[spoilers] Vi Viqsi Veniversum Vivus Vici (or possibly just embarrasses herself)

[Viqsi]

Two turns of update this time! Apologies to any seeing this for the delay. Yesterday and today were the worst kinds of busy - the "unexpected" kind.


T32: Azza's second city is up, and my scout was teleported out, rather than in, so I headed back north:

T33: Started northward, and acquired a serious case of envy:

In demographics, the spreadsheet is updated. For T32, Fintourist and Hydra have both added techs, and 4000 soldier points have been added. 9 turns for Hydra (last added BW on T23) and 3 for Fintourist (added BW on T29). The extremely short time for Fintourist suggests something very low-cost - say, Hunting or Mysticism. For Hydra, I have no idea. Frankly, attempting to figure this stuff is losing its appeal quickly. I'm recording the necessary info that I have and moving on. As for T33, Sareln whipped two pop and Hydra's capital grew by 1; otherwise no changes.

[Viqsi]

T34: ...wait just one darn moment, where did you come from?

This is how attentive I've been lately. I have guests and I didn't even notice!

Meanwhile, nothing exceptional discovered yet in Azza territory, although I should be able to have visibility on his capital next turn:

My worker near Riven has moved to the rice to start a farm. By the time that's done, I'll have The Wheel and so will be doing some roads. Beyond that, I'm not doing any micro planning.


In demographics, the spreadsheet is updated. Only one highlight - the numbers suggest that Hydra has added a second city with 7 land tiles.

And on a side note, Happy (C)Han(n)uk(k)a(h)!

[Viqsi]

T35: Behold Ambling Alp, capital of the Annoying Allies of Alliteration:

They've got a lot of hills there. I'm envious. Also, that Worker evidently just completed at the end of his turn.

Riven's border expansion has also revealed Good Things to the southeast:

I'm really hoping that's not just me being able to see Hydra's start. That's already looking mighty yummy.

And at Myst, the sheep hill pasture is now complete. Things moving along reasonably nicely now:

One of my workers is getting started on the rice farm; once I have The Wheel, both workers will start on road connections while I research Pottery (so the farm'll only be partly done). Riven is finishing up its Work Boat; once that's done it'll start on another WB until it reaches size 3, then switch to a Worker. The second WB will be used for exploration. For one, I want to see whether or not I can include that cows-and-silver area near Riven in my plans... and for another, if by some miracle I can get the circumnavigation bonus this early I want it!


The demographics spreadsheet is updated. I'm #1 in a few very nice categories (food, production, land), evidently partly due to taking the initial investment hit of a second city early. Still can't top my Financial rivals in GNP, tho, but we'll work on that. Everybody's got a second city now, though, and Sareln has a new tech which I think adds another 2000 soldiers (can't be certain; could also be someone adding another Warrior). I'm tentatively guessing Animal Husbandry, but frankly going back to tracking beaker output, while it was interesting for a short while, is starting to give me twitching fits.

And, yes, still no new screenshots of the charts because I still only have Azza's. I'm rather holding off 'till I get Hydra's too. Because I am lazy.

Azza's second city has 6 land tiles. Hydra's has 7. Sareln and Fintourist's have 8 and 6 and I have no way of telling which is which. (Riven was 8 land tiles.) No inland second cities in this crowd.

[Viqsi]

T36: Found Azza's horses.

That is literally the only thing of significance that happened this turn. The demographics spreadsheet is updated and it is almost completely unchanged. I guess folks are busy developing their second cities.

...so just as an excuse to add more to this particular post, I opted to just go ahead and grab the Demographics charts.

Not much in the way of notability that I can see.

I think I'm going to keep exploring 'till I find Azza's copper and then go take a look at a different neighbor.

[Viqsi]

Funny thing: I wrote this up yesterday, but for some reason never posted it.

T37: Strange, I thought everybody had wet grains of some kind.

Is that deliberate, or did our map creator make a small boo-boo?
Also, still not seeing any copper. Hrm.

Back at home, roading has begun:

(This shot was taken after I ended turn, which is why Riven is at population 2 and Myst's barracks are showing as done. Those are actually next-turn developments.)


In demographics, the spreadsheet is updated. Azza and Fintourist both added techs, and two folks each added 2000 soldiers, which probably means they both went after Sailing. But I'm not really sure. Still disinclined to really pursue that for the time being.

[Viqsi]

T38: First thing I noticed: literally everybody's score went up this turn! More on that in a sec.

Still not seeing any copper around Ambling Alp.

That fogged river tile is evidently a forest, which means it's not there. Kinda freaky if he doesn't have any.

Riven and Myst are now connected for trade purposes:

Right now all that gets me is health bonuses from the sheep and fish. Next objectives are to road the sheep (for movement) and the copper (for DUH).


In demographics, the spreadsheet is updated. Here's how the score changes break down:

• I added a pop point in my second city.
  
• Azza and Sareln added pop points in their capitals to go to size 3.
  
• Fintourist added a pop point in his capital to go to size 4.
  
• Hydra added a tech of some kind.

Funny thing is, 5000 soldier points were added this turn.

[Viqsi]

Rar. Once again, I wrote this up yesterday, but for some reason never posted it. Days have had some additional activity of late 'cause of family vacation plans...

T39: The city of Broken Bones is now revealed, and I now have a mostly comprehensive map of Alliteration territory:

My guess is that if he has any copper at all, it's in that tile 1S of Broken Bones. I also imagine he's planning a city on the forest hill 1S of the spices, and another 5W of Ambling Alp (1NW of the horses, 2S of the corn there).

Even more notable:

14 tiles of fog separate us. If there's no ocean meridian strip there, a quick circumnavigation bonus is quite feasible.

Incidentally, I think I've figured out what inspired the map shape:

In demographics, the spreadsheet is updated. Apparently Sareln's capital didn't grow last turn, it grew THIS turn - along with his second city. Last turn was a tech, because I fail at basic math and reading comprehension.

Current population figures:
54000 (me): Capital size 4 (48000), 2ndcity size 2 (6000).
49000 (Fintourist): Capital size 4 (48000), 2ndcity size 1 (1000)
27000 (Sareln?): Capital size 3 (21000), 2ndcity size 2 (6000)
22000 (Hydra?): Capital size 3 (21000), 2ndcity size 1 (1000)
22000 (Azza): Capital size 3 (21000), 2ndcity size 1 (1000)

[Viqsi]

T40: My scout is starting his retreat from Alliteration territory, so there's little new out in the rest of the world. Therefore, let's take the time to look at our cities!

Myst:

Started on that settler last turn. The intended city site is to the northwest. I'm now to the point where I'm working unimproved tiles again, which... bothers me.

Riven:

Riven's work boat completed this turn and will have netted those crabs next turn (whereupon I'll switch to them). I contemplated all sorts of ways to try to whip out another Work Boat before starting on that Worker so I'd have an explorer unit, but I can't justify the time and opportunity cost. The worker should actually be done in 7 turns 'cause I'll get an additional hammer from the 4 food crabs tile once it's improved.

Overview of Pho'ni territory:

City #3's site is pretty obvious. Worker plan (once the copper mine is roaded next turn) is to road to that location, road to the cows (whereupon the city gets founded), pasturize the cows, then set up the silver mine.


In demographics news, the spreadsheet is updated. Hydra's capital has reached size 4, and Sareln has whipped his second city back down to size 1.

[Viqsi]

T41: Oh, that obscenely fortunate BASTARD.

That forest hill site 1S of the spices just became an unaccountably awesome financial city. For a Financial civ! So Much Envy.
Granted, it'd take him a little while to set it up (need a Lighthouse, plus Calendar and Monarchy), so it's not a near-term threat, but still. Gahhh. Small favor that not all of the water tiles are coastal.

Meanwhile, my scout has 8 turns to get out of Dodge (that's when capital borders will expand). I'm in no real rush, but shouldn't dawdle.


At home, The Copper Is Roaded.

Cheapass "micro plan":
T42: Workers road 1N of Myst; 4 turns to Settler.
T43: Workers move 1NW and road; 3 turns to Settler.
T44: Workers move 1NW (third city site); 2 turns to Settler.
T45: Workers road tile (third city site); 1 turn to Settler.
T46: Settler completes, moves, founds third city; Workers move 1SW (to cows) and start pasture.

Despite a last-minute temptation to go exploring with my one Work Boat Riven now has crabs to work. My GNP and crop yield are thanking me.


In demographics, the spreadsheet is updated. (Doesn't account for the +1 each to GNP and food from the Riven tile switch, tho.) This turn's happenings: Fintourist's second city reached size 2 (putting him level with me on pop, and potentially also on crop yield - well, until I switched tiles at Riven, anyways), and Sareln and Azza's capitals reached size 4.

My Pottery research completes at the end of this turn. Need to get granaries and cottages going sooooon. Not... Enough... Workers...


holy crap, an odd-numbered turn posted about ON TIME? omg wtf hax

[Viqsi]

T42: We're celebrating The Answer by contemplating death. See below.

Anyways. Greeted by this lovely sign:

Whereupon I had to come up with an ad-hoc research plan.

I'm reasonably certain that somebody out there has Sailing and Masonry already, and my research rate is still well behind others. So I opted to go for Writing (for my cheap libraries), and am subsequently toying with a Monarchy beeline. Dunno if I'll stick to that, though.

Once I got out of that and checked the quest log - more news!

Two of my rivals had score increases concurrent with adding techs - Azza and Fintourist. As I have visibility on Azza's cities and neither of them are Hindu, the obvious conclusion is that Fintourist founded the religion. My presumption is that he's headed after Monarchy.

Meanwhile, my scout discovers that Azza has offshore gems to go with his mainland ones:

That suggests that the silver I've seen offshore is meant to be "mine". Happy day!


And in other happy news, I got Hydra's graphs today!

Should be helpful when I go back and attempt to reason what folks's techs were/are.

Speaking of which, the demographics spreadsheet is updated. This turn's happenings: Fintourist adds a tech and a FIFTH pop point in his capital, and I believe that tech was Polytheism. Azza added a tech and a second pop point in Broken Bones. I'm still #1 in crop yield, but by a tiny margin, and other folks have caught up. I'm starting to get smacked around in GNP again... but I've got that third city with a silver mine coming, and I'll be able to get cottages up shortly. So I can at least keep pace.

At some point in the near future I have to start looking into when I'm going to go after Currency and Compass. Those are basically going to be my big economic techs (Compass 'cause of Cothons, Currency 'cause duh).

I'm also overwhelmingly tempted to just grab Archery and HBR and go a-questing with Numidian Cavs. There's problems with that, though. For one, attempting an early rush with this territory would be pure hell for anyone except maybe the Mongols - the sea transport infrastructure is costly, and the central jungles and curlicue layout make moving your army incredibly slow. And for another, I don't particularly enjoy being the evil conquering bitch. It makes a hell of a lot more sense to just build. However, that means that those of us with earlier-game UUs - specifically, myself and Sareln - aren't going to get to do much with them. Conversely, midgame UUs - you know, everybody else - are going to be shockingly useful. So I keep considering it, even though it's costly and insane and would paint a huge target on my back for the rest of the damn game.

If perchance I do have to do something like that, tho, the best target would undoubtedly be Hydra. My immediate neighbor to the north appears to be Sareln, who is not a (UU-related, anyways) late-game worry. So if I try to do the conquest thang, it'd be best handled by going clockwise - Hydra first (conquered territory more easily defended by me), followed by Azza if that's feasible at that time.

Of course, the other worry is that Sareln may make the same assumption about ME. So having defensive triremes in the water might be a good idea.

In any case, Hydra's now my next scouting target. And this will be given some thought.