[SPOILERS] Kaiser and TheArchduke are nice and friendly neighbours

[Kaiser]

I was surprised too to see that there is no Warrior in your city. It was worth it anyway but if you do not get the boost, we have to rethink me settling on the city between Angiers and Open Government.

Can you try to lure the Akkad Galley out?
Do all of your BB attack force have a level up?



The SW is actually the same continent, so unlikely another player and no era score for the continent either. They must have met somewhere else the last missing player. Finding another player in the next 5 turns is crucial for me to get a Golden Age, which I would use to convert my income in some Builders most likely.

The other Galley will scout the southern coast towards TAD and then try to return the way Norway came to our coast. Maybe it will go help TADs East front if necessary.



Llubljana is militarizing currently while Woden is trying to catch up in infrastructure by churning out Settler (he produced Settler#4 this turn).

Comparison time:
Kaiser
=> 12* 0.5 pop + 2 palace + 4 campus (5* 0,5 + 2 Palace + 4 Campus + 2 CS) *0,15 = 15,575
=> 2* 2 Monument + 12* 0.3 pop + 1 palace + (5* 0,3 + 2 Palace + 2 Monument) *0,15 = 9,275



Both are at 5 completed civics and a surprisingly high and considering they have been running on 2 cities so far without any Campus or Theatre Districts build. I think it very likely that they deviated to foreign trade for +100% navy production, so this means both have 2 Governor titles available which would result on Pingala + promotion.

Let us have a closer look.



Llubljana has one 3 pop city with a Cothon and likely a monument (13 empire), his capital also has a cothon and likely a monument so a minimum of 10 empire score which puts it at 4 population.
He can work 2 mercury (science) at Linear A and has marble (culture) and turtles (science) connected at his cap
Assuming he has Pingala in his cap (the bigger city) then this puts him at:

Llubljana
=> 7* 0.5 pop + 2 palace + 3 yields (4* 0,5 + 2 Palace + 1 turtle) *(0,15 + 0,1 celebration)= 9,75 < 15.8 shown score (14,75 if he would have promotion)
=> 2* 2 Monument + 7* 0.3 pop + 1 palace + 4 Pingala + 1 marble (4* 0,3 + 1 Palace + 2 Monument + 4 Pingala + 1 marble) *(0,15 + 0,1 celebration) = 14,4 < 18.4 shown score

These are huge discrepancies, even condsidering they did not take Foreign Trade (very unlikely considering his miltary score) but defensive Tactics or finished their GP  (does not fit empire score) for a 3rd governor promotion, the numbers are off by a significant margin.
My best guess:
- 6,05 discrepancy could come from 2 envoys with CS and another yield or Pingala and 1 envoy yield
- 4 discrepancy could come from 1 envoy and another yield or 3 pasture with GotOS

I believe he has 2 scientific envoys and 3 pastures with GotOS to get where he is at, which is a very strong and position.



Obviously build a settler last turn to drop down to 2 pop. Frigg has 2 pop and a HS as well as very likely a Monument (10 empire). His capital has very likely a monument (6 empire) which means it currently has 3 pop after finishing a Settler 5 turns ago.
That is a very low population estimate but he currently has only half my empire score with 19. His Settlers are on the way though and will change that soon. I do not think he can celebrate outside of a huge amenity deal from Llubljana as he has only pearly connected.

Woden
=> 5* 0.5 pop + 2 palace + (3* 0,5 + 2 Palace) *0,15 = 5,025 < 10,8
=> 2* 2 Monument + 5* 0.3 pop + 1 palace + 3 pingala (3* 0,3 + 2 Palace + 2 Monument + 3 Pingala) *0,15 = 10,685 < 17

These are still huge discrepancies, I am even more certain that he has no GP build with his low empire score, so Pingala promotion is very unlikely.
My best guess:
- 5,055 discrepancy could come from 2 envoys with CS and another yield
- 6,315 discrepancy could come from 3 envoys with CS

These guys have met all CIVs and it is not that unlikely that they were lucky enough to get a couple of easy quests to get this amount of envoys. I have been in a similar situation in PBEM 18 (without the scouting, more lucky even), but this is a huge factor as it seems very likely that they are preparing an attack at Oligarchy which they will be the first to reach in estimated 12~14 turns (I do not know how far they are on defensive tactics yet)

We or their other neighbors will be facing strength 39 + likely GA 4 movement Galleys, and it looks like it will be a mass invasion. I think it more likely to be us, as TAD is their only real thread on getting their GAs



Ending with some better sandbox news, the harvest was enough to get to 4 pop, the new campus is a 9 turn build when we slot out of Urban Planning in favor of colonization.

International News:
- Llubljana/Phoenicia -
- Roland/China 7 empire (3rd city), 2 era
- MPTF/Australia -
- TAD 9 empire (BB 5, pop 2, Monument and Granary 1 each)
- Kaiser HS 1 empire (pop TB), tech#8
- CMF/Russia 2 era
- Suboptimal/Indonesia -
- Woden/Vikings civic#5, tech#9, Settler#4

[TheArchduke]

Rushed my turn today.

Akkad will probably not be possible, I will divest time into harbours to get my economy going and then we push for more settlers.

Do you have time today to go over things? I would have preferred taking Akkad over BB, BB was always something that could be done at leisure with 4 galleys.

[Kaiser]

sure, during the normal evening window

BB has been an easier pick than Akkad, but it remains also way more vulnerable to boating. At lest this shows that cities garrisoned with Galley are a very decent defense move, even with 2 attack tiles.
BB needs walls the earlier the better.



Settler production started/resumed, I believe Miln go for a trade route next. It also needs 110-120 gold to buy the GP tile, but we have time until one of the new cities finishes its harbour before it becomes urgent to get it down and build.

Llubljana has the promotion and it brought him 5 either my pop numbers are off or he send an envoy to a scientific CS.

International News:
- Llubljana/Phoenicia Civic#6 (defensive Tactics?), 1 empire, 2 era
- Roland/China tech#9
- MPTF/Australia tech#7
- TAD civic#6(state workforce)
- Kaiser civic#5(state workforce)
- CMF/Russia 1 empire, 2 era
- Suboptimal/Indonesia civic#5
- Woden/Vikings 1 empire

[Kaiser]

Akkad is off the list for the moment, as Llubljana could interfere and it insists on keeping its Galley in the city. TAD is bringing his Fleet in a defensible position around Akkad and splits off two boats to scout SE and NW.



3 and 9 turns for the next Settlers, sadly TAD did not get his trade route and Warrior when conquering BB. He also was not able to change his Government last turn when he got the Inspiration for State Workforce from me completing it. 
Weird, Buggy, Intentional? Who knows but it feels like continued screw over on top of the strong feeling of having drawn the short straw for the start position already. 



Loads of mountains and hilly terrain led to TAD and me just now defogging our land connection. Sadly the hills are nearly completely missing in my territory, so it is mostly 2 yield tiles with bleak perspective for improvements.
 
Let's remain positive.



Another CS, and a cultural one at that. Hopefully he has a doable quest as I could really use the infusion of culture here.

TAD and me verified that I will finish Celestial Navigation in 3 turns, which will give me the final point I need for a Golden Age (era ends in 4). The Inspiration (64 :science) gets handed over next turn and I am currently at an estimated 40  invested.

International News:
- Llubljana/Phoenicia tech#9
- Roland/China -
- MPTF/Australia civic#5
- TAD -
- Kaiser 1 empire (pop Miln)
- CMF/Russia - 2 era (mistake the turn before)
- Suboptimal/Indonesia -
- Woden/Vikings city#3

[Kaiser]

My guesstimate of my current was off by a bit apparently, right now we miss the GA if we do not find another player or continent in 2 turns or magic up another era score somewhere.

Gnarf



Yes, a cultuer CS and a good quest finally (eta for Angiers Campus is 6 turns).
Sadly it still is on our continent.



TAD thinks Llubljana and Woden look for easier targets, which they likely should. But Wodens Military score is really up there and he is showing quite some boats here. I am certain he already has defensive tactics researched so this is no baiting out a big chunk of culture but some other kind of naval operation.
I wonder if he has more Bireme close by to support these two ships, probably yes.

International News:
- Llubljana/Phoenicia Settler#4
- Roland/China civic#5, tech#10
- MPTF/Australia -
- TAD -
- Kaiser -
- CMF/Russia 2 empire, 3 era (amazing campus?)
- Suboptimal/Indonesia tech#8
- Woden/Vikings tech#10

[Kaiser]

Russia Campus confirmed



And I got my Golden Age, I hope this was not the Natural Wonder I was supposed to find early game, but there is not much left on our landmass which I could have found otherwise.

TAD is going wheel next so I will get the Eureka. Sadly he will loose his trade route next turn thanks to the unlucky barb spawn next to his capitol. He will barely make it into a dark age if we can avoid getting another era score for him, we probably should wait a turn with scouting and finishing districts just to be sure.
He might have already gotten it from Eye of the Sahara.

Woden was able to finish a quest for Hattusa as well or his finished civic is something else than PP, which I think is very unlikely.

International News:
- Llubljana/Phoenicia -
- Roland/China civic#6, 1 empire, 2 religion, 1 era
- MPTF/Australia -
- TAD 1 empire, 2 era
- Kaiser 1 era (GA yay)
- CMF/Russia civic#5
- Suboptimal/Indonesia 2 empire (HS#2?)
- Woden/Vikings city#4, civic#6, 1 era (settled in danger zone)

[Kaiser]

A quick turn this time, I played the last not 12 hours ago.



Borders, luckily TAD already played and there is nor risk anymore of him loosing his DA.
This seems like an alternate color scheme, my best guess is Australia, maybe Russia. I am not sure if China might have one in that color as well and basically do not even know the standard colors of Indonesia ...

We will know next turn.



These locations are hilarious, it looks like the inland city has 4/6 mountain tiles first ring ... the one next to copper is likely decent, but there are way to many mountains here to get cities working more than 2-3 useful tiles.
TAD will pick the good production site near me to get his bonus trade route and Warrior, my fifth city will likely be a canal city as marked, it still has a river adjacent very good HS spot in 3rd ring and opens the very important passage between N and S for our Navies.



TADs bad barb luck stays consistent, he lost a Slinger and a Trade Route against the barbs here, at least the road to his capital was finished ...



Suboptimal did build a Campus not a HS last turn.

International News:
- Llubljana/Phoenicia -
- Roland/China -
- MPTF/Australia -
- TAD -
- Kaiser Settler#4
- CMF/Russia -
- Suboptimal/Indonesia 2 empire, 3 era score (Amazing HS/Campus)
- Woden/Vikings -

[TheArchduke]

Hey Kaiser, quick headsup. I am getting a bit swamped at work and you noticed that I am low on reporting over the last days.

I will do my turns as normal as best as I am able, but please look for a replacement for me.

[Kaiser]

You think it will become better next week or the workload is increasing generally?

It will be difficult to replace your military expertise

[TheArchduke]

Well, if you are okay with no reports whatsoever from my point, I can continue. I should be able to squeeze about 20-30 minutes per week to conference with you but that is it. Your call.