Ranamar and Lewwyn, ministers for Bismarck of Mali

[SevenSpirits]

Played turn...

Chopping both forests got us the Pyramids EOT, as well as a Great Scientist. Oh, Metal Casting came in, too. Momentous turn, you'll agree.

:2dance:

Edit: we also (presumably) finished Moai Statues up in Lorien.

And next turn we can fire a golden age and revolt to Rep, hell yes. And we can build Mints everywhere. (Except grey havens should finish its library first.)

[SevenSpirits]

I have had a vision of our tech path.

The golden age we begin next turn, plus the many free Rep beakers, will allow us to research Monotheism, Monarchy, and Feudalism in five turns. (We probably won't want to whip anything.) On the last turn of the golden age we can revolt to Vassalage and Organized Religion!

Then we get the following in some order:

* Machinery
* Guilds and Horseback Riding for Knights!
* Compass, Optics, and Astronomy for Galleons!

This should allow us to acquire some more land, I think, or at least seriously fuck with people. Additionally, we will be able to add such techs as
* Banking, for Banks and Mercantilism
* Gunpowder, for Muskets
* Construction/Engineering/Chemistry, for naval superiority, and
* Steel, for cannons and Drydocks and Ironworks
before we even need to grab that Civil Service/Paper/Education/Printing Press crap.

One factor I can't figure out from the tech thread is whether we'll actually be allowed to use our Privateers. I tried to ask in a way that does not reveal my interest.

[SevenSpirits]

My inner rules lawyer is crying. There's no evidence that MNG and/or GES had even seen that second list of rules. In order for them to "know" we were playing with them they would also have had to notice all three replies by the other players. (Two would presumably have been insufficient.)

Not to mention the fact that the three so-called "agreeing" posts say

This all sounds perfect to me

Nothing here that offends me

Most of the other suggestions are pretty good...

By my tally there is one "yes", two "don't care"s and two "didn't see"s which is a strange result to base a ruleset on. However as I am not a player I don't think I have the right to argue this, only to ask for clarification.

[Nicolae Carpathia]

Blockades are completely borked though. Corporations I'm iffier on, on settings with high maintenance, there's a real choice between fast-setup maintenance saving and a slow-setup growth boost that caps out alot higher.

[SevenSpirits]

Blockades are completely borked though. Corporations I'm iffier on, on settings with high maintenance, there's a real choice between fast-setup maintenance saving and a slow-setup growth boost that caps out alot higher.

I'm not trying to judge whether those rules are good or not. Just complaining that people didn't clearly agree one way or the other. Ambiguity and assumptions are the enemy.

[novice]

I'm not trying to judge whether those rules are good or not. Just complaining that people didn't clearly agree one way or the other. Ambiguity and assumptions are the enemy.

The setup process was very disorganized, so I suggested a more thorough ruleset for discussion. Unfortunately they read it as "this is the standard ruleset you should use."

[SevenSpirits]

The setup process was very disorganized, so I suggested a more thorough ruleset for discussion. Unfortunately they read it as "this is the standard ruleset you should use."

Yup, good effort.

[SevenSpirits]

1AD:



Golden age plus the revolt to representation almost doubles our research rate.

City overview, before ending turn:



Next turn, we can work one more scientist instead of a mine, and we'll still grow and finish the forge, both exactly.



Building a segment of the Great Wall; will need to switch next turn.



I'm not growing Osgiliath too much as it's not going to be one of our 5 biggest cities.















And here are the demographics. Neat that we are first in food as well.



We finish Monotheism this turn, Monarchy next turn, and Feudalism in two more after that. Even better than I had estimated.

Our economy improved by another 15 beakers or so after ending turn. And four cities grow next turn! Remember that we should not be whipping anything in the golden age (unless we're attacked).

One thing I didn't write down in-game: give the quarry back to Lorien. It can work it in place of that plains cottage and finish the Mint a turn sooner.

[Ranamar]

Golden age plus the revolt to representation almost doubles our research rate.

Hahahahahahahaha; that's excellent!

:2dance:

[SevenSpirits]

Played the next turn.

It was really simple. I swapped some tiles around. Things look good. Really good.