this fennbandit thread is a font of knowledge [sorry]

[wetbandit]

Our demos look really good.

re: routes, we're actually not giving TBS anything, otherwise our value would be something other than 0 in the Export-Import column. So we can cancel to teleport if we want to take a risk, but I don't mind uncovering his cities either.

I'm torn on the farm for Fletcher, with Financial I have the urge to cottage everything. Fletcher will be ok with food once it gets the fish (but that's ages away), so an extra farm here might not be a bad idea.

[Fenn]

re: routes, we're actually not giving TBS anything, otherwise our value would be something other than 0 in the Export-Import column. So we can cancel to teleport if we want to take a risk, but I don't mind uncovering his cities either.

Oh. Of course. Me read good.

Our demos will tank for a little bit when we whip away 5 population, but I agree we're in a good position - among the people we have contact with we're tied with TBS for most cities, him having founded his fifth this turn like we did.

We do want to have cottages all around eventually, but in the meantime keeping up a good food surplus in Fletcher and Verdana is important too - we regrow faster after whipping and grow onto more cottage tiles faster too.

[Fenn]

Here's Turn 57:


Times double-whipped its Settler and Verdana whipped its Granary, while Arial is poised to double-whip its Granary next turn; I switched it from working a mine to a cottage 1t from growth, and on T58 we can double-whip for maximum overflow.


Naturally, our demographics are not so rosy anymore.


More TBS lands. He's already gotten Silver hooked up (EDIT: but not roaded!), doubtless due to settling right next to it earlier than we did. His capital already has a Hamlet going on in the bottom of the screen.

Otherwise, a (unpromoted) Warrior of Borsche's has shown up to our west, on the Banana tile.

[Fenn]

Two turns in one day! At this rate we might have a third.


TNR is working our first Hamlet. We should probably switch to a hammer tile in the next turn or two so that the Granary finishes before we grow.



Silver Mine is complete. Two workers are on the tile 1S of the Silver and put two turns into a Farm there, while another two are 2E of Verdana, roading towards where our latest city will be. I think I'll let you name this one, since I've been responsible for 4 out of the 5 city names we have.

I also turned tech off for a turn to save gold. Growing onto the Silver mine, Cottages graduating into Hamlets and eventually working the Gold will patch things up but our costs are starting to pile up. After we found the next city I think we should delay any more cities on this landmass until we tech Currency, maintenance is going to rise too fast. Financial cottages should let us make it there without too much trouble, hopefully.

[wetbandit]

Chiming in here (sent you some chat earlier) to say everything looks good. Glad we have granaries in 3/5 cities next turn.

Only thought I had was putting the hammers into a galley instead of that workboat, but that will mean the galley won't be built for some time.

City name should be Stone Sans. Inspired, if you ask me.

[Fenn]

All right, Stone Sans is what it'll be.

Turn 59 first:


Borsche has sent a Warrior our way (he's under our spawnbusting Warrior on the left) and Courier is empty, so to avoid tempting him we moved out the Spear guarding Times so that it can defend both Courier and Times as needed. We also acheived our first Hamlet so far; the second will follow next turn, coincidentally on the tile our Spearman is on. Our third and fourth Hamlets are 4t and 6t away at this point.

On to turn 60, which was a little more interesting:


Stone Sans was founded! Our costs are beginning to look a little frightening, but we have no immediate plans to settle another city, and a healthy amount of FIN-boosted precious metals and Hamlets will keep us solvent in the short term.



Times is emphasizing hammers so that it completes the Granary as it grows, giving us its benefit immediately. I'm partial to letting Times grow to Size 4 or even 5 so it can work all the good tiles in its BFC; we'll soon have three 2/0/4 Hamlets to work. We should probably add a cottage here at some point in the next dozen or so turns.



More TBS scouting. His dotmap is quite a bit different from ours. It'll be interesting to read everybody's threads when this is all over to see what their thought processes were.

TBS has five cities, one less than us now that we founded Stone Sans. Jowy also has five, and Borsche founded two cities in quick succession in the past two turns, so he now has six. Our neighbours are keeping pace in expansion, which is more than I can say for Scipio: he still only has three cities for some reason.



Once Verdana grows, it'll have the option of working the Silver mine, the soon-to-be riverside farm, the riverside grasshill mine, or a cottage with some tile rotating. The Galley is mostly there to give it something to grow on, but we will want to build one to settle the land to our north.

As an aside, we currently have six Workers to six cities. That's decent, but we could use one or two more. Especially since we're going to be settling overseas in the future. Perhaps Arial can work on some once it finishes its Galley and grows.

[wetbandit]

Just want to add as an aside that we should work the hamlet in TNR. The granary has to fill with food in order to contribute to the next size food bar. We finish the granary the turn it grows and the granary is empty because it didn't exist prior to growth to receive food. It's not ideal timing to finish the granary here, but at least it will fill up on the way to 3. Halfway there we could consider a 1-pop whip of a galley if the hamemrs are right, but growing on the cottages is a stronger move IMO.

WRT to worker's I imagine that Courier can build them once it hits size 3 or 4. It can hammer out a few more as needed.

TBS spaced out dotmap tells me that he is going for a quick tall build. I would lay 100-1 on him planning for the mids and possibly something like 20-1 that he builds it. He's going to use that Rep happy. He also doesn't get as much benefit from coast tiles as we do with FIN, which lets us settle for more coastal cities.

TBS' Egalrest city also fits our dotmap and with the two cow 1st ring, that's our next city I'd say.

[Fenn]

Alright, I've switched Times over to its Hamlet. Speaking of Hamlets, I overlooked a Cottage being worked by Arial; that will graduate to a Hamlet next turn. While I'm at it I misjudged Jowy's city count: he only has four, not five. Interestingly, we have trade routes with him; this lets us see that he has Copper hooked up, but no Silver.



Borsche opened up the turn with an OB request. He doesn't have trade routes with us, so I took it as a gesture of goodwill. We could send our western Warrior sentry into his lands to scout them, if we wanted. Borsche's Warrior has relocated to the double-cows hill on our northwest coast.



I can't be certain, but this landmass may be the same one that sits to the south of our capital. If so, we really need to hop islands before the land's all gone. Where do we want to send the Work Boat next? I was thinking we follow the coast to the northeast.



Arial's Sheep Pasture finished, so I'm having it work that, the Pigs, and the cottage 1t from growing. After it hits Size 4 we can pick up the Ivory again. We have three Workers on the Sheep tile; two of them can finish the road to Arial, while the third can move to the PH East of the Pigs and start a road there to connect to Stone Sans. Does that sound good?



Our demos; note the neutral trade figure. Crop Yield is very healthy, and MFG will pick up once we grow onto our hammer tiles. GNP looks quite bad all of a sudden, but I think I have an explanation:


Last turn, the Oracle was built, and by the same person that built Stonehenge - that being Haram. These two wonders are probably the cause of the massive #1 GNP and are inflating his score. Wonder how well he's managed to expand thus far - being IND/PRO must make these wonders much easier to achieve, but it's still a lot of hammers not going towards Workers, Settlers and Granaries.

[wetbandit]

I'd say first worker priority at Arial is to get a cottage on the flood plains. Stone Sans should have a road already from Verdana, and should have a TR from sailing, so that's a low priority.

Arial is going to grow like a weed. It can grow to 6 and then 3-pop a settler for the southern island, our horses!

Is anything working that Ivory?

Workboat should go NE to unfog routes to TBS. Borsche is going to get a peek at all of our lands but it's better for him to go through us rather than camp a spot we want to settle.

Right, HARAM is Ind/Pro. Strong start for him. I wonder what he Oracled. Not sure why I thought TBS was. Well, TBS will build the mids

What's the ETA to Mono?

[Fenn]

Right, the floodplains. Probably a better idea, we can't actually reach the hill in one turn since the Pigs tile isn't roaded. Nothing's working the Ivory atm; Times is working the Fish and a Hamlet, but next turn it will grow and can take it.

ETA on Mono is 7t - on max science we complete in 5t, but we'll need two more turns of gold-saving to get there.