[PB75 Mjmd] Call to Power

[Mjmd]

PB63 capital Drunken Sailor. I think* PB70 may have eclipsed this as my best start, but it was still a juiced start. I do have a different song in mind for that game so using here.



PB56 another game without a history.

PB56 was started by SD as he wanted to do a map. This ended up nearly being a PB52 replay. Had a lot of the same players and also had a shark in Noble (also both were donut base scripts). Now we were told tiles beforehand and it was pretty tight. I originally wanted to do Vicky of probably Inca. However Amica choose Vicky on snake (student becoming master all that) I went with Migs (ded lurking) suggestion and took Rome. And because map was fairly tight tile wise I went the actual most aggressive combo and took imp/agg Genghis!

My game history was a fast economy crashing expansion and I BARELY managed to keep 1st ring forest deer pro Celts Vanrober from settling on some hills while "contesting territory" (IE I definitely used imp agg to take some of his territory). Vanrober ended up running over Ruff. I eventually got to IW, whipped up an army, declared on Cairo who would have made sense to declare against, but was just so I could actually declare vs #2 power Vanrober who A) had never opened borders B) had bad culture borders, and C) Amica who was bordering Noble was actually looking stronger. I also hoped to actually be able to take some of Cairo after.



Now unlike PB66 Magic vs Rome Vanrober put all his chops planned for a wonder into axes and even with surprise and agg Rome I only took him from 11 cities to 5. Amica ended up finally building some HA and taking a couple cities. Which allowed me to get to cats and finally finish him off eventually. Sadly allowed Civac to take all of Cairo. While still at war with Vanrober I got a T129 HG with 17 cities. Whole Vanrober war was 40 turns; quite the campaign. Van and I did have an extensive conversation about open borders after, which will um come up later. Anyways, ended up building an economy thanks to org rel and two golden ages. Did a brief invasion of Civac, but plan didn't work because of some complicated liberation mechanics (Charriu did a segment on). Despite being pretty far behind econ wise ended up getting a lot of the juiced astro islands. There was then a Noble dog pile, where I provided naval good times. Now I had conceded to Noble, but was making progress. I hadn't withdrawn the concession, but not everyone had conceded. Noble then QUIT, but was declared the winner......... because he was ahead when he quit. In my opinion this game should just be listed as draw. I think another 5-10 turns on this game would have determined if Noble was the winner or if possible I had won. I do wish I had withdrawn my concession at some point. I was working my way into a good position and the astro island were just getting online and Civac and I had naval superiority. I think this is legit one of the games a dog pile could have worked and Noble very much did not want to fight that.

Anyways, might try to write up an official history later. I wrote a book of a thread and it took me a while to skim through. I actually don't know who is the recommended thread to read for this game either.

[Mjmd]

T13

PB70 Where am I to Go MJohnnies. Settled with no road connection. City was almost as good as my capital with 3 food resources. Really one of my engine cities throughout. Built multiple settlers, wonders, and many units.



FOUND A 5 FOOD TILE!!!! and there is GREEN!! No river, but you know I'll take it.



Some decisions. Scout where? Probably to a spice, but then north, east, or south then back west? North looks like hills, mountains, and desert, but could be flood plain valleys. That is the main reason to know how much to prioritize, but still find it likely city marked above will be 2nd or 3rd so have time. East would be to go meet someone and then hook back north or south. South looks green, but probably safe (see snow forest), but I do want to go scout towards Gav and will want my scout west eventually (see lesson from PB54).

The western part of my empire is certainly some of the bleakest land I've played and in general there are a lot of hills, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing. Mainly because it makes my bad Neb pick MAYBE* be good. The question I've been rolling around in my head and will continue to do so is what should I prioritize after stonehenge? Oracle or Pyramids? Oracle would give a powerful priest general for things like shrine and Theology bulb. Also just getting MC for ind forges is pretty good. Obviously forges help build everything. I've NEVER built mids, well except for fail gold. Usually I just find it too expensive, but this game... It doesn't seem likely I'll have tons of specialist cities, and there are a wonders that give specialists as well (ToA and Library). The main thing is actually getting access to rep early for combo with mercantilism. Bunch of crappy AP cities that also produce science might be just thing this game, but is that worth giving up earlier forges? I think its Oracle, but its still going to be a painful midgame without rep. Its not like I can't start mids after Oracle and you never know. Will need the fail gold in any case so chops probably won't even be considered a waste.

[Mjmd]

T14

A river valley with at least 2 grassland tiles conveniently 7 tiles away you say.



I know one of my early cities will be that direction, so I think I still head towards Gav to check that area out. I think if it was anyone else I would go east. But Gav plus war chariots =   .

[Mjmd]

My scout going southwest seems to be stuck in hill hell anyways. I've never done serfdom economy, but this might be the game. Real game is 3 beakers lower than my sim, but didn't discover until I moved south or I may have gone east.  Ah well, hopefully either Gav gives me a KTB soon or someone else meets me. Alters settler timing by 1 turn.

I thought PB56 recap would be a pain, but the game recaps are going to get easier, because PB56 was first that Charriu started doing his recaps.

So anyone from PB56 reading please feel free to comment on below before I put in spreadsheet.

Donut map altering outside and inside players.

Noble succesfully rushed El Grillo / AT early.
Gira started a skirmish with Lazteuq
Ruff religion pink dotted Vanrober and Vanrober attacked.

Vanrober pushed Ruff to his island.
Noble took a bit from Lazteuq.
Jowy attacked Gira who still had tension with Lazteuq.
Cairo took a city from Civac.

Mjmd launched agg prat attack vs Vanrober. Made progress, but eventually stalled.
Amica came in with HA to snipe a few cities from Vanrboer and Mjmd finally was able to finish Vanrober off.
Gira (piloted in this stage by Mack) finally won war vs Jowy.
Noble took more from Laztueq.
Gira (now Gira) also attacked Lazteuq and was ambushed by Noble after taking a city.

Noble taking heavy losses razed Amicas border shrine city.
Mjmd took a lot of the juicy astro islands.

Final dog pile vs Noble started and Noble then quit.

[Mjmd]

Also, my hope that Gav wasn't going to put time into this game are out. Got graphs and he was the player who grew to size 2. Made a lot of tile changes and teched fishing so work boat opening. Warrior out T11 I believe, but now I am glad I went south and then west. The distance should be 14 tiles though so my guess is he uses it to scout his surroundings as his originally scout didn't.

[Tarkeel]

Updated to my experience of the game:

Altered Donut map with players on the outside and inside leading to very uneven neighbor distances.

ElGrillo started with stone and build early Stonhenge, and got rushed by both NobleHelium and Amicalola, with the former taking the prize.
Giraflorens with mackoti in the shadows had an early skirmish with Lazteuq, while Ruff and Vanrober clashed over early borders ending with Ruff in island exile and Lazteuq losing out to his other neighbors NobleHelium and Jowy.

This left NobleHelium in the leading position for the game, with five contenders for second place in Mjmd, Civac, Gira, Vanrober and Amicalola, each of which had different strengths.

Vanrober's chances were demolished by Mjmd's AGGressive Praetorians, letting Amicalola take a few border cities. Gira/Mackoti managed to take out Jowy while NobleHelium grew bigger on Lazteuq and Civac ate MrCairo.

After drama about Mackoti backdooring through Gira, Gira alone joined the war on Lazteuq and was ambushed by Noble, and after 100 turns of tension finally launched the decisive invasion of Amicalola before quitting from the game.

[Mjmd]

Ya I have trouble with how much story vs just listing more events. I'll probably update some of my individual line items with your comments. The note about donut distance was very relevant.

Anyone else?

[pindicator]

Anything interesting uncovered in the last 10 turns?

[Mjmd]

T24

Definitely one of my weird scouting patterns. Actual green down south which is nice to see, but instead of doing those hills I probably should have gone north and all the way around, but Gav could have been southwest, but looks like more west. My scout is with Gavs scout. Based on him growing early I suspect a seafood start so I could stick to coast, but he did pop a warrior. I do kind of want to know exaclty how far away and then work back. There is a stone that looks to be about half I am VERY interested in. 

I did a whole bunch of micro switch warrior and scout in prod queue hoping someone with BW would find me, but alas not to be, so finishing worker in 3 turns starting next turn (had started it while working on farm). I was going to go improve the ivory but my brain typing is actually wondering if just finishing the farm would be better. Its 1 less FH and 1C but +2 actual food for growing / regrowing. Haven't had time with month close to do much; as long as it doesn't affect the 1st settler timing might be the thing to do. I'm pretty sure I want 1 farm long term anyways.  Although I am very aware that a lot of my wonder ability is dicated by tech so extra commerce I might value more than normal.

[Mjmd]

Oh I remember why I'm improving ivory. Its definitely related to you know building wonders like my early Stonehenge.    silly Mjmd forgetting I'm Neb. I keep having to remember I'm not playing a normal game. 

I'm already having trouble wrapping my head around serfdom economy. You can see all my "here" signs. How much do I value being on the coast vs value a grassland for a cottage, vs a grassland hill for a windmill. Its a filler city mind, but just indicative of thoughts. In general, I turn a lot of my grassland hills into cottages, but this game seems like that won't be the case so having to adjust my thinking.