[SPOILERS] WillPlunder as Mehmed of Arabia: Noobs meet world

[NobleHelium]

Units generally teleport toward your nearest city.

[WilliamLP]

Getting Math and three pop growths vaulted us into fifth place in score. I think that pretty accurately reflects where we stand in this game. We're in the middle of the pack, with a couple of wild card advantages. The main ones are happiness, what could be the best shrine in the world coming soon, and a geographic position that isn't under much threat. I'll take it!

Avar dance floor:




Oxy moved his defending axe out of Harding, which will beat me to Avar, but it leaves the city empty. I bet he had to think hard about where I might have a unit like a chariot coming from the NW that could declare and give him problems. Fortunately for him I don't.

I killed the barb warrior to the NE of Avar, putting my axe at 3.6 health and 6 XP. I'll promote to Woodsman II next turn. In the probable case, I'll get to at least kill one of the city warriors on the way to Heroic Epic. What I'm hoping for is a third unit in Avar appearing right as we each have 2 axes circling the city ready to strike. Cue the "Yakety Sax"!

I'd love to go back about 20 turns and see what a really ruthless war player (uh hi Commodore) would have done with this position in the south. I'm pretty sure owning the whole S of Noodle Lake was possible by flexing military might. (Maybe still is?)

As it is, Oxy already has 7 cities, and the geography seems to favour him owning the peninsula north of Harding. I don't like that he has so much but I'd really like to have a peaceful border and relationship with him. He's not the enemy I want in the mid game - Kuro is. With the next settler (in 3 turns), I'm going to have to think really hard again about whether it's worth trying to claim more in that area.

Another look at the east:




The reasons for settling Dirt Road are obvious. It would be funny if there were no seafood there. I wonder what the road to the grass is for.

Demos at 0% science:




We would be narrowly #1 in GNP at 100%. We're giving up trade, having open borders with everyone, but I really don't care, if it spreads religion around a little more. We're getting a couple of overseas routes with Boldly, and actually one with Molach somehow. He must have an island city somewhere.

[WilliamLP]

It appears Azza must be on a turn split, because he isn't playing two turns at once anymore. This is unfortunate because that's what was allowing two turns per day in this game!

[WilliamLP]

Aw, Oxy is such a tease:



Come on man, I just want to PMFT! I need my daily dose.

[WilliamLP]

How should we handle consession in this game?

I understand this might still be 10-20 turns in the future, but it pays to think of these things beforehand, I guess.

10-20 turns?? Are you kidding me?

For the record, I still want to play on in this game.

Also Scumbag Oxy: "Yo, let's split the turn timer, me first ok?"... Then logs in for half an hour and doesn't play in the first twelve hours.

[NobleHelium]

I'm pretty sure that was a joke.

[WilliamLP]

So Oxy played, and killed one warrior in Avar, leaving only one more in the city to defend.




He also left his other axe in his borders. Maybe he was thinking an invasion might be possible? Otherwise I don't really understand this move. At any rate, only one warrior defender left means:




There were no buildings in the city and I razed it without thinking too much. I can't really defend it against a chariot and it's a liability right now. And speeding my research with capture gold is fantastic! But does that "No, return control" option actually mean the barbs captured it from him? I'm so lol if so.

I moved my other axe to cover. If he decides to declare and kill my 1.7/5 W2 axe with his 2.9/5 axe I'll be sad, but I'll be able to kill him back. I doubt he'd want that.

I've decided I'm going to make a run at the site 1E of the banana above! It's just too strategically good to pass up since it would block settlement for him from the rest of the area, unless he tries for a ridiculously pathetic and isolated city. This is if I can defend it. I'm going to move to get my two axes up there, and maybe one or two more as well as a couple of spears and chariots for a decent ancient age defending army, and then try to get walls up if I can get the city. The capital will triple-whip a settler next turn. None of this, plus the Avar's razing, is going to make Oxy very happy.

The worst that can happen is that he can war and take the city. But right now, the military might favours us:




And he also has cities to defend and the small matter of a Roman neighbour to think about.

Alexander found what may be the west coast of our continent:




That's an interesting city site but it's awfully dry to actually work those resources. At least the lake helps a lot.

We founded Cannelloni:




Defense is a little sketchy, with nothing in the city and a warrior attacker, but there is an axe that will get there in time to defend. Boldly's workboat there is named "Boldly going somewhere".

Finally, three different nationalities of scout have gone through our land and found Kuro, who will finally have some more contacts:




Wetbandit declared on Azza last turn, and they made peace again this turn. I guess that's why Azza was on the turn split!

[WilliamLP]

Oxy suggests the turn split is over:

Oxyphenbutazone Wrote:
Now that you've razed the city, do you think we can stop playing in a turn split?

Yeah, I don't think we need a split anymore.

At least, I have as little desire for war as he probably does, but I'm also seriously considering settling what could be a contentious city, but that won't be for a few turns. I'm taking this as an ok to play my turn before he does.

[WilliamLP]

The Collossus fell. The best guess would be to whoever got Oracle, either Sisu or Sutt. Both of them got big point increases. I could look up who got Oracle in this thread but I'm lazy, and they're both out of sight and out of mind anyway.

I triple whipped a settler, and moved the axes back into Oxy's borders. If he hasn't closed borders by now I wonder if he ever will, but now maybe the teleport mechanic would put me back NW where I want to be anyway.

A couple of scout pics:




I hope there's something else to make a worthwhile city on that island. Also religion will be spread to Ravioli next turn.




I'm not sure if there's a land bridge to Boldly or not. I'd really like to know, to tell me how rushed I am to claim land on the east coast. I'd also be surprised if I'm competitive for circumnavigation but maybe it's worth trying to get as far east as possible with that work boat.

[WilliamLP]

We got a religion spread to an Oxy city, and we manually spread it to Ravioli on the west coast too. Progress!

Now, anyone know why the UI claims I'm getting two culture from a monument here?




The area around Oxy is where things could get interesting. I agreed to end the turn split, but I realize to get better at games like this I need to be more ruthless about the clock. What I should have done is said something like "we're neighbours, and we should keep the split for a while, since situations where double moves may matter a small amount are bound to crop up". And I'm the nice guy here - I'm not going to double move him. And he's pretty shrewd about it - he seems to logs in when I do (maybe makes a token unit move?) to make sure I never have the high ground to take the first part of the turn.




So I don't want war with him. But... he also shouldn't give me opportunities to raze a city nearly for free.

I wonder where my wounded W2 axe would go if I declared. If it were the plain 2N2W of Harding, I could then raze his empty city. (I could have done that this turn.) But I don't think I trust the teleport mechanic nearly that much.

He moved his other wounded axe further away from Harding. I whipped a couple of pop points in the south to speed additional axes along. The plains tile 2N2W of harding is key. If he's not worried about me staging on the banana tile and then coming in to his territory aided by 2 combat workers, well maybe he should be.