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

[Ceiliazul]

Oy, tough beat on GL/Parthenon.

What's the award for most wonders beaten to by 1t?

Probably held by Gaspadore in their joint PBEM

[Ceiliazul]

Diplomatic Intrigue!

Dave sent us a Sevenfold Secret Code:



Those cities aren't on any particular border... not sure what to make of it. Commodore, any ideas? Gaspar is building up slowly on the central border:



Looking forward to maces. 2 settlers en-route now, and Iron will be roaded and mined in the next 3 turns. Civil Service due in 2t.

[Commodore]

Hey! Back(ish), and we have a mystery. I'm going to say it is spelling something? "Perchgas". Anything he's tried to purchase? I'd say oil if we were in a different era. I dunno. Honestly, it's kind of annoying...clearly we need to just freaking accept it next time he offers us a deal like that, Earth and drell-dom are gone but freakin' crap, we could eat Palaven. Although that would expose us to the incoming 'phracts a lot more. Did you swap Oasis to max hammers? It's fine if no, only delays the next GP, not this one (crossing fingers for GE).

I have somewhat iffy time for now, I can take turns most of the time for this week while I'm off work. But the important things; wife is good, daughter is good. Turn report:



I think I'm pretty okay with the outcome of the last few turns. Landed the best wonder available.

[DaveV]

But the important things; wife is good, daughter is good.

Congrats. Enjoy your time with your wife and daughter.

[Catwalk]

Congratulations Commodore

[Commodore]

Okay, so here's where we are. Looks like Gaspar's power spiking, Dave bulbing Philo and shrining Taoism (okay?). Yo dawg, Ichabod fired a GA with their GA, so they put some GAs on it. Yuri is also spiking power.



Gaspar will be attacking us or Yuri, his power is going up while his GNP is sucking. Yuri would mean he's trying to claim lands, us would mean he's trying to knock us out of the game. Thank you, Ceil, we got some nice longbows coming online at the Long Border.



Kusari is under more pressure, Gaspar might be massing HAs even now to punch out the poor burg. Walls, a longbow, or a rathaus next? I'm favoring rathaus then longbow, but maybe a spear would be better. The whip will be about 95% of all production here for quite some time, which will be excellent with a banana and wet rice for food.



Cataphracts are a worry. Check out the cultural malestorm!



I'm betting on Dave betting on me here. How's this for exposed? Although obviously Dave has no idea this is my only iron. Note his own lack of IW...that hill is a 1/3 tile still. Hum. Wish I could capture it.



The geopolitics can be assessed from this one single screen. Xenu, what could be determined from these demos?



I really appreciate the turnplaying, Ceil, only one thing I countermanded was the Moai in Gwen. With four mines max and food to work workshops this place has enough hammers to do anything needed (actually, hum...if first to Democracy, might try the SoL here). The Moai will go to the C south down there. Need to wheedle stone from Dave somehow.



On the plus side, Oasis will be pushing out that GP ASAP with the National Epic. Hopeful to land the GE, but given how strong our research ratio is that GM will be almost as good. And in emergencies, eh, Guilds bulb? Need to figure out how to communicate to Dave that he can run a GM cash bomb here.



I hate to not go hell-for-leather down the Liberalism path, but you're right, Ceil, we might need to not be such a tall peg. If Guilds and Gunpowder follow Nationalism, maybe going for the economics GM for another Golden Age would be good, plus Banking is needed for the Rifling line, and Corporations are on. Just please let us not be attacked in the next ten turns...

[Merovech]

Congrats!

[Ceiliazul]

Welcome back Commodore! Yes, the best wonder, indeed.

Now that you mention it, Dave's diplo could be <horse><copper> GAS PER... he has no cities that start with 'A'. Is Gaspar building up horse and copper units? Sure wouldn't be a shock.

The worker chopping near Kusari is clearing what I consider the most dangerous staging tile for Gaspar to reach on t0 of the war. I didn't pre-build a wall there, probably a good idea.

No sweat on the Moai... it was a tossup in my mind and I elected the "sooner is better" philosophy. You're going to need a navy post haste, if I was Gaspar I might be coming over the sea.

Shoot me a PM if you need me to pick up any particular turn, I'll let you handle it otherwise.

[Boldly Going Nowhere]

Congrats, Commo-san! :2dance:

Since Xenu hasn't chimed in, I'll channel him for a sec: So, here's what he might say about your demos:

#1 pop + low production + middle of the pack power rating + CS due in 1 + too-high-for-Xenu Approvals = spree. Time for an army of maces (you do have machinery, right?).

[Commodore]

Thank you, Boldly-as-Xenu. Are you guys identical? Did you pull off those impressions while younger? To answer you, though, Boldy-as-Xenu, I figured out where a huge chunk of that worldwide power is. Yuri ain't a happy camper no mo.



As can be seen, the word of Confucianism is spreading by itself now. A shrine would be almost worth it, if I cared about gold more than golden ages. The RNG is at least deciding to help me fight the Taoism holy city culture, thanks for that.



Here's Holy Rome, Nifty-number-two. Knights from the pinklands and catapracts from the grey lands are probably due soon, messing up my prettiness. Three more cities and I'm done...but not a one claims new land tiles.



Whew. Nationalism: Seven turns.