[SPOILER] Kyan + thestick. Is that the best you can do?

[thestick]

Shoot and Sian took peace, so I don't need to worry about that. Shoot offered OB again, I rejected. I'll accept when I actually get trade routes from it. I think I need to defog a path to one of Shoot's cities, is that right? On the topic of trade routes, Nakor's now getting trade with me, so Exports-Imports is 0.

The Work Boat in Eris finished and is headed to parts unknown. I sunk the overflow in Ceres into a Galley, time to get scouts running on the islands. I almost have enough gold for that Calendar run.

I'm falling a bit behind on the landgrab now, Shoot and Sian have eight cities.

I found some islands:



The cities:

[thestick]

I think the best place for a MoM bid will be Pluto, it has 8 hpt and forests to chop. Then again, maybe Charon.

[thestick]

I started cottaging up Charon, now that the Horses and Ivory are finished. Calendar comes in in three turns. I have no clue how Sian's paying for ten (!!!) cities. Currency?

I got graphs on Shoot the Moon.

[thestick]

I chopped out a Library at Charon, it completes beginning of T68. I'm two-pop whipping a Barrack in Makemake to speed up the Hanging Gardens. Calendar comes in in two turns.

My Work Boat has discovered a large island/continent, but it doesn't seem to be inhabited. Land grab ho!

Metal Casting is probably after Calendar. I'll grow my cities on to Cottages/Scientists with the happiness. I decided that Pluto will make the MoM bid.

[thestick]

The Hanging Gardens completes T69, thanks to whip overflow and chops. Unless someone grabs it on the interturn, I'll get it, since I'm first in turn order.

The timing for this is a bit awkward, right after Calendar but before the happy cap kicks in.

[thestick]

The Hanging Gardens of Makemake finished EOT, shooting me to the top of the scoreboard. Mackcousin already has Silks and Marble hooked up, so I think he'll beat me to the Mausoleum. The Incense comes online next turn, and the Silks soon after.

I whipped a Granary in Nix. I'm going to whip a Lighthouse in Eris, as it's mostly water with only a few good land tiles. Tech path is Metal Casting->Currency, Metal Casting to FINALLY get Forges running and Currency to stave off the economic collapse.

I'm really falling behind on the land grab - Sian and Shoot have 10 and 9 cities, respectively. They're Imperialistic and must be crashing their economies. Sian's Organized, but he doesn't have CoL since Confucianism hasn't been founded yet. Next cities will probably be one towards Mackcousin and one towards Nakor.

In minor news, Mackcousin signed Open Borders with me.

GNP still stinks due to having tons of citizens eating maintenance but not contributing to the economy. Next time I'll probably start slow-building Settlers. I have 1.8 million people, and Rival Best has 1.2 million. Crop Yield is slipping relative to the competition, 114 vs. 113. Exports-Imports is still 0, at least I'm not losing money.

[thestick]

This turn was a great one. The Hanging Gardens completed:



Also, Incense and Silks both completed. Bumping up the happy cap by two caused the 0% cash production rate to skyrocket from 35 GPT to 60 GPT. Mackoti's the only other person with a Calendar resource hooked up, unless TheMusicMan has Calendar. Makoti and Nakor have Iron Working and jungled Gems hooked up, though.

I'm going to settle that Fish filler city while waiting for Worker labor to build roads to other city sites.

The cities:




I'm going to whip a Worker here to funnel overflow into the Mausoleum. Plus more Workers are going to needed for the next wave of expansion.




Haumea seemed like the right place to whip a Settler, since it still has 2 unhappy faces. I'll chop out a Work Boat for Hydra's Fish.




I cottaged over one of Makemake's floodplains. The Makemake-Ceres area needs more grassland cottages to grow onto. Yes, working a desert Incense is a bad idea, but it seemed better than a 3 beaker Scientist.




Since I'm pretty much out of grassland, I whipped the Lighthouse so Eris can grow onto some coastal tiles. I'll build a Plantation over those Spices soon.




Ceres is also suffering from the lack of cottages. The Galley finishes soon, letting me scout those Islands. I already spy Clams on one of those islands.




Charon is developing nicely. The riverside cottages are done, now I just need to build those nonriverside ones.




The lack of Forests is hurting Nix. Nix still needs to grow. The Lighthouse is probably coming after the Library.

The MoM bid will hopefully work out, I have four forests left so I only need to get to 180/300 before the superchop comes in. The Colossus will be great. Let's see, the Colossus is 166.7 hammers on Quick Speed, and I'll have a 175% modifier from Industrious, Copper, and the prerequisite Forge. That drops the Colossus down to 61 'raw' hammers, right? Hydra will probably be the Moai city. The mid-term goal at Hydra is to pump out a Great Scientist. Metal Casting is now a 5t tech at breakeven, down from a 7t tech.

Here's the current extent of my scouting information (minus the islands), as well as the current tentative dotmap:





The southern 'city?' sign 1S of the Wheat is clearly the better site, netting a grassland river. It's close to Nakor though. Heh, this sounds like Charon all over again.




I'm first in Crop Yield and second in GNP while running 0%, and I'm first in GNP at breakeven. Last in Land Area is concerning, though. I hope to fix that soon. Rival Best Crop Yield is Shoot the Moon, he even took first in Crop Yield for a turn. Also, even with Calendar, I have the unhappiest empire in the world.

Things are looking up. Now remember, thestick, things can go wrong very quickly. Don't get overconfident.

[BRickAstley]

Nice job with things.

[thestick]

Nice job with things.

Thanks! I'm surprised I've done this well. I'm worried about city counts. Sian and Shoot are Imperialistic, explaining the ridiculous number of cities. I'm tied with Mackoti and Nakor at 7 cities. I think the low Land Area is from having all these coastal cities, which might be concerning since generally coast isn't as good as land.

I guess this is just coming from the cramped 35 map, but I'm surprised how big and lush this map is. There are about three-four good mainland sites left, plus all those islands. Also, my Work Boat sailing west found a large island and another island chain leading south. I think it goes to the other continent. Having two naval bases will give me more potential oversees land, which is good as Carthage, and great if I can get the Colossus. I just have to watch out for Sian of the Vikings.

I've also noticed that I usually have trouble in the Classical era, specifically making the transition from food-heavy to GNP-heavy.

[BRickAstley]

What have you discovered of the islands so far?