[SPOILERS] AlaePB1 - the ol' Nile blues

[Bacchus]

MC is too far away to matter, went for Hunting/Archery. Courtesy of the mapmaker, I have no mainland copper, so if Gavagai decides to sail down with spears, I'd be toast, War Chariots and all.

[Bacchus]

Well, here we are, T70 and I just founded my fourth city :D



So let me get this straight. I trashed my turns 35-60 to build a commerce-yielding Wonder, and I am leading crop yield? The GNP situation is pretty scary actually -- I am getting points for Creative, for the wonder as culture and for the trade routes, and still I'm not first. Sure, two other people have high-culture wonders and two more have religion, but still...

Luckily, Gavagai offered Open Borders. I imagine he also offered them to someone else, to engender the hilarious import-export situation that you see above. For some reason, even though I have a trade route icon to Gavagai, I'm not actually getting any foreign IC trade routes. Sad smiley. Will have to investigate with a boat, I guess.

Here's an overview:



You can't see it all to clearly, but actually it's still early days for our crop yield. We have a pig and two clams yet to improve. Same for commerce -- two gold coming online very soon, to be followed by cottaging up Heliopolis, the only city which resembles a source of commerce at all, apart from the cap.

The cap is finishing a granary, after which it will whip a library for max overflow and build a settler for that copper. The production city will also finish a granary, after which it will build an assortment of stuff, but mostly galleys, I think. Note: post-maths, there will be a canal via a desert fort and the two cities in the middle of the continent.

World news: there is a cap with a population of 7.

[Bacchus]

Mikey lost a city to Zanth. Rival worst import/export improved from -12 to -9, rival best stayed at 12, and sure as hell I got a -3. So Gavagai was trading with Mikey, and had his slots filled up. Well, I declared on Gav and offered peace, which he took. At least 10 turns before any attack (and his power is spiking), whilst I will have MC in 12 at current rates, which are due to improve with a couple of coast tiles and more gold coming online before too long. Won't be in time to prevent an attack, but at least i'll have something to counterattack with, if need be. In the meantime, I need to explore up to Gav, to stop the routes being one-sided.

[Bacchus]

Overview of our dry peninsula with a wet tip:



Heliopolis just whipped up a Galley, taking 30 overflow into the next build. The ship will take the settler that completes in cap to grab the copper, together with a worker. It will immediately do a second run to bring an archer for garrsion. Capital has library and granary in addition to its lighthouses. Heliopolis will grow onto the gold next turn, complete the WB, and give the wheat over to the shit city in the middle of the peninsula.

One of the concerns has been Gavagai's power spiking, so I built a War Chariot and an Archer to have on hand for any invasion. I also declared war and signed peace, which he took. It expires a bit after his optimal window for attack would be, so I'm thinking that he is not aiming at me. I am nonetheless getting MC for Triremes, can't afford not to.

Demos:


There are some big armies. Memphis will churn out more units after completing the Galley, another Archer and WC first of all, then we'll see. I also need a fleet to get exploring. GNP sucks given that I'm creative and enwondered. CY is strangely high, but the leader is ridiculous. I am currently working wet corn, 2 lighthoused clams, lighthoused fish, wet wheat, dry wheat, grass pig and unlighthoused clam -- having 10 on top of that with 5 cities is good going. I will fall further behind once my pop grows onto these dry, dry lands that we have.

[Bacchus]

Things are looking up:


That's even before I have any foreign, or even domestic IC trade routes. The galley is unloading it's settler for the copper offshore next turn.

The leader's advantage in crop yield over the the competition is ridiculous, and it's not Gavagai, whose graphs I can see. Furungy, probably, given the score, and good going for his first game. I've drawn in power with Gav, but will build a couple of more archers just to be safe. Also, I get MC next turn, which is when the peace expires too.

[Bacchus]

Excited to have settled that copper:


Yep, that's right — my only source of copper not only is offshore, but is also fed by a sole tile of spices. Sigh. Good thing I got that lighthouse. Demos at zero science:


Someone's got a large army. My score includes Archery, MC, two war chariots, three archers and a handful of warriors. And a Galley, if these give.

[Bacchus]

So yeah, at least I have that pig to settle. Capital whipped Trireme for 2 and regrowth in 1, immediately started on the next Settler. I will eventually bring my classical fleet to 3 Triremes, and go have a gander at Gavagai's lands. Also, capital culture popped giving me a bit more sight into his land, but I still can't see his borders, screen tomorrow. In any case, with 3 Triremes, Gav would need at least 5 to unseat them, and once I see that many I will retreat to occupy a reasonable mid-way spot, at which we can hopefully avoid further escalation. Is raiding with g the 3 Triremes reasonable, especially as I will need to build a fourth to bolster the border guard? I think so, I need to build at least this many for defense, and once you have them, why not probe the enemy? Well, because it might cause a ridiculous naval arms race that's why. But being stuck on an island as I am, perhaps a naval arms race aint so bad. After all, Astronomy and Chemistry are a long way away.

[Bacchus]

Happy New Year. Gavagai built the Collosus as expected, popped an engineer from the Oracle/Forge GPP and built the Pyramids. Between the two of us we probably have enough wonders to make an island economy viable, with his early access to machinery and Chu-Ko-Nu's, though, I'm not sure how I can realistically acquire his lands. Then again, War Chariots are 10 strength total for 60 hammers, and thanks to the TGL I will have cash to sustain a ridiculously bloated army. Also, at least maritime raids are fast.

In more interesting news and farther afield, Willem (!), already leading in score, is actively conquering Alexander. It's bad like bad, no-one is winning the mid-late game against Willem of Dutch on this water-heavy map. Trust the RNG to pop him next to the least experienced player and the one who went for a monotheism beeline from a Fish/Hunt start.

Still, how exactly do you roll over Greece before T100? They don't even have to bother with keeping the unit mix correct.

[Bacchus]

Furungy built the MoM, his win pretty secure now, unless he open to dogpile by other civs. Unlikely.

In other news, can someone explain this?


Already a turn ago, I have uncovered land all the way up to Gavagai's borders, and I still only have trade routes with Lukomorie, the city in the south. Why? My exports-imports are at -2, even he has has more connections to me than I do to him, and I have the TGL and Currency!

Demos at 0 science:


Gav has science switched on, Furungy is the leader, judging by the jump with MoM completion.

[Bacchus]

Got them TR's with Gav (18 exports-imports), soundly first on GNP again, to be improved further through founding a fish/gems island city.