[SPOILERS] naufragar is not a number; he is a free man

[naufragar]

Yeah. I remember SevenSpirits gave out a micro challenge in which part of the "correct answer" was to found on a banana, since Iron Working + Calendar take too long to reach. So somebody has founded on their jungled sugar (or equivalent). I'm kicking myself that I didn't consider that. It gets rid of a jungle tile; it utilizes an otherwise tricky resource. Man, I really should have thought of that. Oops. We'll see how far I'm set back.

[naufragar]

Joao's looking better by the day. No idea where I plant city #2.

[naufragar]

Perhaps I can outsource my Cloak & Dagger if I phrase it right? 


Someone grew to size 2 on Turn 7. There's no way this could have been done by founding on turn 0. (If the player could found on turn 0 for a +1f city square, they would've grown on turn 6. If their city square was a standard 2f, they would grow on turn 8. I doubt Lew gave anybody a first ring +4f raw tile.) So, someone founded not on Turn 0 but on Turn 1, and worked a +4f surplus for 6 turns. Now they're at 8 total Crop Yield (3f city, 3f resource, 2f tile). So my question is, what's the plan that involves growing to size 2 but not working max hammers for a workboat? (Admittedly, I could've just logged in before this person had a chance to change tile assignments.) The second question is who is this? Magic 8-ball says Donovan Zoi. Anybody can feel free to correct me. 

The scout uncovers more resources. I've said this before, but I'm totally in favor of richer maps. There's probably a sweet spot (different maps favor different traits and you probably don't want certain traits to be too boosted without players knowing which would be strong), but rich maps in general give more options, which is where strategy comes from. If I only have one choice, I don't need to think of a strategy. I'd be compelled.


In CtH, scouts don't get bonuses against animals until hunting, so don't expect our scout to live long.

The plan should be pretty obvious. Puke out as many cities as possible and trust that the richness of the map will prevent us from completely ruining our economy.

[naufragar]

Addendum to the previous. I checked the Top Cities page and 2 people grew to size 2. Also, top military power grew from 6k to 7k, so one of the people that grew must be either GeneralKilCavalry or Picadilly/Flunky. Fascinating.

[naufragar]

30% chance my scout bites it.


The sharp-eyed will notice that I got a forest growth. Good news.

I've a hunch that the land-forms to my Northwest and Southwest are like spokes connecting me to other players.

[naufragar]

Rich lands and semi-secure backlines.


Still in a happy place. 

[naufragar]

Hmm. Happy place possibly in danger.


Pindicator is not my top choice for neighbor, although his combo isn't insanely aggressive. He is Lincoln (Cha/Phi) of the Dutch (Fishing/Agri), and he has researched hunting, since his scout gets an extra bonus versus animals. I had my scout healing on the gold tile, but I need to now pull him back, so Pind can't camp my wheat.

Notice how my capital grows to size 2 at the same time as the warrior completes? This is very elegant. Sure, if I planted on the sugar, I would've grown faster and been ahead of the growth curve, but you can't argue with elegance. 

[naufragar]

It wouldn't do to miss a turn 25 report, although I haven't done much, since the turns are early and my scout sat still to heal.



We discovered Copper, in easy access for both the plains hill plant and the sugar site. Perhaps Lewwyn has done the same with horse? It's looking more and more that I have two (at least) land neighbors separated by jungle. I would expect another neighbor on the other side of the water to the east, perhaps with an island in between but perhaps not. Tech path is difficult. We need lots of techs, and I'd eventually like to hook up Copper with a mine and a road. My last game I forgot to, and somebody taught me why.

Multiple people have grown to size 4, one of them being Pindicator. My civ, India, does not have the tech to work four good tiles at once.

[naufragar]

For whoever was compiling evidence that I'm trash at Civ4:



The settler needs misses the 2 turn cut off by 1 hammer. This is even worse because settler overflow is especially bad with Imp because it reduces the overflow you get from food. Man, between this and not considering settling on the sugar, can we scratch this game and start over? And why on earth am I researching Fishing? 

[naufragar]

I'm going to be honest with you: the no-score thing is silly. It's not offensive or anything, but it is kind of a pain in the ass, and, despite playing in 2 games with the mod, I'll probably petition against it in the future. Here's what I mean:









I just got sort of tired and gave up on the Cloak and Dagger. We think that Pind has a wet grain tile as well as a un-forested plains deer (although I'm a little skeptical from a meta-game perspective: this would require Pind to have both these tiles directly next to each other, and I don't think that was Lewwyn's style based on what I see from my own start). I was having trouble keeping straight in my head "end of turn" calculations (so stuff like how much food overflow he had when growing was annoying and involved finger counting). All of this could have been made so much simpler if I could just see the points increase when Pind's city grew. So, I'm not so sure what we're gaining from the no-score mod. Sure, I don't know how other randos are doing, but all it's done is to add an additional step to my cloak and dagger. "Difficulty through tedium" is not my favorite kind of difficulty.

I gave up while doing the Mfg calculations, so I don't know what Pind's worker did after the cereal and (presumptive) deer. Presumably, he's working on a settler after going worker->warrior to size 4. I refuse to dive into the GNP graph. If I had to guess, I'd think that I'd see a big Power spike next turn (29) showing that he completed Bronze Working t28.

Ugh. Boooooooring.