[SPOILERS] TheArchduke blasts into Space as Russia

[williams482]

RIP Spice Melange, we hardly knew ye.

Love the username.

We'll be late to get galleys in the water, but by the time people are building towards frigates we should have 3+ harbors down, and we will likely be buying any land military with faith (so we'll have hammers and gold to pour into slightly later naval units). You two have a better handle on long term strategic considerations in MP games, but this one seems to fall more into "fixable with planning" than "potential game killer."

[Sullla]

So yeah, newsflash: other players are doing their best to make you lose in competitive Multiplayer. Kaiser is the doing the normal blocking thing with his scout, not much to say there. It will add a turn's worth of delaying in settling and there's not much you can do about it... for now, anyway. Greece looks pretty weak and might make for a good target longterm. As for TBS, his settling spot was pretty obnoxious. I'm surprised that he pushed that far north so quickly when he had other high quality spots near his capital. Forward settling and then backfilling it seems.

But I don't think he's ruled out your planned Spice Melange spot. You have to move it slightly but there's still room for a good city there:





Spice Melange moves one tile northwest onto the plains wheat. That's a weak resource and "wasting" it by settling on top of it doesn't matter. This spot gets an awesome Harbor district location one tile west of the city center (+4 gold adjacency bonus) and a very strong +3 beaker Campus district East-Northeast on top of the other wheat resource. The relocated Spice Melange still gets access to all of the key tiles: the pair of 2/2 forests to the south, the two deer resources in the south and the east, the 1/3 forested plains hill in the east, and even picks up the ability to borrow the 4 food rice tile from Timbermist if needed. The downside is that most of these tiles are in the third ring so some of them will likely need to be purchased with gold. But the spot is still viable and with a food trade route to help out and some modest gold spending, it will be an excellent port city. TBS hasn't stopped you here, only shifted things around a bit.

Another side note: you'll probably have to go for Arrakis sooner rather than later to seal off that part of the border. Not with the immediate group of upcoming settlers (heading to Timbermist, Spice Melange, and maybe Act on Instinct) but probably the next settler after that. Also Arrakis needs to be moved either a tile northwest, where it can borrow some floodplains from Funky, or a tile southwest to grab the truffles resource cluster down there. I would favor the more aggressive southwest shifting because screw TBS.

The other news of the turn is meeting Cornflakes as the presumed last competitor on this continent. I'm quite happy at how we stack up with Rome: even in science, only down 18 to 14 in culture, and notably more gold/turn (18 to 10). Rome has five cities but that's also not bad given that Russia has three settlers down and a fourth en route to its destination. I honestly thought we would be further behind. Rome is all about the early game, and to be this close behind without spending any faith yet, that's a major win in my book. Not bordering Rome is also really, really nice - Greece and Cree will have to be worried a lot about incoming legions. We don't have to spend much time thinking about that. My worry is that Rome runs over Greece so let's hope that Kaiser doesn't flub this up.

Arguably more important: TBS is up to 25 beakers/21 culture from his four cities. That's a lot of science and culture for this early in the game. Pingala will equalize the culture and hopefully the library + second Campus combo will help catch up in beakers.

One last thing: I like the call to purchase that very strong silks tile at Funky and save a builder charge to plantation it. That feels better than increasing a 5 food tile to a 6 food tile. And you can even trade that tile to Just Do It as needed too! Nice one.

Drama and Poetry is the obvious next civic to research. What's next in tech? Bronze Working maybe to reveal iron, or else Masonry? Machinery for lumbermills is the longterm goal here. The worry is that Bronze Working unlocks another district type and kills the discount, but I think you're OK:

C = total number of completed districts (regardless of type)
P = placed districts of the specific type in question, both completed and uncompleted
A = available districts to build based on techs/civics discovered

Discount applies if both of these are true:
1) C >= A
2) C/A > P

Right now the constant values are C = 4 (three Lavras and a Campus) and A = 3 (Lavra, Campus, Government Plaza). C will go up to 6 when the Government Plaza and Campus at Funky finish. That means A can also go up to 6 and keep the discount in place, which means that you can unlock Theatres (Drama and Poetry), Commercial districts (Currency), and Encampments (Bronze Working) and the discount will still apply because C = A = 6. In other words, you can research Bronze Working and still get a discounted Commercial district at the capital! Somebody check my math on that but I think the formula holds, and I think that means Bronze Working is worth picking up to reveal iron.

[TheArchduke]

So yeah, newsflash: other players are doing their best to make you lose in competitive Multiplayer. Kaiser is the doing the normal blocking thing with his scout, not much to say there. It will add a turn's worth of delaying in settling and there's not much you can do about it... for now, anyway. Greece looks pretty weak and might make for a good target longterm. As for TBS, his settling spot was pretty obnoxious. I'm surprised that he pushed that far north so quickly when he had other high quality spots near his capital. Forward settling and then backfilling it seems.

But I don't think he's ruled out your planned Spice Melange spot. You have to move it slightly but there's still room for a good city there:





Spice Melange moves one tile northwest onto the plains wheat. That's a weak resource and "wasting" it by settling on top of it doesn't matter. This spot gets an awesome Harbor district location one tile west of the city center (+4 gold adjacency bonus) and a very strong +3 beaker Campus district East-Northeast on top of the other wheat resource. The relocated Spice Melange still gets access to all of the key tiles: the pair of 2/2 forests to the south, the two deer resources in the south and the east, the 1/3 forested plains hill in the east, and even picks up the ability to borrow the 4 food rice tile from Timbermist if needed. The downside is that most of these tiles are in the third ring so some of them will likely need to be purchased with gold. But the spot is still viable and with a food trade route to help out and some modest gold spending, it will be an excellent port city. TBS hasn't stopped you here, only shifted things around a bit.

Another side note: you'll probably have to go for Arrakis sooner rather than later to seal off that part of the border. Not with the immediate group of upcoming settlers (heading to Timbermist, Spice Melange, and maybe Act on Instinct) but probably the next settler after that. Also Arrakis needs to be moved either a tile northwest, where it can borrow some floodplains from Funky, or a tile southwest to grab the truffles resource cluster down there. I would favor the more aggressive southwest shifting because screw TBS.

The other news of the turn is meeting Cornflakes as the presumed last competitor on this continent. I'm quite happy at how we stack up with Rome: even in science, only down 18 to 14 in culture, and notably more gold/turn (18 to 10). Rome has five cities but that's also not bad given that Russia has three settlers down and a fourth en route to its destination. I honestly thought we would be further behind. Rome is all about the early game, and to be this close behind without spending any faith yet, that's a major win in my book. Not bordering Rome is also really, really nice - Greece and Cree will have to be worried a lot about incoming legions. We don't have to spend much time thinking about that. My worry is that Rome runs over Greece so let's hope that Kaiser doesn't flub this up.

Arguably more important: TBS is up to 25 beakers/21 culture from his four cities. That's a lot of science and culture for this early in the game. Pingala will equalize the culture and hopefully the library + second Campus combo will help catch up in beakers.

One last thing: I like the call to purchase that very strong silks tile at Funky and save a builder charge to plantation it. That feels better than increasing a 5 food tile to a 6 food tile. And you can even trade that tile to Just Do It as needed too! Nice one.

Drama and Poetry is the obvious next civic to research. What's next in tech? Bronze Working maybe to reveal iron, or else Masonry? Machinery for lumbermills is the longterm goal here. The worry is that Bronze Working unlocks another district type and kills the discount, but I think you're OK:

C = total number of completed districts (regardless of type)
P = placed districts of the specific type in question, both completed and uncompleted
A = available districts to build based on techs/civics discovered

Discount applies if both of these are true:
1) C >= A
2) C/A > P

Right now the constant values are C = 4 (three Lavras and a Campus) and A = 3 (Lavra, Campus, Government Plaza). C will go up to 6 when the Government Plaza and Campus at Funky finish. That means A can also go up to 6 and keep the discount in place, which means that you can unlock Theatres (Drama and Poetry), Commercial districts (Currency), and Encampments (Bronze Working) and the discount will still apply because C = A = 6. In other words, you can research Bronze Working and still get a discounted Commercial district at the capital! Somebody check my math on that but I think the formula holds, and I think that means Bronze Working is worth picking up to reveal iron.

Disagree there. I am a bit proponent of if I want to get ahead of my competition I do it right. By conquering them outright or destroying them.

Delaying a settlement by 1-2 turns? It serves to annoy the other person and puts a target on our back.

Yeah, the Space is actually a better harbour. Still I am kinda annoyed with TBS. Both activities will serve as casus belli down the road.

I actually think Attack on Arrakis is just a placeholder. Something which I want to settle last. Petra is not something I think is a realistic or worthwhile build in MP. 

Do not underestimate Cornflakes as soon as he stop hyperexpanding he is the most dangerous of the bunch, especially as an early kill seems unlikely thanks to the DoFs with his neighbours. My current projection is that Cornflakes will eat TBS or Kaiser.

And I sound like a broken record, but both of you guys underestimate the ship side of things. Spice Melange is viable thanks to a lighthouse, but less defensible. Ah well, on the turn report.

[TheArchduke]

Pressed for time.

Turn 56

Policies. Nothing useful to do with the civic one. No builders, no settlers planned no trade route. I actually reverted to +1 faith and gold.
Double Envoy as I dump my envoy into Yerevan.

   

I doubt we make Hypatia, check this out:

   

Someone is +5 GS all off the sudden. The Cree +3.

If this was your 160 gold I would consider it.

   

Quick overview of the center.

   

And our scout finds another military CS and more general information:

   

Gotta run.

[Sullla]

Cornflakes is a very good player, no doubt about that. I've been very impressed by TBS thus far though, sitting at 26 science / 21 culture at this stage of the game is extremely impressive. I think both of them will be major competitors. Kaiser seems to be the odd man out and has fallen way behind the other three players on what seems to be this continent. He is the most likely to be eliminated. Ideally, Cornflakes does most of the work of attacking and Russia gets a good chunk of the spoils down the road.

Also, that Great Work trade from Cornflakes was borderline insulting and you were completely correct to turn it down. That would be a trade of 4 gold/turn for 4 culture/turn, which is a terrible deal since 1 culture is worth significantly more than 1 gold. And furthermore, the deal only lasts for 30 turns! Really, really bad deal there. I would want at least 200 gold flat and more like 10-15 gold/turn (since gold/turn is weaker than flat gold) to make that deal. Rome already has the highest culture/turn in the game right now and advancing Cornflakes further ahead would be pure folly. No deal.

About Hypatia: the competition is annoying to be sure. I'd wait out a few turns and decide whether or not a project is worthwhile when you have more information. You're going to be at 5.5 Scientist points/turn when the library and Campus finish and that's a pretty good amount. Most likely, you get a Great Scientist from the Medieval era and that's OK. All three of the options would be decent for you:

Al-Zahwari: bonus +20 HP healing effect, great for warfare
Hildegard: 100 instant faith and Holy Site district provides science adjacency equal to faith adjacency bonus: worth 4 beakers at Hell March, actually good for Russia
Omar Khayyam: the usual 2 random tech / 1 random civic boosts, decent enough

My big question for the turn: why these research choices? Masonry is a little bit odd but it's also cheap and needed for Machinery eventually. Works for me though I think Bronze Working revealing iron is a bit more useful. However, I totally don't get the Military Tradition civics research. I thought you were going for Drama and Poetry en route to Recorded History? The Natural Philosophy policy at that civic will be worth 8 beakers/turn for your civ immediately. Meanwhile, there doesn't appear to be anything up at Military Tradition that you need. What is the logic behind researching that civic (?) Remember, you don't have to rush through the turns just to keep them moving. Feel free to pause and hold the turn to avoid rushing and potentially making mistakes. This isn't a huge deal but I do think it's a mistake. Or is there some other reason to research Military Tradition that I'm missing (?)

4 more turns to the Golden Age.

[TheArchduke]

Cornflakes is a very good player, no doubt about that. I've been very impressed by TBS thus far though, sitting at 26 science / 21 culture at this stage of the game is extremely impressive. I think both of them will be major competitors. Kaiser seems to be the odd man out and has fallen way behind the other three players on what seems to be this continent. He is the most likely to be eliminated. Ideally, Cornflakes does most of the work of attacking and Russia gets a good chunk of the spoils down the road.

Also, that Great Work trade from Cornflakes was borderline insulting and you were completely correct to turn it down. That would be a trade of 4 gold/turn for 4 culture/turn, which is a terrible deal since 1 culture is worth significantly more than 1 gold. And furthermore, the deal only lasts for 30 turns! Really, really bad deal there. I would want at least 200 gold flat and more like 10-15 gold/turn (since gold/turn is weaker than flat gold) to make that deal. Rome already has the highest culture/turn in the game right now and advancing Cornflakes further ahead would be pure folly. No deal.

About Hypatia: the competition is annoying to be sure. I'd wait out a few turns and decide whether or not a project is worthwhile when you have more information. You're going to be at 5.5 Scientist points/turn when the library and Campus finish and that's a pretty good amount. Most likely, you get a Great Scientist from the Medieval era and that's OK. All three of the options would be decent for you:

Al-Zahwari: bonus +20 HP healing effect, great for warfare
Hildegard: 100 instant faith and Holy Site district provides science adjacency equal to faith adjacency bonus: worth 4 beakers at Hell March, actually good for Russia
Omar Khayyam: the usual 2 random tech / 1 random civic boosts, decent enough

My big question for the turn: why these research choices? Masonry is a little bit odd but it's also cheap and needed for Machinery eventually. Works for me though I think Bronze Working revealing iron is a bit more useful. However, I totally don't get the Military Tradition civics research. I thought you were going for Drama and Poetry en route to Recorded History? The Natural Philosophy policy at that civic will be worth 8 beakers/turn for your civ immediately. Meanwhile, there doesn't appear to be anything up at Military Tradition that you need. What is the logic behind researching that civic (?) Remember, you don't have to rush through the turns just to keep them moving. Feel free to pause and hold the turn to avoid rushing and potentially making mistakes. This isn't a huge deal but I do think it's a mistake. Or is there some other reason to research Military Tradition that I'm missing (?)

4 more turns to the Golden Age.

Yeah, Cornflakes and TBS keep up quite nicely. I am thinking that longterm we will probably gonna have to conquer the Cree, so I am starting to plan for this eventuality.

Yeah, the Great Work is way more valuable then that.

Hypatia is a disappointment. I am confident that +5 GS (most likely Alhambram as both pindicator and suboptimal continue to be really low in empire score) guy will snatch her. Spending any faith on her is most probable not worth it. Shame really.

I was kind of skittish about getting more district techs and wanted to wait on Commercial districts, but if your math holds up we are okay with getting BW. I wanted to sink a turn into Mil Tradition to be able to quickly switch policies if needed. Not gonna finish it.

4 turns till expansion time.

Nice that you are streaming Moo1 again instead of CIV III which I found a bit boring, watching it now.


I desperately need an escort near Fogger. Maybe I finish miltradition and get maneuver in place? Better then getting more archers or warriors imo. A scout to the W is an issue.

[TheArchduke]

Turn 57

Less blocking by scouts this time around. Cornflakes asks for Open Border, I renew my DoF offer, if he wants open borders, he needs to stay friends. I am using my great writer to prebloc Just do Its location.

Thanks to Pingala and the finished gov plaza we stay competitive but barely so. Still we have +40 faith per turn now and the others less then that. (Rome +5)

   

Greece actually finished a Holy Site. Can´t say I agree with that choice. Anyway, a quiet turn, starting BW and Drama. Finishing trader. I lean towards building a quick escort out of fogger next, the ancestral hall takes 12 turns, I doubt I wanna delay the two new cities by 3 turns? Could be worth it though.

   

I put down the prospective Lavra Site near Just do it. One SE a nice campus is possible. I thought about settling one SE, but then our mountain city moves to an akward space one SE.

   

[Sullla]

Yeah, Master of Orion ended up getting more viewers than Civ3. I guess there's a reason why I hadn't touched it since 2005. Anyway, more great turn reporting, it's so helpful to have a lot of images to look through. I think Russia is in excellent shape as compared to its neighbors, sitting at 22.5 beakers / 20 culture with another city about to be founded and almost 700 faith in the bank waiting to be spent. 40 faith/turn already and steadily climbing higher, woohoo! If things look good now, how are they going to look in ten turns when Russia jumps from 3 cities to 7 cities? Other notes:

* I understand wanting another unit to escort the settlers coming out. However, it would be much more efficient to have all of your core cities (Hell March/Fogger/Funky) building military simultaneously with Agoge in place; putting a lone city on military without one of the production-boosting policies in place is a bit wasteful. Since you have Friendship decrees with everyone other than Cornflakes, I think you can probably get by with your current units for the moment. What if you did this:

1) Spice Melange: slinger at Funky guards this settler (also coming out of Funky), can upgrade to archer if needed
2) Act On Instict: warrior currently guarding the Just Do It settler protects this one, settler also comes out of Act On Instant after it very quickly grows to size 2
3) Timbermist: archer operating in the northeast guards this settler (which comes out of Fogger)

For that matter, if Timbermist is too dangerous to found right now, why not use the Fogger settler to establish Atreides instead? Those two cities are roughly equal in city quality and you seem to have the northwest under better control than the southwest. That would keep you from needing to delay anything to found military, right?

* Separate point: I think you should move Atreides a tile to the southeast. This keeps all the good tiles in the area and opens up two more coastal cities down the road: one at the mouth of the river in the northeast (up where the barb horseman is located right now) and another city on the extreme northwest coast where all the tundra forest is located. There are some fish resources there for food and for Russia tundra forests are good tiles. This would get you more coastal cities for longterm ship building - heck, in lategame you could chop all those forests into frigates/battleships. It just feels like the city spacing is better with Atreides a tile to the southeast. What do you think?

* If possible I would try to get the Ancestral Hall done as fast as possible. This is a good moment to do it since the other core cities (Hell March and Funky) are also both on infrastructure. While I don't think that the Ancestral Hall will be done in time for the upcoming round of cities to finish, getting it done faster lets Fogger be ready to shift onto military at the same time as the other strong producers. And the Ancestral Hall does give you another governor promotion, so that's either Magnus or Liang or Amani coming on board sooner. It just feels to me like there's nothing else pressing for Fogger to do at the moment, and I think you can get by with the military you current have on hand, then shift into a larger buildup in about a dozen turn's time.

* Have you thought about putting the Lavra next to Crater Lake for Just Do It? Natural wonders are +2 adjacency for Lavra districts. Not sure if that's better but it would potentially save that mountain adjacency for a Campus district.

* Regarding Hypatia: I think patronage might be a realistic option here. This is the patronage formula:

The cost of rushing a great people with gold or faith is:
For faith : 150+ 10*GP point remaining
For gold : 200+ 15*GP point remaining.

The cost is too high for anyone to use gold for patronage right now. Similarly, if someone else wants to spend production on a Great Scientist project, go ahead and let them and take a medieval Scientist instead. But if you're sitting at, say, 52/60 and someone else is a turn ahead at 57/60, it wouldn't be too expensive to use faith to grab Hypatia for yourself. 53/60 points (7 short) would hold a cost of 220 faith - exorbitant for others but not too bad as Russia. Given that Russia is already at 40 faith/turn and rapidly climbing higher, it might be worth the cost. Hypatia is an instant 4 beakers/turn and will naturally climb higher as more cities build Campus districts and libraries. Keep a *CLOSE* eye on the Great Person screen and think about whether the faith may or may not be worth spending. It's not the end of the world if you opt to save faith (that's half of another settler) but it is worth thinking about.

* Last point: Greece building a Holy Site district feels like a huge waste. Kaiser is way behind already - what is he thinking?

[williams482]

Nothing new to add, but I second Sullla on moving Atrides, building AH ASAP, and putting the JDI Lavra next to Crater Lake. The hill south west of the wonder has two adjacent forests and would therefore be a +3 immediately, +4 with another adjacent district. Definitely stronger than the +2 site pinned right now.

Patronage of Hypatia is definitely case by case here, but could be worth it in the right situation.

[TheArchduke]

Yeah, Master of Orion ended up getting more viewers than Civ3. I guess there's a reason why I hadn't touched it since 2005. Anyway, more great turn reporting, it's so helpful to have a lot of images to look through. I think Russia is in excellent shape as compared to its neighbors, sitting at 22.5 beakers / 20 culture with another city about to be founded and almost 700 faith in the bank waiting to be spent. 40 faith/turn already and steadily climbing higher, woohoo! If things look good now, how are they going to look in ten turns when Russia jumps from 3 cities to 7 cities? Other notes:

* I understand wanting another unit to escort the settlers coming out. However, it would be much more efficient to have all of your core cities (Hell March/Fogger/Funky) building military simultaneously with Agoge in place; putting a lone city on military without one of the production-boosting policies in place is a bit wasteful. Since you have Friendship decrees with everyone other than Cornflakes, I think you can probably get by with your current units for the moment. What if you did this:

1) Spice Melange: slinger at Funky guards this settler (also coming out of Funky), can upgrade to archer if needed
2) Act On Instict: warrior currently guarding the Just Do It settler protects this one, settler also comes out of Act On Instant after it very quickly grows to size 2
3) Timbermist: archer operating in the northeast guards this settler (which comes out of Fogger)

For that matter, if Timbermist is too dangerous to found right now, why not use the Fogger settler to establish Atreides instead? Those two cities are roughly equal in city quality and you seem to have the northwest under better control than the southwest. That would keep you from needing to delay anything to found military, right?

* Separate point: I think you should move Atreides a tile to the southeast. This keeps all the good tiles in the area and opens up two more coastal cities down the road: one at the mouth of the river in the northeast (up where the barb horseman is located right now) and another city on the extreme northwest coast where all the tundra forest is located. There are some fish resources there for food and for Russia tundra forests are good tiles. This would get you more coastal cities for longterm ship building - heck, in lategame you could chop all those forests into frigates/battleships. It just feels like the city spacing is better with Atreides a tile to the southeast. What do you think?

* If possible I would try to get the Ancestral Hall done as fast as possible. This is a good moment to do it since the other core cities (Hell March and Funky) are also both on infrastructure. While I don't think that the Ancestral Hall will be done in time for the upcoming round of cities to finish, getting it done faster lets Fogger be ready to shift onto military at the same time as the other strong producers. And the Ancestral Hall does give you another governor promotion, so that's either Magnus or Liang or Amani coming on board sooner. It just feels to me like there's nothing else pressing for Fogger to do at the moment, and I think you can get by with the military you current have on hand, then shift into a larger buildup in about a dozen turn's time.

* Have you thought about putting the Lavra next to Crater Lake for Just Do It? Natural wonders are +2 adjacency for Lavra districts. Not sure if that's better but it would potentially save that mountain adjacency for a Campus district.

* Regarding Hypatia: I think patronage might be a realistic option here. This is the patronage formula:

The cost of rushing a great people with gold or faith is:
For faith : 150+ 10*GP point remaining
For gold : 200+ 15*GP point remaining.

The cost is too high for anyone to use gold for patronage right now. Similarly, if someone else wants to spend production on a Great Scientist project, go ahead and let them and take a medieval Scientist instead. But if you're sitting at, say, 52/60 and someone else is a turn ahead at 57/60, it wouldn't be too expensive to use faith to grab Hypatia for yourself. 53/60 points (7 short) would hold a cost of 220 faith - exorbitant for others but not too bad as Russia. Given that Russia is already at 40 faith/turn and rapidly climbing higher, it might be worth the cost. Hypatia is an instant 4 beakers/turn and will naturally climb higher as more cities build Campus districts and libraries. Keep a *CLOSE* eye on the Great Person screen and think about whether the faith may or may not be worth spending. It's not the end of the world if you opt to save faith (that's half of another settler) but it is worth thinking about.

* Last point: Greece building a Holy Site district feels like a huge waste. Kaiser is way behind already - what is he thinking?  

If you want to stream I would really suggest doing classic strategy games even more. A niche is always easier to conquer then the mainstream audience (CIV VI and EU 4). I for one enjoyed seeing Bears in Space (although only when I have my little one in bed so I have to watch the upload). I would also love to see you play Moo2. I know it is a bit of a micromanagment hell but I think the ship combat is ridiculous fun. I have fond memories of my High Shield, no Weapons Bulrathi Cruisers with Tractor Beams and then Transporters. Takes care of espionage as well, you just take over ships all willy nilly.

Anway.

Already on the escorts. You do notice that my slinger at Funky has turned back slightly. I am loathe to wait 3 more turns till the era ends to plunder the camp. That warrior is awfully redlined.

Excellent suggestion on Rise of Atreides. Yes, we could use that coastal site really! Especially as it is way more protected then Spice Melange.

My fear is that delaying settling cities 3-4 turns is not worth the delay for ancestral hall. Maybe I should use the trader on Fogger to speed it up? Marching those settlers in 3 turns takes 6 more turns, the ancestral hall takes 12 turns. Hmmm. We can rush faith buy builders cheaply though.

Disagree with the campus. We want to use the forest plains 1 SE and 1 E of the city for a +4 campus. But the Lavra is better 1 tile NW of the city. I update the map this turn thoroughly.

I was thinking about faithbuying Hypatia for a while now. We could already do it at 600 faith. But yeah I also think that patronizing Hypatia is the correct play. Especially as it denies use to someone else.

Kaiser is playing subpar. TBS is doing great, although I question the value of forward settling me especially. I do not have the best track record for staying peaceful, no?

Nothing new to add, but I second Sullla on moving Atrides, building AH ASAP, and putting the JDI Lavra next to Crater Lake. The hill south west of the wonder has two adjacent forests and would therefore be a +3 immediately, +4 with another adjacent district. Definitely stronger than the +2 site pinned right now.

Patronage of Hypatia is definitely case by case here, but could be worth it in the right situation.

Agree on Atreides and the Site and the Patronage.