[spoilers] Mr. Cairo Steels himself for another Pitboss

[Mr. Cairo]

Turn 64 report:


Just founded Peg to the far west. Got Priesthood this turn, finished my first library last turn. I'm not going to finish chopping any forests since I plan to bulb Maths with my first Great Scientist due in 6 turns. I'm also going to tech Masonry and Sailing before Code of Laws, and my next city will be the otherwise crappy one on the Stone to the west of Home at Last. With Stone and Maths I'll try and chop out either or both of the Pyramids and the Great Lighthouse. I'll prioritize the Pyramids for Rep, and TGL is more likely to be grabbed by someone more committed to it than me. 

I met Xenu/BGN a few turns ago to my south, and until recently I was the only person they knew, but last turn they swapped their EP spending away from me, so I know they've met at least one other civ. They also were the civ that snagged Buddhism out from under me. In opther international news Donovan Zoi, the builder of Stonehenge, also built the Oracle, but considering his score is only slightly further ahead than the rest of us near the top, he must have sacrificed expansion to manage that, so idk if it's going to be worth it for him.


The Cities:

I'll be employing those two scientists for the foreseeable future. Depending on how long it takes to get Code of Laws, I may end up bulbing Alphabet as well as Maths and Philo. Once it grows and can work the Furs tile it'll start building workers and settlers assisted by chops. No wonders here, I don't want to pollute the Great Person pool.


Needs more worker attention to cottage those grasslands, but as it is still a decent production city. That WB will explore a bit then go north to eventually improve the Whales north of the Stone.


This'll chop out one settler with a forest, but the rest of the forests here will be saved for the Pyramids. 


Food is pretty scarce on this island, so I'll have to end up farming a few more riverside grasslands than I'd prefer. I'll try for The Great Lighthouse here.


Most recent addition with a pair of sub-par food resources, so not that bad. Probably grow to size three with a mine then build Workers. Moai city.


Demos:


Looking pretty good overall, especially the GNP.

[Mr. Cairo]

TGL fell, to Gavagai, judging from his score increase. I'm not bothered, it just goes to show the difference actually planning for a wonder from the get-go really makes in terms of getting it. I probably wont get the Pyramids, but I'll be happy with the fail gold anyway. It'll help me get to Code of Laws faster.

[Mr. Cairo]

Got my first Great Scientist. Bulbed Maths right away for better chops. Next GS in 13 turns. I'll hold on to that one for Philosophy. Although depending on how long Code of Laws takes, I might end up bulbing Alphabet and Philo, although I'd rather use the one after the next for a GA so I can civic and religion swap after bulbing Philo.

BGN/Xenu got Sailing last turn, so I'm getting that ASAP before CoL, and I connected my copper and I'm going to build some Vultures and Spears (and Galleys). I don't want to be boated out of the fog.

[Mr. Cairo]

Actually, a better idea might be to save the next Great Scientist for a Golden Age in which I plan to finish teching Code of Laws and Alphabet and get the third GS to bulb Philo, using the last turn of the GA to swap civics/religion.

[Mr. Cairo]

Accidentally refreshed the page just before posting and lost the original, much longer report, so this replacement will be pretty curt.

Turn 81.

The Known World:


Note Gavagai's borders to the NW, I haven't contacted him yet.
The barb city just appeared. I have a galley headed over there anyway and a settler in production for ICTRs, so that barb city is eventually going to end up being a hundred free hammers.
I just started the Hanging Gardens. Aqueduct was whipped last turn and I have 3 forests and Stone, so I predict a total build time of 8 turns.
I'm teching Alphabet because I wanted to OB with BGN/Xenu to help me get to Code of Laws quicker, but that wont be necessary with the internal ICTR. Build Research will be useful anyway.

Cities:

2 Turn until GS, which I'll save for Philo. Then I'll take off the specialists so it can grow to the cap.


Cottage spam incoming here.


HG city, chosen because the forests and hammers from the Copper mine.


Only building the settler because it had a couple forests I can chop. Really wants to be growing and working those cottages.


Moai city.


GP farm, once I build farms on those grassland tiles.


Crappy city built for Stone (under the city) and Whales.

Demos:



Graphs:








BGN/Xenu is doing better then me in every category that matters. Hopefully things will start to improve now my cities grow and I build more cottages. I built too many units earlier, I need to learn to read the Power Graph better.

[Mr. Cairo]

Hanging Gardens successfully got:

Worth 7 pops, not the greatest Hanging Gardens ever, but better than no Hanging Gardens. If I had delayed 2 turns I would have had another city down, but I didn't want to risk losing to someone else, even if that's a pretty slim chance (I still doubt that anyone else has Maths, unless they were going for the HG specifically, which is a possibility, so better safe than sorry).

Known World:

I have a settler on the Island to the east, on the 'middle' X, and a Vulture outside the barb city which is defended by 3 warriors. Now I just need to wait for it to grow. I'm sending that galley there over to make contact with Gav (Xenu/BGN will be happy I have someone else to put my EP in), and the galley from my cap will collect a scout to go and explore BGN/Xenu's land (if they let me). Losing the OB with them isn't that big of a deal anymore now that I have an island city of my own for ICTR.

Cities:

At the cap I turn back on the Scientists. I plan to fire off a GA in 11 turns with my current GS. That will get me my next GS in 7 turns from then, which will let me bulb Philo and swap religions and civics while still in the GA. Code of Laws only takes me 5 turns right now, so I'll for sure be able to get it in time during the GA, and I'm going to be saving cash until then.


Vulture after the LH, then a Settler that I'll probably 2pop whip.


With lots of mine available, this will be my hammer-city for the foreseeable future, making units for future city defense. I don't want to whip it much because it doesn't have a huge food surplus and I want to get it to its maximum hammer capability asap to build the Mausoleum later (which has lost its Marble bonus in this version of RtR).


Just good for commerce really, after the Lib a Galley or perhaps a Spearman/Vulture.


Continuing to whip into Moai. Next turn I'll start a wb that can do some exploring before coming back for a new city.


Not worth much beyond whips atm, so next turn I'll swap it over to a Worker to be double-whipped. It'll have to give those crabs over to the new city on that X there. Eventual site of a GP farm.


Not worth much beyond the commerce, a chop and a whip will finish the granary then it'll just grow on cottages and coasts.


Demos:

The graphs don't show much interesting, but it would appear that Xenu/BGN are leading in most categories, which is concerning. Hopefully they have some other neighbors to occupy their time/thoughts of conquest.


Future plans:
After I get CoL and Philo I'll need to start planning for more bulbs. I think one of them will be Calender, which means I'll need to get Aesthetics, which my GS currently wants to bulb. Calender will let me (hopefully) build the Mausoleum so I can start to really chain Golden Ages and pump out a lot of Great People. Good future bulb targets include Astro, Education, and Liberalism. I'll have to see just how many GP I can make, and which types in which order etc etc. It'll probably require a lot more planning that I'm used to, but that's hardly a bad thing.

[Mr. Cairo]

So I started the turn with a Gavagai chariot next to my Vulture outside the barb city. I debated retreating, letting him decide whether or not to be aggressive, but that would basically force me to upgrade a Warrior to a Spear next turn. So I decided to take the initiative and attack while I still had good odds. Here's where the extra point of strength the Vulture has really comes in handy, giving me 90% odds on the Chariot. For some reason I only have a screenshot of the aftermath:


I'm pretty sure he had absolutely idea I was there, so my Vulture must have come as a surprise when he unloaded the Chariot. I then sent him a peace offer. Hopefully he tkes it, but either way I'm probably in for a fight over this island. I have an advantage in that I already have a city on it, but I'm also fairly sure that I have greater power than Gav. I'm guessing that Commodore is number one in power, since he's been conquering Superdeath's cities according to civstats. I'm number two in power atm, and I was already building a few more units, so I think I'm well positioned.
Also, Gav didn't put any EP into me last turn so perhaps he has another neighbor he's more worried about

I now really want to keep on good terms with BGN/Xenu, I don't want a two-front war on my hands.

[Mr. Cairo]

Gav re-offered peace, and still hasn't put EP into me, so I guess I'm not important right now? Either way, that's fine with me, I do still need to rienforce the island. I'm also going to get Archery with my 2 scientist specialists (7 turns @0%, I can 1-turn it whenever if I need to). Vultures are somewhat weak to Axes, and my city on that island is on flatland.

[Mr. Cairo]

There was a change of plans since my last large post. A little while ago, someone I haven't met yet got Confucianism, which I had figured I would be able to get, since I was assuming most everyone was on the usual path of crashing to Currency. So that sent my paranoia gland into overdrive and made me think someone else is going along my route towards Philosophy, in which case I might not even get Taoism (not an unreasonable guess tbh). So I decided to forget about my plan to use my current Great Scientist for a GA that will accelerate my third GS that I bulb Philosophy with. Instead I would get Code of Laws as soon as possible followed by an immediate bulb of Philo, even if I wouldn't be able to revolt right away. Of course, after I had starting along this path Buddhism spread from BGN to a number of my cities (including my cap), alleviating any pressing need for a religion of my own.

But I then realised this might be a better way to do things anyway, since it'll let me revolt to Caste and Philo at the start of my GA, instead of the end, which is better for Great People production.
So this turn I bulbed Philo and spawned Taoism.



I've also founded a couple of cities recently, so here's a new empire view:



And known world:



I picked up the scout that was scouting BGN/Xenu territory (my starting scout actually) with a galley and I'll send it to the land to the west.

I have room for three cities on my island, and one plus the barb city on the island to the east.

Speaking of that island, Gav is back with another Chariot deposited 2S of the X, and our peace treaty one turn from completion (forgot a screenshot and I don't want to log back in to take one). But I'm ready this time with 1 Spear already there and another whipped in the city. I moved the Vulture and Spear 1N of the barb city, and I'll take it in 2 turns with the Vulture (I'll not attack with the Spear and risk exposing myself to the Chariot). I don't think he's all that concerned with contesting for the city, or he would have some units in his little island cities to the south-east, because as it stands I could quite easily pick up some units to go and burn them. I won't unless he gets frisky with that Chariot since I do want peace on that side, for now.

Golden Age in 9 turns.

[Mr. Cairo]

Met Naufragar, a workboat of his coming from the south of BGN, so I'm assuming they're neighbors. Hasn't met Gav and same number of cities as me, he offered OB, I rejected then re-offered. He does have currency, which is nice because it gives me a KTB on it, so I started teching it this turn. Although it's generally better to save cash before a GA, I think that there are greater benefits to getting Currency earlier.