[SPOILERS] ARRR Ye Scurvy Dogs! Hannah the Irin

[Mardoc]

One turn closer to tech, work boat, and pirate cove upgrade. Other than that, just more info for C&D, but I'm starting to doubt I'll find the time to work on it. Still score leader, but hopefully with land points starting to kick in that'll go away by the time people can do something about it.

Since I don't have anything amusing today, go watch the Werewolves thread! We've already got conflicting claims, accusations, and potential for doom!

[Mardoc]

We are the Pirates who don't do anything

Seriously, nothing to report this turn, except the Malakim passing me as score leader (expected, as land points should have kicked in this turn).

Still no barbs or animals on the border, so my gamble to get the work boats out before the warriors seems to have paid off. Next turn work boat 2 finishes, at which point I'll stop for 2 warriors, then on to either work boat 3 or a worker.

[Selrahc]

We are the Pirates who don't do anything

I was thinking that was going to be a link to this.

[Mardoc]

I was thinking that was going to be a link to this.

That could have been appropriate, too

One advantage to the Lanun is I won't have too much trouble mining popular culture when nothing's going on in game. Just you wait...

And on a totally different note - Maksim, thanks very much for proposing Illyria as our new Erebus; one of its most noted exports in Greco-Roman times was pirates! Not that I was going to mention that detail as an argument for it where everyone could see

Finally, for something actually game-related - I think once I have the resources to send out scouts again, they'll be work boats. Lanun movement of 3, plus coastal regions are the most interesting to me anyway, plus the biggie - sea barbs are pretty much just serpents and tortoises, not the million animals that like the taste of scout. I'll eventually need land-based scouts as well, but those need to be beefier or luckier in order to actually get anywhere.

[Maksim]

And on a totally different note - Maksim, thanks very much for proposing Illyria as our new Erebus; one of its most noted exports in Greco-Roman times was pirates! Not that I was going to mention that detail as an argument for it where everyone could see

You are welcome. I did not know much of Illyria, having been introduced to them by the old board game "Advanced Civilization", but the name is pleasant-sounding enough.

[Mardoc]

She's a witch! But we can't build a bridge out of her, so we'll let her go.
Clearly the villagers are suspicious because that goblin came out of the fog this turn, but you know how villagers are when they think someone needs a lynching...
I don't think a temporary happy is worth much, to be honest, and there might be a hidden penalty to pay later.

And, with that sign of trouble, it's time to stop gambling on just one Warrior. Besides, the 2nd work boat finished, and the first one upgraded

And some more good news - with the swap away from food, now that Cap'n Crunch is up to maximum happiness, my GNP matches the Malakim's. That should only improve as my coves finish their upgrades.

Plans for tomorrow's blitz? Well, finish some warriors, build a boat and a worker and some worker techs, then see where I stand. Depending on the situation, I might be able to squeeze in a couple extra work boats for exploration before I train a settler and escort to go claim city #2.

I'd be shocked if we get in enough turns for all of that, but we'll wait and see. Regardless, I'll probably have a decent update for you all tomorrow

[Mardoc]

Ok, not as much happened as I was expecting - finished my two warriors, goblin suicided on the capital, Mysticism came in and I revolted to God King, mostly for the hammers (since as I understand it, it boosts gold, not generic commerce).

Working on a work boat and Crafting at the moment; will switch to a worker as soon as that's done, then it's time to go claim my 2nd city! And build oodles of work boats, both for city 2 and for exploration.

Both coves have now upgraded once, so they're 3/1/6 tiles at the moment, with another upgrade in store, and a lighthouse and potentially a Heron Throne on top of that. The biggest hesitancy I have in building the Heron Throne already is that's a lot of production that could otherwise go into warriors, workers, and settlers. Still, if I get to a point where I want to stop expanding for a while, the capital's a good place for the Throne, especially while I'm running God King.

[Mardoc]

Alright, time to stop fooling around with the ocean . Both coves built, the crabs netted, and three warriors to defend against the currently underwhelming barbarian threat (thank goodness!). Now it's time for a worker and crafting, to get the wines and rice online, then I'll go straight for another warrior escort and settler. Scouting can wait - grab the good sites quick and get their coves running, too!

Captain Crunch will help the new city get its coves and pearls started, though, before moving on to city 3 and some scouts.

Running God King is definitely helping out on the hammer front; takes my current maximum hammers from 7 to 11! Of course, there's no point in running maximum hammers while workering, so I reconfigured for commerce.

Techwise, I'm debating what makes most sense next. I think I either need to go for Sailing, to get lighthouses up and trade easy, or else head for bronze working so I can cut down those accursed jungles (and mining along the way for more hammers ). It's quite tempting to sneak in Message from the Deep, though; otherwise city2 will need to build a monument. All things considered, though, I think hammers are still too precious to spend on anything but workers, work boats, warriors and settlers, so I might as well head for Bronze Working. Lighthouse food can wait until I get a few happiness resources connected and can work more than just the resource tiles and coves.

The choice should get easier in the next few turns, though, when the coves upgrade again and I can run the wines tile as well; I should be able to go for 'all', hopefully.

Now, I'd better get back to my Snowball in Hell; with only a week to go, leaving the Illians in limbo on my hard drive just won't do. At least they'll still be fresh in my mind when we're allowed to discuss them

[Mardoc]

Little to report from the last turn - closer to my worker and tech. So I'll talk about my plans, instead.

The more I think about it, the more convinced I am that I need to go for Mining/Bronze working next. Education can wait; since I expect to get most of my commerce from the sea, cottages are not urgent at all. Sailing can wait, since I don't want to divert hammers to lighthouses just yet, and I have plenty of food anyway without Slavery or any other way to convert it into something useful (closest is training workers and settlers). Message from the Deep can wait as well; I'll have to build some monuments, but that's a small price at the moment.

But if I go for Mining, I get more hammers directly from my hills. Bronze working will both give my workers something to do, and hopefully give me stronger warriors and axes as well. But really, at the moment, I want to get as much horizontal expansion as I possibly can; coves are more powerful than most anything else I can do, so that's where my focus needs to be. And the way to support horizontal expansion is with soldiers and settlers, so that's where I need to go next. Ideally I can use Bronze warriors against the barbs to minimize the hammer cost of my military, while I expand like mad.

My biggest limitation on vertical growth at the moment is the happiness cap, and the best way I see to remove that limit is to go claim all those happiness resources lying around - the wines, pearls, sugar, cotton, ivory. To get those, I need Bronze working as well, since most are in jungle, and I expect guarded by barbs.

Finally, a lesson I've learned from my Snowball game (still in progress, sadly) is influencing my future thoughts as well; remind me to discuss it next week if I forget.

[DaveV]

It's hard to go wrong with bronze warriors, and chopping jungle for happiness and commerce sounds good as well. Once mining comes in, it's worth stretching a little to plant a copper-claiming city.