RB Pitboss #1 SPOILER - Hatshepsut / India

[regoarrarr]

I am also emailing this to the league of lin, to be passed on by sunrise

Hey League of Lin, my hated thread post count rivals!!!! :-D

I trust that things are going well for you and that our mutual friend sunrise has passed you this note. Though knowing him he probably read the whole thing first :-)

As sunrise (or is that "General" Sunrise of the Ethiopians?) has probably told you, I can not get a unit to the forested hill for us to meet until T22, 1 turn after his borders will expand to cover that tile, so it looks like we will not be able to summit.

Do you know if your continent has any other possible meeting points (or maybe even connections) to mine further south? I am still exploring, but it does look like I have found some more land to the south that starts to head west. I thought maybe we might be able to meet there possibly.

Feel free to reply back via sunrise or however else you'd like, or hopefully we will meet for ourselves soon!

[regoarrarr]

Email from sunrise

Regoarrarr,

I wanted to pencil in some of what we discussed during our chat today. However "pencil in" may be too strong, so consider this written on a dry-erase board.

1) I agree in principle to provide you with a free missionary as soon as expedient. I agree to research sailing at the latest before any fourth column techs in the tech tree, and build a galley to transport a as soon as the tech is researched. If you are able to provide your own galley I agree to build the missionary as soon as the galley arrives. In exchange you agree not to research Monotheism for at least 37 turns (T56). The entire deal is subject to a NAP with Dreylin+Kalin, and I will have confirmation one way or the other of that within 3 turns.

2) I would like a NAP with you as well. Even though it's difficult to even reach one another, I'd be happy with a 50-turn NAP subject to renewal. I'd also be willing to insert a mutual "no settling on the other island" clause during the NAP so one is tempted to take advantage of the opportunity.

3) If possible I will conduct the League of Lin team to a meeting summit over the water. In order to do this they will declare war on me and I will leave the necessary hill tile unoccupied. This is also contingent on a NAP with the League.

4) At some point in the future I would like to trade for a pair of fast workers. I'm willing to offer gold or beaker credits, or units to a hammer total we agree upon.

All the best.

-sunrise

[regoarrarr]

Current status.

T18. 2/15 in a warrior. 2hpt, due in 7 (BOT 25)
2/24 in the food box, +4fpt, growth in 6 (BOT 24)
Hunting due on T19, with 6 beaker overflow.
Agriculture is 90 beakers, currently making 12 beakers counting the free one. So, with the overflow, that should be due in 7 turns with no overflow (EOT 25).

Amy the worker: T19 start camping, which takes 4 turns. T19,20,21,22. Camp (2/3/1) is available to be worked starting T22, if I understand the mechanics of the game correctly. T23, move 1NW to the river silks and chop, T23-24-25. Then move 1E to the rice and farm, T26-27-28-29-30 - farm is available to be worked on T30.

So, let's run through a few scenarios.

Fastest I could get the settler. Let's assume I cannot log in before T18 flips over to T19 (likely - EDIT: T19 has already happened). So on T19, I swap to a settler, 100 food-hammers. 3 turns of current configuration (6 f-hpt), and then the camp is built and I make 8 f-hpt starting T22. I also have a chop coming on on T25. I could whip it on T26 (with 70/100 in the box), or let it complete naturally on BOT30.

Building a settler after growth to size 3. With the camp completing on T22, at the beginning of T22 I have 10/15 in a warrior and 18/24 in the box. Swapping over to the camp puts me at +3fpt and +5 hpt, meaning the warrior completes at the end of T22 and I grow at the end of T23, with 5 extra shields that I'd have to put into a warrior or something. So I have no overflow, 20 hammers from a chop, and I make 9 f-hpt. Settler could be whipped on T30 (with 74/100 in the box - completed on T31), or completes naturally on BOT33. (This might be a turn earlier with the rice completing on T30 - I need to get a test game up and running)

Settler can found either copper city 4 turns after it is completed. Ideally I would also have a worker there to immediately mine the copper. And Fishing researched so the first build could be a workboat. Worker takes 1 less turn due to having 3 moves.

So if I go with a settler at size 3, no whip (which intuitively seems "best"), it's built on BOT33. It's settled on T37. Assuming that I have fishing, I'd work the 0/3/1 copper to get a workboat out. It is 4 turns to mine, so if I had the worker available to mine on T37, it would be 3 turns of 4 hammers (with the city square), then 3 turns of 7 hammers (city + 0/6/1 copper), or workboat available BOT 43. I could actually afford to delay the worker 1 turn and still get the WB on T43.

Rice is finished farming on T30. If we are assuming that the river silks are cut down, then I can get to the copper hill on T33. Meaning i have 4-5 turns to do something else before sending him south. I could chop the river grass hill (4 turns including the one it takes to move there). So T31, move to grass hill, T32-33-34 chop that hill, T35 move to grass forested hill 2S of Cincinnati. T36 move to the grassland 2S of that, T37 move to the copper hill, T38 start mining.

The idea would be to build a 2nd worker after the settler. So Settler is completed on BOT33, with me making 11 f-hpt. I'd probably want to finish the 10 hammers of my warrior, which will take 2 turns, so BOT35 I start worker, which will have a chop (on T34 but overflowed into worker), so it should complete on BOT39 I think.

So I think this sounds like a plan. Looking at the email game, sooo settled his 2nd city about T35, ruff on T36, Dreylin on T27, and athlete on T34. So my T37 is a bit late. I suppose even w/o a granary, having the rice tile gives me pretty good re-growth, and I will have only the 2 improved tiles, so a whip from 3->2 is not that bad. I may have to do some more experimenting / pondering on whipping the settler.

Though I did realize after thinking that they are playing on Quick, so the turn numbers are not quite the same as our game. I wonder when the first second city will be built in our game. I'd say before T37.

[regoarrarr]

Okay. I know I have posted like 10 things today, so in an effort to bring Dantski (and any lurkers who couldn't be bothered to read all my drivel) up to speed, here are the open items that need some discussion

1) Potential summit meeting with Dreylin and sunrise on the forested hill starting T22 (I'll probably send Charlie, the warrior being built, there - he'll arrive on T27. Assuming that dreylin did research Fishing as I have assumed, that will gain me a whopping 1bpt on my Fishing research (from 13->14 with 3 known neighbors that have it)

2) There is talk about me agreeing not to research Monotheism in exchange for a free missionary from sunrise. I think I can't afford to take a 3 tech detour (Poly / Masonry / Mono) when there are so many other techs I need (Ag / Fishing / Wheel / Pottery / An. Husb), so this seems like a nobrainer. Also if my C&D department is correct, m_h also just researched Polytheism, so he may be heading that way as well

3) sunrise is definitely floating talks of an alliance, which I think will be a good thing.

4) Need some comments on the settling / worker plan I put out in post #73 (the one before this)

5) I have intentionally not really brought up shadyforce into the discussion, and am not sure if I want to. If sunrise and I are going to ally, then it seems like delaying the contact of Dreylin and shady is a good thing, right?

[Swiss Pauli]

re: Settling plan. Is the Copper going to be contested? If not then no harm delaying for a turn or two for the greater benefit of your fledgling empire. (Also, would be better for you to post a screenie of the proposed city-site so us lurkers can get a better, erm, picture.)

[regoarrarr]

re: Settling plan. Is the Copper going to be contested? If not then no harm delaying for a turn or two for the greater benefit of your fledgling empire. (Also, would be better for you to post a screenie of the proposed city-site so us lurkers can get a better, erm, picture.)

There is a picture on post #66. The 2 places to settle are either 1E or 1SE of the copper. After I get home and play T19, we'll have a better idea of which of those is better.

I don't think it will be contested, though it's hard to tell since I don't have a great knowledge of if / what the land is to the south of it. It's definitely not going to be contested from any other direction, and it does seem awful close to my capital.

I guess as far as delaying it or not, I was just thinking that my 3rd improved tile isn't that great anyways - certainly nothing at my capital is going to be better than a fish or plains hill copper.

[regoarrarr]

Email from shadyforce

How is exploration going? Any news? My scout got a whack from a barb and had to spend a few frustrated turns sitting put. But I met an exploring warrior from the west. There is at least one person fom over there. Any luck finding someone to the north?

I responded

Hey there. Good to hear from you! I was just about to send you an email just following up. This last turn (well, the first of my 2 turns I played this evening as I was last to T19 and first to T20) I met a scout of Imhotep's in the very far north. I am about to send him a note as well this evening.

I also spotted the borders of sunrise089 across the west coast (which turned out to be not very far west of me), but we have not yet met officially in game, though we are trying to figure out how to do so.

That's about all I have. So who did you meet?

I also met a scout from Imhotep in the far NE. About 20 tiles NE of Cincinnati.

Here is what I wrote to him

Hey there Imhotep!

I logged in this evening and it appears that our scouts have met up in the forest! Well, a warrior of mine, but who's counting. Are we close to your lands? If you don't want to say because you're worried I'll warrior rush you, I will say that's not really my style. We are about 20 tiles NE of my land.

So have you met any other civs? I know that we share our continent with shadyforce of Persia. He is to my E or SE - probably S of you, though possibly across a body of water.

I guess there's not a whole lot to talk about just yet, but I'm always one for talking and sharing ideas.

Talk to you soon!

T19 and 20 report coming up next

[regoarrarr]

Okay - first off, here's a pic of the north where I met Imhotep's scout. We're currently on the same tile.



And here's the south. Another grassland ivory and also bananas in the area. Which means there's a 3rd candidate for a city - E-SE of the copper. Gets the fish, the copper, the ivory, 2 dyes and a banana , while also being coastal and on the river. I will run some numbers on the 3 cities soon.



Though shadyforce's message about there being another civ down there worries me. I may need to hurry a bit more down there.

Demographics - everyone (everyone but m_h and Imhotep, the 2 late settlers) got land points today. I was expecting 1 point per land tile but that does not seem to be what is happening. I will analyze that a bit more tomorrow.

I'm pegging the 3 T19 techs as Hunting for krill and I, and mining for sunrise (a little less sure about that one)

And here's an annoyance, by my reckoning, I should have had 6 beakers overflow from Hunting, and be at 18/90 on Agriculture (with my 12 beakers per turn). But for some reason I am only at 17/90 and that means that I will miss it by 1 beaker. I think that the only thing I can do would be delay the camp by 3 turns to chop the silks forest (which would be 2/0/2), but that doesn't seem worth it. I don't have Fishing, so I can't even work a turn of a 1/0/2 coast tile. I'll do some more analysis tomorrow to see how that affects my plan.

I did manage to get a test game up and running and things are looking good for a T38 settling of city #2.

Oh - another annoyance is that camped ivory is only 2/2/1, not the 2/3/1 I was thinking it was.

[Dantski]

1 SE of the copper looks best to me at the moment. Hopefully there's more food by the easternmost dye for another city

[regoarrarr]

Reply from Imhotep and my response back to him

Greetings from mighty Zulu! I don’t think we’re really close, there is a quite big chunk of land between us. I don’t fear any rush, so no problem on my side – Agg Zulu is not the best target to pick for a rush anyway . I don’t have met any other civ besides you so far, seems the map is really big. Which is kind of unfortunate for me, but we’ll see .



Thx for the contact, I’m always one for talking too J .



Imhotep

Good to hear from you again, o mighty Zulu!!!

So, in an effort to understand a bit more about the map - is your capital on the east or south coast of this waterway? You probably have seen that the coast is about 2 tiles south of the square where we met, but I'm not sure how far it goes. To show that I can give info as well as ask, I do know that shadyforce is to my east, but it was unclear whether or not his land also continued north where you might be. If you continue heading west, eventually some land will open up to the south (instead of water) and my lands are down that way. It is unclear to me at this point whether or not there is another civ directly west of where we met, so that might be worth scouting out.

Let me know if you find anything interesting and I will do the same

Since I know that someone (sullla?) posted in the email game that one of the most interesting things for lurkers to read is different people's different reactions to diplomacy, I will say that I am hoping to keep him at bay. He's obviously a good MP player, with a good early UU, and I'm glad we seem to be 20+ tiles away. Hopefully that will get me enough time to build up my economy and have some credible defense.