Brick by Brick (Spoiler Alert!)

[TheHumanHydra]

Turn 27

Look what I found!



This means I'm now in contact with all the other players.

[Kuro]

A looks like it's almost the same distance between you and sir purple. Does this game have diplomacy on or?

[TheHumanHydra]

It's AI diplomacy (for future reference, all of the settings are in my first post in the planning thread, second post in the thread). A is six squares from my capital (seven from my starting position), and seven squares from Old Harry's second city. Hopefully I can get there first; it will definitely be my next city objective!

[TheHumanHydra]

Turns 29 & 30

My Scout is scouting around Barnet up there in the north, my first Quechua is scouting in the southeast, and my newly-created Quechua is heading up toward A in advance of the Settler I'm chopping out now. Does anyone think I should whip it as well, or just double-chop? Anyway, I neglected to ask for people's opinions about what I should research next; Pottery just came in. After some thought, I selected Polytheism for the religion (hopefully) and access to Monotheism for Organized Religion, Priesthood for the Oracle, and eventually Monarchy for Hereditary Rule. I selected Polytheism over Meditation because I thought if anyone else was going for a religion, they might be going for the latter, since it's slightly cheaper (one turn difference for me), and this gives me a possible "consolation prize" in Monotheism even if I don't get it first, as well as earlier access to Organized religion, a major upside to having a religion. The other possibilities were Sailing and Masonry for the Great Lighthouse or Writing for Libraries; people can correct me if they think I made the wrong choice. We can also discuss what I should go for after Polytheism. So that's what's going on; I didn't really think it warranted a pretty picture this time, but I'll post one soon of what I'm uncovering in Old Harry's area. By the way, in case it wasn't clear to anyone by now, the map consists of four identical quadrants, not mirrored/flipped in any way, which means that all those juicy city sites near me - there are actually two of each in reasonable proximity, which has interesting implications.

[TheHumanHydra]

Hey guys, quick update, I just founded Judaism and my fourth city (including the capital), in the double-clams - sheep - banana location. Research is going quickly, and my workers have started cottaging. I signed Open Borders with Old Harry a few turns ago at his request (obviously he has Writing). I'm currently building/chopping/whipping a mix of workers, work boats, settlers, terraces, and the occasional quechua.

[TheHumanHydra]

Hey, everyone; long time, no post. If it wasn't evident, I kinda found that intensive updates were not really my thing, at least not right now. I did really enjoy hearing all you guys had to say, but doing the reports every day got kind of onerous. At least I gave it a whirl! I am pleased with how this game is going for me - I'm by no means winning, and I'm actually somewhat frightened of a sudden attack right now (possibly from Azza?) given the parlous state of my defenses (I am working on them), but my GNP is excellent, my city count is competitive (I actually had the highest a few turns ago; I haven't checked again since), and my production and pace of development is adequate. I am beginning to wonder, though, where Lego might be (I see he hasn't been on since 11 November). Lego, when you see this message, post or PM me; I'd like to know when exactly you'd like to take over from me! Anyway, if anyone has any more detailed questions about the state of my civilization, feel free to ask; I'm not going to go back to daily updates at this point, but I'd be happy to answer questions if anyone's curious!

[TheHumanHydra]

Well, I totally called that. Check this out:



Yep, Azza declared war on me this turn. Three Keshiks in the northwest, two in the southeast, and a scout in the northeast which I killed. Of course, there could always be more. I whipped spearmen in every city and a triplet of workers, fortuitously on-hand by Tiwanaku, will chop another there next turn. Here is the overall strategic situation as far as I can see it:



Sorry the map displays weirdly there; some sort of graphical error I always have.

Knee-jerk assessment: If those are all the units Azza has immediately on-hand, while it is certainly possible, I don't think he will actually take any cities. I could be wrong, though; my understanding of combat odds is probably far poorer than many peoples', and I know I tend to overestimate the defender's odds, at least when I'm attacking. Anyway, should be interesting to see how this goes! Glad I posted that earlier today, as it gave me a laugh when I opened up the save. Oh, since I'm on the subject, an addendum to my last post: my city count is unfortunately not actually that competitive anymore - I double-checked, and Serdoa and Old Harry each have two more than me (soon to be just one more), though Azza currently (not for long?) has one (soon to be two, hopefully) less. Anyway, as I said, any questions, feel free to ask! I'll let you know how the battles go, if any!

[NobleHelium]

I actually like that map display, it highlights the color better.

[TheHumanHydra]

Back when I first heard of Civ IV, I tried to run the demo on a below-spec desktop, and while the game ran fine, all the terrain (not just the strategy map) appeared black like that. So I got a newer laptop (well, I actually got it for school).

War update: Those five spearmen I whipped brought me from dead last in power to second, apparently about tied with Old Harry. Three more spearmen came out at the end of this turn. Single Azzan keshiks continue to arrive piecemeal at various points, and while Azza currently threatens two cities, he can't take either of them this turn because I have more units in them than he has attackers. He seems to be probing for weaknesses, and will probably start trying to pillage; overall I think he sent small numbers (so far) of keshiks to attack from all directions in the hope that I couldn't defend everywhere at once. As long as keshiks continue to arrive at this rate and my copper isn't cut I should be fine, I think (I don't want to be overconfident). I am a bit worried about the strength of my road network; I haven't double-roaded anywhere yet. I am most concerned that a sudden concentration of keshiks will appear when or if he finds a weak point and about the delay in my economic development all this will impose. Also, let's hope that no one decides to be opportunistic and join in on the action, at least not on Azza's side!

[TheHumanHydra]

War update (okay, so this war is making me want to update more frequently): Azza still hasn't launched any attacks, except for one on a scout on his borders that I deliberately sacrificed to see what was in his nearest city (it was probably going to die to one of his reinforcement units in a couple turns anyway, so I figured I might as well gain some useful information). It was one keshik, same as it was when that scout moved past that city a couple turns before the war. I launched three attacks with spearmen at 73% odds, losing one in the north but clearing away two of his keshiks in the south. I plan to launch further attacks, by sudden roading where necessary, next turn if possible. Three more spearmen came out at the end of this turn, and my power graph continues its upward spike. Interestingly, Serdoa's graph has also begun spiking in parallel to mine; I believe he may be intending to join the war. If so, I hope (obviously) he declares on Azza; Azza is the closer target, and Azza did declare war on Serdoa earlier (I have no idea how that went, but they made peace shortly thereafter).

Would anyone like screenshots of all this, or is the written description enough?

Edit: Shoot, in retrospect I realize I may have made a mistake that could cost me a great deal. I'll let you guys know next turn whether that comes to pass!