[Spoiler] RB Pitboss #2 - Shaka of Rome

[Whosit]

Anyway, more stuff like I said. I noticed some cause for concern:



Sullla has a scout heading through Korean territory. Since I have open Borders with him, he could pass through my territory and possibly spot the invasion fleet before it gets under way! That would be a disaster! Nakor believes that he's scouting along the outer coast, but I can't be sure. Closing borders would keep him out, but would clearly project my intentions.

This picture shows that plako has a presence on the islands, which I had known, of course.



I should make it to the Ottoman territories pretty soon.

And the glory that is Stonehenge:



Carida is working on a Library (5 turns). When it's done, I'll swap out the tiles and hire a scientist rather than work a grassland (river) cottage. That'll give me +5 gpp in the city, though it cuts down the Priest odds to a little more than 40%. If I don't pop a G. Priest, no real problem, but I should probably tell Nakor upfront that I'm not going to ensure I pop a Priest for him. It's just that if I do, I may sell it to him.

Not much else to say at the moment. Things are looking alright. Nar Shaddaa will focus on hammers until it has both a Library and a Monastery. I must spread the faith! Once all my cities are converted, I'll officially adopt Confucianism to get the extra point of happiness.

[Krill]

2 things:

1) You drastically need commerce, you have said so yourself, so why stop working a grassland river cottage, one of the most important tiles in your game plan? Why not stop working a hill instead?

2) So long as you aren't losing any useful foreign trade routes with Spullla, it could be useful. There are numerous reasons why you wouldn't want him scouting your lands.

[Whosit]

2 things:

1) You drastically need commerce, you have said so yourself, so why stop working a grassland river cottage, one of the most important tiles in your game plan? Why not stop working a hill instead?

2) So long as you aren't losing any useful foreign trade routes with Spullla, it could be useful. There are numerous reasons why you wouldn't want him scouting your lands.

1) Yeah, that's a point. I'm just too fond of production, I guess. I'll see how I can fiddle with things to get the food to add up right. I could probably cut production entirely by removing three mines, working two cottages, and hiring two scientists.

2) That's also a point, but considering everything else going on, I'm not sure how to spin it yet to keep him from putting his guard up. I may consult the others to figure something out. The only thing I can think of immediately is that I don't want him to sell information about my territory to Korea, though I'm not sure how far that would fly. I'll think about it. I should still have a turn to figure something out.

[Whosit]

This seems important:

Dear Emperor Whosit,

We received a message from Korea where they are asking about
colonizing an island close to us. However there was an interesting
piece that you would be probably interested to hear. Not surprisingly,
they are looking for revenge, so they asked about our relationship and
if we would be interested in joining efforts with them. We stayed
vague and politely declined. We plan to stay in friendly terms with
them as this is a good way for us to learn if something is going on.
Please let us know in the future if you happen to hear similar things
concerning us

Speaking of islands and given that we are not so far after all, we
would also like to discuss sharing the islands between us. Being
friends and allies we have no doubt that we will find an agreement
that would be satisfying for both of us. We haven't explored the
islands very well yet, so at the moment, how about we share
information about our explorations, and we discuss all settling
intentions with the other, so that we avoid any misunderstandings.

Other than that, we are very excited about the coming war which should
be first and foremost fun and exciting, and will also strengthen our
alliance.

Best,
Kalin for Team A/K of the Ottomans

P.S.: Belated congratulations on the Stonehenge!

Perhaps I will come to regret not being able to take Korea's capital. I don't regret my decision to end the war, because it would have just put me further in the hole, financially. Still, I will be ready for Turn 150 . . . .

Anyway, I still have to write a letter to Nakor asking for more info, and I should probably check with Jowy. I could check with dsplaisted, though I'm not sure if he's become the full time Inca player or if he's still looking for a replacement. I suppose I could open up diplomacy just by asking that.

I think that I will want to build second Galley somewhere, either Byss or Ryloth, to explore the islands in the Outer Ocean in more detail. Maybe use a Chariot explorer, like the Koreans are doing.

[Whosit]

Got some good news and bad news. Let's start with the good.

This turn's exploration revealed some nice things:



Silver! Very valuable. I'll definitely want to pick that up early. Looks like there are some very resource-heavy spots, indeed.

Also, warrior scouting east of Byss:



As I suspected, there is sea food near the sheep, so that won't be a terribly worthless spot after all.

Now, the bad news:



This occurred last turn, but I didn't notice it. Looks like I never had a shot at circumnavigation. Kch. I'm not sure whether it's good or bad that the Ottomans got this. Although we're allies for now, it probably won't last forever. But they WILL become powerful, I know that. In any case, once I make contact with their side of the landmass, I'll turn my Galley around and explore the islands. I suppose the fact that I didn't get a coastal city 'till very late kind of killed my chances there. Hopefully my early exploration of Centralia will pay off, but the problem is that I'll be splitting it with others. Can't really split the +1 movement. And considering the fact that I believe the navy will play a big role here . . . . Oh well. Nothing I can do about it now. I'll just have to hope my tactics beat theirs if it comes down to it.

[Jabah]

Now that you have lost the race, it appeared that in toroidal map, you need to connect both North and South AND east and West, so you had no chance ...

[Whosit]

Now that you have lost the race, it appeared that in toroidal map, you need to connect both North and South AND east and West, so you had no chance ...

I knew that you needed to connect both, but I wasn't sure everyone else knew that. My plan was to go south, then cut east and reach India's western shore. Heck, not even that far.

The reason that I had no chance was because Kalin and Athlete were apparently scouting the seas long before I was! Perhaps if I had made a Galley in Byss as the first build and whipped it, but who knows. It certainly wouldn't have been a smart decision at the time to do that. I wasn't making it a priority, so I lost. I'll just have to make sure to account for the faster movement of Ottoman ships.

Also, Sullla's scout is indeed heading north through my territory. I also made an error in calculating the time for Kuat to finish my Galleys, but this was another error in my favor: The IG "Yellow Jacket" will be complete next turn (T99), one turn ahead of my projected schedule. I'm not 100% sure if Sullla is moving his Warrior at the beginning or the end of his turn, but the evidence appears to be at the beginning. Either way, my fleet should get out of visual range before he reaches Kuat, so all is good.

[Kyan]

Centralia certainly looks very tasty! It looks like it might be immensely valuable to grab the major spots early. (eg. 1e of bananas has a whole host of resources including immediate access to fish for early growth).

You agreed to share the island with other civs but, as far as i know, you didnt agree to split the resources evenly. Also, if nobody else can even see centralia yet, it seems to me you have at least a small window of opportunity which you could potentially work in your favour.

In fact, the more i think about it the better the idea looks to me anyway. You have stonehenge so the city would start with a monument, you will already have spare galleys after the spullla landing and you'd have TWO silver resources within the BFC which means the city would pay for itself. Seems a much easier way to get more happy faces to your empire than working on religion spread.


HUGE EDIT: Just re-checked the picture. In my tired state i thought the marble was in fact silver. This makes the spot slightly less appeasing but marble isn't a bad tile at all for commerce anyhow.

[Whosit]

HUGE EDIT: Just re-checked the picture. In my tired state i thought the marble was in fact silver. This makes the spot slightly less appeasing but marble isn't a bad tile at all for commerce anyhow.

Heh heh, yup, Marble. Not a bad tile, not the best, though. Still, there's, what, 6 commerce for the Silver, 2 commerce for coastal Fish, 2 commerce for the Marble . . . . 2 commerce for trade routes (intercontinental), 1 commerce for city tile. Estimated maintenance cost of . . . . 8. Add it all up: 13 commerce vs. 8 cost. And that's before working more tiles. I could put down some cottages, or work the coast in a pinch. It's a good spot. I want to scout to the NE, though. My near-term settlement plans include grabbing what will be my Globe Theatre site, a city that could get a +15 food surplus by working 4 tiles. I'd like to secure a location on Centralia that will help protect that site.

Not sure how I'll end up dividing the island, but hopefully I can stake out the best places for myself. Probably want to pick up that gold tile, as well. And, of course, Calendar will really make the place great.

[Whosit]

Had a brief chat with Kalin in-game. Basically, we have an issue in that Sullla has spotted the Ottoman stack in Greek territory, and their NAP lasts until (or through?) Turn 100. I did kind of slip up in that I suggested that they consider the option of breaking the NAP, but he wouldn't consider that for an instant, of course. Considering my own history, hopefully even suggesting that course of action isn't a blemish. Maybe I'm over-analyzing things.

Still, it may come as no surprise to you lurkers that I don't consider a NAP to be an unbreakable bond, though if broken, only in the most dire of circumstances. In my case, I was under the influence of when I broke my NAP with Korea, so that was a bad choice. While there are tons of hypothetical scenarios that I could come up with in which breaking a NAP would be a good idea, there's really no point in discussing them since they are hypothetical.

So, basically, I suppose I must either be an opportunistic bastard or a complete monster. Well, I am playing a Lawful Evil ruler. Anyway, I recognize that anything I write is basically justification for my position. Not that I'm planning to go around breaking all the deals that I've made. And, in the end, I don't think I'd really encourage Kalin to break his NAP since he'd be able to do all of, what, kill a Woodsman II Warrior? If, say, he could seize the Indian capital this turn, somehow, by breaking the NAP, I'd probably be encouraging that a lot harder.

Anyway, on my end, I get to play a game of hide and seek with Sullla's Warrior. I should get out of Dodge (Kuat) before he can snoop around.

I'm still cheesed that I was a moron and lost the circumnavigation. I suppose my only consolation is that it becomes slightly less strong as ships become stronger and their movement range increases, although it can still make a big difference even then. Eh.

OK! Rant time with Whosit is done! Stay tune for the next installment!