{SPOILERS} 2metra, Dreylin & OT4E. This is the beginning of a wonderful friendship.

[OT4E]

Well, assuming that Gavagai took Metal Casting with The Oracle, we'll be 7-8t behind him at that point. He's IND and has cheap Forges and we can assume he also has Copper, so we're already relying on him thinking he doesn't need to rush the Wonder. So do we think that 2-3 additional turns will make a difference?

This is wrong way of thinking. 1 turn changes everything.

Caveat is that it assumes size4, which I'm not certain we'll have by then. If not we have to revert to the 3chop / 4chop case and use the extra forest from 54 - are you OK with doing that?

I think that Colossus is more important. If we can save a turn by just taking forest from cap it is ok. If we need to lose 10 worker turns on jumping between forests I say it is too much.

[Dreylin]

Well, assuming that Gavagai took Metal Casting with The Oracle, we'll be 7-8t behind him at that point. He's IND and has cheap Forges and we can assume he also has Copper, so we're already relying on him thinking he doesn't need to rush the Wonder. So do we think that 2-3 additional turns will make a difference?

This is wrong way of thinking. 1 turn changes everything.

Caveat is that it assumes size4, which I'm not certain we'll have by then. If not we have to revert to the 3chop / 4chop case and use the extra forest from 54 - are you OK with doing that?

I think that Colossus is more important. If we can save a turn by just taking forest from cap it is ok. If we need to lose 10 worker turns on jumping between forests I say it is too much.

Well, if we're willing to use all 7, then it goes back to your option of whipping the WB into the Forge +2chops, whipping the Forge to completion and then using 5chops on the Colossus.

In this scenario we need 5 Workers positioned for the second round of chops, and just 2 of those need to have completed a chop beforehand. We already have one Forest Roaded and partially pre-chopped and it should be possible to get another one done by then.

[Dreylin]

OK, so I have a micro plan that will allow us to 1t the Colossus on t81.

It requires:
* All 6 Workers (but does not need Delta until after completing Bodmin's Library, and each forest is only stepped into once)
* We build the Settler for Corn site in 6t from the Capital rather than chopping from the new city location (54 can 6t the Settler working the right combo of tiles without whipping)
* Metal Casting completes at the end of t78

This last is the most questionable, but we should have a good idea next turn when the new city is founded. We have 44g in the bank and at 100% were set for MC in 5t at -14gpt. At 90% we are also at 5t at -10gpt. I've dialed us down to 80% for a sustainable 6gpt, but that leaves MC at 6t. Beakers will go up next turn when the city goes down, but so will costs, which is why I wanted to play it safe here. There are a few tiles that we could switch to get more commerce (at the expense of growth), but Bodmin's Library will also be online on t78, so we'll be able to squeeze out some extra research there as well.

I'll post some more details tomorrow, because it's late here now.

[OT4E]

Sounds good
I think we can find enough commerce.

[Dreylin]

So here are the details of the plan:

[Dreylin]

t75 - plan on track. New city (Stronghold) founded and took us to -10gpt. Reviewed the cities and Bodmin doesn't need to work the Forest anymore for the Library, so I switched that to a Coast tile and MC is now due in 4t at -9gpt with 38g in the bank.

OK, with that ticking along like clockwork, let's see what the game can throw at us to derail things:


Hmmmm, so the era of Axes has begun. A- dodged back to the SW and will try to loop around, but it looks like we'll lose the Spear. I started to move the Axe back to cover, but then realised that we really need him available to cover the Corn City location, where a wandering Axe could ruin the Colossus plan. So he'll lurk around in range of that and it looks like Samarkand is going to have to whip an Axe for defense. On second thought, I should probably whip the Worker this turn and then overflow into the Axe instead. I'll go back and do that then.

Question for the turn: what shall we do with Dolly? She can't head any further North because of plako's borders, and she can't come back South because of Commodore & dtay's. I guess she just finishes defogging that area and then keeps an eye on their relative expansion ... or we delete her to save money - which would be a shame, but maybe the right call.

[OT4E]

Bad thing that we lose spear and dtay's queucha will probably escape from him. Cross fingers, may be axe was heading somewhere else.

[Dreylin]

Well he put up a good fight, at least:


Quechua can see the Axe, so will be able to avoid him next turn; our Axe will come out and then I've queued a Worker up behind it to work off the whip anger.

Everything else proceeding as planned on the home front.

In Foreign news, we got visibility on dtay's research this turn - 2t from Sailing. That's our next target too and I think we should be ready to push for that Northern island quickly after we get there. I'm not sure whether dtay knows about it (he may just be planning to push West), but we certainly don't want him to get there.

Our exploring WB also passed a Commodore settling party at the Gems location - I expect that will be founded next turn.

[Dreylin]

Oh, and Judaism finally fell last turn - though I forgot to check if it went to anyone we know.

[Dreylin]

So let's start the round-up with foreign news:


Mackoti joins the Wonder Club. I can't tell who grabbed Judaism, but looks like REM/AI have just revolted into their founded Hinduism.

Oh, and dtay is continuing to push his cities in our direction - still on his side of the "halfway line", but we're going to have to do something about this sooner rather than later. No Power spiking and his Copper is still not hooked so it's just passive-aggressive. But it also means he's not pushing towards Commodore at all. Speaking of Comm, his Power is quite high but probably just Barracks 'n suchlike.

I'm juggling EPs at the moment; I /think/ Comm has finally stopped spending on us, but dtay has restarted, so I'm trying to keep visibility on his tech while putting some towards plako to grab his graphs.

On brighter, domestic issues: Forge chops have started at Maryland while at Bodmin the second Library chop has completed and the Library will be ready to go next turn.

Barb Axe promoted C1 and has split the difference between Samarkand & Stronghold, so the Southern Axe has to move back to cover. He'll suicide on something in the next couple of turns.