RB PBEM #2 - Justinian (SPOILERS!)

[Dreylin]

t62 - OK, let's find Ruff's WB...

aaand we have contact!



Let's check the EPs; OK, so I easily have visibility into Lords (with Buddhism), and can just see The Oval, and am 4EPs off seeing into Trent Bridge. Well once he starts spreading Buddhism into the other cities I'll be getting visibility on them, so there's no real need to keep running EPs against him. Switch to targetting Ruff.

Settler reaches Copper-site, joining Missionary & Warrior guard; found next turn. Exploration WB is back in borders and will reach the Fish in 6t ... right when the borders of the new city expand ... and I wish I could say that it was intended!

Spread Confucianism into Constantinople - an extra Temple won't hurt, and neither will the ability to switch religions without losing the happiness.

I also notice that SL has popped his first GS ... PHI coming into play already.

[Dreylin]

t63 -

Thessalonica: Missionary - Temple

Missionary gets on the new Galley, and will land next to Nicaea next turn. Adrian doesn't really need a border pop anytime soon.

More contact:



I consult the techs he has available and can't see Maths yet, but can see IW & Poly (which I need from Krill) and Aesthetics (which I need from Ruff). I send him a trade request in-game for those techs with the following note:

Hey Darrell, good to finally meet you in-game
I see you don't have Maths quite yet, but if I give you CoL now, could I ask you to pass it on to Ruff and Krill for the following techs:
Krill: Iron Working & Polytheism
Ruff: Aesthetics
Cheers!

That would sort out my pre-req problems!

Antioch is founded next to the Copper. Buddhism is added straight away, and a Worker starts mining the Copper. WB started; with the city working the plains forest hill, it will complete in 5t ... coinciding with the border pop.

[Dreylin]

t64 - trades with/through Darrell have gone through.

He offers Open Borders, but I don't think I'll accept for now; don't need to give him the extra trade route income until I get some in exchange. And another offer; this time Masonry for Meditation. I reject this as well since I'm due Masonry from Yaz.

Constantinople: Chariot - Settler

Dial up SL and request Masonry (with a note about my trade with Yaz), then take a look around for Iron...

Well it looks like Blue Dot my have some use after all - Iron is 3N of Adrianople, and 2E of Blue.

SL's is 3N1W of The Oval ... would have fit nicely with a city grabbing those Clams he ceded to Antioch. Nothing else in sight, unfortunately.

The new Chariot heads to Thessalonica for future barb-suppression duty in the NW. Fudd is still working on de-fogging the remaining corners of the island, and has yet to spot any more Barbs.

NW Galley is back onto the main landmass, though still several turns NW of Thessa. Scout is now waiting at the far Western end for the Galley to catch up ... still 3 more turns before that happens and we can start to explore to the West.

Nicaea's Worker has completed a second cottage and will start to road towards the Stone. Completion of the road should coincide with the border expansion, which is now due in 6t - the missionary will arrive to spread next turn.

I also change my mind and send one further turn of EPs at SL. It will give me visibility on Trent Bridge, but also allows me to investigate Lords.

Oh, and I nearly forgot to switch techs to Drama. I'll push my research levels up in a couple of turns when I have sufficient gold stored for the run.

Drat! Can't take Currency from SL without either Alphabet or Maths so I need to get Darrell's Maths ETA ... 4t <sigh> maybe I'll see if I can cut a deal with SL for Alphabet after all.

[Dreylin]

t65 - blurry-eyed and barely awake.

... at least there are no new builds to worry about!

infact, not much of anything requiring thought: spread Buddhism to Nicaea, Fudd de-fogs another corner, Workers do their thing and explorers do the same.

Oh, there's a Barb NW of Thessalonica - a few turns out, but spotted by my returning Galley. I send the NW Chariot out to suppress.

EPs back onto Ruff now I can see Trent Bridge. I can also look into Lords ... it's exciting. Looks like he's whipped a Settler and the overflow is going into a Granary.

[Dreylin]

Negotiations with Darrell over our planned CS trade:

Darrell: Maths in

me: Ah nice

Darrell: I decided construction next

me: OK
Drama for me

Darrell: Cool
I owe you maths+mono?
To square us up for col

me: yep

Darrell: Ok...offered OB in game (again)

me: Yeah, about that
not going to accept until I can see your territory
and get my own trade routes

Darrell: Ill send you a screenshot

me: 'cos you need the routes for your GL

Darrell: Oh
True

me: it's a little one-sided right now
and I don't like you /that/ much yet

Darrell: Ok...I'll try not to take it personal :-P

me: Well if you gave me a discount on CS, I could see my way to helping out....

Darrell: Hmm...what kind of discount?

me: Hmmm, dunno

Darrell: What's drama's cost?

me: 300 iirc
CS is 850-ish, right?

Darrell: Yeah
Drama+compass+game long peace time OB?

me: Sounds like a decent deal

Darrell: Okay...you plan on compass next?

me: after Drama, that's the plan
CS is 800

Darrell: Compass is?

me: Compass is 400
So basically it's 700 - 800
but trading when discovered

Darrell: Ok

me: and game-long OB to give you the extra TRs
Drama's looking like ~10t
but will go down once I get Currency in

Darrell: Hmm
Hmm
Hmm
Stupid phone

me: Hmmm?
ah, doesn't anyone use their laptop anymore!?

Darrell: What about mercantilism?

me: Hmmm
well you're unlikely to go there, right?

Darrell: More worried about you

me: yeah, understand
How about this:
once Merc is available, I'll guarantee to spend ~1/2 the time out of it

Darrell: That might work out. The other issue is I'm fronting you CS for a long time, and apparently we aren't good friends yet :-P

me:
I'll be fronting you trade routes
5+ intercontinental, foriegn routes

Darrell: Not really since yaz blocks the coastal route

me: oh really?

Darrell: Yup

me: You don't have routes to SL?

Darrell: No intercont for me right now

me: that sucks

Darrell: For me it does

me: You're looking at CS around t75-ish?

Darrell: Sounds about right

me: (based on tGL build date & no contamination)
so I'll have Drama ~then

Darrell: Compass is more interesting to me
Would you swap the order?

me: For a good friend...
Sure

Darrell: Done deal then

me: OK, to summarise:

Darrell: +2 diplo bonus for trade relations

me: CS for Compass & Drama
*All ASAP after discovery
I research Compass first
guaranteed OB during Peacetime
When Merc is available, I'll spend ~1/2 time out of it

Darrell: And merc 50% of the time (which is vague enough to be abused but ill trust you)
Yeah that's it

me: SPI is good, but I don't want to be held to a strict 5t swapping routine
so appreciate the flexibility

Darrell: Very reasonable

me: with standard no-trade/broker clauses on all techs

Darrell: Yup definitely

me: Cool
So now we wait for Krill's shift to end...

Darrell: Yeah sucks to work 24HR on a weekend

me: indeed

Well I suspect that he got the better half of that deal with the guaranteed peactime OBs, but I plan to have a lot of cities and will need the trade-route income myself. The big concession on my part was switching from Drama to Compass; putting off access to the happiness boost from Hippodromes will be a bit of a pain, but with Monarchy coming in soon-ish I can build a bunch of MP Warriors to see me through for a while. As for Mercantilism, well I'm not entirely certain that I'll want to be running that civic at all - 2 foriegn intercontinental trade routes might quite easily pay for the benefits of a specialist.

[Dreylin]

Note from SL about my trade with Yaz:

Hi Both,

I cannot send CoL to Yaz due him lacking writing. I am happy to send this next turn enabling the trade so long as Yaz trades me monarchy for Alphabet as previously planned. Otherwise Yaz will need to research writing before I can send CoL.

Cheers,
Sitting Bull of the Native Americans

and a follow-up chat with Yaz (just to make sure he saw it):

me: Hey Yaz, you saw SL's note?

yazilliclick: hmm?

me: about you needing Writing

yazilliclick: About the trade?

me: yeah

yazilliclick: yeah I requested writing from him

me: cool

[Dreylin]

I also realised last night that I've got a Settler about to complete and I don't know where he's going yet! So I spent a productive morning dotmapping.

Here's the on-island option out East:


Will net a few new resources, but requires a border pop to pick them up. It also has little production potential, so is probably best left for later.

Here's the off-island option out West:


Again this will need a border pop in order to pick up the resources, but at least it has a decent production potential from the plains hills. Definitely a good spot, but I'll want to have a missionary on-hand to go with the Settler. Also since there's no link across to the SW Ivory islands, there's no rush to settle.

So the remaining choices are on the SE landmass and its few food resources. First thing to look at is the Southern corner with the Clams:


Those are the three spots (other than the Wheat) which can net the Clams. I've looked at this area for a while, and think that Red is really the only option. Yes it picks up 6tiles of Ocean, but it also maximises the production potential available in the area - White Dot sits on the only hill on the entire island, and Orange sits on a plains forest.

The Northern city is a pretty easy fit, but the middle city is a bit more problematic. I've got two options in mind which have their benefits:



Dark Blue lies on the coast, but has no access to a food resource; while Light Blue has access to the Northern Wheat and maximises use of the grasslands, but has no access to the coast.

Actually on reflection, maybe 1E of Dark Blue is the better option - no difference in coastal tiles or grasslands and picks up access to the Southern Wheat in exchange for an ocean tile. Something to consider at least, but I'm going to hold off the middle site until I have a better Workforce to cut it out of the Jungle.

So the new Settler will be heading for either Green or Red; and that will depend on when I can scare up a guard for the city and mobilise a Worker to put down the necessary Farm....

[Twinkletoes89]

As you posted in my thread, here is my reply! ;-)

Liking the dotmaps, but they need more 'authentic' lines :-p

Also, shameless spam means that there is another clue in my thread!

[Dreylin]

As you posted in my thread, here is my reply! ;-)

Liking the dotmaps, but they need more 'authentic' lines :-p

Also, shameless spam means that there is another clue in my thread!

I'll take the lines under advisement ... and I'll be right over.

[Dreylin]

SL gets in touch on a couple of issues:

Hi Dreylin,

I met Krill last turn meaning I have the full set! Yay!

I haven't heard from yaz yet regarding what is going on with the trades. Will he be getting writing from me do you know or researching it himself?

I would also be keen on getting a settler from you if that is possible? Since Alphabet has been traded around a bit now I would settle for 1 settler for Alphabet. Would that be of interest?

I notice that you ep's are racking up on me now - can you see into my cities yet? Must be able to see research? Now that you have met Ruff - could you please not send any more my way? I'd rather not have you peeking into my cities and criticising my play in your thread! ha ha - no - It's more that I lose visibility on your graphs if you send much more.

All the best,
Sitting Bull of the Native Americans

Hey SL,

Congrats on reaching the full set!

I met Ruff & Darrell a few turns ago, but still have Yaz and Krill to finish off the group. I did ping Yaz yesterday about your note; he said that the deal was a go, and that you should expect to see a request for Writing once you get the game.

As far as EPs go, I have stopped sending them against you now and am now working on getting Ruff & Darrell's graphs. I do have visibility on a couple of your cities, since both Buddhism and active trade routes give a discount (I think). I shouldn't worry about my critiquing your builds; I'm sure there's enough weed going on on my part!

Your Alphabet - Settler offer certainly is intriguing. Give me another turn or so to consider the offer and review my plans and in-game builds, but I think there's a reasonable chance I'll accept.

BTW, I gather that Darrell has just completed Maths, so by the time the game has gone around again I should have it as well. If you could offer me Currency on your turn, it would be most appreciated.

Cheers,

Dreylin.

Well I had been thinking that my recent Settler build should have been a Worker instead, and now I have another option for putting that Settler to use. OTOH, I'm not sure exactly what use Alphabet will be to me, nor how much time it would take me to research the tech myself. I'll want to check whether Ruff has picked up Alpha yet, and also what my research time would be.