[PB65] Pinch-Hitting Pindicator

[pindicator]

If Cornflakes' time window is 11am - 3pm and sucksatciv's time window is 6pm - 3am then why did we place SaC ahead of Cornflakes in the order?

I'd post this in the tech thread but it's just venting at this point in the process.

[pindicator]

058

I mentioned that we were close to graphs with Bing before, and we have them now:













So the two strongest openers in the game - Cornflakes and Mjmd - are to our east, yet it seems the two weakest openers - Superdeath and Bing - are to our west. As the map starts to fill up, I think it makes a lot of sense to try our first military campaigns to the west. Both for the relative weakness of the opposition, but also because I think SD and Bing's lands fit a little easier into what we've already claimed. (Plus, if Mjmd and Cornflakes are going to fight then why get in their way?)

In game, I chopped out my first granary at Wingspan. Next turn we'll whip 2 more and then on t60 whip the final planned granary at EH (sorry Azul, I really need you to get another settler going). Our first spear finished from Azul and is going to head west to EH for defense.

This next screenshot I think really captures the uniqueness of this game:




Look at the Known Civs with Tech numbers. It's turn 58 and nobody has more than Pottery or Bronze Working. No Writing, no Sailing, no Masonry - the tech rate is very slow to start this game. For me, I will continue to save gold a few more turns but the research gets turned back on t62. Yet whether we go Mysticism > Masonry or Writing is still up in the air for me. I desperately need a way to pop borders. Ideally that would be a religion, but I don't see us getting to Monotheism for another 20 turns(!!) in my sims. Hitru and I talked a bit about Masonry and 'Mids. My initial sim had us landing it t83 - and that can probably come down a couple turns - but it took a lot of our early resources for it and we would not be able to expand northward.

So I think I am looking at Writing next at this moment. I will be able to whip out some libraries in the early 70s in Azul and Eldritch Horror for some needed border pops - and in addition this will start the counter going for our eventual first great person. I suspect this is the right thing to invest in first, and then after we can push towards religion. But tomorrow I might change my mind again.

[Ginger()]

Nice demos, early traits looking good so far.
You say that you're eyeing up westward expansion as a longterm plan, what era/units are you aiming for?

[pindicator]

Too soon to tell. As long as there's land to grab peacefully I want to leverage IMP and grab it.

[pindicator]

If you can remind me where the instructions are then sure.

I'm working on the sims for turns 70-80 right now, you should be set for those 2 weeks easy.

[pindicator]

It's technically turn 60, but my PBSpy had not refreshed when opened so I thought I was up to play, but in reality we are still waiting on Superdeath.

Since I was in the game, I decided to take a stitch

[pindicator]

060

Cornflakes' power spikes upward, somebody has teched Archery, and Mjmd planted his 5th city.




We whipped our last granary at Eldritch Horror, costing 2 pop but that's a city which grows back quickly. Azul reached size 3 and started the settler we will send north. Originally slated to settle the Silk & Crab on Cornflakes' border, we've decided to abandon that spot as it is a difficult spot for us to grab at this point: lots of worker turns needed, lots of defense needed, Superdeath's culture and temper to contend with, and just not enough good stuff to account for all this. Instead we have a couple spots eyed in the north and depending on where Bing or Mjmd grab we will settle what is available.

Next turn Wingspan switches to a settler, which will be whipped out and sent east. The reason why this is not being started straight away at size 5 is that when Sushi Go's granary was chopped it freed up a few turns for the capital to grab the sheep - and I wanted to take full advantage of the extra food and growing the capital.

Research was finally turned on and we are going for Mysticism next. I do like the idea of getting libraries up and running but 90h is just too high of a cost for newer cities - monuments will be cheaper for the cities which need to expand borders now.

[pindicator]

062

I think either Cornflakes or sucksatciv was the one to tech Archery. Cornflakes' power is the only one that spikes up over 4k points in one turn, and we don't have graphs on SaC yet.

More interesting over the last couple turns has been the correspondence with other civs. It seems people have noticed the fast pace which the good land is being claimed and are already hatching plans to take rather than settle what's left. Last turn Superdeath sent us a diplo request, saying he will declare on Bing if we declare on Cornflakes. Not a good deal for us as Cornflakes is the top power in the game and already gearing up to fight Mjmd again - I don't want to do anything to stop those two from going at each other. But still wanting to throw away the possibility of a peaceful border with Superdeath, I instead counter-offered for us to attack Bing and he can attack sucksatciv. This turn we got his reply:




Looks like we are agreed! Although I give no real weight to these talks; he could just as easily decide he wants to attack Bing anyway. Or that he wants to send our forces away so he can stab us in the back. But either way, talking is better than not talking, as at least now there's the possibility that superdeath and I might not lock into eternal combat as neighbors. Again. (I do owe him a good razing or two for last game though.)

As for us, we have finished Mysticism and now go back to saving gold for Masonry. Teching Mysticism let us view Known Civs with Tech for the religious techs, but so far only the people who founded the religions have bothered researching down this line. I think Monotheism is wide open for us to claim.

This turn will be the low point in our GNP - but last turn we were actually not last! We had climbed up to #3 as cottages were coming online and cities grew. But this turn we whipped away 2 pop at the capital for the settler that will be city #6:




Last turn we started the settler in our capital and this turn we whipped it away for just 2 pop: hurray for IMP! We've already started the road network to city #6 (current name: Libertalia. I got to play Libertalia: Winds of Galecrest a couple weeks back and had a blast with it). Hitru and I have also decided to take a slightly more aggressive position with the city and move it off the plains hill. If Cornflakes isn't going to claim any of the land out this way then we don't need to be so defensively positioned. And if he continues to ignore it after then we might keep claiming land this way...




Back to the bottom in GNP after the whips. And Mjmd takes a large food lead! CRE is a very good trait for a map like this, maybe better than IMP. I certainly am jealous of the free border pops.

[Tarkeel]

I didn't know that Libertalia had gotten a remake/reskin. I have the original, and it's a great game; one of the few I feel captures the spirit of being pirates.

[pindicator]

Yeah, the internet says they added a Reputation system. That's surprising to hear because there were enough cards that interacted with Reputation that I never would have guessed it was added in later. I'm going to the same friends' again on Saturday; hoping I get to play it some more!

063

We are working the Silver!




City Maintenance crept upward another tic and now we're going to be really pressed to get Masonry by end of t65. I think we have a little bit of slack to work with (and honestly, I probably should have swapped Azul from working a grass forest to working a coast tile just to give us an extra 2 gold to work with). Anyway, we'll sort it out. Even if worst case happens and we dont' get Masonry until end of t66 we'll just have to chop an extra forest for....

Oh, i haven't spilled the beans on that plan yet, have I? Well, it's not that hard to guess what I would have plans with masonry for, but just how fast do you think I can get it done by?

Mjmd's scout is a little concerning here. We are similar in power and I have axes coming down the queue. Was tempted to swap either of these northern cities to monuments just to get a little more cultural control early on, but I'm saving the monument builds for the cities that truly need them to get resources hooked up. The northern cities will need to wait until a religion spreads to our borders.




No longer last in GNP (again)!