[SPOILERS] Margarita and the Lurkers

[SevenSpirits]

Ahh, thank you Seven. I actually thought of that idea, then discarded it, thinking that, "Oh, granaries are just so good that getting them a tad bit earlier would aurely make up for the lesser efficency, but that is a huge difference. I see that you already covered that though by saying that EXP India is still top tier. That doesn't change the antisynergy, I suppose, just often outweighs it.

Yeah, getting granaries earlier is great, but that's taken into account in the valuations of EXP and India. There isn't synergy in it.

I suppose then that you'd prefer Willem of India over Pacal of India?

No, I would prefer Pacal of India.

* I like EXP better than CRE.
* CRE makes India's starting Mysticism even worse.

These are more significant for me than the fact that as EXP, I don't need fast worker chops as badly.

[Maga_R]

I read Master and Margarita years ago and I think it totally went over the top of my head. Explain it to me!

Finally have some time for matters more serious than civ .

You asked me to explain "Master and Margarita". You have read the book, so you know the basics: Devil visits Moscow in the 30s and plays all kinds of devilish tricks, but they often actually make the rather evil and soulless Soviet system a bit more liveable - as in the opening Goethe quotation, the Devil turns out to be that force that "always will evil, but often ends up doing good" . That part is a great satire.

There is also more serious part about living in sad and cruel times and having to make tough choices, sometimes not having the courage to stand up for one's beliefs, regretting it later ... That is Master's (author's alter ego) story and the book's most famous quotation refers to it: 'cowardice is the most terrible of vices', because, as Bulgakov's believed, 'all the rest come from it'. And there is love, of course - Margarita is modeled on Bulgakov's second wife.

The last and most 'over the top' layer is Bulgakov's very personal version of what happened about 2,000 years ago and how a certain Yeshua Ha-Nozri become - rather unwillingly - the hero of the gospels. Although in the book, the story is told from Pontius Pilate's point of view.

"Master of Margarita" could obviously not be published in Stalin's Russia (both for its ridicule of the Soviet system and a religious plot), but Bulgakov hoped against hope it will be published one day in his country, hence second most famous quote from the book, "manuscripts do not burn". Somehow, the book was publish in the still-Soviet Russia 26 years after Bulgakov's death. It became instant success with 150,000 copies selling with days and remains one of the most popular and import Russian books.

This book was written in the dark times and deals with issues such a fear and guilt. In the end, however, if you look at the whole story, including Bulgakov's wife and countless volunteers working to protect and preserve the Master's work, the message of hope prevails, I think. Indeed, "manuscripts do not burn" . In the development unphantomable in Bulgakov's lifetime and many years afterward, Soviet Union is no more since more then 20 years, but Bulgakov's fans still visit Patriarch's Ponds and other book-related places .

If you want more scholarly analysis, it can be found on the book's webpage (in my sig). This webpage also provides great and very detailed chapter-by-chapter explanations of names used in the book, historical context and such.

[Maga_R]

Still waiting for the starting position screenshot. In the meantime, update on the situation at Patriarch's Ponds - dedicated to Nicolae Carpathia :

'Your head will be cut off!' [- said the stranger to Berlioz].
Homeless goggled his eyes wildly and spitefully at the insouciant stranger, and Berlioz asked, grinning crookedly:
'By whom precisely? Enemies? Interventionists?'
'No', replied his interlocutor, 'by a Russian woman, a Komsomol girl'.
'Hm...', Berlioz mumbled, vexed at the stranger's little joke, 'well, excuse me, but that's not very likely'.
'And I beg to excuse me', the foreigner replied, 'but it's so. Ah, yes, I wanted to ask you, what are you going to do tonight, if it's not a secret?'.
'It's not a secret. Right now I'll stop by my place on Sadovaya, and then at ten this evening, there will be a meeting at Massolit, and I will chair it.'
'No, that simply cannot be', the foreigner objected firmly.
'Why not?'
'Because,' the foreigner replied and, narrowing his eyes, looked into the sky, where, anticipating the cool of the evening, black birds were tracing noiselessly, 'Annushka has already bought the sunflower oil, and has not only bought it, but already spilled it. So the meeting will not take place'.
Here, quite understandably, the silence fell under the lindens ...

[plako]

Your starting position. Only visible tiles will be kept so no need to try to read the fog.

[Maga_R]

Thank you, Plako!

Wow, four food tiles, three different types of them - and a lot of choices for us to make .

Calling all the lurkers! And teammates .

[plako]

Your start ended up a tad weaker than the competition so Corn will be moved to 1SW from your capital and cows will be changed to grassland.

[Maga_R]

Your start ended up a tad weaker than the competition so Corn will be moved to 1SW from your capital and cows will be changed to grassland.

Plako, this is a cruel joke, right? I want my cows back! And the corn was perfectly fine where it was!

[plako]

Meant that plains cows change to grassland cows new postioning is better than original. Corn is irrigated and closer to one of your potential settling positions.

[Maga_R]

Meant that plains cows change to grassland cows new postioning is better than original. Corn is irrigated and closer to one of your potential settling positions.

OK, LOL, I thought cows changed to just grasslands.

Plako, can you please give us a new screenshot to avoid confusion? You must have it, right? Sounds like Corn would be out of a visible range now? Or would Corn be now 1N of the fish? Best to have a new screenshot, I am confused .

[plako]

Screenshot fixed