[Spoilers] DZ'CH is apparently a catchy name

[Donovan Zoi]

To our north...

Dreylin/OT4E

Number of cities: 5
Naming Convention: Animal groups
EP: 24/15 in their favor. I am devoting all +4 to them now.

Well, I can't say that things have gone well between us and the Khmer so far. To date we have lost to them:

- 3 Fast Workers
- The city of Tartar (now Chameleons)

I am also bracing myself for next turn to see if they made good on another opportunity to troll us during peacetime.



So, any good news diplomatically here?

Well, yes actually. As I had planned and hoped, Dreylin/OT4E understood and accepted our Silks for Gems trade even though neither us had access to our surplus resource yet. There is no OB or map trade yet, but let me know what you think of offering this. I suppose a lot of it will depend on what happens to our empty Galleon this turn.

The Map


Here are what we are looking at with our frenemy to the north.

- Settler from Zoth will go to dotted location to stave off a peacetime troll settlement from the north. It's a huge reason why I may 2-whip it. This site will give us the Pigs and we will have a cultural battle with Chameleons for the Bananas.

- I met a Khmer Explorer on the island between us while exploring there myself. Not sure if we will consider island settlement at this early stage, but there looks to be 3-4 spots on each island.

- As you may have seen earlier, this team has secured the only two World Wonders so far: Taj and the Kremlin. My hope is that their need to fund production with UniSuff will stifle their research, but their opportunities to complete builds quickly (they are in Slavery too IIRC) could still burn us in other ways if our budding friendship (?) proves to be a farce.

[Donovan Zoi]

To our east...

scooter/Sullla

Number of cities: 5
Naming Convention: Industrial Era Inventions
EP: 42/43 in our favor. So no passive-aggression at this point.

I should start by saying that we have two spies in the area, and were able to get a peek at two of their core cities by getting our Spy to high ground. The borders happened to expand on the turn I wanted to stealth-check these cities from outside, but I still went for it and got out safely the next turn.



Yes, that is a Grenadier you see in Telegraph. This was 3 turns ago, so hopefully you now see my need for Cats in Sector 19. And then one of our Spies watched this quickly unfold last turn and had to get the hell out of Dodge before her cover was blown:



So there goes our shot at another canal site, with REM securing the one to our west. 4 of the unit dots you see from the Germans are workers roading, so they will only have 2 Rifles and a Machine Gun here for the moment. A generally defensive stance, but I still worry about those Grens. Luckily our Spy will be placed nicely to check activity from Telegraph to Radio via roaded hill, even after Radio's first border pop.

The Map


- The settlement of Radio gives the Germans unwelcome access to the sea we share with Dreylin, so this leads me to consider using our 6th Settler to capture the Silver on the south part of the island before they have a chance to grab it.

- They have mildly pink-dotted their 4th (Haber Process) and 5th (Radio) cities, leaving a similar space kind of like we did with Zoth (Vijay) at the beginning.

Tech


The Germans discovered Steam Power on the same turn that we did, which makes me feel good about going this route. And the fact that they have secured access to 3 seas leads me to believe that, like us, they will be headed for Steel next. What I find interesting is that 3 other civs led with the more peaceful SciMeth (BGN, Dreylin, REM). Anyone have any idea what the value of choosing this route would be besides the free GS for Physics or (obviously) the Kremlin?

pindicator and Gaspar have yet to discover their first tech yet.

Back to sea dominance, it's possible to go directly Railroad > Combustion after Steel to be the first to Destroyers and other goodies. But I'm pretty sure it's not worth putting off Assembly Line. Railroad v. AL may need to be discussed, but we have a few turns to make a decision.

---

That's all for tonite, but hopefully this catches us up a bit! Please let me know if you have any questions.

[El Grillo]

I see your dot between Chameleons and Zoth, and you mentioned a city on the southern tip of the island to your east. Where would your 6th city be placed?

[Donovan Zoi]

I see your dot between Chameleons and Zoth, and you mentioned a city on the southern tip of the island to your east. Where would your 6th city be placed?

Hey, El Grillo!

I am thinking it will end up being the site west of Wax Trax, that can also use our capitals pigs, but I am not sure yet. I am planning on having a dot map discussion tomorrow, as it looks like our Settlers will be ready in 2 turns whether I whip them or not.

Oh, and roped into another unforeseen blunder.



High five each other all you want for now, guys. Payback's a bitch, and I'm serving it cold.

I'll finish T279 tomorrow.

[GermanJoey]

What are you trying to show with that last screenshot?

[Zed-F]

Dead Galleon, methinks. Compare with first screen at top of page.

[Cheater Hater]

Dreylin seems really powerful--did he need to pop his 1-person GA to get to Communism and build Kremlin? What was his timings on that--did he get Communism then rush Kremlin (can you even rush it with one GE?), did he pop the GA with the Spy (aka the turn he got Communism)?

WT: Coal at the capital? That means everyone probably has railroad access, as well as +100% IW.

S19: GL tiles? What are you talking about there--the farms, since they aren't being boosted? Cats also seem fine--heck, they're the cheapest unit for HR if we ever need it

ZO: Yeah, we need military, while the Library/University only need to be built when we need them for Oxford (especially when you're de-emphasizing the commerce so much you aren't working the silks).

Dreylin: I wouldn't mind the map trade (since he has more territory we need to look at, and we're going to expand soon), but I don't like offering OB to our main rival--what does the OB map look like?

Scootlla: Why are you so afraid of Grenadiers? If you want to counter them, I'd rather build Cavs than Cats. I'd also call Radio more than a "mild" pink dot, but the Machine Gun means we probably can't do anything until Infantry at the earliest.

The main reason to go for Railroad over Assembly Line is if we want Mining Inc--any thoughts on that? No one else has Steel, so we'll probably be first there if we want it. That would give us a faster production boost (no need to build Factories, and I think Railroad is cheaper than Assembly Line?), but I don't know if that's worth delaying Infantry.

[greenline]

It looks like we're a bit boxed in our 'home continent'. Are we going for settling offshore places? If so, building a navy would be a good idea. It makes me wonder if hitting Dreylin or REM with Infantry after Assembly Line (which I would prefer to Steel) would be a good idea.

I can't say I'm a huge fan of the map design here. Everyone having 4 move ships and all coastal cities means there isn't much 'breathing room' where you can focus on building your civ first.

[Cheater Hater]

It looks like we're a bit boxed in our 'home continent'. Are we going for settling offshore places? If so, building a navy would be a good idea. It makes me wonder if hitting Dreylin or REM with Infantry after Assembly Line (which I would prefer to Steel) would be a good idea.

I can't say I'm a huge fan of the map design here. Everyone having 4 move ships and all coastal cities means there isn't much 'breathing room' where you can focus on building your civ first.

To be fair, I think that's one of the pitches of Industrial Era: the opening 50-100 turns (much closer to 100 in unmodded BTS) is compressed, and even with the Machine Gun discouraging extremely early rushes, you have to worry about safety earlier.

[greenline]

Even so I'd still like it if the map had the blobs of land each player had start with a few inland cities and then have the later founded ones be on the coast. Speaking with the benefit of hindsight Hammurabi of England would have been a very good pick for this game I think. Draft 6 redcoats and boat someone = now you have one less neighbor to worry about.