[PB74 Spoilers] Donovan Zoi Celebrates 20 Years of Living Dangerously

[Donovan Zoi]

Welcome to the T50 Celebration!

Um, whoops.   Sorry, nothing to see here…

[klops]

thanks for the lengthy postings.
About that northern city... whats the benefit of the tundra site? (besides converting a useless tile into a city)
Do you need that hill-mine?

I know less civ than the average player here, but I probably would choose the hill because losing ocean-tiles is always nice, adding tundra and grassland

[Donovan Zoi]

Turn 52 - 1920 BC

Scouting Report - North

 Here's what the northeast looks like after checking it out.  It's also a good to time to address the question from klops.

thanks for the lengthy postings.
About that northern city... whats the benefit of the tundra site? (besides converting a useless tile into a city)
Do you need that hill-mine?
I know less civ than the average player here, but I probably would  choose the hill because losing ocean-tiles is always nice, adding tundra and grassland

I think you may be onto something here.  Building a plains mine will cancel out growth from the Crab until Lighthouse, and even then will leave the city barely crawling.  You can't really do much with tundra (I checked to make sure you couldn't Workshop it), but settling there would put us off the beaten path if we settle a second city on the eastern corner tundra tile.  Plus the hill city puts us right next the Furs so we can reap its benefits more quickly.  I'll be building the camp in the forest for a bit more production over time as this city will need all it can get.

And guess what, klops?  Since these cities are so close together with minimal resources --- welcome to Pryp'jat and Chernobyl! (well, not yet...)


Scouting Report - South

 A bit more dicy down here, as the walls are already closing in.  Magic joined the rest of us at 3 cities, and did so by grabbing a plains hill with gold and messing up my dotmap.  I'm not happy.  




Metal accepted my OB offer, but surprisingly didn't use his Axe to cover the city.  Instead, he's heading north toward Death Valley (on the Cow closest to my Scout).  Luckily, we've completed our own Axe and have the funds to upgrade a Quechua if needed.

And need it we may.  Did you check out Pjongjang?  It's an undefended Copper plant!  I told your earlier about pumping a Barracks and a stream of units out of Skelly Coast.  Well, now the prospect of military dominance is much more important to me than some silly old Oracle.  I'll need to be measured in my approach, but I'm taking a pass on the whim of chasing non-vital religious techs and researching what really matters.


What's Next?

We keep it cordial with both metal and Magic for now.  And re: Miguelito, the fact that he's put no EP into us has me thinking Egypt met us from afar.   But still, are you freaking kidding me with the Top 5 cities?




Our tight little group, all present and accounted for. I'm still wondering if I'll meet the Size 6 civ beyond the Furs.  Anyway, here's the lay of the land, and a brief preview of the next few turns




Tech - Animal Husbandry in 5 turns, in case I find it advantageous to kick metal's Axe out of our land and take it out with a Chariot.  Finding Horses will also be important in determining our next city if the resource is not already in our culture.

Skelly - rather than whipping the Axe into a Library, I decided I'll start the Library on the way to Size 6 and then switch to a Settler once I'm there.  I'll 2 or 3 whip it after AH is discovered, with the overflow (hopefully) completing the Library.

K2 - complete the Quechua and 2-whip a Worker with enough overflow to get close to a Workboat.  Build a road 1 NE (if Fur city is next) to hit plains hill site in 1 turn, then pre-chop a forest for a Size 1 Terrace just before settlement.  This may change if we need to grab horses elsewhere with city #4.

Death Valley - I started moving a Quechua 1s in case I decide to upgrade and make a play for Pjongjang.  I may also keep it as-is and use it to expose the coast (for trade) so my Scout can follow the path to Seoul on a search for more troops.


Demographics

Queuing this up to compare with next turn when our two largest cities grow.

[Donovan Zoi]

Turn 53 - 1880 BC

Demographics

I put this first so it could be easily compared to last post's demos.  We'd be doing even better if I hadn't purposefully stunted Death Valley's growth.





metal

Since Pyongjang is landlocked, there was no reason to send the Scout off-road to fully expose the coast here.  However, we've already found the capital Seoul and should unveil a coastal trade route next turn.  I've also taken note of some interesting decisions so far:




--Fish not connected
--No workers or units in sight; both cities undefended.
--Pig hill is mined
--Pjongjang settled directly on Copper

I've sent the Death Valley Quechua another tile south and am pretty sure I'll be upgrading next turn.  I mean, I have to go for it.  If I'm not able to take Pjongjang outright, I should at least be able to cut off the Copper route until reinforcements arrive.  I just have to make sure I have a plan in place for his visiting Axe. Things could get (more) interesting down here real quick!


Magic Science

Our northern Scout continued east, finding more forest.  Since I'd been out in the wilderness a bit, I thought I'd zoom out and check the culture maps because it will occasionally show a city border I may have missed through regular scouting.




And as it turns out, my timing was impeccable.  Because all the way up here, and far from the Gold city, is the second Mali site I've located (I checked PBSpy for similar civ colors and my Inca are actually the closest).  This is quite the spread, so it really looks like Magic's Gold grab was a Pink Dot move.  That said, I think I've gone as far east as I want to go, so Magic doesn't know that I was here. Not sure if there is anything I can do for now, but I'm definitely considering the feasibility of sending a small stack this way too.  

My though here is, if he sees from me a troop escalation and a war with Korea, he would not expect anything coming his way.  I still don't know if I can pull it off but its worth checking out.


City Screens

Skelly moving to a rankled Size 6 and Settler build in 2 turns, K2 taking a break to finish Quechua and store some gold, and DV gets the Terrace next turn.  And even though it shows AH in 4 turns, I'm not against using other suboptimal coastal tiles to get it in 3.  I'm really looking forward to some 2-movers!

[Donovan Zoi]

Hmmm, looking again at that small section of city culture in the north, the shading seems a bit off so I guess there's a chance it could be also be Commodore.  I'll have to see if there's a way for me to determine that stealthily, and if it's indeed the Maya I'm gonna do my best to stay away

[Donovan Zoi]

Turn 54 - 1840 BC

Magic - Mali

The first thing I wanted to check was the "mystery" culture site up north, so I moved my Scout SE-W to stay out of view.  And no Commodore thankfully, but I've located the Mali capital of Bamako (it's 2E of the Sheep).




So I had my thinking a bit wrong on this, especially since this is the capital.  Within 5-6 turns, I am going to have hella troops taking out Korea, so it makes sense to head east from there to see if I can attack Mali's far-flung Gold city from behind the river.  Waiting gives him a chance to connect the resource and get to Size 2 first.


metal - Korea

And what of Korea?  metal's empire is fully connected, so I made it all the way down to Wonsan (more on that site next turn).  But the capital Seoul is definitely the prize here, being in possession of Pigs, Corn and Ivory --- 3 things I'm missing. An Axeman generated here too, proving that this won't be the cakewalk I'm selling it as.

EDIT: Oh, and who was waiting for me to figure out that you need Sailing for foreign trade routes? With that in mind, I may go back to my Oracle bid after AH, but will need to take a hard look at several factors before committing. I'm guessing I'll still scrap the idea and go for Sailing anyway.




The cool thing is I'll be able to get the Scout out of Dodge before any hostilities start.  I'll likely use it to track Miguelito's Egypt, assuming his lands lie on the other side of my two main rivals.  I won't want to make some hard won gains just to have some WCs come in and take it back from me.


Miguelito - Egypt

Speaking of our third neighbor, we got graphs on him last turn but I forgot to check.  Here's the Powergraph, showing us all pretty even. That's the same for the other categories as well (except Culture), so I'll just lead with this for now.





City Mismanagement...FTW?

I'll show you two examples of unconventional tile usage that are going to boost the upcoming war effort.

In K2, I'm using all 4 coastal tiles to ensure I get AH in 2 turns.  I wouldn't be able to do this without the Terrace storage due to the food deficit.  But since I was planning to 2-whip a Worker anyway, I'm allowing it while Skelly Coast hoards all the food to grow to Size 6.




Down south, I'm letting Death Valley have one more turn of FP growth before moving back to Copper to build an Axeman.  This play stunts this poor city for 3 more turns, but the result is to whip the nearly complete Axe into a Chariot parlay, if the whole Horse thing works out in time.  Otherwise another Axeman.




This is the front lines, after all, so I'm throwing everything I can at claiming the 4 cities mentioned above.  If successful, we come out with more cities to generate more Workers, Settlers, population, and important buildings once the dust clears.

[Qgqqqqq]

What's your goal down south? Conquest?

[Donovan Zoi]

Turn 55 - 1800 BC

We start this turn with another good question.

What's your goal down south? Conquest?

Yes, Korea's 3 cities are definitely the goal.  Getting a better look at Wonsan pretty much confirms it, as we can add Gems to our plunder.




The Seoul Axe is actually heading here, and since my destination was the rivered hill within the city I was able to double back and confirm the Korean capital was empty.

But riddle me this...I've encountered two Axes and they both have the Cover promo without C1.  Yet Joao nor the unique's  support this.  I understand if no light can be shed here, and it really doesn't affect me now anyway.  Just curious.

Up north, metal's Axe is at Death Valley's border at 3.2xp, so it looks like he got into a rumble with that Lion.  If he sticks around to heal, we may need to chase him back to Pjongjang.


Magic's Gold

And in case you are wondering if I still plan to overextend myself to exact vengeance on Mali for stealing my Gold  , it appears I no longer have to. Upon logging back in, I discovered that Magic's Size 1 city was burned to the ground by Egypt, so it seems Miguelito was more offended by that Pink Dot move than I was! 

It's too early (and presumptuous of me) to tell, but things are pointing toward a battle for dominance on this continent between Inca and Egypt.  My goal is to stay viable enough to forge a friendship and look for trouble elsewhere.  I'll also want to consider some inland cities instead of just hugging the coast.


City Updates

Skelly - switched to the Settler this turn, leaving 42h into the Library.  I'm thinking of 3-whipping the Settler in 2 turns, but it depends on where we find Horses.  Doing so will surely complete the Library and allow me to grow it back to the Size 4 cap, then favor production while I lend 2 food tiles to K2 to recover.




K2 - Now that the AH gambit is complete, I'll be 2-whipping the Worker next turn and hope the Horses are close enough for him to help.

Death Valley (DV) - Enough already!  I changed my mind again and decided to grow to Size 2 next turn.  Working both FP and Copper tiles will get us closer to Size 3 when I whip the Axe-Chariot parlay.


All for One and One for All

Even though I just sent them back to the capital, I'll be sending at least 2 Workers back through DV to begin roading a path to Korea and maybe farm the Rice if it's safe.  And should the time come, I'll be burning Pjongjang to make room for two coastal cities between DV and Seoul with great shared food benefits. 

But let's not get ahead of ourselves, though our quest for one of the world's most majestic creatures (and other prizes) begins in earnest next turn!  Where, oh where, will they be among our coveted riches?

[Donovan Zoi]

Another thought: I noticed above that Korea has Cows pastured, meaning he already has AH. So next turn I'll see where his Horses are to see if I need to add a Spearman to our stack.

[El Grillo]

But riddle me this...I've encountered two Axes and they both have the Cover promo without C1. Yet Joao nor the unique's support this. I understand if no light can be shed here, and it really doesn't affect me now anyway. Just curious.

Random events are on, and this is from the "all your axes get Cover" event.