[SPOILERS] WillPlunder as Mehmed of Arabia: Noobs meet world

[Plunder]

we've got hinduism, good stuff =D

Wouldn't is be more convenient to research Iron Working though? So we can start copping down those jungles around al dente?

[WilliamLP]

The thing is, Iron is twice as expensive as Sailing (it's about 14 vs 7 turns to finish at the current tech rate), and Sailing gives a lot of good things:

- Unlocks our half-price lighthouses, which in the capital alone are worth +3F. Spaghetti also needs one for the fish.
- Maybe we want galleys in the next 20 turns. What if Kuro starts building a navy and loads up axes? I'm a little concerned they might feel the need to do something desperate, being isolated and just losing GLH.
- It allows religion to spread to Kuro earlier, plus someone else if we defog a coast path to them. It also allows foreign trade routes to Kuro, though they won't be worth as much as trade routes to Oxy.

Al Dente has 4 tiles to work other than jungle. That plus the whip at least lets it have some value. Chopping jungle is a large overhead of worker turns (4 turns to chop it) and there isn't much under it right now that makes that worth it for a while. Gems would change that. Calendar will too. So I see IW as a longer term investment. Admittedly, the iron tiles themselves are worth quite a bit if we have them.

I'm not totally sure about Writing before Iron here, though my gut is yes, because the Madrassa will speed up tech overall. I'm also wondering about Meditation before Iron to enable monasteries and missionaries and because it's cheap and also helps tech rate. I'm much more sure about Sailing though.

[Plunder]

I would go writing for IW yes. Although it'll still make alDente a bit of a mediocre town, but I guess we want our libs up asap in a NTT-game.

[WilliamLP]

Yeah, AlDente will be a poor city for a while. After farming the river grasslands though, it could be useful to whip a madrassa and then work the priest specialists to generate a Great Prophet. So that's a way it could get to size >4 and still be valuable.

[WilliamLP]

Wow, at this rate I'm going to need to pay twenty dollars to be a certified Pastafarian minister!!




Verily our people are eager to be touched by a noodly appendage! A spread in the capital, already?! I'd rather be lucky than good, to quote the godfather of this site, and I'm not very good. But the extra point of happiness is fantastic.

Also note the scouting WB from Tyrant / Boldly / Brick. They are the ones with Stonehenge and who, like Azza, can hardly be called noobs to PB.

Kuro seems to have defogged a coast path to us now, since we can see resource trades:




There are no surprises. He has copper, corn, clam, and fish.

The peace treaty with Kuro is over now. I'm a little torn on whether to allow open borders and whether to let him scout past us. Thoughts? My biggest concern is him taking an opportunistic die roll against a guarded settler in the future. We will have chariots in the not-too-distant future though.

Here's some more info about the south:




That is a long river, and I have reason to suppose there's a trade connection to Oxy along it, which is valuable. I'm really considering making a run at those gems. Even settling on them would be an immediate trade connection and +1 happiness everywhere. I'm not sure how much of an over-extension it would be though.

Our demos are looking a little better again after hooking up the wheat at Spaghetti. (Seems appropriate!)




We're in a tie for #3 in food and #4 in land area now.

[WilliamLP]

A boring turn. We will have the gold hooked up in 2, and sailing in 5. I'm building a couple more workers. Kuro's axe seems to have turned back, and he doesn't seem to be in the mood for a low odds gamble, which is a relief.

Zooming on the map, Kuro doesn't have a granary in Sam Walton yet, though he does have a lighthouse, as we could tell by tile yields. Something had to be sacrificed going for GLH early, and it looks like Pottery was it. That's going to set him behind though, and it means his whips haven't been nearly as cost effective as ours. Their capital is size 2 right now. My feeling is we're going to be pulling ahead of them economically, with the gold and earlier cottages.

Demos at 100% research:

[WilliamLP]

Another uneventful turn. Gold is connected next turn. Still no sign of Oxy to the south. I got a warrior over to look at city sites on our peninsula:




The marked site looks really good! It may be the next city site, or else an attempted land grab to the south. I'd like to know who's closest down there. If it's Oxy, he has a paper-thin military and nothing that can kill a spearman yet so boldness could work.

[Plunder]

those were some fast 3 turns!
I'll need some time to catch up. But thing look good! I'm happy more and more people are being touched by His noodly appendage!

I would say, open border with Kuro only when he asks? I'm not sure if should needlessly annoy him. That would definitely increase the chance to get a war just to grief us.

[WilliamLP]

Ramen to that, sir. I like not offering open borders unless they ask. They seem to be turning their axe around now. What we don't want is for them to just hang around the horse hoping to harass when it's being hooked up.

[WilliamLP]

Gold is now hooked up, but not being worked yet, until Spaghetti grows to size 2 next turn.

There appears to be a lot of land to the south:




I learned about the trick of showing the culture layer from one of Sullla's videos:




So Oxy is down there, and seemingly far enough not to be a military threat anytime soon.