[Spoiler] Suboptimal Goes on a Pseudorandom Walk

[suboptimal]

Turn 60

It’s the last turn of the Ancient Era. Hooray, hooray, hip, hip hooray!

Acorn has grown to size 3, the builder in LFSR and the trader in LinCon are complete. All’s quiet…

In the south the warrior moves deeper into the tundra and finds another volcano (well, the Settervision mark for “volcano is here”). Interestingly it’s not coast. I’ll be closer next turn and will screenshot it then. Closer to the capital the builder farms the wheat NW of the city center. I start the Ancestral Hall to capture about 13 overflow, then I’ll switch to a slinger, build that, a second builder and complete the Hall.

Weirdly, when I select the trader to move it to Acorn it shows that both Granada and Bologna are in range of Linear Congruential. Heck, if I can get the trade route to Bologna direct, why not? Well, for one thing there’s a barbarian scout right on the route path and knowing my luck it’ll get pillaged. I relocate the trader to Acorn and will send it along next turn. That does remind me that I need to keep an eye on the builder as I move up towards the amber….

Up at Acorn the slinger moves back towards the city while the warrior advances. Because the camp is on a hill I can’t take it this turn.

At LFSR I move Liang back to the capital – I’ll be looking to get out a builder there shortly. I resume the first of two warriors. The builder moves to the SE and farms the grassland. I’ll cross the river, chop the forest into the library, put down a farm and by then maybe I’ll know what I want to do with the fourth charge. I’m not looking to chop the plains forested hills in the west as those will get lumbermilled.

In the north I move onto the deer tile and see borders and no slinger. There are no hills but I can move 1 more tile east and get a view of the city center if there’s nothing in the way visually.

Out east the barbarian scout fortified in position. That’s fine. I move towards the city-state borders and find…




Note two things about this. First, I didn’t get an envoy, so someone else has been here. Second, I have discovered Pamukkale which is in the northwestern sextant of their territory. I check the envoy screen and see that it is not Pindicator but “Unmet Player”. Looks like I’m headed in the “right” direction to meet other people. It also means there’s probably a unit belonging to said player, likely north of here as they would have run into Auckland if they went south. The scout will continue heading east to find my other opponents.

In looking at the scores, Woden will be in a Golden Age while the rest of us will be in a normal one. Pindicator finished Political Philosophy this turn and is also in Classical Republic. Everyone has completed a Campus as their first (and only) district while Woden has an Encampment.

I also got the game progress calculations back in line with what the game is showing. My next tech completion won’t raise any costs but completing two techs or one civic will. For anyone out there playing along at home there are now 74 techs and 61 civics to account for in the calculation.

[suboptimal]

Turn 61

It’s the Classical Age. Gotta pick a dedication, more on that later. I get a new quest from Granada, they want me to build a quadrireme. Not likely.

First things first. At LinCon I switch from the Ancestral Hall to a slinger. That’ll be 2 turns. The slinger on the peninsula is still returning to the city. Builder moves up and will be at the amber next turn. In the southeast things get interesting:




Two volcanoes plus tiles with and . Tsingy’s name can just be made out in the fog. That’ll be three era points coming up. Fog gazing shows that the entire mountain chain down to Sawanqaya is coastal – the river delta is visible NE of that volcano. Unless the land opens up a bit northeast of Waynaputina and Tsingy I won’t be able to take advantage of the wonder.

Up at Acorn the warrior attacks the barbarian camp, gaining 3 era points, 50 and putting 12 into Drama and Poetry. I keep the slinger where it is in an attempt to lure the scout closer. I send the trader to Bologna, gaining me an envoy, +2 per turn and the Currency eureka. I then realize I should have taken the dedication first as I was planning to get the Free Inquiry dedication. The city has also culturally expanded, grabbing the second ivory as expected. It will grab the 33roduction tile west of Kilimanjaro in 4 more turns. That dovetails nicely with population growth as the city will also gain a population in 4 turns. I’ll start a granary once the builder is done, then get started on the first two districts (Acropolis, Campus).

This city’s biggest problem will be housing – an Aqueduct will be going on the tile NE of the city. I want to put an aqueduct down here and have two options depending on the dotmap. The first option is NE of the city center. The second is on the tile SE of the city center. The only reason I’d put that down would be to put down an IZ where I have the Commercial Hub currently pinned:




That would “require” a city being settled on the wheat and putting another aqueduct on the jungle SW of the deer. It would be a +5 adjacency district but it’s one tile too far north to affect more that those two cities (and up to two more to the north). Alternative planning would have me put a city on the wheat with an aqueduct to its SW, IZ to its SE and a Dam east of that. That would cover all four cities plus one north of that location.

At LFSR the builder crosses the river. I’ll get the warrior out next turn and build one more. That’ll require some tech juggling since Iron Working will complete around the same time. I’ll probably slot Wheel to finish.

Up north, Pindicator brought the slinger out to see where I went:




I move east to see what I can see of Incaland…and find only more forest blocking my line of sight. The tooltip confirms this is the capital, TUKOHAMA REBORN (yeah, it’s an all-caps name...so’s ACORN, actually).

Out on the eastern frontier I cross the river two hexes away from the barbarian scout. It’ll probably attack me next turn but them’s the breaks.

I make my dedication late, taking Free Inquiry. The era point counter shows that I need 34 era points for a Normal Age and 48+ for a Golden Age. Based on PBEM 14 having the age counter trigger at Turn 90 I expect that the Classical will end around Turn 100.

It’s Turn 61 and Pindicator has the highest military power...at 133. In all of my other games the military power leader at this point was around 200, if not closer to 300. I’m second...at 109. I have to wonder if someone will be doing a Classical Age ramp-up and attack or if we’ll be settling in for a builder’s game.

I also see that I’ve started accumulating Diplomatic Favor due to my government. They won’t be useful until the Medieval Era when the World Congress starts up. That should be interesting. However, there’s a bit of a hitch….I have to wonder if certain in-game actions that cause Grievances in SP games (e.g. declaring war) also cause Grievances in MP games. Apparently the accumulation of Grievances can cause you to lose Diplomatic Favor each turn.

[suboptimal]

Turn 62

LFSR’s warrior completes, getting me the inspiration for Mercenaries. At Acorn the barbarian scout advanced to the “wrong” hex so my slinger needs to move to cover my builder’s movement rather than attacking. The warrior starts to head back to provide support. The city starts a granary and off to the next place…

My warrior discovers Tsingy. Interestingly (alarmingly?) I’m not the first to find it.

Up at LFSR I put the library into the queue and chop the forest for 36. It acquires the overflow from the warrior and is at 40/90. I start another warrior and move the completed one to the geothermal vents north of the Campus.

Out east the barbarian scout moved adjacent to mine but did not attack. I move due east, finding nothing interesting. Up north I find Pindicator’s source of iron – it’s near the northern coast. There’s also only so much further I’ll be able to go as his borders form a dead-end along the coast a couple tiles to the east. I’ll check out the dead end next turn then return to the mountain pass north of Acorn.

Internationally it looks like Pindicator got a second campus going – he’s making 2.3 GSP per turn vs. my 1.1. Jester has completed an Encampment and based on GPP generation neither he nor Woden are in Classical Republic.

Hit end turn, sounds like the scout attacked my slinger.

[suboptimal]

Turn 63

Open the save and see that Pindicator’s science rate is now 31.4 per turn. If he didn’t have a Pingala promotion for science he’s probably got it now. Elsewhere the barbarian scout did attack my slinger.

Up north the warrior moves as far as it can near Incan borders.




That’s probably Pingala in the capital. The good news is that his strongest current unit is an archer. Theoretically if he kept his cash low and I upgraded a couple of units into swords I could do some damage….theoretically. Of course, I’d need a bit more iron and 2-3 swords would not be enough to do anything but irritate Pindicator, so I don’t think I’ll do anything. Ryslatha is to the north. He's only got three districts - a Campus in the capital and a Government Plaza and Campus in his eastern city.

Down at Acorn I dispatch the scout and move the builder into position to chop the jungle next turn. I leave the slinger where it is and will shuffle things around next turn.

LinCon has finished a slinger and resumes the Ancestral Hall. Seven turns until that completes and then I’ll get the water mill out of the way. Builder mines the amber as its last charge. In the tundra warrior finds nothing new. The freshly-built slinger The new slinger fortifies.

At LFSR I shift the slinger into the city and the warrior onto the Campus. Two turns to complete the warrior, 1 turn for Iron Working. I’ll finish Wheel next turn and start Engineering. Builder puts down a farm.

Out east the barbarian scout is following me. I move onto a jungle hill, see some Belgian warriors to the east and call it a turn.

In other news, Woden has jumped to first in milpower.

[suboptimal]

Turn 64

Hmmm...the Lurkerati seem to been a bit...feisty...over the past few days. Wonder if that means someone is in imminent danger. Of course, they could be disparaging my continued slow start.

Open the save, Wheel is complete, start Engineering. Have a notification that my slinger is eligible for a promotion. I leave the slinger at Acorn to heal in place. Have a quick look around, see nothing of immediate note. On with the turn.

At LinCon I switch to the water mill. That will take five turns and then I’ll switch back to the Ancestral Hall to completion. Warrior continues east through the tundra and comes across some fresh water tiles a bit to the east. They’re probably all tundra but I’ll find out in a couple of turns (all hills, as usual).

At Acorn I bring the warrior back into my territory to heal. I was going to chop the jungle for 18 and this turn but I’m going to hold off a turn. It’s been seen in the past where food overflow from chops is occasionally wonky and the city will naturally grow next turn. Chopping next turn puts the full amount of food towards the fifth population and moves the granary 1 turn from completion. I could, in theory, sit tight for a few more turns, juggle civics and put down the Campus after the granary completes in order to funnel the production into it. However, the total turn time to complete both builds is unchanged and that’s several more turns of not having the ivory hooked up.

In the far north I start bringing my warrior back west from the dead end at Incaland. Campus warrior at LFSR fortifies in place. That leaves the 1-charge builder. What to do? I decide that I’ll send it down to LinCon to farm the remaining wheat. It’ll farm the wheat just before the water mill completes and once that’s done I’ll work one or both of the wheat tiles to resume building population there. LFSR has grown a population – the governor put it on one of the forested plains hills. That’s nice but I want some city growth and assign the citizen to one of the farms.

Out east the scout continues forging further into the unknown, and reveals a road leading….somewhere.




I think what I need to do is move up to that road next turn and follow it to it’s eastern terminus…

Internationally I see that Jester has started pushing for a Great General in a big way. He’s probably slotted Strategos as he’s pulling in 3 GGP per turn. I wonder if (or rather, expect) Woden to do the same at his next civic if the two are headed for hostilities.

[suboptimal]

Turn 65

Open the save to the message that Liang is established in LinCon and Acorn needs housing.  Acorn’s new population is working the 33 tile west of Kilimanjaro.  Its current food surplus is 9 per turn but that’s halved by the housing modifier.  I chop the jungle, dropping 18 into the granary and 18 into the population pool.  Granary is down to 1 turn.  I place the Campus (cost of 97) but will hold off on it for now.  Slinger and warrior here stay put.  I’ll be putting the Acropolis down once Drama & Poetry completes.  

All’s quiet at LinCon as the slinger and LFSR’s builder continue to converge on the city.  Down at Tsingy the warrior moves northeast and hits the iron jackpot:




Notably the iron resources are third ring to a city.  Wonder what (or who) is down here?    The plains hill to the north could be settled but has no fresh water.  Nothing an aqueduct couldn’t fix.

At LFSR I move the fortified warrior north – I want a sentry a few tiles north to keep track of anything Incan coming southwards.  The new warrior fortifies on the Campus and I resume building the library.  

Out east the scout moves up to the road and




I meet Jester, aka dancindave69.  Those borders belong to Istanbul.  Let’s see what he’s got….



As for the diplo screen, well, look for yourself:




This is old news to lurkers, but if Istanbul is his only city I think he’s lost the plot.  I also know he hasn’t lost any cities because his empire score has not gone down.  Wonder if this is a UI glitch.  I’ll have to look again next turn.  He’s also at war with an “unmet civilization”, which by process of elimination is Woden. :mischeif:  He is also the one with two envoys in Brussels.  The builder has three charges on it.  Capturing it would be an option but it’s a good 20 turns to get it back home.  The scout will head around to the southern side of the city and then try to suss out where Woden is located.  

I continue working on Engineering for the time being – with Archery and Iron Working at one turn each there’s no need to rush.  They won’t cause a district cost increase once Drama & Poetry is in, but I’ll hold onto them for the time being just the same.

[suboptimal]

Turn 66

Open the save, no notifications. Acorns’ granary is complete, food surplus is now at 10 per turn. The city will hit population 5….next turn. Builder moves towards the ivory, will get there in three turns. I’m going to chuck out a warrior here (2 turns), place the Acropolis and then start on building districts. The northern warrior is going to go through the desert towards the southern end of Incaland – I’d like to see what’s SW of Pindicator’s capital.

At LinCon the returning slinger moves into the Government plaza and will fortify there next turn. The builder is now at the sheep and will move to the unfarmed wheat next turn. Up at LFSR the warrior starts moving northwards through the jungle. I’ll set up a picket with that one.

Down in the tundra the warrior moves NE onto a hill:




The grassland hill to the west is the only freshwater tile near the volcanoes, but it’s within their area of disaster effect. The plains tile NE of that is coastal. The city-state borders are now visible in the fog to the east – it’s a mercantile city-state. I’ll move east from here to make contact. It is probably just within range for an overland trade route from LinCon.

In the land of Chief Joking Turk the builder has repaired the iron mine. He’s also lost a unit as his milpower is down from 103 to 80. Overall score remains unchanged for now. I send the scout southeast, uncovering a Campus in the fog. If this is truly his only city there should be an Encampment around here somewhere. There is a hill between myself and the city center so I don’t know that I’ll be able to get a view of it until I get around to the southeastern side of the city.

Looking around internationally, Pindicator only has one iron and one horses hooked up as he’s gaining 2 per turn of each resource. Jester is now only generating 2 GGP per turn – I think his Encampment got trashed.

[suboptimal]

Since there's a slight pause in the action, no lurkers raised objections and I promised it twice over three weeks in June, I present to you:

The World that Never Was

I went ahead and took my EoT5 save from our first start, converted it to an SP save per Cornflakes’ instructions (somewhere in the PBEM 7 lurker thread, I think) and did the reveal all command to take a look at the map. I also used Firetuner to grant the Persians all techs so that strategic resources could be seen. So, what hath the PNRG wrought?

First up, the world map:




From this view it looks like the players were distributed in a group of two (Pindicator and Jester) and three (myself, Archduke and Woden), with the pair getting a plethora of city-states. The city states in this game, running west to east, were Armagh, Rapa Nui, Muscat (northern commercial), Bandar Brunei, Hattusa, Kandy, Auckland, Palenque, La Venta and Geneva.

There are three continents on this map. Pannotia is in the southwest corner and the division between it and Kazahkstania runs on a rough line from the bay south of the Incan capital through Rapa Nui. In the east, Khazakstania borders Pangea on a NW-SE line that runs along the inland sea east of the Ottoman capital.

Terrain-wise, from this view there are two inland seas – the coastal region I had discovered to my NE and one to my SW. The map could also not be circumnavigated by ship, with ice blockages at both poles. From this view, so far so good. But then again, the mini-map has one defect that hides some important details...namely, it doesn’t show mountains or hills. So, what do we have?

Well, of all the players, Pindicator was the most isolated though it would have taken him a bit more time to figure out:




He went NW with his initial warrior. Lucky call in that it took him straight towards Mato Tipila. He also has no available fresh water except the river he’s settled on and has only two locations he could settle cities and put up Aqueducts. If this game was pre-GS, he’d be completely cut off from everyone else via land routes. Since he’s the Inca, though, he could go through the mountain chain as soon as he got Foreign Trade completed (placing a single Mountain Tunnel or a Qhapac Ñan on a mountain tile allows passage through that entire hex, even to the other side).

For strategic resources, Pindicator had no access to aluminum unless he crossed the bay to his south and settled in the desert. He had at least one of everything else in his corner of the map.

How about Jester? Well…




Looks like he got the disaster whammy – 5 turns in and he’s had a river flood and a nearby volcano go active. He’s got a lot of land to the southwest to settle into. To the northeast the land bridge goes around the inland sea up to my start area, though there are a few single tile passages en route. He’s also got plenty of fresh water with two relatively long rivers, a couple of lakes and plenty of mountains if he needed an Aqueduct. Jester also had no niter available, with the closest being far to the southwest between Bandar Brunei and Rapa Nui or to the northeast in what would be my backyard.

Moving to the Mapuche:




Yeah, he’s cramped. Desert mountains and the Ottomans close by to the northwest, a city-state a mere 6 tiles away to the northeast, not much land to the east. He’s hemmed in geographically and by start positions. Worse, he can’t even try to get around the mountains and settle the land across the bay – the only pass through the mountains is along the shore of the inland sea and exits within spitting distance of the Ottoman capital. He has no fresh water to settle unless he crosses the bay or puts down a tundra city to his southeast (the river source is just visible next to the mountain).

He’s actually settled on top of an iron resource. If he wants Niter, he and Woden would need to fight it out as his closest source is outside Auckland. The same with coal.

Woden’s in a bit better shape:




He’s also got not much in the way of fresh water – only the lakes to his northwest and west. There are also few mountains with which to place an Aqueduct. He does not have ready access to coal, with the only nearby source being west of Auckland. He has two niter to his southeast, about 8 tiles from the capital. Ubsunur Hollow is also in that direction, down in the tundra.

As for myself:




My settler move was serendipitous as it put both iron and horses in the first ring of my capital. There’s enough fresh water around to pack five or six cities in the immediate area. While the capital was a bit food scarce the other areas had plenty. For strategic resources coal would have been the problem, though I could have gotten some by settling near Palenque. I would have had an issue if I needed Uranium – the only source is up by La Venta.

From my perspective it looks like Archduke got the worst start and Jester got the best. I probably have the second-best start, if only because I had more options for city placement on fresh water than anyone except Jester.

The only thing missing from all of this is the fourth natural wonder. It was Gobustan and was located in the southwest corner of the map, midway between Rapa Nui and Armagh:

[williams482]

Thanks for the overview of what was not to be. Looks like everyone would have been fuming at the map generator at some point in there.

One note, it looks like you got an image mixed up: "as for myself" is another shot of the minimap, not Greek territory.

[suboptimal]

Whoops...thanks for pointing that out. It's fixed.