Dreylin Blues 2000 is on (another) mission from Cod

[Dreylin]

I'm hearing a lot of "blah blah blah" to cover up the real motivation: Capital bananas.

I mean that was Pindicator's plan all along, right? 

(Although I've already farmed them so it's only +1f from the plantation)

[Tarkeel]

That means I need the following techs (from L to R on the tech-tree):
(snip)

Now this is the kind of content I'm here for.

[Dreylin]

T051 -

Damnit I could have had Buddhism!

[Dreylin]

T052 -

Just because it might work out, doesn't mean it wasn't the wrong decision.

Also, these numbers suck:


Will improve markedly next turn when Trout's Corn Farm finishes and Haddock reaches size3, but still. 

[Dreylin]

OK, so while we wait for greenline to roll the turn - and/or the length of my work day - I guess I can talk about neighbours, and I suppose I'll start with them.

Greenline - Catherine (CRE/IMP) of Sumeria (Vulture/Ziggurat):


So this is intended to be a super-REX combo with the CRE/IMP landgrab sustained & supported by the Sumerian uniques. I don't know why the Ziggurat gets to be both cheaper and earlier than the Courthouse, but in this case there's a bit of anti-synergy with the combo since it pulls down the early religious line which CRE is usually happy to skip.

It could certainly be a formidable combo in the right hands, but does greenline have those hands? Well my main reference is PB74, so you if you can read that thread and the lurker thread there you can get the same impression as me and if you can't then I can say no more. I did apparently play at least one game against them back in the day, but darned if I can remember anything about it. I also wonder about their engagement with the game as typical time in-game is 1-2minutes which doesn't feel enough to strategise. (Although my extended in-game time is often spent checking the same things multiple times and staring blankly at shit so maybe it's just efficiency.)

The other major factor is the map. There's quite a bit of space for each of us, and the best territory is not directly between us. I do also wonder a bit about how much they know about it; Mighty Mack passed a Warrior seemingly heading East from the Cows to do some exploring, but I don't recall seeing anything get close to my borders. It does appear that the route around his South is blocked by culture, so that's a big detour back before I can find out more about what's going on with that body of water (inland sea?) to the NW. Regardless, there are some much more attractive avenues for him to settle and honestly if he wants to get in my face and grab for the food desert then to a great extent he's welcome to it.

Priority for this area is to grab for the Corn/Sheep with a support city at the Cows and a decent mobile force, and then push West of Stonefish for the Wheat site.

[Dreylin]

On to our other direct neighbour(s?) Ginger & civac.

Ginger - Washington (EXP/CHA) of Ottomans (Janissary/Hammam)


I don't know much about either of these two; they are both part of a team in PB74, but neither are the public part and the majority of the team coordination seems to be on Discord. I have different issues with how those teams approached that game, which can be read about (or not) in that forum.

The combo is solid, if unspectacular. The centrepiece is the EXP Hammam, which is everything that a CHA Garden longs to be.    CHA Janissaries are not to be underestimated, but can be a bit niche. Need to keep an eye out for an early Gunpowder play, but otherwise they are a defensive hurdle to be overcome rather than a threat. It also hurts my soul to look at CtH EXP without the Worker boost. 

Land is an issue for Ginger, and they may well have drawn a short straw here. A big caveat here is what the land looks like East of the Corn; after being bounced back from Ankyra, Elwood has swung along the capital's Southern Borders and should have a view on the area shortly. They are very much in a corner though and can't even really claim access to the central desert without grabbing for it.

Our borders are to some degree defined by the wide range of hills. Dye river gives me an incentive to settle up on them, but the plains beyond don't really give them the same. From my encounters with their scout I know they have been along the hills, but I don't know if they've come past to see Dye river or far enough to see my borders.

What I do know is that they are preoccupied by their other neighbour to the West to the degree they felt in necessary to settle past the corn spot and plant on that Copper hill. I guess you really can't rely on a horse-based defense from Impis*, but significant they felt it necessary to secure the Copper under a city. There was a 1-turn war earlier which I had penciled in as Ljubljana getting visibility on Ginger's capital, but I wonder if it could have been Ljubljana sniping off Ginger's scout around their own territory. I do know that they haven't met anyone past their immediate neighbours, so may not understand their positioning or the map as a whole - and maybe most significantly who is on the far side of Ljubljana.

*note to self, make sure to mix Axes into the NW to avoid an opportunistic Impi snipe.

The prize in this area is the Silver, which I think I should be in pole position to grab with their focus elsewhere. Pigs will be my city5 to grab the rest of the Dyes, but might delay the Silver grab in favour of securing the Wheat/Silks region first. Relations with Ginger will likely be dictated by Ljubljana's actions.

[Dreylin]

Finally, I'll touch on my nearly-neighbour, Ljubljana.

ljubljana - Tokugawa (AGG/PRO) of Zulu (Impi/Ikhanda)


I like this picture because it also illustrates my knowledge of the player. Well team I guess, since it seems there are a bevy of dedlurkers signed on to spam their thread with eleventy-billion posts. I wonder if I will be bothered to wade through them all post-game?

This combo has one goal: smash in someone's face in the early game or use the implicit threat to grab a larger share of territory. If they were a direct neighbour, forget about Iron Working, it would be the Archery beeline to deploy Bowmen. As it is I think I can forgo that since we will likely only touch at the corners in the short term. They will be the focus of Ginger's attention in the short-medium term to my benefit. One balance on that is their far neighbour is Boudica, se we have 2 of the more aggressive civs next to each other.

Elwood will likely head in this direction after uncovering Ginger's East, but it will be a while before we know more. We do know that they put out a second Scout - at least - and have ranged as far as greenline. They likely have a good overview of the map, and may already have contact with GT's far neighbour.

Priority is to not get Impi-sniped and be in a position to take advantage of any progress they make against Ginger.

[Dreylin]

T053 -



Right, moving on.

As noted in my section on Ginger, there's definitely a good chunk of backlines here:


So I won't feel too sorry stealing the Silver.

OK fine, back to Hinduism; founded in Trout in the North, which is great in the mid to long-term because that will be an economic city and the natural place to put financial buildings. The only downside is that I could have used the added culture in Haddock to support the expansion South.

I will probably do the discussed Priesthood detour after Pottery to get the Temple and start on the Prophet. It'll go in Haddock though. The Prophet will be a long-term project and Trout will want to start using all its pop to grow cottages once IW is in, whereas Haddock will be mostly skipping additional tile improvements for a while and alternating military & foodhammer builds.

Stonefish was founded this turn:


Ljubljana settled their 4th a couple of turns ago and greenline theirs either before or after rolling into this turn, so on par. Ginger's should follow fairly soon based on their whip cycle.

Improving the Copper ahead of fp to get the monument finished faster to access the better food, though I won't connect immediately to finish some more Warriors.

Pottery is 5t at 100%; breakeven is 70%, so probably 2t of saving before going. 7t should line up pretty well with Haddock completing the next Worker to chop one of the forests into their Granary. Overflow from the Stonefish Settler was stored in another Settler, but Cod is going to regrow on a Warrior. I am falling behind on Soldiers, though the Chariot completing at Haddock this turn should balance that more or less.

[Dreylin]

Not much worth reporting over the last few turns. Most significant was that I got an immediate Hinduism spread into Stonefish which meant I shelved the Monument and switched to pushing out a Warrior.

I also spotted on the foreign advisor screen that Mjmd had declared war on greenline at some point which is interesting. Maybe he did it to pass through borders before we met?

[Dreylin]

T057 -

A few bits & pieces this turn. Firstly, some friends showed up to visit:


Chariot poked out to that tile to defog some stuff, but will return to supervise.

In foreign news, Mjmd got his Prophet and Buddhism was founded; no shrine yet, so we'll see if the latter was him:


Those look to be naufragar's borders on the far side of GT, so next turn that will be 6 of 9 opponents contacted and some more relationships to explore.

Finally, an updated shot of Gingerland:


I count 4 times as much seafood as off my coast! A play for the Clam is not off the cards, but also not a priority. Ginger & Ljubljana have competing power spikes, so I am content to watch from afar at this point.