[Spoilers] Commodore as Washington of the Mongols

[Commodore]

More thrilling scout action, now with more LoS-blocking forests! What else to say, really? Interesting, sorta, that the jungle line is a little below my scout, with fogged palm trees in the lower right corner of the shot.



Demos show nobody did anything weird. Mack's Creative borders have popped already. Any C&D guesses on techs?



Okay, this is time for ded-lurker screaming. With my worker, I'll be farming the wheat first, naturally, while probably growing on a warrior...or, I could make a second worker immediately and research pottery, then grow on a 5-turn granary. Slow building, sure, but that's a strong early food situation, and I'd be tempted to go immediately to a warrior-settler.

Need to sim to see if the traditional slavery first route is better.

[Commodore]

Right, so simulation. In any case, the first thing that happens is I finish the wheat farm at T9, nothing else produces better results. Going a second worker immediately gives me two very bored workers, no surprise. I do like the pottery-first approach, though, as with two prerequisites the tech finishes the same time that my scout or warrior does (debatable, I like to meet people early, but having a warrior hanging around for security is nice).



After pottery comes in I sink a few hammers into a granary and then do a lightning-fast second worker once the deer camp finishes and I grow to size 3. Then I grow one more (actually could swap to the forested plains hill to finish the granary, but no point to that when I'm using foodhammers) and build a settler, while the workers, having just finished the fp cottage in time for the new citizen, road to the new settlement site.



After this point my micro began to falter, but I was able to push out a turn 26 Stonehenge at the capital, and the snow was balling along contentedly.



The BW route got my first settler out 2 turns earlier, a 1-turn chop, actually, and had an extra worker, but then I was actually falling behind as the lack of early granary began to slow down the whipping cycles, and research was notably laggier for not working the fp cottage until T25.



Interesting stuff, still. I'm loving the high happy cap here, and once whipping does start in the pottery-first route, it's scary-efficient.

[Commodore]

The theme today is "sarcastic food sources". But first, demos, showing a radical change in all the stats, as everyone else in the game does the same dang thing as last turn. Wagers on next turn? (If someone went monument, scout, or warrior first, they'd grow next turn).



Down south, we have plains cows and dry rice, the tempters. Not terrible, but I'd have to farm stuff additional if there's no seafood.



Likewise, please be near clams, fish, or crabs...



3/3/0 tiles! Whee!

[Commodore]

Ah, now a desert hill gold tile is tempting in the early game, massive commerce at such an early time is hard to resist. However, usually it's also a fool's errand, sacrificing critical early growth for the short-term gain of techs.



Desert incense, on the other hand, will not tempt me at all. Beyond that, nothing to report here. Pressed "enter" with great vim and vigor.

[Commodore]

So, y'know how I said that thing yesterday about gold?



I'll take it. Interestingly enough, 1NE of the scout picks up the rice, incense, cows, sheep, and gold...all at second-ring border pop. I need a more clearly superior second-city site. Eh, it'll be 4 turns for a warrior after the worker completes, he'll scout the probably less contested westward way.



Only other news this turn is a sad lack of news. None of my rivals show any clear indications of As everyone is teching sane worker techs and building their workers. Gaspar and I will finish our workers at EoT next turn and show a swap to the Oasis, while TT and Mack will wait one more turn.



Like a freaking mirror match in chess. And I go last. Keshik rushing out of boredom sounds really nice right now.

[Commodore]

Now we're talkin'. Jungled dry rice, that's the stuff there man. I think the scout is at the halfway point between me and my southern neighbor. If it's TT, definitely gunboat diplomacy to grab this area. If its Gaspar, more subtlety will be needed, but I'm sure he'd be willing to dicker for the area. If it's Mackoti...I should probably just prepare for war. Nicely isolated by the peaks, at least.



Same old, same old, on the demo front. I take it from the numbers that TT and Mack also got Agriculture this turn, while Gaspar's more advanced tech should come in next turn.



Uneventful turns, all, but at least clipping along at a decent rate.



Check out that heavenly cottage land though. Bureau all the way baby.

[Commodore]

Well, I now know how to farm things, like wheat.



...and in about 240 years, my farmers can actually make a farm.



300 years until my city grows and I get a warrior out.



Hey guess what! It's a mirror map. Lovely. Also, I need to settle one of those middle plains hills.



Demos are still unenlightening. Not %100 sure what Gaspar's doing here, maybe pumping out a second worker or a fast settler?



Contact in, around the same time as the farm getting finished.

[Ceiliazul]

Criminy, I didn't realize this game had started! Not done catching up, but looking forward to seeing your grand plan unfold.

[Commodore]

Criminy, I didn't realize this game had started! Not done catching up, but looking forward to seeing your grand plan unfold.

Not much to get caught up on yet, fortunately. It's only turn 8, not much happening on any front, particularly. Here's the demos:



And here's more map that looks like my side of the map, just mirrored.



Only one mystery...what's with Gaspar's score?

[Ceiliazul]

Well, without looking at the saves, Gaspar is working an expensive tech like AH or BW right out of the gate. The others got score bumps from tech, he hasn't cashed in yet.