[Spoiler] Fintourist loses his multiplayer virginity

[Fintourist]

Turn 66 & Graphs

So here is an overview shot of the turn. This time with Resource icons:



Roland Garros grew to size 4. My Work Boat started its scouting adventure to north. Next turn I will have copper online and I get two further pop growths. Soon it will be a time for another round of whipping..

I finally have graphs from all the teams, which means that I can show how the game has progressed with more traditional means.

First, here are my T66 Demos:


Rival best GNP is unusually low, because Sareln just finished a tech (probably Maths) and consequently does not have a tech selected and thus misses the 20 % multipler. Viqsi built most likely her 3rd axe and is rival best in power with 60000 points. I wonder what she will do with them.

Let's start with the GNP graph:



Me and Sareln are getting culture from religion and wonders and Viqsi from creative trait, but that does not change the fact that Azza and Hydra are currently trailing in tech. Viqsi's tech rate is also somewhat behind me and Sareln.

Production:


Production graph shows the difference between whipping and actual production. Viqsi and Hydra have been whipping very little (until Hydra's recent drop) while Sareln and Azza have used Slavery quite actively. I have not yet worked a single resourceless mine, but that will change shortly

Food:



Viqsi has been fast to expand, has not whipped much and has therefore been consistenly high in this metric too. My current position is great, but after I whip my cities again in couple of turns, things will change.. Sareln is pretty low in this statistic due to high focus on wonder building.

Power:



Viqsi is the only one with actual military units. Me and Sareln get some power boost from techs (Maths/MC)


Game Mechanics question:
When I receive a trade offer as I open my save. Is there anyway I can check the situation in game before I respond to the offer? It would be quite stupid if someone demands a city from me and I can't check whether my opponent has an army next to it..

[Old Harry]

You can choose to reload the save once you've had a look around can't you? I don't think this is frowned upon here.

I've certainly reloaded saves in PBEM46 when I've miss-clicked workers etc, I just avoid it where it would reveal different tiles...

[Fintourist]

Thanks, I guess that would not be too big of a crime then. How do people cope with this in Pitboss games?

[Fintourist]

Turn 67

So let's do a quick report this time. I finished a second work boat that is devoted for scouting/sentry purposes. My capital reached a respectable size 7 and CC also grew to size 5. Currently I have 3 cities in the top 5 screen, which is kind of awesome. My approach is definitely more focused on vertical growth compared to Azza. He whipped again and has now three cities of size 2 and one city with size 1. I would not be surprised if he settles his next city quite soon. My next two sites will still have to wait for a while. I hope that Prince/Toroid maintenance costs justify a slightly slower approach. Nevertheless, I'm definitely not allowed to fall too much behind in city count or I won't be able to match my opponents in military build-up later in the game.

Based on forum views: This game definitely lacks lurker interest. For me that's a kind of pity, because I'm putting effort into reporting and I was hoping to get more critisisim/advice that would help me improve either in this thread or later in the lurker thread. (Old Harry & AT, thanks a lot for your comments! They definitely encourage me to keep reporting). Well, at least my opponents will get a pretty detailed (and subjective) thread to read after the game. Maybe I should do some kind of shameless advertising act in the general discussion thread. Or maybe I should insult everyone in the banter thread and declare all the other players

[Old Harry]

Thanks, I guess that would not be too big of a crime then. How do people cope with this in Pitboss games?

They complain mostly...

On lurker interest I think its early days yet, you'll probably get some advice after the game when it wouldn't be a spoiler and its still early for judging just how good a start you've had. But also once you win this game and move on to beat some higher level opponents there will be more interest...

[Fintourist]

But also once you win this game and move on to beat some higher level opponents there will be more interest...

I would not bet my money on that.. But at least I'm not out of the game just yet!

[Fintourist]

Turn 68

So.. everytime I say that Azza seems to be a bit behind, he just immediately does something and makes me eat my words. This time it came in the form of 3 pop points in his 4 cities.

Domestically, I'm quite at the high point of my whipping cycle:



CC will whip my first galley next turn. That will transport the settler currently being produced in Ace towards my first island city site. Demos are still looking good: 1st in GNP&Food and 2nd in Production (highest rank since T36 thanks to improved copper and one GH mine). Well, let's whip those stats down.

[Fintourist]

Turn 69

Azza's recent whips seemed to culminate in this turn as he did not settle only one city but two I hope that he will expand towards Hydra and not towards me.. I'll do again a more comprehensive T70 report next time. If anyone has wishes related to the content/analysis/information/thoughts: Feel free to state your requests!

[Fintourist]

Turn 70 & State of the World

So here is first the latest view of my core area:



I decided to go with an economic build in CC (Lighthouse). Even though there are no sign of military threats I need to soon produce couple of real units just to boost my power ranking so that nobody gets opportunistic ideas.. I will whip a settler next turn in the Ace and overflow into Library. You can see my galley in the left. It's on its way north so that I'll get my first island city up and running I will soonish do an update with latest scouting info. There are couple of intersting aspects/possibilities to consider.

T70 Overview "Analysis"

Let's start with the EOT 70 demos:



I look still great in GNP & Crop Yield. Whipping 6 pop-points away in the coming turns will of course change the situation..

Overview scatter graph with comments (still stolen from kjn):



Unlike 10 turns ago, this time I look good in this graph as I haven't whip my cities yet. Techwise the situation is particularly good as I'm only couple turns away from Currency. I think I'm still ~300 beakers behind Sareln and ~300-500 beakers ahead everyone else. EDIT: Sareln is Metal Casting and Masonry ahead. Typo..

EOT70 Score situation:
Fintourist 311
Sareln 284
Viqsi 274
Azza 253
Hydra 241

Here is the breakdown of those score points. As one can expect, who has received the most land points to date plays a significant role here..



And this is a reason, why I don't bother building military yet:



If I'm guessing correctly (especially that Azza just researched Mathematics), Viqsi is still only one with metal units (3 Axes). It seems unlikely that they are now on a 20-turn trip walking towards my borders. Long distances in this map cause everyone to play very builderish, Sareln has not even bothered connecting his copper yet (I believe he can do it in one turn whenever he needs though). However, as stated earlier: Soon I'll have to produce at least some units so that my neighbours don't feel that my economy can be destroyed with an opportunistic attack. I'm confident that I can whip enough defenders if needed, but it would of course be better if nobody forces me to it..

Give me now ~40 peaceful turns and I'll get a pretty nice economy up and running.. At least compared to my greenish standards..

[Fintourist]

Turns 71 & 72

Studies and a case competition I'm participating are keeping me busy so let's do a combined report for last turns. Let's start with an overview pic:



There are couple of important things visible in the picture:

1. I finished Currency
2. I managed to get open borders with Viqsi.
--> This means that next turn I'll get a whopping 8 foreign trade routes. (I lose Sareln by only two commerce per turn in this area for a while)

3. Capital, RG and CC are still busy with economical builds.
4. DV finished Granary and started with an axe. I think that it is about a time to get at least couple of axes that can play zone defence near my border cities. However, that was not a clear decision since there are practically 3 different military builds that are viable options for me:
a) Galley, small boost in power rating. Can function as a sentry and helps with logistics
b) Barracks, 3000 points boost in power rating and an investment into better units later..
c) Axe, an actual military unit..
I try to build as little actual military units as possible, if C&D allows it. However, as I noticed an 12k power increase, which might well be Sareln teching IW (next turn I'll be wiser), I need to get couple real units so that I won't stretch my luck too much.

Puzzle of the day is related to my northern settling party:



I was totally going to settle a beatiful sheep-gold-clams city (marked with A). But then my working boat revealed a crabs resource that I will never be able to use unless I change my plans. The site B is an option that gets both northern food resources, but it does not get the gold.. And it is more difficult to defend.. And I get it up a turn later.. Damn you Commodore, you're causing me a headache all the time!!

Currently I'm leaning towards dumping my original dot map, settling B in couple of turns, netting the Crabs with my scouting work boat. My galley can pick up the scouting duty. Circumnavigation would surely be nice.. I guess I'll settle a city where my warrior is standing as soon as I can organize an immediate hindu missionary for a clams-gold city since 10 turns without a resource is a lot of time wasted for an early city... Any comments regarding this issue are greatly appreciated.

And the last note, I believe Hydra discovered Judaism couple turns ago despite not having revolted into religion or OR (he's SPI).