[SPOILERS] yuris125, pitboss 76

[yuris125]

What's your ETA for Fission?

T169ish ought to do it

I don't really have an ETA for everything, or even for much but having one for the first two great people, each born with a single specialist, is easy enough

You need 500 culture to get the barb city into your culture. That is a lot. I guess if you have control of the first ring horses it's dangerous for anyone else to take the city.

Actually for the final orange dot, I would only need 100 culture, barb city is in the 3rd ring. It would've been 500 in the original orange dot - that's why I said moving it 1S was better for a flip attempt

Hemlock Stronghold is the hidden base of the forest-men.

Those forest-men sure look like they mean business! Can't say they did a good job hiding though

[yuris125]

Thoth's borders located




Looks like his 2nd city is not in my direction, and he missed out on the gold

[yuris125]

It's fascinating how different our openings are with the late era start. Clearly not everyone went for a worker in both cities as an opening. Pindicator grew the capital to size 5 and just adopted slavery, so he's probably whipping one

I have no idea if what I'm doing is good, and I know I already made mistakes. As pointed out earlier, using the missionary early inarguably was one, everyone else seems to be using theirs for scouting (definitely saw Pindicator's and Thoth's out in the wild). I also see others improved their copper, while mine is still bare. But, well, I have a plan, and we'll see how it plays out




Capital is now working two improved food resources. Its third tile will be the unimproved deer for now, and the 4th citizen will be a priest (2 workers are now on a forest to finish the temple with a chop). Copper will be improved in time for the 5th citizen. I should have a temple and a galley finished before the capital grows to size 6 and starts a settler. Still trying things in the sim to figure out if I want it whipped, and whether it should be a 2- or 3-pop whip

At Saver, I now finished a farm to keep its food surprlus at least at +5. It won't be worked all the time (especially the ivory is a tile I want to work constantly once it's improved), but I found this one farm to be necessary. Will improve the gold next, then finish the library with a chop. Again, still need to figure out what's next. Library finishes with the city at size 4, so I can immediately start a settler, or can grow to 5 or 6 first. Among other things, will depend on whether or not I need units - so far I just have the two starting archers, and nothing in the immediate plans

All in all, we're currently on T13, and I have a reasonably tight plan until T20, but after that I just have a general idea of what I want to accomplish (3rd city before T30, forge in the capital by the time great prophet is born so I can work an engineer, 4th city and Civil Service in early 30s)

Finally, met Scooter this turn around Thothland. So I guess Scooter is to my SW and Commodore to SE, but both aren't close enough to be an immediate concern

[yuris125]

Got open borders offer from Thoth. Decided that the pros outweigh the cons for now - I need to keep an eye on him, it will help with my scouting as much as with his, and I would rather he didn't declare war if I declined. I do expect things to heat up between us in the medium future, so will need to deny him scouting eventually. But for now I think it's beneficial

Met Commodore next to Pindicator's land

[yuris125]

One more realisation I had this morning. This continent is fairly easy to fogbust, but barbs can build units in their cities, and have access to copper and horses. I expect they will start building axes and horse archers, and our starting archers won't get amazing odds on defence. I haven't been including units in my build plans, especially as ancient era units will get obsolete fairly quickly, but think I need to put axe/spear pairs in any cities which are at risk of a barb attack

I expect to go no state religion once Christianity is founded (assuming I'm the one who founds it). If things go to plan and orange dot becomes Christian holy city, I will want to stick to Christianity as the state religion, to continue putting cultural pressure on Hemlock Stronghold. But I will need culture from both religions for initial border pops. The free Christian missionary is probably better to use in an established city, which has hammers to build more missionaries for the rest of the empire

So I think the plan is to build a few units in the T30-40 period, when I won't have OR bonus. Hope it won't be too late

Do we have deterministic barb combat on btw?

[yuris125]

Now that I have all contacts, it's intresesting to see what everyone is running




Things that caught my eye:
* Neither of the non-spiritual leaders went with Slavery. I think it makes sense, starting land is pretty high quality, there aren't many tiles one wouldn't want to whip off (which is why I'm struggling with my own whipping plan). But not having access to Slavery on demand is scary. Must be especially scary for Scooter, who drew the short straw of being between the two aggressive leaders, Commodore and Thoth
* Scooter is the only one running Caste, but that doesn't really stand out, his picks did suggest heavy focus on great people, so it makes sense
* Commodore's Despotism, on the other hand, does stand out. Both Despotism and HR are low upkeep, so I don't really see the benefit of staying in Despotism, even for a spiritual leader




Both mines are finishing next turn, just in time for the new citizens to work them. Ivory gets improved the turn after, and Saver switches to it from the farm, I experimented with it in the sim and am confident that losing the extra food for 2 turns is not as impactful as gaining 3 hpt. Then I build a cottage 2N of Well-Rounded, and then we go chopping, with 1 worker going on a business trip to the island

Sent OB offer to Scooter, no reason not to be friends with him

[yuris125]

Commodore already settled the 3rd city. I knew I wasn't set up for the fastest expansion, but this is still impressive. Looking at PBSpy, he's whipping a lot - so a completely different approach to what I'm doing

I spent some time in the sim, and think I have a plan until T35ish, which sees the 3rd city settled T27 or 28 (don't quite remember the exact one it ended up being), 4th city T31, and 5th city T36. All 3 settlers get whipped, before I pair the switch back to serfdom with adopting bureaucracy on T34

Pindicator meanwhile switched to caste, which is interesting - didn't think extra specialists are beneficial for him, and doubt he already has workshops for the extra hammer. Maybe he's ready for his own 3rd city, and wants to use a caste artist for border pop. My own border pop plans involve chopping monasteries, which are single-chop buildings for Phi

[yuris125]

Btw, PBSpy is showing Commodore's score going down after he finished last turn. Assume it's a glitch / incorrectly reported timing of the event? Don't think you can whip or do anything that would lower the score after ending turn in sequential

[yuris125]

Someone (almost certainly Scooter) got a great merchant. Guess he gets Civil Service this way before everyone else. Props to him - that's one bulb option I didn't spot on the priority list

[Tarkeel]

Do we have deterministic barb combat on btw?

It wasn't asked for, so I didn't set it and I doubt Ramk did.