[Mjmd #60] Why even buy toys for kids?

[Mjmd]

Guys I love the lurker interaction, but anyone remember me losing the race to Buddhism, having to switch, and then getting Hinduism to pop in the city I needed so I would have access to copper?

That being said all good info for Thrawn because like the bad teacher I am, I haven't mentioned at all. To be fair it has only been a handful of turns since I got sailing. But still, I would like some spreads.

Edit: like the bad teacher I am, I should also mention that the chance to spread is a small % per turn if a city is connected via trade. The % is based on distance from holy city and chance is doubled with shrine.

[El Grillo]

Praying for and then getting lucky free spreads is the best part of going for an early religion

[Tarkeel]

I did actually look to see if you had the holy city, but didn't see it under the signs at first. Still, a teaching moment :P

[Mjmd]

@Tarkeel all good. I have a lot of signs..... I know you had to put up with Amica putting a lot of signs in PB58 because I taught Amica to use a lot of signs. Thrawn USE SIGNS!!!! Especially for games that don't get as fast of turns as this one it helps you remember what you meant to do..... / not forget things. Next turning workers is good in case things change / enemy units, but also for micro decisions. Next turning a garrison unit to remind you of a sign is also recommended.

@El Grillo - agreed. I'm hoping for some PB52 level spreads vs PB51....... PB52 for those unfamiliar / I don't know how much I reported on I got 5 free spreads to all my early cities including border cities with Charriu. This helped make a non golden age swap to religion / organized make sense. It also spread to a fishing village the other direction that then was whipped mercilessly to spread to rest of the empire.

[Mjmd]

T63

I need signs. And my need for good aesthetics is low.

SD wanted to trade one of his gold for one of my silver. I said no for now. I don't have trade routes with Amica or GKC yet to know if Tarkeel alternated or not. Happy cap is going to be quite low early in the game. SD not being able to use his creative fish pops effectively is a good reason to keep his happy cap low.

Someone got masonry, which I can only assume is for GLH. I still might go masonry after priesthood because even a little failgold would be ok with me atm. Also speed up oracle build itself.

[Mjmd]

T64

I was almost tempted to do demos this turn as I turned back on tech, but I think they will look bad soon. I have a food lead, but literally everyone else has pottery, so 'actual' food is very much in favor of anyone with granaries. With the 2nd silver my gnp isn't terrible (cries thinking about an extra 4c a turn other players get........).

I also made the decision to delay whipping settler for Deer city for a couple turns.
1) expensive and I have some techs I want pronto.
2) I would rather set up both workers to improve deer right away and they are roading north atm.
3) covering spear will be done then just in case.

Lazteuq is also up to 5 cities, so it grates me to delay literally any settling, but I think with this setup fast spamming cities is now starting to become less good. I think SD got shafted worse on his pick with the long distances (for which I'm thankful), but all the imperialistic leaders definitely aren't as good as I would expect on a 120ish tile/player map. I do want to say I do think spamming to 5 was still very well worth it.

[Mjmd]

T66

I did weird things with tech this game.


I was going to show demos, but then I whipped capital for settler and worked 1 lake tiles and 2 ocean to 1 turn priesthood instead of being 7 beakers short..... Net gain of 4c (hm familiar number for some reason), but with prereq bonuses got there.

I still think I'm going masonry after. I would love some GLH failgold. At least Oracle looks like a lock. Masonry will also speed that up. Give Sand another good tile to work. Maybe start pyramids building somewhere? Not sure where.

[Mjmd]

T68

I was fiddling around with tech costs and math. I was pretty sure last turn that I couldn't start teching masonry until T69, but suddenly the math this turn looked better. Someone else got masonry! (for Thrawn reference the way you used to figure out how many people had each tech was by GNP math which I did a bit in PB51 and PB52 but hated, very happy bug is noob friendly in this regard now. Although I agree for larger games it may not make as much sense). Now math may still not work out next turn due to settling city (which I could delay a turn, but also would help worker timing on marble). I also have to decide if I'm doing a gold trade with SD short term. I moved up a warrior for western screen and scout is now off again for trade route to Amica. If Amica doesn't have gold at least I can get a route through Amica to Laz (around inner portion of their lake). I would prefer either of these two vs SD, Jowy, or GKC.

That being said Rocks could use the extra happy at size 6 for a bit, which brings me to the question for Thrawn and only Thrawn (I know what other blood hungry lurkers would say)
Should I be nice to SD short term or not? It helps me too. I'm leaning yes with the caveat that as soon as I establish another trade route its gone.

[Mjmd]

T69

Logged in to a gold for silver and fish for fish trade from SD. I was going to make this decision in a couple turns, but decided to do it now. That 1 happiness is pretty essential to plans at Rocks. Speaking of plans at rocks even with settling Sticks I could have gotten masonry next turn. However, I decided to finish 3rd farm down there. Will grow Rocks the turn the quarry finishes (farm sped up 1 turn), which will actually come out ahead on hammers than not doing farm and improving for extra 50% atm. Still have a food lead without AH, sticks will have improved deer next turn. I should note SD has 3!!!! fish hooked, so me not wanting him use his food is very relevant. Sticks is producing what is hopefully my last monument. Will probably have to 1 pop whip its own workboat.


I swear that galley with units wasn't up to anything........ before deciding my wonder plans were more important. I also realized I would be building wonders in 3 of my citeis, maoi in another, and I still want to build a missionary and settler for some city undermined down south. IE there aren't plans for more military......... for a while.

Bringing galley back means I also might 2 pop whip this lighthouse instead of a worker (ie I can ferry one of the others there). May still 2 pop whip worker as I have both AH improvements and cottages to do soon.

[Mjmd]

So the way the map is layed out with basically a round a bout in the center at the junctions, I basically have neighbors of Amica NW, SD NE, SD SE, and Rome SW. Basically everyone has the same neighbor twice. IE it makes a lot of sense to attack that neighbor. In a meta game thinking my basic premise is that I NEED to get some wonders / get some failgold from wonders to set up a functioning economy. If I do, I can probably easily outexpand SD who has no economic traits.

Oh boy what to say about SD as a player. SD will ruin your game if he even thinks you've wronged him. In PB55 game I ded lurked Amica he sent his stack against Amica instead of keeping it to stop Lewwyn because he THOUGHT that Amica hadn't given enough help / peaced out too early (Amica had razed a city and more to the point couldn't make progress). SD meanwhile got outmaneuvered and crushed. In general he is known as the person where you hope someone on the opposite side annoys him even slightly because he will focus on hurting that person. Ironically he isn't above taking cheap shots himself (see his 11% attack vs me) and is probably the least trustful person I've encountered with his AI diplo. PB51 he sent me a fish for fish along with a demand for gold and IMMEDIATELY broke it even though I paid. PB54 he sent me multiple signals he was going to attack El Grillo during first war and NOTHING. By the time El grillo was about to invade me, SD was sending a torrent of diplo messages. All of which were lies of course. Oh also warrior rushed me in PB54..... To say I've had negative experiences neighboring him........