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

[Commodore]

Every time I whip the capital, our demographics cry.



But after hitting End Turn, literally every city in the empire grew.




And so did the jungle.

[Commodore]

The news of the turn:



Dang Dave, you managed to claim a lot of nice land as "backfill" too didn't you?

[Commodore]

We got Maths! Civilization math, which apparently means odd little things like 13 +50% = 20. Dave is also feeling bold, as can be seen, probing down there at the lower right hand portion of the screen.



I suspect we'll see Dave win this sucker. Representation, as Mr. Phi/Spi rockets ahead of the tech pace. I'm tired of being the Kami Commodore, though, so let Mistabod handle that one. Gaspar was going to be trying to kill me from the very start, no safe boundary over there.



Hey there buddy, not that I mention it! Yes I know you can one-turn me there. If you're going all-in with a dozen chariots I'm screwed, but I suspect you'll keep snarling at my pink dot and wait for X to attack. (X=HA, catapults, or knights)



Another two turns of enforced peace, thankfully. I'd really rather not have to fight again, but his warrior might force something unpleasant in a couple turns. If so, fair enough.



I'll be playing a bit with the happy cap in Sasha. I think, contra the displayed build, I'll be dumping foodhammers into a settler and then three-pop it for Riffington and enough overflow to finish a spear. Who knows, maybe I'll follow my whimsy elsewhere, however.



Can definitely afford to settle a couple more cities, this GNP is with me whipping off excess pop and at 100% gold. I'd be sanguine about my chances if I was in, say, Mistabod's geopolitical position. As it is, suicidal Gaspar to the north, and ascendant and pushy Dave to the south.



I certainly hope to be proven wrong here, by the way. Gaspar may surprise me and actually have something constructive planned, and Dave might make a right hash of his position. Yuri, with his political isolate and soon Colossus coast, might well win, and Ichabod is the only other person with five cities right now, once Guilds are meandered towards cataphracts will make life difficult for someone.

[Commodore]

...or I could be better at micro than that, but also more forgetful. Yay, two-pop whip next turn!



Overflow will go into a spear, no point in messing around with the chance I'm wrong and Gaspar is going all-in with chariots. No farmer's gambits here*!

*except Yuri, I think.

[Commodore]

The Road of Hate is complete, and bitter, angry Chinese grumbling about the French are coming into our lands, also telling us what is available for trading in China. I'm somewhat less than impressed, although this bacon thing is a great import...



My fellow-travelers are being a bit...restive, I think. I grudgingly whipped a chariot over a granary in Torg, nothing else for it as the other chariot ("Virmire", looking at Dave's Kaidan) covers the general Riffington area. I'll be plugging the hole in two turns, no worries.



Looks like Mistabod are continuing on their merry way. Nice city you got down there! I hope it greatly offends Dave. I'm banking on cataphracts here.



Demographics. What the heck is making the rest of these guys look so kindly towards their people? My 55% approval rating is a badge of honor, and my power is going to rise a bit more too as I turn more slaves into soldiers.



C'mon Xenu, you got to approve of that screen!

[Commodore]

Power ratings: Useful! Away with thee, vile Chinese warrior.



Things are looking a bit nicer now. The complex Dance of the Workers is growing ever more interesting, but if I've managed my timings right things ought to flow nicely, giving Riffington a granary on its third turn of life and a library on its sixth, so nice to be able to eschew a monument. It's going to claim the wet wheat to grow, but given Oasis' whip next turn that will work out just fine.



If Dave decides to eat a worker he can, but with 7 workers I'm actually doing okay right now, and I can at least revenge myself upon his warrior. Shoo along, Dave, we're running a heavily armed farming operation here.

[Commodore]

760 BC. Finally settled my capital, had to do a bit of wandering first. My mission is to get this sucker up to about size ten or eleven with a healthy crop of hamlets and three mines by the time Civil Service rolls around.



HR will enable that if we have to, but another potential buffer would be sugar/dyes just south of Dave's warrior here. This is probably about halfway in between France and the HRE, but I'd think its less attractive to someone wanting a high-food Representation SE spot. Love amount of grasslands, though.



Elsewhere, it looks like Gaspar is solidifying the borderland up north. I'm not exactly about to snipe that sexy plains sheep/lighthouse lake spot. :rolleyes: Maybe there is seafood or wheat or something up there.



Ironically, if just nobody would attack us, like, ever, I'd feel pretty good about winning the space race here.

[Commodore]

Well hey there Gaspar. That's not a very well-hidden camp, actually. Gaspar needs to learn the art of not being seen. *boom*



I'm certain that settle is the hallmark of an eventual offensive towards us, but nothing right yet. I am at least fairly certain of snagging CoL; here's my GNP at max tax. It's not cheap to run an empire, but it's not terrible either. My MFG needs a boost, that's with me actually using all but one of my mines. CY is solid, at least.



Wet corn will help the crop. Next turn Riffington grows and gets its granary online, and then in three more turns two more forests will be chopped for the library to get whipped in. Then its just grow and grow some more.



I hate to back-fill when there are still border-solidifying places to plant, but we need the happy from furs, so a new crop of workers is going to head west of the Bun to get the fishing village nexus online. The fish will be netted in three turns and the new city will get settled in four, which is nice.



Now it's time for Yuri to land CoL and Dave and Gaspar both to invade.

[Ceiliazul]

Now it's time for Yuri to land CoL and Dave and Gaspar both to invade.

What happened to 'eternal optimist'?

[Commodore]

What happened to 'eternal optimist'?

It's more of a playstyle than an attitude. Plus a general feeling of squished-ness, I'm rapidly running out of room to expand. I hate to back-fill now but I need the furs badly and a two-seafood spot is the highest food available still.



No worries, I'm still going to try to win. The short-term goals of Monotheism and Monarchy will give way to several options: A Guilds run for early knights, a Lit run for marble and OR-boosted Parthenon/Great Library/National Epic gambits (which give a ton of Great Scientists for the Liberalism bulb path), or a bog standard mix of solid Calendar/IW, Currency, Feudalism, Civil Service research and after I pop a Great Spy, get the usual academy. Engineering, alas, is a bit of an expensive detour but my pikes are better than most if Gaspar or Dave show signs of knights.