[SPOILERS] enough is ENOUGH! scooter opens some windows and finishes first!

[scooter]

T-Hawk already answered the mechanics question, but currently I'm at:

2 inland cities (first 2)
4 coastal cities

Also, out of my next 8 or so cities I'd expect a minimum of 6 of them to be coastal.

Another factor here is the potential value of the trade routes. Sure I'll never get foreign routes, but in 75% of my cities I'll get 4 routes... 2 of them will be intercontinental (elephant, town), so that's 2 to mature cities. Also, I could potentially get a 3rd IC route if I really pushed and stole Brian's elephant. Not sure if that's worth it or not though as that's quite a reach, but I do know I could beat him there if I put serious effort into it.

All that said - basically TGL seems worth it. Let's say I end up with 10 coastal cities, which is a pretty conservative estimate IMO. That's 20 free trade routes, so an absolute minimum of 20 commerce/turn, with 50commerce being a not-totally-ridiculous possibility. That seems easily worth it. In fact, now that I think about it more, I need to get it as quickly as possible. War Paint may be the place do it it rather than King Park.

[scooter]

T48 puzzles over military

First, yay!



Work boat is not yet moved in this picture, but it's trailing the galley by one tile. I'm pretty happy about how well this plan came together . New city was settled and it already has a granary:



Thats a productive first turn right there. Cow will be finished next turn. The city just west of here (No Light) produced a settler that will be used for one of two spots that both look attractive to me - either the south coast down by the town island or the north thumb by that banana. The former is more immediately useful, but the latter is the better city. Also got a granary sped up here:



That will produce some sizable overflow that I'll use for a galley. Then it'll be work boat time. Also, Brian continues to confuse me:



Wait what? He first swapped the Spear with an Axe and now he's pulling the axe back entirely? Um, he better be glad I don't have an axe on that galley. So where has all the military gone exactly?



Well there's one of them, but I really don't know what's going on. This makes me nervous that he's going to come screw with me for no apparent reason. Well I suppose pillaging his town could be a bit hostile (), but that's life in AW. But yep, his buildup continues:



I'm really confused . Like... why? The demos showing the stark difference in soldiers:



Yikes. I queued up a Chariot nearby because, well, this is my military



Um yes, I have 7 cities, 7 warriors, one of which is off on a 1-tile island . Like it matters. Still, I can't imagine he's planning to invade me with Spears - gotta think those are for defense... And axes don't exactly scare me. So... not sure. On the economic front I have 7 cities, 10 workers, with 2 settlers en route to settle more sites. Quite a few workers in the queue as well. That's not particularly overwhelming in terms of number of cities founded (though I'd be surprised if there are people at 8 cities yet), but I've got to be ahead of the curve in terms of workers and tile improvements, and with a Currency bulb coming in 2T I'll have a lot more ability to unleash the settler machine. I just have been trying not to crash completely before I get a few key techs and then I'll happily crash away . Oh yeah, iron:



Makes sense.

[scooter]

T49 is a snoozer

T49 is mostly boring. On T51 we'll be settling 2 cities, so that'll be more exciting. Here's those settlers on their way:



And:



Semi-awkward placement, but overall not bad. Given the amount of good tiles at Sante Fe, a little sharing here will be nice. And yeah, that's basically all that happened until I hit enter:



Yay.



Generally middle of the road or so. Brian actually took a dip:



It seems to me that he's been whipping a lot, but using that whipping for military. Kinda strange. I saw that axe head south earlier so I'll keep an eye on that, but it's still at least 10T away so that's an eternity in this setting. Not much else to say at this point. Next turn I'll get the extra trade route everywhere and the following turn I'll add 2 cities.

[scooter]

T50 prints dolla bills yo

CASH MONEY:



Jackpot. Only worth 7c this turn, but that's still significant. Break-even for me is 40% (when I'm only running one merchant) - science max is around 60bpt which isn't bad. Two cities due next turn and more settlers on the way. LET'S CRASH THIS THING.

So all that aside, I dropped my settler off in jumboland aaaaand:



Ok I'll hand it to him - Brian has by far played a really interesting game so far. He settled THAT way?? That's like... the absolute last direction I would've settled . But again - that's probably because I didn't scout that way much at all yet, but it's also because the other directions seem more fertile. I mean, even to my south is much better than west for that matter - I just haven't gotten to it yet because of the Jumbo rush. So for comparison purposes, he's settling in here:



Interesting. Well maybe that's why I saw an axe heading south - he was headed to another city of his rather than heading towards me. Either way, chariots will be ready in case he gets frisky. So I dropped my warrior off and went back to harass Brian:



Um, I could've sworn I pillaged those crabs ? Did he re-net them already?? That hurts for him if he did and I just made him waste another work boat. Or maybe I just somehow managed to not pillage it. If so, on me. I must have forgotten - no way I wouldn't have seen his work boat. Town hunting time for me again:



I'll drop off next turn assuming Lewwyn hasn't landed already. We'll see. Unfortunately, the side effect of this is I hit enter, borders pop, and:



Well that's annoying. I was worried at first that I was going to have to whip when I didn't want to, but turns out I'll have a chariot in range. So if he tries to pillage anything or come into my land, he's a dead man. He could get onto that hill and be fine, but any further and he's dead. Thinking he'll prob just pillage the windmill and be gone. Anyways, quick look at the capital:



Again, not whipping the capital much because I think it's better to grow vertically here. The plan here is to grow up to size 8 soon (Ivory) and then market time. I'll probably break tradition and whip the market, and that'll let me have +50% gold modifiers here which is insanely early for that. That'll also give me an additional +1 happy (ivory) and let me run 4 merchants at once if I want to squeeze out another one quickly any time soon (pretty likely). Also running 4 merchants at once while at 0% science would give me obscene amounts of gold (for this early) with +50% modifiers. Nice way to keep research afloat while crashing away. Finally, demos:



About what I'd expect. Lewwyn must be that 54 food number. I'm curious if he'll ever be able to recover from that. I think it depends on what Commodore does with Cataphracts - if he uses it to decisively gain land, Lewwyn is done. If he goes after Serdoa and/or me and gets slowed way down, that may just be the ticket to get Lewwyn back into the game. We'll see. His traits are certainly those that will let him come on strong in the late game, although this isn't exactly prime cottage land so we'll see.

Two more cities founded next turn. I'm guessing elephant will be a net gain economically because that'll be +1commerce in every city, and the other one not quite as much. Plus it'll raise my happy cap everywhere which is a pretty underrated benefit here that I haven't talked about much. I probably could afford to whip heavier than I have, but I've gone a bit light (well mostly just not whipped the capital much) on it because I've chopped a lot instead.

[scooter]

T51 hits 9 cities

I was greeted by this splash screen:



Turning off research for 1 turn and then I'll put in back on full blast @ 100%. I should be able to fly through Construction at 100% because:



I'm about to get some spending money. Lewwyn's city looked to be on the windmill at first but I couldn't figure out why it didn't auto-delete upon being built... But then I realized he probably settled on the desert 1S of the windmill. Either way - I'd like to get a settler over to this island (and ideally an axe instead of a warrior) pretty soon to get even more IC routes. But let's get to the biggest news of this turn:



Elephants hooked T51. Guessing that'll be the winning number. Started right into a granary though I might swap back to a Monument because getting those deer up there in range will be pivotal. Also, I 1-turned a settler in this area:



That's always fun to do. The happy cap is +1 here btw - I just hadn't settled the elephant city quite yet when I took this shot. Also settled another city:



Straight onto a workboat. Next turn I'll have those sheep completed (had 2 workers available to put a turn into them), so this city should get off the ground quickly. It's first going to produce a quick WB for King Park's fish down there. Getting these IC routes are a big deal though, check my science cap at max science:



It was around 50 three turns ago. Between the Currency bulb and settling the island, that boosted my income by 2commerce/city which is 18 commerce. That's offset by additional costs, but I certainly make a big gain there. My trade routes look like this in every city:



Pretty nice. Construction I can get in 4-5 turns depending on how much max-tax I have to run (town pillaging won't fully support me like last time because my costs are higher), but I'm thinking 2 turns of 0% should be enough. I'm still vaguely considering Calendar before Consruction, but that seems less valuable because I just raised my happy cap with the elephants. Also, I pillaged Brian's crabs:



Sorry dude, gotta do it. I need Metal Casting - last thing I need is a nasty Trireme choke that I can't match. We really should've agreed on some sort of "no blockade" rule because I don't really want those dominating the scene. Finally, my units:



Currently at 9 cities, 13 workers, and a settler ready to roll. Need more military though - got 1 chariot and another being built, but my empire is getting wide enough that it's risky being where I'm at.

I'll do another post soon with demos and graphs just because it's T51 so it'll be nice to get a dump of all those. Still no Commodore graphs but I'm getting there.

[scooter]

Demos:



I see nothing to complain about there. That 52 food number is actually NOT Lewwyn like I assumed last turn - I'll show you in a minute. Someone passed me in population - well that'd be Serdoa:



Representation means he can grow that capital up a few more sizes - we should all be pretty scared of what he's doing over there. Note that Brian is still whipping pretty frequently I guess from his capital. The food charts:



Brian really lagging. I think the T0 Sacrificial altar was kind of a sucker's choice here because this capital doesn't feel like one where you want to do lots of whipping as he's done. This is also because he seems to be building so much military. MFG:



Serdoa takes another huge leap - last time he did that he was completing a stone-powered wonder in his capital. Hmm. Though my graph is about to take a spike (since this screen is 1T behind the demos I just showed you), so it may mean nothing. Still, when combined from the food dip he clearly got off some cottages and onto some mines. Anyways, I included the culture screen just because it's funny:



This screen is actually a big part of what's masking the fact that my economy is still in decent shape. I'll never understand why culture (and EPs) factor into GNP, but whatever. Finally, power:



Brian's dip there could well be whipping off population as that seems a bit too small of a dip for anything worse than a warrior. Either way though, his power climbs every single turn. Nice thing though is I'm 2nd place out of people who do not have Machinery despite having an army of warriors + 1 chariot, so he can't have THAT much more than me. Also shows how little Serdoa is skirting by with.

Overall I'm pretty happy with my position right now. Break-even reserach is down to 30%, but I'm still moving at a good enough clip that I'll continue founding cities for the near future.

[scooter]

Joao power is becoming a pretty big deal. I'm not first in score, food, and mfg. and I'm uh not first in GNP . Some screenshots later tonight hopefully. Hopefully I don't turn myself into a more appealing Cat target than Serdoa.

[scooter]

T52 has enough food for a feast

Brian finally built a galley:



He'd be crazy to take a ~30% shot, but I'm not going to give him the chance to be crazy, so I'll back away. Also, I'm positioning a chariot so if Commodore tests his luck any further, he's dead:



Pretty annoying to lose that windmill but such is life. That's some nice land down there too - I've just had some other priorities thus far. The demos though... behold:



That's what mass-expansion does to you. If that's not a Joao demo screen I don't know what is. Charts for the curious (and because this was a boring turn so I'm not sure what else to take pictures of)





Obviously those are 1T delayed and all that. I might hit 10 cities next turn. I say might because I haven't decided if I want to delay it or not because it's an awfully risky settlement in that it would be undefended for a turn or two . It's a really nice spot though. We'll see. I should've taken a picture of that.

One fear I have: That my over-expansion would make me a juicier target to Commodore than Serdoa. I'm really banking on elephants being a deterrent here honestly. If Serdoa manages to bulb his way to something better than cats + elephants before he gets Cataphracts, well then I might be a better target for him. Hopefully he'll realize I'll have the highest whipping potential out of anyone (and thus the bloodiest battle) and he'll steer clear.

[scooter]

T53 hits 10 cities

Behold:



Yep let's power out that work boat shall we? This city is just disgusting as I mentioned earlier. I almost feel guilty settling it it's so ridiculous. I've talked about this before but yes that is riverside flatland gold up there too. Yeesh. Thanks Seven .



Covered my workers from Commodore. He's going to have to run away - I may pursue him and kill him for some easy XP - we'll see. Though potentially letting him live may signal peaceful intentions? Hm. Maybe I'll shadow him a few turns and make it clear that I COULD kill him but I'm choosing not to. Maybe he'll see that as a "peace offering" of sorts? Just an idea. Also yes elephants should help make it clear. Some scouting:



This is the area Brian settled - though he actually settled 1NE of the peak tile and not down by deer/fish/gems. Well I take it back - it's possible he did that too, but I just don't know for sure quite yet. Still pillaging away:



I want to get this settled ASAP but I also want to make sure it's safe. But yeah, settling it is worth an instant +1c per city which is really significant, so yeah, this is a high priority. I feel weird settling cities like this, but they really matter. I'm guessing Lewwyn will pillage that Oasis farm pretty quickly which is sad, but whatever. This city won't be all that good honestly, but whatever. Worth it. Still working on getting Commodore's graphs:



Getting there. Hopefully people quit spending EPs on me for a short while so I can crank it out. At this point I know the others, so I might just keep on Commodore until I can see where he's at and then get everyone else back. Demos look pretty:



Gonna keep the gas pedal on for awhile longer. Serdoa's capital is enjoying Representation:



Jerk. My land/pop numbers:



Not bad. Brian and his creative culture continues to dominate here. I wish there was an easier way to work out how many cities everyone has in AW but you can't really without a diplo screen. Oh well.



Yeah my military is respectable by everyone's standards except Brian's . Having to build military now to defend my fringe sites which, oh well. Putting axes in my island cities so I don't lose them. Eventually I'll want Spears too.

Anyways, that's enough for now. Things looking alright!

[scooter]

T54 is safe from crazy Aztecs. I think.

So the coast is clear:



Yeah so nobody is coming. That's good. Unless Brian has a stack of axe on one of that one roaded plains fogged tile in which case I'm dead . Seriously though, he's made me really paranoid, but honestly he could be going after anyone. I've settled away from him (settling away from the creative civ seemed prudent and I've had other priorites) so I'm an illogical target for him really.

So some of my shots didn't take for whatever reason? So I'll summarize a few things going on:

1) The capital has started on a market and grew to size 8 which is the new happy cap. I plan to grow to size 9 into unhappiness and then double-whip the market. The arrival of the market not only jumps the multiplier to +50% gold in that city (awesome), but it also automatically bumps my happy cap +1 because it doubles ivory so the whip basically pays for itself.

2) Settler is on his way to my town island and the galley will take him. I'm going to temporarily leave a warrior there with the city. I'm actually vaguely considering cash-upgrading him to an axe, but honestly I'll probably just produce an axe from Simple Math and ferry him over. Cash seems much too valuable at this point and I have plenty of hammers.

3) My Great Lighthouse plan is coming into shape. I actually haven't explained that, but I'm not that far away from landing it at this stage. Basically a Lighthouse is due to finish at the end of next turn. I'm going to whip anyways so I get a bunch of extra overflow into TGL and I'll have 4 forests all pre-chopped and ready to rock. Now, since TGL has no resource doublers, I'm not IND, I have no religion, forges, etc - that won't be enough to 1T it... but that'll get me awfully close. Then I'll really be set economically for awhile. It won't quite be "cheat mode" since I won't have any foreign routes, but it'll still be a significant economic boost. As is I my research capacity is quite high (I can do 100beakers at 100% science which is pretty high for this stage), but my expenses are really high too. This'll help mitigate that substantially.

4) (and this is where I have pictures again) Sante Fe is doing similar stuff as Holocene:



(This area of the map is so lush)

So basically here I'm about to grow into unhappiness. I'm also producing this axe for my elephant city. Anyways, the plan here is to go right into a market at +1 unhappy and again whip it to completion. This will be cool again because my slider is so low that the market is valuable and again it'll get me the +1 ivory happy. The currency + ele site has synergized nicely here . Plans have been coming together beautifully thus far - just gotta hope Brian or Commodore doesn't try to blow it all up . Speaking of Commodore, I've found his borders:





Think about that for a second. The dude planning the most ridiculously early Cataphract rush of all time hasn't even bothered to settle for horses yet . Obviously he doesn't need to yet, but that just struck me as funny . The sad part is he may get Guilds (and unlock Cataphracts) before I get Horseback Riding and unlock my Keshiks. Insanity. Do I need HBR to build elephants? I seriously don't know.

Anyways, the usual demo/graph stuff (I'll try to start doing these less frequently now that we're into double-digit cities)



(I'm of course happy about my food/mfg explosion - gnp is a work in progress)

Pretty sure that GNP number is Serdoa and his terrifying Pyramids. I sure hope Commodore views his best option as stopping him rather than taking land and trying to compete with Serdoa. As to my GNP - I really need to land TGL. There's just not a ton of great cottage land so slapping cottages everywhere will only get me so far. Go back and look at Sante Fe's maintenance costs - they're massive! The one downside of this map (high food but minimal cottage cheese sites) is that the already-uber Pyramids is even stronger here. Regardless, I've got to do what I can to leverage my one advantage and that's a drastic advantage in expansion. Given my pretty average land totals I've got to think I'm WAY ahead of everyone in tile improvements which would jive with my fairly respectable worker-force (for a 10 city empire anyways). Cities grow so fast that I'm always needing more improvements. Alright I'm rambling. Charts and I'm done.





Serdoa clearly did some whipping as both his totals went down. Anyways, that's enough for today. As always - questions/comments/smark remarks are welcome.