[Spoilers] Commodore as Washington of the Mongols

[Ceiliazul]

Is that water visible to the far East full of salt? If so, perhaps you're in the NE corner of a box.

If that's true, the scout should go SE, S to the grass hill, then run West in a zig zag pattern... for example on flat ground NW,NW,SW,SW explores 7 more tiles than going 4W... and you might get a view of the dead center. The mapmaker obviously doesn't mind supercharged central battlegrounds, check out that center asap.

ETA: The center could be a watery donut-hole, but we gotta know!

ETA: upon further research, I note you noted a notable salty smell on the East Wind. So nix that question...

[Ceiliazul]

I like your warrior build a lot, as well as the pottery tech.

Mining and BW next? That bare plains/hill tile is crying out for a mineral, is it not?

[Commodore]

Well it's an inner sea script, so the center is watery, and the rim is probably all water too, which means navies will still have some value, for all that horse units will be more important most of the time.

Mining and BW next? That bare plains/hill tile is crying out for a mineral, is it not?

Currently, yeah, the plan is Mining and BW, unless I see a sheep or pig near-west that screams "settle me". I'm actually a little annoyed, there's no amazing second city site that jumps out at me. A 5 or 6 food tile would be really nice.

I suspect the bare hill is copper, and I wouldn't be surprised if a similar suspicion is also why Gaspar is heading for early Bronze Working...a 0/6/1 tile this early can pump a lot of workers and settlers.

Iron Working is also an earlier-than usual priority, thanks to the jungled rices being my nearest pure food tiles. Still behind Mysticism, AH, probably fishing, and maybe Archery/Horseback Riding though.

[Ceiliazul]

there's no amazing second city site that jumps out at me.

You haven't done much scouting immedately around the cap to determine that yet... gaspar/mackoti's warrior can't be at your cap before t17 (if the map is square), so maybe your warrior can do a quick scouting lap before he needs to do guard duty.

[Commodore]

You haven't done much scouting immedately around the cap to determine that yet... gaspar/mackoti's warrior can't be at your cap before t17 (if the map is square), so maybe your warrior can do a quick scouting lap before he needs to do guard duty.

Oh, definitely. That's actually one other nice thing, I'm currently able to work the forested plains hill for 5hpt, or a 2-turn warrior at need. Once I grow to four (which I want to ASAP, for the four very nice tiles around me), I can squeeze out 10hpt in an emergency situation. Rushing is not going to be very strong on this map.

I'll be scouting W/NW, as it's all salt to the east...I'm sure Bob would give me at least some seafood there, but fishing is a yucky early tech, and sailing is needed to make those lighthouse-accessible lakes into worthwhile 3/0/2 tiles. Not to mention the nastiness of settling into the corner.

Barbs are on and the difficulty is Monarch, so once warriors appear I'll want to have at least a warrior in each city.

*fake edit. It'd be really nice to get a ger and keshik out early for barb hunting, as that's an insanely early Heroic Epic unlock.

[Commodore]

Hum-de-dum, pretty nice little turn here. Finished my farm, so Manticore grew at EOT, and it'll grow again in three (!) turns if I want. Need to decide if I want to bang out a second worker or a warrior as I encamp the deer.



Finally, the demos are showing significant differentiation as Mackoti snags another tech and Gaspar finally grabs Bronze Working. I expect that to pay off dividends for him. Mack, obviously, picks up hunting for that lovely forested hill deer.



Oh. Yeah. There was one other thing...

Mwuhahaha!



Gentlemen, we have our keshik victim. I'm going to want to work with Mr. Cheap Settlers closely on our borders, letting him settle cities that fit my dotmap well. Maybe the lower plains hill in gold valley, certainly out towards whomever is to his left. This should be a fun hand to play. If he's willing to give me huge concessions, I might even let him tech to the false security of landsknechts and rathousi.

So sent this to TT, hopefully it's fairly friendly and balanced. I really don't want him to be jumpy, but at the same time I'm holding a whip hand here and he's got to know his combination looks juicy to a warmonger.

[COLOR="DarkOrange"]Hey TT,

My scout, after a harrowing and long journey through scorching deserts and between chilling peaks, has finally come in sight of the fabled yellow borders of the Holy Roman Empire. I send greetings and a "how's it going". You're my first contact, you seen anyone else out here?

Right now I'm just plugging cheerfully along, farming and camping (three cheers for a hunting start, eh?), but I'm sure there will be a lot to discuss later on and I look forward to working with you here. As the AI would say, "let there be peace in our time". I don't like big long NAPs, but if you want me to steer clear of your borders or sign a quick 10-turner for reassurances, I'll be happy to veer aside/sign one, just let me know.

Hope things are going well in the south-right corner pocket,
-Commodore[/COLOR]

Yeah, I know it's not brown, but brown is annoying to read on black backgrounds, so I'll be orange for these things.

[Commodore]

As an aside, Ceil, would you be able to play a few turns this weekend? My wife and I are going camping/whitewater rafting with some friends, so needless to say, I'll be out of the loop Friday/Saturday/most of Sunday.

[Ceiliazul]

I'll be out of town too, Thurs to most of Sun. Def next time.

As an aside, Ceil, would you be able to play a few turns this weekend? My wife and I are going camping/whitewater rafting with some friends, so needless to say, I'll be out of the loop Friday/Saturday/most of Sunday.

[Commodore]

I'm sure Gaspar and I are seeing this this turn.



Gaspar's double-worker-ing to chop stuff, I'm willing to bet. The rest of us grew this turn.



Demos tell me...something, when I'm less sleepy I'll translate.



One neat side effect of a mirror map...I'll be scouting my W/SW by scouting TT's W/NW. Here's to some corn or pigs or something.



Easy turns still rolling along.

[yuris125]

I can play turns for your this weekend if you leave instructions. I didn't read other threads (yet?), so I'm not spoiled or anything