[SPOILERS] Watch pindicator get distracted by shiny bonuses

[pindicator]

Well, maybe a quick Currency doesnt make sense here if i'm growing up and not out. Probably better to tech to currency normally so i can utilize tiles and grow cottages in the capital.

[pindicator]

Turn 5



Never mind about the clever commodore for putting calendar only food by a gold; it clearly has a fish in range.

Maybe it would be better to put city #2 on the forested plains hill 2S of the fish... in which case I wasted a little time by making a road up north. Oh well, can't go chasing sunk costs.

Edit: on the C&D side of things, Yuri was the last one to grow to size 2. Global power went up 3k, no techs were researched, and my ranking went from #2 to #3, so I know that scooter built the game's first warrior.

[pindicator]

Turn 7



We made contact with Yuri; I moved my scout away so Yuri won't be able to see where we met him from. But now that I know where his capital is I can see how the map repeats, or at least how parts of it repeat. Yuri's capital is 16 tiles east and 8 tiles south of mine. Which fits nicely in a 40x40 square for 5 civs. That means every civ is at closest 16 tiles away. And since nobody started with a warrior, these early turns we need to push econ as hard as possible.

I also need to update my sandbox; I'll do that and post a picture of what I know of the world. Or maybe I'll use excel; that's easier

[pindicator]

Turn 9

Decided to take a peek at Yuri's capital while it was reasonably safe to do so. If I want to look at infrastructure in the future or know if he's going for culture, it'll be good to have sight on this city.



So Yuri went Animal Husbandry with his first tech after all and he's been growing. (Everybody is at size 3 except me, btw.) He also teched something this past turn; I'm keen to think it is Mining.

Note where the copper is, and pre-mined too. I need to get my scout over there next to see if there is a good copper city location to be had.

[pindicator]

For turn 10 I got Yuri to react.



He must have been afraid I would sit on his pigs. And he would have been right

[pindicator]

Turn 12

Our superhero has a sidekick:



Agriculture increases my beaker lead and we're the first to 2 cities. Mind you, everybody else has teched Agriculture or Animal Husbandry already and grown to size 4, but hopefully getting city #2 up quicker will pay off.

Speaking of techs, I'm pretty confident that I have tops in beakers researched right now (yay observatory). Scooter and Seven also have 5 techs (like me) so they're close. Dazed is behind already with only 1 tech so far, being the only person who didn't really start with a research boost (no FIN, no free +25% beaker rate).


Still, it is going to take 4 more turns before we can get the farm done. So I will build a worker in the capital and we'll get a work boat out of Arthur. Arthur will steal the mined grassland super hill and get the work boat done and the fish hooked up by turn 16. The second worker will be running around on turn 18, right in time for Animal Husbandry to finish, and then we can get those pigs hooked up and (finally) get the capital growing proper.

I found a great city spot to settle to my south:



Well, that's Yuri's spot, but the map is mirrored so I have one too. Just 5 tiles away from my capital.

[pindicator]

Turn 17

We have horses!



I'm pretty happy to see horses there. I think it's very likely that I land a religion (I've had #1 or #2 GNP most of the game), so border pops should not be an issue. I finished my 2nd worker at the end of the last turn, and my 3rd worker will finish at end of turn 20. Then we'll start getting some warriors out for defense and a granary in the capital.

Pottery is due in 3 after AH, then we go down the religious techs.

My plan right now is to grow up instead of out: I should have a size 8 capital within 11 turns. But maybe I should stagger that a little to get some settlers out: after all, there is some nice land to be had.

[pindicator]

Rego would be having a cow if he knew my worker micro: I've sent that first guy all over the place, "wasting" worker turns to get certain tiles updated first. And for turn 17 I did it again: he finished the rice on 16 and on 17 he moved N-N so I could pasture those pigs ASAP. Need to grow, grow, grow now.

[pindicator]

We've played through turn 19 by now. My scout is starting to see repeated terrain south of Yuri, so we'll have contact in a few turns. As for my tech path, I'll have Pottery done next turn and then I am going down the religious line. Not sure if I'll get a religion first or not: there have been a number of 0 soldier point techs that have fallen recently.

Everybody has a 2nd city down now. Scooter was the last to do so. I'm pretty sure that Seven put his 2nd city in the same location I did, but Dazed put his in a spot that grabbed 8 new land tiles, and Scooter & Yuri settled theirs on the same turn so I have little idea. What worries me is that Seven will have chariots hooked up soon, although I don't think he's researched The Wheel yet. This has me thinking that I either need to get the borders in Arthur popped, or I need to get another settler out sooner than later and claim one of the coppers.

I'll post some screenshots on the next turn; largely nothing has changed from the last one I put up, except the workers have finished pasturing the pig and next will chop out a granary in the capital. I'm going to prioritize growing upwards now, and have Arthur work on workers & settlers while the capital grows.

[pindicator]

Turn 20



So I'm last in population, but we're chopping out that Granary after the warrior finishes in the capital. Then its grow, grow, grow the capital. I don't know if Arthur will try to get another settler out while The Tick grows, or if I just hold off on settling cities for a little bit. I probably want to get the settler out...

But I have 3 workers on turn 20. Considering there aren't any EXP civs out there, I'm willing to bet that's tops. What will they be doing? Chopping out a granary and then laying down cottages for the capital.