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

[Ceiliazul]

Very nice!

Checking in to agree! You say Mist is running away from the pack, I don't see it. He might be in the lead, but not yet "running away". Not til he starts fracking, at least.

[Commodore]

Checking in to agree! You say Mist is running away from the pack, I don't see it. He might be in the lead, but not yet "running away". Not til he starts fracking, at least.

I guess it's more what I can see coming down the road; he's in the lead, he's Byzantium, and Guilds is coming very very soon. And he's got a neighbor who's criminally under-expanded with a lot of potential. So the guy in the lower-left corner is going to be running a farmer's gambit to catch up. Sounds familiar...



I was decrying synergy picks in the Demogame, but there is another side of the picking coin; compensatory picks. I think Victoria/Byzantium is one of those. Byz has always had the issue of a slow start...but Imp's speed boost is perfect for it.

[Commodore]

So this is actually a personal first for me. I've built the 'mids, and I've built the GLH, GLib, MoM, 'henge, Oracle...but never the Colossus in one of these things. It's pretty terrifyingly good with Financial. Particularly Darius. Cheap lighthouse, now my coasts are what most people call "grassland towns".



So, Oasis! She's got another project coming along here, called the Taj Mahal. Well, about 58% shot at a free Taj Mahal, at least. I'll probably build the National Epic here unless Sasha manages the Great Library. In which case, it's called "hyper-efficient-wealth-building".



Sasha builds a what now? Well, I went ahead and whipped in the forge, which will have a ton of overflow, and there are these two awesome forests still available. Why not try for it? I strongly suspect that either Ichabod, who has marble and (probably) Literature or Dave, who has a GE, will build it first. But it's worth a try and I can redirect to the Parthenon if it falls.



As you can no doubt surmise from my comments I'm about to resettle Aylee for marble. This time, I brought a better garrison.



In the list of "marginal places with critical strategic resources", iron needs to get claimed soon. It's not ideal to settle no-food cruddy middling places, but hey, we probably ought to have iron.



The settler will come from classic no-food cruddy middling place exhibit A: Zoe. On the plus side, with sugar and dye the empire is happy and you can't exactly claim the place isn't paying for itself. It'll be growing cottages for the future capital and existing, mostly.



Not that Riffington is my future bureaucap for its cottage potential, although that is excellent. Everything fun I'm doing with Oasis, I can soon do here with Riff, but moreso. I might just tech Civil Service, Meditation, Philosophy, and Nationalism next to just slow build the Taj.



I'm in a weird place, but I think I might be able to actually contemplate researching Nationalism and not giving up on Liberalism (Libbing Democracy instead). That's...kind of a crazy GNP for turn 282, and it's only going to get better.



I guess settling those backline fishing villages just got a lot more important...

[Ceiliazul]

I'm in a weird place, but I think I might be able to actually contemplate researching Nationalism and not giving up on Liberalism (Libbing Democracy instead). That's...kind of a crazy GNP for turn 282, and it's only going to get better.

Maybe time to consider some steps to look less threatening to the others. Particularly to the grey terror which will no doubt knock *someone* completely out of the running. All things equal, he'll attack someone adjacent to him in the wheel... but if you land Taj AND Lib, well, it'd be hard to ignore.

Also, democracy is still like 4 (non-lib) techs away, right? Did you mean constitution? May I suggest gunpowder instead?

[Commodore]

Maybe time to consider some steps to look less threatening to the others. Particularly to the grey terror which will no doubt knock *someone* completely out of the running. All things equal, he'll attack someone adjacent to him in the wheel... but if you land Taj AND Lib, well, it'd be hard to ignore.

Also, democracy is still like 4 (non-lib) techs away, right? Did you mean constitution? May I suggest gunpowder instead?

Hrm, well I don't expect to be the first target but if they either shred south Gaspardom or north Davyburg we're in the sights. Gunpowder would certainly help, and I'm not against Engineering either. Hrm. If we do opt to go directly to Nationalism, then Guilds -> Gunpowder -> Music -> Military Tradition might be wise as well. Curs would be sweet, and are definitely able to go toe-to-toe with 'phracts particularly when backed by catapults.

Flashpoints to pay heed to: Kusari just got a reprieve with a border pop. Rathaus/Library/Forge are the infra generally needed, but it would be wise to sink at least 13/33 hammers into a wall. Watch Gaspar, they haven't spiked power but they will take opportunistic snipes. Dave is more quiet, his power is low, farmer's gambit there.



The long border. Walls in Kiki, hill Aylee, river Torg are defending, a longbow in each city should be good. Torg and Kiki, with their Colossus coasts, can definitely grow to their generous happy caps. Aylee...eh. Grow to stagnate on the oasis, three hill mines, and handful of cottages I guess.



In the core, Zoe works on the settler for Sam (iron city), rest grow and prosper. Riffington can go ahead and start on the palace move once the time comes. Dave isn't very restive, but a couple longbows on the border wouldn't go amiss either. Out west, Gwen needs to make a pair of settlers to fishing-village the Colossus coasts.



Oasis is a bit more complex. This was this turn. Next turn, we swap the farm to a coast (we're saving gold) and still grow to size eight, then it's max hammers, netting us a four-turn National Epic. This will be interrupted if the Great Library has yet to fall, enabling Sasha to build it with the GLib instead, but I expect it to be GE-rushed soon anyway.



Tech path is to save gold for a few turns, then burn forward to Civil Service, Meditation, Philosophy, Nationalism. The Oasis GP will be either a GE or GM (small 5% spy odds, if so golden age in a bit). If it's a GE, he'll be banked for either rushing the Taj or bulbing Engineering if 'phracts or knights are looming. A GM will go on a trade mission.

Oasis either way shall fire the engineer and work scientists for a Philo bulb. Riffington with Bureau and marble can 5-turn the Taj in a golden age, so the GE isn't a lynchpin. Construction and cats is a cheap diversion right now if anyone is looking restive.

[regoarrarr]

The nice thing about FIN Colossus is that your ocean tiles get to be 2/0/3

[Commodore]

A final note, if thinks do accelerate, Guilds is a good tech. It's neat for Gunpowder, which is lovely, but even moreso knights are a must if Gaspar gets frisky.

[Commodore]

The nice thing about FIN Colossus is that your ocean tiles get to be 2/0/3

Darn straight. It's powering some insane research. I can just melt these techs. Feudalism, hello!



Ah. Gaspar might be getting madder and madder about this. If I know Gaspar, the "liberate" sign every time he opens the diplo window will grate. We already know Lewwyn and Noble want to kill us, from the banter thread. They're attacking. Just a question of when.



The marble is huge, though. One more turn, and the Great Library is ours...



Or else we start on the Parthenon and have a right once again to whine about turn order.

[Ceiliazul]

Well, sad news. BOTH Library and Parthenon got built last turn (Mist, Dave respectively). Also your GNP at 100% is 327, rival best is... 459?! Wowsers!

Now, the library gave us 122 failgold, so nice wealth building there. Instead of something daft like the great wall, I channeled the Library chops into a 1t settler. This allows Gwendolyn to continue growing into all those yummy commerce coast tiles, and speeds our growth.

I'll try to throw pics in often, but tonight I spent 10 hours running a chainsaw. I'm beat... but probably not as tired as old Commodore!! :neenernee

[Boldly Going Nowhere]

Oy, tough beat on GL/Parthenon.

What's the award for most wonders beaten to by 1t?