[PB22-SPOILERS] HAKFlakes...the cereal that will choke you until we win

[Cornflakes]

Don't worry about getting attacked by swords. I don't think they have been "in style" in quite some time. Plus they're slow. Plus nobody will have IW yet. Rush to construct quick-starting city locations, and copper can be delayed for another city or two if there are better locations available. Where are you planning to settle Copper city?

[HitAnyKey]

So I thought settling on the Sugar would get me access to the resource immediately. I settled it last turn, and still don't have access to the happiness from it. That was the whole point of settling there...so I could get it before getting Calendar. But it looks like I need to research Calendar now, since I was counting on that happy point.

[Cornflakes]

So I thought settling on the Sugar would get me access to the resource immediately. I settled it last turn, and still don't have access to the happiness from it. That was the whole point of settling there...so I could get it before getting Calendar. But it looks like I need to research Calendar now, since I was counting on that happy point.

Yeah, you'll need Calendar. Settling on Sugar is still good though for the extra food.

[HitAnyKey]

Ah, didn't think about the extra food for the city by settling on it. So yes, because of the crappy food terrain I have, that is a much needed plus.

No on to some more detailed updates.
As I suspected he would, mackoti settled his city such that it completely cuts off both passage ways to his territory. I'm really hoping he decides to stop his westward expansion there for now, but something tells me in the future he'll aim to attack me before he thinks about attacking Gavagai.



For my copper city, this shows the marked spot I'm planning on settling. I'd have to build a Barracks first for the borders to eventually expand to access it. But once those borders expand, it would have access to the Copper, Cows, and Rice.



The rest of the land around me, really is very poor. So I can't think of any other spot to settle before settling the copper site. I don't have any fast growth land to my east or west. As is, I'll probably have to research IW soon so that I can start chopping those jungles for cottages/farms around Lucky Charms



Next up, more opponents. I had sent my exploring work boat across some tiny islands to the continent to my west, where I met Commodore. He offered up a map trade, and I accepted it. That gave me both his land and dtay to his south. Here's the large overview, and then the detailed views. To the east of dtay is OT4E.

Commodore and dtay are already very close to each other, having settled cities right next to each other at this point.

[HitAnyKey]

Quick comment about this past turn. mackoti just finished building the Pyramids.....I'm gonna be so screwed by being his neighbor....

[HitAnyKey]

So as long as no on else is building it and completing it with more overflow, I'll be getting The Great Wall next turn (with 152/150 hammers). Just in time too, since the barbs have switched over to Axes (and likely Spears)...there is one approaching Lucky Charms.
After Cheerios finishes TGW, it'll build a Worker. Fruit Loops was building a settler, but decided to spend the next 2 turns finishing off the War Chariot I had started earlier, since I want another one patrolling the north. I'm going to chop the forest where I plan to settle City#5 (that way I get the 13 hammers from it, rather than wasting them when the city gets settled on a forest) and will want a WC there to protect the worker while he chops.
Crispix is finishing it's Granary this turn as well. Not entirely sure what to build next. Maybe a Library, or maybe I should just slow build another Settler...though with that city being so small, don't know if it's worth it. I do plan to chop a forest or two around that city, so may still be a good idea to start a settler there.
Lucky Charms finished it's Barracks and is now starting on a Granary. It grows next turn (I think) and will need to be working unimproved tiles, since I haven't be able to improve anything around that city yet, other than it working the Cow pasture. Maybe I'll slow build another worker there after the granary, since I won't get much benefit from any tiles it would grow onto, unless I let it grow and then whip something.

GermanJoey must have just finished Alphabet, since he offered Open Borders to me. I accepted, of course, so that gives us some nice trade routes now. At this exact time, he doesn't have OB with anyone else, though don't know if he offered it to anyone else this turn that just hasn't logged in yet to accept. I'll log in again after REM & Gavagai to see if he offered it to them as well.
We get Currency in 5 turns, so that's good timing for the added trade routes coming up. Not sure what to research next, so any thoughts on that, let me know. I'm tempted to go Iron Working to be able to chop some of those jungles around Lucky Charms (and to know where my Iron is), but it'll still be plenty of time before I really have workers to improve that city. It can just sit as a crap city for a little while. We could also head for Calendar so that I can let Cheerios (and other cities) grow larger with the added happiness.
I made peace with Commodore after my work boat passed through his borders, and then just this turn entered dtay's borders. After I pass through his lands, I'll make peace again. Hoping that Dreylin/OT4E have a city on the coast so that I can officially meet them. I kind of wonder if anyone else has actually sent out a boat like me for meeting so many more neighbors. I'm up to 6 total met civs out of 10 possible. So that should be getting me some decent known tech bonuses for research. I'm currently 2nd in GNP, with I believe mackoti leading the way. He's really going to be hard to deal with. Hopefully with any luck, when he eventually decides to attack me, Gavagai decides to take that opportunity to attack mackoti (and not me). It would really benefit us both if we can eliminate mackoti together. Since if mackoti conquers one of us, the other is likely to have no chance.

[Cornflakes]

You will want to chop that barracks into the Copper city ASAP, like have the worker finish the chop SE of the city on the same turn as you settle ... make sure you cancel the chop order the turn before though! Otherwise the worker might auto-complete the chop early in the turn before you have a chance to settle the city. In my opinion it is more valuable to have that chop into the barracks ready as soon as the city is settled, rather that worrying about wasting the 13H from settling on a forest.

[HitAnyKey]

I have now met Dreylin as well (who is east of dtay), so the only 3 I have not met are Gawdzak, plako, & Furungy. I have offered a map trade with Dreylin.
Next turn I get Currency. Any thoughts on what might be good to research next? I did get a Judaism spread to Crispix. So briefly thought about working towards being able to build Monastaries & Temples...but that would require 3 techs for the full path, starting with Mysticism. Or even head towards being able to utilize Organized Religion as an different route.
I could also try to see if I could be the first to research Code of Laws, as I'd be able to finish it in no more than 11 turns. That'd get me to possibly found Confucianism, but also get me access to Courthouses. I'm currently leaning towards this option.

[Cornflakes]

Don't worry about founding a religion. Since you're not SPI the Temples are expensive. OrgReligion is good, but only if you're ready to invest hammers into missionaries in order to spread it around, and also only if you are ready to make an infrastructure push. Bureaucracy is a good thing to head for. Another option is Literature for Great Library. I see you are getting Mines up at the capital. That will be a production powerhouse! You also have 6 forests to chop. I'm assuming your road route to Copper City will go directly North over those three forests, right? With all those base hammers and 6 forests we should be able to pick up some wonders. Options in the near-term 1-2 techs include (off the top of my head...and without knowing if any of these have been modified by the mod)

- MoM
- Great Library
- Parthenon (if we land Great Library? Otherwise I feel this is not very useful)
- Shwedagon Pagoda (unlocks religious civics ... useful in certain specific strategies)
- SoZ

Worker swarm guarded by War Chariots, and take the jungle to the south looks to me like the best long-term strategy. The Mod is balanced to make non-cottage strategies stronger, with Workshops stronger earlier. Cities built down into the jungle can put WS on the grass after chopping the jungles and we can go hammer focus, using Research and Wealth builds as necessary to progress through tech tree rather than cottage commerce.

All that to say ... pump workers, tech Calendar (try for MoM) > IW > Aesthetics + Literature (Great Library) ... 2-pop whip workers from Cherios with max overflow into the wonders.

[HitAnyKey]

All that to say ... pump workers, tech Calendar (try for MoM) > IW > Aesthetics + Literature (Great Library) ... 2-pop whip workers from Cherios with max overflow into the wonders.

I like the idea of trying for MoM. I'm working towards Calendar now (both for the +1 happy and so we can start that wonder) which will finish in 7 turns. IW next definitely sounds like a plan, both to know where my Iron is and to start chopping that jungle.
Literature will require Polytheism (so will need Mysticism and that before I can start it). So just need to decide if want to do Aesthetics before or after Mysticism. Mysticism will allow any cities to build a Monument if I feel like it while finishing the other techs.