[spoilers] Commodore: Worse than Toku, it's Giggles of Siam!

[Thoth]

Oh oh oh oh ohoh

Almost forgot:

I nosed around a bit in game last night....we're paying 6gpt in city maint in the capital, which means we're over the hump. Our cities are already paying the max rate for # of cities maint so new cities won't increase maint in our current cities

[Cornflakes]

Oh oh oh oh ohoh

Almost forgot:

I nosed around a bit in game last night....we're paying 6gpt in city maint in the capital, which means we're over the hump. Our cities are already paying the max rate for # of cities maint so new cities won't increase maint in our current cities

Is that so? I didn't know that maintenance stopped increasing! How many cities do you have currently?

[Krill]

The Maintenance itself does not stop increasing, but the number of cities component maxes out at 6gpt.

[Commodore]

Indeed. So, what do we settle apart from cities? "MORE CITIES!" Stone/sheep/greenland city of Poplar Point, coming up next. I'm totally going to echew wealth for a while now...might as well set up a failgold cascade with the Great Wall, eh? Angkor Wat in Riverside Manor too, perhaps, to yield a second Golden Age.


Here is the aforementioned capital. Lakeside Garden, now known to be the largest city in the world. And it'll keep on growing. State religion + forge are good for another three population at least; that's maxed tiles and an engineer (giving Moai coast shared to Hawk's). My goodness, this is a huge city. I know it's the biggest, because Plako, with circumnav now secure, traded maps.


I'll analyze the massive French empire later. For now, let's note two things: Unexplored big temperate hole in our immediate west might yield nice post-Astro islands...and Scoopin are darned lucky. Check out their one-way access to these fertile lands:


Turn: 143
Status:

[Commodore]

FRANCE

(also, westward...)

Wow. Just...wow. Slowcheetah's doing an excellent job here, expanding well, in a GA (so helloooo snowball) and in addition to what you see, has that fertile land to contest with the Zulu as well. I am impressed, Slow, well done. He's spread Confucianism very well and seems to be a credible opposition for the game's #1 prospect, Plako (we'd be top seed but Serdoa, Scoopin, and Lewwyn on our sides...). France is in an excellent position, and I fully expect it to enjoy the Salon/Musketeer age.

[Commodore]

Brick (erratic, inattentive) as Genghis Khan (Agg, Imp) of the Vikings (Hunting, Fishing, Berserkers, Trading Posts)

Ah, Genghis. It's not a big buff, but he's been mildly boosted in RBmod, gaining culture on his barracks and +10% on his settlers...making him, basically, still Genghis. He goes well with the Vikings, a scary civ indeed. Everything appears to have been fairly good...until the map rolled and he got stuck in PB8's Scandinavia.

With dry home lands, an unstable southern bordermate, and decent western and eastern prospects, Brick...fought his way south with a lot of blood, then lurched west once Serdoa had made claim to the fertile lands there. He's made a little headway, but I've just seen his GG bite it and I've got a bad feeling that the Norse and Portuguese are basically incubating Mayan lands now. We'll see, though; dodged defenses are something Brick is good at.

[Commodore]

Plako (terse, hypercompetent) as Louis (Ind/Cre) of Azteca (Hunting, Mysticism, Sacrificial Altar, Jaguar)

Plako got a decent hand and has played it to the absolute best here. I'm underwhelmed in general by Krillmod Louis, with nerfed Cre and meh Ind, but both are traits that certainly can be useful, likewise, the Aztecs aren't amazing but those cheap courthouses would be really nice right about now. Really, though, it'll all about how you use what you've got.

...and Plako, to I'm sure nobody's shock, uses it well. He's captured the lions' share of the border between himself and Arabia, while securing circumnavigation, the MoM, and a big mess of jungle. In the "enough land to launch" category, he's comfortable already along with us and Slowcheetah, but as I mentioned earlier, Zulus and Mayans and Dutch make me doubt I can peace my way to a win, while I'm pretty sure Plako can if he so chooses. We'll see if he and Slowcheetah come into conflict, but right now, this man is clear favorite to win.

[Commodore]

Ad_hoc (friendly, normative) and Merovech (verbose, interesting) as Augustus Caesar (Ind/Imp) of Arabia (Wheel, Mysticism, Camels, Maddrassae)

Alas, poor Merovech, this was a hell of a virgin game for you. Bad leader, worst civ in the game (Krill to change), and next door to Plako. The first rule of RB-MP being "If you start next to plako and he is not smothered in the craddle, you're screwed", these guys are screwed. They own very little, and it shall be taken from them once Plako feels like it. Not much to say, don't know the details and the cultural map is screwy, but I'm putting them first or second in the "doomed" category for those of us who remain.

[Commodore]

Beautiful map, by the way Krill.

Smaller:

[Krill]

You have no idea how long I sat at the PC regenerating maps.

I like those drawings BTW. You do them all by hand?