[SPOILERS] Team BASTARD settles on deer.

[Goreripper]

Or I can help.

[Mardoc]

Thank you, Commo-san *bows*

So he also pointed out that I don't have to install dropbox to use it. Therefore...I've prepared a bit of a screenie dump.

But first, the news. Scout's been going fine, we're about to Agriculture after which we still have a lot of reasonable options. Wheel for keeping the worker busy and en route to Pottery for cottages and half-price Granaries. Animal Husbandry to hook up our Furs - and we have a lot of other campable resources in our next few cities, Ivory and Deer and more Deer. Or over to Mining - Bronze for security and hammers. I want AH - but my gut says we need to know where our copper is and get it hooked. And chopping out stuff won't hurt a bit either, nor will gaining access to Slavery. So probably we'll start on Mining next.

Not immediate priority, but I want to slip them in when possible: Sailing will be quite useful for both lighthouses and getting galleys out - there appears to be tons of overseas land available. We also need to work our way up to Priesthood at some point, so we can build temples. Not sure how many we need, but at the minimum we'll need one to get our Shrine built.

Also, Hinduism fell sometime in the last week. Not sure if it was a turn that I played in a rush or a turn that Commodore moved the scout for us, but the Hydra was never an option. Thank goodness for that!

Finally, we've got enough info to start dotmapping seriously. Here's what I'm thinking.

In the north, this is subject to revision when we uncover the tiles by the Sheep. I already see three strong port options, though. I think the Corn/clams is the highest priority - corn is the best tile we've got, and this city has a lot of nice green land for building cottages; clams will be a nice bonus once Buddhism spreads up here. The other two - probably build them near to far; we ought to have AH by the time we're to our third city plant, and Ivory happiness will be a nice help. The corn/marble site is decently strong, but doesn't have anything else going for it. I don't think we want to try for Oracle, and everything else that uses Marble is a ways out, so patience is indicated.




To the far south, we've got some more fishing villages. The irksome thing here is that the strongest one is the furthest; fish/sheep/deer is *very* nice, even if the base tiles are yucky. I'm guessing this is our best Moai candidate, as well - enough food to grow quickly, and a ton of coast tiles to work.

The crab/sheep city is pretty good, but requires culture and lighthouse to really shine, so it's really there as a stepping stone.

And the crab/silver site is downright weak - but we'll want it anyway for that silver. I think this one's a low priority, though, since the city has nothing really useable first-ring, we need to wait until we've got the ability to build missionaries. Or until Buddhism proves to us that it's weed-like in it's auto-spreading, which I don't really know yet. Religions seem to spread a lot faster on a bigger maps, but I don't have a feel for *how much* faster.

Since we have time, we'll want to explore Silverice Peninsula before committing down here. If there happens to be a lot of seafood to the south, then we'll want to shuffle cities around.



Finally, the sheep/deer site to the east is tentative. I think it'll be good, but the fog may cause me to revise my exact thinking. Both the Silverice possibilities and the stuff off to the east. We may want a city for all of sheep/deer/crab/lake, or we may want to split them in two.



Now, all this said, the only city on my dotmap that I think is a priority is the Corn site just to the north of Friend Computer (Friend Computer takes care of us! Friend Computer loves us!). The really nice looking land is off to the NE, and the wounded lion suggests that our neighbor(s) is off to the NE as well. So we'll need to push this direction to get a good share of the land, and then once we establish a border, continue heavy settler pushes to grab all these ports.

Most of these coastal plants are strong cities, yes, and excellent Financial fodder, but we shouldn't have any trouble claiming them as long as we expand reasonably quickly. I'm waiting for the scout to reveal those five fogged tiles before I extend our dotmap NE, that's all.

Well, ok, plus wherever copper turns up. But there's no way to predict that short of trying to read Commodore's mind.

Brick, I know you're moving this weekend, but when you get a chance I definitely want your input on the dotmap - and if you have anything to add on the tech path, definitely chime in there too. We've time, but not infinite amounts, given how fast the turns come around here.

[Mardoc]

Played the turn, no new scout info, just moving him toward the sheep-fog.

We got Agriculture as expected and are now on a 5-turn Mining. Bronze to follow.

[Mardoc]

Explored the first three fog tiles, all grass, either forests or just grassland. No resources, but still good tiles once improved. Tentatively thinking a city 1SE of the 'then scout here' sign, to borrow wheat and work sheep and improve one cottage for the cap. It's a pretty good commerce city with culture - enough food to grow and enough green to support a lot of cottages. Its first ring is quite poor, but hopefully culture won't be an issue for us what with the religion. Doesn't seem to be a high priority except for bridging toward those pigs, though. Unless there's something brilliant in the fog or revealed with the next few techs, of course .

[Mardoc]

Just two more grass forests in the fog. Still, that'll help a city launch itself quickly.

We've got our worker out, he's headed to the wheat to improve that next. And we're growing on a warrior build.

And...we met Boldly Going Nowhere, Pericles of Russia, IBT. I can't see his scout, so he must have moved up and back. And given the way I moved the scout, plus where our borders are, I'm actually going to guess he's over the sea to the westish. Sadly I didn't make it to log in before the turn rolled, so we lost 2 EP forever to the lurker civ.

Pericles is Cre/Phi, a nice pairing of an early trait and a little later one. Fortunately he no longer has half-price libraries, but I still expect good potential here. That said, BGN seems about at our level - competent, solid, but not world beating. Which means he may struggle to get the best use from Phi, even buffed as it is.

Russia has the Cossack, an awesome Cavalry replacement. UB is the Research institute, now a University replacement with +1 free scientist. And remember that Phi gives half-price universities and +150% to GPP generation for some very nice synergy there.

Honestly, my gut feel says we want to be peaceful with Boldly right up until the Conquistador era, then take him out immediately before he can get awesomeness going from the Cossack/RI combo. We don't want to fight him early, he's competent, and we don't want to fight him in his era, so that leaves either Conquistadors if we've managed to gain a bit of a lead by then, or never.

Of course, he may have other ideas.

Still, I'm glad to see him in our neck of the woods. Neither Krill nor Nakor, he'll be a good challenge for us, and hopefully vice versa.

[Mardoc]

I haven't posted a screenshot in a while, so you get one today. Complete with first guess at a dotmap for the NE. I'm not really happy with this, especially the gap in the middle where we waste a bunch of perfectly cottagable grassland, but I haven't figured out a better alternative just yet. Maybe some time to stew on it will reveal a solution. Or maybe the scout will find more food that lets us shuffle things around. Or maybe Buddhism will turn out to spread like wildfire and we can redo this putting the food in the 2nd rings of cities rather than the first ring.

[Mardoc]

Hmm, I think the gap can be partially mitigated by moving the northmost city 1S and the pigs city 1W. Although it does rely on having culture for the pigs city, this cuts the gap from five tiles to one.

Actually, on further thought, I like an alternate idea. Found a city N-NW of the sheep, where it can borrow corn or sheep from 2 different neighbors. Borrowing corn and sheep occasionally gives us flexibility to always have those tiles worked, regardless of happy caps. It would slow the growth of the neighbors a bit - but sometimes that's worth doing, while waiting on whip counters to expire for example. Eventually when the neighbors grow enough to keep the food forever - then the filler just stagnates working a half dozen cottages forever, which isn't exactly a tragedy.

It might be worth spreading the cities out more if they weren't going to be early ones, but realistically our happy cap when they're founded is going to be eight-ish.

[Mardoc]

Played this morning, nothing much new. Mining should be in at EOT, after which I'm debating again between Bronze and Wheel. Bronze is more useful at the moment, but Wheel is a lot cheaper, and the worker's going to be a bit bored if we don't unlock something for him in the next five or so turns. Probably going for Wheel, honestly. There are a lot of roads we can use, and having a worker just sit around doesn't fill me with joy.

Also scouted some more, but nothing really newsworthy appeared. Just more grass and grass forests, with river. Reinforces that we want to claim as much land to the NE as possible, but we don't have enough info for dotmapping or similar yet.

Speaking of info - I'm debating when it makes sense to slip in some more scouting units. We could use at least a unit to finish scouting the south, as well as at least a pair of workboats to wander off and find people to turn Buddhist. I'm sure more units wouldn't hurt. But of course we also need to push REX, this is lush land and we need to own it ASAP.

In meta-news: I've got company visiting from the 24th-28th. Brick, will you be settled enough to handle the turns by then? I can do it if it's impossible for you, but I'd really rather spend most of my time with my guests.

[BRickAstley]

Can do. I need to start logging in now that my internet at home is finally good to go.

[Mardoc]

Ouch, that's a long time to be without internet. . Glad it's working now, though! And yes, by all means start logging in immediately - I might even be doing something wrong that you can catch. Or at least you'll be up to speed by the time you're in charge.

Cows!


Next turn I think NW-NE, unless we see an animal in which case NW-N. Want to check for seafood then head eastward

I changed my mind again and swapped to Bronze after the picture was taken. We have a hill without a forest, which can be mined to keep the worker busy post-farm (maybe it's our copper, even?). And Wheel wouldn't have been soon enough anyway. But Bronze puts us into the world of the chop, which can use all the worker turns.

After Bronze, definitely time for Wheel - Pottery, of course. Cottages, granaries, and the whip make for a happy civ.

Ok, ok, a happy despot.