Not much to report this turn. Got another 45g from the hut, which is fine really. Now I have 83g, enough for an emergency Axe upgrade or several turns of 100% science. I'm going to need to look out for animals soon, so I'm considering ending each turn on a hill even if it limits scouting progress.
On a clerical note, it's been awhile since I've done this and something wasn't quite as I remembered it while reading this thread. So I went back and edited all of my img tags to screenshot and will do so going forward. I hope that makes things easier to read.
Discovered Fishing this turn and netted the outermost Crabs via the WB that was queued here from last turn. I'll be using this tile for the next 9 turns while the Worker completes. It also helps with tech as we get Mining in 7 with decent overflow into BW.
Down south, our Scout is about to return north to expose the next eastern ring and possibly meet a neighbor in the process. I'm glad I headed this way too, because we located a multi-cow region with Flood Plains. And since we're seeing an abundance of the latter, it's pretty nice to have EXP to combat the health penalty of these tiles.
But wait, there's more. Hidden among the southeastern Cows is another hut! Will the third time be the charm? Stay tuned...
Is it too early to look at these? I decided to take a gander to see how my "WB first" gambit stands among the field so far.
Gold - pretty competitive with the new sea tile
MFG - down considerably after leading the pack during the Workboat build.
Crops - We're still putting that food to work though. Currently tied for first. Tied? Who else tried something different?
Soldiers - Was breezing past this one when 10000 stopped me in my tracks. Someone got BW from a hut!
Land - The math holds for Inca, as I confirmed 11 sea tiles for the capital. But hmmmm, someone's completely landlocked?
Back to crops. Since no one contested me in hammers during my WB build, I was pretty confident that the other 6-food civ arrived there via pop growth. So to confirm my suspicions, you get to see an early one of these too.
We've only added Marble to our discoveries over the past two turns, but we did finally meet one of the players:
Magic Science!
I am actually happy with this roll as my UU balances nicely against Mali's Skirmisher, making early war a sunk cost for either of us. And with Willem at FIN/CRE it would appear that Magic will feel the same, as he has crafted a way to bolster a builder's strategy with the ancient era's strongest city defense. With C1, my Quechua barely take the odds in open field and are cheaper to build, should the Battle of Cowtown become a thing this game. But we won't be staking any claims to the far SE anytime soon.
Yet the prospect of a glorious game-long friendship has already hit a speed bump during our first official meeting. I mean, isn't it a bit too early in the game for Willem to be this judgy? I don't recall you getting Bronze Working from a hut either.
I've been 2-stepping north by meandering in and out of the forest. I'm going to need to decide whether to heal the Scout a bit or continue on my quest for huts. If the Bear heads my way next turn, I won't be stopping here.
NE -- to be surrounded by Forests -- might be nice resting spot as no animal could reach me without my knowing. I doubt I'd get 6 uninterrupted turns though, so I am leaning towards soldiering on to see who else I meet up yonder.
Incidentally, and not shown here, the Mali scout was seen just east of the Marble tile. So Magic seems to be following a similar concentric path that I am, giving me a good idea on how our borders could eventually end up.
The Bear headed back into the fog, so I decided to heal the Scout for a few turns. This a actually a better vantage point for me to view all incomers, with only one forest tile 2S shielded from view. I'll take my chances of a Panther or Wolf coming from here and will be ready to bolt if threatened. An encroachment from the north would mess with my forward progress, forcing me to backtrack.
Incidentally, I saw earlier that the Mali scout was 200% vs. animals, which means Magic led with Hunting. This is despite his civ's starting techs of Wheel and Mining, benefits that don't put food on the table. So maybe he has Deer, or more likely just wants to be one step away from Archery for his Skirmishers. Maybe he plans to road to his neighbor's doorstep with this ancient juggernaut. Regardless, it must have been disheartening to find that his first possible target would be the Inca.
The Bear came lumbering back my way, so I doubled down on northern progress and got my 0.5/1 tail out of there.
Next I'll have my choice between a forest hill north of the mountain or an open field hill with lake vision. Either one looks like a nice place to heal some more, but I'm leaning toward the knight's move to the west to expose some fog closer to the capital.
The Big Picture
Here's the layout so far. I'll try to dotmap this soon, but I see 8 viable city sites. A Sailing vs. AH vs. Writing decision will need to take place, and whether the first two are worth getting before Pottery. I've given myself a nice break from simming, so I'll need to get back to it soon as the turns are moving fast.
It's been awhile since I've posted. Let's catch up, shall we?
Turn 15-16: In Memoriam
One of the reasons for my reporting malaise is due to the loss of my Scout back on T16 to two consecutive long distance wolf attacks. And while one may typically be excused for enduring such dumb luck, the ugly truth is that the Scout's death was completely avoidable and underlines the reason I've named my thread as I have.
You see, I neglected to check for an attack before moving to the northwest, which led to encountering another Wolf on the horizon. The now 0.3 Scout was easily overtaken on the next turn, losing the pending promo in the process.
Little things like this add up, so I'm definitely gonna need to be careful in the future.
