Cheater Hater, Ruler of the Modbreakers

[Cheater Hater]

T66 Report:
Not much is happening, but I just promised a report




Granted, the most exciting thing here is that I'm still very indecisive with regard to my micro
Yes, I gave the pigs back to Zendikar--it lost a point of whip anger, and it has more tiles to work than Mirrodin (even after I lend out the pigs again, it has its cottage, the southern farm, a grassland mine, and the forest spices aren't that bad as far as unimproved tiles go). Other than that, not much will happen until T68, when the new worker will come out and I'll whip the settler, settling my seventh city (the horses city) on T70. I also need to turn on tech again sometime (it's still off, I just put it at break-even for the calculations in the last post). I think my path is going to be Math->Masonry->Currency->Construction, with Archery, Calendar, Iron Working, and Metal Casting being stuck in there possibly.

Now to analysis--let's start with the demos, since I haven't shown them in a while:


I'm not dead last in GNP anymore--just tied for dead last
This also shows how the production is going--I'm in 4th now, and dtay's still miles ahead of me! Still, this is really good, with all the shifting towards raw hammers being important (with the Slavery nerf) and commerce less so (with the known tech bonuses and tech cost increases making it much more difficult to get a breakaway tech advantage).

Next, let's do a power check:


It's good that I'm improving (and that's before my cities grow and the new axe and impi come out), but the real story here is Krill/novice's sudden surge. Actually, I think some of that might be techs, but I don't know which ones--it doesn't look like anyone has a 10k IW jump, but one of those could easily be Math, which would mean known tech bonus is already happening.

Finally, let's check out the top cities race:


Airship Two has been dethroned again--and surprisingly not by one of the multiple size 7 cities! I hope someone in the lurker thread's keeping track of the uncensored rankings for fun, and I'm not the only one who's monitoring it

[Cheater Hater]

*sigh* I should have reported yesterday, but I was tired, and now I pretty much have to report--and that's after reporting in 58 for the first time in two weeks. At least there isn't much to report--I only have 10 pictures for the last three turns combined!
T67-69 Report:
Domestic overview to start, and you may notice that things are a bit sparse...




I did three whips last turn, and while you know about my 2 pop whip of the settler, my other two whips were 1-pop whips in Tarkir (since it lacks improved tiles and needs both the Granary and the Monument) and Zendikar (it grew into unhappiness on T68, so I whipped the Impi and am using the overflow for another worker)

Right now my real problem has to be the lack of GNP--I'm certainly not going on strike anytime soon, but right now I'm running a deficit at 50%--and that's before founding my new city next turn. Thankfully this should be one of my last round of whips for the moment--other than whipping Mirrodin's Granary and possibly Tarkir's monument (not sure on that), I think my next whip will be the Settler for the stone city (out of Theros I think? It's almost out of whip anger, so it can grow to size 5 and build the settler, only whipping down to size 3)--and I'll grow onto Ravnica's cottages while slow-building something (Library or Galley I think; I don't think I need more military at the moment).

Speaking of military, since Zendikar doesn't need a guard at size 2 (the plan is to move the axe coming out of Theros to Mirrodin, the Impi to Tarkir, then the Warrior can backfill Zendikar) I finally have a spare unit so I can do more scouting! Granted, it's not much (just some of the southern tundra, then some fogbusting around the stone city), but it's progress!

[Commodore]

Ikhandas coming to aid the money issues?

[Ceiliazul]

[i]*sigh* I should have reported yesterday, but I was tired, and now I pretty much have to report--

thats not true. better to not report than burn out. (especially when theres not much happening)

[Cheater Hater]

Right, Ikhandas help my GNP--20% doesn't seem like much now, but it will help eventually--I think my mind just hiccuped and didn't connect "Ikhandas are my UB and thus good" with "Ikhandas help my GNP" in that instance. Then again, it's just that my maintenance is just low in general--right now my highest maintenance is in Tarkir at just over -3 GPT. How much should I be prioritizing Ikhandas anyway? Is the 20% good enough that I'll eventually want them in every city, or would I only want them in cities with high production and/or maintenance?

As for yesterday, it's not really burnout, I was just really tired--I stayed up way too late watching E3 coverage

[Cheater Hater]

T70 Report:
So much for any thoughts of burnout--lots of interesting stuff this turn!




Obviously some of this stuff I knew would happen (founding Lorwyn, the defogging), but I also got Judaism spread in Mirrodin! That was a shock, especially since it took forever to get my first religion spread in PBEM 58--what are the mechanics behind that? I know I can trade resources with dtay and no one else, so it must have come from him I guess? I thought I needed open borders for random spread?

There was also some random minor stuff going on, a lot of which comes from me finally hooking up that ivory next turn. I swapped off the worker in Zendikar for an Impi, but I'll go back to the Worker when I grow. I also whipped the monument in Tarkir, and I'll slow-build the workboat next--hopefully I don't grow again before some of the whip anger goes away. Finally, I started the slow process of building the rescue Galley for my Scout--it's not a priority by any means, and as such I'll focus on growing my cottages in Theros.

Now to the most interesting part of today's actions: the defogging!


Obviously my Impi uncovered some more deer in the tundra, but that's not the only thing that's new here--can you spot it?
Yes, Lorwyn has uncovered some whales in the SW! Remember, I can already hook them up thanks to RB Mod, so that's another crucial happy point--that's unfortunately one out of range of Lorwyn
Fun story: the blue circle actually showed up 1S of Lorwyn, and that space actually hits all the resources (the crab/sheep/horse currently in Lorwyn, the plains sheep I could see, and the whales in the fog), but loses the plains hill, fresh water, and the overlap with Theros. Part of it's that I was already planning on putting a city 1S of the plains sheep on the assumption that there was something in the fog--which do my lurkers think would have been better, current Lorwyn and the plains sheep city, or Lorwyn 1S of its current position? I need to make a full southern dotmap soon, but I should defog more of the south first.

I would do more analysis, but not much has changed--today was a domestic planning day

[Cheater Hater]

T71 Report:
Hooray, this game is so much fun so far! Let's start with a domestic overview as always:




Silver! This actually appears to make my first draft of a SE dotmap relatively easy--put the wheat and fur cities where they originally were, then plop the silver city right where the Impi is sitting. In fact, I think the silver city is good enough to be city 9 (right after the stone city), and I'll found it relatively soon--soon enough to get the Hanging Gardens bump at the very least (though I'm thinking I might get to city 10 by the time that finishes).

The other development this turn is a bit more subtle--I've turned my tech back on Math at full blast. I mean, my GNP still isn't that good at the moment (I'm exactly break-even at 40%), but as I mentioned, there aren't that many whips in my future (I don't even think I'll whip Mirrodin, since it has too little food until the borders pop and I farm the wheat/can work the Oasis), and the initial batch of cottages have almost leveled up.

One minor change (that avoids a screw-up) is that I swapped back to the worker in Zendikar--I forgot that growing to size 3 would require a guard, and thus I'd grow into unhappiness regardless. Besides, I really need more workers improving my new cities (Tarkir/Kamigawa/Mirrodin mainly).

Now to do some analysis, mainly with the demos:


Well, my GNP's better, at least? At least my food's good, and my land area seems good despite my large amount of overlap--I wish I knew what percentage of the competitors have gotten to seven cities at this point, so I could get a sense of how well I'm doing. My power's also recovering, though I'm still lower than all my neighbors.

One other interesting piece of analysis is from the score. On one hand, dtay's leading everyone by about a tech. On the other, Krill/novice are already down to 31st place, which is surprising considering their skill level, number of cities (they're still at 6), and traits (Creative in particular means they would get more land points, and faster to boot.)--I guess they're doing even more whipping than I am, and are focusing on military and workers more than settlers. Finally, there's Whosit and I in the middle, with Whosit above me--I guess he's focusing on more cheap techs and has a better surplus to make up for his lack of cities?

[Cheater Hater]

Wow, 8 pictures today--that's a new record for PB18, and that doesn't even include the multiple rounds of domestic pictures I replaced while playing around with tile assignments
T72 Report:
Lots of pictures, lots of action, lots of indecision--let's start with domestic as always:




Marble too, along with more food? I thought my initial dotmap was too easy--if I go with the three cities as before, the only city I can fit is on the marble itself (which isn't that bad of a city). Right now the last missing piece of the puzzle is the food surrounding the sheep--maybe the marble is the best place to found it?

There also have been some build changes--Ravnica is building another worker so it doesn't grow into unhappiness, and Tarkir is building an axe? Why would that be? There's two parts to that, starting with a look at Whosit:


Whosit finally founded his fourth city, and unfortunately it appears that he put it where it blocks my scout's galley escape
More pressingly, we can see an axe (with promotion at the ready) showing up in Prairie Village--and the power graph is more worrying:


Yikes! So much for Krill/Novice passing Whosit--now Whosit's passing dtay! Remember, that power rating's actually threatening, since not as much of it's stuck in population (though Whosit's cities are presumably bigger than average since he hasn't been building settlers). To defend that, the plan in Tarkir is to build that axe for a turn, swap back to the work boat, then swap back and 2-pop whip once I grow into unhappiness. In addition, I'm free to build more military in Tarkir and Mirrodin in the short term, though it will be slow (at least until I get those cities improved).

Now to some analysis! Let's start with demos since I'm not horrible at the moment:




The lurkers have been completely dethroned! Apparently you need to settle more great spies

Before I go (and play the the PBEM save I just got), a couple things that didn't fit anywhere else:

• Math is actually right on the edge of being 7 turns away--1 more commerce and it would be (and it was during many of the various permutations of tile assignments). I should still get it in 7 turns, since one of my cottages will grow, and Ravnica and Zendikar will both go back to working their cottages after they finish their workers (and since Mirrodin/Theros were working other cottages and/or riverside tiles, that's a net gain still).
  
• dtay just founded his 8th city--I wonder if any of the teams near him in score (Fin/Harry, Oxy/Baii, BGN among others) are east of Krill/Novice? Probably not, considering we're assuming at least part of his lead is due to hut luck.
  

[Cheater Hater]

Hi again people! I decided to play the turn early today for fun--full report is coming tomorrow, but a couple interesting tidbits:

• There's a barb spear wandering around across the canal--that means barb axes can spawn too, right? Or do they come later?
  
• There is a crab in the block of fog in the south--I'm planning on doing a southern dotmap with the report tomorrow.
  
• The Oracle finally fell--and dtay got it! He got a classical tech with it (12 point score boost), so (assuming everything is working) known tech bonus is on for certain!
  
• While I was logged in, pindicator logged in--and Barry Lyndon's score decreased by 4 points!
  

[Cheater Hater]

More good news! I finally have a new keyboard, so I'm more likely to do more and longer reports--of course, I still need a place to put it, but at least I don't have to fear words like "decided" anymore
T73 Report:
Lots of fun stuff--though the start is boring and typical at least




As I mentioned above, the two main things that happened this turn are spotting a barb spear on the west coast and confirming there's more food in the south. As such, I feel comfortable finally writing down my southern dotmap:


This is actually the order I want to found these cities too I think (1 is the stone city)--I'm worried the eastern gems spot would be overextending too much until I can get my economy back in line, and I feel like the best way to do that is to get happy resources and grow my cities onto cottages while powering my way to Hanging Gardens and Currency. The only main piece of contention in this dotmap is whether I go on the blue or red path, though honestly, I think the blue path is just better, since I like the blue 4 better (all three resources are first-ring, and I can improve the deer immediately) and the blue B (which is now just another filler city, instead of a stepping stone to the furs) can grow quickly thanks to stealing Ravnica's pigs (in addition to 4's deer). After those 4 cities (B will be a late backfill city that's worse than the two NW cities I have yet to found, while F will only be founded if I need the marble immediately, or in the late game when I'm out of cities to found/the cost is negligible), I'll see if Whosit has decided to found the gems city yet--if not I'll found it if I can support it; if so I'll backfill my NW while likely starting the buildup to kill Whosit. I have no clue on the timeline for a lot of this though--obviously the stone settler is starting next turn in Theros, and I think I want the silver settler to come out of Ravnica (though I might delay that settler to be the whales settler). I just need to balance not crashing my economy with getting as many cities as possible founded before I build Hanging Gardens--I think I can get the whales founded at least by that time (depending on where I'm building my silver settler), but I don't know if I can delay it so the fur city gets the boost as well.

As for non-dotmapping domestic news, there isn't that much--Zendikar's worker finishes at EOT, along with Kamigawa's granary. As I mentioned earlier, Theros will grow, so I'll swap to a production-focused setup there and start the stone settler (which will be 2-pop whipped from 5 to 3). The workers aren't doing much--Lorwyn's development is going very quickly (in fact, maybe I could use a chop or two to get a settler out of there? It does have to finish the granary, a monument, and a workboat first though, but that could set it up to build the whales settler), and I have a lot of workers trying to get Tarkir, Mirrodin, and Kamigawa on the same level, while making sure I can quickly get the stone hooked up. You can also see my first cottage has matured--and it's actually the one between Zendikar and Mirrodin, not one at the capital.

Now to analysis! Let's start with demos since I like them now


I guess 22nd in GNP isn't that good, but it's certainly a lot better than 34th
In addition, 11th and 8th are very good, and those stats matter more--though the production will almost certainly be more middling when I finish my workers (and then it'll skyrocket when I'm building Hanging Gardens at +250% ). Other than that, my only worrisome stats are power (and I'm whipping an axe in a couple turns to fix that, while Zendikar is resuming its slow-build of an Impi next turn as well) and population (which just means I'm not growing my cities--and that will come soon as well, even before considering the Hanging Gardens).

Next, here's something that I don't think I've shown yet--the victory conditions screen!


No, I'm not planning my victory condition yet, but this does tell us who (of who we know) is leading in population and land area. Obviously dtay is leading population (because he's doing extremely well), but Krill/novice is leading in land area--and yet they're still near the bottom of the scoreboard. I'm assuming part of that is that Creative means you can put cities farther apart, and those cities naturally take up more space due to faster culture expansions.

Finally we have a couple graphs--one is the expected power graph, but the other is a surprise:




Whosit is continuing his power buildup, though I still don't know if he's planning on actually attacking or not. The more interesting thing is the GNP graph, where I'm actually matching dtay's GNP for the time being! Of course, I'm assuming this is mainly due to dtay finishing a tech and losing the arrow bonus, but it looks good at least