[SPOILERS] Isabella of Carthage, starring Ellimist, SleepingMoogle, and Nicolae

[Ellimist]

So... Now that we've pretty much corrected for that little blunder, we can resume our previous levels of insanity.

Noble and I also agreed to swap missionaries by T126. He got a free spread of Hindu so he'd like Confu. He also sent an email this morning asking that we settle/gift all 3 cities at once since he no longer anticipates any delay with the third settler. That's fine with me, the settlers are nearly in position already and we won't have to transport them home.

I really doubt Kuro is going to make a move on us unilaterally. His power rating is quite low and last turn I confirmed that two of his cities have just one defender. I let him get to me earlier, but it's silly to hold a grudge over minor stuff; I've done worse to him than he has to me. We'll defend from his direction (just in case) but an actual conflict may or may not be desireable for awhile. At the very least let's fill in some overdue city sites and go nuts with workers and work boats first.

Calendar, compass, and aesthetics are all pretty attractive soon. Construction would be nice for road movement if nothing else.

The final 2 filler sites on the home island can be settled whenever it's convenient. Both Sirius and Canopus can profitably work the coast tiles now if a new city wants to use some of the shared land.

Arcturus is going to be pretty busy whipping for awhile. I plan to get more galleys, triremes, and the rest of the required workboats in addition to infrastructure. We'll switch to caste when the civics timer allows it and pop borders in the new cities.

[regoarrarr]

So I've been trying to figure out why I can be such a jerk to players that I consider to be friends(NH). The best explanation I can come up with is that I used to play a lot of RISK face to face with my friends(especially my church youth group) while in highschool. The way we played it, RISK is a ruthless game. The first time I found out I had trusted the wrong person, it was tough. Before long, I realized that it was just the way that the game was, and it was foolish to look at things deeper than that. Eventually, we all knew which players were the most likely to lie or betray, but even then, the situation was sometimes such that they should be trusted anyway. I learned that even if I knew someone would not betray me, it was still foolish to leave myself exposed.

Now, I know Civilization is not RISK. But some of the basic principals of trust and cooperation are similar, and there's only one winner at the end of either game. I guess within that context, an "anything I can get away with within the rules" mentality takes over for me. Eventually, one person/team is going to win and everybody else isn't.

Yeah I have similar feelings, but with Diplomacy instead of Risk, and it's been interesting weighing that mentality that I came in with, with the way that MP Civ is played, especially in PB/ PBEM games (as opposed to FFA CTON), and especially in how RB seems to typically play

[Ellimist]

So I played the turn last night and gifted the three cities. I'm still waiting on the turn today.

Both Kuro and NH were going to be hard to please with the other one backing them up, which is the only thing that makes sense for why Kuro was hostile and completely unwilling to make any deals whatsoever. I really would have preferred to work out something a bit less extreme with Kuro, but he made it very clear he wasn't interested in negotiating, period. Now that NH owns so much of the center island, I don't know how Kuro will react.

NH has a settler right now, able to be gifted in four more turns, with another one coming two turns later and the third the turn after that. That's the timeline, but as we learned earlier with the WB thing, that team isn't great with deadlines. I fully expect to have to pressure them to make good on this timetable.

I'm definitely wondering how we're going to end up beating them. We're going to have to expand and develop so quickly to make up for their current lead. However, I feel like I didn't really have a choice. I estimate we'd have had to defend from two directions at around T110, and that would have made the new cities far too expensive for far too long. In a way, Kuro kinda forced us into it. I definitely wouldn't have included the southern gifted city if I wasn't concerned about him.

I think we're going to have to invade Kuro, but the actual best time to do this is unclear. I'd like to take Harappan first, before the citystarts building guerilla longbows. I don't know the mechanics of it, but one option that might work is to squeeze in a city 2W of Harappan(we'd have to flip the tile first) and use a great artist(music) to flip the city. I don't know if this would be more efficient than just using military.

Now that we're (almost) past this little episode, it's easy to see how it could have been done (much) better. There was no reason we couldn't have used our first 2 settlers in "our" corner, then quickly expand to the others. I guess I expected the other players to put more of a focus on it. Then I totally failed on the diplo in a dozen ways, and Noble ends up getting the same benefits we do while we bear all the costs. I really really wish things had gone better with Kuro. Planting Vega first and where I did was probably the main reason he became so intractable.

I guess all this really just reflects on this being my first multiplayer BtS game. It definitely is showing me things that I can improve on. It's hard to see how trying to be both trustworthy and untrustworthy at the same time could have ended well.

[Ellimist]

Kuro still hasn't gotten the turn yet, but maybe we can influence his reaction to what he'll see when he does.

[COLOR="DarkOrange"]A few turns ago, we were certain we were about to be attacked from two directions at once, and we came to you to try and make a deal to avoid this. I was feeling desperate, and willing to offer major concessions, but you were uninterested. In fact, you were completely unwilling to accept even "no-strings-attached" gifts.

At the time, I considered the Elementals team to be the favorites to win, and my preference was to forge a deal of some sort with you so that they would have less incentive to break their NAP with us, giving time to prepare proper defenses on the border with them. After we failed to accomplish anything in negotiations with you, we had to go to them instead. I can't disclose the details of our arrangement with them, but I think it's fair to say that they now have a nearly insurmountable advantage over the rest of us.

I tried bargaining with you first, but now all my bargaining chips have been spent with someone else. So I guess you have to make a choice. You can attack me, but I'll be able to focus my forces exclusively on you, and they won't be staying on my side of our border. No matter who actually "wins" such a conflict, it will inevitably result in the Elementals team running away with the game. They have good odds to do this already, being the only industrious team with a tech advantage and the map's only source of stone and zero sources of marble existing.

If you disagree with my assessment, then feel free to hand the game to them. Perhaps, though, you will pursue an alternative outcome.

Ellimist[/COLOR]

[SleepingMoogle]

Alright, now that PBEM18 is finished, I can invest more time again into this one. I'll need to do some catching up, but in the meantime feel free to bounce ideas off of me.

[Ellimist]

Due to Jkaen/Ioan holding the save for the past 97 hours, I've had extensive time to consider each of our prospective city sites, as well as learn quite a bit more about astronomy than I thought I would during a game of Civilization.
I'll try to add an assessment of our existing cities and mainland sites tomorrow.

[SIZE="4"]Vega:[/SIZE]

Vega is one of the brightest(after Sirius and Arcturus) and most studied stars. Its name comes from a loose translation from Arabic of the word landing/swooping(of an eagle/vulture). It is part of the constellation Lyra, and is one of the nearest stars to our own, at a distance of 25 light years.[SPOILER]

Vega was probably not the best island city site to found first. It would also have been better to found it one tile east of its present location, but at the time I was unaware of the banana/incense. Even so, the city has 10 coastal tiles, 5 hills, gems, silk, and a fish. It will be a decent production city, well positioned to eventually control the southern half of the surrounding sea. In the short term, the fish will be netted on T104, and the city can grow to size 2 at eot106. Once the workers reach the city, their main priority will be the gems tile. Most of the city's initial growth will go to coast tiles, and a lighthouse will probably be rushed as soon as possible after the granary.
Vega has plenty of decent land for cottaging, but has a comparative advantage in production due to the number of hills. As a result, the city will probably focus on hammers somewhat for for construction of ships and other projects. [SIZE="4"]Antares:[/SIZE]

Antares is the fifteenth brightest star in the sky, and is located in the constellation Scorpius very near to the celestial equator. It is a red supergiant type of star, and has a distinct reddish color that can be detected without optical assistance. In mythology, Antares was thought to be the rival to Mars.

Antares will be quite a valuable city, with significant available commerce and sufficient food for rapid growth and eventually specialists. In the short term, our workers will put a high initial priority on Antares, especially focusing on hooking up the silver, deer and dye tiles. Antares has access to 10 coastal tiles, but I expect to eventually contest approximately half of these with cities yet to be founded by Kuro. Ultimately the strength of the city is commerce; it will be average in both food and production.

[SIZE="4"]Fomalhaut:[/SIZE]

The name Fomalhaut means "the mouth of the southern fish" and is derived from Arabic. Located in the Piscis Austrini constellation, it is one of the brightest stars in the sky. It can be seen low in the southern sky from the northern hemisphere in the mornings of fall and winter. It rises when Antares sets and sets when Sirius rises.

Fomalhaut is remarkable as a city site mostly due to its ridiculous abundance of seafood resources. With a lighthouse, the city can achieve a food surplus of 15 at size four. Very little early worker labor will be required for this city, thanks to its reliance on seafood. Hammers won't be a major concern either for the city, which should eventually have four grassland hill mines and a grass-forest-hill-deer.
This city is a very obvious choice for our National Epic. It will share 3 of the food resources with other cities, but when we want to produce extreme levels of GPPs, this city can deliver.

[SIZE="4"]Alphecca:[/SIZE]

Alphecca is actually a binary system consisting of two stars orbiting each other. The name Alphecca refers to the "broken ring" of stars in the Corona Borealis constellation. Alphecca has had several alternative names in different cultures, including Gemma(Latin for "jewel") and Asteroth("star of the crown of Knossos"). All of these names seem appropriate for this city, due to it's location and resources.

Of our central island cities, Alphecca is the most defensible due to a hill site and restricted naval access. Unfortunately, it is also the nearest to our existing cities, especially Arcturus, so this will probably be relatively unimportant. It has fantastic terrain and resources, and is a strong candidate for being one of our three legendary cities if we go for a culture victory. Due to the city's relatively low exposure to coastal tiles, more worker turns will be required to fully develop the city. Ultimately, the city lacks a single defined purpose, but will be strongest on commerce due to cottages and luxuries.

[/SPOILER]

[Commodore]

Gliese (581) needs a nod, I'm just saying. Not bright or notable, except for holding an almost Sol-size rocky planetary system.

[Ellimist]

Gliese (581) needs a nod, I'm just saying. Not bright or notable, except for holding an almost Sol-size rocky planetary system.

I'll make sure to use it for one of our less notable sites, perhaps the filler site between Sirius, Pollux and Denebola. Or possibly the clams filler site southwest of Pollux.

I've tried to keep a rough correlation between the cities and what they were named. There have been some mistakes(Pollux means "much wine"), but most sites have had a connection of some sort to their given name.

[Ellimist]

Okay, here's the rest of our prospective cities. This does not include some planned filler sites. I'll try to get to our six remaining existing cities soon.

[SIZE="4"]Castor:[/SIZE]

Castor and Pollux were known as the "heavenly twins" and give the constellation Gemini its name. Castor is the second brightest star in the constellation Gemini, after Pollux. The Chinese recognize Castor as "Yin" which is, according to the Chinese, one of the two fundamental principles. Castor is actually a system of six individual stars gravitationally bound to each other, and is about fifty light years away from Earth.[SPOILER]

Castor will have significant overlap with its "twin" city of Pollux, sharing six tiles between them. In addition to those, Castor claims three floodplains for itself along with iron, horse, and wheat. Castor was an alternative site considered for Regulus, and will be a very good city once it's improved.
A settler is already in place to settle Castor within the next couple turns. There is significant worker labor required to get the city up and running, and our workers will start on this immediately. This site is a potential site for Oxford, having access to 13 flatland tiles we can use for cottages and five production tiles we can use to build it. [SIZE="4"]Polaris:[/SIZE]

Polaris is actually a solar system containing four very small stars in orbit around a fifth star. Polaris is currently 0.7 degrees away from being directly over the Earth's northern pole, and as a result, it has been very important for navigation throughout history.

Polaris is the northern city on our border with the Elementals. I'd like to settle this city very soon, probably with one of the three settlers we get from the Elementals soon. The 2 easternmost forests will be chopped by the Elementals if we don't get to them first.
Polaris will have decent food and commerce, mostly thanks to having fish/corn and being coastal. If we plan to put National Park in Betelgeuse, we won't be chopping 5 of Polaris's 9 forests. This city is pretty unremarkable overall, the main advantage I see it having that some cities don't is the double food bonuses, so maybe we'll push some specialists out of it as well.

[SIZE="4"]Betelgeuse:[/SIZE]

Betelgeuse is a red supergiant star, and is one of the largest and brightest(#8) stars known to astronomy. Even though it is believed to be a relatively young, about 10 million years old, it is expected to explode as a supernova at some point within the next million years. Betelgeuse is the "shoulder" of the constellation Orion.

Betelgeuse will form the "center" of our border with the Elementals. It isn't a bad city, but it overlaps 9 of its 21 BFC tiles with other cities. I'd like to settle it relatively late, actually, and leave the eleven forests unchopped. This would make it quite a good place for our National Park. If we did this, we could even make it into a legendary culture city due to all the free specialists. That's a relatively long way off, though. Until then, we'll be able to get some nice cottages up and running. If we don't go that route, we'll probably just cottage the rest of it too.

[SIZE="4"]Bellatrix:[/SIZE]

Bellatrix is Latin for "female warrior," and is located in the constellation Orion. It is the third brightest star of Orion and is the "shoulder" of the arm of Orion that holds his bow.

Bellatrix will serve as an important shipyard city, as it has better production tiles than Arcturus and is conveniently located to support the rest of the inner ring coastal cities. It will also be a "second line" city of our border with Kuro, and will probably be a staging point if we are preparing for a war with him. The city has very little(two) jungle to clear, and shares two of three resources with other planned city sites. We'll want to invest considerable worker labor into the site to get some cottages online relatively quickly.

[SIZE="4"]Rasalas:[/SIZE]

Rasalas is located in the constellation Leo and is known as the "lion's head". It is approximately 133 light years from Earth.

Rasalas is not a very high priority to found quickly, as it has 2 peaks and significant overlap with other cities(12 tiles). It will be something of a "filler" city, but is still relatively notable due to its access to many resources, including exclusive access to two silk resources.
Rasalas won't require extensive worker labor, due to only having four cottageable tiles, one mine, and two silk resources to improve. Rasalas will also have access to plenty of coastal tiles, especially if Fomalhaut focuses on specialists.

[SIZE="4"]Mintaka:[/SIZE]

Mintaka is the western of the three stars that make up "Orion's belt". Orion is visible from both hemispheres, and the "belt" stars are some of the easiest stars to locate. Astrologers consider Mintaka to bring good fortune.

Mintaka will be one of our border cities with Kuro, located on the western coast of the donut near the equator. It will contest access to a sugar and banana resource with Kuro's city of Tavros Nitram, and will also require extensive worker labor for to clear large amounts of jungle. The site sits on a hill and has access to fresh water as well as seven water tiles.
Overall, the city is nothing special and will mostly be significant for defensive purposes. I haven't decided on the priority for settling this site yet.

[SIZE="4"]Alnilam:[/SIZE]

Alnilam is in the center of the three stars of Orion's belt, and its name comes from the Arabic for "belt". It is a blue supergiant, and is located approximately 1300 light years away from Earth.

Alnilam will be the center city of our border with Kuro. It sits on a river and is adjacent to four luxury resources, 2 sugar and 2 spice. The city will be relatively good for commerce, but will probably have some of its southern BFC contested by Kuro cities. The site is heavily jungled and will require extensive worker labor to remove. I don't think we really have the option of waiting to found this city, as it will have vision on potential Kuro invasion forces.

[/SPOILER]

[Commodore]

Um, Alnilam is one of the nicest food-bonus sites I've ever seen. Sugar is 4 food and spices are 3.