[SPOILERS] yuris125 praying to RNGesus

[yuris125]

Oh yes, it does look like Chile!

I looked at the HRE UU, and in RTR it's actually a longbow replacement with +50% vs mounted. So in theory if I just research Feudalism, I should be safe from keshiks

Will look at how long it would take. I do need to research Maths after MC with all the forests I have to chop; I talked about possibly bulbing it, but think with the amount of gold I picked up from huts, researching it normally would be more sensible. After that I could go straight for Feudalism, there's consideration to pick up CoL or Currency first, but safety first with Mongolia next door. I'm putting all EP into Pindicator right now, and will keep an eye on when he gets HBR

The forest area I'm eyeing doesn't have as much food as I initiallly though. But I could limit the whips and build most infrastructure with chops - I do plan to deforest and cottage that area. Screenshost to come later, after we hopefully play another 3-4 turns today

[yuris125]

The woody 2 scout has been putting in work - here's the early attempt at dotmapping the southeast




Wastes two plains tiles, but oh well. As I said, there's not much food in this forest, a fair few cities have to make do with a single food source, and this is the best way to utilise every resources I found so far

The northern scout explored a nice-looking peninsula which I don't expect to be able to contest. Exploration here is a lot slower, as the scout is not woody 2




All this said, I got Pindicator's graphs at the end of the turn, and they're distressing




He does already have HBR (well, one of him and Commodore has it, but it has to be him). I don't know if he's planning an attack on me, the desert between us could be the saving grace; I know Commodore is neighbouring him as well, and he hasn't been scouting my land. But it does look like I need spears right now, having empty cities for a random keshik to walk into is not the play

The northern scout is coming back, his exploration is over, his new mission is to be on lookout for Pindicator's units

[yuris125]

So looking at the power graph more closely, I'm pretty sure the big bumps are from tech, looks like Pindicator opened with IW and HBR research. What he did thereafter, I'm not quite sure, gers and keshiks are worse 4k power each. Could be 2 gers and a keshik, could be 3 keshiks

As I keep saying, I don't think he's attacking me, simply because I haven't seen his scouts in the area, and he probably wouldn't attack without knowing the lay of the land. But I do need safety spears, so that he doesn't get tempted by empty cities if he starts using keshiks for scouting

[yuris125]

Bad news y'all. I located Commodore's borders (hard to see green on green, but they're in the bottom left corner of the screenshot). The rivery forest is actually a point of contention for all three of us




That's a lot less land for peaceful expansion than I ever had in test games (admittedly that could be because AI sucks at advanced start and at expanding)

Aligning myself with Pindicator and jumping in when he attacks Commodore may be the play (aligning with Commodore against Pindicator would likely result in him claiming most of the forest anyway, so wouldn't help me as much). Of course, there's also a world in which they ally with each other and kill me

Biggest problem is still the same. No horses. Maybe I will have naval attack options. Or maybe I'll find expansion land overseas - nothing spotted so far, but there's still a chance

Finishing Metal Casting at eot triggered a quest to build 5 triremes, which would give all triremes Combat 1 (an alternative reward, +2 commerce from harbours, is available if you build the Great Lighthouse, but I'm pretty sure free promo is better in MP). Don't think it's high priority, I certainly can't spare hammers for that many triremes atm, but I could well get it eventually

[Tarkeel]

Is the lighthouse even available at this start?

[yuris125]

It should be, yes. Unless I missed some, the only wonders not available on classical start are Stonehenge, Oracle, Great Wall, Status of Zeus, and Moai

[yuris125]

Commodore is being Commodore, settling 2 more cities last turn. I can't imagine he has much production to spare for military, and I can't imagine he's unconcerned about the keshik threat - what is his plan? Maybe he scouted enough to know that Pindicator doesn't have horses? I can't see his resources, we don't have a trade route yet. But seems questionable he would finish HBR if he doesn't have it. So yeah... I'm sure Commodore has a plan, but I question his wisdom

Good news for me is that he seems to be expanding north (straight towards the keshiks??), and not east towards me. I think I carry on with my expansion plans / dotmap and see how much of the forest I can claim




The three westmost cities could be a reach, but I think the rest is fair game

Right now though, the empire is holding its breath in anticipation of completing the Colossus. With my start, I believe it is essential for early commerce. It is also very easy to build, it costs 250 hammers, each chop gives 60 (50% from copper, 25% from forge, 25% from OR = 100% bonus), so just chop 4 forests, and it's ready




Just waiting for Math to come in

Finally, the official verdict is that I have no horses. No idea yet how I handle it, apart from ranting at mapmakers

[GeneralKilCavalry]

Could probably fit a city in 1ne of the oasis for unit prod purposes, you could fit in a farm 2n... but yeah this land really is unfortunate.

[yuris125]

I do expect having to utilise the desert in some way, but the oasis is probably going to feed the city working the gold. But yes, I could probably fit a filler somewhere around the stone

In any case, this is marginal land no one will compete for, for now the focus is on claiming as much of the southwest as possible

Commodore does have the units to contain the keshik threat btw




I think that's the benefit of starting in a heavily forested region and going Math first

Also look, horses do exist! Shame they're out of reach for me

I think I will research IW after Math, there's distinct possibility of early military action with this start, and without 2-movers, I absolutely have to have swords

I also think cities without religion (so with no OR benefit) are going to forgo infrastructure for now, they will build granaries and then focus on settlers/workers/units

[yuris125]

Colossus plan went without a hitch, it is completed

Spotted a few keshiks (think I saw three) circling around Commodore's land. Wonder if Pindicator is planning something there, or just scouting