[spoilers]Commodore is Darius II of the HRE, now with less excuse.

[Ceiliazul]

What does your dotmap look like now, updated with new resources?

[Commodore]

What does your dotmap look like now, updated with new resources?

Meet the new dotmap, mostly the same as the old dotmap. One question is the grass cows spot, north is slightly better and blocks Gaspar solidly (he's settled 1E of the wines judging by the forest disappearing). However, 1SE of the cows wedges against Yuri better.



I now have a complete set, by the way. Scout met the weirdly positioned Mistabod this turn, dropping Fishing to a 2-turn tech. So this is evidently a skewed blob, but at least it looks like the cataphracts are far off.


Micro in for the settler, the usual just-in-time stuff. Two-pop whip next turn and overflow will finish the much-needed axe. I'm in a land rush here.

[Commodore]

Gwendolyn is nuts. Moai site, or whip factory? Why not both? I hope there isn't too much orphanation up there, because I'm kind of in love with this place. Alas, it claims no land, so it's not getting priority yet.



At least we're not the only ones feeling the closeness. Yuri's having a party with Mr. Bod down there. That wet rice/gold spot will probably be fought for, at least I'd fight for it. Ichabod will win, unless Yuri really gets his game face on and sandbags the Oracle hardcore.



Meanwhile, Gaspar has a third city down, Cathedral or something, and the rest of us all labor with just two. This land-grab seems a little...nuts, to be honest, but that's the way of it. The workers are going to have those cows pasturized the turn the settler plunks down on the hill there.

[Commodore]

March we ever onward down the the road to gems that shine. This tremendous effort and cost of worker labor better be repaid quickly, because it's making us fall behind now. If we lose Confucianism I'm going to be miffed but unsurprised.



On the plus side, the other two Financials have Fishing and religion, so they are rocking unsurprisingly high GNPs. Dismaying, but somebody has apparently build another real unit, or else my math is off...I thought the axe would be enough to push us to top power.



Found another marble, looks like this one is to be wrestled over by Dave, Mistabod, and Yuri. Darned attractive city right there with a cheap way to pop borders.



And now it occurs to me to be very glad nobody is Creative.

[Commodore]

Good news everyone! Second to three! And what a third...



Next up, first to four?

[Commodore]

Another minimalist weekend report; this time, with intrigue. I wonder how tempted Davy is to assault these environs? It'll come to a sad end if he DoWs.



Thinking about pink dots flung far...Mistabod and Dave are both within a pretty close range of these stones. Pete here found a lot of good food too....hrm, flashpoint? Probably...



Now do we want to be involved?

[Ceiliazul]

Now do we want to be involved?

I say nope. The Flood plains nearby will provide strong city placements that ensure the opponent cities in the area grow big and strong. I think it's too far to reach.

I would support the next city going to the copper/cow/clam lake. Seems like a better snowball choice.

[Commodore]

I say nope. The Flood plains nearby will provide strong city placements that ensure the opponent cities in the area grow big and strong. I think it's too far to reach.

I would support the next city going to the copper/cow/clam lake. Seems like a better snowball choice.

Next city is going to be the copper/cow/clam lake city, just need to chose if it's the northern or southern dot. But have no doubt, that city will be 100% as much of a reach as stone would be, in terms of distance from capital. On the plus side, this pink line comes with benefits:



It feels weird to chop at the diagonals, but we need the little bonuses here. Monument in Sasha, done. Next up, a granary with a hybrid slowbuild/chop. Five turns! This place isn't the most food-heavy spot ever, but it has an excellent hammer yield.



Everyone is getting granaries! Oasis will steal the wheat next turn and grow to size 4->two pop whip granary->workboat on overflow-> finish up settler for the floodplain/fish location northward.



The same plan for The Bun, basically, except the settler (for cow/copper/clam) comes first. Annoyingly, it'll take three turns to grow to four here, but on the plus side that means a ton of overflow into a library. We're in a race to CoL, need those efficiencies wherever we can find them.



A sad side thought about races: Dave and Gaspar are probably both aiming for the Pyramids. Whoever loses that race will feel the warmonger itch...and both of them are right next door.

[Commodore]

Good lad, Davy. That's how you pink dot! He better be settling south of the stone, though.



Going further, the scout finds another desert dividing area with marble. The northern one is far superior thanks to the hill, but still, nice to see. Maybe a sugar/dye/marble/share corn border city?



Hum. Gaspar went monument-first in his third city, so we're about a mine+road away from having Chinese copper troops around. Clearly, a chariot rush is needed! Erm, or not.



Dave is annoying me. He's just hanging around, no doubt sentries for his balls-to-the-walls stone gambit. Or harbingers of a rush that his worker is roading for? Nah, Dave loves him a scheme, but he's not insane.



End of turn, Sasha grew onto the gems. Notice the demo change? Much better. Snowball ho! Now let's keep those soldiers good and high too.



Here's Holy Rome, Legacy of Hyboria, home of the nifty.



Gaspar's going to be sooooo pissed in two turns...

[Commodore]

Alea iacta est



This is 100% the best new site in terms of the snowball. And also bumps second-ring borders with Gaspar's copper city, which is first-ring in turn to his capital. Yeesh, for a resolution to be more buildery, this is darned aggressive. Yo Ceil, we want to move the garrison forward more to take out Gaspar's copper?