[spoilers] DTG thinks filthy casuals are ruining Realms Beyond

[DTG]

Looking at the screenshots, does Stardoor only have 6 cities? Well, hopefully he's gotten Feudalism with all that commerce. But, he probably hasn't.

With any luck chumchu will cancel OBs with Mr Cairo, since he's a clear #2 in the game and chumchu is being too nice.

I don't think Mr Cairo will go after Propsopoeia until he has Masonry and/or HBR. I mean, maybe he will, but it's not a good city to capture compared to the land he could claim peacefully. I do agree that we need some more Archers and Spearmen in there. I think our Axe to Spear ratio in the empire is a bit off, TBH.

We're about to lose graphs on NC? I'll reassign some EP.

NC is less powerful than us and has about the same number of cities (less, I think). The power could be from Mathematics/Construction/HBR. However, he can build Hwachas, so he might want to utilize them.

Maybe we should just build 6 Swords, stick them on 3 boats, and see if they can snipe Elkad's capital if/when NC backstabs.

[picklepikkl]

I popped in to check on the game, and I noticed Mr. Cairo's axe hanging around the border jungle where we just settled a city and are soon to settle another. Why hello there! Pity for you that you didn't bring, like, four friends . He's also about to finish Monotheism and presumably found Judaism (unless someone else techs on the same turn, which seems unlikely); hopefully the holy city is well away from us. Kind of surprised Code of Laws hasn't fallen yet.

Still no sign of marble and stone. I have to assume it's hidden in the borderlands between the two rings, but that will take for-flipping-ever to be able to defensibly colonize, assuming we can find it.

I am actually really tickled by the notion of boating Elkad if NC attacks, but don't think it's practical. NC's power has leveled off, so probably I was just jumping at straws, and even if he did, he would have an army he could use to run over the swordsmen occupying a city he considers rightfully his, and then where are we?

I think we want to cool off with Settler production for a short while and get out some more Workers. Once our current Settlers found, we'll be at around 1W/city, but luxes are coming in and our cities can start growing taller. This map is super grassland-heavy, I think I've seen hardly any plains other than the ones in our capital BFC, and that means we can sustain some serious cottage cheese.

[DTG]

He's also about to finish Monotheism and presumably found Judaism (unless someone else techs on the same turn, which seems unlikely); hopefully the holy city is well away from us. Kind of surprised Code of Laws hasn't fallen yet.

It's so late for Judaism to fall that I hadn't made that connection. Yeah, hopefully it's far away from our border city. It's more likely to be founded in a big non-capital city, so it would be bad luck to see it there.

I popped in to check on the game, and I noticed Mr. Cairo's axe hanging around the border jungle where we just settled a city and are soon to settle another. Why hello there! Pity for you that you didn't bring, like, four friends

Just wait for the Impis and Chariots to show up. I think we're okay anyway. We have a good contingent in the area.

Still no sign of marble and stone. I have to assume it's hidden in the borderlands between the two rings, but that will take for-flipping-ever to be able to defensibly colonize, assuming we can find it.

I don't think there is any. If there is, it's a bajillion miles away and not of much use to us.

I wonder who will get the MoM. OT4E (I think) birthed a Great Engineer, Mr Cairo has Calendar, and maybe some others... I haven't looked closely to see where Calendar resources have been improved.

I think we want to cool off with Settler production for a short while and get out some more Workers. Once our current Settlers found, we'll be at around 1W/city, but luxes are coming in and our cities can start growing taller. This map is super grassland-heavy, I think I've seen hardly any plains other than the ones in our capital BFC, and that means we can sustain some serious cottage cheese.

We need a few more, yeah. We can probably whip some in mediocre single seafood cities, that can only grow on the Coast.

At some point soon we should figure out whether we want to go Alpha ---> Currency, Mathematics ---> Currency, Mathematics ---> Calendar. Or something else entirely.

[picklepikkl]

Your military analysis seems sound; I'm glad you're on top of things The fact that our border city in the jungle area is going on a hill (and I think behind a river?) is also nice.

I'm pretty certain we want Math after Writing; it unlocks way too many key techs (Currency, Calendar, Construction) and helps us speed the growth curve of new cities even more. Being able to sign more Open Borders would be nice, but we're trading partners with someone who is about our size, so I'm not too worried about that until we have the extra trade route going.

Another thought: is there a chance we can pull our Scout from defogging duty to go make contact with the other wheel? Known tech bonus isn't high, but it's something, and honestly I wouldn't mind it if barbs showed up where we can farm XP from them (Mr. Cairo had that barb city to his east as of the time we got our maps, and I'll bet you a dollar he's been trying to get a HE unit ready).

[DTG]

I'm pretty certain we want Math after Writing; it unlocks way too many key techs (Currency, Calendar, Construction) and helps us speed the growth curve of new cities even more. Being able to sign more Open Borders would be nice, but we're trading partners with someone who is about our size, so I'm not too worried about that until we have the extra trade route going.

Yep, I (think I) agree.

Another thought: is there a chance we can pull our Scout from defogging duty to go make contact with the other wheel? Known tech bonus isn't high, but it's something, and honestly I wouldn't mind it if barbs showed up where we can farm XP from them (Mr. Cairo had that barb city to his east as of the time we got our maps, and I'll bet you a dollar he's been trying to get a HE unit ready).

Good idea. Yeah, I'll move some units back, hope some barbs spawn, and it doesn't matter now if our Scout gets sniped exploring a world defogged for us by others.

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Judaism was founded by Mr Cairo, and the Holy City is reasonably far away:




Demos look okay, though GNP is still our Achilles' heel (no economic traits ):




Looking at the scores now, it seems that Nicolae just gained a bajillion points. I wonder if he built a wonder? If you login, let me know.

[picklepikkl]

You should have taken the demo screenshot while we were at 100% on Writing! I bet we'd be in first place GNP, given all the arrow bonuses we have and the raw commerce we produce (sure, our costs are absurdly high, but such is thug life). Our tech rate isn't even that bad; we're 6 turns from Mathematics at slightly below breakeven science (we make a little money at 20%, lose a little at 30%). Cottages and precious metals are getting work done . We even have our first Village rolling! Our economic trait is the ability to take a lot of land and make it profitable faster than anyone else, between PRO Terraces and cheaper tile improvements. Commerce comes from tiles, not from silly little things like being FIN or ORG!

NC did not build a Wonder. I can only assume that he got a lot of pop growth on the same turn + a Classical or maybe even Medieval tech researched. Also jeez, that city we're about to found in the south between Exordium and Synecdoche is going to be a slow-starter; until Synecdoche's borders expand and it can steal the plains sheep, it has no tile above 3 food (though with an oasis, a plains cow, and four lighthouseable lakes, it has plenty of those). City is definitely worth founding, though, to make sure the wines and horses fall in someone's BFCs.

Nice spot of luck that Judaism is way the hell over at the chumchu/Cairo border instead of by us, though it does lower the chance that chumchu will join us in the True Faith. It'd be nice if we could export our religion to the other wheel when we get trade routes, but that is probably a pipe dream; I have to imagine Code of Laws is on OT4E's radar.

[picklepikkl]

Popped in to look around. Juxtaposition and Auxesis both finished construction, so I was forced to pick things; I put them both on Libraries. Really nice WB timing out of Juxtaposition, by the way; the clams tile is at 51% Incan culture, so unless I misunderstand the mechanics, it'll flip to us next time the turn rolls.

Do we want to try offering Elkad our spare gems for his silver? He's got two sources in his territory, so he would just need to trade route the other for his own purposes, but he's not close to any gems at all.

[picklepikkl]

Howdy DTG; I've been offline for a few days, and busy with work and studies for the days previous. How are we doing? It seems from the scoreboard like we're solidly jockeying for third behind the monsters of OT4E and Cairo -- does that square with your assessment?

[DTG]

Hey. I've been very busy lately as well, hence no reporting. Mr. Cairo is in a Golden Age. He built the MoM, and for some reason all of our neighbours are giving him OBs (presumably because they've settled for 3rd or better). Why they're not selling their OBs I don't know.

Meanwhile OT4E just captured the Great Lighthouse from Stardoor in a move nobody could have seen coming.

Nicolae is gearing up for war. There's an 80% chance he's going for Elkad, who has just started to respond. It looks to me like Nicolae will have enough to stomp Elkad.

We're chugging along in 3rd/4th/5th, depending on whether you want to measure success by GNP, land area, or hammers. Honestly, I think we're in 4th or 5th because our economy isn't keeping pace with the Organized civs who are giving OBs to the monsters.

OT4E will probably win, but Mr. Cairo isn't out of it yet. At some point he may decide that building Catapults to try to squash us will be his best way forward.

[DTG]

Do you think it's worth offering OBs to Mr. Cairo? We get Currency next turn, and this would fill up our extra trade routes should he accept. OTOH, it also lets him scout our units should he wish to attack. I'm sure it will also increase his snowballing, but if chumchu and NC and Elkad all have OBs, maybe we should just accept that he's going to snowball regardless.

Mr. Cairo also offered a Silk + Dyes trade for Gold. I rejected, because I don't think it's a good deal. We gain +1 in 2 cities, he gains +1 in any big cities. But he has more cities than us, more large cities, and he's in a Golden Age.

NC just declared war on Elkad. I don't know whether we should join in, either backstabbing Elkad or NC.