[Spoiler] First rodeo: Jalepeno takes the bull by the horns.

[jalepeno]

Turn 59

Exploratory bloodpet 1 lives to explore another day!

He even got 2XP, enough to promo-heal and be ready to move on in two turns.


Also visible in this screenshot is the 2nd great sage that’s been born so far (there have also been two adventurers).

I did some pretty ugly things this turn to maximize overflow into drama.

And now I’m wishing I didn’t, because I don’t think I can shave a turn off drama no matter what I do. The trouble is that I’m not sure how overflow works. If I overflow 100 [post bonus] beakers from a tech with 10% known civ and 20% prereq bonuses into a tech with just 20% prereq, how many beakers do I get into the 2nd tech? I guess we’ll know for sure end of next turn.

Ending turn and completing festivals showed that all the ugly micromanagement was for naught…

Yeah, if I’m third at 126, then that means Yell0w’s almost certainly in 2nd. If he’s teching that fast, then he can easily finish in 5 turns (maybe even 4 turns). The GNP graph is delayed a turn, so what I was seeing before was his GNP researching festivals. He’s really dialed it up for drama. No way I can beat him now. At least I haven’t really lost anything, I can easily switch to sanitation next turn without having put anything into drama (and hey, I can build markets! All 3 core cities should be able to 2-turn them).

I sent off an email to TBS, baring my soul and letting him know the deal is off.

Hey, sorry for not emailing you when I sent the turn.

I'd really love to make a deal with you, and had every intention of doing so until I ended turn just now. Ending turn finished festivals for me (with oodles of overflow), and without the known civ bonus, my GNP number dropped to 126...revealing that I'm in third . Yell0w told me he was going full bore on drama (I believe he got festivals on T58), so I think he must be second (or first?) in GNP. Because he's first in turn order and finished festivals before me, I don't think I can beat him if he's gotten his GNP up that high. I've been messing around in my spreadsheet to try to find some way to make it work, but I just don't think I can. Turn order is a pain. I really didn't think he'd be competition for it when I emailed you.

So I really can't make a deal on drama. I'll probably be diverting my overflow into something else.

Oh, and I haven't grabbed mysticism yet, so I can't help on philosophy, but I started getting 10% known civs bonus on festivals on turn 58, so I'm pretty sure that's what Yell0w grabbed.

Best of luck,
Jalepeno

But wait, what’s this?

Np about getting back to me, I'm sure you have advisors heckling you about real life .

Have you checked Yell0w's GNP graphs btw? According to my graphs your GNP is a lot higher than Yell0w's, the other civ above you is actually the Khazad. Tbh, the Khazad are rather scaring me, their graphs are excellent in all areas at a time when I thought they'd be lagging behind due to the vault mechanic.

I must admit I knew Yell0w had Festivals when I sent the last email and he's had it for a while I think, though I couldn't be sure how long. Certainly that T58 tech he got was not Festivals. That means he probably hasn't put anything into Drama yet, so you'd be on an even playing field with a better GNP.
And to put more of my cards on the table, I've decided against going for Drama myself. For you guys, popping borders is handy too, for me I'm essentially paying 600b for only the bard, so since it looks like I have to make a decision this turn, I think it's too risky for too low reward.

As to why I'm telling you all of this now, well, it's good for me if two of you go for Drama and one of you lose . I do think you'd win though if you went for it. In fact I'd be willing to bet a mana loan on it. That's the other reason obviously, future good will .

Anyway, good luck with whatever you decide,
TBS.

Whoa! Maybe Yell0w’s still got a crap GNP after all! So that puts us back to square one. Can he get it in 5 turns? He had GNP ~60 when he finished off his last tech EOT 58, say expenses ~19 and culture ~4, gives him true research of ~75 beakers. That assumes he had drama selected for his next tech. Even if he got almost all of his T58 research as overflow, he’d need to have a GNP in the low 90s for turns 59-63 in order to finish drama before me. It’s really too bad the GNP graph is delayed a turn! When I open turn 60, I’ll be able to see his T59 GNP on the graph. If it’s <<90 I can go forward with confidence. If much greater, I divert overflow to sanitation. If ~90 then the waffling continues

[Qgqqqqq]

I believe beakers are divided out, and then multiplied back in.
The second screenshot is the same first.

[jalepeno]

More Drama

These have certainly been some interesting turns.

Some time after reading TBS' email re: Yell0w's research rate I decided to try one more time with Yell0w. By my calculations, it was still possible for him to beat me, and besides, I really want that jungle chopped.

It's ok, I understand. Still, unless you can finish before T65, it'd be better for you to get something rather than nothing. I'd be willing to lend you worker turns (chopping jungle perhaps?) in exchange for not having to push so hard to beat you to drama. Anyways, let me know if you want to do that.

No hard feelings regardless.

All the best,
Jalepeno

As you can see here, I'm underestimating my rate a bit; I will easily finish on T63, and have been stretching to find a way to do it T62. Just feeling him out. I did NOT expect the response I got.

Worker turns sounds like something I have to think about. Btw. sanitation costs like 40 bakers more than drama, so racing each other for drama would be kinda stupid. Maybe you wanna use the bard for something else? Pop Sorcery? ^^

OK, so how about this for an idea, you chop the jungle from the rice tile and one of the hill tiles (I think you saw those, they around the city you found) ofc. we need open borders for this, and with the roading we'll also have a trade connection, helping us both out commerce wise via trade routes. Then all thats missing is a nap, and here is where things get complicated. From my point of view you benefit from a short NAP more, while I benefit maybe a little more from a long NAP. To be honest, a short nap is just not worth it for me. So I'd be happier if along to my suggestion with roading/jungling/open borders we'd also sing a nap. but for now, and cause neither of us wants to spend 600 useless bakers. I'd not research Drama for the Great Artist if you road/chop those tiles in a reasonable timeframe, the trade routes are a nice added bonus for both of us.

Back to the NAP, I think any nap under turn 100-110 for me wouldn't make any sense. Let me know what you think on both offers, the sooner we know the better.

Wall of text

I'm guessing he wrote that earlier tough guy, "I'm gonna race you!" email before he saw my GNP So yeah, if T65 would best him, then I've been stressing WAAAAY too much over this. Looks like I didn't need to offer him anything after all, but oh man, getting that jungle out of the way...AND roads!!! but what's all this talk about a NAP? I gotta nip that in the bud.

Hmmm, well, I can have a worker ready to enter your borders on T71. That would give 11 turns for one of us to get cartography (after more urgent techs). But chopping and roading 2 tiles is 12 turns of work; that's too much. How about I chop the rice and one of the hills, and put a turn into roading the rice on my way out of your borders? That's 9 worker turns given up in exchange for slightly less stress on my part (still got 4 other people to face on drama - and I'm only 3rd in GNP).

I'd like to keep this deal separate from NAP discussions (we could always just declare a fake war to do the chopping). Here's the thing, long term we're both pretty scary: I've got vampires, and you've got a worldspell which can stop any attack and guarantees you the first strike against me since our borders touch. Also, only 9 tiles separate where you borders touch mine and TBS's do. The second I give you a super long term NAP, he knows I'm gunning for him and I can't afford to give anyone that kind of warning. I want to work something out, but it's going to take a lot more thought and time than we've got right now.

My proposal
-you agree to not go for the drama bard
-I will give you 9 turns of chopping/roading starting on T71 even if someone else beats me to the bard
-No attacking my worker until he's out of your borders. just so you're not tempted
-We agree to figure out open borders/who has to tech carto/NAP deal later

Sorry I couldn't send this to you earlier: the 1 message per turn really messes with diplo in time-sensitve issues like this. Means I can't respond to any counter proposal until the save comes around to me again! Anyways, I'm going forward with drama under the belief that we can work something out.

[Qgqqqqq]

That's awesome!

Do it, and then bomb his borders with the artist!!
That'd be a true backstab

Or, you could do the sensible thing and bulb sanitation

[jalepeno]

Hmmmm, it seems I may have nipped the NAP talk too hard. Now he just wants the rice (denying me visibility on his city) and now.

How about this, we both want this to end as quickly as possible. How about you fake declare and chop the rice tile beginning next turn, since you've conveniently got a worker there. And I stop trying to go for the Great Artist.

Yell0w

That worker needs to build a mine first, so I guess I'll agree with a 3 turn delay caveat. Wish I could have made a deal to chop the hill later, but he'll still probably road to the rice soonish anyways.

[jalepeno]

That's awesome!

Do it, and then bomb his borders with the artist!!
That'd be a true backstab

Or, you could do the sensible thing and bulb sanitation

I love the way you're thinking! That would work especially well if we saved it for an attack on his border city. I'd been assuming it would have to be razed, but dropping the bard bomb would make holding it possible. Another option would be a GA after the next two cities are down to speed up the growth curve.

[jalepeno]

Turn 60

Drama:

No, not yet; with all my talk of drama, it’s hard to believe that festivals didn’t come in until this turn.


This turn confirmed TBS’ assertion that Yell0w’s GNP hadn’t spiked at all yet.

In other news, my bloodpet near WK runs away from a wimpy goblin like a pussy tries to draw a scorpion goblin onto flatland.

Turn 61

Soon now, veerrrry soon.

Due EOT 63

Also visible in that screenshot, TBS jumps 138 points in one turn due to Legends-boosted tile ownership.

Another dungeon, for me!?!?

And right in line with the one he was already heading for. Goal: collect all 3 pieces of [almost entirely] useless equipment!

After looking over my worker micro a bit more, I decided to go ahead and agree straight up with Yell0w’s last proposed deal.

I declared war and moved in my worker (yes, quite the invasion force) – I wonder what the other players will think

Demos

TBS still has a big lead in MFG, food, and power, but other than that, I’m feeling pretty good GNP is first only because TBS and HK are saving gold (or researching at less than full steam). I’m really at a loss for how TBS has found enough happiness to have a size 17 (!?!?) capital – Governor's mansion makes Paradigm unhappy at size 9.

[jalepeno]

The turn didn't come last night (), so I put stitched together one of those fun world view shots.

No, Grandma won't be asking me to take up her knitting any time soon, but it gives a nice overview of our world's geography. I'm very hemmed in on the north and west, with tons of open space in the south and east.

I then took a careful look at the Northwest, where the settler under production in Paradigm will be heading.

A - This was my original placement. Pros: rice, banana, gems, 5 river GL, 3 hills; only 4 tiles form Paradigm and on a hill. Cons: health! Doesn't much space for a city to grab sugar, and will take forever to get it in 3rd ring.
B - Stronger long term (+1 river grass, +1 hill, fresh water) and it leaves space for a filler on the sugar (don't want to protrude much further north into Yell0w's territory). Cons: settles a turn later and is 5 tiles from Paradigm.
C - Gets rice, banana, gems, AND sugar, but gives up a lot of river grass and freshwater. Flatland, 5 tiles from Paradigm, and would likely touch borders with an Elohim city.
D - No rice or banana, but it does get sugar in BFC. 3 tiles from Paradigm, and hills to the west effectively prevent a surprise strike from TBS. Easiest by far to set up in terms of worker labor.

Settler pops in 3 turns, and I'm still going back and forth on where to settle him. I think I'm leaning towards B right now, but am very open to suggestions Q.

[Qgqqqqq]

I like C or B.
C I'm not seeing any economic downsides too - all that river grass is jungled so Will take forever. Its also a good end plant in that it Will give good culture control to that area.
B is more militiristic option, aimed at sealing off the border there (and is best available security site).
You're not expecting invasion soon. so there's space fir another city to make a good front up there.

[jalepeno]

Turn 62

Lots of interesting stuff going on this turn. First up, Rod of Winds dude starts searching for the Jade Torc.

There's something quite interesting going on in that screenshot...

Other Exploring Bloodpet finds an untouched graveyard and another hunter who likes pretty pictures (or cowabunga dude!).

I love that dumbo is blocking TBS from popping the graveyard on his turn...I'll be less pleased if he decides to block me next turn.

I finally get eyes on the barb city in my SE. It's grown up quite nicely.

And founded itself a circus. Those archers also defend at strength 8 due to various bonuses. It's going to be a little while before I put the forces together to crack this nut.

Discovered something interesting while trying to figure out the distance to Elohim borders for WK.

There must be roads on "13" and the tile with the sign. I'm guessing Yell0w's 4th city is built right on "13." I didn't know it was possible to do this, but it sure is handy to know when opponents are building roads through area you've explored!

Knowing that Yell0w's starting to settle up in my beautiful, beautiful south ( even if it is closer to him) has convinced me to push that direction a bit more.

I've dotmapped the area, although there's plenty of room for improvement. My priority here is getting to the fur border city asap. It's my only visible shot at getting furs/wheat. That spot gets a PH, and doesn't overlap with Yell0w's borders at all (after my plant right on his borders in the NE, I'm hesitant to settle aggressively here). Next turn Synergies starts on a settler for C5 as a bridge to fur city (probably the next city after that).

Demos: