[Spoilers] Boldly Going...on a Bender and Pissing Off Xenu

[Boldly Going Nowhere]

I have not been hit by any post bannination. Must be because all of my posts have too much substance

The first thread I read at RB was your thread from PB4. Suffice to say, I have been underwhelmed by the amount of spam in every subsequent thread I've read. But, I love a good spam, so feel free to comment here, or plan your next world record. Want to ded-lurk? Xenu sucks at it.

[spacetyrantxenu]

With that kind of encouragement I can stop reading this shitty thread altogether. My PB8 thread will be so much more interesting than this tripe. I'll bet you didn't even rename the units I spent 30 seconds thinking of names for.

If the weather starts looking like it may leave you without power post up a plan for me and I'll faithfully ignore it.

[Boldly Going Nowhere]

We have a new turn. Not much has changed. The barb warrior came inside my borders and got his skull cracked by newly-named Bearback Mountain:



These bear names just have to stop...

Not much else happening. Hard to get too excited after such a long wait. Hopefully I'll get another turn or two in today. Umm, let's see, Com's borders should pop this turn in his second city, CC will pop EoT 35 for me. DH grew to 4, worker starting on a cottage, whip anger will be gone in 2T. I'll probably set up another double whip to get the granary out and overflow into a worker, then chop out a settler in DH. By this point my two axes should have scouted location #3. CC grows to 4 EoT 35, Terrace completes the turn after. Still chopping there, so maybe I'll get the worker there and the settler a little faster from DH. Playing this by ear, can't be bothered to sandbox, which will be apparent in 20t when I'm woefully behind. For now, sitting pretty on the demos, so probably behind on expansion. We'll see. AH due in 2, horses to follow.

End turn.

[Boldly Going Nowhere]

Border pop at CC has revealed some more tiles:



Barbs are still roaming around, and I spy with my little eye a Commodore axe there to thwack it. And then hopefully to stay near home and not mess with me, as I'd like to scout with my axes and harass Sian. I've moved a Q into his lands west of CC. His fortified warrior is on the forest blocking the pass to his copper city. He's going to have to either cover or move his worker that is chopping, and I don't see anything that can cover, so waster worker turns it is. The barb warrior 4S of CC bears watching.

Whipped the Terrace in DH:



Double whip unhappiness for a couple turns, but this won't be an issue. I think I'll put the overflow into a worker/settler, then switch to a Q or Axe for a turn to grow to 3 and work the new cottage, then maybe finish the worker/settler. I'll have to look when I'm in-game again and determine the best approach. CC grew to 4, Terrace finishing soon so no whip there yet. Chop incoming in 2T. This may be setting up for a settler chop/double-whip. I'd prefer my settler to come out of DH to save a few turns of walking, so this may end up as a worker and DH build the settler. That sounds better.

Demos still holding up, FWIW:



Even after another double-whip, we're still ok. AH due next EoT. I'll be glad to see where horses are (or aren't).

[Boldly Going Nowhere]

We have horses, Commodore has the Oracle and probably has MC. Sian has a skirmisher (not pictured) a couple tiles S of my wandering Q. Still don't have a beat on what Slowcheetah is up to, need to explore him. One at a time though, 2 barbs approaching my cities.



Horses, close to the gold. That makes that location more attractive. Speedbump would be ok but Com's borders will pop very soon. Not sure where I'm going to put the next one. I don't have designs on immediately building chariots, and I do have one in my borders that is unlikely to flip to Sian, but I'd like to get the tile yield soonish. Gold/Horse/(dry) Wheat is a decent city.

DH: Overflow to a settler.



CC: Next up, 3rd worker.



Questions, comments? I feel like I'm talking to myself here.

[Merovech]

I read every update in this game! Besides the fact that I think you got pottery a little late, considering that you are financial Inca, I don't really have anything to say. Do you think you have kept up well in expansion, to go with your good demos, or are you demos more of a function of culture and underexpansion? (I honestly don't know the answer to this- not everyone is updating as much as you)

[Boldly Going Nowhere]

I read every update in this game! Besides the fact that I think you got pottery a little late, considering that you are financial Inca, I don't really have anything to say. Do you think you have kept up well in expansion, to go with your good demos, or are you demos more of a function of culture and underexpansion? (I honestly don't know the answer to this- not everyone is updating as much as you)

I think my good GNP is a function of free CRE culture + early game financial coast > early cottage. However, obviously it is better to use the cottages ASAP to get them growing. I'd have preferred to have the cottages down early, but first I wanted to know where the bronze was, then wanted a religion to pop borders in my early #2 city, then I felt insecure and wanted a couple axes... I could have bee-lined cottages out of the gate but I didn't think that was better than grabbing that good second city site, especially once I found bronze there, and once I got two cities I couldn't justify not having axes around, just in case. With knowledge of the last 5 turns or so since I double whipped the axes, as I thought at the time, I could have double-whipped a worker and have completed an extra chop into a settler by now. But, I've already used one axe, and no one has come wandering in my territory, so who is to say that my high soldier count hasn't already paid passive dividends...

I don't think I'm behind, but I'm not soaring ahead either. Commodore has a tech lead thanks to the Oracle. Sian has the 'Henge and skirmishers. I'm hopeful that Slowcheetah is going towards unlocking his UU at HR and isn't investing in expansion or an economic tech that would put him ahead or even, but he's not a dummy. I think he'll take the safe play, not crowd the map with hordes of Numidians. Though Commodore's probably benign comment in the tech thread, who knows, maybe he's built a couple already. I doubt it though.

From here, I see this game turning into a vertical buildfest, but we have to form up borders first. I think I'm going to skip Writing for now and head toward Monarchy. I have a health cap at 11 in my cap, plenty of rivers, and I can build cheap Qs as garrison. I think it would be a crime to waste that advantage. CC can use this strategy to a slightly lesser extent, but I need someone to be at an appropriately whippable size to get some units for proper defense and worker/settlers. I'm looking to probably keep a good whip cycle in CC for now, and settle on the marble/stone lake.

[Merovech]

Oh, I completely agree with BW before pottery here.

[Boldly Going Nowhere]

New turn, Sian's on the move toward the horse spot W of CC. Let's see if we can cause some problems there...



Sian has an axe in his capital and a skirmisher now on my border. This caused me to change my planned chop into a worker into an axe, which completes next turn. I can probably double-whip the worker after that, depends on how Sian wants to play. The horse is in my border, but if he settles right next to it with Henge culture, who knows what happens. I'm not inclined to let him have that horse, though, truth be told, it's "his" by being closer to his capital. But, that's his problem.

In other news, I squashed one barb by DH, another one is coming in from the north. I'll whack that one too. Now to deal with the one S of CC.

[Boldly Going Nowhere]

T38

Sian is putting on a show of force. This has to be nearly every unit he's built: 3 warriors, 1 Axe, 1 Skirmisher. His capital is empty, I don't have visibility on his bronze city. I have two barbs in my territory, currently sitting on my Corn and my Bronze. Annoying bastards are going to die with great wrath when I get the save back. Hopefully I'll finally get a decent combat roll and not take much damage, especially with my new axe out of CC that will be looking at a skirmisher very soon.



CC grew to size 5, can grow to 6 in 2T. I very well may let it grow then triple whip a settler and overflow into a worker. This is ideal, unless Sian insists on wandering around with his units. In his defense, I did wander into his land and chase his workers first. I'm out now, though, and he looks like he can settle his 3rd city, so we'll see how he wants to play this. I like my Qs + Axes better than his warriors + Skirmishers, since my Qs get +100% vs. Archery units. Good to remember that.

Teching Masonry. I don't really feel pressured enough to go for archery, and I'd like to get into HR/OR soon. After my third city, hopefully I can focus on economy for a while. I see plenty of happiness resources on the map but I have to be able to afford the cities, so I think HR + lots of financial river cottages at the capital is the best route to do that. And if I'm burning a turn with a civic swap, I should go ahead and get my money's worth by taking OR too. Besides, cool kids pop borders with wonders/religion, everyone knows that.