RB Pitboss #1 SPOILERS - Mansa Musa of Spain

[sunrise089]

That is some niiice lands you've got there. With that, the religion and the best traits I think you're a strong early contender.

You are very, very lucky not to be eliminated

Chasing stonehenge before building a warrior!

Not exactly improving the impression I'm giving the lurkers

However, I don't think it was luck to live. I think that, despite the obvious risk compounded with less-than-perfect diplomatic execution, I'm still essentially correct about the community's reluctance to declare war totally unprovoked so early.

I guess if I see a player drop off the score listing tomorrow then I'll know I was wrong about another thing...

[LiPing]

Call it excellent strategic metagaming

[sunrise089]

Warrior heading towards Dreylin to scout:


Current demographics:


Current tech path. I'm scared of barb units and a possible encounter with another civ, so I worry over delaying archery. I do plan to build a few 3-turn warriors, but obviously those units are only good for barb defense or to prevent a cheap opportunistic attack.

[sunrise089]

So as you probably know from the other threads, I have an NAP through T60 with the Lin team, and one with my cross-channel neighbor the Indians through T60 with auto-renewal.

Today's email to rego:

Regoarrarr,

Let me try and state what I think are the finalized terms for our early agreements:

1) Yes, you shouldn't discover Mono before T56. Other details including missionary, galley, etc as stated in the last email.

2) We've mentioned NAPs of various length, but a 38-turn NAP (through T60) with an additional 10 turns added on 20 turns before expiration unless either party opts out sounds good to me.

We also provisionally agree to trade for a pair of fast workers in the post-sailing era, terms to be discussed later.

While I'm typing, any thoughts on a tech path? I assume any civ that gets alphabet early will have quite an advantage, and it won't be me considering my religious run. Would you have any interest in beelining alpha and then trading with me to back-fill you? I'm sure we could work out some beaker conversion, I guess the only questions are whether someone else is making the alpha play even earlier, and whether you can live without whatever techs you'd trade me for until after alpha was in.

Finally, an early map is attached.

All the best,

-sunrise

The map I sent:

[Sullla]

Interesting map you drew up there. We'll have to see how much of that is right, and how much of it is wrong.

[sunrise089]

Heh, well as long as the Lin League and Rego+Danski are essentially right I'll be happy. Everything else comes from hearsay, since as you guys can see I'm way behind the scouting curve.

Official ruling by me: Stonehenge first is not a good call. It would have been fine had I not chased a religion, but I got too caught up in the cultural synergy between henge and a religion versus creative enemies that I lost track of the total absence of worker tech synergy - the religion path doesn't equip the player at all to neglect building warriors.

[sunrise089]

Ok, T26.

Mining is in, so I now have Mysticism, Poly, Fishing, Ag, and Mining.

My worker is due next turn, and will farm my corn while I build another warrior.

Finally found a food tile forward. If I continue to head towards Monotheism (meaning the religion is still out there) I will try to plant forward and make a solid cultural toe-hold in the center part of the map. That won't be unnecessary if our island is really big, but considering how many cities I can found back (4) I won't be surprised if there is only room for a few in the front.

There are several tiles I could settle on, but that will depend on what other resources I can see when I settle.

Tech path: Currently I'm researching hunting (5t), masonry (8t), and mono (14t). Hunting will unlock my ivory tile, which is 2/2/3.

Here are a couple of alternative ideas. Anyone have any advice? Keep in mind tech costs will come down when I start working the corn, lake, and ivory tiles - I will be making 15bpt rather than 10.

a) Archery (9t) before masonry, so I can make some decent defenders while the city grows.

b) Ignore hunting and work mines instead. This makes snagging Judaism more likely, though I may be limited to how fast I can get a settler out.

c) BW next. This makes me much less likely to grab my religion, but my production will be a lot better courtesy of chops and slavery. I don't think BW without The Wheel really makes sense though, since I'd just be slaving warriors.

[RefSteel]

c) BW next. This makes me much less likely to grab my religion, but my production will be a lot better courtesy of chops and slavery. I don't think BW without The Wheel really makes sense though, since I'd just be slaving warriors.

Not necessarily. You could whip workers/settlers, right? In fact (though beware: I don't even own CIV, so I may not be a wise advisor) I think BW first is the best defensive answer. That way, you can whip warriors if needed, and plan your defense according to Copper location. Some options:

1. At Capital, will be connected by river: Send over a worker; you're good to go!
2. At Capital, needs a road: Tech Wheel for road while mining copper.
3. Nearby, but not at capital: Whip settler for the location (while teching Wheel unless there's a river connection).
4. Nowhere in sight: Whip warrior(s)/scout(s) OR keep the whip in reserve for emergency warriors, all while teching Archery.

[EDIT: Add "or chop" to all that whipping stuff. Anyway, as you can tell, I wouldn't recommend a Monotheism beeline. A peaceful civ with a late (by this game's standards) UU and two of seven possible holy cities on a map with 11 players? Oh, and maybe throw in Stonehenge too, if you win that race? If you've got all that, and you've been neglecting military techs and early production/expansion (i.e. aided by chops/whip) ... well, if someone feels aggressive, you might look like a pretty good target, mightn't you? Once you're in a position to make use of the gorgeous land around you and feel ready to build an adequate defense as needed, if you want Mono for the Org Rel civic, it could make sense to pursue it and hope for the religion as a bonus if it's still around.]

[sunrise089]

Lots of chats, but I'm sure you've all read them elsewhere. New map:

[sunrise089]

Micro update:

*Corn will be hooked up next turn, and hunting will be in the turn after that, timed for when my worker arrives on the elephant tile.

*I'm currently in growth mode building henge again. As soon as I reach size 3 I will switch to a settler, which should complete just in time to get my second religion, if I win the Mono race.

*I have warriors scouting north and south. If needed, I'll interrupt my settler build and make a fourth warrior, otherwise southern scouting warrior and warrior in the cap will escort the settler forward in 15 turns or so.

Macro update:

*Tentative 4-way tech deal, with me supplying Monarchy, Lin Alpha, Rego Maths (duplicating writing), and Broker IW. I have also suggested Broker research Sailing to even out the beaker count.

*Best case scenario sees me duplicating zero research, and having the following trade bait techs: Mysticism, Meditation, Polytheism, Masonry, Monotheism, Priesthood, and Monarchy. Of those, Polytheism, Monotheism, and Monarchy are the most likely monopoly techs, and Mysticism is obviously only of any value to the League players.

*The biggest danger to the above is that it will obviously take me much longer to research Med and Priesthood on top of Monarchy, so if the other civs are in a hurry to get those techs then they'll trade with someone else for them. Still, not the worst situation to be in.

*As the lurkers can probably tell, it's probably a huge mistake to be so religion-happy. Obviously Bronze Working, Archery, The Wheel, and Pottery are coming in very late. BUT at least the possibility of a nice 4-way trading bloc means that there is a chance I can actually stay competitive. Assuming of course the barbs don't kill me.