[PB59] Tarkeel is alone against the darkness

[Tarkeel]

Turn 1 (3960 BC)
We founded our capital of Kingsport on the sugar and send the scout to take a look at the northern coast:


Looks like there's a lot of near coastal islands to settle. More immediately, the grass SW of the scout looks like a decent city, can share the capital corn while growing and expanding onto it's own crabs.

There are some discrepancies between the starting screenshot and what we've unfogged:

• Two pieces of river are missing, as mentioned earlier. This isn't a big deal as it shouldn't affect trade connections, and will actually be good for our road movement.
  
• The grass hill three south of Kingsport was supposed to be a peak. Not complaining about this one.
  
• The grass island (?) to the east was supposed to have wine. This is a bigger concern, but only in the long term. If this was intentionally removed as part of a balancing pass I can accept that, but it would have been nice to be told about it.
  

I can't help myself from doing some demographics scrying. Going by population there have been five cities founded by opponents; if we assume that all thre who played so far have founded it means that only two people went from settling on the first turn. Going by rival best MFG and crop yield reveals that at least one has founded on sugar and another on plainshill and is working a forested plainshill.

[Tarkeel]

Turn 2 (3920 BC)
As I don't have a dedlurker to keep informed I'll stick to reporting highlights, but our scout has already uncovered an interesting puzzle:


Settling on the location of the scout would be a good second coastal city, but it would make it impossible to claim the crabs from the mainland. It's way too early to decide on any dotmaps, but the plainshill also looks like a decent alternative. I'm not sure how much of this is handcrafted, but I appreciate the puzzle Lewwyn.

[Lewwyn]

There are some discrepancies between the starting screenshot and what we've unfogged:

• Two pieces of river are missing, as mentioned earlier. This isn't a big deal as it shouldn't affect trade connections, and will actually be good for our road movement.
  
• The grass hill three south of Kingsport was supposed to be a peak. Not complaining about this one.
  
• The grass island (?) to the east was supposed to have wine. This is a bigger concern, but only in the long term. If this was intentionally removed as part of a balancing pass I can accept that, but it would have been nice to be told about it.
  

-The rivers I tried to make a bit prettier and the tiles are all still riverside, and yes movement is improved.
-In my next wave of balancing after starting screens the peak didn't make sense.
-Yeah I forgot you could see those, the wines were part of a happiness balance.

[Lewwyn]

I'm not sure how much of this is handcrafted, but I appreciate the puzzle Lewwyn.

[Tarkeel]

There are some discrepancies between the starting screenshot and what we've unfogged:

• Two pieces of river are missing, as mentioned earlier. This isn't a big deal as it shouldn't affect trade connections, and will actually be good for our road movement.
  
• The grass hill three south of Kingsport was supposed to be a peak. Not complaining about this one.
  
• The grass island (?) to the east was supposed to have wine. This is a bigger concern, but only in the long term. If this was intentionally removed as part of a balancing pass I can accept that, but it would have been nice to be told about it.
  

-The rivers I tried to make a bit prettier and the tiles are all still riverside, and yes movement is improved.
-In my next wave of balancing after starting screens the peak didn't make sense.
-Yeah I forgot you could see those, the wines were part of a happiness balance.

As long as it's intentional and not an oversight I can live with that

[Tarkeel]

Turn 3 (3880 BC)
That plainshill does indeed look like a good candidate for the first city:


Immediate access to 6/0 tile, and can work the capital corn while it's improved, then grow a 4/2 after border expansion. At least 4 hills and 6 forests available, which can fuel a decent rush. We need to explore more, but the west looks very promising. Think I'll check out the gold before curving south-east around the capital.

[Tarkeel]

Turn 8 (3680 BC)
I've been playing the last few turns on the go, just circling the scout around the capital revealing a lot of good resources. This turn we're facing with something of a dilemma:


Normally I'd like to complete the circuit of inner-ring cities, but with the southeast being the obvious focalpoint it's important to know if the southwest is a peninsula (aka: backlines) or a landbridge (aka: frontline). We haven't seen any barbarian animals yet, but that doesn't mean they're not lurking in the shadows...

(For the detail-oriented, the scout went to the gold, then SE to plainshill, SE-E to grasshill, then SW-SE to where it's now.)

[Tarkeel]

Turn 9 (3640 BC) First contact
Big news, as we've stumbled onto our first contact, and it's time for the first opponent overview:


That's Commodore, playing Lieu-Ye (ORG/PRO) of Rome. I've read some of Commodore's reports, and he's prone to either being one of the sharks in the pond or playing at silly (but entertaining) meta-games. There's no telling what he's doing here, but his civ and leader are both top notch. Overall I think he's one of the top three contenders to win this, alongside Mack and TBS. Given the placement of his scout he's obviously seen our capital borders and was trying to avoid showing himself, which is a smart move against Egypt. The current plan is to build enough war chariots to keep him (and the barbarians) honest, but I expect him to invest enough in spears to not make a full rush viable.

Edit: He's also researched Hunting already.

In other good news, the southwest is indeed a peninsula, so we might want to expand straight south to lock it off.

[Tarkeel]

Turn 13 (3480 BC) Animal Threat
Buddhism was researched this turn, and uur first worker Abd al-Azred is completed. He puts in a turn of roadwork on the way over to the corn. Just as the scout completes his detour and gets back to mapping the frontline, a wild lion appears just where we intended to go:


Commodore managed to get there the turn before, so with some luck the lion will attack him instead. This looks like it will be an important place to settle first.

[Tarkeel]

Turn 14 (3440 BC)
The lion had 23% odds, but luck was on our side and the scout prevailed. For some reason I didn't get the round-by-round breakdown, but he seems to have lost one round. Al-azred starts farming the corn.


The map seems pretty square, so it could possible be a patchwork of "islands" for each player with interconnections. Based on what we know of Commodore's movement, I think he's most likely located to the east. I don't think he came from the northwest, even if there is a connection there, but he could be tricking me by heading home across that narrow jungle peninsula. It seems like a city next to the peak will play an important role in the future.