[SPOILERS] This Land is Your Land, This Land is My Land. But Mostly Mine.

[Boldly Going Nowhere]

Your scout took one hit.

Maybe* I make incorrect statements every now and then to elicit lurker comments?

*But actually not in this case. I read the combat log and comprehended it correctly in game and then forgot the hit by the time I wrote the report. But you got me again!

T45

Lots of pictures this turn because I finally got graphs on Dhal. I'm wondering if he has only met me and Mardoc? Seems reasonable, and it makes sense that he would continue dumping points into me if he has already achieved equilibrium with Mardoc. But first, I made a misplay with the scout that I realized before the move completed (there was some lag while I played):




I knew last turn that there was a wolf on the forest hill 1N of my scout's current position and that both tiles to the west would prevent the wolf from moving further than a single tile. But I saw the damaged .2 health lion and immediately said "Derp! Why don't I get that easy fifth xp to get to woody II at no risk to myself? Derp!" and before the movement animation completed I realized that there would 100% be a wolf waiting too. Well, whatever. I just won't get the experience from the wolf attack because I'm going to massacre both of those guys. Hopefully...

I mean, I'm going to be annoyed at myself if I get my scout killed before meeting Caledorn when I finally wanted to. Oh well. Hey, early game things to get mad at, right? Usually I'd just blame the mapmaker, but Commodore hath been kind.




Chops continue at Yellowstone, the workers at Lake built a road. Nothing to see here, so of course I took a pic.

Graphs and stuff:


















I like my position right now and I'm really enjoying this game. And, many thanks to the guys who chipped in for Cal's new HD and for Cal to continue putting up with all the problems that this game has caused him. This community really is great.

[Boldly Going Nowhere]

T46

Survival!




The wolf declined combat but the lion rushed in, this time for real doing no damage. I'm going to take the Woody II promotion, and actually I should log back in and take it so that I'm not attacked by the possible but hopefully non-existent wolf either 2W, 2W/1S or 2S, or 2S/1W.




I moved workers A/B to lay the road for city #3 next turn. This caused my expenses to increase so I temporarily moved my SW fogbuster back inside borders to save the 1g. I'll put that warrior back on the hill next turn.






Lake's settler is all set to found next turn. Yellowstone could have been ready next turn too, but I decided that I'd get a whip in with lots of overflow for the granary instead. This doesn't slow down city #4 because I don't have roads in place to speed the settler along just yet, and also this will let Yellowstone grow rapidly over the following several turns. Once the granary completes (T52), Yellowstone will begin a library and grow to size 4 on T54, size 5 on T56, size 6 on T57 and size 7 on T60. I'm going to be laying down cottages and camping the ivory to make this happen. Meanwhile, Lake is going to stay at size 4 and keep churning out workers (T50, 55, 60) at 12h/turn (corn, gems, GH mine, PH mine). Here is a not strictly optimized long term plan. This will likely change significantly next turn when I learn where my horses are.




Not strictly losing. Now come on horses! How about 1S of the pigs, or the wheat, or the cows. All would be just fine.

[Ceiliazul]

your demos are a 10!

great thread, boldly. i'll take a game implosion at t250 *if* retire to ai is allowed eventually.

[Boldly Going Nowhere]

your demos are a 10!

great thread, boldly. i'll take a game implosion at t250 *if* retire to ai is allowed eventually.

Thanks, Ceil! T250 seems a bit late with the current turn pace...

T47

Found horses!

Don't much care for them though:




I had planned on settling a city there to share the wheat, so I'll have to do some thinking on this. I definitely don't want to waste the hammer yield, grass horses are too good but I'm not seeing an obvious city plant there that shares the wheat with my upcoming city 1E of wheat. Probably wheat sharing is out. I could move #4 1E of where I've been planning and then have the horse city 1E of the horse, but that negates a possible city to get the eastern clams that probably aren't "mine" anyway. I'll think on this some more.

Elsewhere:




Whipped for granary overflow. But interestingly, combined with the new Fishing Bridge...



...no score change reflected on the tracker. Take that anyone doing C&D!




Things are looking pretty good.




Lastly, my scout has moved toward Caledorn and will likely make contact from the west next turn. I'm ready to start spending espionage points elsewhere.

[Boldly Going Nowhere]

Video of the day:



Nostalgia!

[Boldly Going Nowhere]

T47

Found horses!



Don't much care for them though:




I had planned on settling a city there to share the wheat, so I'll have to do some thinking on this. I definitely don't want to waste the hammer yield, grass horses are too good but I'm not seeing an obvious city plant there that shares the wheat with my upcoming city 1E of wheat. Probably wheat sharing is out. I could move #4 1E of where I've been planning and then have the horse city 1E of the horse, but that negates a possible city to get the eastern clams that probably aren't "mine" anyway. I'll think on this some more

Here's what a little thinking got me:




T66 will grow cottages for the capital and I can live without the wheat in Lake without too much suffering. One solution would be to start growing Lake a little sooner, but this would be at the cost of a worker, and realistically Fishing Village is going to be taking over the mines so Lake can focus on growing a cottage for Yellowstone and a couple of plains cottages for the eventual PH city SW of Lake. Late game, Lake will not be very impressive, but it will have done its job.

The city that I really want to be able to preserve with any dot map is T71. That thing will be an absolute hammer beast once it's grown up some. Since the game was down and I had a bit of time last night, I decided to take a long look at how things might develop if I'm left alone.




I fired a GA around T103-13 and swapped into Pacifism, Caste, and Bureau, as well as Taoism (I teched Monarchy by the end of the GA and finished with swaps to HR/OR). I landed Confucianism because the AIs are all handcuffed but ignored it because realistically I don't think I'll end up being first to CoL. If I bulb Philosophy, which admittedly I did not do here, I have a better chance at Taoism. More likely still, I'll get a free Buddhism spread from Team BASTARD and won't have to worry about chasing a religion. I used the GA to generate another scientist, merchant, and artist. What I was interested in seeing, though, is how long it would take to get the T71 production city up, and the answer is not long at all. I grew it on cottages for T66, which is now a good commerce city in its own right even when giving its northern cottages to the capital, then once it was big enough to work all of the mines, I swapped over from growth to hammers. In this sim, this is where Taoism founded, so I've just churned out missionaries from there, but likely this would be barracks, forge (or forge first if I've taken MC by then), and then units until I've made up some of the power gap. I've farmed pretty heavily and I'm hopeful that my relative geographic isolation will keep me safe, but obviously I'll keep an eye on my neighbors.

I need the game to come back up so I don't waste so much time doing stuff like this.

[Boldly Going Nowhere]

T48

First, a new neighbor.




It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood. Nice enough for barbs to come out of the woodwork for a leisurely stroll. I'll have to keep an eye on those thugs, they like to let their dogs shit on the lawn.




As surmised previously, our new neighbor is Caledorn. Since he has been a gracious host to all of us, I'm going to need to whip together a nice casserole to welcome him to the neighborhood. Maybe we can work on a nice fence together one day. As they say, good fences make good neighbors.




These neighbors are a bit more devout than I typically prefer, but they keep mostly to themselves.




This neighbor is a bit nosy, always looking across the fence to see what I'm up to. He isn't going to like much that I'm planting along the fence line, but it's my property. I'll pick up what's on my side of the fence, he can tend the yard on his side. He may not realize it now, but he's going to absolutely love the shade this plant provides in the warm summer months, even if the branches overhang the fence.




It seems that the neighbors haven't all met yet. Heck, Dhal, who tends to use saltier language than I prefer, and Mardoc, who is more devout than necessary, haven't even spoken to each other! We all kind of avoid that Commodore gal. She wears her curlers out in the yard and has too many cats, is always spying on everyone, and is just generally a fly on the wall. Or a spider waiting in a web, I haven't decided yet. Anyway, you wouldn't know the old gal is there most days, but she's always there. Damned snoop. You can be sure she's keeping tabs on everyone, but she's been here longer than any of us and the old axe will probably outlive all of us. Best to just ignore the old crone and move along.




Overall, this is a nice neighborhood to be in. My house is a little bigger than the others, and I like that just fine. It lets them know the pecking order. I don't intend to tell them what to do with their properties, as long as they leave me and mine alone and don't bother me too much or throw noisy parties. I'm a more retiring sort and like to be able to relax at home.

Maybe some day down the line I'll have them over for a barbeque and show them around the old place. Might be, though, that when I get some more money together and I've completed all the improvements on this property I'll see about acquiring their houses. I have a growing family, you see, and I'd like to keep them all close. I don't mind haggling if it comes to that, but I can be...persuasive...in negotiation if I have to be. You have to be tough sometimes when it comes to looking after your own in this world.

Swing by if you want to talk some more! I'll leave the porch light on for you, just in case.

Oh, one more thing! Nearly slipped my mind, but that Dhal is an industrious sort on top of being nosy looking over the fence. He's got some kind of project started over there, but I'm not sure what it is. I guess he'll let me know when he's ready.

[Ceiliazul]

We all kind of avoid that Commodore gal. She wears her curlers out in the yard and has too many cats, is always spying on everyone, and is just generally a fly on the wall. Or a spider waiting in a web, I haven't decided yet. Anyway, you wouldn't know the old gal is there most days, but she's always there. Damned snoop. You can be sure she's keeping tabs on everyone, but she's been here longer than any of us and the old axe will probably outlive all of us. Best to just ignore the old crone and move along.

[Boldly Going Nowhere]

T49




One of the quieter areas of Yellowstone is the Lamar Valley, nestled just east of Specimen Ridge and home to many of YNP's famous reintroduced wolves, as well as Bighorn sheep in some of the rockier cliff faces in the valley. The Bighorn sheep, however, are quite rarely observed given their small numbers and fondness for difficult to reach places.




The Lamar River courses through the valley nearly to the eastern park boundary and is a good place to practice your cast as a fly fisherman in a dramatic setting worthy of a movie set...




if you're into that sort of thing, which I'm not. I don't fish, but I do like to hike. As is true nearly anywhere in Yellowstone more than a mile or so away from the road and its throngs of drive-through tourists, it isn't hard to find a trail and, more often than not, if you want to have the trail to yourself you'll have it. You just have to share the trail with the friends you've been dying to see though you never knew-- bears, bison, elk, moose, deer, a whole slew of small ground animals like squirrels, beavers, and rabbits, and virtually all of the Goddamned mosquitoes in God's Creation.




Maps are necessary in the few wild places we have left, but even in the untamed wilderness it can be fun to go off trail and do some exploration of your own. If you do venture into the unknown, have a care and be alert for any dangers. Shadows are everywhere and you never know what's lurking beyond.




A high place with a view and cover is as safe as you can really get in the wild, but no place is safe for long.

[Boldly Going Nowhere]

T50

Still farming away. Probably will continue to do so until the barbs force me to do something different.




I moved my eastern warrior SE for better spawn busting on the flank where I'm vulnerable. I was almost certainly better positioned on the hill, so I'll move back next turn.




Another barb, and gray borders. This looks more Byzantine than German and will be interesting one day down the line. Begin planning for Operation Smack Back Phrac(t) Stack. Just kidding. I'm not planning that far ahead. I'll be happier having to fight All of the Q's than Xenu later on, so I hope it really is Qgqqqq.




I checked city counts once more, my near neighbors are still on two cities. Don't pay any attention to the marked city placements, I don't really care for that setup. I'm still trying to sort out a decent dot map, but I think so far I like what I came up with a few posts back, with a vertical column of cities at three rows between. I don't love that either, but it seems better than this setup.




Burying the lead, it appears that HAK has lifted a city off Jowy. That basically means permawar for those two, as Jowy holds a grudge worse than anyone I can think of on this site. Long term, that only goes one way with Jowy losing, but I'm not sure on exactly how good HAK is so I just see this being a lose/lose situation for them both. Who knows, though. Good news for you lurkers, I suppose. Enjoy!