[SPOILERS] Four Score & Seven Dynasties Ago: Pindicator plays Lincoln of China

[pindicator]

Turn 007

Switched back to a worker, and our warrior is heading north. Our scout found a wolf, so I ended the turn on a forest and across a river. The land continues to look lush, and even more intriguing is the marble. Do I make a stab at the Oracle now?

[pindicator]

Turn 008

Out of curiosity, what's the least amount of gold you can get from a hut?



My scout survived the wolf's attack, but was damaged down to 0.6 health.

[pindicator]

Turn 009

[pindicator]

I've let this slide to the bottom of the reporting list! But fear not, this is not neglect... there just has been nothing to tell! In fact, I haven't moved my units until lately due to need of healing. But now...



12 turns in and I have still not met anybody else. Nor have I finished a tech, leaving me as one of 3 civs left that do not have a technology. I blame all those trees. But what advantage this brings is security of a worker-first start. (Most people seem to have gone worker first anyway, but at least I am free of harassment.) My warrior spies the direct route from the north, and my scout has only just moved from the east to wander northward and see more of the world. He was rewarded by popping my 4th goody hut, and my best yet: this held 49g. Yes, I bet someone got in 1 hut what I've garnered from three, but that's the beauty of this game! I also spotted a 5th hut, but not one I will be able to collect any time soon -- especially if I go with my fishing-free bulb strategy.

I must be happening upon someone sooner rather than later. People were expected to have 120 - 150 tiles per the map description and I have uncovered well over that amount already. Probably they went in other directions. But maybe the peak tiles are not counted in that amount (I hope not!)

Notice that lake tile in the north? Because this is a "fun" game, I have half a mind to find a way to get a settler on that plains forest NE of it. Not sure you can peek the fog in that screenshot so well, but it is entirely surrounded by peaks save for that lake. The solution is to plant a city 1 off the coast and put forts connecting from the ocean, but I wont be able to do that for some time. And it involves planting 1 off the coast when I have a clam tile right there. Decisions, decisions...

In the meantime, what little mental effort I put in this game has gone towards demographics:



And that's hardly any at all. All I've managed to deduce is that ASM popped Archery from his hut back on turn 1. At first I believed his Fishing post, and that meant Meiz had to have gotten Bronze Working in order to reach 14k top soldiers. But then Meiz grew to size 2 and top soldiers stayed pat, so I know Meiz didn't pop BW! Thus, ASM must have popped Archery. Nobody else had the pre-req or the needed soldier points for either.

Or people have lost warriors and messed with my C&D. But meh, I'm happy just tracking the number of technologies and total population for now.

[pindicator]

Turn 013

Barbarians!



I also ventured the warrior north a tile and he spotted some more nice land, as well as more wine. I don't know if it's worth sending him farther out with barbarians abroad. Maybe better to just spawn-bust with him.

[pindicator]

Turn 014

The picture-free edition!

Worker has finished, and it is farming the first corn. We're going to build a warrior and grow to size 2, then if I still haven't met anybody else I'll build another worker at 2. My northern warrior is still healing, and the scout is still traveling...

[pindicator]

Turn 015

We have contact!



A lion appeared next to my injured scout, so I knew I had to move him. The first step gave me contact with SleepingMoogle! I thought about moving SE to try to throw him off that I came from the northwest instead of the southwest, or to go northwest to move away from his sight. But Northwest was hilly and towards where I had seen a barbarian earlier, and southeast would have been near a coin-flip against the lion. So we're out in the open where he can see us.

I like that I found SleepingMoogle here. With all the desert and peaks between us he has little incentive to expand in my direction. I'm going to try to move the scout around to the south now and find if there is a neighbor along the tundra.

[pindicator]

Turn 016

I wasn't planning on showing another picture of the scout, but then he went and found another hut while running from the lion.



Last time I complain about 25g. What am I going to give him for promotions? Either Medic 1 or Woods2, I think. Or better, I'll just save them for a specific moment. But it'd be nice to get this guy to level 3 and unlock Heroic this early.

Just in case you missed the public player thread, here are the relevant posts:

Well met, SleepingMoogle! My scout is breathless and winded after being chased by a wild animal to your borders. I would ask for safe passage, but I do not wish to bring the beast into your lands, so I will pass and lead him away.

Yes, I'm intentionally being ignorant again as obviously the lion cannot enter SleepingMoogle's territory. More for flavor reasons than anything else; I'm not being tricky, just trying to tell a story.

Pin, I'm on Moogle's borders. Did you meet me? Which direction on the borders are you?

Have not met you yet, but my scout is circling around the southern side of Moogle's borders. Am I meeting a fellow friendly scout or a bounty-hunting warrior?

Well, I decided it's better to be nice and friendly to Lewwyn than to be dodgy and act suspicious. His bounty system will make him untrustworthy (if anybody can be trustworthy in a AW game), but perhaps being nice can help keep my bounty low. I really hope Lewwyn's capital isn't south of SleepingMoogle; I'd rather not border him.

[pindicator]

Turn 018

We met Lewwyn!



And even more interesting, the south of this land seems to be very narrow. More good news: if there is nobody east of me and south of SleepingMoogle, I could have an easier time than most as far as defending goes. I'm tempted to send my scout around south and try to find any huts that may be in the fog, but I think it's better to venture north and try to find more contacts. Need to get as big a Known Civs bonus as early as possible.

Back home...



The first farm is finished and we're growing with a warrior. I am going to grow to size 3 before starting my 2nd worker: if I do a worker at size 2, that will only come out a turn earlier, and I want to get some more warriors down for fog-busting barbarians as well as getting some early notice on when other players come wandering my direction.

I've also been rethinking this whole crazy-bulb plan. I'm not going to go for Oracle; I think that marble is a bit of a red herring: it'll be a poor city with either clams or un-irrigated rice for food. Instead I'm considering a run straight for Mathematics and try for an early Hanging Gardens. No, I will not expand like crazy to get as much population as I can: I'm only interested in the Great Engineer points. We'll couple that with a forge from Metal Casting and then bulb Machinery. Or if Pyramids are still around I may just grab that.

What I would do after is what I've been noodling most: Do I run a pair of scientists and aim for a quick engineering as I planned before? Perhaps I could run off another Engineer first and save him, then time a GS to come out shortly after. As long as I stay away from Fishing & Monarchy I could then use the GS to bulb Engineering, and then use the GE to bulb most of Civil Service. But that doesn't seem like a huge pay-off, and waiting for 3 great people (even as Phi) may not make it much of a time-saver.

Another option is to get a GM after the 2nd GE, and bulb along the bottom of the tech tree: after Currency I'd go Monarchy -> Feudalism -> Guilds -> Banking. The idea would be defense from Longbows, offense from Knights, and economy with Mercantilism & banks. Oh well, still time to decide, but I'm leaning slightly towards this plan, even though the first bulb plan has the appeal of being the most unique.

Next turn: do we have bronze nearby?

[pindicator]

Turn 019

Yay!



Now I need to redo my micro plans. I'm probably going to be whipping less with copper, or at least whipping from 5->3 instead of 4->2