[spoilers] DTG thinks filthy casuals are ruining Realms Beyond

[DTG]

gsorel = 8 cities; us = 6 cities; NC = 4 cities; Elkad = 3 cities.

We might be able to research AH in 3-turns. It will be close.

[DTG]

Scouting:




Any thoughts on where he should go next? Northwards will take us back into the jungle, but is mostly unexplored beyond what you can view in the screenshot; the South we've seen, but we went SW originally whereas this time we could try to loop around towards the Lake that has the Rice at the northern point.

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I'm not sure, but NC may be preparing to rush Elkad:




I *think* we get AH on T67. There's, like, 1 beaker in it. Regardless, if NC does declare, we want a Chariot stack to try and vulture off something for ourselves.

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Finally:

[picklepikkl]

A peak. Interesting. Anyone want to bet that the land that lies beyond that peak is 1) similarly closed off on all sides, requiring naval access 2) extremely good? Though why greenline wouldn't just make it an island is a headscratcher. Maybe all land is technically on the same continent, so ICTRs are impossible? If so, this-continent Wonders get a tick up in awesomeness, so it's worth keeping in mind.

I have no strong feelings about the Scout, but I have a crazy-sounding idea: what if we offered gsorel a map trade? Despite the awkward moments with the Impi, he isn't our natural enemy: Elkad and NC are, with probably-chumchu occupying the same position for him. He's had to move down through our border area, so his map data would be very valuable to us for figuring out the natural borders. And I'm not sure what he can threaten us with in the near future so long as we continue to play carefully, unless he devotes his empire's production to ruining us instead of his neighbor for some fool reason. (Bilateral map trades are possible when only one person has the tech, right?)

+1 to having forces available to take advantage of any opportunity along the Elkad border. The Hindu holy city is a blight and needs to go (speaking of which, good job spreading the true faith!).

EDIT: Wait a hot minute, that southeastern gem is forested, not jungled! That's huge!

[Ruff_Hi]

And you can't get a boat in that water until you plant a city on the inside strip of land. Concentric rings?

Re the imp ... is it worth looking at putting two workers in the area so that we can road and attack the imp with an axe? What sort of odds does an axe get v imp ... I'll see if I can fire up the game tonight and work that out.

Re map trade ... that is an interesting idea. I think I like it.
'Bilateral map trades are possible when only one person has the tech, right?' ... true ... unless this mod changed it.

[Ruff_Hi]

Imps are str 4. That gets converted to 4 x (1 + 75% - 50%) = 5 ... which is as strong as an axe. So ... unfortified, it is a 50/50 match-up. Any sort of fortification moves the equation against us.

[picklepikkl]

Where are you getting 75 for the bonus on the Impi? Shouldn't it be 35 for C1/Shock?

[Ruff_Hi]

Isn't he standing on a forest hill. If he is C1/Shock ... then it is 110% .

[picklepikkl]

I'm an idiot and completely forgot that you were proposing trying to hit the impi that's in the area right now where it stands.

But yes, we aren't going to get good odds on offense unless that thing gets off defensive terrain, but it's a 2-mover so we aren't going to be able to catch it unless gsorel screws up. Impis are Some Bullshit.

[DTG]

Nice tests with the Impi. My intuition is that, basically, if we throw 2 Axes at the Impi where he stands, the first will lose (~90%) and then the second *should* win. The first Axe might get lucky and the second might get unlucky, but that'd be RNG. The unit doesn't bother me much right now, regardless. It's not threatening the flatland city or the Ivory.

Let's move the Scout southwards. We can aim to circle this ocean/lake:




Chances of death by barbarian are quite high.

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I offered the map trade. I don't think gsorel will take it, but maybe they will. I think we both stand to gain a fair deal, but they won't realize how much land we explored in the opening turns and he considers us a bigger threat than Elkad/chumchu.

I did notice that their latest city has the 'liberate' option:




I'd need to check, but I think this means that the latest city is closer to our cap than gsorel's.

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I connected the Fish in Metonymy and saw that the tile offers 5F instead of 4F like I thought. I thought all seafood was equalized in RtR?

Anyway, +1FPT is nice.

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Finally, Animal Husbandry is in next turn, 1-turn sooner than planned. Want to bet on the location of Horses? I'm going for the Plains tile with 'F1/5' in this pic:

[Ruff_Hi]

I will split my pick between the two grassland tiles that are between the bovines ... 2 and 3 tiles N or F4/5 tile.