Freeciv LongTurn (LT57 report)

[HansLemurson]

Turn 12: Larger than your average post


Looks like the Inca are the first to size 5.  Danzig will be on that list next turn.
We are generally hesitant to grow to size 5, since that's where the "Free Granary" effect on small cities disappears.
Growing from 3->4 has you start with 10/20 food in the granary.
Growing from 4->5 has you start with 0/24 food in the granary.
Thus there's a sort of soft cap on city sizes early in the game where if you want to maximize your population growth, you stay in the size 2-4 "sweet-spot".
Once you build a proper granary though, then it's off to the races!

Demographics:

As you can see, due to the settler construction, I've dropped out of first place in many of the categories I'd been holding before.  
No gold mines for Hans until Mount Vectron regrows.
However, since I've built two settlers this turn, expect these stats to rise in the future.  
Not next turn though, since the settlers have a somewhat longer journey this time.

Longturn Rules Spotlight: Longboat

Many nations now have researched the tech "Map Making". 
In LongTurn, Map Making gives access to two units: the Trireme, and the Longboat.  (We'll talk about the Trireme another time.)
Longboats are a "Unique Unit" which a nation can have only one of at a time.  Unlike Triremes, which are also unlocked by map-making, Longboats are deep-sea vessels.  The purpose of the Longboat is so that early game colonization isn't controlled entirely by luck of the map.  Imagine being able to see coastal waters across a narrow gap, but not being able to reach it until you research Magnetism and gain the Caravel?
Now, this ability comes at a price: No Military.  Longboats, despite their Viking name, are restricted to carrying only a single non-military unit.  Typically this will be a settler, and you'll have ships sailing off into the far horizons just hoping to find land somewhere.  This allows for early colonization, but not trans-oceanic warfare.
You will however get colonial warfare on isolated islands that two enemies both colonized with longboats.  This usually involves the nations pouring gold into their cities to make units or walls to secure their foothold or drive off the invaders.

---

This is an example of a colonial war that happened in LT51:

Cornwall was first to that island, and settled in the middle to deny as many settlement spots as possible to the enemy. 
The Aleut landed shortly thereafter, and this was a plan for rushing a Horseman to try to attack the Aleut city as soon as it was founded before any defenders could be produced (since military could not be shipped in via longboat).

The plan did not succeed (Xandr managed to delay settlement until the end of a turn, and disband a civilian unit to pay for a strong defender) and the Aleut foothold remained.
Our team was able to stifle any further colonization from the enemy though, and the island ended up turning into a big stalemate, with both sides too entrenched, and no prizes worth the trouble of taking.  Victory was made on other battlefields.

Exploration:

Baden

Last turn, kamBLR launched our team's first ship, a Longboat capable of crossing deep water.  It spied coastal waters and whales.
This turn, he made landfall, dropping off a settler on this newly discovered island.  This early and this close, the island probably won't be contested, but you never know.

Iceland

Iceland started with an island right next door, with an easy shallow-water connection to the mainland.  Zoe can settle it at her leisure, and it is unlikely to face the fires of war.
After some team discussion, she decided to settle on the Wheat.

It will get growth benefits similar to my Lübeck, but its distance from the capital may cause a bit more corruption and waste than we'd like.  Still, Zoe needs food ASAP, since Iceland only started with ONE food bonus!

Neighbors Spotlight: Scotland!

The Scots, true to form, have settled on cold desolate windswept land.  You can see Tundra in the southwest.  Scotland is near Antarctica, and they'll launch an expedition someday to try to visit the mysterious "West Pole".

Scotland has 4 wheat on their island, but unfortunately spawned on the wrong side of the island to reach it all.  Stirlin is looking fine though with it's 2 wheat.

You can also see that Scotland got lucky with the worker-promotions, and you can see icons for veterancy ranks 1-4, 4 being the orange symbol.  This will allow their workers to do some impressively fast terraforming if planned correctly.  There's even discussion of spending some gold to upgrade the highest ranked Tribal Worker to be a real worker, to make the most of its promotions.  Veteran units get an extra 3/9 movement points per level, and so a rank 4 worker has 4+3/9 MP, and a 225% work rate.  A rank 4 worker can do powerful things like move into a hill or forest (costing 4MP) and build a road on the very same turn (using 4 WP of its available 6.75). 

Plans:

Here you can see my Settler from Mount Vectron heading on its journey to the promised land of Oases and Whales.  Thanks to the desert road, it will be able to move and settle next turn.

Overview:

A: Irrigation project continues.  When the new city is built, the Oasis will be fully operational.
B: Danzig's gonna grow!  More on that later.
C: The Tribal worker got a promotion, but it's too late to make a difference.  The Settler spends a turn doing building a road so as to be useful rather than sitting idly in the jungle.
D: Worker-team prepares to clear some swamps.  It's not that I'm short on grassland tiles, but clearing this will make it much easier for units to walk into the river network.  Very important until I get bridge Building.
E: With the iron road completed, an additional worker was able to join in on constructing a Mine, allowing the tile to unlock its full potential of 7(!!!) Production.  The other worker prepares a road that can hopefully lead around the river bend.

City Spotlight:

Danzig here shown with an amazing +5 food surplus!  I deliberately settled it in range of 3 food resources so that it would be able to do crazy stuff like two-turn growth while still under Despotism.
The extra population will hopefully boost the Small Wonder production, but the city is still going to need a lot of unit-disband assistance.  It will be able to produce 5+8+8 more production on its own, bringing the total to 48 out of the required 70.  The Explorer and a Worker, giving 15+10 production should take it the rest of the way.

Science:

Science continues to accumulate.  Getting the tech in 2 turns was tantalizingly close, but the price was too high.

I hope you enjoyed today's extra-sized update.  I realized there was a whole bunch of news and info I needed to share.  I'll probably try to include a "neighbor spotlight" every few turns so we can keep up with what's happening with my allies.

[civac2]

I'd be interested in an overview shot of the world as you know it. Not necessarily now, perhaps after a bit more exploration.

[HansLemurson]

I'd be interested in an overview shot of the world as you know it. Not necessarily now, perhaps after a bit more exploration.

At some point I'll put together a "big picture" of all our empires.  For now, it's basically the same as the early minimaps I posted at the beginning.

---

Turn 13:


And I'm #1!  Lots of cities are size 5 though, so I don't know why I'm at the top spot, but I ain't complaining.

Demographics

#2 in many stats, but not #3!  A lot of this drop is due to my settler production, and that will be fixed shortly.

Science

Getting close!  My research this turn is higher than the Demographics say, since I just built two brand new cities.

Overview:

A: Riga founded, and workers add roads.  Note that Riga will grow its first size in 4 turns, thanks to the irrigated Oasis.
B: Danzig is number one!  It is on max production now, but can only really get up to +8.  Thank goodness for unit disbands!
C: Kiel founded too.  The jungle got cleared, and the city could be built.  The whale requires no development to be useful.
D: Tribal went off to help build connecting roads.  This will make future infrastructure cheaper as I won't waste as many turns in transit.

Neighbor Spotlight:

kamBLR shared with us a picture of his Capital.  Looking nice!  With a granary in place and an cheap aqueduct provided by the river (half price, and no tech needed!) it looks like he's planning to go full speed ahead into growing it big.
It's going to as rich, if not richer than my Mount Vectron.

[HansLemurson]

Turn 14


Danzig #1 again!

Demographics:

Good stats, but still only 2nd or 3rd rank.  The good news is that my team-mates are #1 where I am not.
41 production isn't enough for the #1 spot in this world any more.  Let's see if I can claim that prize next turn.

Science:

Mathematics and the Pyramids next turn!  What will I research next?  Probably pottery.  I want granaries so that I can grow my cities bigger than size 4 without fear of wasting food.

Overview:

A: Oasis has a road now, so gives 4 trade, not just 3.  That road alone gave me +1 science.  Worker team irrigates the Buffalo so that Riga will be able to use it for an awesome second tile.
B: The Mines of Vectron have been completed.  My capital can now work both peaks of the Sacred Mountain.  It probably won't do this for long, since it needs food to grow, but I thought I'd have fun for a turn.
C: Workers are preparing a new city location north of the Peat, clearing the forests, draining swamps and building roads.  If you remember back to Civ2, the "irrigate" command when applied to forest/jungle/swamp cleared it to flat land.
D: Lübeck and Hamborg are both gonna grow!  This represents the first growth of my second-generation cities.  Lübeck is working the Silk this turn, since +3 food surplus is wasted when your granary is at 14/16.  So why not get some extra trade and production?  Unfortunately waste means that I lose the bonus production, but I do get the extra trade, which becomes +1 gold.  Not a lot, but better than nothing.

City Spotlight:

Here you can see my capital going FULL VECTRON.  Making full use of the Mines of Vectron on the twin peaks of the Holy Mountain of Mount Vectron gives considerable production and trade.
Not a lot of food though, so I won't continue this for long.  It does get me another worker out one turn earlier than expected, so...yay?
Ideally I would have had another city nearby that could trade off with MV for working the Iron Mine so that its awesome production is not wasted, but that wasn't in the cards for efficient settling patterns.

Exploration:

The Scots land on an island first spied by the Icelandic explorer seen in the upper right.  jwrober is eager to get a foothold on this island even though their own island still has much to settle.


kamBLR has landed on a SECOND island!!!  He's getting pretty lucky here.

I'll provide a map later to give this exploration info some context.

[HansLemurson]

Turn 15

Top 5 Cities:

Some Size 6 cities, wow!

Demographics:

My push to regain #1 production succeeded, and working the gold mine as well gave me #2 Econ.
I managed to just squeak ahead of Ireland in population, but this is probably because ilkkachu is building more settlers than me.  I need to fix this!

Science:

Mathematics completed, and now my sights are on Pottery, and then Map Making.
Pottery will be necessary for granaries, and I would have liked to have had it earlier, but I wanted Pyramids more.
The good news is that I'm getting it for half-price since so many people have already gotten it.
This tech leakage helps straggling players, and makes those in the lead act as "Ice-breakers" who have to do the hard research first.  I'm the Ice-breaker for Mathematics.  
The price of the tech dropped to 77 this turn, since 2/14 players now know it.  
One team-mate had some frustration where the server processed his turn before Math was discounted, and so is sitting at 78/77 Bulbs.  He technically could research it this turn if he could make the server recognize this.  To do this, you would switch to another tech, then switch back.  However, all of the techs he could switch to cost less than 78 Bulbs, so he'd end up researching them instead.

City Spotlight:

I however, am able to make full use of my new science project.

I knew I wouldn't have enough production for Danzig to build the Pyramids on its own, so I was prepared to disband my other Explorer to make up the difference.

And it's just enough!  Pyramids next turn!!!!!  

Overview:

A: Major irrigation in this region has now been completed, time to get the workers back to Danzig.  However, why not do some work on the way?  Irrigated Grassland just became useful.
B: Danzig is going to need some irrigation work to make full use of its land now, since I plan to let it's population BOOM.
C: A little love for Bronswiek.  Some irrigated grassland for some more food surplus options.
D: Worker became a Veteran, giving it 4.5 WP.  This is enough to road a forest in a single turn.  It spent the turn moving into the forest, so it'll complete on T17.
E: More grassland irrigation!  It's not like Lubeck is wanting for food though, with a wheat, pheasand, and 2 fish within reach.  This is mainly for Hamborg.  
My southern cities here are also going to need to prepare to build a Longboat so I can get a settler across the water Sooner rather than Later.

Exploration:

Speaking of Longboats...

kamBLR now has two islands explored and within his grasp.  His longboat is heading over with another Settler to claim this island for Baden Belarus.

jwrober has lead the Scots to discover yet another island!  
The red markers are from team discussions about where he should place his cities.  He can fit 3 cities on this island.
This island is also potentially close to the enemy, and so we don't know whether it will have a shallow-water connection to enemy controlled islands which could turn this into a battleground.
There's also been some discussion about who should settle the second island.  It's nearby Scotland and Iceland, but neither jwrober nor Zoe had as good an opening as KamBLR did, so they may need to share the load in settling both islands in a timely fashion.

[civac2]

And it's just enough!  Pyramids next turn!!!!!  

Almost as if it was planned!

[HansLemurson]

And it's just enough!  Pyramids next turn!!!!!  

Almost as if it was planned!

Actually the "plan" didn't take into account the extra production that I'd make THIS turn, so I didn't have to disband as much.  It turned out better than what I'd planned.  

Praise Vectron!

Hmm...many of you in the audience may have noticed that the name Vectron has come up a lot, and would quite rightly like to know why.
Well, wonder no more!
You see, it all began with the Scrolls of Vectron revealed by Vectron himself in the First Age of Vectron...


I hope that should clear things up.
Make sure to spread the word.

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Cartography Time
I promised a Map to help get all the images of nations and exploration in context:

Here is an enlarged and labelled mini-map of our team's territory and exploration as of Turn 15.

I centered my view on the 0,0 tile on my island (river jungle near Hamborg) to try to get a consistent orientation.

And to understand how this relates to the screenshots you've seen:

This is a screenshot of my entire view.  You can see how the white rectangle on the minimap corresponds with the area of the map visible on my screen.

Note that the minimap and the visible map are tilted relative to each other.  The map's topology was set to "Isometric", but my preferred Tileset, "RoundSquare" uses an "Overhead" view, not isometric, and so views the map from an angle.

I have a work-in-progress tileset called "RoundSkew" which attempts to show the world with squares that are rotated 45 degrees (corners up and down) to provide a non-distorting view of the map that corresponds with its true topology.  
But making a Tileset is hard work.  I'll probably finish it up over winter break.

[HansLemurson]

Turn 16

Top 5 Cities:

Danzig still in the Top 5, but it might not be for much longer.

Demographics:

Just edged past the Irish in population, but that's mainly due to their superior settler-making.
Solid first place in production.  Due both to the Pyramids, and Mount Vectron continuing to work its Iron.

Science:

Grabbed Pottery last turn for Granaries, and now will be able to get Map-Making next turn using the research overflow and the cost reductions from other people grabbing the techs.  Next target will be Mysticism to improve Temples so that my cities will be able to grow large safely.

City Spotlight:

"Danzig" is no longer an appropriate name for the house of this most illustrious creation.  The city will henceforth be known as Vectron's Glory.
Notice that with the Pyramids built, even the humble Plains tile gets a +1 production bonus.  Combine that with the fact that the Despotism penalty has been lifted, and most of the tiles that the city is working are now getting +2 Food/Production compared to before.  The Wheat was 3/1/1, now it is 4/2/1.  The Peat was 1/3/0, now it is 1/5/0.
The city is now set to engage in an explosive rate of growth.  It will be gaining 1 population every other turn for the foreseeable future.  There will likely be a pause when it hits Size-16 before Sanitation has been researched, but I'm not going to stop growing this city until forced to.  It will receive every resource it requires in order to grow tall and powerful.

Overview:

A: Workers irrigate around Vectron's Glory so that it can make full use of all of its bonus grasslands.
B: Note that with the Despotism penalty lifted, Fish can now give 3 food!  Also observe that Kiel's city center is getting 3 food, and Meideborg is gaining 4 production instead of 3.
Also just appreciate generally that Irrigated Grassland is now useful and giving 3 food, and the Pheasants are also reading their true potential.  I have a LOT of food surplus available now.  Gotta be smart about how I'll use it.
C: Mount Vectron is scheduled to produce more Settlers, and has enough food for immediate regrowth, so does not need to work high food tiles.  I worry that maybe I should be focusing on growing it larger, but then again, I don't have the infrastructure to support larger populations optimally yet, and it's already working some truly wonderful tiles.
D: Hamborg is a bit small to be building a Settler, don't you think?  I agree!  That's why this is actually a pre-build for a Longboat that I'll make next turn when I get Map-Making.

[HansLemurson]

Turn 17

Top 5 Cities:

Pop 6 is the new meta.

Demographics:

#1 in Population, Production, and Econ!!!
kamBLR must have done something that lowered his Econ compared to last turn.
I expect ilkkachu to overtake me in populations soon, since he is clearly ahead in cities, and my next batch of settlers comes out soon.

Science:

Mysticism grants Temples their full +2 content, and also allows the Temple of Artemis small-wonder which doubles that to +4 content (basically the Oracle).

Overview:

A: I decided to rush-buy the Granary in Vectron's Glory last turn, so that it could get an early start on the Hanging Gardens.  
When I get my 11th city, I'll get +1 unrest across my empire, and the Hanging Gardens should cancel that out.
VG is also going to grow, which should help me get the Hanging Gardens even faster.
B: Duorpm looks fairly unremarkable, but has a surprisingly large food surplus due to its grassland and fish.  It will need a granary soon.
C: Meideborg has spare population and production that needs to be put to use.  More Settlers!!!
D: Bronswiek is going to build a settler which will head to Hamborg.
E: Hamborg will build a Longboat which will load the settler and set sail!
F: Mount Vectron is building another Settler, but I think it's days of NOT growing large are over.  It has good land, and needs to grow big to take advantage of it all.
G: New city to be founded!  Settler came from Lubeck.  The city will have to spend a turn on a forest tile before it gets cleared, but at least that's extra production.

City Spotlight:

Meideborg is producing quite a lot of production for a "Normal" city.  It's inefficiently working a regular forest tile because I want the Settler sooner, and extra food does no good when the city shrinks and regrows.

Exploration:

On T16 Zoe spotted an Longboat from the enemy team, owned by the Indians, lead by Ghamath.
On this turn, we ran afoul of some rule confusion, and didn't realize the full implications of the "Fuel Limits" that were recently added to ships, to represent their limited food supplies.
We didn't understand why her Icelandic Trireme was being told that it couldn't move towards the Indian ship, and advised her on things to try to get closer.
It turned out the Trireme's only chance to survive was if it had headed back to the nearest port immediately and made no other moves.
This represents a major loss so early in the game.

[HansLemurson]

Turn 18: New Horizons

Top 5 Cities:

Vectron's Glory is known to all!

Demographics:

No longer #1 in anything but research.  
Me overtaking the Badians there is probably just due to how gold vs/ science is distributed in different cities.
I'm worried about 57 production only putting me in 3rd place, and #2 and #1 are not on our team.  It's probably just a tightly packed race.

Science:

Mysticism keeps on coming.

Exploration:

I finally got my longboat out, and it spied the promised land!


However there's a catch.  Although it's my nearest island, it's also Ireland's nearest island too.
After a lot of thinking, planning, and negotiation with team-mates, we settled on a plan where I would settle my port city (since my settler was already available), but Ireland would be in charge of colonizing the rest of the island.



We're not sure if it's one medium-sized island or two small ones, but my money is on "one island".  Iceland was kindly able to provide a bit of scouting for us.


My longboat, having dropped off the Settler, will now look for more islands in this area before heading over to pick up a settler to claim northern islands.

Overview:

A: Clearing some swamp in preparation for a new city here.
B: Building a road so that the settler can found its new city immediately next turn (just below the whale)
C: VG grew again, and is very productive.  I think it will finish the Hanging Gardens in just enough time to build an Aqueduct without halting growth.
D: Team of 3 workers building a mine in 1 turn. 1 veteran and 2 green workers provide 3+3+4.5 = 10.5 WP, and mines cost 10.
River hills are nice because not only do they add trade to a tile that would normally be without it, but they are pre-roaded, so you can sent work teams over to them without delay.
E: Mount Vectron did NOT instantly re-grow after building a settler.  The defecit food production I was using so cleverly got applied after the food box shrank, so 16/20 -2 = 12/14.  
Oh well, it's just one turn of growth in one city.  It just means I get to work the Iron one turn longer than expected.  And production is nice to have too!
F: Wismer founded.  It's on a forest so has poor growth, but that will be cleared next turn.  It will grow in 5 turns, thanks to the Fish.
G: New city planned!
Important note on cities: I have 10 cities now, but next turn I will have 12.  I'm building lots of warriors to act as Military Police, since I will get my first unrest now at Size 3 instead of Size 4.
Once the Hanging Gardens are built, this will be fixed, but the warriors will still be useful since my cities are going to grow with granaries anyways.  So much to build!

That's all for now, folks!