[SPOILERS] I had first pick and all I got was this stupid combo

[Bobchillingworth]

I cannot tell a lie: Tineye told me the origin, not my own knowledge. I know nothing of Farscape myself.

Gasp! And sputter!


Farscape is perhaps the pinnacle of Australian-American science fiction! It has everything! Muppets! Space Fascists! The Hero's Journey! Lasers! The Laser's Journey! An almost compulsive dedication to continuity across four seasons of episodes! And most importantly!:

This woman!

And this one!

It used to be streaming on Netflix, but Netflix blows and last I checked hadn't renewed the rights (about a year ago though, so it might be back by now). It's not terribly difficult to track down through other means though.

[Azarius]

Yeah, Farscape theme is what I had in mind. It's nice to see someone recognizes my avatar- such an undeservedly obscure gem of science fiction! No roleplay though.

I cannot tell a lie: Tineye told me the origin, not my own knowledge. I know nothing of Farscape myself.

Farscape is an excellent show. If you like scifi at all, I highly recommend checking it out.

So Bob, beeline to infernals, or are they the backup plan?

[Merovech]

Thanks everyone for the nice comments! Except Merovech, who is only making me feel worse

[Bobchillingworth]

So Bob, beeline to infernals, or are they the backup plan?

I wish. Right now the plan is to ineptly butcher an otherwise promising start and then transition to whining about how bored I am with the game roughly T70. High chance for exaggerated map grievances as well.

[Bobchillingworth]

So, while I wait for the game to start (WHICH I AM IN NO WAY IMPATIENT ABOUT) I've actually managed to do a little pregame planning.


Looking at my start, I'm thinking that going for an early Oracle makes a lot of sense. Chop it in the capital or whatever, take Metal Casting, whip a forge in my second city, and after 23 or so turns I should have an engineer for a free wonder. It seems unlikely that I'm going to be able to build the Pyramids and another major (expensive) wonder; an early Great Engineer means I could go after some tempting prizes without guaranteeing I mutate my civilization into a stunted, vulnerable target. Plus if I can manage to grab Metal Casting I should be all-but-guaranteed the Colossus if I want it.

Being Maya means I already have two of the seven techs I'll need to Oracle MC; the others are Agriculture, Meditation (or the more expensive Polytheism), Bronze Working, Pottery and Priesthood. And yes, I am well aware that everyone reading this already knows all that, I'm writing this down for my own benefit as much as anyone's

Tech path is probably then Agriculture -> BW (slavery revolt)-> Meditation OR Pottery depending on conditions (like, "has Buddhism fallen yet?"), remaining tech of the two, Priesthood. With the possibility for alterations like emergency hunting after BW if I'm near Jowy or something. While I could almost certainly lock down Buddhism if I teched Meditation before BW, Ellimist is currently screaming at me not to, for reasons which are surely obvious to anyone who wasn't me ten minutes ago (sorry you keep getting dragged into my games, buddy!).


Hopefully I'm not in a major wonder-rush for the Oracle with another player. Jowy is obviously going for Stonehenge (I totally forgot in my analysis post that charismatic means he gets +1 happy for free obelisks), which should take him out of the running. The others aren't IND and have good reason to suspect they'll lose any given early wonder race to me or Jowy, and therefore may avoid them entirely. And hey, a play for the Oracle seems to fit right with my civ- I've got the techs for it, and if I have to pick up hunting can put up an anti-chariot defense while ignoring roads.

[Bobchillingworth]

Settled in place; doesn't look like there was realistically anyplace better to go:

Scoripus might not have been Farscape's main character, but there is no denying he was the coolest. Except when he overheated

First turn demographics:





Now I'm no pro at reading these things, but my interpretation is that everyone is working pretty much the same tile and a single person didn't settle a coastal capital. I'm not sure why my GNP is the same as everyone else, shouldn't I be two ahead thanks to culture? I'm hoping that I'm not like the only one without a riverside oasis or something.

[Ellimist]

Now I'm no pro at reading these things, but my interpretation is that everyone is working pretty much the same tile and a single person didn't settle a coastal capital. I'm not sure why my GNP is the same as everyone else, shouldn't I be two ahead thanks to culture? I'm hoping that I'm not like the only one without a riverside oasis or something.

Don't most of your opponents start with Agriculture? They are probably getting prereq bonuses to their GNP and you aren't.

[Bobchillingworth]

Ah, I had no idea that was reflected in GNP. Yeah, that'd be it, thanks.


After a couple turns of scouting:





Looks like this might be a "spokes" variant of the wheel script, or whatever it's called. I'll keep sending the warrior down past the pigs, since that seems like the kind of land bridge which is typical of a spokes map, and therefore possibly the only way off my peninsula, assuming I'm on one (tile bleed shows I've got a lot of coast around me, so probably). Creative-fueled borders expand in 10 turns, should provide decent visibility for plotting a second city, which right now is difficult since I don't intend to grab Animal Husbandry for a long time. Best option might involve sharing Rice with the capital, although that puts Scorpius in a tight spot since I'm not planning on getting Fishing any time soon either.

[BRickAstley]

I mean, who needs to grab those technologies that enable food for their cities anyways?

[Bobchillingworth]

Exactly! Once you unlock aristofarms and tech sanitation, food resources hardly matter much at all!