[SPOILERS] Chevalier Mal Fet and Marcopolothefraud lead a Soviet Down Under

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Turn 28

Forgot to enable FRAPS while playing the turn, so no screenshots! Oops.

Anyway, I have much news, better reported with screenies, so wait until tomorrow for most of the turn. 

Internationally, Ljub founds his 2nd city, leaving only Woden on his capital. 

Response to Marco soon.

[marcopolothefraud]

Turn 29


It's going to take a while to clear those barbarians from Illmatic. It's also going to take a long while to get to Writing, which is bothersome. It seems likely that everyone else's science is slightly better than mine, whether because they have a higher population than me or because they're working science-yielding tiles (like CMF's turtles.)

I think I know what CMF's "important news" is...


Hong Kong is in a bit of a subpar position, without any 4-yield tiles. That means it has low food and low production. Still, it'll be really nice to conquer. It's either on its own landmass, or has a land bridge to our continent...though if there really was a land-bridge, I think CMF would've bumped into a Hong Kong warrior before the city borders.

This also confirms that there's hardly any space for Russian cities on this continent. I wonder where the closest natural wonder is.

Turn 2

Nothing much to report on my end. I move a bit, find nothing of interest, swap from a builder to a warrior. We'll finish on the same turn. Per the almighty spreadsheet everyone is settled and happy in their new colonies - albeit mine is in the middle of a massive swamp (perhaps I should have gone with a Shrek naming theme?).

I went over our entire forum thread, and I tried to access the spreadsheet. CMF, could you accept my request for access? I'm worried that I might be missing something because I'm not tracking everyone's scores.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

I thought I had approved it the other day! Try this link: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1...sp=sharing

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Turn 29

Well...yes. That was my Big News. We find land's end and Hong Kong sitting on an island just off the coast:




Now, I think Hong Kong isn't spectacular, but it will be a nice pickup. I intend to build 3-4 galleys (I think 3 will do, 4 will ensure it) and send them to capture that city as soon as I can. The first two galleys can explore in the meantime, and earn era score. Should that come before or after city #3? Not sure. Hong Kong is as good as a settler and it's got some nice tiles. The tundra diamonds will be great in Russian hands, it has some fish for food, and some pearls. A harbor here and I can make it a maritime ship city, albeit extremely vulnerable to Viking raids. Risky but worth the gamble. 

I also believe this means it's possible Australia has a nearby coastal city-state as well. Not a guarantee - China found a natural wonder practically on the first turn, while we've turnt up nothing so far, so we definitely don't have mirrored starts. Still, I'm sending my other warrior to explore the southeast, so Australia will be free to concentrate exploration in the more fertile north, in the hopes of meeting Hong Kong's twin. I'll loop back and meet my other warrior somewhere near my capital, then garrison my cities against Norwegians and wait for Shipbuilding to come in.

There might also be space for a Russian city along the Ural River. The tundra forests are as good as plains forests for me, with amber, and again, fish for food. When you consider that over half the tiles I've revealed are tundra, well, yeah, I've got to make use of terrain like this. Also space for a great lavra down here.

Speaking of lavras...




Thanks, Marco! <3 I need one turn to finish Astrology, and 2 turns to finish mining. That will let me clear the tundra on Knyaz Suvurov's intended lavra site (not worth it to spend a charge chopping this early, especially with Craftsmanship still to bring in), as well as 2 turns for my pantheon (firmly settled on Dance of the Aurora -> Work Ethic) and 3 to grow Borodino to size 4. Then, on turn 32 I'll place both my lavras and build them simultaneously. While they build, I research sailing, and make at least one galley my next priority. It might be wise to pause there, explore with him to find a second  continent, then wait for maritime industries to build the Hong Kong strike force. I want that city mine by ~turn 50, though, which is when the lavras should bring me my religion.

Speaking of lavras...

China went up from 17 to 18 empire score, which is so high I realized it had to be a district, not a pop growth (unless he's got 2 size 4 cities - ridiculous): 




Roland found a natural wonder on turn, like, 4, beelined Astrology, and then planted a holy site right away. Huh? Why is he building an early holy site as China? Coupled with Suboptimal's Indonesia, I wonder if they have a cheeky religious play cooked up somehow...Thankfully, faith isn't fungible, so he can't send a bunch of faith to Suboptimal's Indonesia and spam out ships, but still, there might be some synergies. 

Speaking of synergies, let's talk strategy:

As much as I'd like to take advantage of Work Ethic, I think I won't be able to, because I'll likely run out of gold. Illmatic almost *has* to go Campus -> Government Plaza -> Harbor, given that all three of them are more useful than a Holy Site. It'll only reach 10 population (and be able to place a Holy Site) in the Medieval Era - and there's a good chance we may be deep into military production by then.

Likewise, I think it's smarter for The Blueprint to go Campus -> Commercial Hub. We will run out of money very quickly if we're not careful, especially since my cities don't have any gold-yielding tiles nearby. When The Blueprint reaches 7 pop, of course I'll consider a Holy Site...but it depends on the situation.

Gold is an important research, but it's solveable even with holy sites. We should have a fair amount of harbors, and I have a ton of gold tiles between the silver mines, the diamonds at Hong Kong, and the sea. Tithe is a very useful belief and might be one very worth prioritizing, scaling extremely well in a team game. And gold transfers easily between civs - but you should have as many Harbors as humanly possible anyway. Holy Sites will be useful for their production bonus - doubling up with production and faith, which you can use for a variety of useful things, and protecting us against Crusades from other players (if we don't take it ourselves...). I don't think they should be a top Australian priority, but IF we land Work Ethic, it's definitely worth keeping in mind that even a few will be useful to Australia, if nothing else for the discount.

Oh, and I'd like to revisit this post that I made five weeks ago. Can we construct a strategy around this? Who will make the Encampment and who will make the Aqueduct? There's a lot of potential chops northwest of Illmatic, and appeal will likely remain Breathtaking regardless of chops, mines and Encampments. Maybe that might be a potentially good spot.

That should be the general pattern: Lavra, Campus, Commercial/Harbor. What about all of the other districts? Don't build them, they aren't worth it. Just get one or maybe two of them to unlock their related boosts and nothing more.

Well Sullla, we need to brace ourselves to boost as many Technologies and Civics as we can. This is a tech-shuffle map and we need all the boosts we can get.

Take Square Rigging (490 - 660 Science, depending on where it is in the tech tree), the tech that unlocks Frigates and one we desperately need to rush. We need to "kill a unit with a Musketman" to boost it.

Musketmen are from Gunpowder (490 - 600 Science, depending on where it is in the tech tree). We need to build an Armory to boost it.

Armories unlock with Military Engineering (275 - 390 Science, depending on where it is in the tech tree). We need to build an Aqueduct to boost it, not to mention an Encampment + Barracks.

Aqueducts come from Engineering (120 - 200 Science, depending on where it is in the tech tree), which requires Ancient Walls to boost.

Almost a thousand beakers are up for grabs if we do this right, even though it's such a massive production burden. That means we will likely chop and harvest a little bit to build all these Eureka-making prerequisites. To optimally build Musketmen, Armories, and Ancient Walls, we need to unlock the correct policy cards. That most likely means getting as many civic inspirations as possible too. We have to prepare for Engineering -> Military Engineering -> Gunpowder -> Square Rigging to be on opposite ends of the tech tree, which may mean that both of us have to share the production burdens.

There are also some asinine boosts like "Construct 3 different specialty districts", "Build 2 Markets", or "Build a Classical-Era or later wonder" that are just too impossible to even bother. One of us will have to hard-research those techs/civics and let the other one coast.


EDIT: Here's why I say "almost a thousand beakers". By fulfilling the boosts, we're not only receiving a 40% discount. We're also discovering the tech's location on the tech tree and doing less guesswork on chasing dead ends. I have played Random Tech Tree on singleplayer a lot of the time, and I find it super important not to stumble around.

The encampment and aqueduct I think will depend more on who has the district slots available (for the encampment, at least). The aqueduct is looking like it will make lots of sense for Russia, though, because my home area has a TON of food, meaning housing will be a dire necessity. Further, with Work Ethic, if all goes as planned (knock on wood), it looks like I should have production to spare for the project. So that's a natural fit.

Districts, though, might be more flexible for Australia, mostly because of the issue you mentioned above - Russia needs to build lavras, Australia doesn't. I can't neglect campuses entirely (nor should I - I've got 2 good sites even without a Plaza, which I presently don't have a great plan for, but am open to suggestions), and I will of course have a harbor in all coastal or coast-adjacent cities since shipbuilding capacity will decide the game, so I'm already booked up to size 10 in many cities. BUT I also will have large cities at Knyaz Suvurov and Borodino, and having a dedicated Cossack factory might not go amiss...I dunno. Aqueduct definitely Russia, Encampment I don't know yet. That might make sense for Russia to land mathematics (wait, I should get it with Harbor + Campus + Lavra at Borodino). Australia might get the "two markets" (easier now that the number is lowered and you ahve to build markets to unlock Commercial Hubs' true potential). Let's get a look at the classical trees (post Mysticism in civics) and decide then.

[marcopolothefraud]

Turn 30


Nothing to report. One of the warriors is probably going to go south and into the barbarian camp via The Blueprint, and the other warrior will likely go north of the lake...but I have to wait to kill the barbarian warrior first.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Turn 30

Quiet here, but next turn will be fun:




Next turn, we'll meet this religious state, Hong Kong's twin. I'll also finish Mining and be able to chop forests, grab my pantheon and finish mysticism, granting me an envoy I can send to this state if we choose for more faith, and I'll be 1 turn from Astrology, so on turn 32 I can lay down my lavras with the tiles already purchased. 

All players now have 2 cities and we are in last (until next turn, at least).

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Turn 31

Wheee, fun and games. Start the turn with:




That will enable the quarry on the stone (giving me another 2/2 tile, not great, but better than what I've got, production-wise) and to chop woods, enabling the lavra at Knyaz Suvurov. That will go down next turn as I finish Astrology now. 

Next, choose a pantheon. The long-term payoff of DotA is much greater than Oloram, and can be brought online within 20 turns. I post all pantheons here for reference:



[Not pictured: Stone Circles]



Earth Goddess has been claimed by Indonesia. When Marco gets his pantheon down the road, we can compare notes here and see what's missing. 

Anyway, claiming the pantheon brings mysticism to one turn:




So we'll finish that next turn and boost it for Marco. Note that Archduke built a monument right after a settler in his starting city (per his high empire score) and burned through mysticism unboosted. He had no choice, really - unlike Russia he couldn't boost the civic very rapidly, and if he didn't build the monument, both he and Kaiser would have to research unboosted, wasting a lot of culture. Thus, Kaiser essentially has gotten the extra culture from the monument, but Marco and I are not far behind at all. Suboptimal/Roland also avoided the trade, but Woden/ljub will probably have to waste culture getting through mysticism. 

Anyway, this will give me a bunch of +4/5/6/7!! lavras, which will be crazy with Work Ethic and later Simultaeneum. Coupled (hopefully) with monumentality for expansion and we have our killer app. 

Abroad, Woden has longships in the water and we met Yerevan:




Talk about terrible tiles...that city might be better off boosting my holy sites than being incorporated into the empire. Jeez. 

Marco, I'm also working hard to get the graphs section of the spreadsheet up to date. Total scores have been properly colored and the extra civs added. Need to do the same for the other sections still.

[marcopolothefraud]

Turn 32


Short report today.
Illmatic finishes its Monument, grows to size 3, and works a 1/2 plains hill. That means it only has 1 excess food, but makes 11 production/turn. It starts production on a Settler, due on turn 42.

Yerevan gives me a quest to recruit a Great Scientist. That's going to be very easy, but I'm going to have to wait several turns to accomplish it.

I'm already 60% done with researching Mysticism - it looks like I will (unfortunately) waste some culture. Writing is due in 9 turns, so after my Settler finishes I will have to think of a filler build. Maybe a Builder?

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

I think you'll overflow the excess from the inspiration, not sure. I'm not good with the finicky details of how Civ VI works. You will want a builder out at some point, since your tiles aren't fantastic. Since a granary won't be necessary for some time due to Australia's bonus, and you can't build ships yet, a builder is probably best.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Turn 32

More tech wheeeeeeeee:

...oh, dammit, didn't have FRAPS open.

Anyway, Mysticism and Astrology finish. I place a +6 lavra at Borodino and a +4 at Suvurov, due in 4 and 6 turns respectively. I'll begin a settler after that, then either a galley or finish the monument. I want 3-4 galleys out as rapidly as I can to take Hong Kong, which with a settler out of Suvurov will put me at 5 cities in the next 30 turns. 

I'll be gaining 2 GPP from turn 36 - turn 38, then 4 thenceforth. Religion arrives on turn 52, 20 turns from now. We cross our fingers for Work Ethic, which will supercharge my cities, and from there we can snowball.   

Internationally, Archduke has settler #2 out, which means he must have gone monument ->(pause) settler -> monument -> settler at his start. Really interesting choice - he must have a good island with lots of strong expansion options. Marco is just starting settler #2 and I'm starting mine in 4 turns, so I'm about 15 turns behind England in expansion at the moment. 

The other interesting bit is everyone finishing Mysticism this turn. We know Archduke built a monument and inspired it for Kaiser, and suboptimal inspired it for himself and roland, but Woden and ljubljana is a surprise. I wonder if one of their high pop growths was actually a monument? Hmmmm. Well, everyone's basically neck and neck so far in research, but as we open the civics tree now there's going to be room for divergence. My own intention is to research Early Empire first for the governor title and colonization, while working to get a galley out and try to find city state #3 so we can locate Political Philosophy and beeline it.