[SPOILERS] Hoarse Lord DaveV speaks softly...

[DaveV]

This is going to be such a builder map, yikes.

Yeah. I'd be a lot better off with Rhoanna.

But the game continues apace. Shot of the turn for number 27:



I would be pretty bummed out if I'd burned my worldspell and couldn't see any positive results from it.

[DaveV]

Turn 28. Positioning for more exploration (that tile SW of the lake appears to be clear; I suspect it contains a resource). GreyWolf vaults to the top of the scoreboard.




Demos are still decent. No one has a second city yet.

[DaveV]

Turn 29. Yeah, that blank tile in the middle of the jungle sure looks like a hidden resource.




No one has built a second city yet.

[DaveV]

Well, this sucks. My sandbox is suddenly full of cat poop.



What are the odds of Ellimist's goblin dodging all the other animals, finding a wolf, killing it, surviving a bunch more animals, and wrecking my game? Pretty good, apparently

[DaveV]

Turn 31. Ellimist didn't pillage anything, so I don't have to flip into kamikaze mode yet.




No sign of expansion cities, despite the rising scores. Two cities have grown to size 6, presumably GreyWolf and Ellimist. It looks like Ellimist moved to the north, probably on the coast, judging by the low number in land area being 32000. He has improved the cotton, which accounts for his relatively high GNP and size.

[DaveV]

Turn 32. Ellimist moved out of sight, and offered a meaningless ceasefire. I accepted; I don't want him to turn around and start pillaging.



Net cost of the invasion: one turn delay on my settler in exchange for an extra scout.

The diplo window was immediately followed by an event popup:



A great sage would have been really nice, but +1 commerce is a decent consolation prize.

The guy with only capital 32 land tiles built a (completely non-overlapping) second city. It wasn't Ellimist; I can't see a second city on his trade list. Probably Kredom, judging by his score jump. I'll put Ellimist's capital on the riverside northern plains hill, giving him cows, corn, cotton, and three floodplains. I'm puzzled on where Kredom could have moved to get five water tiles in his capital's third ring.



Overview:

[DaveV]

Double turn report. I think I messed up again by using the "Preview Post" button. I have a tendency to do a few edits, say to myself, "That looks good," and forget to hit the "Post Reply" button.

Turn 33: settler on the way.




Turn 34: new city (not yet renamed).




Two defenders on every tile to protect against stoopid wolf riders.

[DaveV]

Turn 35. Safe northern exploration. More food.

[DaveV]

Turn 36 started with an event.



9 gold. Yay.

Ellimist is still sitting on one city. No big armies yet.



After I ended turn, horses appeared in a nice spot:




I already have horses from my palace, but that will be a nice production tile. It makes it more attractive to build a monument to grab the pigs.

[Commodore]

Looks like that was a turn off of Ancient Chants, don't knock free money!