RB PBEM #2 - Justinian (SPOILERS!)

[Dreylin]

t14 - yep, dead-end to the NE.

[Dreylin]

t15 - Constantinople to Size3; I try to work out a way to get to Size4 and complete Workboat at same time, but that would require a total of 33 food/hammers and each turn is producing 8. I'll MM to get max hammer overflow into the next build ... a Worker.

Warrior has returned to SW border; with plenty of space under the Happy cap, I'll send it SW for a little while until the Scout catches up. The NE Warrior will eventually return to garrison the city, and since 3rd ring is about to pop, I have plenty of warning if a hostile show up.

[Dreylin]

t16 - Mining completes, Bronze Working dialed up and due in 8t.

Switch the tiles so Growth in 3t, WB in 4t.

[Dreylin]

t17 - tum-te-tum.

[Dreylin]

Long-ish chat with Yaz this evening; he was pretty cagey, but I gleaned some info without giving away more than I got:

yazilliclick: Hey, have you met anybody else yet in PBEM2?

me: that would be telling ...

yazilliclick: lol
So it's going to be like that eh? :P

me: well, what are you offering for the info?

you show me yours, I'll show you mine?

yazilliclick: haha sure
you go first though

me: You don't trust me!?
I have a public reputation y'know!
but OK
Yeah, I've met someone
you?

yazilliclick: Yeah I've met someone too.

me: sharing the same island, or across the seas?

yazilliclick: sharing same island. You?

me: same
surprised me; I thought we'd pretty-much all have our own digs

yazilliclick: Yeah, everybody pretty much thought that and laughed when I wanted a NAP :P
What turn did you meet on?

me: Er
<goes to consult thread>
turn5
you?

yazilliclick: wow that's early. Turn 8, their warrior found my city (not unit to unit)

me: we went unit-unit
and both turned around!

yazilliclick: Yeah I figured, otherwise that'd be scary haha

me: yeah
you got Workboats out yet, or still land-based exploration?
(oh, and I guess we're pretty-much guaranteed not to have met the same person)

yazilliclick: no workboat out yet. went worker first. you?
I'd be surprised if we had.

me: started with 2 bad techs; worker would just have sat
Warrior - WB start for me
but improving seafood
nothing exploring navaly yet

yazilliclick: yeah no big rush to try and explore the seas
I went worker then figured I better get a warrior heh

me: you started with Hunting?

yazilliclick: yeah

me: but decent Worker techs, at least?
(better than Wheel & Myst, at least!)

yazilliclick: agri & hunting
So better worker techs yeah.

me: Oh yeah, much!
at least you must have got a grain resource (or an AH) to go Worker first ... /speculates rampantly

yazilliclick: Have rice

me: could be better

yazilliclick: Also clams, lots of clams around.

me: You've guessed I went Fishing first

yazilliclick: Yeah

me: yeah, they seem to be common, don't they!
luxury of being the only Myst ... didn't have to chase religin straight off

yazilliclick: haha yeah
Congrats on budhism btw

me: ty

yazilliclick: Think darrell is going poly -> judaism
At least that's what he told me. don't know how much I trust anybody quite yet :P I've caught a few lies hehe

me: really
I haven't talked to anyone enough for that, I guess!

yazilliclick: I haven't had too much contact except with my island partner but enough obviously.

me: I've not had much contact with anyone tbh
trying to get some breathing space to consider the game before getting tied down into deals....

yazilliclick: Yeah I got that impression as every other time I talked to you you said you're not making deals yet. That or you're just very sneaky

me: Nope, not at all sneaky
... at least that' not my rep, right?

yazilliclick: I don't know. You could just be REALLY good at being sneaky

me: heh
used RBPBEM1 to set myself up as "honest Andy" just so I can use that to my advantage later.... :D

yazilliclick: A true mastermind. Thought so hehe
I think this game is going to be crazy keeping track of tech trading deals with no restrictions.

me: heh, that's a part of why I haven't made any yet
... although that opens me up to being left behind, of course

yazilliclick: Well I can tell you everybody has already made tech deals.
Whether they stand up when it comes time to trade who knows.

me: first it depends on everyone finding each other
before the tech deal becomes obsolete
this is Quick speed

yazilliclick: Yeah. Lot of ifs. I was caught off guard by being asked so early.

me: me too ... I just had the "sense" to say no!

yazilliclick: I didn't want to be left behind, just in case. So I promised something.

me: Monarchy, right?

yazilliclick: yeah
I still don't even know for sure when I'll have it. Too many what-ifs between now and then.

me: It seems a very odd choice
given you know that I have a head-start down that line
and Darrell is going for Judaism

yazilliclick: Think I told you before, it was only puzzle piece left in the puzzle.

me: ah
so the trades have gone /that/ far

yazilliclick: Apparently.
As I said though, who knows how they hold up when it comes time.

me: tbh, I don't expect to have met at least one person
by the time trading can start

yazilliclick: Between when they were agreed to and time to trade people will have founded their first and maybe second cities, met a bunch of extra players, seen other resources they may want/need etc..

me: and don't really want to be tied to waiting for other iyswim
sure

So everyone seems to have lined up their piece of the first round of trading ... seems like maybe that Oracle run is a good idea after all - Priest points for a Shrine, and a juicy tech for trading ... I would think MC myself.

[pocketbeetle]

So everyone seems to have lined up their piece of the first round of trading ... seems like maybe that Oracle run is a good idea after all - Priest points for a Shrine, and a juicy tech for trading ... I would think MC myself.

Sounds like a plan!
Would that mean heading to BW after mining so you can chop?
Only downside then is that the cows stay unused for quite a while.

Thanks for the screenies by the way, always nice to get a feel for where the 2nd city could go.

[Dreylin]

Sounds like a plan!
Would that mean heading to BW after mining so you can chop?
Only downside then is that the cows stay unused for quite a while.

Thanks for the screenies by the way, always nice to get a feel for where the 2nd city could go.

Yep BW underway already; due in 5-6t iirc. Tech path after that would obviously need to include both Priesthood & Pottery, but I may have a chance to slip in Agri-AH before Pottery.

Again it's possible that I will be able to ride my "only Civ with Myst" benefit to allow me to delay grabbing the Oracle a bit. I should get some warning of someone approaching Priesthood since they are most likely to go through Polytheism and thus I'd get a "Hindu-warning".

As far as builds go, I'm expecting to go Worker after the second WB, followed by whipping/chopping out a Settler and (hopefully) a second Worker before going for Oracle.

I might have to sim up a start as I did in PBEM1 so that I can plan out the possibilities....

[Dreylin]

t18 - Eeeep, Bears!

[Dreylin]

t19 - Bears lost!

Warrior promotes C1 (1.2/2h) and moves SW into forest.

SW Warrior reaches forest Hill South of Desert ... he'll hang out on that hill fogbusting at least until the Scout has passed by - due in ~3t.

[Dreylin]

I had a message from Square Leg waiting for me:

Hi Dreylinian I,

I hope this PBEM is causing you less stress than the 1st one at the moment! ;-)

I was looking at doing a dot map of what I have scouted so far and was wondering if you would be happy to discuss a few map issues. We met at a thin strip of desert, that strip is where I am thinking our natural border is likely to form, nice that there doesn't appear to be too much of interest there apart from maybe some desert oil down the line. Obviously you know that my warrior turned around and started to head home after we met, as I know yours did, certainly initially anyway, I assume to scout more city sites and to not show hostility.

Are you in agreement with me that the desert area is a nice boundary between our two nations?

I'd also like to raise the issue of tech trading again. I have some deals potentially penciled in however, i don't want to neglect you as my neighbour and potential religious friend. Have you had any further thoughts about where you might be heading in the tech tree? I am heading towards Alphabet and would be willing to trade for it.

As a gesture of goodwill I would like to share some information I have established about the map. It would appear that not only do we share an island but also Darrell and Krill share an island. I would hazard a guess that Ruff and Yaz are also neighbours.

Cheers,
Sitting Bull of the Native Americans

PS: Did moving your capital get a much better site?

Interesting stuff about the island-sharing, and of course I can confirm from chatting with Yaz that he's sharing an island as well.

In principle the desert as dividing line idea is sound, but there's really not a whole lot of decent space on my side of it and I haven't seen much on his side so have no idea whether I'd be handing him free rein to a huge tract of land by agreeing. Of course now I have to refuse another proposal without making it seem like I'm lining myself up to either make a Settler or armed grab for a site beyond....

Hey Sitting Bull,

I was actually chatting with Yaz about the game the other day and he mentioned that he was sharing an island ... though was coy about who the other party was. I guess things are pretty equal in that respect.

Still no firm long-term tech plans; I'm letting circumstances dictate my immediate path and then will assess once I've met a few more people. Knowing you're grabbing Alphabet at least means we'll have the ability to trade even if we don't meet anyone else for a while!

In principle the desert would form a natural boundary between us, but there's really only space for a couple of cities on my side of it before it slips into Tundra and Ice. I'd much rather have a better idea of the full lay of the land between us before signing a border agreement, if you don't mind.

I've just moved a Warrior onto the forest hill South of the desert, but he's not planning to move any further. Mostly he's acting as a fogbuster for a Scout I have following a few turns behind. My intention is for the Scout to head on exploring while the Warrior moves back to a closer fogbusting site. It shouldn't be long before I have enough map knowledge to fully discuss a formalisation of our borders, and in the meantime, you're welcome to send an explorer of your own North. Hopefully we can both have de-fogged the land between us by the time Sailing and Writing have come in so we can immediatley get our Trade Routes going.

Oh, and yeah I think my Cap got substantially better from being moved ... otherwise I probably wouldn't have done it! 9-)

Dreylinian I.