw:



nothing special, but I realized by fog gazing that a hill + mountain would slow us down a bit if going 1NE as intended, so thought it might be worth going 1SE still before heading north. Zoomed out this is what I saw:




That's right we're looking at the borders of Donovan Zoi's ZULUS.
By my count their capital is 15 South - 6 East from our capital.

I suggest going back N-NE with scout next turn and not letting DZ know where we are, but if you want to take a look at their cap (without declaring) I can be persuaded...

[von Adlercreutz]

Donovan Zoi as a neighbour, even though he's agg Zulu, I think we're lucky. He's not the strongest and he's IND, so if he's weak we could conquer wonders.

Hmm, the earlier we meet him, the earlier we can start putting EP on him. I'd like to get to see his power graph quite early to see if he's up to something. Also getting to know if DZ has copper would be good. We don't want to get boaked by very early impis (hopefully I'm using the term right).

Also we can start planning what kind of border we want to establish with him. That sheep is already at "his" side, trying to claim that would be quite ambitious. Near the rce we have the river which would help with defense.

[von Adlercreutz]

Played around a bit further, trying the 2nd city inland approach. Chops T25(2S of O) and T27 (1W of O). We have strong tiles worked and can start preparing to get granaries in. Chops and whips to them and starting to get cottages would be my choice for next things to do.



Here I tried 1 worker, settle to seafood, but it just feels the weaker option. 1 worker because I thought with more shared tiles there would be less clever things to do for the worker. (I updated the sandbox a bit, adding the clams.)

[von Adlercreutz]

We could also try to confuse Donovan about our direction by approaching him from east. This would take more time from scouting nearby land though.

[taotao]

Hmm, the earlier we meet him, the earlier we can start putting EP on him. I'd like to get to see his power graph quite early to see if he's up to something. Also getting to know if DZ has copper would be good. We don't want to get boaked by very early impis (hopefully I'm using the term right).

We could also try to confuse Donovan about our direction by approaching him from east. This would take more time from scouting nearby land though.

Though what you say about directing EP for graphs is definitely true, the one thing I'm hesitant about is whether it's right to meet him straight away psychologically? DZ isn't a particularly aggressive person normally, but if he feels that we meet him really early perhaps he (subconsciously) thinks that we're much closer than we are?
I sort of think that we should aim to make him feel like he's got all the space in the world, so plenty of time for peaceful rexing and wonder building.
This since what we really fear is also that he's going to send his first impi(s) straight at us, that's when they're really dangerous, later on we should be able to defend with axes without much trouble and I believe we could even settle semi-aggressively in his direction (before having the military might to simply run him over).

About meeting him from the east.
Yes that could be a decent idea. Actually I do believe we'll have another civ to our east, so him finding someone there wouldn't be strange. That it will take a couple of turns for us to approach that way I don't mind either for reasons mentioned above.
As for scouting the rest of our lands, that's of course something we definitely want to do before long, but I believe we've found the city locations for city 2 and 3 anyway, so it's not that pressing a need...

[taotao]

Also we can start planning what kind of border we want to establish with him. That sheep is already at "his" side, trying to claim that would be quite ambitious. Near the rice we have the river which would help with defense.

This is all very early, but IF we want the sheep, then I definitely want to settle on a hill. N-NW (in the fog) from the sheep tile (or possibly just NW). A second(ary) border city could then be by the coast on the other side of the river.
This all depends a bit on where he settles his second city (in our direction) though, it's possible that we have to settle for something on our side of the river (but the rice shall be ours).

[von Adlercreutz]

Put some micro notes down for our cap:


Scout move, went E-NE since we seem to have a consensus about trying to sneak to DZ's eastern side.


Mountains and a lake? Seems defensible, narrow terrain to me

[taotao]

I saw that you played the turn and added some signs in game.
Good job


As for the simming, a couple of things we might've done differently (after the second city is founded):
- In Oravainen I've built a 2t workboat before the settler so that we can work the clams straight away.
- The first worker that finished with the wheat farm I sent straight to next city site to start chopping (which will speed up the settler by 1t).

Have gotten to this situation by t40:



(since we've gotten enough money to easily research pottery straight up, clam city could well start a granary straight away and the third worker could be cottaging (or chopping towards granary) instead of mining.

[taotao]

All right, time for the penultimate episode in the series called
Opponent rankings
Ok, now we're really starting to reach the teams with a lot of potential when it comes to winning this thing. While I only have about 1/4 of the teams left to cover, I'd say we have something of 3/4 of a chance of getting our final winner from this lot. These three guys next I guess could be named something like the contenders as they're generally very strong indeed, but generally aren't as well-rounded as the final favourites.

6. Serdoa as Wang Kon (fin/pro) of England
Chances of winning:
Next door neighbour rating:
Entertainment value?: (lurkers)

I believe I laid down my thoughts on Serdoa a bit earlier in the thread? Anyway, by the look of things NobleHelium has joined S. as at least a dedlurker and that surely make these guys a force to be feared. Both players have been around for ages and know the ins and outs of this game. Both are extremely thorough when it comes to empire management and they will surely find a way to put their cheap granaries to use .
I’ve been pretty hard on the new financial trait. It coming into effect later means that it’s not as useful for supporting a quickly rexing empire, but given a wee bit of time these guys will swim in money from their cheap stock exchanges.
Regarding Serdoa I usually have three questions that need answering if he is to do well:
Will he keep interest/focus? – Likely yes, considering NH’s there
Will he manage early neighbours? - (+pro)
Will he be unconcerned enough about wonders? – Hard to say, but NH + strong contenders being ind should help.
In pb13 WLP wrote about him that “He also has a very short fuse, apparently”. Now, I haven’t seen this side myself, but this might mean that my take on him isn’t the whole truth…

5. Commodore as Suryavarman (exp/cre) of Ottomans
Chances of winning:
Next door neighbour rating:
Entertainment value?:

Narrative winner, war winner, game loser.
To me, Commodore encompasses the essence of realms beyond.
The game here isn’t about taking advantage of flaws in the AI’s design.
It’s about taking advantage of flaws in your opponents planning.
It’s about making your own plans and spreading them to the wider world.
It’s interaction.
It’s finding worthwhile causes when the world looks grim.
Historically Commodores worst opponent has been Commodore himself. From the advent of pb25 it feels like he's started to grow out of it slightly and focus more on getting a win. It will be interesting to see if that trend continues or if he'll reverse back into duel mode.

4. Gavagai as Roosewelt (ind/org) of Mali
Chances of winning:
Next door neighbour rating:
Entertainment value?:

Before the rerolls I had Dtay pegged as the one and only candidate for oracle. I’m actually far from sure Gavagai got a better re-roll than what he had, but cheap fo... mints sure are a reason to give the wonder a shot…
The real breaking point for Gav and Bacchus I believe though, is whether he can get enough land in the early race without bonuses towards it. If not, neighbours beware...
Actually, as I read more and more from these guys, the more concerned I am. Bacchus seems a bit like a CheaterHater on steroids and without the remorse, throwing jabs at anyone he can. Gavagai on the other hand is much more pragmatic: He's got a neighbour? He can't win without their land -> keep punch them until their dead. DEAD I say!

[taotao]

t8
Only moved the scout this turn.
Thought it would be a flat tile E of scouts new position, but obviously I was wrong.




That dry wheat is probably quite welcome when it comes to feeding a border city...