[SPOILERS] scooter Expands the Empire Across the Sea

[scooter]

I guess we will see whether a religion from Polytheism is still available when we get done with Mysticism, since happiness for whipping is going to be a limiting factor for a while. I was also thinking we want Pottery for granaries and a few cottages soon, too.
There are 3 CHA picks and a pick that wants to get Writing ASAP. We might not actually have that much competition for religion at Polytheism if we go there expeditiously.

Scratch this as I realized I need Hunting first, duh. So it's a bit further out, and I'd be relatively surprised if it was still standing by that point. But we'll see - it's definitely true that not many players will actually be prioritizing an early religion, and that is specifically why they may linger quite awhile.

[Zed-F]

Looks like we have a new White city, Hunting, and a boat for a fish or crab. Is it another boat and a 3-whip for Yellow settler next?

[scooter]

Yeah, I've gotten a bit behind, so it's time to catch up. I was going to update yesterday after settling the city, but the turn was behind schedule, so it was late by the time I played.





Settled the city of Aren in honor of the end of my favorite plotline of the series (so far). Worker immediately onto the Ivory Camp.





I have netted the Crabs in Unta and grown Pale onto the Copper, so the 8 pop are on 8 improved tiles. I'm fairly happy with how things are laid out. I need to slip in a Galley soon. Pottery next after Mysticism.






I was able to build a settler in just 6T, so I've decided to do it and settle the spot between here and Aren, despite originally planning to delay that until after I settled an island. Aren is going to have Seafood to grow onto, and Unta has an absurd food surplus it can't fully utilize, so I think it will be useful. The fact that I can get the city down so quickly without need for additional worker support makes it feel worth it. Ivory should be online just in time to get Unta to size 6. I'm thinking about chopping a Galley on the way to 6, then triple whipping a settler at 6 and settling the Cow island. I can bring the Scout down and ferry it over right before the settler to check the surrounding areas.





Pale is building a Work Boat for the Fish. It will complete the exact turn that Unta pops borders. I hovered the Worker to highlight what an early game powerhouse this city is for me currently. 5T Worker at size 3 is pretty great, and this is before the Fish comes online. I really feel like if we can find Stone, early Moai in this city might make sense. It doesn't maximize water tiles necessarily, but it could be built so much more quickly than anywhere else that it might be worth it.





Finally, Aren. Warrior while we wait for Mysticism to come in, then Monument. After Monument, likely Work Boat or two while waiting for the border pop.






Demos look quite shiny. One thing I neglected to get a screenshot of - Stonehenge fell a couple turns ago to Mjmd/Cairo. I have not otherwise paid close attention to scores, so I'm not sure where everyone is on city count.

[Zed-F]

I’m pretty sure we are first to 3rd city and everyone else has 2. Seems likely we will be first to 4 cities as well.

Is Pottery a hard lock or when Mysticism is done are you still considering Polytheism if religion is still available? We were discussing that earlier and it seems to make sense to defer deciding until the last moment.

[Tarkeel]

Pale is building a Work Boat for the Fish. It will complete the exact turn that Unta pops borders. I hovered the Worker to highlight what an early game powerhouse this city is for me currently. 5T Worker at size 3 is pretty great, and this is before the Fish comes online. I really feel like if we can find Stone, early Moai in this city might make sense. It doesn't maximize water tiles necessarily, but it could be built so much more quickly than anywhere else that it might be worth it.

11 water tiles is good enough to justify Moai, even if there's no lakes (unlikely on this map).

I haven't done any mat but I think religion might be worthwhile; we don't really need early granaries or cottages with how the cities and land is set up.

[scooter]

I’m pretty sure we are first to 3rd city and everyone else has 2. Seems likely we will be first to 4 cities as well.

Is Pottery a hard lock or when Mysticism is done are you still considering Polytheism if religion is still available? We were discussing that earlier and it seems to make sense to defer deciding until the last moment.

I haven't done any mat but I think religion might be worthwhile; we don't really need early granaries or cottages with how the cities and land is set up.

Yeah I should have called this out. I've been mentally crossing it off as I suspect I'll be too slow, but we are now within 5-6T of it, and it's still there. Mysticism is in next turn. I'll likely need a turn of 0% after that. But if it's still there after that, I agree that it probably makes sense to try.

[Zed-F]

What is Pale building now the work boat is done? I’m guessing a worker or two would not be amiss since we have happy cap issues and since we’ll need at least one to go to city 5, though that’s some time out yet. We probably want a lighthouse too at some point, and more boats for exploring would also be useful.

Around what city # are we expecting expenses to really start piling up? We do need to get enough offshore cities to fill routes and diversify luxes. At the same time we also need to get to Currency in a reasonable timeframe, probably without Oracle (unless maybe if we can locate marble.)

EDIT: Off by one turn on when the Pale WB is done, but I guess the question still applies next turn.

[scooter]

Work boat had a spare turn given that it could not move 2 tiles and net Fish in the same turn, so I used it the only way possible. Found Marble. Wish it was Stone, but good to know it's around. I don't think this is an Oracle game, but I suppose that could change if it gets ignored for awhile.





Ivory is improved and will be connected shortly. Unta is going Galley-Settler next, and the Scout is coming down to be ferried over to the east island which looks fairly big.





Saved gold this past turn, but if Hinduism is still there next turn, I'm going to go for it. If it falls, probably Pottery.

What is Pale building now the work boat is done? I’m guessing a worker or two would not be amiss since we have happy cap issues and since we’ll need at least one to go to city 5, though that’s some time out yet. We probably want a lighthouse too at some point, and more boats for exploring would also be useful.

Needed MP warriors so built one there. Trying to get Pale to Size 4 to work all its good tiles before workers/settlers.

[Zed-F]

I reviewed the log & spotted something I missed before -- I think SD is also on 3 cities, though he founded city 3 a turn after us on 48. Probably this doesn't make a ton of difference yet. Mjmd/Cairo built early Stonehenge instead so they are behind.

Not sure what Bing and Yuris are doing. Bing and Mjmd/Cairo are probably top GNP because they have culture inflation. I imagine that we aren't as far behind on GNP as the demos might suggest because of said culture. Nobody really has any great commerce generating abilities at this early stage.

Hopefully we find something good on cow island. Nothing else we've seen so far is super-appealing if we aren't prioritizing Oracle or other marble wonders. The southern part looks thin and not super appealing if there isn't seafood in the fog, though I think metal luxuries would be ideal at the moment.

[scooter]

Hopefully we find something good on cow island. Nothing else we've seen so far is super-appealing if we aren't prioritizing Oracle or other marble wonders. The southern part looks thin and not super appealing if there isn't seafood in the fog, though I think metal luxuries would be ideal at the moment.

Yeah a metal happy would be ideal. I think it's reasonably likely there will be one on the east island given mapmaking practices, but whether it lines up with a city or not is less clear.






This city rules. 4T worker on T53 out of a city other than your capital feels good. And this is before the city pops Hinduism, which is definitely going to happen, right? RIGHT?





Next turn we settle the desert city. I'm hoping our next few cities after that will be overseas. Will likely borrow the Corn for 1-2T while improving the Pasture as it has the dual benefit of speeding the Galley. Will have to check on that.






Strongly suspect I'll be first to 4 cities. Polytheism just has to last 2 more turns in order to claim it. Fingers crossed on that. I think our start is quite strong compared to the field here, though Stonehenge will be very useful for Mjmd/Cairo. I think Pale as an uber second city is doing a lot of the heavy lifting here. I frequently think of the comment Zed-F made about how "messing up" my tech order may have been sneaky beneficial here as it resulted in me settling Pale sooner than originally planned. That Copper is just perfectly placed for a powerhouse early city.