Das Boot (directed by Wolfgang Petersen and Singaboy)

[Singaboy]

Turn 21:

Still no barbarians, this is slowly getting ridiculous. I wonder what is the probability of that. Anyway, I settle the city of Kiel:



I move my two units and the warrior uncovers a whale, another welcome luxury. Kiel is working the sugar tile to grow in 3 turns. I will have to either buy another tile at Kiel to maximize production or try and juggle tiles with Aachen. Aachen's next growth tile is the stones but thanks to very low culture, that will take quite a while. In order to get ahead on the game I am now thinking of using the next builder for 1 cow (pasture) and the fish next to Kiel and then send if off to the Ocean to explore a little a find another continent so we can grab FT as soon as possible to  enable Maritime Industries to speed up the galley. Alternatively, I could use the first builder to improve deer and stone and then embark into the Sea and explore the West Coast.



In the overall score, everyone has 14 points, but Jester. Woden's score has dropped from 14 to 13 as well indicating a settler being produced last turn. My score will go up to 20+ next turn thanks to the second city and a new tech + city growth.

[Singaboy]

Turn 22:

We get our first builder, but let's have a look at the scores. It looks like Jester also got a second city up pretty soon. Woden's score is still at 13 as he produced a settler. No Great People points yet. In the individual scores, I lead at science and am #2 at culture, not so great at military (with my rudimentary force, that's no wonder)



I go for another builder and the first moves to improve the deer next turn. We need more gold to grab tiles I assume. For now, Aachen is wokring the rain forest tile instead of the horse tile until Kiel grows to size 2. The first builder will improve the stones too and then enter the Sea East of it to explore north (heading to the horses anyway).

The slinger and warrior seem to reveal that there is more land than I had hoped for. I look as if there is more land especially to the East. Worth exploring as long as there are no barbarians to fight anyway. The tile pickers currently indicate the northern crab for Kiel and the second stone for Aachen. Certainly the right tiles.

[Singaboy]

Plans up to T30:

The next five turns, Aachen will produce a builder while working sugar/deer/stone/rain forest or horses. This will result in 12-13 hammers per turn (once the stone/horse tiles are improved)
At T27, I might insert a quick slinger (takes 3 turns) in case there are barbarians around. I want to get the BW Eureka as soon as possible.
If I go for the slinger, T30 would be the start of another settler (cost 100 hammers). With overflow and a production of 13 hammers a turn, it would take until T37 to get settler #2 out to settle a new city. I might send the settler northwest to settle the sugar/banana spot. It's a great fast growth spot. I can back fill the salt city later once I get Colonization civic.

Kiel will grow to pop 2 on T24 and continue to work the sugar but add the rain forest. Once the city grows to pop 3, I might buy another rain forest tile to get production up to 5 hammers per turn. This will still mean a long time to finish the galley (before producing a monument).

Of course, Eurekas for BW and Foreign Trade are the big unknowns. I will swap to State Workforce next turn as I will get the Eureka for that in 6 turns (builder #1 improves deer + stone, builder #2 improves horses). This gives me more options for civics as I am waiting for Foreign Trade to get its Eureka. I will swap to Early Empire as soon as possible and get its Eureka on T24 anyway. With much land to settle, Colonization is a must civic early on. However, I need to finish the Pantheon first before being able to swap out of God King. I will get the Pantheon on T39. Hence, there is no real rush to get FT desperately.

For tech research, I will research BW til its 50% mark and then go for irrigation. I assume I might forgo the wheat irrigation to get its Eureka. I will need to evaluate the situation again later on. As I want a holy site north of Kiel, I need to go for Astrology after that and hopefully, finding a natural wonder will give me the Eureka.

[Singaboy]

Turn 23:

The builder builds a deer camp, housing in Aachen is now 6.5. This should go up to at least 8 with more pastures and plantations. With a granary this city can grow to pop 10. I stick to working the rain forest in the north and not the horses until next turn, when Kiel grows to pop 2 to take the rain forest. Builder is at 13/54 at the moment and will be at 25/36/48 in the following turns. I do not need to rely on the northern rain forest for the time being.



I swap the civic to Craftsmanship as I reached 50% for FT. Warrior moves back SW before taking a turn SE if there are no barbarians nearby next turn. In the northwest, the slinger moves and reveals yet more land to the northwest. There is space for yet another city on the riverbanks  Next turn, the slinger can move 2 tiles and hopefully uncover more land or spot a new continent or something else good.



The scores have not changed a bit since the last turn. The longer the others need to found their second cities the better. As Kiel will grow next turn, I hope to open up the early lead a little more. I am sure some others will find city states that are scientific or economic etc., my position might not be so good forever. As long as I can stay roughly on par until the district power starts to kick in, I feel confident about the game.

[Singaboy]

Turn 24:
Post-patch. I can't yet check district cost because there is none available 

No barbs, but we get the expected Eureka. Unfortunately, we still need FT for it to kick in.



I moved both units to explore and the builder onto the stones. In the north, I mark a new city spot that looks juicy too. Overall, the land is really great for both production and growth thanks to the sugar everywhere. Maybe I should go for Oral Tradition after all. Ity would give me lots of additional culture for sugar and two bananas. I will need to count next turn.




I change the tile worked for both cities as Kiel has grown. By assigning the 2/2 rain forest to it, instead of Aachen, the galley is now down to 21 turns. Once the city grows to 3, I will need to buy an additional rain forest and production will go up to 5 hammers per turn. If only I could get Maritime Industries.



A look at the current score shows all players now without a mouseover. More convenient. My score in fact is 24 due to city growth. 4 players still have only 1 city. By the way, when looking at the settler production cost, it is still 100 hammers and not 110 hammers. Let's hope the patch doesn't affect it, as I need to produce lots of settlers.

[Singaboy]

Turn 25:

I open the save and yet, no barbarians. Amazing, as I am not covering quite a large part of the south. Later on, I would want no barbarians to appear to meddle with my cities, maybe a camp or two to get some gold. Now, i wouldn't mind some conveniently located camp to appear. Well, you can't have it all.

However, this turn is a good one and you can see why. I move the slinger onto the westernmost hill and  



There is land just across the northern canal. All the plans of my builder embarking and sailing around can be put on hold for a bit. Because, now I can put ina new policy which is very important to get out a galley as soon as possible. Maritime Production ensures that we now make 6 hammers per turn towards the galley (currently at 6/65). When Kiel grows in 4 turns (then at 30/65), I can either work 4 hammers (net 8) to get the galley in total 9 turns or buy another rain forest to have a net of 10 hammers and produce it in 8 turns. I might save some gold and not buy that tile.



The builder improves the stone and we get yet another Eureka. Aachen now makes 12 hammers a turn again. The builder will move back to improve the horses. in 3 turns, we will make 13 hammers in the capital before growing to pop 5. 



The last picture an overview of all the uncovered land. Early Empire will currently take 13 turns, it might decrease a little due to population growth, but not by much. Kiel will need to make a monument before going for another galley. I need more culture. However, with 10 plantations for God of Open Sky and potentially 10 culture, i would go for that. Now that plantations make +2 gold per turn, that's another 20gpt, nothing to be missed.
The other question will be, when to start settler #2 and where to settle (by the way, the cost is now a confirmed 110 hammers). I would like to wait for Early Empire before going for more settlers, so maybe I slot in a slinger or two and a trader before the settler.

My next city to settle might be the one next to wine in order to grab the Eureka for Irrigation via improving the rice. After that, I can start to expand north.



As for the score, I am still ahead of the pack with 24 (now actually 26), all have 3 technologies and 1 civic.

[Singaboy]

I have been pondering a little and decided to change my builder strategy a little.

First, I will swap out of BW for now since I have not even attacked a single barbarian anyway. I will head for irrigation via pottery. I assume pottery should be done in 4 turns thanks to population growth. With 8 science a turn, I should be getting irrigation in 4 additional turns provided I have the Eureka. Hence, I will buy the wheat tile at Aachen and improve the wheat with the new builder. This means I will be getting irrigation on T34. I will make sure that I keep both builders for the sugar with 1 charge each, so that both can connect sugar on T34.
This means, I will enter the Ocean with the first builder next turn to explore a little. It might be a little risky not to run into a barbarian boat, but I do hope no barbarian camp will spawn in Aachen's west.

The other news is that Japper has met me and I assume that it might be the northern canal where he spotted my slinger. If he has met me in the south, it would mean there is some land bridge to his land which I really don't need. Depending on his location, I will settle of course towards that direction to stake my claim at the land. Even he has made his intention clear (does seek peace for now), I would need a better military if we share the continent.

[Singaboy]

Turn 26:


As per diplomacy thread, Norway (Jasper) has met us in the IT. I am relieved it's a unit across the sea rather than on our land. It is a real coincidence, that both of us turn up at that spot at the same time.



I check diplomacy to see what Norway has on store and he does not yet have a second city up. He has more gold though but less gpt. I assume with 5 gpt, he is not running God King. Later, when checking the faith score, I do note that he makes 2 faith a turn obviously by meeting a city state and has no need to run God King. This is bad news as he will be faster to a Pantheon than me. Let's hope I still have a good choice available to me. It is still more than 10 turns until then.



I get my slinger back slowly, since there are still no barbarians, there is no urgent need. However, I would want some cover for my next settler. I switch out of BW and start pottery. The warrior in the south explores a little more. And finally, I enter the Ocean with my builder. Let's see what we can discover until the builder is needed to connect the sugar in 8 turns. Next turn, I will get another builder that will connect the horses and improve the wheat for Irrigation Eureka.

[Singaboy]

T27:

We get our second builder and move onto the horses. We then spot an interesting Island, must be Helgoland. Our first builder moves towards it, maybe we can spot other stuff west of it in the following turns. The slinger in the north moves back slowly, while the warrior in the south explores.

I decide to build a trader first to boost Kiel a little in a few turns. Since there are still no barbarians, I can delay a second slinger a little.



I am trying to delay the second settler a little until we have Colonization in place. We should try to take full advantage of the policy to get a lot of settlers out.

A check in the Great People's overview shows that Norway is making Great Prophet points now. This means that Norway just finished a Holy Site and makes 2 faith a turn since T26. This would give him the Pantheon on T39, the same turn as me. This will be a tight race and I am hoping he will choose a faith related belief anyway.

[Singaboy]

Turn 28:

The score is getting closer and oledavy has made a big jump with his second city. I am still leading with 26 but it is getting tight. It is high time for me to connect more resources and get the culture Pantheon belief.

That said, builder #2 connects the horses and I get two Eurekas. The Eureka for HBR is not seen in this screenshot. Pottery is still 3 turns away but with a city growth for both Aachen and Kiel next turn, the time should drop by 1 turn.



Builder #1 is sailing towards Helgoland and I secretly hope to spot land to the west and possibly a city state. That would be really great. Of course, the plan is to call the builder back to improve sugar at Aachen when Irrigation is done in 6 turns. I am now contemplating to simply research BW without the Eureka to avoid further delays in the camp, cutting rain forests etc. As I am considering going for the culture belief, I might abandon the holy site at Kiel and go for a campus there. It would get a +3 boost due to the rain forest to the north there.
The other good news is that the trader has dropped by one turn and will be done in two turns thanks to the additional hammer (Aachen is now making 13 hammers for units). The trader will be ready on T30, another slinger at T32 and then I might go for settler #2, which takes 110 hammers. Aachen would make 14 hammers for 6 turns and then 21 hammers with Colonization coming online in 10 turns. That means the settler would take 7 - 8 turns and come online by T40. I could go for another settler right away as it would cost 140 hammers and take 7 turns. After that, I could slow down and start on districts while the new cities go for monuments and builders as well as districts aided by some chops.