[PB58] Tarkeel and Amicalola's rule through fear

[Tarkeel]

Turn 73 (1080 BC)
The peacetime bonus kicked in on our trade routes with AT, boosting our trade routes to 28. I tried to bribe SD with copper (which he doesn't have connected for some reason) for OB, but he tried to extort my last gold. That's not happening, especially since the scout looking to enter his lands made contact with Jowy.

Ah Jowy, who once looked so promising, hasn't planted a city in the last ten turns, and is still stuck at six and dead last. Before we met him I double and triple checked PBSpy to see if I had missed something. He's actually at war with Ruff, so we might be able to claim more than our share of the middle.

Demographics

[Amicalola]

Ok, so last up on the agenda was dotmapping. Forgive my signs; Tarkeel knows from 56 that I am addicted to them. I blame Mjmd for kickstarting the habit.




Tarkeel has a really nice system whereby some more important dots have colours (for example, our canal city is blue-dot). The filler fishing villages are meanwhile all just White dots. The coloured dots are generally higher priority than the white, with the exception of brown dot (can you guess what that one means?  ). 

For the most part, I agree that Blue and Green dots are our next most desirable cities. Blue dot will be a good midgame commerce city, while Green dot will be a monster late, but take ages to get up-and-running. Brown dot, unfortunately, must also come somewhat soon, to establish a good border with Superdeath. 

After that, I think there are some white dots that are more important than others. The two on the closer island are extremely important. While we finally have all international trade routes starting this turn, we will A) get currency at some point, and B) presumably get embargoed at some point. Superdeath is already refusing to open borders, for example. Other more important white dots, to me, would be the Corn spot southwest of Kuat, which is just a very strong city, and the corn site due west of Kuat, which is likely to be contested by Ruff. I think there is an argument for leaving the latter unsettled, to minimize Ruff conflict, since already SD isn't exactly being co-operative right now. We'll have to decide pretty soon either way.

The northern coast is both weak and uncontested, so can definitely wait a while. Similar are the other fishing villages on the ivory coast. Having spotted Serdoa's borders with Bespin, it seems very likely that the western islands will go to him. It will take ages until Bespin is ready for a galley, unfortunately. It looks to us like we will have room for about 20 cities of peaceful expansion.

[pindicator]

Tarkeel, your city placement is beautiful and nothing like what I expected when I put this map together. Keep it up!

[Tarkeel]

Thank you pindi! I try to make the best out of the land we're dealt, and with Great Lighthouse I'm trying to make the most out of the coast available. We have hopes of landing Colossus as well, which really makes any fishing village worth it. I also favor settling stronger cities early, especially when barbarians aren't there to hinder you. Kuat is going to be a very valuable #4 city, for comparison you can see Belkar which is AT's #4. That city certainly has strategic value but less raw power.

I made another attempt at a very greedy dotmap of the west, I doubt I'll be able to claim all this though:


That silver/rice city would be awesome though!

[Tarkeel]

Turn 74 (1040 BC)
We start burning gold on MetalCasting this turn, and our GNP is quite competitive. As usual, I've forgotten to introduce our latest worker, The Devastator:



The Devastator has a long and proud history, from the subjugation of Ralltiir, to the battle of Hoth, until it's destruction at the battle of Endor. It's perhaps most famous for serving as Lord Vader's flagship when it captured the Tantive IV.

Demographics

[Tarkeel]

Turn 75 (1000 BC)
Someone (most likely Serdoa) built the Oracle this turn, but did not take MetalCasting or CodeOfLaws with it.

State of the Empire
With Great Lighthouse and open borders, our foreign trade routes cover almost the entire expenses of our cities.


Our four latest cities are still small and growing; we'll plant one more strategic city for the ivory next turn. We'll need to grow and improve our lands some more before the next wave of settlers.


The central highland beteen Ruff, AT and ourself will be of strategic importance later on. I hope to get some more cities here.



Technology Thoughts
T0: Hunting, essential for bringing our strongest tile online.
T0: Mining, for fast research of BronzeWorking.
T16: BronzeWorking, for chopping settlers and workers.
T31: AnimalHusbandry, for bringing online the best tiles for all of our first four cities.
T39: Mysticism, for an attempt at Stonehenge
T45: TheWheel, for connecting cities and resources
T48: Fishing, for finally working some water commerce, and starting on Sailing
T58: Sailing, for trade connections and  lighthouses (small and Great)
T62: Masonry, for Great Lighthouse
T66: Agriculture, for Kuat's rice and Pottery pre-req
T68: Pottery, for granaries, MetalCasting pre-req and cottages
T80 (est): MetalCasting, for forges and Colossus

Planet Overview

Coruscant
Our capital is pretty well developed, but recovering from whipping out the latest infrastructure.

Kessel
Kessel has been very important for our economy so far, but it's starting to feel the lack of attention and infrastructure.

Fondor
While Kessel's best days are in the past, Fondor's are in the future. Right now we're growing to be in position to build forge and Colossus in 5 turns time.

Kuat
Kuat is probably our strongest city after Coruscant, and is growing onto some more hillside mines.

Mon Calamari
This one is mostly a drain right now, but once Moai (and hopefully Colossus) comes in, this will be a great city.

Endor
Our "secret base" is also not a bery good city right now, but with some improvements and infrastructure it will be decent. It's importance is mainly strategic, setting a good border to AT.

Bespin
This satelite city was originally founded to claim stone, but proved to be one of the most important cities of our empire, as it gives trade connection to Serdoa.

Corulag
A decent enough hybrid city with enough hills to build infrastructure and rivers for commerce.

By Popular Demand...

Planets:









Workers:






Various:

Demographics

[Tarkeel]

Turn 76 (975 BC)
Our ninth city was founed to claim the ivory and horses. We're starting to feel the squeeze now, as it has a net cost of 6 but brings in 7 with double foreign traderoutes. We'll need to settle some island cities soon to keep up the trade income.

The Wookiee homeworld of Kashyyyk is covered by wroshyr forests, creating a layered ecosystem best described as a death trap.

Demographics

[civac2]

How many workers do you have?

[Tarkeel]

How many workers do you have?

Not enough? Only five, spread out as follows:
#1 Accuser, improving Kuat/Corulag region
#2 Avenger, improving Kashyyyk
#3 Chimaera, improving Endor
#4 Conquest, improving Corulag
#5 Devastator, pre-chopping at Fondor

[Tarkeel]

Turn 77 (950 BC)
Last turn Ruff made peace with Jowy and Serdoa cancelled our open borders, so we really should get those island cities settled, and it's getting hard to predict when MetalCasting casting will come in.

Demographics