[Spoilers] Whosit is playing for second

[Whosit]

Greenline's settler came into view.




I had to at least check the odds, right?  

I ended up just moving the Scout past. I will definitely not be able to Settle towards Korea with this city plant.




This coming Settler will need to go east.




And the east is looking pretty good! New luxury: Olives. Very fertile lands! I'll probably send the Settler from Bengal west to secure the coast, but otherwise I think my expansion will be to the east! Head east, young man!

I did some calculations on the Settler training in Bombay. I think it will actually finish in 8 turns (and I can still focus growth in the Capital!). It would then take 8 turns to make it to the east site. So that City wouldn't actually be founded until Turn 40. Settling times are going to be pretty brutal until the eastern cities can train their own Settlers. I would love to have 5 cities total by turn 50!

In other news:

Krill's China is the first other civilization to settle a second city! They also gained 1 era score, so it was a city in special terrain. It will be tricky to guess which city grows going forward.

Archduke's Khmer will have their next city in a turn or two as well.

Not sure what's going on in Japan, though.... Took 12 turns to go from size 2 to size 3 which is consistent with +2 food surplus. I don't see any sign that Japan has even finished a Settler yet. Not unless Japan's capital has a +4 food surplus, where it could grow from 2 to 3 twice in 12 turns and have the Settler pop at the exact same time so anyone being insane and tracking score can't tell you got a Settler out in.... 5 turns? Yeah I don't think that's possible.

Anyway, aside from Japan, everyone else seems to have gotten Settlers out at about the same time. So I wonder if they all went Warrior > Worker > Settler?

Edit: Playing with my score tracker. I'm going to guess that Korea's capital grows back to size 3 next turn. We'll see if I'm right!

[Whosit]

Some big news this turn!




So this is where Korea planted their 2nd city. And I was correct that Korea's capital grew back to size 3 this turn. Empire score went from 8 to 15 (+5 for city, +1 for new city pop, +1 for extra pop in capital).




And we got not one, but TWO Horses at the capital! My Builder will absolutely use its last 2 charges to improve these tiles. Sad that Bengal will not get any improved tiles right now, but 2/3 tiles are super good at this point in the game. I'll need to do some recalculations on production estimates.

Sadly, one of the Horses is where I wanted to put a Campus, but I'll figure it out lol. I also realized I can help the capital's food situation by building the Temple of Artemis (+4 food, +3 housing, and now with these Horses, worth up to +4 amenities in the capital!). I need Archery for ToA. I also want the Pyramids, obviously. But since only the city that builds ToA gets the food bonus, it has to be built in the capital. Meaning the capital will be tied up with TWO wonders.... AND I am planning to put the Government Plaza in the capital as well. Not really sure how I'm going to juggle all that without falling terribly behind on expansion.

I've considered putting the GP in Bengal, but I just can't find a good spot for it. On top of that, I realized the spot where I'd like my commercial district to go has Jungle, and I'd have to wait for Bronze Working to put it there. Alternatively, I could put the CH on flood plains.... I thought about changing plans to beeline Bronze Working first instead of Currency, both for the ability to chop Rain Forest as well as revealing Iron sooner, but I think I need to stick to the plan. I do have a tendency to let my whims take over in the heat of the moment. My plan is to amass a ton of gold with early Commercial Hubs, and I already committed to completing Writing this turn. So I think instead of placing the district 1E of Bengal, I'll just have to buy the tile 2E. Flooded districts are annoying, but not the end of the world.

Then after Currency it will be Mining and Bronze Working. I should have a little time to accumulate Iron while I grab Archery (to unlock ToA) and Iron Working to actually unlock Legions.

Scarborough Fair seems like it may be vulnerable until greenline can build walls. I will definitely be tracking their power score closely. I certainly don't expect greenline to leave that city undefended.

I'm also hoping that when I get my Slinger out that I'll be able to make a kill with it. Not only because the boost for Archery is nice, but because that's worth an extra envoy at Venice. If can become suzerain of the city, that might be extra pressure on Korea when war happens.

Sigh.... so many plates to spin. I guess time will tell if going for BW faster would have been the better move.

[Whosit]

Had a little spare time at work (shh) and was doing some number crunching.

I won't bore you all with the numbers, especially since they are somewhat speculative, but I believe I can have 3 more Settlers out by the time Currency finishes--current estimate is T48.

Eastern city will be settled on T43 after a long trek.

The next Settler out of Bombay and the one from Bengal may complete around the same time, but I want to make sure that Bengal's finishes first because the capital can much more easily make up the extra 30 production of the next Settler. Unfortunately, I do not think that I will have the Ancestral Hall anywhere near complete by the time any of these Settlers found their cities, but I expect I will be training a lot more Settlers after that so I still think Ancestral Hall makes more sense than other options.

Capital will have to then build Commercial Hub, Market, Government Plaza, Ancestral Hall (costs a wonder lol), Temple of Artemis, Pyramids.... geez.

By this point, I should have plenty more luxuries hooked up, and Bengal will have to take over Settler duties, although I plan to build an Encampment as this city's 2nd district, so I may just be pumping out units from a Barracks instead.

One thing I am not sure about, since bonus production from policy cards do not show up in the game's UI, is whether, say, the +50% towards settlers applies AFTER the -10% amenities penalty, or if they are combined into +40%. Because the UI still shows the penalty, I'm assuming it is AFTER (which results in less production).

As excited as I am, I probably need to cool it on too much speculative math, especially since Civ 6 math changes with various %s and as Builders and Settlers get more costly.

Thinking on it now, though, I may delay the Ancestral Hall until I'm ready to train the next wave of Settlers. There's just so much I want to get done and only so many turns to do it in. After I have my 5 cities, my overall goal will be to prepare for war with Korea, but unfortunately my capital is going to be stuck building wonders. I could just skip those wonders.... but they are so beneficial it seems like it would hurt me more in the long run.

Way I figure.... if I can attack Korea and win with Legions, cool, I'll do it. If it looks like I'll have to wait until the next age, so be it.

Although there's always the opportunity to just raid and pillage and ruin greenline's economy until I have the edge to win lol.

[Whosit]

I goofed on my assessment of Korea's military. They built a Slinger, not a Warrior. For some reason I thought the score would add up every units Melee strength, but I guess it makes sense for Ranged units (and presumably siege ones) that they'll use the ranged stat. Good to know!

Here's the known world:




I'll have eyes on Korea's capital next turn unless greenline does something stupid like attack my scout.

In score news:

Korea got a new tech, and adding up science I think it's Writing.

Japan finally produced a Settler. Wonder if they just produced a lot more units out of the gate?

Khmer has not settled second city yet. Either it's going further, or terrain is really rough.

[Whosit]

Many big decision on Turn 29!

As expected, I was first to found a Pantheon. Sadly, with Religious Settlements being banned... well, I already knew what I was getting.




The 3/1/2 Honey tile at the capital is now 4/2/2!




New civics. We'll be using Colonization for a while, I think. I put Bengal's Builder on pause and swapped to the Settler to make use of the bonus production (I don't really need the build charges right now, anyway). And, of course, since I retired Survey:




This is why you ALWAYS move before changing civics, kiddos! I could have reloaded to get the bonus XP, but I didn't because I'm honest (I forgot to).




Total of +5 Era Score this turn, earning us a normal age going forward. Need 14 more points to get a Golden Age. Which is going to be tricky, more on that in a moment.




Capital. I just realized I left the city governor on "least production" so they're probably confused why their Grand Chief locked citizens to those tiles. I could have worked the Spices instead of one of the Horses, but city grows in 3 either way, and this cuts down the Settler by a turn. Will work Spices at size 4 because I don't think working the 3 prod tile will change anything at that point.

So, I had noticed I wasn't finding any tribal villages and was thinking that I must be unlucky this whole time, but I finally peeked at the game settings and I see that greenline turned them off. This wasn't discussed ahead of time, but oh well. I'm sure greenline wanted things to be more fair and cut down on RNG, but unfortunately goody huts are an important source of Era Score in the Ancient Era. Heading east will get me some Era Score for settling on a new continent (greenline got that with their second city). I could settle on a desert tile for another +1, but I don't know if that's really a great spot. I'd be looking for Pen Brush and Voice for my GA bonus for the extra culture, but I guess if I don't get it that's not the end of the world. I don't think I'd want to pick a suboptimal city location just to try to get an extra point of Era Score.

In Foreign Affairs:

Korea and China both finished their first real civics. No idea which one it is.

I forgot to mention that last turn Korea spent 60 gold. Must have been on a 2nd ring tile in the capital? Not sure what for at the moment.

The Khmer have finally settled their 2nd city. 5 turns I think? Still not sure if score updates when the whole turn rolls or after each player plays.

Since it's only Turn 29 I don't feel comfortable calling the game for anyone, but just looking at the scores it really feels like Chev Mal Fet's Japan is way behind the curve. He only finished his Settler when everyone else has settled their second city, and he has somehow not gained a single point of Era score. Maybe things are OK in Japan, but I feel like even falling a little bit behind this early is a bad sign. If my hunch is correct, it at least means Japan won't be a major threat.... but on the other hand, it might mean one of my rivals gets an easy kill.

I feel like I am ahead of Korea, but not by a ton. I'll be curious to see if Korea goes for a growth-based play or if they will start on infrastructure already. I'm trying to play into my strength: Culture. I am the first person to be able to use the Colonization card by a long-shot, and I plan to use that lead to get more cities out faster than anyone else. Well, I think I'll have the Settler out faster, but since I have to walk them so far east I may not be the first to a 3rd city founded. I know very little of what's to my north because it looks pretty dry and barren so I haven't explored it as much.

Also, the map is Tiny, not Small! Where is everyone else? Still no sign of Civilization in the east....

[Whosit]

OK, so I realized I forgot to actually take a picture of Korea's capital. I think I did not because at the time I thought "well, all the lurkers can see it in greenline's thread! But I forgot I could use it for reference. XD So upon taking a closer look, and cross-referencing with my spreadsheet, I think I pretty much know Korea's opening moves.

First, I was wrong about the scientific city state. Korea settled on a thermal vent (smart!) so has had the +1 science from the get-go. How fortunate. The sheep (and then the truffles) gave greenline a 2/2 tile to work. Greenline went Worker first, so researched Animal Husbandry first. Build was Worker > Slinger > Settler > ???. I now know that the improvements were Truffles > Horses > Sheep. I theorize (since I haven't found them yet) that the 75 gold dropped was to buy Horses in 3rd ring. Possibly east of Truffles.

What's puzzling, then, is why bother researching Mining this early? All worker charges were used, and presumably you want to go for Writing? I am near certain that Writing is greenline's most recent and 4th tech because they spent 30 science on it, which is the cost of writing (50 science) minus the boost from meeting me. Mining does nothing for Korea right now. I only went for Animal Husbandry because I desperately need at least ONE luxury hooked up. And since I was going to boost the Camp with GotH.

And like I said a post or two ago, pretty sure Korea bought a 2nd ring tile in the capital for some reason. I'd assume to place a Seowon? I'll need to scout out a biiit more.

So, the part I wanted to get to is.... comparing our openers! As I've said, I believe that I'm ahead, if slightly. I wanted to analyze that, partly to pat myself on the back, and partly to have a record of it for possible future critique. XD

The one thing Korea has over me, I think, is science per turn. The thermal vent was lucky to have at spawn, but settling on it was a good move.

I have a ton of extra culture from free Monuments. This is infrastructure that greenline has to either build or buy. I've leveraged that extra culture to beeline Colonization for faster Settlers. I also lucked out in finding La Venta, so I was able to ditch God King and use Urban Planning.

By going Scout > Scout > Settler, I'm sure I have explored more of the map than Greenline. Greenline's Warrior scouted up north and far as Bombay, then had to go back south to escort the Settler. Korea's Slinger may have done a little scouting around the capital. My Settler got out faster and I had my second city several turns faster, so it was size 2 by the time Korea's second city was founded.

I saved up gold to buy a Trader for my second city, helping it grow and produce just a bit faster than otherwise. Greenline will either have to slowbuild a Trader, or wait to save up enough Gold for one (It would take several turns to save up), so that will slow them down just a little bit.

Also, I think I may have lucked out with slightly better terrain and starting tiles, but that was RNG.

I'm very curious to see what Korea's cities build now. I'm assuming they are building units since I do not see anything like a Monument or Granary appear to be building in the city centers.

Aside from the Slinger I am building in the Capital, it's gonna be Settlers for a while.

So in summary...

1) I have more map knowledge due to my Scouts (sadly, tribal villages are disabled....). I can leverage this to make better choices on where to settle and (hopefully) make contact with the other players sooner.
2) Free Monuments = Faster Civics. Until other players start catching up in cultural output, I will always be able to use more advanced civics cards than them.
3) Faster/larger cities. I have the fastest second city because I'm playing a farmer's gambit. Mostly due to luck, most of my cities will have very high yield tiles available, allowing them to grow quickly. Camps are my friend.
4) I think I am spending my gold well, and planning for purchases that will push me forward. I am saving up to buy a Builder in my future east city, assuming I don't have to emergency buy a unit.
5) I may be wrong, but I don't imagine most other players are collecting as much data as I am. Obviously I can use that to my advantage, as long as I avoid making false assumptions.

Is that it? Maybe. Guess I'll edit this if I think of anything I forgot lol.

Ah! And a note to self: I think I can just slap the Government Plaza north of Bengal. I wouldn't really get much use out of its adjacency bonus, but it could free up the capital if I need to. Then again.... I'm not even going to tech Archery or Masonry for a while.... Still, I have options.

[Whosit]

OK, interesting. Went for Worker, and at the very least put down the Seowon. No doubt this is the tile greenline spent 60 gold on. Being worth 4 science (8 population), Korea will soon outstrip me in Science as more of these are built. I don't have any good Campus locations in my core, but I think there are more options in the near east. I especially want La Venta as I can place a +4 Campus there.

The Builder made a farm on the wheat there. Was it just to get the Irrigation bonus? Doesn't look like Korea has access to any Plantation resources. Could just be for the food... I don't think that Arirang had a 3 food tile. Also, I hope that barb scout pillages the sheep. I don't remember if Barb Scouts pillage, though.




That looks like a Monument under construction. Makes sense that would be the first build.




Looks like the land connects here. I hate doubling back, feels like wasted time, but I don't think it's worth unfogging this land right now. I want to go back north/north-east and see what or who I can find. A decent city could be placed on the shore next to the oasis, but I expect that greenline will seek greener pastures for their next cities. Which is good, as that should leave the land beyond uncontested for me. At least from Korea. I would be shocked if no one else is north of me.

In score news:

Khmer got their 3rd tech. Prrrrobably the last Tier 0 tech based on # of turns and guestimated science produced.

China gained 2 Empire points. I'm certain 1 of them is krill's capital growing back to size 3. I would guess that the other is a purchased Monument.... although it's possible China's second city grew if it has a +4 food surplus, which isn't impossible since that's what MY second city had.

I'm second-guessing my decision to rush for Currency just because my existing cities have no easy place to put the District. I have to buy a 3rd ring tile at Bombay, and if I don't want to wait for BW, I have to buy a 2nd ring tile at Bengal. I also have to buy a tile at the capital if I'm going to put the Gov Plaza there.... Which on reflection I think I still want to do after all. I should be able to complete the Plaza and Ancestral Hall before I even unlock Archery, I think. Temple of Artemis will be priority.... Pyramids, nice if I can still land them.

Buying all those tiles is a Builder's worth of gold, and I absolutely need a Builder ASAP in the city that will grab the Truffles and Silver. I could just finish the Builder in progress at Bengal, which would delay that Settler.... Hate to delay it, but with only +12 gpt I'm not going to stack up 400 gold any time soon to both insta buy a Builder and buy all the tiles I need. I'll have to decide next turn.

[Whosit]

I don't think there will be any more saves today on account of it being around 2am for the UK players. I'd have played my last save earlier, but I got stuck in traffic.  

Anyway, I was too busy today to post for each turn, so going to do a summary! Looks like that's Turns 31-34.

I think I will actually start with Score:

Korea: Not a lot has changed, but on the most recent turn they trained a new Warrior (military score went from 29 to 52, so wounded unit healed a bit and new warrior). Possibly just to deal with Barbs, but I will be keeping a close eye on it (more on this later). Secondly, they spent 60 gold on a 1f/3p tile for S. Fair. I'm assuming greenline wants that monument built as soon as possible. This is one reason I want to push out as many Settlers as I can: as other civs build monuments, the culture gap will shrink. More Roman cities means more free monuments!

Japan: Finally got their 2nd city on Turn 31. Capital grew back to size 3 Turn 33. New tech Turn 34. Last tier 0. Seems like most of the other players are researching all those starter techs first. Without getting eyes on Japan's other stats, it's hard to tell what's happening here, except slow expansion.

Khmer: Turn 31 was a big turn for them. Gained 3 Empire points (2 for district, 1 for pop). First of all, a Splendid Holy Site (+3 era score). At least 3 faith, 3 food, must be next to a river, so amenities and housing. Will pick River Goddess Pantheon because what else would Khmer pick? Their capital grew to size 4 (at +5 fpt, I think!). On Turn 34, their 2nd city grew to size 2 (+3 food). I expect their capital will start growing like crazy with all the extra food from the Holy Site.

China: Possible capital is at size 3, and 2nd city at size 2 (if +4 food). The tech learned on T31 cost China 30 science. Tier 1 tech. Likely Writing, but could be Astrology if krill decided to go for religion for some reason.

If my reads are correct, Rome, Khmer, and China got food-rich starts, and Japan and Korea got the short end of the stick.


Second City Foundings:
Rome: 22
China: 26
Korea: 27
Khmer: 29
Japan: 33

I was ahead of my next rival by 4 turns, and Japan was last by as many. 11 turns after I founded my 2nd city. China, Korea, and Khmer are close enough that I'd consider them about the same on speed. I still expect that Japan will turn into the sick Civ of the game.




I was originally really proud of this +5 food surplus until I started looking at my rival stats more closely! Still, I'd say that Bombay has become a very strong capital! My 1st turn fears are mostly allayed (a river still would have been nice lol).




Previous turn, a Barb Slinger showed up and I had my Warrior shoe it away. Now, this. This was putting my farmer's gambit at risk. I can't have those pastures get pillaged. Just as I was wringing my hands over gold last post, I had to bite the bullet and buy a Slinger.




Settler away! Would have been a turn faster to the destination by going north around the lake, but with a weak Slinger as escort, I'd rather play it safe and go this way. Settler can also unfog a few more tiles. Builder from Bengal is right behind them. Warrior is going to have to hold the line for a few turns. Since I purchased that Slinger, I was considering skipping the one I planned to build. But this heavy barbarian presence plus greenline's own warrior has made me decide that it would be better to play it safe. Plus, since the other Slinger had to escort the Settler, I'd REALLY like this Slinger to be able to finish off one of these Barbs for the Archery boost and the Envoy in Venice.




The known east. So lush. I have a city site marked, but I could also see myself putting it 1 tile east on the cows. That would give me a little more room along the floodplains. I'm sure I could build an incredibly powerful industrial zone there with smart Bath and Dam placements. I'll want to explore it more, but right now I want to strike out north and just try to meet another civ.




So here's why I'm starting to feel antsy about Korea and that new warrior. Sure, maybe it's to handle some annoying barbs, but the existing warrior and slinger could do that. But look, the coast is close to the west, and just south of the mountains is tundra! Desert is to greenline's east. He really has no way out but through me. I'm sure he was already mentally preparing to deal with a nearby Rome, but now I have to consider the possibility that he may try to launch a pre-emptive strike before I have Legions. I'm going to have to start tracking his stockpile of strategic resources turn to turn now.

Well, after Currency it's Mining and Bronze Working. Will plan to get an Encampment in Bengal ASAP. I may have to make Masonry more of a priority in case I need walls desperately. I'll need to build a quarry. There's a lot of stone around, but so far all of it is in 3rd ring tiles. I may have to buy a tile at some point. Especially with Korea as my foe, I need to get every single Eureka possible.

I will also definitely send the Settler from Bengal west to the coast and lock things down. greenline could also go for the city states as conquest targets.

[Whosit]

Couldn't sleep, so did some more rethinking on game plan.




First, rethinking city placement out east. Stuff by the volcano is basically a shitpost but whatevs.

Placing the eastern city (I think it will be named Persian) on the Silver will make it a worse city in the short-term, but I think better in the long term. It will also be worth +3 Era Score since it will actually be founded on the Desert tile. Additionally, I get the silver without having to mine it. This seems advantageous because 1) I will get +3 gold each turn without having to work a tile, and 2) the silver tile would be very weak to actually work. I think 0f/1p/3g to start off. I can buy the 2/2 Truffle tile to improve it to 3/3/5. City will still have a strong food/production tile to work, I'll get my +2 luxuries, and it will be making me 8 gold per turn off the bat. Should earn me back the 60 gold for the tile in 8 turns.




Only using 2 builder charges at Persia means I could improve this Honey tile (this is not actually done in game, I was playing around in the save to look at the numbers). I should have done this last turn, but I think even if I go back to do it now I can still grow Bengal in 4 turns. It's just so much food. I also threw down some more district ideas, and I think I want to build the Colosseum here (it's positioned so it will benefit S. Fair when I take it ;3).

Tried my best to calculate when my next Settlers will finish. I think Bombay will finish the next Settler on Turn 44, give or take. Sadly, that means Bengal gets stuck with the 170 prod settler and won't finish until T48 I believe (I did my best to estimate city growth and prod from adequate luxuries when Persian is settled).

Lastly, I believe that greenline's monument will finish T42, same turn as I get MY next monument (city). :3c

Due to how long it will take to get Bengal's Settler out, and given how long they are going to have to walk (Bombay's will probably head for that eastern cattle spot.... I want to settle for the Salt sooner rather than later but I think it's an overall weak location from what I can currently see), I won't get my 5 cities by T50, but I think I'll be in a pretty good spot. I think it will be a 8-9 turn walk from Bombay to the cattle site. Bengal's Settler will go the the west coast, about 5 turns I think? So 5 cities around T53 I thiiiiink. Pretty close!

And then I will focus on infrastructure and military, as needed.

[Whosit]

Oh, and the turn arrived right after I turned the game off. XD

Not too much to tell. Scouts haven't found much new (greenline has a warrior heading into the southern ice... is there a Barb camp out there?) and still no sign of civilization to the far north-east. Bengal's Honey has been improved (5/1/2) and will grow quickly now.

Only real item of note is that greenline appears to have spent another 60 gold to get the banana tile in S. Fair's 2nd ring. Not entirely sure why they thought that was necessary (why not have bought it in the first place? 3/2 vs the 1/3 tile they bought a few turns ago). Still, I won't complain about my opponent spending gold like that! I say before I start dropping 100s of gold on tiles lol.




I just noticed these two barbarian warriors have different skin tones. Did they spawn from different camps, or is it just random? I never really looked that closely before.