[spoilers] Commodore: Worse than Toku, it's Giggles of Siam!

[Qgqqqqq]

You 1 turned a scout, who got double movement the same turn he was produced???

But, um... yes I approve of the message!
Please do not send the flowers at me...

[Commodore]

And *two* huts next turn?

"Oh mighty God of The RNG please smile upon us and grant us cool events, good lair hut pops and good luck in combat"

Popping BW would be *sweet*.

Well, I didn't pop Bronze Working...


Still I'll take it. The other villagers were less helpful, but they still are okay in my book.


Now if we pop Wheel and Mysticism, we can talk about the Oracle again.

[Thoth]

Nice. Gold for future use and Masonry is handy.

Ideally, we'd like to have Wheel in time to slap a road on the Corn before settling Meadowview Lawn. That trade connection is worth +2 commerce per turn.

I'm also noodling about with the notion of going worker/worker and it's just occurred to me: A marble quarry is functionally identical to a netted Crabs when building a settler so if we go with a size 2 settler we can delay fishing until after Wheel.

Still thinking about micro ect. I think we finish the Corn farm on t22, but we don't finish Bronze until eot 24 which gives us some flexibility on which forest to chop first


From the mini map it looks like there is a galley accessible offshore island nearby. Even a single offshore city would do wonders towards helping sustain our REX.

[Thoth]

Two quick questions:

Is lake of the woods fresh or salt water? We can make either work but our dot map will depend on which it is.

Is it ok if I log into the game for a look around? I won't change anything without pemission.

[Commodore]

Two quick questions:

Is lake of the woods fresh or salt water? We can make either work but our dot map will depend on which it is.

Is it ok if I log into the game for a look around? I won't change anything without pemission.

It's salt, alas, it's 10+ salty. By all means, log in and look around.

Found some gold and more sheep this turn. The stone/sheep and gold/lighthouse lake/crabs positions are actually both pretty darned far, might be a bit reachy. Pity we're not someone like, I dunno, Gilgamesh. Oh wait!


A marble quarry, as you said, its every bit as good as a fish in terms of foodhammers+commerce, so yeah, wheel next looks ever better. It's also a 1/6/2 tile when we build a granary, which needs to happen pretty soon after that Woodview Lawn settler. I'm actually noodling on the thought of going for Wheel before BW, if we need the roads anyway and the worker can profitably use the extra time. Still have time to think about it.


Four more, to be precise.

[Commodore]

Oh joy...

[regoarrarr]

I know that *I* am enjoying it

[Commodore]

So then! Like I said, more in-depth stuff on the opposition as we meet them. Looks like our first contact is our most dangerous rival, the dreaded Zulus.


Scooter (solid, metagamer) and Pindicator (micromanger, streaky) as Hayuna Cupac (Financial, Industrious) of the Zulu (Agriculture, Hunting)

I know Scooter, so I am certain that a lot of spinning has taken place in-thread to the effect that these guys aren't the #1 seed in this hoedown. This is of course ridiculous, given that they are probably the best combination of players in the game driving the second best leader/civ combo.

HC is an excellent leader here, despite the four other Industrious. The real key to winning wonder races post-Pyramids is tech rate, and on Big and Small, Financial is still king. The riverside nerf is annoying but having coastal tiles actually worth working is huge, and on every other cottage/commerce resource tile Fin still rocks. Adding the cheap bank is just rubbing salt in the wound. Given the lack of reliance on a SE, the Pyramids are less attractive for HC, so Stonehenge, Oracle, and GLH gambits are all more likely to be pursued. Although I'm sure they'd rather be the Mortius-endorsed Ragnar instead.

The Zulus are, of course, one of the most fun civilizations to play. The ikhanda is a very small boost, but it is noticeable and its not like barracks aren't going everywhere eventually anyway. Impi, even without the easy shock access from Aggressive, can royally wreck the unprepared with that vicious 2-move/Mobility combo. Hunting starts have been buffed, bringing an already-good civilization up to "excellent" now.

Finally, the players: Scooter is a smart guy who really ought to have won one of these before now, with a particular strength in metagaming and a weakness in the details at times; not immediately, but around turn 50 he can tend to play a little sloppy. Pindicator is an excellent partner, his micro-oriented logistics merging well with Scooter's better metagame grasp (although Pin's metagame is by no means weak). For a little extra "fun" they are being actively dedlurked by Noble Helium, who in terms of pure game mechanics is in contention as the best player on the site. Oh, and who also irrationally hates me personally with all the intensity a thirteen-year-old who feels slighted can muster.

So, um, how do we not die? Make no mistake, the reaction in Zululand is going to be a mite bit dismayed to find out we're close neighbors. And given the land forms, either this is the weirdest snakey continent ever or we're kind of on a peninsula, the Zulu blocking mainland access...which means there is a very highlander scenario here; there can be only one. Well, the one thing all three (or four, if Cyneheard is dedlurking too) players share is a certain fundamental caution. Unfortunately, they are aware of this tendency and will be working to correct it. Even so. Copper is going to be critical...if they can secure it without us being able to build axes in turn, might as well pack it up not. Aggression is called for; we're in duel mode until either we get a secure border holding at the very least stone and ivory, or one of us dies. Here's the battlefield, ladies and gentlemen:


Thoth, when you're looking around mind snapping a shot of where their scout goes? Need to know if its possible to race them for potential southern huts.

[kalin]

I wanted to say good luck! I will be following closely your thread.

Question: Will you beeline construction/HBR?

Kalin

[Commodore]

I know that *I* am enjoying it

I'll bet. I'm sure you cackled when you saw #4 seed and #1 seed together like this. Let's hope Lewwyn and Plako are together for nature to take its course with #3 and #2, eh?

I wanted to say good luck! I will be following closely your thread.

Question: Will you beeline construction/HBR?

Kalin

I think that once we found ivory, that was more or less a given. Probably Construction first, actually, given catapults are nice in any situation and we're looking at the Zulu, the spear-spammingest civ ever. For how we play this out...well, working on that.