[Spoilers]PBEM5m Commodore shows the full Monty

[Commodore]

[SIZE="5"]Turn 20-26, First Expansion[/SIZE]

So the initial divergence between Gaspar and I had some longer-term ramifications. At size two, I stagnated to make a second worker, which was due to finish a turn after Bronze Working. Being Spiritual, I was able to swap to slavery the turn BW came in and whip the worker for massive overflow.



I dumped the overflow into a settler, grew a turn on another warrior (remember, one had already been built during first growth), and then two chops completed the settler with another huge overflow. I sunk the otherwise wasted hammers into a cheap Aggressive barracks, making it a 2-turn build.



The shiny marble spot kept calling to me, but the copper is probably more vital, distant as it is. With a little better moving I could have made it to the (very defensible) desert hill site a turn sooner, but I was still torn between spots.



The warrior built on the first growth cycle went south to fill in map knowledge. No other copper was found but possibly-vital stone is available. A Stonehenge denial build is worthwhile if I can make it, but given the presence of marble I'm more interested in seeing if I can use the stone to short-circuit the standard Phi pyramids build gambit.



You might be wondering why we're playing a bit more of a builder-oriented game plan than is standard for a duel. Well, the map is Tiny, not Duel-sized, and the speed is Quick, both of which hurt the traditional axe-rush mindset. We'll take opportunities as they come, but an all-in failure might be lethal. So, it's fight *and* contemplate stealing wonders.



All of that is secondary, of course, to getting good solid units online. The copper spot is in an amazing piece of defensive terrain, on a hill, across a river north, around a peak south, with pigs, wet wheat, marble, copper, and furs.



AH came in EoT after I moved up on the hill for the copper. Apparently NobleHelium really, really hates me, because I'm pretty sure this is getting hooked up by Gaspar in three or four turns.



No matter, I just need to have spears online before the chariots roll in. Hugh Ron was settled Turn 25, rather late but please recall our traits are bad. The first turn I worked the plains forest to get enough hammers into a warrior to cover an emergency. Currently, the border popping plan is Hinduism, if that fails I'll be whipping in a monument.



Sad as that time is, Gaspar with his vertical plan is slower, sitting on one city still. I expect a city north along the river working sheep and horses soon for him, though. Hilariously, he's going for a "casus belli in PBEM 24" theme. Anyone care to guess mine? Hint, the next city will be "Creak"



My own plans have yielded good results. The capital grew while making another warrior, this time with 3xp and thus able to take either shock against warriors or C2 against a chariot. Next turn the capital gets whipped again for a third worker which will hasten to hook up horses. As they move out workers are putting turns into a mine west of the city.



The only thing that's really hurting right now is my research vs. Gaspar, who will probably still keep ahead with his next city if it's along the river for an instant trade route. The next big question is whether or not he's gone for a religion. If he has and it's Polytheism, I've wasted beakers that would otherwise be going into much-needed Pottery.



Any questions, accolades, concerns, insults? Am I just babbling to myself in here?

[Mardoc]

Any questions, accolades, concerns, insults? Am I just babbling to myself in here?

I'm watching with interest.

I do really appreciate your reports - but there's nothing obviously missing. And I have no idea on your naming scheme, so I can't even guess there.

[Commodore]

I'm watching with interest.

I do really appreciate your reports - but there's nothing obviously missing. And I have no idea on your naming scheme, so I can't even guess there.

Thanks, makes me feel a bit less crazy. The city after Creak will be either "A Patchy" or "Shoe Show Knee".

[Mardoc]

The city after Creak will be either "A Patchy" or "Shoe Show Knee".

Oh, that hurts. To test my guess: would Seminal and Cherry Key fit your theme?

[Commodore]

Oh, that hurts. To test my guess: would Seminal and Cherry Key fit your theme?

Hah! I was actually thinking of Chair Oh Key, but that's just dependent on the accent. If the land isn't full by then, Ear-Ick Koi would be the only reasonable filler.

P.S. To the Euros, sorry, it's an American thing.

[NobleHelium]

I'm pretty sure it's pronounced Chair E Oh Key.

I think you missed this post by the way.

I gave this info to Gaspar after you left, so here ya go.

Gaspar: yeah
did you edit the map much?
or just roll one and check for fairness?

me: i sprinkled some food
made sure copper iron etc were all on the map
upgraded some deserts to plains
rearranged a bit where jungle growths could have a huge influence
added a few luxuries
i didn't pay that much attention so there may be a blind spot without much food
and you may not be 100% happy with where the important resources are :P

[Commodore]

I think you missed this post by the way.

Oh, I saw. And yes, the copper placement is rather irritating. Although now that I have my own horses and copper online, I expect you'll be hearing irritation from Gaspar pretty soon.

[SIZE="5"]Turn 25+, Dotmap[/SIZE]

I kind of hope that he's got some defenses online, though, because this is a fun little map, one I'd like to play further on. I have a city or eight more I'd like to plunk down.



The next city Creak is the linker between Hugh Ron and Sue, working horses, sheep, and a flood plain cottage at first, growing onto a whipping off of the shared furs and marble. This should be a good generalist city that doesn't take much worker labor or need culture.

My next priority now that the early strategic resources are locked down will be the gold city of A Patchy. Thanks to the capital's border pop the decent 3/0/2 whales tile will be open from day one, and getting the gold and sheep online will do wonders for the economy while still letting the city grow. Later, the incense will be another economy boost, food-supported by the oasis and deer.

The backfilling Cherry Key location is getting settled next to help the economy more long-term, with first-ring cows and wet rice supporting its cottage-growing. It should mature at least the three shared grassland tiles into villages by the time the capital gets an academy.

Walls are vital, so as soon as I can get the logistics going Ear Ick Koi will claim stone while also guarding the economically critical gold behind itself. Culture is needed quickly here to claim gold and also guard against southern sneak attacks.

After that, the aggressive but crumple-zone'd Shoe Show Knee will be founded to protect Hugh Ron while also managing to support itself with the oasis, cows, and shared wet wheat. This is another quick-off-the-ground one, although it needs culture or walls online soon just to protect itself.

The rest are fairly obvious, fillers or pushers...silver and iron are still undiscovered, so I expect the priorities to shift as we get more map knowledge.

[Commodore]

[SIZE="5"]Turns 27-37, Aggression Pays[/SIZE]

So when last we left off, contact was at a lull after Gaspar's conservative play had him getting the better of me in a warrior exchange near his capital, and I was the first to a second city with a very aggressive plant for copper. An early Aggressive barracks means I have a potential shock warrior nosing around, but I am still nervous about incoming chariots. The experienced warrior explored south a bit while staying in reasonable range of Hugh Ron.



Gaspar was only a few turns behind in settling his second city, much more conservatively placed along the river north of his capital. His vertical growth means he's killing in the demos right now.



Might as well double down when you play for keeps, anyway. On turn 30, I worked a miserable tundra river tile to finish Polytheism exactly. I needed to get copper into the borders as quickly as possible.



I realize this is also the third time in three games as the prime that I've popped my second city's borders with Hinduism. Meh, well, go with what works, right? GNP is now skewed by culture, too.



The newly popped borders revealed a friend that I thought we had lost, the Spanish scout, now named in an insult to the memory of Slam Beefchest, noble defender of the doomed Gryphon. That hurts, Gaspar.



The popped borders enabled Hugh Ron to finish its warrior build in a turn, and the aggressively scout found itself blocked by a new defender, unable to sit on the pigs or the copper without being killed.



The scout unwisely moved to the forested plains hill, where I was able to block its southern escape with the experienced southern warrior. I flipped a mental coin once or twice, but in the end 75% odds were "good enough".



Now why couldn't Gaspar's warrior have been this damaged? Ah well, another potential shock warrior, or C2 spear with an upgrade once he is healed up. For those keeping score at home, Gaspar and I are now even, one scout and one warrior lost each.



Meanwhile, the capital of Sue, now with horses online, paused in the making of a settler to grow while banging out a chariot, whipped in once the city hit size 3 again. With the chariot online, I begin to relax about potential shenanigans from Gaspar's own horses.



Whip overflow completes the settler in two turns, and he makes a beeline for Creak as the capital finally starts work on a granary. The infrastructure around my empire is lacking, but if I can continue growing and use the military focus to push back on Gaspar's farmers, I'll come out ahead.



For her part Sue will be banging out another quick worker before finishing up the granary, the riversides need cottages and the hills need mines. For now, the hammer-heavy Hugh Ron (which, with religion, has the same happy cap and better food) will be supplying the empire's military needs.



For all that Gaspar does have a real edge on me regarding growth. That's why I have incoming warriors and the chariot to pressure his own lands now, and the next chapter will be about pushing him into actual military builds.

[Commodore]

[SIZE="5"]Turns 38-42, The Setup[/SIZE]

Turn 38 dawned with the happy birth of the brand new city of Creak, leaving me no longer up one without a paddle. The workers were at first out of position to support the new city, but fortunately the horse pasture was a good enough tile to start with.



There is an interesting contrast here between my relatively horizontal approach and Gaspar's strongly vertical one. Time will tell which works better, but I am happy at the greater defensive depth my city sprawl provides.



The warrior Yodels In Buckskin fortified on the hill just inside of Gaspar's territory, awaiting the backstop of the barracks-made chariot coming up from behind. The hill and the peak inside of Gaspar's borders means that nothing sneaky would fly, of course.



Sadly, the pressure was enough to get Gaspar to flip into Slavery. I'd rate at least reasonable odds that he has a southbound settler at this point, as all of those big-city hammers had to be going somewhere.



My own foodhammers were going into an expanded worker force. Once the granaries come online in all cities I will start looking to expand again, although not without first exploring a copper choke with spears.



As mentioned before, nothing from the desert side could sneak up on Gaspar, but I did move the second chariot up above the snowline, hopefully to generate opportunities or at least pressure while the more southward skirmish held his attention.



Gaspar is no idiot, of course. He moved a chariot into the woods next to the warrior, but I was reasonably certain that he would have his own backstop preventing any easy retaliation. Still, knight to cover pawn.



Yep! Gaspar took the bait, and covered his victorious (but damaged) chariot with another chariot...but this one was not barrack-produced, giving me a 2 out of 3 shot at clearing the fresh chariot. Of course I'll take that!



Excellent. My own damaged chariot might be popped in turn but not without him being forced to whip out extra garrison in Border Agreement. Unless he thinks that formation (yikes, Chm is strong) will protect his warrior? I will take a 69% shot if he doesn't cover, if he does, it's all about road pillaging.



Meanwhile, the intangible benefit of all these shenanigans is that I can be relaxed at home, focusing on infrastructural work to recover the builder imbalance. I need to rapidly grow once the granaries come online to redress the current population issues.



I'm still glad Hugh Ron was pushed so far forward, though. As much worker labor as it's been sucking up, it's a great site, and with the wheat farm it will easily take the burden of producing most of the spears and axes for the copper choke.



Next few turns should be interesting.

[NobleHelium]

So what's up with that road to that grass hill in the middle of nowhere?