[PB66] Amicalola is Feeling Nostalgic

[Jowy]

This map looks like it would have been great for the Vikings.

Long term make sure you can make a canal through to the NE.

I would scout the fog in the East to see if there's something worth competing for. Around the mountains could be contested land.

[Amicalola]

T49
Something seems to have gone badly wrong here.


Proper T50 overview next turn.

[Jowy]

He could have bigger cities and so working more food. Nothing to worry about, yet.

[Cornflakes]

I can cover the turns this weekend if you leave instructions

[Amicalola]

T54
We founded Blood Mtn. this turn. This is one of the first shelters on the AT, at 30 miles. It was memorable for being made of stone and having four walls with a door (very uncommon), as well as Blood Mountain having an amazing sunrise. This was also the shelter where I got to know the initial members of my 'tramily,' or trail family, who I would end up hiking around 1000 miles with. Next year, this will definitely be a priority when planning the first week. 


We would have improved the pig this turn, except Mig's warrior was in the worst spot and I didn't prepare with my axe. So we lost a turn of improved pig (we built the road 1W instead). Grumble grumble. 

Horse popped up at Vandeventer, so this city should probably grow to Size 7 and just work 4 resources + three river cottages. Long-term, it should be a monster. 


We've had to fight off two consecutive barbarian warriors here, which was pretty unlucky. The same two warriors whacked our poor scout earlier, when we ran away from one and into the other. Ah well. 

Finally, we met Magic Science this turn with a scouting work boat. That means we know of the three civs that have changed their names. And those are the only three civs that matter anyway, right?   (but seriously, I wish more people did this)

[Amicalola]

T63 - Roan High Knob
Oops, it's been a week just like that.  We just founded Roan High Knob, which is known for its wild ponies! In this game, they seem to have taken on a certain purple, inanimate quality.


It's a pretty aggressive settlement towards Miguelito. Well, someone had to take the spot. I've left the corn second ring, because I like the defensive location of this spot better, and we might be able to settle another city further south if we're lucky. I suspect Hinduism was founded in the foggy city NE, which would be Very Bad.

Demos are still abysmal. 


As you can see from my Springer Mountain sign, I am trying vaguely to micro my way out of it (this game is also getting a bit neglected; placements are hard  ). I think it's probably a combination of that, and our land being relatively subpar; Miguelito settled a wet wheat and corn(!) with his early cities, while we have zero agriculture resources at all. Well, also the whole start tech thing. Oh well, nothing we can do about that now. I'll still do my best to dig us out of the hole.

Someone is at 25 food, which is interesting. I wonder if a player is getting rushed/choked out of the game. Our neighbourhood is pretty scary - Plemo/Piccadilly and Ginger/Miguelito are the two strongest teams in a vacuum (fairly objectively, I think), and Magic Science certainly seems competent. There are two teams in this game that I'm confident are better than me, and we've somehow ended up next to both of them. Grumble grumble.

Miguelito's strength is very worrying. He is at 5 cities with SPI/ORG and a religion, and crushing the food graph. Maybe it's something to do with those double wet grains. Maybe it's something to do with Miguelito being RB's best active player. Probably it's both. On an unrelated note, our power graph is high because of, uh, defensive maneuvering.

[Jowy]

I was going to yell at you until I saw the corn hidden behind the UI.

SD is in the game so someone definitely got rushed or choked.

[Amicalola]

T77
Here is the situation. 


We have founded two cities since my last post: Blue Mountain and Sassafras Gap. Blue Mountain will (hopefully) build Globe Theatre and whip for eternity someday, while Sassafras Gap is just a decent city. 

Miguelito has been exceedingly lucky with religious holy cities. First Hinduism popped up at Nicholas, and now Confucianism pops up at Expeditus. This essentially grants him eternal control over our border for free, and makes any aggression extremely difficult. I even chopped a monument at Sassafras Gap the turn before, pleased that I would get cultural control over those alll-important forested hills. Grumble grumble. As well as being very lucky, Miguelito is also very good; he just used the Oracle at Nicholas to bulb Code of Laws for Org Rathaus' - yeah, I can see where this is going.  

I do not see any way for us (or really any player) to beat Miguelito in the long-term. He is SPI/ORG with bulbed Rathaus, two religions, cultural dominance, and high food/MFG stats (oh to have irrigated crops ). I have long advocated for players in this position (neighbouring a runaway leader) to attack them, as the slimmest chance of wartime success is better than the nonexistent chance of competing peacefully. Even failure keeps the game more interesting; does anyone really want to see just another Miguelito stomping? Booooring. I guess it's time for me to put my money where my mouth is.

[Jowy]

Are you confident that he's the runaway?

[Amicalola]

Are you confident that he's the runaway?

Reasonably. The score doesn't reflect it yet (he's "only" second). But the demos and situation do. Economically, he's about to hit knights while the rest of us get Currency, and expand enough to kill someone with them. Man, you'd think Mig would be bored of the ol' knight rush at this point. Maybe he'll use maces or something, just to be different.

The difficulty for us is how the heck we do anything about it, with such an unfavourable cultural situation.