[spoilers]Commodore is Darius II of the HRE, now with less excuse.

[Commodore]

Dull as the early turns are, we sure are blazing through 'em. I like lakes, we got some!



So Yuri got either Hunting or Fishing last turn, dunno which. Oledavy got...hum, not sure, been tracking poorly. Anyway, GNP spike!



First in crop yield, at least...

[Commodore]

...and this is about a third of "our" land.

[spacetyrantxenu]

If the other two thirds of our land are as nice as this I'll be happy. I'll be even more happy if we end up with two thirds of someone else's land, too. I know you know how to RAT (rapidly attack), but can you REX?

Didn't Gaspar have a game where he had four cities before turn 30? Maybe it was later than that, I dunno. Anyway, I'd like to see us throw down some quick cities and get this start moving fast with as nice as this land is. And then cover it with pretty little cottages.

[Commodore]

If the other two thirds of our land are as nice as this I'll be happy. I'll be even more happy if we end up with two thirds of someone else's land, too. I know you know how to RAT (rapidly attack), but can you REX?

Didn't Gaspar have a game where he had four cities before turn 30? Maybe it was later than that, I dunno. Anyway, I'd like to see us throw down some quick cities and get this start moving fast with as nice as this land is. And then cover it with pretty little cottages.

Gaspar's 4 by 30 game was as...Isabella of China. I do know how to REX, not to worry, and this is my peacefullest combo ever (well, this or Rammer of Japan, never kill a combat unit right Ceil? :neenernee). The plan is to have as many cities and cottages as possible, as soon as possible...six by t50 maybe? Fun fun fun.

Riffington might very well qualify as a Bureaucap...four mines, six grassland cottages, Fin lakes for excess, two wet grains, probably second city. Oh heck yeah. If it does, of course, I'll need to switch names. There is only one capital.



Upon consideration, I will make a Hindu or Judaism run for the best possible reason; I like the religion mini-game. It's fun to me, and I'm playing this to have fun. So when should I weave in the road to Monotheism?

[spacetyrantxenu]

Oh I don't doubt that you know how to REX, I just doubt your ability to lay off the warmongering long enough to do it!

I don't know that I'd go too far out of the way for religion right now. We're going to want an early CoL and can probably pick up a religion there. Right now we have Hunting, Mysticism, and will have Agriculture in 3 turns. Our worker will have enough to do for a few turns improving the wheat and deer so we don't have to run to Pottery this early. Since we already have Mysticism we could go for Poly and see if we get it. It's along the Priesthood -> CoL path anyway. But before we do that it would probably be more helpful to a fast start to go Mining -> BW because we should be able to whip the skin off this capital to get some early workers/settlers, chop those forests into more workers/settlers, and farm farm farm into a wide start. With as good as the land is I'd say hold off for the religion at CoL and go for what will give us the fastest opening, Ag -> Mining -> BW, then either Pottery if we have enough workers to start cottaging things or Poly if Hindu is still on the board. Even if it's already gone we can move on like you suggested toward Mono and OR. Of course fit in worker techs around these as the unfolding map dictates.

[Commodore]

Oh, BW is first, no doubt at all. After that, depends on copper, but I favor The Wheel. Hinduism being timed to pop borders at Rffington when we need the wet corn worked would be ideal.

[Commodore]

I spy with my little eye, something...sparkly.



The map itself is telling us to settle aggressively, guys.

[Commodore]

I don't know if this is plako's doing, or the script, but nice job on having the valuables in the middle. Those gems are probably a borderland area, and now we find something even more valuable in the interior.



So, stone. What would we use it for? Moai on one of those coastal spots would be good sooner than later, and of course the Great Wall is amazing in a spies-on game. The Pyramids are nice and all, but I we don't desperately need them (Gaspar, Dave), nor could we make them easily (Yuri). By the way, I think that high GNP is either Davy or Yuri with Fishing, Agriculture, and The Wheel getting a ton of bonus on Pottery.



Our own tech is a mite bit delayed, for admittedly the minor reason of "screwing with C&D". With the deer coming before the wheat (worth it for the quicker camp time vs. a farm) I don't need Agriculture for another six turns. Why not make AH an apparent possibility by taking a long time to get a power tech?



Our slice looks nice, eh? Scout is about to loop north, figuring the jungle belt is a decent settling barrier for at a little while. We have three more turns where seeing a warrior means death, folks.



Thoughts?

[Commodore]

Food! It won't be cheap to plant, but I am lusting after this gems site. Shiny! *poing*



Tow turns to interesting stuff.



Whew.

[Commodore]

Just a little too late for Memorial Day, the scouts finally found us what we needed:



Boy this is some attractive inland. The Luddite Gambit might actually be rewarded here, come to think of it.



Back at home, at the end of turn, we now finally have a second unit to play around with. Deer camp -> Wheat farm -> chop/mine riverside hill is the plan. Ought to get us a competitive settler, obviously slower than Mistabod or Gaspar, but around the same time as Dave and Yuri.



Speaking of Yuri, he discovered his pre-req tech, and as power didn't go up, it was Pottery, which means his first tech was Fishing (because Pottery was double boosted). Gaspar is obviously doing the standard China BW-first, less sure about Mistabod or Dave.



Proceeding apace.