RB PBEM #2 - Justinian (SPOILERS!)

[Dreylin]

t49 - Writing in, CoL current estimate 14t.

Thessalonica's border expansion now allows me to work the Silks, so I decide not to whip the Galley.

Adrianople grows and starts to work the plains forest hill; Horse pasture will complete next turn.

Scout reaches the Wheat and will pop the hut next turn. Warrior disembarks onto the Stone and the Galley heads back to collect the Settler.

WB finds more jungle.

[novice]

Heh - not the most cordial chat with Krill there.

Where is your island settlement planned?

[Dreylin]

Where is your island settlement planned?

1W of the Wheat is my current plan, that nets me maximum coast with no Ocean and the most fertile tiles in the area. I don't want to push further SE until I understand more about the layout of the island and how it connects to the rest of the world.

[Dreylin]

t49 - Settler in Constantinople, start Library. (due in 4t after chop)

Settler on Galley; sails for new world. Warrior moves SE into forest, Scout pops Hut ... another map:



Whip Galley at Thessalonica.

[Dreylin]

SL has decided against war with Ruff:

Hey Dreylinian I,

Thanks for your reply. I have considered as much as is possible at present and decided that this plan was a little ambitious. I have now decided to persue a diplomatic approach to my western neighbour.

Cheers,
Sitting Bull of the Native Americans

PS - thanks for the heads up on the Barb.

And he also attached this screenshot:



Interesting to see some of the lands beyond our island.

Oops - I forgot that map was attached... consider it a freebie!

SL

Hey Sitting Bull,

Well looking at the map (thanks by the way) I can't see a good way to make a sneak attack, so I think that's probably a wise decision.

How's the World tour going, managed to reach Darrell yet? I've got a WB heading South-East, but no sign of Krill as yet.

ETA on CoL is looking somewhere around 12t, so let's talk trades once Alphabet rolls in.

Cheers,

Dreylinian I.

[Dreylin]

t50 - AKA 1000BC

Galley in Thessalonica, start Buddhist Monastery.

2Pop whip Library in Constantinople; overflow into a 1t Chariot, then a Worker.

Settler unloaded, and Galley returns to pick up the Western Worker. New Galley sets sail NW - it should link up and back down to Ruff's territory.

Scout spots a Barb and starts dodging.

[Dreylin]

t51 - Library brings CoL research down to 9t.

Found Nicaea on the new landmass; costs up to 9gpt, reasearch down to 8t (but I only have money for 3t at the moment). Scout continues to dance around the barb, and WB finds Clams & more Wheat near the South end. Still no sign of an ongoing connection though....

[Dreylin]

Interesting chat with Darrell this morning:

me: BTW, you got an ETA on Maths yet?

Darrell: according to yaz, he gets alpha in 6 turns
that gets me writing
I'll have enogh cash saved to go straight through on it
so my guess is about 6+8 turns
give or take

me: Yaz is doing Alpha as well?

Darrell: might be more, depending
yes
err...were you doing that?

me: SL

Darrell: oh
I meant SL
only SL is doing it

me: Or does he mean he'll have it from SL?

Darrell: Yaz is monarchy I believe
No, I get it from SL, his workboat just found me

me: Ah, cool
Well I should have CoL by then

Darrell: cool
might want to hit yaz up for a CoL/Monarchy trade too
if you haven't already
civil service might be something I work on soon, would you have any interest in that tech?

me: thought you were going for Currency?

Darrell: yeah, I had that down as well
can you keep a secret?

me: from whom?


Darrell: everyone in the game right now
you are far enough away
probably most people I don't mind knowing but I haven't thought it out enough

me: well, you don't know that yet....
I can keep a secret


Darrell: I plan on using my tGL GM to bulb Civil Service.
so its getting teched in parallel
early Big B and all that
brb

me: Hmmmm

Darrell: so the big reason I want to hold off other people finding out tbh is I don't want to devalue the tech due to the bonuses for spreading it around
If I setup bilateral trades up front I get more value out of my lightbulb

me: indeed

Looks like I'll have CoL before he gets to Maths, but I may have to re-think my grab for CS though. By my estimate, his Merchant should pop ~t75 if he doesn't risk contamination by accelerating, which I'm not sure I could beat with pure research ... and then there's the consideration of whether I'd want to try, or just line up a trade in advance.

[Dreylin]

t52 - Chariot out of Constantinople, Worker started.

Hmmm, it looks very much like the South end of the island doesn't have an un-aided Galley route off. There's a couple of corners that will need to be checked out to see if a well-placed city could pop borders across the gap, but it seems likely that the land is mine ... all mine! Muahahahahaha!

Ahem.

Whip the Monastery into Thessalonica & Granary into Adrianople.

[Dreylin]

t53 -

Thessalonica: Buddhist Monastery - Buddhist Missionary
Adrianople: Granary - Warrior

WB has finished de-fogging the main body of the SE landmass, and there's no Galley-route onwards. I don't think there's even the chance of a border pop opening a route since that would have to be 2-squares diagonally, which I don't think works based on Constantinople's SE expansion.

So that's good for defense & ownership purposes, but bad in a "finding everyone else" way. There is a hint of land SE of The Oval, but that'll only be reachable by SL through border expansion. So Western exploration becomes increasingly important.

Anyway, here's the map of the new landmass; I'll play around with a settlement pattern over the next few days.



Oh, one important thing to note here is that the Hut's map gave me a single tile of de-fogging further East than would be available from land ... and that is also a tile further than can be seen from the North-Eastern land spur. That may be important in circumnav ... maybe.

The Scout found himself face-to-face with the barb again at the start of this turn, and so I decide that with the whole island mapped already I'm better off retreating him bac and trying to catch up with the Westward Galley. Instead I have shipped the Chariot over; to hopefully start picking up some Barb xp towards HE level.