[SPOILERS] DaveV and Averax end the revels

[DaveV]

Turn 96 opened with a couple trade screens. Bob offered open borders (valueless for him, and currently worthless for me as well), then his shadow mana for ale and sheep. I accepted both offers. He's still looking like the probable next victim for TBS; he has no strategic resources and his power graph is unimpressive.





Demos show no big swings in Exports - Imports.



Good news after ending turn: another bear and a barb city want to join the cause.

[DaveV]

I'm several turns behind, but here's turn 97.




My wounded scouts are pulling back for some healing, and my zombies are preparing to run the bear gauntlet along with a worker so I can finally (!) improve those cows. TBS moved his scout to the west, but:



The bears were quick to close in. Unfortunately, this also means my worker can't safely move out into the wilderness.

[DaveV]

Turn 98. Workboat finished, Pearls improved, no pictures.

Turn 99. I'm ready to move out against the ursine menace next turn. Captured bears are heading out for dancing lessons.




TBS is back in city spam mode.

[DaveV]

Turn 100 (in record time). Empire overview:










After ending turn:





Opposition research:

TBS grabbing circumnavigation is bad news; so is open borders between Bob and TBS.

[DaveV]

Turn 101. Border pop and cultural pressure in the south give me some good visibility.

[DaveV]

Turn 102, no screenshots.

Turn 103: TBS grabs the free Great Commander from Military Strategy, and burns it on a golden age.



He has Incense and Reagents, which means he's researched Philosophy and KotE.



Turn 104: TBS builds Form of the Titan (not exactly a surprise). He's looking more and more like a runaway. Is he going to kill someone else now?

In the west, exploring scouts have found a couple cotton tiles. My next city may be switched to a location that grab those guys for +1 happy, if I can find any food in the area.




In the north, I position my scout for visibility over the northern approach to my territory.




Nothing happening at the moment; in fact, the units that were exploring my territory seem to be headed toward Bob.

I've built the new city of As You Like It. It has three very nice tiles to work, and can work a bunch of coast tiles eventually.




TBS is flashing a shaman in Grey Wind (to the south of Zbolub).

[DaveV]

Turn 105:

TBS decides my friendship is not worth having:



In the west, I found some food.




Turn 106:

Still playing dodge the bear in the west.




In the south, a disturbing buildup.

[DaveV]

Turn 107. I stacked up my units to fend off the bears.




... and was only partially successful.




Note the settler 2NW of the stack. He'll be settling for Cotton on turn 110.

Since I'm first to Trade, I guess I have to do a tech analysis.



TBS:
Has Knowledge of the Ether, Military Strategy, Mysticism, Philosophy, Warfare.
Lacks Festivals, Trade, Writing.

superjm:
Has Code of Laws, Divination, Knowledge of the Ether, Masonry, Mysticism, Sorcery, Sanitation.
Lacks Cartography, Festivals, Fishing, Sailing, Trade.

Bobchillingworth:
Has Code of Laws, Drama, Masonry, Sanitation, Warfare.
Lacks Cartography, Trade.

I am waaay behind. Creative GNP is misleading: who knew?

It's shaping up to be an interesting game; I don't think there are any easy victims left for TBS, and we appear to be going in four different directions for strategy.

[DaveV]

Turn 108. TBS is still piling up units in Grey Wind. Since he doesn't have Construction, he's three moves away from my city.




Lurker question: every time I think I have trade figured out, I'm wrong. I have trade with all of TBS's cities, but none of Bob's. I'm sure I have a connection to him, since the trade arrows popped up after I ended turn and discovered Sailing.



I'm missing out on something like 9 commerce because of having internal trade instead of foreign routes. I noticed after I researched Trade that my routes to Bob didn't happen; I was hoping the new turn processing would take care of it. I think I remember Seven posting about forcing trade route recalculation; I offered Bob my fish for his corn and a map trade to try to make that happen.

[DaveV]

Turn 109. A real "in your face" plant by Bob. This can't be TBS's main army.




Turn 110. In the north, I've found several wounded TBS units. Conclusion: he's declared war on the barbs and is scooping up their cities.




Reinforced by this shot:




That silk tile just south of "Philosophy" is still showing barbarian culture, while the tile to its southeast shows Doviello culture. Contrast with the turn 104 shot, where everything up to the crabs is barb culture. So yeah, the tile showing Doviello culture is the city center, and it's still in revolt.

Two new cities in the south, and the barbs are moving to attack TBS.




If he's forfeited his barb immunity, pumping the AC looks a lot more attractive.