[spoilers] Regoarrarr teams up with your mom

[regoarrarr]

Most importantly, a free spread of Judaism to the capital! Just when it was reaching its happy cap AND building a library.

Also I 2-pop whipped a Jewish Missionary in So Ugly, so I could complete the Oracle next turn, but I'm going to delay it till I finish Mathematics I think (a few more turns). That missionary was going to go to So Fat, but now that it has a free spread, I'll send it to So Skinny. Need a galley over there too.

[regoarrarr]

(this is before ending turn)

Sian definitely got Priesthood last turn (T56), so I don't know if he tried to nab the Oracle out from under me (he knew I was going for it). Code of Laws seems like a good tech for him what with cheap (30h!) Sacrificial Altars.

If he tried for it.... too bad for him!

In other interesting news, I did see one source of marble way to the SE.

[regoarrarr]

Turn 58 was an eventful turn as the Oracle came in. I chose Currency, and the economy likey!

Some overflow management, and a missionary spread of Judaism, is giving me quite the leg up on Moai Statues



Sian has a (unescorted) settler 3E of So Skinny ready to settle next turn. I'm not really amused by him settling there (though I knew he was going to), but I'm much more amused by the fact that I have nearly twice his number of cities (7 to 4).

Speaking of new cities!



I used my last remaining user-contributed city name, so I need some more city names, stat! I have one settler already built but stuck on an island waiting some logistics / galley movement, and I have another settler already in production.

With Mathematics in, I've started on a Hammam in the capital. I plan on making a run for the Hanging Gardens. I don't really expect to get it (since Yuri has a 7t lead on getting Math), but being the Ottomans I want to be building aqueducts anyways, and if I start HG and don't get it, I have stone for double fail gold.

[oledavy]

More 'Your Mom' jokes, take your pick

So Stupid
So Poor
So Smelly
So Dirty
So Nasty
So Old

[regoarrarr]

More 'Your Mom' jokes, take your pick

So Stupid
So Poor
So Smelly
So Dirty
So Nasty
So Old

I already have So Dumb and So Poor. The other ones are good though - thanks!

[regoarrarr]

3 turns today

Moai came in which is nice. I'm building a bunch of Hammams now to raise the happy cap.

And of course there's this



I know I said I wasn't going to chase any wonders but.... OOH SHINY!

It will actually complete at the end of next turn (EOT62) with 2 more chops coming in. I'm actually going to miss a few more cities (I have a few settlers in production / on the way) but I just don't feel I can risk it - Yuri has had Math (and Masonry) since T50.

I am running an insane farmer's gambit here and really need to get some defenders up and running but...



I am #1 in soldiers by a comfortable margin (10K for Moai helps). I do have an indefinite NAP with Pindicator, one with Yuri to T75 and Sian to T80 I think. Nothing with Gaspadore but I should probably chase them up.

[regoarrarr]

My GNP is saving gold this turn. I'm trying to hide my GNP somewhat to minimize dogpile possibilities. Next turn I'll do 100% at Monarchy, but finish it so the double pre-reqs I have won't show up.

[regoarrarr]

Been awhile since I updated. Not very regoarrarr-like, I know.... With the fast pace of this game (it's pretty common to get two turns in each day), and the relative lack of diplomacy, I just haven't really gotten around to updating much. But here on Saturday morning, I've got a few minutes.

First, here's a shot of the core island, and the Moai town of So Skinny.



Things going well, and growth is coming along nicely. Settler in place to settle for the wines and (off-screen) shared fish next turn on the green circle. I've given up on tracking individual city sizes for all the other powers (just tracking total civ pop), but Top 5 cities indicates only one other city in the world at size 7 or higher (Pindicator's capital).

Here's one reason for that



Happy cap. As far as I can tell, everyone else's (capital) happy cap should be 6, unless Sian or Pindicator have built a temple (neither have currently converted). Whereas in addition to the furs that everyone has, I have wines + HR + religion + hammams. The market will give me one more happy for furs (and you can see the silks on a nearby SE island in the first pic) but I'm mostly doing it for the gold boost.

Here's the immediate north. The intrepid galley you see there just finished a north-to-south circumnavigation (only 20t late! ) and is getting ready to get pressed into logistics duty.



MallardWithCold just finished a (chopped) workboat which will net the fish in 2t when borders pop. It's setting up to do the old double whip missionary to missionary trick. My next city is heading for this plains hill. I've marked in the borders of what I believe is Sian's main island in green. In the far SE you can also see the borders of Sian's city of B.C., which is currently guarded by.... nothing. I mean we have a NAP till I think T75-80, but still. Everyone in this game is running an insane farmer's gambit.



I mean, as you can see, I am comfortably ahead in Soldier count, with my immense army of.... 8 warriors and 4 galleys Only Sian has copper hooked up (I don't know if he settled on a 1 tile island of copper or if he found another source). You can also see that the food+prod demographics are doing well. Everyone has currency now I believe, but still my GNP is competitive considering I'm at max tax currently. Population is skewed due to my large cities, but I still lead the overall city count by my reckoning, with 42 pop, compared to 33 for Yuri, 25 for Gaspadore and Pindicator, and 22 for Sian.

Continuing the world tour of pics, here's the west.



Pindicator has settled for the corn in the SW (whose resource bubble did not show up). So Dumb (the Hindu holy city) really has some insane food (+12). Definitely going to abuse some Caste scientists at some point here. I need to get a Jewish missionary over here so I can more effectively build some infrastructure here (most importantly, a library). It just finished a settler which is getting ready to hop on that galley and you can see So Poor also building a settler.

Here's the SE.



So Smelly is my most recent city, and there's a warrior and a worker on that galley ready to offload next turn. A workboat is on its way down south (following the signs) for when the borders expand (I already converted it to the "One True Faith")

Speaking of Judaism!



I've only gotten one free spread (but it was a big one - to the capital, early on). F7 screen does indicate that it hasn't spread to any foreign cities (though Hinduism has, to one of Sian's cities). Still, the OR bonus and border pops are coming in pretty big. As you may have seen in the first pic, I'm building a (cheap) Jewish Temple in So Ugly (Oracle city), so I can run a Priest spec. I decided I want my first GP to be a prophet for the shrine. 6gpt as of now and by the time the prophet pops in 10-12t, that should be up to at least 10 gpt, more if I build a market there (which I will of course do).

[regoarrarr]

So.... now what?

Obviously (even just looking at the score), things are going well for me in this game. However, I have learned to my detriment, that (hypothetically speaking of course), it's hard to win even from a good position if 3 of your neighbors all attack you ). So my #1 goal is to try and make sure that doesn't happen.

I think I've gotten off to a good start. I've entered into an alliance with Pindicator, my southwestern neighbor. Not only is it good to friend a neighbor, I think it's also important to friend the guy who's playing the Vikings

My northeastern neighbor is Sian who.... is not doing well. He's still competing in score, but he's last in population (22 to my 42), and has 5 cities (compared to my 9 soon to be 10, and 10, 9 and 9 for the other 3 players). He does have Code of Laws, for his cheap Sacrificial Altars, so that will help him I'm sure, but I think it's too late. Plan is to continue to have peaceful relations with him. Something tells me if I continue to have twice his number of cities, a suitable opportunity to attack him, if necessary, will present itself...

I do have a NAP with yuris125, and not one with Gaspadore, but neither of them are close. It's actually somewhat frustrating (due to my relative lack of scouting) that I'm not clear how close I am to them to my SE or NW (due to the toroidal world wrap). I don't want to unintentionally pink dot either of them.

Tech-wise, I am saving gold with science parked on Feudalism. The idea there was to again, present an unappealing target, plus Vassalage for some C1 ships. But I'm starting to wonder if that's the right move. With everyone still in insano-farmer-gambit mode, maybe that can wait for awhile.

Some other options:

* Code of Laws - obviously city maintenance is getting pretty crazy, would allow some flips into Caste System, and it's on the path to Civil Service
* Calendar - I have spices now and silks shortly but I'm not really happy-constrained.
* Iron Working - no real jungle, but it would be nice to have some metal for the option to build some real units.
* Metal Casting - forges aren't that great, given that I'm already in OR for the poor-man's forge, and I'm not IND so they're pretty expensive, and there are no happy metals for it to double.
* Aesthetics - I'm trying to not build the Great Library actually because I don't want to go wonder-happy (says the man who has built half the wonders on the board so far... )

[regoarrarr]

With Caste potentially on the board, I wanted to check the list of Bulbable techs upcoming just to check if there were any options here:

Prophet
* Theology for the foreseeable future.

Engineer
* Metal Casting
* Machinery
* Iron Working
* Feudalism

Merchant
* Metal Casting
* Code of Laws
* Alphabet
* Civil Service

Artist
* Literature
* Drama
* Music
* Aesthetics
* But if I have the first 3 and bulb Music, the Music artist would bulb Theology.

Scientist
* Alphabet
* Philosophy
* Paper
* Education
(this path is pretty well known, of course)