[Spoilers] Louis XIV of Babylon

[Sciz]

A lot of corn on this map so far!

[SleepingMoogle]

A lot of corn on this map so far!

We can't really complain about that. Corn is just about the best food resource one can hope for, and it provides a definite reason to expand in that direction.

By the way.. I will be visiting my family in the first week of March (Feb 28 - March 7), and in need of a turnplayer who can take over the reins for that period. Would you be available to do that Sciz?

[Sciz]

I should definitely be able to do that, if you have a good comprehensive turn-guide for me to follow anyways

I also need to figure out how to play Pitboss but that shouldn't be much of a problem

[SleepingMoogle]

I should definitely be able to do that, if you have a good comprehensive turn-guide for me to follow anyways

I also need to figure out how to play Pitboss but that shouldn't be much of a problem

Thanks! Connecting to the game isn't too hard, and once you're inside it's just like any regular game of Civ. I'll see about putting together a plan of sorts for that week.

Messages between the Netherlands and me have stalled a little. Mackoti is having hardware problems, and Ioan seems to prefer to discuss matters with him before sending out responses. I'll send him a followup message just in case.. the map trade isn't that urgent at this point since I haven't even settled city 2 yet, but the sooner the better of course.

Also, scouting has finally proven my theory right (I hope):



That looks to be Adlain's border to the far south. I'll make contact with him next turn so I'll prepare a message for the occasion. This could be the border of a second city, but more likely it's his capital as that border wasn't there on the last turn (it most likely expanded due to the added holy city culture).

I have little experience with Adlain, so can't really tell much about his skills as a Civ player, and whether or not he might be a threat. Just that Arabia was an odd choice to pair with Wang Kon, even though it allowed him to land Buddhism.

[Sciz]

Excuse me for being stupid a bit, but I thought border colors represented what country you were. Isn't Arabia normally light green-ish, and not red?

[Mardoc]

From the tech issue thread

1. The colours are different from standard for a reason. You all have the right civ and starting techs.
   
   
2. Don't tell other players what colour civ you are

[SleepingMoogle]

Pretty much what Mardoc said. The colors on the score tab have been changed as well though, so it's pretty easy to know who's who.

Communications with Adlain are going well so far. After exchanging greetings, I asked about the available scouting paths (the mountains would take me either right next to his border, or make a detour around them), and Adlain immediately offered to let me take the faster route. I found this while doing so:



That's a pretty gutsy play when a Warrior from a Civ you only just met is near. I guess that the path Adlain proposed means I won't ever be in a position to threaten the settler, but still.. anyway, I think I'll want to keep him on my good side. He also mentioned there's a scout from Locke and Cervantes a bit to the southeast. I guess I know where to go next.

Second cities are becoming more common too. At this rate I'll be one of the latter Civs to expand. D'oh.. I do plan for city 3 to follow soon after that though.

Mackoti came through with the map exchange after a slight delay (he had some hardware problems). Interestingly, he sent me a batch of unedited screenshots, showing me a lot more than just defogged tiles. Most interesting was this one:



Mackoti, if you later read this, you should really crop your screenshots. This tells me so much more than you probably intended to share.

Hello beautiful terrain! I will be wanting the lion's share of that for sure. Since the screenshot includes the minimap, I know we're not that far removed from each other, so expansion will head east for now. Possible city locations are 1NE of the gold, and 1N of the cows. Cities further east than that should be doable too (although I'll probably need some Bowmen to defend those).

Mackoti also mentioned having met Luddite to his east (his borders are barely visible on the minimap), and it looks like he's met LordParkin as well.

If that earlier map placement theory is correct, it might look something like this:


?? - SleepingMoogle - Mackoti/Ioan - Luddite - LordParkin?

JUNGLE JUNGLE JUNGLE

?? - Adlain - Locke/Cervantes - LordParkin? - ??

Locke and LordParkin's placement could be wrong, but this probably is most likely. Perhaps I can confirm or disprove this through diplomacy, but top of the list for now is to try and figure out if either of the Civs I met has early wonder plans.

[Sciz]

Nice lands! Looks like you should be able to get most of that land if the pink/purple color on the minimap is the only other close civilization

[SleepingMoogle]

A quick update for turn 34 (The CK SG is taking most of my time right now). The Settler has finished this turn and started traveling to the location for the second city. Here's how things look at the moment:



The Settler is currently hidden underneath the two Workers on the Horse resource. It will move onto the marked hill next turn and found the city on turn 36. Not the fastest expansion, but not too bad either.

For now, I'm planning for Insomnia to finish the Barracks and grow to size 4, and then start training a new Settler to settle a city near the gold (exact tile to be determined). City 2 will start training a Warrior who will start scouting to the south and west. Right now I have no idea who my neighbors in that direction are that's something I'd like to rectify. The Warrior who's currently scouting a little towards the east will assume MP duty for the third city.

The Workers will improve the nearly completed farm, Horse and Corn resources in the near future. I'm thinking about completing a second farm and mine one (or both) of the available hills as well to give the city a solid production potential. There's no way I can finish all of this in time for city three (I'd like to have the road ready beforehand), so I'll need another Worker to two in the near future as well. Once city 2 has grown and has access to improved resources, it will probably train at least one.

I have also met Locke's scout like Adlain promised so I'll prepare a greeting. There's probably not too much we can do for each other given how far we're removed from each other, but if nothing else we'll have someone else to spend EP's on.

[SleepingMoogle]

Alright, city 2 was settled on T36. I'll have the Workers build a Pasture (will finish next turn), then one will stay to improve the Corn and other tiles mentioned in the earlier post, while the other will start to construct the road towards the third city site. I'm tentatively leaning towards planting it on the hill NW of the gold, but still considering other tiles in the vicinity (for example I might place it to pick up that Cow resource as well).

Lord Parkin completed Stonehenge on T35, as predicted. Good for him I guess.

Also, Warlord may or may not have gone MIA. I haven't interacted at all with him so I can't really comment on the matter, other than hoping it won't end up holding up the game.