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[SPOILERS] Magic Science and Nobody Else in Pitboss 66

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT: We formally offer a correction for the previous 2 turn reports.

To wit, the distribution of places with 2 food resources in the first ring across the known world is actually like this:

Zeus: Fish and Deer together
HERA: CORN AND CRAB TOGETHER Doh
West Wilderness Older: Pig and Cow together
East Wilderness Newer: Wheat and Fish together

In the previous 2 turn reports, I somehow forgot about the food situation of my dearly beloved 2nd city of Hera.
I have slighted the vengeful goddess Hera at the very moment I require divine intervention for Guy. Forgive me. please
Participated in: Pitboss 40 (lurked by Mr. Cairo), Pitboss 45 (lurked by Charriu and chumchu), Pitboss 63 (replaced Mr. Cairo), Pitboss 66Pitboss 69, Pitboss 74
Participating in: Pitboss 78 (lurked by GT), Pitboss 79 (lurking giraflorens)

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PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCMENT from The Ever-Correct Magic Science Prognostication Department (ECMSPD):
(let's try this again)

   

We formally predict that the discovery of Animal Husbandry EOT 42 will reveal Horse on the tile 1NE of Hera, labelled "HORSE" in the above screenshot.

We also invite readers to take a moment to observe the pretty colors of the Trade Route Overview.

...

There is this phenomenon in these games. In the early turns, we all desperately try to learn a working model for how trade routes actually work. Then we discover Sailing and reveal tiles and spread culture and build roads everywhere and make it all irrelevant, so we forget all about it... until next time. 

wink
Participated in: Pitboss 40 (lurked by Mr. Cairo), Pitboss 45 (lurked by Charriu and chumchu), Pitboss 63 (replaced Mr. Cairo), Pitboss 66Pitboss 69, Pitboss 74
Participating in: Pitboss 78 (lurked by GT), Pitboss 79 (lurking giraflorens)

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Spam-alo, spam-ala, spammy spammy spammy spam.

Amicalola recently renamed his nation to the "Appalachian Empire", and Ginger and Miguelito renamed their nation to the "Wholly Holy Empire". I strongly approve. Renaming your cities adds character to the game, and renaming your civilization adds even more, which is why I do both and more every game.
Participated in: Pitboss 40 (lurked by Mr. Cairo), Pitboss 45 (lurked by Charriu and chumchu), Pitboss 63 (replaced Mr. Cairo), Pitboss 66Pitboss 69, Pitboss 74
Participating in: Pitboss 78 (lurked by GT), Pitboss 79 (lurking giraflorens)

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Where were we, where were we? There were many events over the past few centuries. Eees.

Turns 41 through 48 – 2360 BC through 2080 BC
Part 1
   
6 turns on, all my knowledge of the westerly south is still captured in this 1 screenshot. That damn Bear is to blame, of course. In defiance of all the natural and Pantheon-fearing principles of probability, the Bear chased Guy south for 3 turns, then attacked and destroyed him at 25.68% odds of victory in the early seconds of Turn 43. Goodbye Guy. No more knowledge for me.

I could have moved Guy south again to safety on Turn 42; I considered doing that. However, I am content with taking the other option despite the outcome. There is little that I care to know about the region south of the chokepoint at the moment. Work Boat spotted Spanish culture at the edge of the dark fog to the south on Turn 41 (can you spot it too?), so everything south of the chokepoint is firmly in Civeel’s domain, and not as important to discover as the disputed lands. Also, the details of the chokepoint itself are unimportant, because the chokepoint is ineffective for my purposes. If I settled on the chokepoint, I would seal off all the land to the north, but from what I can see that land is a wasteland in which there is no food. If there is some nice food nearby in dark fog in the west, then I could just settle for the nearest of that food directly, which would seal off any additional food even farther west just as well as settling on the chokepoint would.

Settling on that chokepoint would produce a more defensible border with Civeel, but it would not produce a border that fences off any extra WORTHWHILE land for me.

Questions about the westerly south that I do want answered: Is that culture from Civeel’s first city or their second city? (their second city got a free spread of Buddhism, and its borders will expand on Turn 49). Is that blob of land with the Wheat an island or not? It would be an unusually large island for Torusworld, so probably not, but maybe.


   
Likewise, all my current knowledge of the easterly south is captured in this 6-turn-old screenshot. Nobody died to a Barbarian Warrior on Turn 43. (I named him in anticipation of a sentence like that. smug). This death almost stopped me from learning if there was another path to this region by land or not by a margin of one turn of scouting. But then…


   
…then I became an ace camera pilot for just long enough to take this screenshot. I have no idea how I did this, and I have not been able to achieve this illuminating camera angle again, but this one time was all I needed to confirm that the land ends shortly. There is no other way to reach it except by boat, and it is therefore an excellent place to fence off as backlines.
This was a great moment for me. shades.


   
On the same turn, the exploration of Work Boat (later renamed “Cassandra”) in the north came to an end, but only because the water came to an end. This was sooner than I expected, but it is another piece of great news. The coasts, peaks, and lakes combine perfectly to form a barrier against my rivals in this direction. All I need to do is settle by those Cows near where Nobody fought the Tactical Genius Lion earlier, and I can fence off the mountain passes here in the north as well as the blob in the southeast.


   
I revealed no new tiles for a few turns after all that, but I did learn more about my old tiles once I had Animal Husbandry on Turn 43.

Things to note:
• 3 Horse resources!
• The formal prediction of the ECMSPD about the location of my Horse was incorrect. HOWEVER, this is only because Krill used Worldbuilder to place them in an unnatural location adjacent to Crabs. neenerneener. I am 100% confident in this. Krill absolutely placed that Horse with Worldbuilder, and the Horse across the water was absolutely generated naturally by Torusworld’s resource balancing function (so there should be no resources adjacent to it, even in the dark fog). Pretty please, confirm this in the lurker thread before the memory fades. I want vindication.
• There is no good way to connect a Horse resource anytime soon. I think I should settle 2N of the Horse across the water, then build a monument and claim 2 Horse resources at once. smoke? Horses are overrated, no Horses for me until Turn 80, this is a good idea.
Participated in: Pitboss 40 (lurked by Mr. Cairo), Pitboss 45 (lurked by Charriu and chumchu), Pitboss 63 (replaced Mr. Cairo), Pitboss 66Pitboss 69, Pitboss 74
Participating in: Pitboss 78 (lurked by GT), Pitboss 79 (lurking giraflorens)

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This report covers 8 turns together, which is too many. I should not wait so long. Writing these sooner helps me organize my thoughts in the moment, and makes for a suspenseful lurking experience in my thread.

Also, you cannot add more than 5 attachments to 1 post. I present:


Turns 41 through 48 – 2360 BC through 2080 BC
Part 2
   
Where should I settle Poseidon? On the seaside tundra tile, or the riverside grassland tile 1N?

Poseidon itself will be weaker if it is placed on the riverside grassland tile. Compared to the tundra version, grassland Poseidon is down one riverside bonus and one forest, as well as one turn and one Lighthouse (eventually). But grassland Poseidon permits a city to the south on the bare grassland hill for first-ring Crabs, and tundra Poseidon does not.

Which is better, grassland Poseidon and grassland hill CrabCity, or tundra Poseidon and grassland flat CrabCity?

After much deliberation, I decided to settle Poseidon on the tundra and CrabCity on the grassland flat, as the signs indicate. CrabCity will not be settled until late in the backfill phase, so I think it is okay to not have a first-ring food resource. It can be a slow city. Also, settling CrabCity on the grassland flat is the only way to secure that second Crabs tile from my side of the water. That Crabs may be better suited for a city on the other side of the water, and settling for it on my side might screw up the dotmap on the other side. However, if the other side is connected to Civeel by land, then it is firmly in their domain and I do not care, and if it is an island that I can contest, then I cannot screw up the dotmap from my side anyway.

Poseidon was settled according to plan on Turn 44.


   
Cassandra was on the edge of known territory again on Turn 46, and I had to decide rather to send her north or west. North to learn how long I can delay settling the defensively vital land across the water from Zeus (I need a better name for that region ASAP, please send nomenclative help), or west (but still north later) because Guy may be dead but I still need to learn if it is a good region to try to fence off with IMP and Phalanxes. Also, my fourth city, “Demeter”, is going west between the Pig and Cow, and Cassandra could help keep an eye on things over there as my land units move out.

After much deliberation, I sent her north, and 2 turns later all that deliberation was made irrelevant by Spice Island. Cassandra will just take the long way around the island and discover much of the west and then the north at the same time.

For the record, I have been pretty sure for a while now that the Pig 2S of Spice Island is NOT on its own island. Camera flying indicates that it is a peninsula of the main continent. Soon we shall see.


   
Contemporary domestic overview!

I am not sure if this screenshot shows it well, but my civilization is not in a state that I am proud of. On Turn 43, the micromanagement plan ran out, and I have not yet developed another one. Turns 43 through 48 were played one by one as they came, with minimal simulation work. Some errors made in this interval are already obvious. I think that strong early micromanagement achieved through extensive simulation work was my greatest strength in Pitbosses 40 and 45, so this is a terrible thing for me.

Now Barbarian Warriors are attacking in the west and the east to make things even worse. I wanted to send Bro the Warrior to walk in Guy’s footsteps, but he was forced to turn around to defend Hera. I wanted to use queue upgrading to train Charriu the Phalanx in Hera, but now I need to finish the Warrior so I can take a coinflip shot at destroying the Barbarian Warrior before he can pillage my Corn farm. I wanted to chop that riverside forested grassland hill, but now my worker had to flee with 2 turns of chopping complete. rant. He should have been on that other forest to begin with, that was an error. We will see if the Barbarian in the east proves as disruptive.

Oh, and I was nearly done with a nice micromanagement plan to complete Stonehenge EOT 53, but superdeath completed it EOT 47. banghead. Not surprising, and not costly this early in my plan for it, but still annoying.

By the way, I resolved at the start of this game to be less of a wonderwimp this time around. I think I have never built one in a Pitboss before.

LASTLY, a Roman scout came from the north on Turn 47. Considered together with Cassandra’s discoveries of the shape of the land across the water, I think that Plemadilly may in fact be a land neighbor of mine in the northeast, not an Additional Amphibian Neighbor in the north. Disturbing.

LASTLY LASTLY, both Civeel and Plemadilly have spent every Espionage Point generated since contact on me. I still lack Plemadilly’s graphs, and will for a while longer. They both need to get out more and make new friends.
Participated in: Pitboss 40 (lurked by Mr. Cairo), Pitboss 45 (lurked by Charriu and chumchu), Pitboss 63 (replaced Mr. Cairo), Pitboss 66Pitboss 69, Pitboss 74
Participating in: Pitboss 78 (lurked by GT), Pitboss 79 (lurking giraflorens)

Criticism welcome!
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Turn 49 through Turn 53– 2040 BC through 1880 BC
Part 1
   
At the dawn of Turn 49, the Barbarian Warriors advanced from the west and east.

In the west I had three Warriors of my own. One newborn to attack the Barbarian (coinflip shot) to try to save my Corn Farm, and two coming in to keep Hera totally safe when the attacking one inevitably died.

This was the tensest battle yet, so I named the newborn attacking Warrior “Charriu I” for good luck.

And…


   
WE WON! dancing

Thank you, Charriu!


   
Then I realized that I had been an idiot on Turn 48. smoke.

That was the turn that Dude the Warrior spotted the other Barbarian Warrior moving in dangerously near to Poseidon, but then kept moving out to explore anyway. Then Dog the Warrior, Zeus’ garrison, moved away west to defend Hera. I just didn’t think that the eastern Barbarian would keep coming towards me, I guess. More like I just didn’t think. For a moment I thought that I could still protect Poseidon properly with the new Axeman being chopped to completion, but I had just counted the turns wrong.

Altogether this left me with only one Warrior, named “Pal”, between Poseidon and certain doom. That Warrior had a 90.06% chance to win, but it should never have come to that anyway.

And at the very start of Turn 50…


   
WE WON AGAIN! dancing

Crisis averted. Whew.

You can also see that Plemadilly’s Scout finally moved on. I never had a good opportunity to destroy it. Plemadilly saw the whole sordid saga of the eastern Barbarian with that Scout, though I don’t know how that information can help them. However, if they learn that there is no one else around to contest this southeastern region by land, then that information would help them, but I think there is a good chance that the Scout is destroyed too soon for that.

There is no way for it to slip back north without me knowing, so we shall see.
Participated in: Pitboss 40 (lurked by Mr. Cairo), Pitboss 45 (lurked by Charriu and chumchu), Pitboss 63 (replaced Mr. Cairo), Pitboss 66Pitboss 69, Pitboss 74
Participating in: Pitboss 78 (lurked by GT), Pitboss 79 (lurking giraflorens)

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Turn 49 through Turn 53– 2040 BC through 1880 BC
Part 2
   
The second thing I saw upon logging in to play Turn 50 was Mjmd’s unnatural green culture at the edge of the dim fog. Cassandra had not moved yet; the culture is the new thing. Mjmd settled his fifth city (named “Away Rio”) 1W of the Pigs before I logged in and rendered Demeter’s spot illegal. This was an unpleasant way to meet an unexpected neighbor. I feel better and better about my choice to train Cassandra so early with every passing turn.
Hmm. contemplate



My thinking is this: when Mjmd settled his city of Away Rio, I lost the race for that region. Maybe I lost it because Guy died young. Maybe I lost it because my opening was poor. Maybe I lost it because Mjmd was simply too close. But I definitely lost it. Settlings boldly but peacefully to fence off that region with IMP and Phalanxes is not possible.

I could try to capture Away Rio; I do have Copper and an Axeman. But I think that is a bad idea. The region around Away Rio is not Paradise; it is merely pretty nice. And Away Rio / Demeter does not claim a disproportionate amount of WORTHWHILE land. IF there is a chokepoint over there that does claim a disproportionate amount of land, it is still in the dark fog, and I would need to capture at least one more Zulu city to reach it. This is sounding less like a surgical strike and more like a full-blown Ancient Era war. And how could that possibly be a good idea when the land to my east is expansive, perfect for my plan, and still open to be peacefully claimed? So I will leave Mjmd in peace for now.

Furthermore, my fourth and fifth cities will now not even be sent in Mjmd’s direction. The spot to claim the western Mjmd-adjacent Cow is not a chokepoint and is not especially strong. It is only more likely to be stolen than the eastern spots, MAYBE.

Down the rabbit-hole: from Espionage Points, I know that Civeel and Mjmd met each other on Turn 17 at the latest. I bet that Mjmd’s starting Scout survived and made it all the way to my borders, then retreated without making contact. He knows where I live. He knows of me and my region. He settled for the first-ring Pig and second-ring aquatic Pig instead of the first-ring Pig and first-ring Cow that I was going to settle for. My spot would stop me from settling for the second-ring Clams on this side of the water. My shallow reading of the Pitboss 62 threads makes me suspect that Mjmd has already decided exactly where I should settle to ensure a peaceful border between us. I think that he intends to let me have the Cow and Clams to avoid conflict, so I can safely delay settling for the Cow until Turn 61 (little does he know, I planned all along to leave the Clams for a city across the water, still need a name for that place). Happily, Mjmd is reporting this game, so someday I will know the truth. smile.

   
In the present day, Espionage remains frustrating. Unless Civeel met Mjmd on exactly Turn 17, then Civeel must have met someone else as well, and yet they have spent every single Espionage Point since contact on me. rant. Maybe they want research visibility? At this rate they will have it soon. I have a spreadsheet to track this turn-by-turn so I cannot be caught by surprise like players so often are. Meanwhile, Plemadilly has also spent every single Espionage Point since contact on me, but in their case it might not be by choice. Still annoying. Together, their actions force me to make the unpleasant choice between them.

I chose to take one last round of screenshots of Civeel’s graphs, then give up on them for now. Plemadilly, playing Tokugawa of Rome, is the land neighbor I am settling towards to fence out of a lot of land, so I need their graphs quickly.

Also, I met superdeath, cool. Cassandra found him, and he across the water and far away. We may compete for some amphibian spots, but not much and not for a while.


   
I owe you an updated screenshot of my demographics now that Poseidon has joined the Pantheon. They seem bad.

More of a strategy overview to come next report. I need to actually play my turns and then sleep. Then we will see about a consistent schedule for these reports that does not require me to split them into parts. crazyeye.

Oh, and I do have a micromanagement plan to follow now. smile.
Participated in: Pitboss 40 (lurked by Mr. Cairo), Pitboss 45 (lurked by Charriu and chumchu), Pitboss 63 (replaced Mr. Cairo), Pitboss 66Pitboss 69, Pitboss 74
Participating in: Pitboss 78 (lurked by GT), Pitboss 79 (lurking giraflorens)

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It's an honor to serve
Mods: RtR    CtH

Pitboss: PB39, PB40PB52, PB59 Useful Collections: Pickmethods, Mapmaking, Curious Civplayer

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goodjob

Don't worry, you will still get your Phalanx as well. That's why I named the Warrior "Charriu I".
Participated in: Pitboss 40 (lurked by Mr. Cairo), Pitboss 45 (lurked by Charriu and chumchu), Pitboss 63 (replaced Mr. Cairo), Pitboss 66Pitboss 69, Pitboss 74
Participating in: Pitboss 78 (lurked by GT), Pitboss 79 (lurking giraflorens)

Criticism welcome!
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On Turn 54 I played last, then logged out after the turn roll without doing anything. On Turn 55 I waited until civac2 and Tarkeel played, then logged in to play and declared war on them. I sent them both the following message about the situation:


Magic Science Wrote:Hello civac2 and Tarkeel,

YOUR HEADS WOULD LOOK GOOD ON THE END OF A POLE!

I regret to inform you that as of Turn 55 in PB66 a state of war exists between our nations.
You have the first half and I have the second half.

I can tell that you both like to log in all the time, so just know that I do not care if you log in on my half of the turn to look around, take screenshots, the usual, whatever. Don't worry about it.

Happy civving,
-Magic Science


Can a lurker confirm that I am handling this properly? It has been a while since Pitboss 45, and it seems that there has been more discussion about the rules since the last time I played. At least Old Harry's etiquette thread is several pages longer than I remember...
Participated in: Pitboss 40 (lurked by Mr. Cairo), Pitboss 45 (lurked by Charriu and chumchu), Pitboss 63 (replaced Mr. Cairo), Pitboss 66Pitboss 69, Pitboss 74
Participating in: Pitboss 78 (lurked by GT), Pitboss 79 (lurking giraflorens)

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