[Spoilers] Commodore as Darius of the HRE

[Ceiliazul]

I'm honestly a little confused as well, is it possible something caused score drops at the same time as he founded?

I'm confident that he whipped the settler, due to timing. As I look back at the timing, there were like 5 turns between the whip and the founding... not enough for him to have built somthing else though. He shouldn't have sent the settler that far afield... maybe he needed a choke city against Yuri's holy city culture on the other side. That's a completely wild guess, but it might explain the timing AND a bit of border overlap would explain the low tile count.

Regarding missionary spread... what's in it for you? You aret going to have a Great Prophet for a looong time, so you get nothing except tiny espionage bonus. He gets more culture and more happy. If you give him a missionary, get something back for it (gold?)

[Commodore]

Okay, first of all, no worries at all about me giving up a missionary for free. I'll be flexible with payment (a worker, gold, an axe or something), as long as we come out of it roughly even in hammers. I do want him hooked on Hinduism over Buddhism, though, so I'm not going to push hard for more than just a hammer exchange. I'm defogged nicely for trade routes as soon as one of us gets sailing, so I'm hoping for free spreads.

I kind of hope Yuri's pressuring him. With GES's worrisome aggressive stance my next couple units will be shifting down towards the SE choke. In no circumstances do I want to wage active war with anyone right now...but if I'd missed out both religions I'd been pushing for, had a strong early UU and was feeling wedged northwards by another strong UU force...well, it'd still be dumb to attack, but I can't trust that'll stop him.

Diplo aside, the weekend went off more or less as expected, first with Monotheism dropping and a free Hinduism spread to the capital.



Another worker came in and then it was time to double revolt to OR/Slavery.



It's fairly obvious why Krull made GES nervous, he was about to plant a city to seal off the area.



Thanks to a double-whip of Aquilonia's granary (overflow to 1-turn worker), I'm the lowest in score for now. demos show my sad, sad production and nice fast tech rate.



Still in all, doing okay...three cities will all grow in two turns.

[Ceiliazul]

Kudos on the whip micro, sounds great. The demos look just fine, especially with growth in 2 turns.

I'd like to see some defenders in Mono first. France is more dangerous than Egypt. It's not just the distance either: if MNG really did walk a settler all the way to the choke, that shows aggression at the cost of efficiency. (How much is the maint on that city??) Also, getting that chariot into MNG land needs to happen soon, or may not happen at all. For now, I trust GES's words are honest, and will not translate into power projection half a world away.

A final thought, I think you have to adopt Judaism, even if that takes longer to spread in the capital. Culture in Mono will be necessary for strong borders with MNG. Ophir is a backline city, not even coastal. The benefits will continue if you ever do get around to building the Temple of Solomon. You have Mono tagged as a commerce city. Ophir will be a production center. If you gotta build a missionary in Mono, I think it's still the way to go.

As always, free ideas to take or ignore,

-ceil

[Commodore]

Don't worry, I won't always agree but you're not going to get ignored. (Although what's a Mono? Nemedia is confused). It's unit builds for the next few turns so deciding on religion can wait still, you're very much right about Judaism though. Hrm...if I have to squeeze a missionary in, then I do. Need to start thinking about when city #4 gets pushed, I'm thinking "red dot" to keep maintenance low/help mature capital cottages. Once Writing is in a Library needs to be weaved in to start working on a Great Scientist.

I neglected to show, I am pushing the chariot up the choke, barb risks aside:



Yeah, only city nearby is that barb city. If MNG is pushing someone, it's Yuri. Which, now that I think about it...

During the blitz (ish) session last night Yuri held the save for a full hour. He popped up in chat, apologetic about the delay, citing "if he just gets back to me with negotiations". Now, he wasn't specified, but if it was MNG...that'd be pretty sweet.

Also, I'm a little more reassured after chatting for a few minutes with GES and sending him the screen shot of our landbridge.



It was funny, he went from mildly bellicose to "damn, that's a long way away". Next we're talking future clam/crab and gem/sugar trades.

[Ceiliazul]

Superb turn of events with GES.

MNG just planted city number 4, costing him an instant ~12 gold per turn. And in keeping with the norm, it claimed only 4 squares. It's another cramped coastal city. I'm really at a loss... His city sizes are 3, 3, 2, 1

As I think about it, maybe there's a simpler explanation. Maybe he's filling in between his capital and far-flung city #3. I'm piling assumptions on top of assumptions here, looking forward to getting a chariot's eye view of the land.

I suspect Rana is far along his push to get the GLH. He is the one with a size 5 2nd city, and we already know it's coastal. If MNG is doing some kind of fishing village spam in hopes of landing GLH, it won't end well.

In world news, no one is gearing up for war. If Yuri is feeling defensive, it hasn't showed up in the demos.

Do me a favor, throw your spy points all on GES starting asap.

[Ceiliazul]

Check that barb E of Ophir. Get that warrior done or pull the worker back.

Also, a workboat in Nemedia is better than slowbuilding a granary.

[Commodore]

Aha, yeah, I was keeping an eye on him. He moving into the borders now?

This is a low-impact turn if you'd like to play it, I'll be at work for another four hours or so. EPs are already on GES, we cross-messaged each other agreeing to limit to 43 for graphs. Everyone is growing, only orders would be:
Chariot (Solomon Kane) N towards MNG.
Krull the Meek NE/towards spoke (might have been bounced by GES founding).
Worker done -> chariot in Aquilonia,
Worker in Aquilonia E (roading towards red dot)
Worker team S of Nemedia roads.
Worker near Ophir puts 1turn into cottage (W if barbarian looks threatening)
Shift Nemedia to a work boat (should have done that last turn, d'oh).

Up to you, Ceiliazul, don't mind if you'd prefer not to either.

[Ceiliazul]

I opened the save, but didn't play it. GES was an unkind host, bouncing Krull into a peninsular prison. We can ask for OB in 2 turns.



The barb entered your borders near Ophir, but not threatening your worker. It can move to the dyes farm in 2 turns. Worker can partial build a cottage. The warrior in Ophir will finish next turn and easily defend the city with +25, +25, +40 defense.



I didn't send the turn because I want to make Gaspar chop these woods, completing the work boat in 3 turns. I want the sheep worker to move to the hill and road next turn. Gaspar will complete the chop and immediately mine the copper. This will speed copper access by one turn total, and speed growth in Nemedia by a lot more.



Do you want me to build the road, or chop the forest?

[Commodore]

Okay, might as well move Krull 1SW to see what he can see. The Ophir worker can cottage, might actually tempt the barb to head south too, which is nice.

Hrm, go ahead and chop for the faster work boat, but move the sheep worker down to where Gaspar is to drop the chop even faster. Then the copper will auto hook up even sooner as that riverside plain tile gets roaded...hooking the sheep and the copper up the same turn due to river networking.

[Ceiliazul]

Hrm, go ahead and chop for the faster work boat, but move the sheep worker down to where Gaspar is to drop the chop even faster. Then the copper will auto hook up even sooner as that riverside plain tile gets roaded...hooking the sheep and the copper up the same turn due to river networking.

You don't have river trade routes yet. (sailing tech) I confirmed that limitation with a sim this morning.