[SPOILERS] Dark Savant leads the noble Inca as half-noble Churchiill

[Dark Savant]

Turn 84 (775 BC) - Part 2

• King's Landing, Casterly Rock, and Castle Black all start on libraries, which I plan to 2- or 3-pop whip.
  
• Our galley, archer, and settler intended for the northern island all complete this turn.  It'll be a couple more turns before I can actually load the galley, and I'm not actually sure where I'm going to plant the settler anyway -- probably just on the plains hill closest to us, but I'll take a look around anyway.
  
• White Harbor now has its whipped terrace, and can actually finish a monument with the overflow in 2 turns.  Maybe I can get ahead of wetbandit's city on culture after all (though he'll produce a library much faster than I can).  It'll also get a regular grass farm just so it has another tile that produce 3 or more food.
  
• It's Sunspear's turn to 1-pop-whip a terrace this turn.
  
• Workers start building more cottages, now that I need the commerce.
  

[Dark Savant]

Turn 84 (775 BC) - Part 3

Our scouting work boat continues to poke around.



Another reason to offer Open Borders to JR4 now is that he might not want to extend Open Borders to someone with demographics like this.



I probably should get that offer in before he has graphs on us.  I suppose a library whipping program will make us look less threatening for several turns. 

Other notes:

• The Oracle is still unclaimed.
  
• Everyone we have contact with now has horses connected in addition to copper.
  
• has silver, so he's got an island city somewhere.
  
• planted his 12th city this turn.  I wonder when he's going to run out of room to peacefully expand.  (It's going to be a while before I run out.)
  
• Back to precious metals -- gold is non-existent on this map, apparently.
  

[Dark Savant]

Motel wifi is currently good. 

Turn 85 (750 BC) - Part 1

Charriu accepted our peace treaty, so I didn't just go and get a second chariot killed.  I'll have that chariot scout around while I hole up in our new border city.

I could just have played turn 86 immediately, but I'd prefer to report first.

Also, someone built a wonder!



Wow, that's early for the Pyramids.  No wonder wetbandit was insistent on claiming Stone.  He'll be in good shape.

I vaguely considering throwing together an attack force, but our GNP is too terrible to contemplate offensive action at the moment.

has a chariot hovering around the border.



I'm going to keep an archer in Casterly Rock to deal with potential incursions from either of our western neighbors.

Thankfully, JR4 accepted Open Borders.



That takes us to no longer bleeding at 0% science.

Also, there are now no wars we know of.

[Dark Savant]

Turn 85 (750 BC) - Part 2

• King's Landing is now unhappy at size 9.  I'm not going to 3-pop-whip libraries, as I'm not going to work scientists or increase science right away.
  
• Winterfell completes a work boat, and starts ... another work boat.  I can still probably use another after that.
  
• Sunspear has its terrace now, and starts work on a lighthouse.
  
• Workers start some more cottages in the core.
  
• Our settler-archer pair due for the north will load next turn.  Watch me still struggle not to go bankrupt! 
  

My C&D showed nothing else interesting this turn.

I really should reach out to the two uncontacted players somehow, but I can't produce work boats fast enough.

[Dark Savant]

Turn 86 (725 BC) - Part 1

This would have been a quiet turn, except a chariot exploring the unexplored land to the east of the Eyrie finds a barbarian axe.



I kill that (95+% odds battles still make me tense) for more XP, of course.  I'll bring the other chariot out of The Eyrie to explore now.

The other two chariots I have left will play mobile defense, one to the west, another on the southern island.

Not much else to report while I develop.

• I 2-pop-whip the library in King's Landing, which will put it into unhappiness at size 8.
  
• Casterly Rock and Castle Black both reach size 7, and will 2-pop-whip libraries next turn.
  
• White Harbor finished a monument, and moves onto a library to continue the cultural battle.
  
• Our northern galley (Aurane Waters) loads a settler and archer to plant on the northern island.
  

I'm not sure if I should build yet another settler for the northern island -- there's still no sign of anyone else there.

Our scouting work boat doesn't seem to have much more of that sea to explore.

[Dark Savant]

Turn 86 (725 BC) - Part 2

I've started to play turn 87, but the important other news from last turn:



That's WilliamLP declaring war on Charriu and razing a size-1 city.  (WilliamLP still has 10 cities.)  WilliamLP is stretched thin on GNP the same way I am (he has a lead on us, but that's from Stonehenge and Buddhism); there's a good chance Charriu settled aggressively, did not realize his claim was aggressive, and failed to back it up.

I hope that draws Charriu's forces east.  I'll be pushing some more military that way over the next several turns.  If I take too long, there may not be anything left of Charriu left to capture.  (I'm half expecting WilliamLP to just make peace for now, the way I did -- I'm not sure how he would have the force to both capture and afford to hold onto Charriu's cities.)

superdeath also generated the game's first Great Person, and used it to bulb an unknown Classical technology.

Also in the above image: Wun Wun killing that wildling axeman.    (That giant is called Wun Wun because 11 is Phil Simms' jersey number ... I should fix that misspelling, oops.  I couldn't resist putting in the middle name because it's Martin.  )

[Dark Savant]

Turn 87 (700 BC) - Part 1

GNP is continuing to be terrible.  And I've got another settler ready to plant.



Well, it's another island city, so it shouldn't increase my deficit by too much.

On the home front:

• I actually stop working corn at King's Landing; it'd just grow into unhappiness (and I don't plan to have it produce a worker or settler next).
  
• I 2-pop-whip libraries in Casterly Rock and Castle Black.  If nothing else, I can make research progress by hiring a bunch of scientists.
  
• Winterfell is still producing work boats and is running away on food.  I'm not quite sure what to do with it short-term except maybe 3-pop-whip a library there and run scientists for a while.
  
• There's still no sign of anyone to my south.  My galley on that sea will look around, as it doesn't have anything else to do short-term.
  

I can build a settler to claim whales, but I have not reached the conquerer's plateau and that's going to hit hard short-term.

I probably need to prioritize commerce/science and just get to Alphabet ASAP.  I'm not accustomed to dealing with the pressure of having no income after having expanded so much.

[Dark Savant]

Turn 87 (700 BC) - Part 2

Relatively little seems to have happened abroad, except for whipping three times  and Charriu getting a size-1 city razed by WilliamLP.  Oh, and WilliamLP has almost reached our power level.

Did Charriu just plant aggressively on his other side as well?  Maybe I should have an army ready as soon as our peace treaty ends.

Oh, and Charriu and JR4 definitely share a land border.

[Dark Savant]

Turn 88 (675 BC) - Part 1

We have not one, but two ocean neighbors!

Planting city #11, Pyke, results in contact with yuris125 on the mainland.



A barbarian city pops up to the south of the southern island.

[Dark Savant]

My turn window just opened, but WilliamLP is currently playing, so rather than possibly bounce ...

Turn 88 (675 BC) - Part 2

Pyke ends up costing 4 gold/turn, which isn't awful.  I micromanage things to run scientists and whip some more libraries (good thing that's relatively easy to do as RtR-Charismatic), in addition to building and working more cottages, to try to get Alphabet in something vaguely resembling a reasonable timeframe.  I currently have three libraries, and should be able to whip a couple more in a few more turns.