[SPOILERS] Rusten prepares to face the music

[Rusten]

Thanks!  

[vandale]

Are you around on the 19th and possibly the 20th to cover for me in case I can't play? If not then it'd be nice to have a lurker on standby.

I'm going to Kiev on the 19th. I'm renting an apartment with internet and all I need to play, but you never know with these things, there could be complications.

Hi, the 19th seems possible but the 20th... I doubt it. Early afternoon, maybe.

Is it one turn per day or are multiple turns played in the beginning ?
I don't wanna be making a decision but I could make a step to a footprint.

/// yes : I can find time to connect myself these days and help advance play.

[Rusten]

Would hope for more than 1 turn per day in the beginning, but with 25 players and different time zones it's hard to say. I'm sure some people won't notice that the game is starting too. Later on 1 turn per day is the norm.

All you'll have to do is move the scout and possibly change a tile or move the worker depending on turn pace. No big decisions required. And most likely I'll be around. If there are no unforeseen circumstances I'll only be unavailable from morning until evening on the 19th which is within a turn's pace anyway. But if you (or a lurker) notices that the game is waiting for me or the clock is about to run out then please log in and make sensible moves. I'll write down instructions in the thread prior to leaving.

I'll put "rtrmod" as civ password.

[Rusten]

Game is officially live. I'm not going to devote too much time into reading demographics, but some basic observations can be useful on the first turns. 3 people settled before me and it seems it is a PH riverside start for everyone as expected. Amount of forests also looks the same (life expectancy).
Settling gave 0.16% of land area.

Moved scout to reveal tiles near our corn, will probably circle for city spot. Shore was found. Perhaps there's a coastal fish lurking for that city spot. If so then machinery bulb is probably not worth.

[Rusten]

I really hate these long unnecesary waits.

Spent the downtime pondering a possible slavery+OR switch. Depending on how early we need slavery it could prove useful. There are a lot of forests around to chop granaries and we have the extra happiness to grow. The land looks real rich too, so tiles are more worth working than the average map. The natural spot (if we find more resources) 1S of scout for instance has 3 forests in first ring and a lot of river.

It would mean a lot of extra beakers early on, so I'll not consider it the main plan, but rather a possible diversion if it fits with the map expansion/pacing. It would never be researched until around writing. After pottery/AH and the like.

Implications: Probably hold off on the typical slavery switch as first settler moves to its city spot. May find a better time.

[Rusten]

Turn 1 demographics for the sake of documentation for later. Land area being a bit of a surprise (lakes?).
Overall it seems the starts are extremely similar, but not mirrored.

Also found 2 clam. Will probably have the scout turn back SW. Scouting the south and west is more important than the NE for the first city. Ideally it will share food with capital. 

[Rusten]

Bingo!

Good thing I turned back. The t29 settler variant is looking good with that silver available. Next few turns of exploring will be exciting.

[Rusten]

Not posting often as there's not that much to talk about at this stage with the opening already decided, but some new and interesting resources have been revealed. With so much seafood there's no way fishing can be delayed so the machinery bulb is off the table. Calendar is also a priority. Before HR for sure. Not needing HR for a long time means I'm on the OR+slavery civic swap hype train.

Could still do something fun with a GS golden age from Great Library and a GM bulb though.

Sadly:
-the pigs cannot be claimed while also claiming the corn.
-having both pigs and silver in 1st ring means no immediate trade route with capital.... but:
If hinduism is founded then we have the 100 culture pop at T24, which means that settling with clam+pig+silver in 1st will have trade connection thanks to the city's coast being connected to the river! Religion race just became more exciting and important! Now featuring early game economic impact.
That should be the 2nd city barring a huge scouting revelation. Pigs and silver is too big. Clam is fine of course, but would rather not spend hammers on work boats just yet.

Will still wait on further simming until more of the map is revealed. No point yet, although it's near certain is that a 2nd worker is needed before the settler now.

I will be very sad if beaten to Hinduism now.

[Rusten]

I got to play my turn before leaving today so subbing won't be necessary.

Logged in to find that I've met naufrager (T6). It was last turn as 4EP was already put (same for him). Don't know from where his scout came as he played after me on T6 and before me on T7, but I would assume the west/SW region.
Not super happy about having him as a neighbour but it's not too bad either. He's updating his thread frequently which means that he's making an effort. Having "new" players next to me is a mixed bag. Main issue being that they're so unpredictable, but at least naufrager is Germany without an early UU that he's dying to use and Julius for (beneficial) peaceful expansion.

Also found some more high yield food resources and thus revised my hopes on slavery+OR switch. Even nerfed slavery is too good to pass up early I believe. While improved tiles can kinda keep up the big difference is that using slavery saves so many worker turns. I've not yet factored in the increased commerce and tech rate of having silver, so maybe Monotheism can be reached very early, but on the whole I probably need the slavery switch early.

Another reason for early slavery is that the 2nd city most likely will not be sharing corn (or rice) with the capital based on scouting.

[Rusten]

All the mysticism civs have gotten a score increase aside from Donovan/Maya, but that's a mining/myst civ, so Poly religion should be safe.
A little surprised Plako didn't go for it right away with a spiritual civ and agri/myst, but maybe his start differs significantly from mine. I think him getting a tech this last turn fits with teching hunting, so maybe he has livestock. Mining would have been the turn before I think.

Have also met BGN. Decent neghbour. Boudica doesn't get dangerous until later in the game and Khmer = meh.

Discovered gems nearby (with food). There's a lot of luxuries in general -- more than I expected. 4 now in the near vicinity and 2 of them are mining luxuries which quickly doubles in effectiveness. Kind of a nerf to charismatic, but at least I can have fun growing huge. Any bets for capital size at 500 BC and 1 AD? I'm gonna say double-digits for both and 15+ for 1 AD. Especially as it looks like it won't share corn.