picklepikkl embarks on the Fool's Journey

[picklepikkl]

Thank you very much It's the reporting that drew me in to RB, and I've been trying to emulate that. Even if this game doesn't get a lot of attention, it's worth the effort for the practice, and because having to report on my turns forces me to think about what I'm doing. That said, I know REM is keeping tabs on this game he made the map for (to his credit), and there are a few other lurkers who I've seen drop a post here or there in various threads, though the lurker thread proper hasn't seen much action. Glad you're enjoying this one in particular, though!

Regarding the events of this last turn: Jowy popped another Great Scientist. I give it 90+% odds that it goes to an Academy in his Bureau-capital. I was able to close borders with him, leaving him with only Sian as an OB-buddy. Hopefully Sian closes them as well and denies him the income; certainly I'm able to saturate my 2c trade routes with just my other partners and my island city. Probably won't matter, though; we'll see where his GNP falls after he gets out of his GA. Also, his chariot has decided to harass me. I'm leaving back my workers and covering my missionary in the area with my own chariot, so even though he'd almost certainly win, I think I'd do enough damage that I could clean him up and he'd be left without anything to harry the center with. Fleets-in-being are important.

[ReallyEvilMuffin]

Thank you very much It's the reporting that drew me in to RB, and I've been trying to emulate that. Even if this game doesn't get a lot of attention, it's worth the effort for the practice, and because having to report on my turns forces me to think about what I'm doing. That said, I know REM is keeping tabs on this game he made the map for (to his credit), and there are a few other lurkers who I've seen drop a post here or there in various threads, though the lurker thread proper hasn't seen much action. Glad you're enjoying this one in particular, though!

Regarding the events of this last turn: Jowy popped another Great Scientist. I give it 90+% odds that it goes to an Academy in his Bureau-capital. I was able to close borders with him, leaving him with only Sian as an OB-buddy. Hopefully Sian closes them as well and denies him the income; certainly I'm able to saturate my 2c trade routes with just my other partners and my island city. Probably won't matter, though; we'll see where his GNP falls after he gets out of his GA. Also, his chariot has decided to harass me. I'm leaving back my workers and covering my missionary in the area with my own chariot, so even though he'd almost certainly win, I think I'd do enough damage that I could clean him up and he'd be left without anything to harry the center with. Fleets-in-being are important.

Thank you - I am keeping tabs. It is a little sad that it isn't getting more attention. Given the dual playthrough nature of the setup, it is rather interesting to see where people have decided to settle given the same information. I'm comparing you and ginger. Also interestingly the games have kept very close to each other. I believe you are about 2-3 turns apart still. This is closer than at the start with the faff with your game.

I did think about making proper lurker threads but I thought I would mostly be talking to myself, so I have just been posting in peoples threads. I feel that I might as well remind them I am reading, and posting is worthwhile! Also the setup as you pointed out on a balanced flat map at such high difficulty does rather preclude much in the way of early wars, which always decreases global lurker interest.

[picklepikkl]

I did think about making proper lurker threads but I thought I would mostly be talking to myself, so I have just been posting in peoples threads. I feel that I might as well remind them I am reading, and posting is worthwhile! Also the setup as you pointed out on a balanced flat map at such high difficulty does rather preclude much in the way of early wars, which always decreases global lurker interest.

You kind of stacked the deck there too, by putting horses so far away from the starts! What am I going to do, walk an axe eight tiles across unsettled wilderness to fight? Better to put those hammers into settlers and take the wilderness for myself. Now that borders are pushing up against each other and there are few prime city locations left, I think we'll see wars breaking out (note to self: use Golden Age to get maces).

It seemed to me from activity that the Map thread was serving as a de facto lurker thread, though it hasn't seen any posts in a month. No need for separate threads when overall interest level is, as you pointed out, fairly low. But you've been good about assuring us that we aren't forgotten

[ReallyEvilMuffin]

I did think about making proper lurker threads but I thought I would mostly be talking to myself, so I have just been posting in peoples threads. I feel that I might as well remind them I am reading, and posting is worthwhile! Also the setup as you pointed out on a balanced flat map at such high difficulty does rather preclude much in the way of early wars, which always decreases global lurker interest.

You kind of stacked the deck there too, by putting horses so far away from the starts! What am I going to do, walk an axe eight tiles across unsettled wilderness to fight? Better to put those hammers into settlers and take the wilderness for myself. Now that borders are pushing up against each other and there are few prime city locations left, I think we'll see wars breaking out (note to self: use Golden Age to get maces).

It seemed to me from activity that the Map thread was serving as a de facto lurker thread, though it hasn't seen any posts in a month. No need for separate threads when overall interest level is, as you pointed out, fairly low. But you've been good about assuring us that we aren't forgotten

To be honest it was more people asking questions about how I made/designed the map and talking about that than the actual game.

Bare in mind you are competing against the rather novel PB33, as well as quite a few other bigger games. Plus there are few well known names to draw the crowds.

Plus you're right, there aren't as much expansion places left and that always spices things up!

[ReallyEvilMuffin]

Also look at 32 - there isn't much in the way of lurker thread activity there either.

[picklepikkl]

Using our overflow and specialists, we 1turned Priesthood at 0% and will 1turn Monotheism next turn. After that will be Monarchy, then saving gold for Civil Service and our upcoming Golden Age research bonanza, in which I am going to get as close to Knights as I can (Machinery, Feudalism, HBR, and Guilds are what I need). Jowy also moved his chariot away, which means I could safely disembark my settler pair on the site for my next city. Sian is one full turn ahead of us settling this area, and will fight for cultural control of incense (I forgot to get a screenshot to show the city geometry, sorry), but we'll see how the culture wars go. But best of all, Sian closed borders with Jowy! Nobody is now feeding extra commerce to the Great Lighthouse machine, and Jowy only has the one island city that I know of. I'm guessing that there aren't any easily settleable islands in the outer sea, given that REM specifically allowed GLH for this game, so Jowy's bonus from that wonder is mostly just same-continent internal trade routes. He's still ahead, but not by as much.

We're closing out the BC years on a high note

[picklepikkl]

Was at my computer all day; of course the save got sent to me right as I left to go ride trains for three hours. Played quickly before I go out with friends, so I'll do the Tarot discussion later, but I feel this screenshot shows off the major salient points of the turn.

We've switched over to AD; based on GP pops, the "Domin[us]" part of that refers to St. Thomas Aquinas. Sian and Jowy are at 10 cities, I am at 9, and greenline is at 8. Let's see how this goes.

[picklepikkl]

City 8: Strength

This is my very favorite Major Arcanum. This card has also been called "Fortitude," which is literally the meaning of my middle name (well, almost), so I guess I was destined to like it. This card is about quiet determination, unflagging virtue, and the power of persuasion. Where the Chariot is hard, Strength is soft. Victory is in the Chariot's nature, and so the Fool, having learned from it, may not know how to cope with setbacks; Strength teaches the Fool the power that lies within one's spirit and the benefits of a gentler approach.

I haven't done the math to get the exact numbers, but we're about 8 turns out from our Golden Age. Next turn I'll do the beaker and gold math and figure out if I can have both Monarchy and Civil Service before then, so that I can kick things off with a giant revolt. I also want to save as much gold as possible to fuel GA-powered Bureaucademy research. Competing priorities, whee!

[picklepikkl]

Jowy built the Great Pyramids. God help us all.

Speaking of God, Sian used his Prophet to build the Hindu shrine, and Judaism spread into one of my cities, which I guess is an equitable exchange for the spread of Confucianism into a greenline city a while back.

Due to worker positioning, it'll actually be faster for me to try to build the Hanging Gardens in The Magician than in The High Priestess. I'm going for it. I will definitely be able to afford Monarchy + CS + several turns of gold saving before it's time for our Golden Age, too, so despite Jowy becoming ever more a runaway, I feel OK about what I'm doing.

[ReallyEvilMuffin]

Jowy built the Great Pyramids. God help us all.

Speaking of God, Sian used his Prophet to build the Hindu shrine, and Judaism spread into one of my cities, which I guess is an equitable exchange for the spread of Confucianism into a greenline city a while back.

Due to worker positioning, it'll actually be faster for me to try to build the Hanging Gardens in The Magician than in The High Priestess. I'm going for it. I will definitely be able to afford Monarchy + CS + several turns of gold saving before it's time for our Golden Age, too, so despite Jowy becoming ever more a runaway, I feel OK about what I'm doing.

Any other wonders you are keen on?