Latest Turn Screenshots

[Old Harry]

Turn 62

I'm bringing Adjustable Telematic back to do some investigating, while Trac II Plus couldn't quite get visibility on any cities.



Back home you can see Ferret the Explorer loitering near our gold. Not much we can do about it, our archer doesn't get defensive odds unless he's in the city. I've sent our new archer, Atra Plus, from Occam towards BoG. I've put BoG onto an archer for a turn here. It won't change the finish date for the Oracle unless there is war and we need to whip the archer:



Having completed the chops we have three workers underemployed - I'll get one to road up to the horse stone city, and could send another to help chop some more trees near BoG unless we need cottages or farms for Smooth Criminal. Any thoughts?



Demos:

[Old Harry]

Turn 63

Adjustable Telematic uncovers some coast. The land around M3's capital looks a bit crappy - is there a river hidden in the fog?


Trac II Plus uncovers one more M3 tile - thats probably all we're getting. I might move him 1E and then fortify - will M3 think that's rude? Their exploring axe has moved on. Panic over...



Occam before we whip:


And after. We have an overflowing food box, but we're working on a settler, will we grow at the end of turn? We'll have 15 hammers overflow, which I might put into a worker, then regrow on a library (writing is still two turns away).


Back on the Oracle, end date is still eot68:


Smooth Criminal will grow onto the new mine next turn, then start on a settler for somewhere else. Any ideas where?



Finally and most importantly - where is the horse stone city going?
- 1N of the horse gives us 6 forests to chop in the BFC, but orphans the fish and whale.
- 1S of the horse only has 2 forests, uses the crab and leaves space for a city to use the fish and wheat (but which might annoy M3 if I remember the border discussions rightly - although who cares about that?)
- 1NW of the horse gives us 5 forests once borders pop but will take a turn extra to settle.
Any thoughts?



Demos:

[Old Harry]

Turn 64

Up north we've got a bit more visibility, but nothing really useful, I'd like to send Adjustable Telematic north to say hello to Pirates now. Looks like we're at peace with TEAM now too.


We're still a bit light on military


So I've set another archer in Smooth Criminal. The workers are all ready to get to work on the horse for Stone Horse city at which point I think we want a chariot or two. Should I build a barracks first? Before the archer? It looks like SC is our best troop producer at the moment.


And finally Trac II is on his way to explore the bits to the south east that we haven't seen yet. Also I've dumped about 25 hammers into a settler, will switch to a library next turn to grow back to size 6 quickly and get the tech rate up. After the library we can complete the settler. Where should we send him?


Demos:

[Old Harry]

Turn 65

Switched to library in Occam, a chop coming in next turn could go into the settler there or the library. Any opinions which we want first (I was thinking slow-building the library for pop growth whilst making more settlers and workers using the whip and chops, but I don't know if that's optimal)

Smooth kept putting hammers into an archer, will grow t67 and switch to a worker.

Blades is still on for a t68 Oracle.


Not much scouting news, M3's axe moved away from us.



Research is on Masonry to get stone online. Does anyone else have Masonry yet? Should we be thinking about pyramids?

Demos:

[Old Harry]

Turn 66

Trac II finds more horses, this is the route I'm planning to send him:


Up north Adjustable Telematic is going this way:


Next turn our settler will found Blade Runner - we'll chop in a granary in three turns, then slow-build a work boat, then hope pray for a religion spread to let us work the fish...


I was thinking about whipping an archer with the growing pop next turn in Smooth Criminal to give 37 hammers overflow, but we'd lose some of that overflow wouldn't we? Instead I've started a worker build just until there is an improved tile for the extra pop to work or to allow us to whip it away.


Two turns to Oracle. Once the chops come in I plan to put in one mine and lots of cottages along the river. Would anyone prefer farming the river?


More work on the library. We've got a chop coming in next turn which could go into the settler that has 27 hammers in it, but I'm tempted to dump the chop in the the library. Any thoughts?


Power - you can see pirates' and M3's fight, we're still a fair bit adrift of Trolls and M3.


Demos



Is there anything else you guys want reporting - where I'm making decisions like the worker in Smooth should I be putting it up for debate, or is it best to keep the turns rolling asap (I haven't done that very well today...)

[Old Harry]

Turn 67

Trac II meets Coco Rush the Axeman, we still have a NAP so I'm not too worried about being attacked, also they've settled their gold city (first ring?):


This is why I thought we needed Monarchy, Occam will grow unhappy in two turns, but still has 6 turns of whip unhappyness:


We could just swich to a settler until the unhappy has gone, then whip the library (or settler) as BoG and SC have got a bit of spare room (and not enough improved tiles to justify growing). I'm happy to go with the consensus here. Maths->currency is a good route too.


Someone suggested a monument in Blade Runner, but should it get a library? Lots of FIN water to exploit later on...


Also that plains island looks bigger than I thought:



Demos:

[Old Harry]

Turn 69 dude!

So M3 have a great stone city when they get around to settling it...



They are a bit busy settling up on us though. Unfortunately unless they chop some trees we're not going to get visibility on it. We should perhaps scout it's borders though, so Techmatic is on his way. Any thoughts?



Trac II uncovers the proposed Troll city. I don't like it much, what's Trollese for "bugger off"?


The oracle finishes this turn, will there be a coin-flip?


I think we want the settler ahead of the library here, we've got borders to secure. If you guys disagree let me know. 4 turns of whip anger left.


We could pump a couple of chariots out of SC after this archer, then build a settler when it reaches sz5. Or do go for another settler straight away to head Trolls off in the SW?


If anyone would like to be artistic over the weekend we're in need of a dotmap:


Demos:



p.s.
Oracle!


We had agreed on Metal Casting hadn't we?

Winning!

[Old Harry]

Turn 70

So while it was tempting to build forges everywhere just because we can I restrained myself.

Nothing much to see up here, that's a nice city though.


This is more interesting, they'll have deer and corn with their gold city. I think moving 3 next turn might give us more info. Do we Trac II to scout the south of Trolls territory?


Sensor is heading to the site of the next city. We can whip the settler in Occam for two pop next turn with 2 turns of stacked unhappiness and overflow into the library. Or we could put another turn into the library and whip with only 1 or even no turns of stacked unhappy. I like these options more as it's the second settler (coming from Smooth Criminal after the chariot) that is in a race.


Sensor for Women is going to garison Blade Runner unless we want a warrior there and more archers on the front lines?


Power graph:


Demos:

[Old Harry]

Turn 71

Trolls latest city expands and Trac II is going to run away and explore the peninsula to the SW:


M3 have a lot of defence in Talking Parrot


And M3 and Trolls have open borders. They don't have trade routes yet (see demos) but I imagine that they are building them soon. We need to be careful of them getting too friendly.


Occam will work on the Library for a couple more turns until the next settler whip - Smooth Operator will be founded t75.


Blades will grow to size six in two turns while building the monastery.

Smooth Criminal will grow to five and finish a chariot eot. Then start on a settler that can be whipped t78.

Blade Runner is getting a farm to help growth, and when the BoG borders pop in 3 turns Descartes will chop 20 hammers into the library.

Demos:

[Old Harry]

Turn 72

Is that coastline behind those horses. Maybe M3 are more cramped than we thought.


In which case (and thanks to our settling agreement with Trolls) we should fill in these gaps ASAP:


Smooth Operator will be founded t75, the granary chopped t76 and a missionary from BoG arrive t80. Meanwhile SC can whip out the next settler eot 77 and overflow into another settler. These two settlers could go north to secure our M3 border instead if you'd rather, but I think Smooth Operator is a strong site...


Our new chariot Sensor 3 is going to explore the marble region. Where next after that?


Demos:



So the question is - Smooth Operator next or push north against M3?