[Spoilers] Pericles of the Graeco-Mayans

[Sylon]

Exploration of the Northern Island 'Rhodes' is underway.



It would appear that controlling Rhodes is vital to Graecian security. And detrimental to Incan (Now known as ROMANIAN, in allcaps) security.

I decided to hold back from an opportunistic rush of Mackoti's cities with a chariot. Now, a naval expedition with two axes on a galley, on the other hand...

In case anyone was wondering what the ruckus with Mackoti's starting position two posts up, this screenshot illustrates it quite well.



As you can see, he can grab a wondrous city with Stone, Cows, Furs, Gold Gems, Copper and a river just 2S 1SW of timisoara. Just south of that is Floodplain Heaven.

[Sylon]

Got visibility on Ruff's graphs this turn. Mackoti's are coming up next turn.

It would appear that Ruff built a wonder- Most likely Stonehenge, but possibly The Great Lighthouse. That would explain why his second city, Bombay, took so long before it as founded.

[Sylon]

I only saw Pegasus' request to take screenshots of our respective nations after I had played my turn, so I took them this turn. It all balances out anyway, since I settled on Turn 1 as opposed to Turn 0.



The core lands of the Graeco-Mayans. The New City (I'll have to look a suitable name up) will be settled on Turn 53. The Worker at Athenai has just hooked up those Horses, while the two Workers at Sparte are mining the Copper hill.

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The lands of the Romanian Empire. It's richer than mine. Particularly timisoara, which has more resources than poor little Sparte. The tile Pytheas is standing on is probably Mackoti's planned third site.

Speaking of which, I got Open Borders with him; more below.

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Wonderland. Look at that ridiculous resource spam. And look at it's proximity with timisoara. Mackoti's path to Wonderland is just a hop across the coast or around it- mine is past a large mass of plains jungle.

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The rich islands North of Mackoti's lands. Do I have a series of islands that only I can reach? No. So jealous. So very jealous.

At this point, I believe I know more of Mackoti's surroundings than he does.

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The remaining lands of the Graecian core. At least I have more cities on my slice of mainland than Mackoti. Doesn't make up for Wonderland, though.

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Demographics! I'm last or near last in everything. I suspect I am the first to get their third settler out, however.

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It comforts me to know that the Glorious City is not the worst of the lot.

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[Sylon]

As mentioned earlier, I've got a little diplo catching up to do.

Last turn, timisoara's borders expanded, pushing Pytheas into that little spot you see to his East that is uncovered by Mackoti's borders. It also pushed him next to an unprotected worker.

Out of respect, I fortify Pytheas in his position. While trading 15 hammers for 60 is quite a good deal, I have no desire to open hostilities this early.

I send Mackoti a message.

[COLOR="Cyan"]Dear Mackoti,

My warrior has been trapped by timisoara's border pop. I see you have Writing already- would you like to sign an open border agreement?

Sincerely,
Sylon[/COLOR]

His reply:

[COLOR="Yellow"]do you have sailing? Because is very important for me if you have you have. I granted you open borders because i want peacefull relation with you. What about a nap until turn 100?If you dont agree please make a counter offer.
regards, Mackoti[/COLOR]

Oh no you don't. You don't go around picking up info like that for free, my dear Mackoti! Also, Rhodos is mine. I've already named it, and it's on a hill and similarly shaped to the real life island. Also, it controls naval access to my capital. And yours.

Now, the NAP offer is interesting. I spent a good two hours yesterday agonising over it. I was previously considering attacking Mackoti by surprise (As mentioned before), crippling or possibly taking out a rival and getting myself ahead. The reasoning behind such a drastic action can be seen quite clearly in the screenshots above: Between the two weaker civs, I have considerably worse land. And that Marble beside the jungle near Mackoti's core also boosts his chances of landing the Taj Mahal and Mausoleum, amongst other things.

However, Mackoti has visibility on my graphs. If I started to prepare for an attack, he would notice and react accordingly. Pytheas' and the workboat's poking around in his lands means he won't believe any intention on my part to attack Ruff for even a second. In addition, his border pops and the shape of the land means I can't take him entirely by surprise either.

Finally, this question of an NAP. If I refuse, he would be able to guess my intentions, and thus build up a defense force of his own.

Upon considering all that, I decided to ditch the idea of attacking him. At this stage, it wouldn't work (Ten turns earlier, perhaps), and diplomacy and an honorable reputation are going to be one of my chief tools to even out the discrepancy between myself and the other civs. Thus, I made to accept his offer.

[COLOR="Cyan"]Dear Mackoti,

Thank you for the Open Borders. May the relations between us be always peaceful. I do not have Sailing.

The NAP to Turn 100 sounds good. Let's add an additional clause: If either party wishes to cancel it, they have to inform the other party five turns beforehand. Is that alright?

Sincerely,
Sylon[/COLOR]

The clause is just to cement the NAP. An NAP without a cooldown clause is worthless, since you can cancel and declare war on the same turn.

Now, you are probably wondering, why on earth would I sign a Turn 100 NAP? Of course, there is the matter of Mackoti proposing such a fact- it comes off as a sign of inexperience, since it greatly limits his options. But why would I accept it?

The answer, of course, is simple: It would greatly limit his options. Of course, it also greatly limits mine- but with Sailing in 5 turns, I can probably secure Rhodos before him. And as for the rest? Well, let's just say... I have a plan.

[Sylon]

It's hard to see clearly, but basically the world is a toroidical wrap. It would appear that Ruff's lands are directly North of Mackoti's. I guess those islands weren't inaccessible after all!

This also increases the importance of Rhodos- Obtaining it will protect my core from naval invasion pre-Astronomy.

Also, the NAP with Mackoti now has a 10-turn cooldown clause.

[Sylon]

Argos is founded. It'll work the sheep tile next to it until it gets to size two, then start working on a galley.

As a side note, I'm not longer last in everything! In fact, I'm the first to get my third city out. Hopefully this snowballs into a greater advantage.

[Sylon]

Founding Argos has connected Athenai and Sparte by sea. The trade boost two turns early is always welcome.

Athenai whipped its granary this turn. Next turn, it overflows it into a settler, then starts on a chariot (Alas, the coastal link hooked up my copper, so I can't build cheap warriors anymore) while it grows back. In the meantime, Argos will start on a galley to send the settler to Rhodos.

I sent out a diplo message to Ruff:

[COLOR="Cyan"]Dear Ruff,

Just a quick update on my explorations, since we agreed to coordinate maps when we met. I have found out two important things: First of all, the world is toroidal. My exploration of some islands to my North-east with a workboat eventually led to the minimap looping around. It would appear that said island chain connects the North and South hemispheres with a coastal link, meaning it is traversible by galley.

The second important thing is that this island chain, from the looks of it, appears to be directly South off the coast of your lands, and directly North of Mackoti's. I can't say for sure, mind you, but we'll know for sure if a Graecian workboat finds its way to the harbours of India in a couple of turns.

Sincerely,
Sylon[/COLOR]

Now, why am I revealing such a useful piece of information? The first and foremost reason is goodwill. I hope to cultivate Ruff as an ally, and thus sharing information like this will help solidify our relationship. The second, more pragmatic reason is that this will cause him to expand into the islands, possibly causing tensions between him and Mackoti that I can exploit. After all, the islands do secure their coastal flanks- control of them is vital. The alternative is to expose your core to naval invasion- hardly an ideal choice.

Once I receive Ruff's reply, I'll send a similar message to Mackoti- I believe I agreed to share map information with him, though I can't be sure. Either way, diverting Mackoti's eventual workboat scout up North instead of towards my lands may possibly slow him down from settling Rhodos.

Also, judging by the looks of it, I should get circumnavigation in a couple of turns.

[Sylon]

CIRCUMNAVIGATION!



Also, Kodii and Pegasus have their third cities out. Kodii named his third city 'First'. No, I'm first.

Also, on looking at the map, it would appear that my workboat is far more to the East than I had expected. I'm not quite sure if the island chain reaches all the way to Ruff's territory. I've sent out an email clarify that.

[Sylon]

Circumnavigation... Didn't come in this turn. If it doesn't come in next turn, it means circumnavigation requires traversing the globe horizontal as well.

This came to my attention.



Mackoti's workers are chopping forests at timisoara, building roads through the jungle, and now he has a Quecha fortified on a hill. Without a doubt, he's going for Wonderland right off the bat. Well, you would, if you had floodplains wheat gold incense cows etc etc right next door.

Sparte gets its granary done in 1 turn. It'll get two chops next turn, and a one more in 4 turns. Let's see if we can poach a piece of Wonderland.

[Sylon]

Why, oh why, am I not getting the circumnavigation bonus?

I presume that in the case of toroidal maps, the circumnavigational bonus only applies when you get it in both directions... Or does it only apply to horizontal exploration only?