[SPOILERS] Regoarrarr rides again

[regoarrarr]

No pics this turn (T25), because.... boring. We're pretty much doing the same thing. A chop came in this turn. Another will come in next turn, and the settler will be done in 4t (BOT29), and found the turn after.

No score changes this turn, other than Scooter getting his 27 points for 2nd ring land. So that puts everyone but Ruff at 97 points (20 land tiles, 2 pop points and 5 ancient techs). Ruff is at 87 (he's only at size 1 and only has 4 techs.)

One interesting note is that I was doing some tech-swapping to inspect GNPs, and I noticed that I get an extra beaker on Animal Husbandry. Going to run through the numbers here.

While working the lake, I made 11(+1) = 12 beakers. 4 EP and 2 culture gives me a GNP of 18 while teching first-row techs, or 20 while teching something with a pre-requisite.

Only problem is that I didn't have anyone penciled in for Animal Husbandry, and in order to get a bonus beaker, I need to have TWO civs with it.

First check was Pindicator. I had him down as Fishing T4, Mining T13, and Hunting T19. But since I have his graphs, I can check the GNP graph to see what he was up to.



He starts off with a GNP of 17, compared to my 16. That makes sense since he is not EXP, so while he was building a worker, he could work his sheep-equivalent with a commerce. Then on T5, after he teched Fishing, he swapped to the lake fish tile, getting 2 more commerce. But his GNP shoots up to 21, meaning he also swapped to a pre-req tech, and not Mining. In hindsight, 9 turns for a 66b Mining tech was a pretty bad assumption

He'd have been making (12+1)*1.2 or 15bpt, times 9 turns = 135, which is perfect for the 132b Animal Husbandry. Then he drops down to 19 GNP, doing a first row tech. Gotta figure that's Mining, which would complete on T19 (a much more reasonable 6 turns ). He drops down to 17 when he works the improved corn and then his GNP shoots up. I'm betting he's on Bronze Working now. The other option would be Pottery, but with both pre-reqs, I figure he'd be done now. Still if he finishes a tech in the next turn or two, I'll put him down for Pottery.

In other good news, I am +4 beakers off of my sandobx from known civs while teching Fishing, and I took an offered cease-fire from Pindicator (still not really sure on the game mechanics of cease-fire vs. peace treaty...)

Now it's time to figure out who the 2nd person could be with Animal Husbandry. Aaaaaand I'm not really seeing it.

But, after a bit of discussion with kjn, I think I figured out the problem. The tech article on CivFanatics is incorrect - the pre-req bonus and the known civ bonus are additive. So the pre-req bonus is 20%, and the known civ bonus (with one civ knowing AH) is 6%. So we take my 12 beakers, and multiply by 1.26, which is 15.12, rounded down to 15, which explains the bonus beaker. Also explains why I did NOT see it last turn with only 11 beakers. So Pindicator has AH and nobody else does.

[regoarrarr]

T26 is in the books



Worker Two is mining, and Worker Three just finished his chop into the settler, and will move next turn SW onto the grass forest to chop out the workboat for the city that doesn't exist yet Worker Two will move NW to the plains forest when his mine is done and 1t chop the granary in the capital once Pottery comes in.

Ruff joined everyone in the size 2 club but is still a tech behind as mentioned last turn.

[regoarrarr]

An interesting turn



Exploring warrior finds some plains pigs (5/1) and a fish to the north. Definitely looking like a strong city though I am not currently planning on having AH any time soon. Still it can have fish and shared corn. Further exploration needed to be able to adequately dotmap.

Also as you can see, Ichabod (Stupendous Man) revolted to Slavery. If he is following the typical RB-meta, then he has just produced his first settler.

Looking back through the files, he grew to size 2 and researched Bronze Working on T20. So I think 6 turns of ~10 f-hpt plus 2 Fast Worker chops seem to make sense. I'll look for Ichabod to be first out of the gate with the 2nd city next turn. I'll be 2t behind, but I also have a 2nd worker already.

Ruff researched a tech which appears to be Pottery (remember he also is EXP), but unfortunately with only 1 civ knowing it I don't get any bonus beakers (13 * 1.4 = 18.2 while 13 * 1.46 = 18.98, rounded down ).

I really need to remember to swap EP off of Pindicator. I'll still keep his graphs for awhile but want to spread my EP around

[regoarrarr]

T28 played.

As expected, Ichabod settled his 2nd city (Hobbes) on T28, but beating us both to the punch was Scooter, who settled his 2nd city (8 Mile) on T27. Interestingly, scooter either forgot to revolt to Slavery, or has intentionally chosen not to revolt (he's still in Tribalism).

Speaking of Slavery, Pindicator researched Bronze Working this turn. He now is a tech up on the rest of us - he's definitely been focusing on early commerce. Even counting the 62 beakers I have in a partially-researched Pottery, he is 66 beakers ahead of me. He also has both the early military techs (BW and AH), should that matter.

I still believe I am in good shape here - even though I'm a few turns later on my 2nd city, I BELIEVE that I am the only civ with 2 workers, and I'll have a granary up on T33 and my capital should grow up to size 4 on T36.

Annoyingly, I have no real way to tell land tiles for the 2 new cities. There are 13 new land tiles between the two of them, but I don't know how it's distributed. I still don't feel like I have a good handle on the land point mechanics in a PBEM, but I believe I should know in 20t, since Scooter should get his land points at EOT46 (I'll see it on T47), and Ichabod will not get his until the end of EVERYONE'S turn 47 (and thus I will see it on T48). Or so they say....

[regoarrarr]

So I think I'm in trouble for circumnavigation



It looks like Scooter's spoke goes off east, which means that I'm not really making much headway towards it with my scout. Still, at this point, I think I am going to try and continue to a) get vision on Scooter's lands and b) defog a coastal trade route to him (which is why I am going NE per the sign indicated rather than getting in 2 moves). Ichabod also has a scout heading this way, which is quite helpful for him to circumnavigate

I also did remember to swap my EPs over to Scooter. Pindicator still has not met anyone else

Over domestically, here's where we're at



I am thinking that the lands over there (near the crab to the east of the spices) are my other spoke. I'm not seeing anything to the north (though my warrior will head along the rest of the north coast next). But to the east does make sense given my model of the map - it probably loops back to the NE to meet the other hub.

So I'm thinking my 3rd city has to go here. I am currently planning on that being the Buddhist holy city if things go according to plan - at this point I may want to move it NE onto the river mouth tile. That give up the shared corn but woudl allow it to get the crab (which I could then share with a city on the other landmass)

[regoarrarr]

Founded Plum



Cookie for the first person to get my naming theme (except for darrell who I think I already told)

Chop came in for a workboat, which will complete in 2 more turns and net the fish. The other worker is chopping out the granary. Of course, we don't know this so-called "Pottery" so he doesn't know that. He thinks he's chopping out a warrior. But.... no!!!

Scooter got a tech on T30 and Ichabod grew his capital to size 3. I put Scooter's tech down for Pottery, but I'm not sure that the GNP works out right. So it might be Mysticism. I'm pretty sure it was a tech without soldier points, and there's only so many things that it can be.

I may go back and re-check the GNPs of the last few saves - the past 2 turns I've played in bed - T30 as I was heading to bed and T31 right as I woke up

[regoarrarr]

Hmmm



Ichabod chose the non-war path, but I gotta say, I'm tempted to listen to my inner Krill. I know from C&D that Scooter does not have a warrior. Now I imagine they are coming (if not axemen), but... we'll see. Plus, if I declare, I might induce Ichabod to also declare and although we can't pillage (I think?) we could certainly wreak some havoc with the micro-plans.

Over here, not much going on



Workboat completed at EOT and will net the fish. I went for Mysticism but turned science off (will probably turn it on next turn, or perhaps wait till I have saved up enough gold to tech both Myst and Med at 100%)

I did do some tech-swapping known-civ analysis this past turn. I put myself in a max-commerce configuration generating 17 beakers. I also have 4 EP + 2 culture - 2 expenses, so +4 to my GNP. Here were the results

* 0 civs with Hunting (21 GNP)

* 1 civ with Mysticism (22 GNP) - that's Ichabod, who starts with it. My 17 beakers are multiplied by 1.06 for one civ, netting 18.02, which grants the extra GNP. 2 civs would be 17 * 1.12 or 19.04, so I'm fairly sure nobody else has Mysticism

* 0 civs with Sailing, IW, MC, Writing, Masonry (24 GNP).

* 1 civ with Animal Husbandry (25 GNP). 17 * 1.26 or 21.42, plus the 4 non-science GNP gives me 25. If a 2nd person had AH it would be 22.44 or a 26 GNP. I've already assigned Pindicator as having AH.

I did go back and check a previous save for Pottery, which granted me a 28 GNP. I have both pre-requisites, so if 1 civ had Pottery already, I'd have 17 * 1.46 or 24.82, which makes for a 28 GNP. 2 civs would be 25.84 or a 29 GNP. So problem - because I had ruff completing Pottery on T26 and Scooter this past turn on T29. That just made me mad so I went back to T30 and same GNP calcultions.

Going back to my T29 save I can only get to 13 beakers. That means 0 and 1 civ both give a GNP of 22. But if I turn it down to 12 beakers, then 0 civs knowing it should be 12 * 1.4 = 16.8 or a 22 GNP (I don't have expenses without a 2nd city). And 1 civ knowing it is 12 * 1.46 or 17.52 (23 GNP). And the GNP is.....

22

So that means my deduction that Scooter teched Pottery on his T29 (after I played my T29) was correct, but my deduction that ruff teched it on T26 was incorrect.

So what could it have been?

His techs to this point
T0: Fishing and Mining
T12: Bronze Working
T20: Wheel
T26: Pottery

Of course in hindsight that has to be Agriculture. He's probably working on Pottery now.

Excellent! I'm glad I could get to the bottom of that.

[regoarrarr]

Okay I've been dying to show this cool micro trick ever since I came up with it back in my early sims



Behold! It's just about the only time that "Avoid Growth" is useful!!

Quick lurker trivia question: what will my food box be at the end of next turn (T34) - when I grow to size 3?

It will actually be 18/26. This turn I'll complete the granary and go to 24/24 (I will waste 1 food). Next turn I turn off avoid growth and work the corn and fish (+9 surplus). Due to the way the granary mechanics work, the granary stores the 9f surplus IN ADDITION TO also getting the food from the turn itself. So I'll actually grow in 1t to size 3 and then the next turn working the 1/4/1 sheep tile (+8 surplus) I'll grow the next turn to size 4. Pretty slick if I do say so myself

For the record, Plum took the fish tile since Couch isn't working it this turn.

But the bigger news is in foreign relations!



WWKD baby!!!

[regoarrarr]

Well it looks like my days of marauding through the Scooterian countryside are over...



Ah well it was a fun ride while it lasted. Scooter wisely covered his rice tile (with a worker that you can't really see), and with the warrior built, I can't do much. I moved W-SW (to the grass hill) and offered peace. I would assume that he will move his warrior to the copper, and he may or may not take peace. In that case I would likely move down to the rice and then back towards the hub.

Have I mentioned how "unfair" it is that Scooter had a plains hill within 1t that bordered the fish tile, while I had no such option?

/map whining
//wwkd

Over here, things are progressing



I have been doing a bit of tech tracking, and I have determined that last turn (T35) Ichabod researched Sailing. Sailing is obviously a strong tech on this map, and it looks to me that he is going to get the circumnavigation bonus. He chose "wisely" with his initial scout and he'll likely get the first city on the other landmass. He also seems to be going for GLH (he is the only IND civ). My guess is that he will go for Masonry next, which is good news for me. As far as I can tell (and I believe that I can tell with certainty), he is the only other civ with Mysticism. My plan after Mysticism is Meditation -> Sailing -> Hunting -> Animal Husbandry.

I did a bit of simming out with Plum. It really needs a monument (to get the gold online) and of course a granary. Currently it's at

T36: 11/22, 22/60 in Granary.

First option was working the fish to size 2 (2t) and then whipping the granary. Second option was continuing to work the grass hill mine (1/3/1) and complete it slowly. I ended up choosing......

Neither of them I am going to work the fish to size 2, and then whip a MONUMENT, which will overflow to complete the granary (combined with a 3rd ring 2nd ring but outside cultural borders forest). I wanted to make sure and get the monument up ASAP to get that gold. Stupid ruff_hi taking Sury....

Couch is going to overflow into a settler and helped by a chop or two and/or a 2-pop whip, get up a fairly quick 3rd city. Plan is to build on the east coast sharing the corn and/or PHM. Though my exploring warrior did find another landmass off my west coast as well. I will detail that out in a future post but it should be founded in time to hopefully land the Buddhist holy city. Hmm actually there's a decent shot that Plum will nail that (as theoretically a larger city at the time of Meditation). I will have to do some analysis on that before next turn to see if that changes my granary / monument plans.

[regoarrarr]

In foreign relations, Scooter did take peace with me, but I was greeted with a Cease-fire request from Ruff_hi. I declined and moved my warriors as such



If he sends his scout back down the hub I will take peace and not chase him. But if he tries to move forward (and/or block my tiles), I will whack him.

That just leaves Ichabod as the only person I haven't been at war with yet

At turn end I discovered Mysticism - 5 more turns for Meditation. I think the only way I can be beaten is if a) Ichabod is working on it right now (certainly possible though my guess would be Masonry) or b) someone else techs Mysticism this or next turn and has more overflow and/or higher GNP.

I did also grow Plum to size 2 - it will work the fish + GHM for 2 turns and with an out of border chop will complete the granary perfectly with a half-full food box . I am choosing not to whip which means I am really banking on landing Buddhism (and landing it here) or else the gold will be delayed quite a bit.

Chop finished on the plains hill forest next to Couch this turn, putting me at 37/100 into the settler at EOT. It will be eligible to whip on T39, but I may wait and whip it on T40 to maximize overflow (into a worker likely).

C&D report - a bunch of pop growths lately. Ichabod to Pop 6 (4-2), Pindicator to Pop 5 (3-2) and Ruff to Pop 4 (3-1). No new techs the past two turns.

F4 does show that Pindicator has finally met Scooter.