cat planet cat planet cat planet!!!

[picklepikkl]

Got it, thanks.

1. Julius Caesar of Carthage
2. Gandhi of the Dutch
3. Qin Shi Huang of India
4. Louis of Portugal

OK, as much as I desperately want QSH of India to be a thing, it's not going to be a thing unless I lose my obvious power combos. I hadn't realized that the map size was Standard when I did my initial testing (I had it set to Small), and the extra tech cost really hobbles India in this non-lush environment. WB first is just too good.

I picked Carthage over the Dutch for the starting techs: the combination of a Mining-tech civ with Imperialistic means I am founding my first city around T21, which is pretty groovy. Also, Spiritual is a high-skillcap trait, and I am not confident in my ability to abuse it to the necessary extent.

Thanks again for everything, REM

[picklepikkl]

The fact that Dreylin and I fought for the same top pick makes me feel better about it I am happy to trail in the wake of the game's best player.

Leader breakdown:
Me: ORG/IMP
Dreylin: CRE/IND
AdrienIer: CRE/SPI
gingereagle: EXP/ORG

Having the sole IND in the hands of Dreylin is a little concerning. The Carrack might even be a relevant UU on this map. But he has no traits to kickstart his expansion; I think I just need to keep a sign on my wall that tells me to keep expanding until something forces me to stop, in the hopes of having a larger production/tax base than the juggernaut in the room.

Hopefully Adrien manages to make the Oracle play before Dreylin can -- he starts with Mysticism, and Dreylin, being Creative, doesn't have a pressing need to go down the religious track. That's another thing I'm curious about: why not one but two people picked Hatshepshut of Byzantum. CRE/SPI isn't really that great, and Byz's starting techs are the worst of any civ in the entire game. I honestly don't know how to even start a game as Byz, because you can't WB first and all you can do with a worker is lay road until tech comes. Cataphracts are nice and all, but you're starting the race hopping on one leg.

gingereagle's pick is solid. Native America has the same starting techs as the Dutch, but significantly worse UU/UB. I like Expansive, but not enough to pick it over East Indiamen and Dikes. The weak link is likely to be gingereagle: I was not impressed by his play in 74A.

In conclusion: I would like to start near Adrien so that I can out-expand him like the dickens and beat him to having a significant force of Knights.

[picklepikkl]

Naming scheme is going to be cat breeds, starting with the good old not-a-breed-breed, the domestic shorthair, the cat equivalent of mutts. As a kid, I put a great deal of effort into befriending every stray I could find when we went on family vacations, and so this is clearly the correct home base for our civilization.

Password is the same as in B, banderas.

[picklepikkl]

I haven't been to RB in nearly a week due to the US election. A man who has never held any political office and thinks he gets weekends off is about to become the most powerful person on the planet, despite losing the popular vote, and intends to gut environmental protections and heavily subsidize further fossil fuel investments despite the growing peril of global warming. I'm starting to think that it may not be worth hoping to have kids.

So I've been under some stress.

In any event, it's T10, so here's what's currently up:




I haven't been doing cloak and dagger on the demos; might analyze that later. Here's my current micro plan, after the revelation that I have capital copper changed everything (6-yield tiles don't just grow on trees):

T11 worker, animal husbandry, A SE
T12 chop
T15 A S, mine, B NW, warrior
T16 B chop
T17 change capital to settler
T18 Wheel, A N-NW
T19 A NN, B W pasture
T21 revolt to slavery, Settler NW NW
T22 Settler N, settle

And then the capital can produce a couple of warriors and maybe a third worker while I wait for Pottery to come in. I'm picking the location I am for City 2 because I can share the deer/cows with my capital and can delay researching Agriculture, allowing me to snap up Bronze Working/Animal Husbandry/Pottery sooner (though less efficiently due to lack of tech multiplier).

Maybe this isn't ideal, but it's hard to give a shit when my gay and trans friends are worried that the federal government will no longer classify them as protected under anti-discrimination legislation and my middle-school teacher friend has a student in her class who was born here, but whose parents immigrated illegally, and can't stop crying in school because Trump has repeated his promise to start deportations immediately. Also, you know, the fact that human civilization faces an existential threat from climate change.

Fuck it all.

[picklepikkl]

No changes to my micro on T11, but my first worker is out, so I might as well take this opportunity to share my naming scheme for them: the Gashlycrumb Tinies.

[picklepikkl]

Jowy's ditching the winner's bracket. Well, I guess real life happens, but it's still kind of frustrating from the perspective of one of the people he beat. At least his replacement is coming in early enough to make it his game, as opposed to poor Dreylin.

Speaking of Dreylin, his thread has been super active lately. Found a neighbor and plotting a choke? Glad it's not my neck on the line!

Last in score because I'm researching expensive techs (BW first, now Animal Husbandry) and not growing to size 2 until I'll have an improved tile to work, but if I'm not first to a second city, I will be very surprised.

[picklepikkl]

Second worker out; now I can finally grow to size 2, whereupon I will begin working on settler #1. Suggestions for what sorts of cat should get city names will be appreciated!

[ReallyEvilMuffin]

Second worker out; now I can finally grow to size 2, whereupon I will begin working on settler #1. Suggestions for what sorts of cat should get city names will be appreciated!

Pussy Galore? 

Who would you prefer as president - Trump or Underwood? (I'm hoping a house of cards fan)

[picklepikkl]

No, REM. Though now I have this song stuck in my head:



That's a terrible choice, but I think I would go for Underwood. He is much more directly evil than I believe Trump to be, but his kind of evil is less injurious to the world at large. We've had some pretty evil people as President (Jackson, Nixon), but Trump is both volatile and ignorant to a degree that is unprecedented and very dangerous on the world stage. His suggestion that we might not honor our NATO defensive commitments is how wars get started; WW2 began because Hitler didn't believe Britain when they said "no really, if you invade Poland we will begin military operations." Do I actually expect that to happen? No. Do I think it's significantly more likely under Trump than under any other President we might have had this year? Hell yes.

[ReallyEvilMuffin]

No, REM. Though now I have this song stuck in my head:



That's a terrible choice, but I think I would go for Underwood. He is much more directly evil than I believe Trump to be, but his kind of evil is less injurious to the world at large. We've had some pretty evil people as President (Jackson, Nixon), but Trump is both volatile and ignorant to a degree that is unprecedented and very dangerous on the world stage. His suggestion that we might not honor our NATO defensive commitments is how wars get started; WW2 began because Hitler didn't believe Britain when they said "no really, if you invade Poland we will begin military operations." Do I actually expect that to happen? No. Do I think it's significantly more likely under Trump than under any other President we might have had this year? Hell yes.

I would willingly vote for president Underwood. He is a villain and a crook, but he certainly gets results. You don't need to be nice to run a country. You do need to be competent.

Oddly enough our opposition leader doesn't just want to consider not honouring NATO commitments (which I sympathise with when other countries and not keeping spending commitments) but wants to unilaterally remove us from the entire alliance and give up all nukes because doing this will make other countries do the same. He also supported an armed insurgency against the country and still does, and wants to give up land and people who don't want to leave the UK to appease other nations. The world is crazy.