[SPOILERS] Chevalier Mal Fet and Marcopolothefraud lead a Soviet Down Under

[marcopolothefraud]

Early Empire's a good idea, because I'm not likely to reach 6 pop anytime soon. That means you can help me boost it.

We should also consider Foreign Trade, to boost Galley production and to have a Trader unit. Maybe I'll go for that civic, and research it even without an Inspiration. Keep in mind that my culture is 4.1/turn, soon to approach 6.3/turn once the Blueprint has a Monument and another population - and this is going to be higher than Russian culture for the near-future. That means I should probably assist you with the harder Ancient-Era civics.

It's a little ironic that Russia is the one with more science, while Australia is the one with more culture right now.

P.S. Do you think I should put my Mysticism-envoy in Yerevan? It'd barely make a difference whether I had a pantheon or not, and I'll gain an Envoy with my Great Scientist in the near future...

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Do you have an urgent need for faith? I dropped mine in Yerevan since the terrain is garbage and I can definitely use the boosted lavras, but for Australia, it might be wiser to conserve that until we find some more neighbors overseas. If you find a culture or science state just offshore that'd be a more valuable use, so I think sit on the envoy and wait for the GS.

[marcopolothefraud]

Turn 34


I checked the Appeal and Settler mapmodes, and there's nothing out of the ordinary. For the most part, this doesn't look like very good land.

EDIT: Forgot to mention, but I decided to keep my envoy and ignore the pantheon for now.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

My last two turns have been quiet - the warriors reveal mostly ice and tundra in the south, while the cities are now 2/4 turns from completing their lavras.

Tundra to the south and desert to the east - the only terrain we have that's not shitty is the little patch around Australia. Yikes, challenging start! Hopefully we can figure out how to make it work for us.

(Desert Folklore + Work Ethic Australia for maximum cheek)

(just kidding)

(unless...?)

[marcopolothefraud]

Turn 35


I wonder how much land exists to the east? Otherwise, everything is normal.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Where are you thinking of sending Settler #2? We want the city that will get up and running the fastest, I think, over long-term potential.

[marcopolothefraud]

Oslblaya looks good, with a 2 food/2 production tile and some 3/2 horses to get me going. (I will be able to culture-bomb some tiles, but I don't think that will be too beneficial in this case.) My campus will "only" have a +4 adjacency bonus, but that's already great.

However, if good land also exists to the east, I will settle it first. I don't want to close off Russia from expansion.

[marcopolothefraud]

Turn 36


Mackay will fall next turn, which is great news. I also decided to buy the tiles to place Campuses on, which required 110 gold. Unfortunately, Roland's constructed Stonehenge already...


Personally I would've delayed it until 2-3 turns after Russia's first holy site, just to play some mind games. That delay could've lulled Russia into a false sense of overconfidence and forced CMF to pursue a Holy Sites Prayer project, to no avail... Then again, maybe Roland is a relatively conservative player who doesn't want to risk losing the first religion under any circumstances.

CMF hasn't been posting screenshots, so I took the liberty of showing his area. Nothing particularly special.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Yeah, I'll get my screenies up next turn. The cities are building their lavras and the warriors have found nothing interesting other than vast tracts of tundra. I think you should settle Oslyabya - I can make use of the tundra and it looks like your terrain is all desert, so we are REALLY straining for space on this island. I crammed 6 tundra cities in, plus the marginal Navarin, plus Hong Kong, to give me a base of 10 cities to work from. With seafood, Russia's tundra bonus, and Work Ethic that MIIIIIIGHT just work.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Turn 36

Right, I need to get off my butt and give you the view from Russia. School started back up and the early days always cut into reporting time.




Finished our lavra and we're on course to grab the second religion in about 15 turns' time. All eyes on what Roland takes with his great prophet next turn - if it's Work Ethic, well, I can maybe make something work with Choral Music, but my land becomes far, far, far more shitty. It will be very difficult indeed to make the vast tundra work, but I'll do my best. 

Anyway, with two lavras, we'll be making 4 times as many GPP as anyone who finishes a Holy Site, so we'd've caught and passed China without Stonehenge. Not really a surprise that he built it - why bother taking China otherwise? The race was lost the moment he found a Natural Wonder on turn 4, while we have still come up dry 32 turns' worth of exploration later. Nothing really do be done there, just have to hope we get lucky. 

With the lavra done, Borodino will polish off the Monument next turn (a 1-turn build), then get out settler #2 for Imperator Aleksandr most likely. Knyaz Suvurov will finish in 2 turns, and then I have a choice of finishing the Granary, building a galley (possible) or starting settler #3 (a long build, perhaps not until Colonization is in?). It depends on how long the granary will take - I will get +4 production in 15 turns' time which will tremendously ease production here. 

I've been otherwise mapping the tundra and have found about 7 viable tundra cities. Here they are, west and east:




Here we have a couple of possibilities.

Navarin is a filler city, but can get a +6 (7?)lavra and a harbor. Food is a huge problem, but it only needs size 4. Then it will have a nice little bit of production and can perhaps be a naval unit producing city, though it will never amount to much. 

Far to the south, Petropavlosk will bring in Amber and copper, can get a +10! adjacency holy site, a +3 campus, and some fish for food. Food, again, is a huge problem. I'd like to get this one up to size 7 for the campus, lavra, and harbor. Again, the holy site will let it do work even with a small population, and hopefully the sea can feed it with the lighthouse? Internal trade routes are another possibility - I must prioritize those. 

Finally, Imperator Aleksandr will have horses and silver, seafood to grow, and a +10 lavra as well (assuming those are tundra mountains and I can doublecount? Not sure). I would like to get him to size 7 as well - once the lavra is up with work ethic, I think using the high production to get out the Ancestral Hall is the right move here. The tundra needs vast amount of builder labor to get itno a workable state, and Aleksandr is also land-locked and unable to contribute ships, so it makes sense as a settler pump. Getting to size 4 as quick as we can is a priority, so I'll need to send down a builder to get the fishing boats up. It can also take the cotton (sugar?) for rapid growth. 

Due south of Borodino is Oryol, presently unscouted. 




In the east, we have Sevastopol. It will depend on seafood and its +4/5? lavra, but can also contribute a +3 campus. 

Further south is Sissoi Veliki, with only some fish but a good campus/lavra site. Lavras will be essential at every city for their production and their faith, which will hopefully fuel builders/settlers/traders/great people down the line. Even units, once we hit the medieval era. I should be able to field Cossacks everywhere overseas fairly easily, saving me production for naval units. 

In the far east is a shitty ? that doesn't even merit a name yet (perhaps Oslyabya if Australia does indeed take the northern site). It'll be good for a lavra and can kick out ships.