[spoilers] Commodore and Dtay are Sitting Bull of Inca, somehow.

[Commodore]

Colossus (104h x1.75=182h from chops)

Is that a RtR change? I thought copper was a doubler, not a +50%.

Yeah, all wonder-doublers are now just wonder-plus-fifty-percenters.

Honestly, this Colossus build is pretty slow but if we get scooped it's fine, just means we have a forge built in a hammer city and had some efficient wealth. Gavagai would be the top contender for MC as well but given he is Exp Carthage he's got better motives to build the Great Lighthouse. Which is really close:

Colossus+forge=264 base hammers
Great lighthouse+mundane one=260 base hammers

I think we'd prefer the Colossus, given global hegemonies aren't usually invited to Open Borders parties.

[Krill]

SP was the forgotten one, it's fixed now, and this was originally a ToW change. I'm just a playground bully, stealing everything I can from Seven.

[Commodore]

Colossus (104h x1.75=182h from chops)

Is that a RtR change? I thought copper was a doubler, not a +50%.

Ya, RtR change. All resource doublers were changed to +50%. Actually if I remember correctly there was one wonder or something they forgot to switch, but I forget which one and Krill might have fixed it.

Is it the sweaty pizza? Because if we get 100% on that with our gold we need to seriously consider it.

Versailles needs to have its base cost cut given the marble nerf, as an aside.

Edit:

SP was the forgotten one, it's fixed now, and this was originally a ToW change. I'm just a playground bully, stealing everything I can from Seven.

Crap. Well, that's out. Don't think we'll want it with only +50% build bonus given a Philo bulb is undoubtedly on the roadmap somewhere.

[Commodore]

Thank you sir RNG! Another free spread! A little more like this and we might actually adopt Hinduism at some point. I still have my doubts about the utility of a shrine, though, to be perfectly honest. We'll just see, of course. Meanwhile, we keep truckin' and enjoying more luxuries than Brahma himself enjoys.

Moai Warhorse will be pretty much teh bomb.

...and then the economy goes and gets a nice shot in the arm in the form of another IC-TR. Angelmass isn't ever going to be amazing, but along with Soulminder (in the farther future when deer can be split) we're talking about two mines and three workshops plus (Colossus?) coast, nothing to scoff at. Terrace is chopped in next turn, then other forest goes into half a lighthouse. A thoroughly okayish city, but it'll be bled for a knight or three when the time comes.

About five turns later than this should have been. Bad Commodore! No cookie!

Fuzzy, cheerful dotmap plans in the big western island hit just a bit of a snag with the grim sight of blue Zulu borders in the fog. That's nasty, and a real failure on HAK's part to not claim that side. I swiftly made plans to dump a couple chariots out of the fog onto Joey-boy's lap...

...except immediately after that turn, on this turn, Joey made contact with an impi. No chariot overruns here!

We absolutely do not care to be on good terms with Genghis PMS of the Zulu. He's squatting on a whooping ten cities already paying only 60% maintenance on them (Agg+ikhanda), he's clearly made aggressive claims and has room to backfill, and he's got bulliable neighbors aplenty. I'd still peg Gavagai as our game's Final Boss (Retep is the First Bossfight, rest are goombas), but Joey will certainly be the Penultimate Boss. And that fight can often be the trickiest, particularly with naval mechanics added to the mix. We are going to wrest two cities from that island if at all possible, Pro archers behind walls will await those impi.

Old Harry, brace for much weeping and gnashing of teeth when Joey sees all our luxuries, and even more when whales hook in next turn.

[Commodore]

Apparently we're holding for a little while whilst retep unembuggers his computer. Meanwhile, we can chew on retep's move here:

Little buddy, that's close enough to be considered a might unfriendly in most cultures...particularly given the city claims denadda in and of itself. The world is getting less and less friendly as it rapidly gets full...we need it for knights anyway, let's make HBR the next tech on our roadmap, eh?

[Mardoc]

He's coming to steal your mountains? When you've already got 2nd ring, it's hard to see how he'll get much more than 1st ring. Even if Terraces are nerfed.

[dtay]

Yeah idk why retro is doing that. He doesn't take anything important from us, it costs him snowball wise, and if anything opens up another alpha-strike point for us that he has to guard against. Very weird. All this for... Pretty much just visibility from the mountains? I can't think of much else. But that visibility won't stop an attack from the fog post engineering anyway...

[Commodore]

Well, it covers his six if he intends to mass and hit us...

Caste rush->Great Artist bomb? Maybe he's just happy-locked at his capital and wants a slaving slave.

Whatever the reason, it's a grim portent of running out of room over there.

[Commodore]

So...kind of a good news, weird news, uncomfortable news turn:
-GermanJoey and HAK are fighting and Joey is in a hissy fit about it (via tech thread and post volume)!
-Retep didn't settle. His axe and spear remain where they were but his settler is disappeared back into the ether.
-Elkad is (clumsily?) advancing; contents of that galley's hold remain unknown.
Weird game. After this screenshot, I changed Deadman's to an archer (no lost turns on forge whip) for insurance and shuffled an axe/spear into Cascade-covering range. One thing I hadn't mentioned before; Blackcollar is sinking hammers into a trireme as it grows right now; I think we'll be glad to have some extra naval muscle out here before long. No clue what Elkad wants, but we can't trust anyone here. Sad news, this probably does mean the considered quick settle on the western island might be on hold a bit. We endure, and as of EoT we're only six techs to knights.

The map is quite viable, and if played well each start is winnable from. But the starts' difficulties range from HAK's Warlord to Joey's Deity. We're on Immortal, Retep's is Noble, Elkad's is Prince.

[Commodore]

Yeah I officially don't even, y'all. Latest theory is that Elkad is rounding the horn in his galley to settle the wines spot here but he's also already got a land connection so I have officially no clue anymore. Except apparently we're as bad at this “claim land” thingy as HAK is and the western island is getting split between Joey and Elkad. Okay, I guess.

Joey, who is weeping bitter tears off in my PBEM 64 thread, still apparently Not A Happy Camper.

Iron working in! We've got a single source of iron, located between Cobra and Triplet so that's very nice for them. Most of us have one easy source and a contestable something or other, but please note with extreme interest the locations of iron out east in Azteca. Hrm...

Of course, this being RBmod Retep's ivory gives him a decent knight counter as it is, but that'll crimp his own knight style unless he can beat up on DZAI.