[SPOILERS] Woden's Desfiles de Carnaval do Brasil!

[Woden]

I went back to the turn 28 save and indeed the Settlers' cost adjusted when I finished Pottery, so the costs adjust when you finish a tech/civic. This makes sense since a lot of things are linked to progression of the trees.

[Woden]

Turns 31-34

Barbs, barbs, every where's a barbs...

Turn 31

I was a little worried my Slinger would be gone when I opened the save but luckily he was still there. The injured horseman suicide on my Slinger but the full strength one decided to move to attack my warrior... 




I promote the slinger to gain most of his health. I look at the leader board and see a couple of people are now ahead of me in military ranking....




I was 1st but now 3rd. This could be that my units are injured but I suspect people are starting to get boats out. 


Turn 32

Barb horseman attacks my warrior. I look at the attack screen and decide to just fortify. I will let the horseman attack my warrior again before I counter attack. I move the slinger up into attack position...




After I moved all my units, I spy a new barb camp in the east...




You can see it in the upper right hand corner. I thought I had a better screenshot but no. I will have to send my warrior back up there to handle it before warriors start coming. At least there are no horses up there. Here is the score at the end of the turn...





Turn 33

My capital grows and I get...




I attack the barb horseman with my slinger and then my warrior to take him out...




I improve the fish at the capital and the rice at Mangueira to get the craftsmanship inspiration and...




I will go to irrigation after writing is complete. I want to be able to hook up my wines for the amenity.


Turn 34

Barb scout shows up in the north...




At least it is not another horseman. I hit him with my slinger and move my warrior up. 

Looking at the leader board...




I am now last in military power. Again, some of it is probably due to my units being injured but I am pretty sure people are getting boats out. I will get my boat out in 3 turns when writing is complete and I can chop into the boat and overflow into a campus. Trader is due next turn. 

Here is the score for reference...




Not much has changed in the last few turns but I have not been keeping track as good as PBEM2. I will try and write a little about my plans in the turnset tonight.

[Woden]

Current Strategy

Doesn't look like I am getting a second turn today, so I will just lay out my current strategy for the next 20 or so turns.  

At the Capital
The trader will finish next turn at the capital and then I will build a slinger (3 or 4 turns), followed by a builder (6 turns) and then 2 settlers. Maybe fit a campus in there somewhere. After that I am going to build the Oracle. The current plan is to get to Political Philosophy then Mysticism as soon as possible and take Autocracy first and run the wonder card while building it. The Oracle plus Divine Spark should help me get a few great people.  The new builder will improve the wines and then go to Mangueira to improve the crabs and then back to chop into a settler and maybe overflow into a Campus.

At Mangueira

I think the city growth sped up Writing by a turn and I might not be able to build the Campus right when I get it. On T38, I should have 62/65 of the galley finished and be able to chop into the campus. I am not sure what teh yield will be but chops and districts scale the same and a chop is usually 1/3 the cost of a district. I should be close to 2/3 of the district complete with the chop and probably have 4 to 6 turns left on it. After the Campus, I will build a monument to speed up culture and then a settler and my 2nd galley, then it will be settler duty for the next 50 turns. This city will have a lot of food and can grow quickly. 

After the 2 settlers out of the capital, I am going to let it grow so I can get more Oracle fuel districts in there and set up for when I can start Chichen Itza. That way I can work all 7 jungle tiles when I build it to skyrocket my culture and production. My next settler will go north of the capital on the tile between the salt and wines. I will need another luxury after the first wines and the salt will be first ring. The next one will go to east of Mangueira, followed by south of the capital.  Then it will be expanding of my island and filling in the northeast and maybe the northwest. I think most new cities will start a monument then Grainery, followed by a district. Cities 3 and 4 will probably get encampments, so I can build units where I only have 1 required resource. I don't think I will have room at the capital or at Mangueira. I may put one in the south, we will see. 

Tech-wise
Writing finishes in 3, then I will go for Irrigation. After that, I am going to hit the bottom of the tree for a little bit to head towards Construction for G&R inspiration. I will put in Shipbuilding and Celestial Navigation when I have the eurekas. My science should be in good shape once I get my Campuses up and should be able to rip though the techs fairly fast. I will want walls up sooner, rather then later, in case someone comes after me. I should be able to meet my neighbors in the next 20 turns.  

Civic-wise
I am going to follow the typical run towards PP and hit Mysticism. I might even hit Mysticism before PP so I can start the wonder sooner to get the Drama inspiration.  After PP, I want Drama to get some theater squares up to boost my culture rate and start get some writer points. Then I will follow inspirations as I run towards Nationalism. 

I figure before I get to Nationalism, I am going to plan a fairly defensive game. I will keep enough units around to defend myself and build ranged boats as much as I can.

[Woden]

Turns 35-36

Turn 35

I start by moving the northern warrior into the valley between the mountains and get a good look at the remaining land of my island...




I think my plan of a city on the tile between the salt and wines will be best. That will give room for a fishing village either on the desert tile of the plains hill by the wheat and bananas. I think any other spot will only allow 1 city up here or force a crappy fishing village on the wheat and that might take away too many tiles from the capital. 

I put a quarry down on the stone and get...




I attack the eastern barb scout with my warrior. I finish a Trader and move it to Mangueira and start a Slinger. I shift tiles around so it will be out in 3 turns. then I will start a builder and settler after. I buy the 2 tiles needed of the Campus for 155 gold.  I looked at chopping and district costs and it seems a chop is worth 41.7% of a district. They both scale the same, so I should have roughly 80% of the campus complete after subtracting the 3 cogs needed to finish the galley. That should leave 2 or 3 turns needed to complete the campus for an awesome +5 beakers, nearly doubling my science rate. This should give me a nice boost. Here is my empire at the end of the turn...




Turn 36

I start a trade route from Mangueira to Carnival and get...




Not much else, just moved a few units into position. I sure hope the Lisbon warrior doesn't move back to the tile where I want my campus. That would suck! Writing finishes next turn and I think the clock starts now. I would have wasted science if I meet someone in the next 5 turns. I probably will meet someone next turn just to rub it in my face. 

Anyways, here is the score for reference...




A few people finished a tech and have jumped ahead of me. Not much going on other than that. No one has founded a third city yet. 

Let's hope I can get another turn today. We have only had 1 turn a day for the last few days. I was hoping to find out what pantheon I could get and have my campus placed by the end of the weekend but that looks like it will be Monday at the earliest.

Edit: I was mistaken by the chop value: resources like stone have a base of 25 where features like wood have a 20 base. Therefore, it is 33% the cost of a district and I should get ~60%-65% done and will take 4 or 5 turns to complete.

[Woden]

Turns 37 - 39

Turn 37

To start, I finish...




I check the cost of a campus...




88 cogs. My chop should be worth ~30 cogs, so ~57 cogs overflow. That should leave about 6 turns left for the campus. Not as quick as I was hoping but it should kick my science rate up quite nicely. Luckily, the Lisbon warrior cooperated and didn't move back to the tile I want for my campus. Will chop the galley out next turn and start the campus. Mangueira will also grew next turn but will start to become unhappy. I start Irrigation to improve that situation. Out in 4. 

In the north, barb spearman decided to move out of his camp. I take a swing with my slinger, damaging him slightly. I fortify and heal the warrior. The spear will probably attack the slinger next turn but I think he will survive...





Turn 38

Open the save and find that my slinger did survive...




Barely! Let see if we can take him out or at least red-line him so he retreats. First, I hit him with the warrior and then the slinger and...




No more spearman! The warrior should survive if that scout gets any ideas. Let's hope nothing spawns before I can get my slinger over there to take the camp. 

I chop the forest for 32 cogs into the galley for a card adjusted overflow of 61 cogs....




I assign the new population to the 2/1 hill, so the campus will finish in 5 turns. Slinger finishes at Carnival and I start a builder. This builder will hook up the wines and then hang out for a little while until I finish Bronzeworking to see if iron is within my boundaries and to chop the settler into a campus at Carnival. Since my culture sucks at this time, I am going to go for a heavy science start. This should help me get the first GS and the inspiration for Recorded History. 


Turn 39

No new barbs yet...




I move the slinger to take the camp next turn but with my barb luck this game, I expect a new barb to spawn in between turns. If not, I am going to take the camp and then delay Irrigation a turn or 2 to save up money to buy a few tiles around Lisbon before costs go up. I still have a few turns before I need it, so no harm. I did reach 25.1 faith but no pantheon. Do you need above 25 faith? I guess I never paid that much attention to it. Anyways, next turn.

Here are the rankings...




Everybody must be running light on military right now. 3 of 4 of my land units are hurt right now with 2 of them red-lined but I am still second. Most must have 2 or 3 land units and a galley.  

Here is the score...




Both oledavy and Singaboy have 4 civics now. I guessing one of them met a cultural CS and the other took the pantheon that adds culture to pastures (?) or plantations (?). I can really tell how strong a start I had in PBEM2 with 2 cultural CSs right away. Oh well, it is what it is!

[Alhambram]

 I did reach 25.1 faith but no pantheon. Do you need above 25 faith? I guess I never paid that much attention to it. Anyways, next turn.

Yes, you need above 25 faith, but I suspect a silly gameplay mechanic here: no more than one player can select pantheon per turn, other players who reached more than 25 faith at same turn have to select their pantheon next turn(s).

[Woden]

@Alhambram: That really is a silly mechanic! So if I was last to play in turn order and 1 of 2 players to above 25 faith on one turn and had to wait a turn but then everybody else reached 25 faith, would I be last to pick? Curious.

Turns 39-40-Big turnset!

Turn 39

I anxiously open this save to see if a barb spawned in the camp. I open the save to find...




Nothing! Awesome! I move the slinger to take the camp, collect the 50 gold, and get...




I switch out of irrigation to get enough gold to but another tile before prices increase. Put in Bronzeworking. Now I get to pick my pantheon...




Divine Spark! This should help me collect a few Great People. Speaking of great people...




Both Japper007 and oledavy are collecting Prophet points. Both must have went for an early holy site and both must have a natural wonder near by. Good to know. 

Here is the score for reference...




Starting to slip behind. Hopefully I can catch up when my campus is complete and I start kicking out the early techs every other turn. No one is collecting scientist yet, so I might be the first to it and with my extra point, might be first to the initial GS. Fingers crossed.


Turn 41-First contact

To start this turn, the barb scout stupidly attacked my warrior, so...




The northern nub of land is clear of barbs. Over in the east...




Barb spearman attacked my warrior. I fortify him to heal and will let the spear attack again if he wants. Japan sails a galley near the barb camp. I actually knew before I played that he was there. Oledavy posted in the diplo thread. He offered to exchange a little info and thinking there was really no harm, I agreed to exchanging capital and starting CS locations. He ended up with the better end of the deal as he now knows (as well as everybody else) that I have a commercial CS. The good thing is that Early Empire is done next turn and my borders close. this will block him from meeting the CS immediately. He will have to find another route in the ocean as Mangueira blocks the southern route and as soon as it grabs the crab in the next couple of turns, the path around my island is cut off. I did offer him a deal for open borders demanding a little gold. Figured why not see if I can get a little something from him. He could always declare war to get through but my galley is only a few turns away in the north. He may be able to meet Lisbon but I can chase him away. 

Let's take a look at Japan...




2 cities, both with Holy Sites (based on 2 Prophet points), 1 gpt (ouch), horses, and 137 gold in the bank. As for standings...




He is leading in everything but science. Our science rates are similar but he has a culture rate of 6 cpt. He must either have a culture producing pantheon or meet a culture CS. 

I now have enough gold to buy one more tile. I was going to go for the 2nd ring jungle hill at Carnival but now that I have met someone or someone will soon meet Lisbon, I decide to buy the wheat tile. I am hoping that CS grab resource tiles first (like player's cities) and that there is some seafood in the fog. That way if someone where to put an envoy in Lisbon, it would grab water instead of land. This should give me a little time to earn enough money for the remaining 2 tiles I need to buy. 

I move my galley in the northwest of my island and find land...




I also think I see land under the fog west of the galley. I am not sure which direction I want to go from here. Oledavy's holy CS is just off the eastern tip of my island but do I want to go find a CS that has already been met or do I want to continue northwest and circle around south to see if I can find an unmet CS. Probably head northwest a little longer.

[Woden]

Quite the discussion on City States in the diplo thread. I don't think I will mention that I meet Stockholm this morning up by where my galley is exploring. I think I will keep that a secret until I become Suzerain. Their quest is to train a galley, so I will start one next turn after my campus finishes and it will take 5 turns, then I will research Currency and get a new quest. Hope it is easy and I can get a third envoy for more GP points and more science. Then maybe I will bring it up. What do you think?

[Woden]

Turns 42-43 

Turn 42

Start this turn finishing...




Now my borders are locked and I can get out of God King. I switch to...




I leave in Maritime Industries because I want  another boat soon and put in Colonization to build some settlers. I am thinking the builder due in 2 turns at Carnival will first chop the tile I want the Campus on, then improve the wines, and then finally chop the tile I want the Commercial Hub on the last turn of the settler to overflow into the Campus. This will (a) get the settler out quicker and (b) let me put down the next district to lock the cost before I am ready to chop into it. I do have an "extra" forest to chop west of the capital, so each of the 1st 3 will get chops. My next builds at the capital will be Settler->Campus->Settler->Commercial Hub->Settler->Oracle. I will put Mangueira on Galley->Builder->Monument->Builder->Settler or something similar. I want a 2nd Campus soon to add to my soon to skyrocket science rate. Then I can focus on other things (like culture) for awhile and will be sure to get at least the 1st scientist. The hope is to grab the first scientist and get a big enough refund to be leading in the race to the second. 

This will be helped by...




I move the galley north and find Stockholm. 

There Suzerain bonus is +1 GPP per district. So, if I have 2 campuses, I will get +6 Scientist points. I am first to meet them for the awesome +2 science. There quest is to build a galley which I want to do soon anyways. I think I will build a galley and then research Currency to get another quest soon and hopefully it is something easy and I can become Suzerain without putting a single envoy into them. 


Turn 43

My campus is finishes and I get....




This shots my science rate to 13.5 beakers. Not sure how that works out if my science rate was 6.8 a few turns ago and I added +2 from Stockholm and +5 from the Campus, it should be 13.8! Maybe it is just a UI thing, we will see next turn. Anyways, in 2 turns my science rate doubled. My culture sucks but at least I should be leading in science for a while. Exact opposite of PBEM2. I wonder what oledvay thinks of this? Let see how this impacts my techs...




Second row techs are all 2 turns with the Eureka. Third row techs are 3 turn techs, and fourth row...




will take 5 turns. I switch to Irrigation since my builder is done next turn. My plan is to research Irrigation->Bronzeworking->Currency->Archer->Masonry->Wheel->Horseback Riding->Construction (if I get the Eurekas). I may insert Astronomy and Celestial Navigation in there somewhere. I should have Construction before I finish half of G&R for the inspiration. I also should get a nice tech lead soon, even if someone finishes a campus soon-ish, I will have a second one in less than 10 turns.

Eidt: I bet the lower science rate is due to Mangueira being unhappy for 5% less yields!

[Ichabod]

Hey, Woden. I'm reverting back to full lurker to this game, as I won't have time to really help in the coming months. Good luck going further.