[spoilers] Going Dutch: The Commodore Files

[Mardoc]

I missed that I was actually responding to Mardoc instead of Commodore, as I thought.

Soon, my takeover will be complete! All will love me and despair!

What kind Mardoc did not mention was how generally behind we are in world tech

I didn't have time to do it thoroughly. It doesn't look quite as bad as that, I see some Can Research techs like Construction, HBR...yeah, ok, so Gawdzak doesn't need them yet and can pick them up quickly when he does, but the deficit is still not as bad as it could be.

[Commodore]

Well, mostly the gist of the tech screen is "wtf dtay?!?"

Sleepy, gentle little Netherland proceeds apace while the world burns. Not meaning to exploit the foreign adviser screen bug, while shopping around for incense buyers I did notice that REMAI are also at war with GermanJojo. Given the Joj's emotional style, I'm pretty sure the flurry of posts in his thread are rage-tears. Dtay looks better and better to be honest, if he escapes carrack attack brutalization. He's up to Replaceable Parts already. I think we might need to consider how to “buy off” Plako to enable Dtay dogpile. I love our scrambled-for hard won peninsular gains, but I'd trade them in a heartbeat for half of Dtay's mighty empire. Just need to figure out if that's even feasible, and how to signal to Dreyote the Ninja that a dogpile might be in order here.

The beautiful Wasitworthit Peninsula.

[Commodore]

Looks like our boys in green at least are on board with trade relationships. None of the Dreyote Nexus are dumb, they've got to see their danger with the Incan monster on the rise. We'll be watching these fellows with great interest, mmhmm.

Incense for pennies on the dollar!

The thin neck of our empire is pushing out units but with Plako's knight massing ways I'm pulling catapults north. Dtay's got a good reason to like this border, but I flatter myself to think that this is actually decently valuable land. Our cities aren't as big as they should be but they're just about as big as they can be, given the uber-tight spacing. Filler farms and workshops will see this a nicely productive space, but those mature villages already make this a nicely rich space.

Watermills online at last, yum.

[Mardoc]

Well, well, well. Mackoti's leaving the game, to be replaced by [Insert Name Here]. That makes me a lot more hopeful - if you can manage to stalemate plako, then there should be endless riches available to the east.

Unless Retep gets the civ, of course. Then the game will die within five turns in a most improbable manner .

[Commodore]

Mackoti left for the weekend, so not much in the way of turndage got done, but we're rolling again, so I reckon we should say some stuff. A few turns back, we got a signal from Dreyote the Ninja. They're in for the long haul, apparently. They lack in people and land but they have a fantastic tech rate and MFG for their size, so maybe they will go eat REMAI? I dunno. Do think this makes them hitting Dtay soon less likely (well, as he is just a couple turns from drafting rifles that makes sense).

The Church of the Nativity: You want a shrine how late?

As for us, we're bumping along on the bottom of the Living Players list, or stratospherically leading the Dead Player Walking list, depending on how you want to figure it. I think the general geostrategic atomic karma wedgie given to the Dutch at birth doomed us from the get-go, but small errors are showing too. I've under-built workers a bit. Bigfoot In Love seen below is a classic filler but look at Grave Peril, the empire's third city. I've been overly reliant on slaving, but that's partly because I've been tardy about workshops in places like this. She should be able to give up those towns and just focus on hammering out knights...

Bad city, 1 out of 5. Would not settle again.

With actual worker labor? You know what, even fillerish cities do well. Turn Coat's massive farm set is practically incidental, a benefit of the Great Irrigation, but coupled with those workshops and mines, we have a city worth its salt right here. Turn Coat might need to start hammering out some future-East Indiamen now, actually, but hey, why not finish an Agg mace first?

Mardoc's ire against this place leaves it always a bit sad.

Well, well, well. Mackoti's leaving the game, to be replaced by [Insert Name Here]. That makes me a lot more hopeful - if you can manage to stalemate plako, then there should be endless riches available to the east.

Unless Retep gets the civ, of course. Then the game will die within five turns in a most improbable manner .

Soooo...that's Krill subbing for Mackoti. Um, yeah, no. Not getting better. Actually, examine this sequence...looks like HAK is back on the menu, boys!

Also see Bigfoot In Love getting a free spread! Judaism wins again, guys.

[Ceiliazul]

The coders tell me the difference in spread potential for Judaism is TINY... but the circumstantial evidence says its still felt. Maybe that says more about the early game of the Monotheism grabbing team than it says about spreads...

[Commodore]

To grow is to live.
Death is cessation and sleep.
Rot sets in slowly.

Depression
Is a quiet despair
No way out.

[flugauto]

So much jungle. I wonder why chopping jungle does not produce hammers?

[Ichabod]

Noob, should have used Changes as the National Park city...

[Whosit]

I'm no expert, but I imagine it's because jungle trees generally don't produce the kind of lumber used in western construction? One thing I like about Civ V actually is that it gives the player reasons to not chop down jungle (though I don't know enough about the game yet to know if those incentives are worth keeping the jungle around). Another thing I've read is that the soil left from cleared jungle is rather fertile... for a very short time. It quickly erodes, unlike in Civ IV here where it's always lovely green grassland.

Tangent aside.... Commodore, what's your goal for this game (you probably stated it and I just forgot)? Win or have fun? If there are no remaining useful places to expand to (islands?), would attempting to go hell to leather and trying to kill one of your neighbors either give you a shot at winning or at least be fun? If letting things remain as they are means a slow death, would an aggressive option give better odds at some sort of out?