Turns 54-57
City #5 sees the light of day.
And that makes demos strong. I’m quite happy with the micro performance so far and the early development lead it has enabled.
But when we think about the big picture… This is pretty much where we peak. Our scout has covered other players with multi-food cities and I think that land-wise there are civs that can match our 5 cities with their existing four sites. (land area stat from above also gives you an idea)
Our expansion options are quite non-existant from now on. If we burn a barb city we can settle for a sheep resource, but that sheep city won’t even theoretically grow past size 4. In the north we could pink dot for a 2nd ring rice and some kind of access to the jungle area. That’s pretty much it.
But do not interpret me wrong, I’m not complaining at all. Our isolated start has allowed us to focus on snowballing and this does give us options. We even have a neighbor (SD), who has suffered from an early war.. So, let’s see how it all plays out, this most certainly is not a game where you try to hit a nice timing with knights..
***
I slacked and did not provide a comprehensive T50 report, so let’s compensate a little bit. You can find our domestic status from T49 above, so here are some quick thoughts about the other civs..
The War Heros
I’ve praised Cornflakes here before. Cute stuff with an early Garden-CHA abuse and successful bowman rush. But at this point the price he has paid for the military success seems a bit too high. Cornflakes is the top power of the game, but so far he has no city captures, just a single raze. True winners? All the other players in the north. That being said, Cornflakes just pushed himself to 4 cities and is thus starting to fill the space that he created for himself. He is most definitely not that much behind and there is comeback potential.
Winning chances: In the race
***
Don’t let Ruff’s low position on the scoreboard confuse you. He is playing a slow AGG/SPI Montezuma and invested into a bunch of early axes.. But it paid off. Capturing an early city is a decent reward for the investment, but it being a holy city? Well, that makes it a lot sweeter for a SPI leader. We do not know anything about Ruff’s land, but SD whipped himself completely to the ground, so keeping the gains should be doable without too big further investments. Ruff seems invested into this game and it’s pretty much now in his own hands to make this game a success.
Winning chances: Very much in the race
The Beaten
I have not become wiser whether Raskolnikov made a mistake or if he was just unlucky. He kinda is still breathing, but I think he has checked out and Cornflakes keeps adding pressure..
Winning chances: Hoping for a miracle
***
Superdeath made a cute holy city play, but Ruff called the bluff. SD whipped his cities to the ground and still lost the city. So here we are crossing our fingers for a scenario where SD can still cause pain to Ruff while we get to eat Rome’s remaining cities.
Winning chances: More pitboss games needed
The Builders
We only know parts of Elkad’s play, but this just can’t be the way you are supposed to play with EXP/IMP Joao. Elkad spent the first 23 first turns at size 1 and founded his 3rd city on turn 52, and in quite a weird spot too.. He might not have to pay the real price for that though. His closest neighbor Cornflakes has been busy elsewhere and it’s still quite pink-dottish for us to contend northern sites.
Winning chances: The ship has not sailed yet
***
Miguelito went for a very early 2nd city and the pinkest dot I remember seeing for a while. As described earlier, this should lead to an early bloody conflict, but if it does not.. Well, I’m sure Miguelito has more quality in his 4 cities than what we will have with our theoretical 7 peaceful cities..
Winning chances: Very much until not anymore
***
And then we have a squeezed Commodore sitting at just three cities. I think that should mean that hammers are flowing into the war machine.. Fireworks is inevitable, but as the northeast seems like a complex mess, timing is still blurry. I believe that a Mexican standoff would benefit Miguelito and I think Commodore knows that as well.
Winning chances: Still doable
***
Mr. Cairo’s conservative archers+settlers opening does not seem the fastest, but could be exactly what’s needed when you push your civ towards Commodore and Miguelito. If he has enough quality land to his east, Cairo’s position actually might be comfortable enough that he could wait and pick up the spoils of potential Commodore-Miguelito war.
Winning chances: Why not?
City #5 sees the light of day.
And that makes demos strong. I’m quite happy with the micro performance so far and the early development lead it has enabled.
But when we think about the big picture… This is pretty much where we peak. Our scout has covered other players with multi-food cities and I think that land-wise there are civs that can match our 5 cities with their existing four sites. (land area stat from above also gives you an idea)
Our expansion options are quite non-existant from now on. If we burn a barb city we can settle for a sheep resource, but that sheep city won’t even theoretically grow past size 4. In the north we could pink dot for a 2nd ring rice and some kind of access to the jungle area. That’s pretty much it.
But do not interpret me wrong, I’m not complaining at all. Our isolated start has allowed us to focus on snowballing and this does give us options. We even have a neighbor (SD), who has suffered from an early war.. So, let’s see how it all plays out, this most certainly is not a game where you try to hit a nice timing with knights..
***
I slacked and did not provide a comprehensive T50 report, so let’s compensate a little bit. You can find our domestic status from T49 above, so here are some quick thoughts about the other civs..
The War Heros
I’ve praised Cornflakes here before. Cute stuff with an early Garden-CHA abuse and successful bowman rush. But at this point the price he has paid for the military success seems a bit too high. Cornflakes is the top power of the game, but so far he has no city captures, just a single raze. True winners? All the other players in the north. That being said, Cornflakes just pushed himself to 4 cities and is thus starting to fill the space that he created for himself. He is most definitely not that much behind and there is comeback potential.
Winning chances: In the race
***
Don’t let Ruff’s low position on the scoreboard confuse you. He is playing a slow AGG/SPI Montezuma and invested into a bunch of early axes.. But it paid off. Capturing an early city is a decent reward for the investment, but it being a holy city? Well, that makes it a lot sweeter for a SPI leader. We do not know anything about Ruff’s land, but SD whipped himself completely to the ground, so keeping the gains should be doable without too big further investments. Ruff seems invested into this game and it’s pretty much now in his own hands to make this game a success.
Winning chances: Very much in the race
The Beaten
I have not become wiser whether Raskolnikov made a mistake or if he was just unlucky. He kinda is still breathing, but I think he has checked out and Cornflakes keeps adding pressure..
Winning chances: Hoping for a miracle
***
Superdeath made a cute holy city play, but Ruff called the bluff. SD whipped his cities to the ground and still lost the city. So here we are crossing our fingers for a scenario where SD can still cause pain to Ruff while we get to eat Rome’s remaining cities.
Winning chances: More pitboss games needed
The Builders
We only know parts of Elkad’s play, but this just can’t be the way you are supposed to play with EXP/IMP Joao. Elkad spent the first 23 first turns at size 1 and founded his 3rd city on turn 52, and in quite a weird spot too.. He might not have to pay the real price for that though. His closest neighbor Cornflakes has been busy elsewhere and it’s still quite pink-dottish for us to contend northern sites.
Winning chances: The ship has not sailed yet
***
Miguelito went for a very early 2nd city and the pinkest dot I remember seeing for a while. As described earlier, this should lead to an early bloody conflict, but if it does not.. Well, I’m sure Miguelito has more quality in his 4 cities than what we will have with our theoretical 7 peaceful cities..
Winning chances: Very much until not anymore
***
And then we have a squeezed Commodore sitting at just three cities. I think that should mean that hammers are flowing into the war machine.. Fireworks is inevitable, but as the northeast seems like a complex mess, timing is still blurry. I believe that a Mexican standoff would benefit Miguelito and I think Commodore knows that as well.
Winning chances: Still doable
***
Mr. Cairo’s conservative archers+settlers opening does not seem the fastest, but could be exactly what’s needed when you push your civ towards Commodore and Miguelito. If he has enough quality land to his east, Cairo’s position actually might be comfortable enough that he could wait and pick up the spoils of potential Commodore-Miguelito war.
Winning chances: Why not?