[SPOILER] No, it is I, superjm, who is behind you!

[superjm]

T16



I decided, no tricks, just going straight to Mining and letting the gem and cotton commerce win the day. AH right after though and then Exploration and we'll see how it goes from there.

T17



The biggest weakness of the Elven civs is their slower worker speed, a flaw that's somewhat exacerbated on quick speed, but I think their bonuses are worth it, just need to remember to build more workers.

T18



Hammers mean nothing when workers/settlers aren't in the queue, going full growth+commerce build to get to key early techs as quickly as humanly possible.

T19



Tiger who killed my warrior ended up in range, it and a lion up north in Bob's land ended up dead, but not before redlining both my units.

T20



Since AH is a ways out, I'm promoting my scouts as soon as possible to up their survivability and bank on having enough experience for the capture promotion when the time comes.

[superjm]

T21




Oh wow I got the mushroom event AND the truffles event within the first 20ish turns of the game, this is quite the start

[DaveV]

Thanks for the consistent reporting; I'm interested in seeing how my map plays out in a real game.

[superjm]

No problem, the format I'm using is helping a bunch as I spend a couple minutes at most trying to describe each turn. It may even help my play in general as I'll have an actual record of why I did certain things as opposed to trying to remember plans I made 20 turns ago.

[superjm]

Was away from my own computer the past week or so while playing the turns and even had some screenshots eaten that had to be retaken later, so I decided to wait till I got back to get the reports going. Going until T31...

T22



My good luck couldn't last forever, at least it only takes two turns to regrow and I can start a warrior to garrison in that time.

T23




Another mushrooms event, buuuuut it ends up on my city tile which means it does absolutely nothing for me

T24




Back up to size 6, currently farming the gems but until then will try to squeeze out more foodhammers for the (now-delayed) second worker.

T25




Is this some kind of joke? Whatever, I'm not gonna delay my first settler any further, it's still ~8 turns after the worker finishes so it'll be alright. 

T26




Griffons hanging around. I decide to tread cautiously with my scouts as I'm hoping to capture that griffon later on.

T27




It's not a +5c mine but it'll do for now, want to squeeze out as much commerce as is reasonable while getting the settler up.

T28




Nothing particularly noteworthy from demos as Bob and Auro are both size 6 but I'm in Agrarianism, and the high food clearly indicates everyone else is getting settlers out same as me.

T29




Finally get my preliminary dotmap going. First city is going straight towards the gold and marble (CRE and Elven ftw ) followed by cities to grab the dyes, wine, and pigs to the NE and then backfilling to prioritize resources, not including any new spots I might find in the fog.

T30




Slowly trying to group my current scouts together, I'll need at least two to escort the settler and then keep them around relatively close to get more XP and prepare for animal hunting when AH comes.

T31




Looks like Bob finished his settler as he revolts to Agrarianism. Two turns before mine, which makes sense given the two turn delay from those pop loss events.

[DaveV]

Those disease events are a pain. And the mushroom spawn on a plains hill capital is frustrating.

Have your scouts run into any animals beside the griffon?

[superjm]

Some lions as per usual, a gorilla near where the northern scout is, and a griffon and wolf that suicided themselves. I think there may have been a bear as well but I can't recall. Also elephants but that's nothing surprising.

A Grand Menagerie might be possible, if that's what you're getting at, just because there's so much jungle between the players relatively close to our caps which means gorilla/tiger spawns are a realistic expectation. I might go for the Drama artist early anyway since I need Festivals for cages, so it won't hurt to try, provided I can get the capture promos on my scouts soonish.

[superjm]

Turns coming in quickly over the weekend, so plenty to report on

T32



Managed to just squeeze out the settler a turn sooner by going off the cotton for two turns. Of course I wouldn't need to do this if I were size 6 like I should be.

T33




Killed a tiger in the jungle to get the XP needed for level 4 even though it left me at halfish HP, I'm really hoping I can get this guy home without running into any griffons or other nastiness in the fog.

T34




Elven units make it really easy to traverse all this forest and get where I want to be, and there seem to be plenty of animals around to capture when the time comes.

T35




Barb units starting to come in, which is welcome since I can just use them to get my scouts to Subdue Animal, especially if they're just goblins out and about. Also casually killed a bear up north threatening my settling party, have I mentioned how awesome Sinister scouts are? 

T36




I kinda wanted to settle Gereth Minar 1 tile south to immediately work the oasis, but with this spot I also grab the ivory eventually and I really don't wanna get closer to that jungle abyss than I need to. Wanted the worker on the gold hill last turn so I could start improving immediately but animal placements weren't cooperating.

T37




Just noticed my copper location, I should probably get this city after the wine city cause it occurred to me that the spot with the dyes isn't going to be terribly useful until I can get Bronze Working to clear out the jungle.

T38




Lost an unpromoted scout at 91% odds against the goblin, cleaned it up with my healing promoted scout. Unfortunate, but it happens. Held off on attacking the goblin near my cap so next turn an eastern scout coming home can clean it up if I get unlucky again.

[superjm]

T39



Good thing I waited, lost yet another scout at 91% odds. 

T40



Mining the deer, honestly, with so much potential food in my capital especially after FoL I don't really see a need to switch it to a camp when Hunting comes in. If anything I'd make it a cottage or windmill (as if I'd ever get that far ) instead.

T41



Got a 47g roll from this one  , I've had fairly significant swings of luck in this game so far it's actually kind of hilarious (I love Living World ). Also improved the gold near Gereth Minar, will work that for a while until I get the rice improved as I'm in no real hurry to grow it until I get connected roads up.

[superjm]

Lots of turns to catch up on

T42



Just fighting some warriors around my border, thankfully winning this time. Being able to 2-move through forests with warriors is a pretty sweet perk of being Elves as well.

T43



And now warriors coming up from up north. I'll have odds on them with fresh scouts even on forests but dealing with them can be a bit dicey, so I'm building a warrior after the scout in my second city.

T44



With AH online, animal captures are go. Quick pitstop to Exploration and then Festivals and Cartography to shore up my economy as the REXing begins in earnest over the next 30+ turns.

T45



Well that's slightly annoying... or maybe not, that hill spot seems like a pretty good site for a city and even grabs a clam I wasn't sure how to incorporate given my current tile vision. And it only "messes up" one spot on the dotmap so adjusting things should be easy when I take it.

T46



Oh yeah, a second warrior showed up in the fog up north, the one still alive, I killed the first one next to my city, though I lost a scout at 65% odds. Also I finally remember Elven city names suck so I decided on a rather nice theme which will become clearer in time.

T47



Losing several early units unfortunately necessitates building more, especially as I expand my empire's reach. Can't quite grow yet as the gold isn't connected, so taking advantage of max hammers and building up some overflow in the meantime.

T48



Found Bob's second city and, as expected, he rushed straight for the gold, seemingly taking the spot 1E of the rice. Makes sense, given it gives immediate access to food though it means no gold commerce for a while.

T49



Got my first animal kill  Was hoping to find the gorilla that had been wandering around up here earlier but hey, I need a bear eventually anyway if I'm gonna go for Grand Menagerie, and the happiness will help my capital a bunch in the short term.

T50



Meanwhile in the SE, a new city, and lots of barbs surrounding me. The warrior did die and I have plenty of units nearby just outside the view here set to explore/capture stuff, so I'm not too worried about the rest of it.