T50
It's been a bit of a slog to get here, but we've played 50 turns. Here are some screenshots for my opponents to use against me.

I thought that hooking up the whales would yield +1 food, making growth in 2t but I just the hammer and commerce. The extra food comes with a LH. I'll swap some tiles around to adjust.

I'm deciding whether I ought to grow this to size 5 or leave it at size 4 and move the garrison out next turn when the whales are available. I need to continue to expand as aggressively as I can. It has not escaped my attention that Gawdzak has staked his claim to the central area between us. I need to claim my side of the river now, so these tall cities will push steady, constant workers and settlers. I have two axes now, which is sufficient for the times.

Chariots, however, are a new thing, with horses first available this turn. I'll investigate Gawdzak's posture and make a move if there is an opening, if for no other reason than to have something to do. This game has been pretty lackluster so far IMO.

Gawdzak settled on the PH, the obvious place. I can, and probably will, counter by settling SW of the sugar. Gawdzak is CRE/IND, so he could easily dump a wonder in that city (Hey, plenty of forests near his expansion options while my jungle grows apace. Good for him!
) which would cause me some problems. Still, I can't just surrender this area completely so I'll carve out something of worth.

Three cities each. I put myself slightly behind his expansion rate due to geography right now. Darius is a notoriously slow starter.

Exploration to the south toward NylesStandish, who just couldn't take a hint and had to get his scout killed. I don't know enough about him to guess whether he'll hold a grudge or if he'll make me come after him later. Also highlighted here, I stopped EP spending at 43 in time for Nyles to notice and adjust his spending if he wanted to avoid wasting any EP on me. Maybe he just didn't check that closely. Not a big deal. Either this is absent of thought on his part or an indication that he hates me. I'm guessing the former.

His expansion has been a bit slower, inexplicably, as he is IMP/PRO. He should be owning things right now. Unless his start is awful, which I doubt given the similarity of Gawdzak and my starts, he ought to have had a fourth city by now if he pushed reasonably hard for it.

Yuri is doing whatever Yuri does. Maybe he has a settler out as we speak. He did grow his capital tall (size 4) early so he's probably working lots of hammers and will slingshot ahead in city count pretty soon. If not, he's in trouble. Also noted, he has not revolted to slavery yet.
Graphs:



I settled on my bronze, Gawdzak hooked his up a couple of turns later. I probably would have done the same if I could have had pigs and bronze in the same city.


I don't intend to cause alarm with a higher power rating but I'm fine with it if I do. My second axe is ready EoT. They're convenient hammer sinks as I grow my cities now that I can't build warriors for cheap garrisons anymore. Mapmaker comment: putting bronze on the river is nice, I appreciate the free commerce, you know, if I hadn't settled on the bronze, but I don't like removing the choice from the player. If I want to push my luck and not hook up the bronze with a road, that ought to be my call. Minor map nitpick. Otherwise the map seems ok.

Is that a monument just ticking up for Nyles? I'll be interested to see what his land looks like. Needing to build a monument this early tends to slow things considerably.


I'm satisfied with my position for now. Nothing special, but the terrain hasn't really been working in my favor so far. And Darius is slow, etc.

Someone else has a pretty good second city at size 4. It isn't Yuri, based on population from the demos.
Any questions? My basic plan going forward is to continue claiming land as fast as I can (not exactly breakneck pace so far) and see where opportunities to improve my position may arise. The land to the south looks like safe backfill that I can settle in a choke against Nyles, so I'll push north, northwest, and east initially. I doubt I get a religion immediately. Maybe later with CoL or Philosophy. One of the PHI civs ought to get to Taoism first though.
It's been a bit of a slog to get here, but we've played 50 turns. Here are some screenshots for my opponents to use against me.

I thought that hooking up the whales would yield +1 food, making growth in 2t but I just the hammer and commerce. The extra food comes with a LH. I'll swap some tiles around to adjust.

I'm deciding whether I ought to grow this to size 5 or leave it at size 4 and move the garrison out next turn when the whales are available. I need to continue to expand as aggressively as I can. It has not escaped my attention that Gawdzak has staked his claim to the central area between us. I need to claim my side of the river now, so these tall cities will push steady, constant workers and settlers. I have two axes now, which is sufficient for the times.

Chariots, however, are a new thing, with horses first available this turn. I'll investigate Gawdzak's posture and make a move if there is an opening, if for no other reason than to have something to do. This game has been pretty lackluster so far IMO.

Gawdzak settled on the PH, the obvious place. I can, and probably will, counter by settling SW of the sugar. Gawdzak is CRE/IND, so he could easily dump a wonder in that city (Hey, plenty of forests near his expansion options while my jungle grows apace. Good for him!
) which would cause me some problems. Still, I can't just surrender this area completely so I'll carve out something of worth.
Three cities each. I put myself slightly behind his expansion rate due to geography right now. Darius is a notoriously slow starter.

Exploration to the south toward NylesStandish, who just couldn't take a hint and had to get his scout killed. I don't know enough about him to guess whether he'll hold a grudge or if he'll make me come after him later. Also highlighted here, I stopped EP spending at 43 in time for Nyles to notice and adjust his spending if he wanted to avoid wasting any EP on me. Maybe he just didn't check that closely. Not a big deal. Either this is absent of thought on his part or an indication that he hates me. I'm guessing the former.

His expansion has been a bit slower, inexplicably, as he is IMP/PRO. He should be owning things right now. Unless his start is awful, which I doubt given the similarity of Gawdzak and my starts, he ought to have had a fourth city by now if he pushed reasonably hard for it.

Yuri is doing whatever Yuri does. Maybe he has a settler out as we speak. He did grow his capital tall (size 4) early so he's probably working lots of hammers and will slingshot ahead in city count pretty soon. If not, he's in trouble. Also noted, he has not revolted to slavery yet.
Graphs:



I settled on my bronze, Gawdzak hooked his up a couple of turns later. I probably would have done the same if I could have had pigs and bronze in the same city.



I don't intend to cause alarm with a higher power rating but I'm fine with it if I do. My second axe is ready EoT. They're convenient hammer sinks as I grow my cities now that I can't build warriors for cheap garrisons anymore. Mapmaker comment: putting bronze on the river is nice, I appreciate the free commerce, you know, if I hadn't settled on the bronze, but I don't like removing the choice from the player. If I want to push my luck and not hook up the bronze with a road, that ought to be my call. Minor map nitpick. Otherwise the map seems ok.

Is that a monument just ticking up for Nyles? I'll be interested to see what his land looks like. Needing to build a monument this early tends to slow things considerably.


I'm satisfied with my position for now. Nothing special, but the terrain hasn't really been working in my favor so far. And Darius is slow, etc.

Someone else has a pretty good second city at size 4. It isn't Yuri, based on population from the demos.
Any questions? My basic plan going forward is to continue claiming land as fast as I can (not exactly breakneck pace so far) and see where opportunities to improve my position may arise. The land to the south looks like safe backfill that I can settle in a choke against Nyles, so I'll push north, northwest, and east initially. I doubt I get a religion immediately. Maybe later with CoL or Philosophy. One of the PHI civs ought to get to Taoism first though.















The good news is that if he does declare war I have two jungle hills to choose from and hopefully either will give me sight for a trade route.