[SPOILERS] MNG as Hattie of France

[Mr. Nice Guy]

And finally, the diplo with Yuris:

Hi MNG,

We didn't talk in a while, so just wanted to send a quick message. We
met Ranamar a couple of turns ago; his Warrior is currently going
through our territory, enjoying soothing music our radiostations are
playing. He should arrive at your borders in 5 to 10 turns

How are things going in France, any interesting developments?

Best regards
yuris125, Music Director of Radioland

And my reply:

Hi yuris,

I'm glad to hear you guys have started making more contacts, good for you

Because you have met someone else now, we have assigned our full EPs to you. If you do not allocate any EPs toward us we should get your graphs in a couple turns at which point we'll move our EPs off of you.

We actually met Ranamar in the far east this turn, and believe we'll meet GES in a couple more turns. I know that Commodore is heading north to meet you at this very moment. He should be making contact in roughly 7 turns.

There haven't been any big developments in France. Well no, there has been one - we had a barb city settle down to our SW. It sounds like Commodore has also had a barb city sprout up. It's nothing that our military can't handle,, but still is a bit of a nuissance.

Until later,
MNG, Hattie of France

I get a bad reading off of yuris. Maybe I've just developed an aversion to the roleplaying. But whatever it is, it just doesn't work well for me. It makes me think that Commodore and I will wind up in something of an alliance long term, if only because it's easier for me to communicate with him and I'd rather tie myself to someone I can communicate with. Just a thought.

[Mr. Nice Guy]

In news from today's turns:

*5th settler produced, and now two turns from settling.
*Met GES. I'll show his greeting e-mail in a minute.
*Paris made a one turn (exactly!) axe after the settler. Love it when micro works out like that!
*Thanks to overflow, the gold, the first cottage growing, etc, I will be able to get masonry in one turn before having to save for the next tech. Where to next? Monarchy? Calendar? Currency? Not really sure yet.

Probably another picture-heavy post tomorrow or Saturday after this work week ends.

[Mr. Nice Guy]

My conversation with GES:

Bonjour!

I just wanted to drop a quick note of hello to your great civilization. We have gained visibility on your access point to the spoke this turn. It looks like you've been doing quite well, hope to hear you're enjoying the game thus far.

Can't talk too long, but look forward to a long and healthy relationship.

Until later,
MNG, Hattie of France

And his response:

Sounds good.

As usual with everyone, I have no problem if you head my way, but if you get too close to city without an NAP in place, a war chariot will have to say hello. This is just playing it safe.

GES

Not sure what to make of that.

[Rowain]

Depends what you really want to make out of Paris. You could get 9-10 cottages out of it while stil working the hillls.
Orleans has 7 cottages max but alot of seatiles and oversea-traderoutes (lategame). In shortterm with running the scientists there I think Orleans is a good place.

Resaerch: I guess Monarchy (for HR) is the right move. If you succeed with the GL the extra traderoutes from Currency can wait a bit.

[Mr. Nice Guy]

Short version tonight, as I am literally falling asleep in my computer chair (TGIF!):

*Sailing in and we have trade routes! That boosted our economy by 4 GPT.
*Masonry in at EOT. The Great Lighthouse should take around 6-7 turns from here. I just hope the industrious civs are ignoring it for now. It's going to be such an important wonder on this script, especially since all of my non-Paris cities are going to be coastal.
*Settler is now sitting on the stone/horse/spice location. Next turn, he will found.
*The core cities are all growing up, and running out of improved tiles to work. That means that after they finish their axes (producing one each slowly), it'll be time to do worker-settler in each. That should allow me to be at 9 cities by the time I'm looking to complete HG. And even if I don't get HG, if I get TGL, I'll be able to afford all 9 cities painlessly.
*I read what you have to say about making Paris a hybrid, and I totally get it.

[Mr. Nice Guy]

So, news from the morning turn:

*5th city was founded this turn. It will provide stone for the HG. Surprisingly, it is only costing France 1 gpt.
*I worked it out, and TGL should take 6-7 turns. These will be the longest turns of the game because even without IC TRs, it will have a huge all-game impact.
*Thanks to overflow, I finished mysticism in one (gold saving 0% research) turn en route to monarchy, due in 10-12 turns.
*RL7 is the only other team up to 5 cities with me. Commodore is still at 3 cities. I may have to take advantage of this by sniping Commodore's spoke city spot that will have clam+fur. Should take me 20 turns to be in position to do so. Considering they are prioritizing Great Library right now and not expansion techs, I think I have a chance at it. Might not make me the best neighbor but I hope to smooth any tensions from that over with diplo.

[Mr. Nice Guy]

A few screenshots. First from a couple turns ago when we first got trade routes:


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Notice how the REX strategy has yielded a lot more resources than the other teams. I need to get more workers built soon, because as hinted before, cities are beginning to work unimproved tiles, and that is a bad thing. But the workers should be starting in 2-3 turns, so coming online in 5-6 turns. That should help out as I prepare for another round of (hopefully TGL inspired) rexing. I imagine that RL7 and GES are doing a bit better than yuri and commodore at getting resources hooked up - They both have joined me in the 5 city club. I hope neither of them plans to expand again soon, I don't want to fall behind in city count.

And a screenshot from this turn:



Two things to note. First, that annoying barb city will fall next turn, which will give me a little bit of cash. My instinct is to raze it. But if there's fish in the fog? Maybe I'll keep. The other thing to note is that Rheims whipped its lighthouse this turn. Insane growth, though, as next turn it will grow back to size 3, and the following turn it will grow to size 4. The idea is to get to size 5, and then work cow, mine, and both ivory for a production rate of 14hpt. Will I be able to whip 30 hammers of the wonder at size 6? or is my quick speed math wrong?

That's it for the second morning turn. I have to go out of town in an hour or so, so it will probably just be a 3 turn day (JUST!).

[Mr. Nice Guy]

In diplo news, I have exchanged several e-mails with Commodore this week. It sounds like HRE is going after the Great Library and are concerned about IND teams also going there. I just found out in a short chat with RL7 that they were beat to Oracle, which I let Commodore know in hopes of building more camaraderie there. In other news, I fibbed to RL7 about my interest in wonders. I tried my best to downplay how important stone is, and didn't even bring up the Great Lighthouse. I also fibbed in telling them that I wanted Oracle, in an attempt to bait a comment about marble out of them. It worked pretty well

The other interesting interaction with Commodore was their interpretation of my early turns through C&D, which they shared with me:

[Mr. Nice Guy]

So, there were pigs to the south. And I only have one really solid production city planned. So I took the barb city. That makes six cities by T49, not bad. And I have 3 more settlers planned after TGL. One will be the SW cow production city. One will be the silver city off my spoke. And the other will be a fur/seafood city off Commodore's spike. If I can get those settled before landing HG, then it will pay for itself in whip capacity. IF I can land them both. I just wish I would have understood the importance of TGL on this map. Because really, if I had I should have been able to prioritize it and finish it by T45. But now as it is, I'm looking at T54-55 as a completion date. Not terrible, but against 2 IND civs on a water heavy map? I am nervous every time I open the save. I just hope tomorrow can be another 3 turn day (or 4!) so that T55 can be hitting by Tuesday.

[Gaspar]

In diplo news, I have exchanged several e-mails with Commodore this week. It sounds like HRE is going after the Great Library and are concerned about IND teams also going there. I just found out in a short chat with RL7 that they were beat to Oracle, which I let Commodore know in hopes of building more camaraderie there. In other news, I fibbed to RL7 about my interest in wonders. I tried my best to downplay how important stone is, and didn't even bring up the Great Lighthouse. I also fibbed in telling them that I wanted Oracle, in an attempt to bait a comment about marble out of them. It worked pretty well

Nice to see all the Werewolf practice being put to use.