[SPOILERS] Pindicator helps clean up SMEGmod

[pindicator]

So Roncesvalles is the best shot at building The Great Lighthouse. I can chop all 3 forests in its BFC and then whip it finished on t74.

Conversely I can also aim for Colossus in Roncesvalles. If I bulb MC on t70 then I'd whip the forge t76 and whip Colossus t80. The city grows like a weed now that I've whipped the granary. Seriously considering some combination of Globe/Moai/National Epic here down the line.

[pindicator]

Turn 065

Found my iron:




Does this change where I go with that settler? Instead of planting south of the capital for a port, I could instead plant northwest. That'd be farther away, and would be harder to defend, and wouldn't be able to take a food tile right away like this city in the south is going to. If I settle right south of the iron I'd hook up the iron first and use that to build a monument, then a lighthouse, and a work boat.

I think I still settle south first. It'll grow faster and it's an easier location to defend as I already have fog-busters in the area. I also don't want to get caught expanding only in one direction. Also, I know CH is lurking somewhere to the southeast and I really want to beat him to the wine and fur and gold resources in the far south. Pretty sure I have a lock on that iron. I better - it appears to be the only one i get this map.

[pindicator]

Turn 066

I wish I had a better graphics card:




If I zoom any farther out than that everything goes black. So we'll have to take things in segments.

I think I can win a lot of the area south of me. Cheater Hater has a tough choke to move past and no food for him to head towards. German Joey might actually beat me to some spots here. That gold that I was keen on might not be around for me to grab. And he could also potentially beat me to the silver. I think I want to try and control both bodies of water that I'm bordering. Then use a strong navy to control the lands around it - galleys become roads for improving logistical lines. And that area west is potentially mine for the taking. Nobody has a clear claim to it.

I also seem to be one of the few people with having nearby offshore islands to settle. Who needs open borders? Not this guy.

[pindicator]

Day 6

I hurt all over. The blisters are actually better, but my feet, my legs, my shoulders, my back, my spirit — it all hurts. I woke late and was one of the last people to leave the albergue. There was a wonderful image of the sun rising above the town of Puente la Reina when I was leaving in the morning, but I had forgotten to charge my camera last night, and the battery died before I could get a shot. That's okay, there will be no pictures today, just an enjoyment of the land as I pass through it.

I reached Ciraqui around 10 and stopped for something to drink. The clouds had already burned away and shadows ran off to hide in corners and alleyways, leaving none for weary peregrinos. There was a woman in Ciraqui, with hair the color of sand on a beach, tall and lithe. She smiled as I passed by and wished me a good journey. Perhaps I should have stopped. And yet, the road calls me on.

I met some Canadians today. We call each other by the name of the provinces we are from. The older one is Ontario and her newphew is New Brunswick. To them I am Oregon. There are not many from North America here and we must band together. They took a photo of me on the road to Ciraqui, which is a such a beauitful town. When you start the day you are walking among vineyards and wheat fields, up a few hills, but then you se Ciraqui nestled up on a hill in the distance and it is beautiful.

The woman from Ciraqui just passed by. She is also walking the path. I will try to catch her.

*****




I am stopping in Lorca for the day. It is barely noon, but the sun is blazing down hot and I am already tired from yesterday's long trek. There was a fountain at the beginning of town and I dunked my head in to cool off. The next door was a bar, and I went in for lunch and decided I had gone enough this day. I took my meal and my beer outside; there is no table but everyone is sitting outside in the narrow street, in the precious shade. Peregrinos walking by stop and talk. I say hi to familiar faces and people who already seem like friends though we have all only been here a few days together. A few stay and rest. Most want to continue on to Estella. But everybody stops for a while to talk.

The woman from Ciraqui is also staying in Lorca. Her name is Sara, she is from Finland, and by chance we end up in the same albergue. She walked the road 2 years ago, and this time she is back with her mother, but only for a week. Not the whole way. She says she is jealous that I am doing the whole way to Santiago; she talks in large sweeping statements about her experience walking it the first time. But no details, she does not want to spoil anything. It was obviously an experience that touched her deeply — the way she speaks of it, you can see it in her eyes.

One full wall of the albergue has a map of the world, and she points out the island she grew up on, Aland, in the middle of the Baltic Sea. Three of the people at the albergue are from Finland: Sara, her mother, and another lady that by chance is also staying at the same place. 2 are from Italy, 1 from Valencia, 1 from France. I point out Portland on the map; I am the farthest from home.

Thunderstorms are coming in. I can see lightning in the west. The wind is nice after a long hot day, and dark clouds are coming in fast.

[pindicator]

Turns 67 & 68

Have a lot to cover besides the new city, and I got a little more involved with that part this time!

First of all, we finished our first lighthouse in Roncesvalles at the end of turn 66. That led us to begin a new build in the city:




Also, that additional +8 commerce from water tiles is big. It cut a turn off of my time for Math. But then, Lorca upped my cost enough to give that turn back. I'm going to need a library here!

GermanJoey did in fact build Oracle at end of t67, so I'm glad I went with the decision to build the Great Lighthouse too. After 5 turns we'll have 45/200 in. Turn 6 we get a happiness back for whip anger running off, and that puts us at 55h. The next turn we whip 3 forests and put us at 155/200h. Guess how much a 4 pop whip gets us in hammers? If you guessed 45h then you would be exactly right! And yes, even though every population point after size 5 is going to take 2 food off the grand total, we're still going to be at size 8 in 7 turns. Easily. This city is nuts.

Second, and more aggravating, is I have a settler coming out of Zubiri that was originally going to go east:




Originally my plan was to put it on the tile I marked in green. It would be a bullwark against barbarians in the east, a bit of a land grab for (admittedly nominal) city spots to fill in behind, and would grab the gems in second ring. The problem is the main point of settling out there is the gems, and I don't see how planting a city and not getting the pay off for 20 turns is worth doing. So even though I've roaded half-way there I'm rethinking this spot.

Where else could I settle out east? There aren't many spots that grab more than 1 resource. North (left) of the cows could be potentially strong, but I would need to pop borders and build a workboat before I could make use of it. It would also be a good idea to settle northward to block off GermanJoey. I anticipate him to be a bit more competent in expanding than Brick, so probably a higher priority to settle northward city locations. There is the gems, but no spot gives me first ring food and first ring gems. And finally in the there are a couple great options on that jungle peninsula. But again: border pops needed, and down south there's nothing but jungle.

I think how I ultimately want to settle this area is to put a city on that marked plains hill, put another city 4N of it, on the forest tile that grabs both crab and clam second ring, and finally a city NE of the rice that also grabs the fish second ring. Then a filler spot will go somewhere around the horse, but not until a lot later in the game.

Still, I don't feel like I want to settle those now. And maybe this is a mistake, but i want stuff that will pay off sooner.

So maybe I want to settle south?




Between the wheat and horse seems natural. And then another spot between the fur and wine that also grabs the pigs 2nd ring. Then something east for the lakes and silver. But that's getting awful close to GermanJoey from the other side. Silly toroids. Still, settling the wheat/horse is not quite enough for me right now either. It's a decent spot, but I want luxuries. Yet it leads the way to two luxuries in the south and puts in me spitting distance of a third, the gold. Maybe this is the spot I want.

Nah. There's one more option:




If you notice I started a galley in Lorca, not a granary. We're going to whip that when it gets to 20 hammers, and we can waste time on silly granaries. But the settler at Zubiri is going to head south, along with the archer down in the south by Lorca, and they are going to plant on that plains farm between the marble and the crab. I might even make that my moai location and use it to control the western seas.

Also, it gets me overseas trade routes in every city, plus the galley will be useful in the second island city in the northern half of the sea.

Dont' get me wrong. I want to settle all of these spots. I just want to settle the best spots first.

Finally, demos are nice. That crop yield is starting to get crazy. And the GNP is still pretty damn respectable:




Need more cities!!!!

[pindicator]

So GermanJoey grabbed Metal Casting with the Oracle. I'm going to write off Colossus; his capital is coastal plus he's industrial. But do I want to still bulb Metal Casting with the merchant or do I want to bulb Currency? I've been staring at the screen trying to figure that puzzle out and I can't decide.

Oh, he also settled up on me. So now I'm wishing I had teched HBR instead of Iron Working. I really want to build a dozen horse archers and mess him up. He's doing this Lord Parkin type opening: all wonders and settlers and no power. I bet we could mess him up good.

And it's not like the land I've been nit picking over settling is actually all that good. His starting area is really nice. But which tech would be better for me to go smash him with? Metal Casting or Currency? AUGH

[pindicator]

Okay, so the choice is really between getting forges for +2 happiness (settler after next is going to go for the gems, and settle so I can get them first ring, food be damned), or getting the ability to Build Wealth to power through techs as I continue to expand.

Considering I'm playing as Joao, and I still want to put hammers into settlers and workers right now, I think I want to push the expansion to the brink, which means Currency. We can try to build wealth and go for CoL and a possible religion. Teching HBR after Currency and invading GermanJoey may be the right play, but I'm still wondering about that. This also means we're going to chop all our trees ASAP (hanging gardens, yay).

[pindicator]

Turn 071

Met Thoth. Or rather, he met me




I like the tech route he took, going down the religious tree for Monarchy. It's hard to remember that civic revolts are anarchy free in this mod. I wonder if there is a balance issue there, and we should switch it to 10 turns between civic swaps in order to prevent swapping just to gain advantage of certain civics like Slavery or Nationalism and then switching back to your "regular civic".

Anyway, Thoth has Hereditary Rule and Organized Religion -- and perhaps you don't need a religion to benefit from those civics now? It appears not. Anyway, he appears to be doing very well.

I changed my mind again on where my next city is going to go:




The gems is what I really want, so I'm just going to settle up by them. I can get 3 lake tiles with a border pop, so the city will be able to grow. I only have one worker nearby to improve the gems though, but I will have another settler coming out of the capital to get me those ICTRs. I want like 4 or 5 more settlers right away though, of course. Priority spots are:

• The two island locations in the west
  
• The wheat/horse in the south
  
• The fur/wine in the south
  
• Planting a city in the northwest to get our iron / make capturing the barbarian city in the northwest a possibility
  
• The cow/clam spot in the northeast

I think I ignore wonders for a while after Great Ligthouse. I dunno, I actually need to list out which ones I can possibly go for in the near term and make sure I'm not missing something like I did with Great Lighthouse.

The good thing about Great Lighthouse is that with maps on nearly everybody I can turn on yields and see nobody else (outside of Brick) has built a lighthouse. So I should get that wonder easily.

[pindicator]

Shit, I just changed my mind again where that next city is going. Oh wow, all this indecision can't be good

[Commodore]

Oh wow, all this indecision can't be good

But this thread sure is good! Seriously, good reports.