[Spoilers] GES, Roland & Friends (Mansa of Egypt)

[Gold Ergo Sum]

Updated sandbox: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/25875988/Sandbox...dSwordSave

I screwed something up and everything is off by a turn (and I think the tech costs aren't quite right), but the map is correct and the units are properly positioned.

[Gold Ergo Sum]

Turn 20:

Warrior finished, started on 5-turn Settler.

Another barb lion has popped.

One worker is chopping the grass hill. The other is preparing to road the plains forest, and then road the corn, allowing city #2 to settler one turn faster and also for the capital to be immediately connected to horses once the pasture is built.

Demos:

Someone is at size 4 and still isn't above us in crop yield. Interesting.


Best cities:

[Gold Ergo Sum]

Turn 21:

Found some more seafood. +1 for Gaspar.

Warrior scouting:

Demos:

One of these size four cities presumably hit size 4:

[scooter]

Settling on that plains hill for cow/gems/fish looks like a high priority. Settling on the grassland and getting those 3 is doable I suppose, though I like the plains hill better.

[Gold Ergo Sum]

I guess I should draw up an initial dotmap. I haven't been in a hurry because I want to wait for the second border pop at the capital to unfog more land.

But I do indeed plan to settle that plains hill for cow/fish/gems. Right now, that is the where my second settler will go. Third will likely go for crabs/copper, and then I will be pushing out to claim land once I have those four good city sites up.

If I had iron teched and it pops somewhere else, I might even pass on the copper site for a bit.

[Krill]

How are you going to pop the borders and when are you getting IW?

[Gold Ergo Sum]

How are you going to pop the borders and when are you getting IW?

Well, it looks like 'Henge may have already dropped based on the score increase I saw.

I want to grab a religion, preferably two, so I will probably be heading for Mysticism next, and then likely Polytheism. Chopping monuments is probably the best way early on for border pops, but I would prefer to use a missionary (or natural spread by roads) for religious pops.

Not sure on IW. Would be nice to get that gems tile up and running.

[luddite]

Well, it looks like 'Henge may have already dropped based on the score increase I saw.

I want to grab a religion, preferably two, so I will probably be heading for Mysticism next, and then likely Polytheism. Chopping monuments is probably the best way early on for border pops, but I would prefer to use a missionary (or natural spread by roads) for religious pops.

It really depends on how you dotmap it. If you settle next to the pigs then that city can wait for a random religion spread to pop it's borders. But some of the other city sites might require you to chop a monument instantly. Missionaries are probably too expensive right now, unless you get a free one.

[Gold Ergo Sum]

Turn 22:

Overview:

Made our first contact with Ranamar/Lewwyn/Seven's warrior (hereinafter referred to as RL7).

Forest chop into Settler shaves off one turn.

I finished roading the forest plains tile and will be able to road to the capital in time speed up the settler settling city #2 by one turn.

Pottery finishes. I am planning on Mysticism for this reason:

New eastern reveals:

New western reveals:

Demos:

Don't think anyone has city #2 yet, but I could be wrong. From the looks of it, surely the two size 4 cities are the CY leaders.

[Gold Ergo Sum]

Sent this diplo message:

Hello RL7:

We have met. I am not really up for any long-winded diplo, so I'll leave that for a later date.

I am not a role-player or a double-talker. I'll pretty much come out and tell you what I think. I am pretty easy to get along with as I think Seven will attest to. (BTW, what happened to this being a noob game with Seven playing?)

That said, I am simply not sure how to approach diplomacy with your team. Ranamar is a complete unknown to me. Seven is very skilled but easy to get along with. And Lewwyn seems like a war-mongering lunatic from other games. Will RL7 be a largely bi-polar entity, or will one personality win out? I just need to know so I can decide whether to war chariot rush you or not.

When my borders pop in two turns, you will be blocked by my culture from advancing your scouting any farther. Now if you want to agree to an NAP of some sort, I suppose I could sign OBs whenever one of us techs Writing. But otherwise, you should probably just turn your warrior around, as there is nowhere else for him to go.

If we are allowed screenshot exchanges already, I am down with that if you want.

GES