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[SPOILERS] Cornflakes - PBEM 17

I was biting my nails the whole time the turn was loading (and my ancient laptop takes its sweet time loading up the turns Ohdear ). Fortune favored my warrior and he survived with 6 HP meaning I rolled 29 on the range of 26-40. In Civ 4 terms for those following along, this was the equivalent of winning a 57% battle with about 2 hits to spare.

Promoted to Battlecry for healing + combat bonus. I could have moved E onto the coffee to get off of the floodplain but I decided to fortify in place and heal instead because I'll heal more than I would gain by shedding the floodplain malus. Met another neighbor this turn:

   

Kaiser of the Greeks! Clicking on the message centered the map just east of. From this I infer that Kaiser is to my north/northeast and TBS must be north/northwest. TBS is making 8 gpt which works out to base 5 + 3 from a trade route to a CS. TBS obviously spent gold purchasing something, but what? Assuming he researched pottery first the trade rout would have earned him about 4oIcon_Gold by now. Assuming he also cleared a barb camp that is 80 + 120 that I spent = builder purchase. Nice choice if that is the case. If he didn't clear a barb camp then probably a UU-scout purchase. (I think the later is more likely since he still has 20 more gold than I). My purchased scout will aim north following the river, then probably edge east to locate Kaiser before looping back west.

Looking at scores, somehow nobody else has reached a 2nd civic yet. Are there no cultural CS out there in the world? Gorgo/Kaiser I'm surprised by since gold balance clearly indicates a barb camp cleared for some bonus culture. Suboptimal and Archduke are still on 1 tech while the rest of us have 2. Pindicator seems to be the only player who didn't build an early settler (possibly Archduke, I can't remember how many extra points Lavra's still grant and he has 19 total empire score)

Notice the faith totals at the top of the screenshot. Kaiser is 7Icon_Faith ahead of TBS and both are making 1Icon_Faith/turn. Kaiser and I are both 11 turns from the pantheon, but he will beat me due to turn order. I was not planning to get a early pantheon so I haven't even though much about what I would want.
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Check out this juicy region I didn't explore until now thanks to the barb camp:

   

Overall this is probably not a better city location than the one I just settled but it does look pretty with all those resources. Initially it gets +1Icon_Production from the plains hill + banana compared to my cows + grass forest hill. 2nd pop working flat banana is same as 2nd pop working sheep. Downside is that this location requires plantation improvement which I won't have tech for quite some time. In fact I like my chosen location better because I'll be able to turn the sheep and stone into 5-yield tiles and earn the Masonry inspiration as well. 

This new location single-handedly makes the Oral Tradition pantheon appealing for culture-from-plantations. There are six! plantation resources in the first 2 rings, and at least one more in the 3rd ring. Another nice side-effect off the Oral Tradition is increasing gold generation. Plantations on their own are mediocre improvements beyond the first of each luxury resource, but add in +1Icon_Culture and plantations become much more appealing ... +2Icon_Gold/tile adds up. Also I realized the my math was off and I'll reach 25Icon_Faith 2 turns ahead of Kaiser! So I may be 2nd to pantheon after all (behind TheArchduke for sure).

Speaking of culture, as of T25 I am still the only player with 2 civics researched! EE will be over 60% next turn so I'll swap over to Craftsmanship where I'll put in 4 turns, and then put 1-2 turns into Military Tradition while waiting for the 3rd tile improvement.
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(December 22nd, 2019, 15:12)Cornflakes Wrote: This new location single-handedly makes the Oral Tradition pantheon appealing for culture-from-plantations.

FYI: Oral tradition got removed in Summer-update. Nowadays it is called Goddess of Festivals.
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(December 22nd, 2019, 16:09)Rowain Wrote:
(December 22nd, 2019, 15:12)Cornflakes Wrote: This new location single-handedly makes the Oral Tradition pantheon appealing for culture-from-plantations.

FYI: Oral tradition got removed in Summer-update. Nowadays it is called Goddess of Festivals.

Whoops, had it backwards. I thought Oral Tradition remained because it originally gave culture to half of the plantations while Festivals gave food. I found another Banana 3rd ring to the north so that is 8 total plantation resources near this one city  yikes How can I pass this up if still available?
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An event-full turn wink

   

I met the city state of Yerevan to the north earning my 3rd first-to-meet envoy and (more importantly) triggering the Political Philosophy inspiration  jive too bad it's another religious CS because a 2nd religious first-to-meet isn't very impactful. Other than speeding up the pantheon by 2 turns I won't get much benefit there. The quest is to recruit a Great Writer which will happen exactly never  rolleye I am rather confused by the fact that neither the Greeks nor Cree met Yerevan before I did. They must be further east and west than I initially thought, putting me more central-south.

I also found the Dead Sea earning the Astrology inspiration.

I really would like to hit a Dark Age first in order to slingshot a Heroic Age. I won't get much benefit out of any of the options for classical Golden Age. I won't have enough faith to purchase more than 1 or two builders, and no districts. Unfortunately I don't think that a DA is possible. I already have 9/11 era points Simply by reaching the Classical civics first I'll already hit normal age. I'll get most of the way to a GA without even trying so might as well figure out how I can get the rest of the way there (Legion alone should do it). I'll probably take Exodus of the Evangelists purely because none of the other options help much. Might as well take the religion.
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T29: Is it just me? Or does the text look funky this turn.

   

Turn starts off with a notification that Early Empire is completed, via the inspiration from growing to 6 pop total (4 at Rome). Timing synced perfectly with completion of the 2nd builder at Rome  dancing

   

Therefore I slot Colonization for a 6 turn Settler. I'll have enough food when the settler completes to remain at size 4 (need 34/44 in the food box). This settler will probably go north to the plantations-galore site. As can be seen in the top screenshot, research was swapped to Pottery a couple turns ago to unlock Irrigation quicker. I still don't have the Bronze Working eureka.

Only other move of note this turn was ordering the wounded warrior off of the floodplain. I've been debating every turn whether to take the risk of flooding wiping out my wounded warrior while healing there. This turn I pulled the trigger.
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One other thing I forgot to mention is that Pingala was appointed governor of Rome this turn. Tentative plan is to pick up the +1Icon_Science/pop promotion with the next governor title at Early Empire. That is some time away due to missing that inspiration. In all reality I shouldn't be all that far ahead in culture compared to my rivals due to missing a couple early inspirations. I should be ahead in development though since I already have Colonization slotted and will be pushing out settler after settler over the coming turns.
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Pantheon was available this turn. Options that were missing: +Icon_Culture to pastures, +Icon_Culture to plantations, +Icon_Faith to breathtaking. Probable candidates based on religious rankings: Archduke, Alhambram, Suboptimal. After pausing to eat breakfast and mull over the options I chose ...

   

The free builder now rather than one for a trickle of production or faith (or holy site boosts which won't start having any effect for ages). More thoughts to be added later. Check back in a bit.
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Notice how the Cree and Greek culture both had a marked increase from the T25 to T28 screenshots above. Also notice the gold balance for Cree jumped upwards over that same time period which must be clearing of a barb camp. Cree military strength also plummeted down to just 13 this turn so they have had some some sharp barb skirmishes.

   

Greek influence extends down to the Rice tile in the northeast. My scout will poke around and determine just how contentious or spacious that border will be.
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Some more reasoning for the pantheon choice: Main reason was the snowball effect of a builder now vs. a trickle of production/faith later. Builder now means I can pause the one in production at Aquileia and get the settler there 4 turns quicker. Then I'll be able to quickly complete the builder when those extra charges are desirable. I can keep Rome on settler duty and get an immediate 2nd and possibly 3rd settler (if I chose a non-aggressive location) before getting some more military. The Roman Empire is on the expansion!

Other than the plantation culture I don’t have an overwhelming terrain-oriented pantheon option. God of the Sea actually has the most potential but again would have 0 impact for 20 turns and then a minor trickle for the next 30 turns before maybe possibly returning some decent value.
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