[spoilers] Lost in threads, Bacchus looks for a way out

[Ituralde]

So I see you went with the very popular ancient Persian cities naming scheme?

[Bacchus]

I might yet adopt something else. Especially, as "Persepolis" fails even as the "ancient Persian cities" name.

[Bacchus]

Hai, I am experiencing connectivity problems, so here are some instructions for a kind soul who could help out with playing the turn:

The north worker, who is building a mine should complete it. If he has, he should move 1SE towards Pasargadae and build a turn of road.
The south worker, who is farming the flood, should continue doing so

The warrior outside Pasargadae should make his way along protected tiles towards the tundra forest hill north of Pasargadae, avoiding any contact with wildlife.

The warrior in the south should reinforce on the forest deer tile.

The scout should go towards the warrior in the south, and start exploring eastwards towards Yuri from there. It will be a while before he actually makes it there, so choose any path along the fogbusted land.

Pasargadae should continue to build the Barracks. If it has grown (I don't think it should have), it should work the unimproved river ivory, this might need transferring out of Persepolis.

Persepolis, if it has grown, should start on a settler. 4 citizens should be working: improved pig, improved sheep, 2 grass mines.

Research after Pottery should be set to Animal Husbandry.

Cheers!

[Sian]

there you go ... Persepolis grows on turn roll, mine was finished this turn and stuff moved by itself

[Bacchus]

"Persepolis", turn 50

My dear Cordelia,

I hope this letter finds you well and not a day passes that I fail to think of you; without your joyful company each day in these distant shores drags as gray and unwelcoming as the skies above our head. I write to you as our expedition, for the want of a better word, has marked its fiftieth season of settlement. I say 'season' but words fail me in an attempt to describe the passage of time here, it proceeds in fits and jitters, much like in that dreadful fantasy book of Erfworld that our dear brother used to read. My heart blackens at the thought of being stuck in such a Godless predicament, but we cannot but advance our work in these lands, trusting in the Lord.

Little has happened since my last message. As I mentioned, two of our scouting parties and a group of soldiers have been viciously mauled by the gargantuan bears that roam the wilds. Since then, thankfully, these beasts have left us alone. We have expanded our colony to a third encampment, placed to the south of our original settlement. A keen-eyed patrol spotted not just deer and sheep in the vicinity, but also that which no doubt will warm the hearts of company master's back in London — gold. To be sure, our governor ordered a forced march of our best men to develop this new site. For now, they are establishing hunting lodges to feed the incoming miners. There have also been rumours of fish in the nearby lake, but we are still waiting for the carpenters to arrive in the newest batch of colonists to make us some passable boats to scout the waters.

Our neighbours remain quiet and distant. We receive rare dispatches from across the channel to the west, apparently the Autumnen people have had a change of ruler, albeit details are scarce. Nothing at all from the east, where our lands eventually run into those claimed by the Dutch. They might be good protestants, but we have made sure to bring our bowmaking up to scratch and some trainers have been set up in our eastern encampment to train the men at archery should the need arise. We feel reasonably safe perched upon our hills for now. You might wonder why the quaint interest in archery, but, my dear, we have only been outfitted with a handful of shot and hardly enough gunpowder to make a firecracker with. As always, we are promised more in the nearest supply run.

Letters from London continue to puzzle. We have been congratulated by Lord Calvert on being the second most productive colony in these lands, and just as harshly reprimanded for the being the laggards in our finances. Our administrators blamed the expenses incurred by running a third encampment and promise swift returns; for now the promise of gold keeps the company placated. To me, all of this talk makes as much sense as the note that we have been ranked seventeenth on the productiveness of our fields. What madness will next seize these merchants in their desire to arithmetic everything I do not know.

A softer kind of madness (I do say so in jest) has taken the common men throughout the colony — they have taken to calling our settlement "Persia" and naming encampments after those ancient cities you love so much. I think someone has brought a copy of Herodotus into the colony and it has rather taken, for the lack of better reading. I do not mind, so long as the love of secular literature is matched by that of the Holy.

With that morsel of cheerful nonsense, I am afraid I must bring my letter to a close. Duty calls, as we prepare to double up the teams we currently have improving the land. Do send my regards to mother, and please, my dear, write to me soon. You do know how beneficial an effect your sweet words have on me, and how dreary life is without them.

With the love of God,
Leonard Spencer

P.S. Some black men have just sailed up the channel on a small boat. Lord save us all.

[Ceiliazul]

Nice letter, whats your plan to win?

[Bacchus]

Build a massive economic engine whilst everyone else is engaged in unproductive wars, swallow up lagging neighbors as they collapse to attacks from other directions and obtain a concession.

[Bacchus]

Looks like Yuri has built one of his auto-shock axes. Just in case he sends it wandering my way, I have to put a turn into an archer in Susa. Granary delay, unforgivable!

[Bacchus]

It's hard to say no city growth when it only takes 2 turns. With that attitude, I am considerable lagging on cities, but have a size 6 capital. Happy cap is an obscene 9. I'll grow to 7 to do an epic, if rb-mod-inefficient 3-pop whip into a settler.

[Bacchus]

We are doing ok:


A lot of this is coming from the fact that I have a fully-improved 8-pop city. Yeah, it's too much, but it has just been whipped for 1, and about to get going on a Settler and get whipped for 3, or maybe even 4. Yes, it does have a granary.

An overview of the empire:


Hey, Bacchus, that far-flung city sure is a sucker's bet, how are going to defend it, you ask? I have no response. Well, I do, to the extent that settling west of there seemed like an even grimmer prospect. Here at least I have a 6-yield tile first ring, and I can back-fill at my leisure. Would this topple at so much as a whisper of aggression from Yuri? Yeah, probably. Thing is, he doesn't know this is there, nor that I have a land-bridge to this section of the continent, and we have an actual border to worry about:



Which brings me back to demos. Isn't focussing on MFG at this stage instead of crop yield likewise a sucker's bet? Again, yes it is, but consider that I have Tokugawa as a neighbour, and he got the free shock axes promo event. Yes, that's right, his axes a promo in hand with C1 Shock coming out straight from a Barracks. I've connected horse and some immortals finish soon, as you can see, and I really need those guys. Thankfully, Yuri's power graph isn't too scary.

What else to note? GermanJojo planted a city to claim the stone. Little I can do about this, really -- my original plan was to settle on top of the stone itself, for a nice strategic little moai city, nay uncapturable, as who really wants to amphibiously attack a hill against a Protective player. I might yet have a chance to settle there, all depends on how quickly he gets a barracks up and running in the newly built. He should score a border expansion before I have a chance to settle, as I still don't have Sailing, if so -- good for him. Burning coastal cities looks to be a major feature of this game, he better have planted that annoying little settlement on a hill.