[Spoilers] Commodore as Darius of the HRE

[Ceiliazul]

Big news in demos:

MNG just got math... or he just got Aesthetics and an axeman. I can't tell, unfortunately.

Rana just whipped at least 5 pop (known 3 from cap)... and produced no wonders! Could be 2 settlers, I guess I have no idea what they've been doing. What bugs me most is, I can't tell if they got a tech on the turn.

[Commodore]

Huh. Awesome work...I'll need to drop a line to MNG to check it. Maths would be my guess. The nice thing about the current plan is it's not exactly screwing the growth curve if we miss it, still getting two cities and have the national epic available.

My guess for RL7 would be an alternate build ready to whip for max overflow into the GLH (or 'mids as an outside chance). The real test will be to see if something big drops next turn.

[Ceiliazul]

I have a play to fix that under expanded feeling. Congrats, Ceil, you've convinced me to postpone maths to heard directly to Literature and the GL.

It's going to be tight, and may invite some sacrifices to growth...

You are ~12 turns from researching Liturature. You need a dotmap with marble in the first ring. You need 8 to 10 worker turns to road there, before the settler is built. 7 more worker turns to build the quarry and road it. Then you need all hands on deck at the capital to chop that library into being.

You don't need a barracks in the capital, substitute another worker. Ophir builds 2 workers, then barracks then units. I like your plan for Nemedia.

Chariot in the capital goes to explore the South coast ASAP. Gotta assume no fish unless proven otherwise.

[Ceiliazul]

City 1 goes one tile further out to get the gold in range.
City 2 is the obvious red dot
City 3 is a choke and triple food site.

This doesn't include any Western cities, of course.

[Gaspar]

Had a little chat with GES, mostly just pleasant chatter to keep the phone lines open, he seems to be much more favorably disposed towards me, although I'm still waiting for his map screens. He did mention how good Org is on this map...I think city maintenance is hurting him too. His one piece of good info is that RL7 had unjungled Gems. Gaspar, your anti-Fin prejudices are showing through.

I don't have anything against FIN, I played Willem in PBEM12. I know the source of you thinking I do, but if we comment further, we'd be in spoiler territory. I will say unequivocally that I in no way considered who (person OR civ/leader) was playing at each start position. I rolled the map, edited for some balance, showed it to the lurkers, edited off their suggestions. I don't like mirrored maps, which I can say since you're all aware that your starts aren't mirrored, so you all have different bonuses and maluses. Whether that's truly balanced, I can't speak to that, the game I suppose will answer the question. I do firmly believe it's fair, if not finely balanced.

[Commodore]

I don't have anything against FIN, I played Willem in PBEM12. I know the source of you thinking I do, but if we comment further, we'd be in spoiler territory. I will say unequivocally that I in no way considered who (person OR civ/leader) was playing at each start position. I rolled the map, edited for some balance, showed it to the lurkers, edited off their suggestions. I don't like mirrored maps, which I can say since you're all aware that your starts aren't mirrored, so you all have different bonuses and maluses. Whether that's truly balanced, I can't speak to that, the game I suppose will answer the question. I do firmly believe it's fair, if not finely balanced.

Grumbling at the mapmaker is the sacred right of every player. In all seriousness, MNG and I were actually just recently taking about how much we appreciated having non-mirrored starts, and it really is okay that we're each balanced. Thanks for the work mate!

[Commodore]

Diplo time! First off, GES provided his map finally.



Nicely done. Although I'm sorry, that's a darned ugly mod. No worries about GES fighting us for the GL, Iron Working is next up for him...two jungle Gems...yes please.

Secondly, MNG responded with a challenge and the perfect opportunity to fish for information.

[COLOR="DeepSkyBlue"]Commodore--

I didn't even think about sailing! Of course, when it comes in, we should get TRs with on another, right? Off the top of my head, I believe I'm due for sailing in 3 turns. Although my lighthouses aren't cheap, I'm sure you can tell I've been whipping a lot. And with happy resources coming online now, more food will mean more whipping, so lighthouses are sure valuable.

I don't doubt your first interaction with GES was jumpy, if that was the backdrop. It seems you two really are the furthest apart. In other news, it looks like I am just across the sea from him. I have a city on the western coast, and it just popped 3rd ring borders. As part of that, it's clear that there is more coast in the bleedthrough - I assume that must be GES's east coast.

As for Yuris.. I don't have a strong read on him yet. He seems to be playing a good game but a quiet game. I'm interested in your C&D, especially since I didn't even try with this game for lack of time. For fun, what can you tell me about my opening? I'll tell you how close you are.


Until later,
MNG, Hattie of France[/COLOR]

I also realize, durp, that it's actually Ranamar's coast he's seeing "over there". So, if Ranamar is feeling cooperative, they're actually in galley range of one another.

[Commodore]

Chariot in the capital goes to explore the South coast ASAP. Gotta assume no fish unless proven otherwise.

Absolutely. Nothing can be decided until El Borak finds out what's down there.



That'll be next turn/turn after. Fortunately, nothing has to be decided until then anyway.



Meanwhile, Operation: Scout Mr. Nice Guy continues apace. I'm feeling the lack of mines here too, need about thirty more workers. Ophir will be going on worker duty as soon as its granary completes.



Cottaging is going well though, can't complain about my GNP (although someone has had an obscene spike lately).



Okay, strategic thinking time. My tech rate has been good and as long as I get the next three riverside cottages up in five turns (no problem) I should remain up there with the leaders without too much issue. So, the issue is my crop yield (decent but need more cities) and my production (has been the lowest all game). The mines/chops planned soon will help, but only if I turn that directly into growth multipliers. My soldier count is actually not that bad, it seems like even #1 (MNG?) only has slightly more than me, and I have a second chariot out in one more turn. After that, I think I'm going to try and ignore military as much as I can, with the exception of one or two axes if the barbarian city has more than warriors inside.

Instead, it's going to be granaries, workers, settlers, and libraries from here on out (at least until Currency/CoL). Farmer's Gambit time, heavily.

The techs I need are as follows, in rough order of priority:
1. Maths. Chopping needs to be more efficient to make up for the delay. Intact forests this late in the game should be leveraged as much as possible. Also, either via MNG or directly I'm going to be pumping Yuri to see what his next wonder ambitions are.
2. Aesthetics/Literature. Great Library once marble is online, naturally, but I'd also like to look at getting the National Epic sooner rather than later. It's dirt cheap with marble and if it goes into the GES-ward choke foodtopia city the culture will be awesome.

The next ones will change based on what's needed, but here's the near needs:
-Sailing. Need to get lighthouses online sooner rather than later, and Moai as an option would be nice, although I'm probably not settling the Moai site until IW/Calendar
-Construction. Cats would do wonders for my peace of mind, but this is also a priority economic tech with as many rivers as my workers have to cross.
-CoL (via Currency, most likely). Rathausai would be great, Confucianism would be nice to deny others (although if Yuri wants it, he's got it). Cheap 2-pop whip-able, dropping maintenance to nothing, boosting EP production...yeah, this is something that needs leveraging sooner rather than later.
-Calendar. Natch.
-IW. Also, Natch.
-Metal Casing-> Machinery->Engineering. With this beeline, I can probably feel safe until Curs at least.

[Ceiliazul]

Do you want to answer MNG honestly? I don't have my resources with me, will check later.

If you want the library, don't stop for math. First city settles marble, library construction starts in 12 turns. With 2 Ind civs, and yuri with Marble to boot... I don't think you can divert to math.

[Commodore]

I actually do think I want to answer MNG honestly. My ideal world has him trusting me completely, or at least enough to prefer me to the closer-than-thought RL7. That's a war I'd love to instigate.

I meant to swap to Aesthetics before ending turn, and then...didn't. Maths is first only if I get a good indication that Yuri is heading towards the GLH, Colossus, or Pyramids.