[SPOILERS]The 3 Muscateers playing Ragnar of Rome!

[Catwalk]

I will be able to get visibility on his capital passing through, that will help a lot with keeping an eye on his activities. When I thought about Superjm's warrior by us, I realized that a warrior running around can be really annoying because of the defensive bonuses. I moved the warrior from the capital into CC, in order to show him a garrison unit when he steps on the grassland hill next turn. Hopefully that will discourage him from trying to mess with us, would be annoying to have to build another warrior before completing the settler.

[slowcheetah]

I definitely won't be able to play the save today, no internet after the morning. Sorry about that.

[Catwalk]

Got the save, playing now. If you don't hear anything else, I expect to be able to play the turns on time. Most days we aren't that busy, so it will be the exception rather than the norm that I'm not available. I will make sure to post here if so.

EDIT: Played, posting full report later. I decided to declare war on Waterbat, will just be running around in his lands a bit hoping to get visibility on his capital. I will be able to get that next turn without much risk, unless there are additional troops on their way. I imagine he'll try to take me out, but that could be risky for him. If he were to fail two attacks, I'd get two promotions on my warrior which could be used for Shock and City Raider. I would probably prefer getting two Woodsman promotions instead, for fast mobility, excellent defense and the possibility of a Woodsman 3 unit eventually.

[Catwalk]

Never got around to making that update, so here is the

t39 report

Micro is coming along as expected, no changes. Both settlers finishing next turn, with Dingy Dingo being founded t41 and Eager Eagle being founded t42. These will unfortunately set back my Monotheism research, which worries me a little. There are 3 non-Creative players (one of them Spiritual) who most likely are very eager for a religion, and 2 Creative players who would also benefit from it. I do feel we're going pretty straight for Judaism, but it would surprise me if there isn't at least one more player who's racing me for it. I had a strong tech modifier on Polytheism, which suggests that there are other players who have it. With a little luck, they went PT first and are scrambling to get Masonry now. Dingy Dingo gets an oasis tile to work, so it produces 5 commerce right away including trade. Eager Eagle will be more of a liability, not having a road connection immediately and only producing 1 commerce. My next cottage isn't coming in for another few turns either, so I might be in trouble. Cheeky Cheetah can work a lake tile as soon as the worker is done, and if absolutely necessary I will switch Angry Angora from a grassland mine to a coast tile.

My warrior in TheArchDuke's lands discovered a whale which will be orphaned by my planned city, marked with a purple circle. I think I'm okay with that, moving the city will either mean no pigs or no lake tiles, and the whale tile is not that great. Once borders expand twice, I can get the happiness from it (eventually, with Optics). I know that Arch still has only 2 cities, but I will be unable to go down the desert arm as his capital's culture has blocked that off already. I might be able to get to Magellan's pretty fast, if I'm able to sneak by Xenon's borders to the NW. That's probably wishful thinking, he's likely to have made a western settlement by now. If I'm lucky, he's settled N of the PH like waterbat did which would leave a narrow corridor.

Xenon has put his warrior on the gold tile, might be aggressive posturing. Our NAP expires t42 and I will be settling Dingy Dingo t41. I will be able to get a warrior there from Babbling Baboon by t43, the earliest turn he can attack the city, so I think I'll be okay. I have also sent him a proposal for a NAP extension until t45 to t59, whichever he prefers (he chooses the duration). If he declines, I will likely need to get an axe soon. Copper was finally connected this turn.

Azza also has a warrior lurking around, my NAP with him expires t54. Superjm also has a warrior in the area, SW of Azza's warrior. I thought about proposing to Azza that we both declare on Superjm, but realized it might lead to diplomatic fallout and player tension (see tech thread). I moved my warrior on the grassland hill mine just to show it to him, wouldn't want him to [strike]find out[/strike] think that I'm completely defenseless I guess I am running quite the farmer's gambit here, but I don't think I'm taking any undue risks yet.

That being said, one player does have 40k soldiers. I haven't analyzed who it is or how many units that includes, but there are probably a few. The average GNP for the 3 players who aren't best or worst (after non-Palace culture is removed) comes out to 38, so I might have a bit of a research problem. Crossing my fingers some more that I will beat them to Monotheism...

EDIT: Xenon agreed to a t50 NAP, so I should be safe to farm a bit longer:

superjm: Far away and it seems like a chariot would have to traverse a lot of rough terrain to get to me. He also seems to be a bit behind, having been low on pop since the start of the game and still not having 3 cities.
Azza: t54 NAP and border agreement signed, seems like he is not interested in poking at me.
Xenon: t50 NAP and far away.
TheArchDuke: 20t rolling NAP and far away, also a bit behind due to focusing too much on culture.
waterbat: Most dangerous opponent and I'm antagonizing him, hoping to put him in defense mode and make him waste hammers for an invasion force that won't be showing up anytime soon. Also tying up a few warriors that he might be needing for garrison duty, he has big cities. Will need to keep a close eye on him, I consider him my biggest threat both short-term and long-term. Not to mention, he is playing the hated Louis XIV who whipped me in my first game! Although that was in a game with no marble or stone at all, with both easily available to all players I consider Louis XIV a little bit nerfed in this game.

[Catwalk]

Turn played, full report coming tomorrow. Azza accepted extension of NAP and border agreement to t59, giving me 3 strong borders in the foreseeable future. I'm very happy with the diplo system so far, requires minimal time investment but gives us most of the diplomatic tools that we need.

Both settlers completed, Dingy Dingo being founded t41 and Eager Eagle t43. I've decided to use Pyramids as my standard growth item after granaries finish, on the assumption that waterbat will give me fail gold on them before too long. Considered his first city was a long reach for stone, that assumption seems reasonable.

[Catwalk]

t40 report

I managed to sneak by waterbat's warriors with my Fast Warrior, getting visibility on his capital. I might try to go NW next turn to get visibility on another of his cities. Further investigation reveals that he has a granary in his capital, 17 hammers in the box and 4 coins in his treasure. I consider this mission succesful, getting visibility on his capital is a very decent advantage in the ensuing wonder races.

The settler for Dingy Dingo has arrived, joining Xenon's warrior who is kindly guarding the site for me. I have found the halfway mark on the desert arm connecting us, the middle is marked by the purple square. I have outlined a possible dotmap for us and Xenon, although I think him settling S of his mountain and us settling N of our mountain might be more beneficial. We won't get a lighthouse, but the only way for us to get the lighthouse is to settle on a flood plains tile. It looks like it will be easy to agree on borders with Xenon, considering that there is empty desert in the middle rather than some grand prize.

As hoped for, our warrior will be able to sneak by TheArchDuke's borders next turn and head on over to Xenon. Hopefully Xenon won't have blocked us off sufficiently that we can't break through for Magellan's. I definitely do not want to declare war on him just to cross through his territory. I think our warriors will be able to make contact through ocean sighting one way or another.

Capital is finally getting a granary, took it off the mine in order to keep our GNP high for Monotheism. I won't be whipping the granary, the chop coming in a few turns will help finish it. Our new happy cap at the capital will soon be 7, so new cottages will be needed before too long.

BB is also getting a granary, and will be reinforced next turn by a warrior. Come to think of it, that was the wrong decision as the capital will grow sooner. I still have time to move the warrior back to the capital next turn in time for growth.

CC will probably also build a granary after finishing this worker, although I might finish the warrior first. It's at 5 hammers and decaying one hammer per turn.

My demos have stagnated last few turns, expecting that to be remedied with the ensuing burst of growth + 2 new cities.

Does anyone know which city I should expect Judaism to be founded in? I've heard it's the biggest city without a palace or a religion, suggesting BB. That'd be the worst option, as BB doesn't particularly need the culture. DD and EE would be great, CC would also be very nice. Ideally, I'd be able to skip the monument in EE and go for a granary straight away with instant border pops from the holy city.

[Catwalk]

City counts, near as I can tell them:

Azza
6, 2, 1
Catwalk
4, 3, 2
Xenon
4, 3, 1
Waterbat
5, 4, 3
Superjm
3, 2
TheArchDuke
6, 3

[Catwalk]

Is anyone reading these (other than cheetah and xenu, who are being paid to do it)? Feedback on the format and reporting style would be most welcome.

t41 report

I have located one of Azza's cities, revealed by cultural borders on the overview map. It's NW of the horses, not a good site for a non-Creative civ. I do want a city there myself, but there's little to do with it until borders pop. That said, it should be noted that he has access to war chariots now, which is no doubt why he prioritized it. I'm glad I have a good agreement with him, looks like he wants to go harrass someone in the near future. I will need to make sure to keep renewing our NAP and probably get a few more military units to assure him that harrassing me would be a bad idea. Ideally, he'll go after waterbat. Depending on how we're going to use the joint war declaration proposal, I might propose to him that he joins my "war" against waterbat. Alternately, if he covertly builds up 3 chariots and sends them towards waterbat that would be absolutely awesome. I could propose that he declares war on waterbat in 15t or so, he might go for that.

Speaking of waterbat, my warrior keeps goofing off near his cities. He just double whipped a worker, taking his capital down to size 3. He has another warrior SE of the one chasing me. There is a lot of stuff to pillage here, I might get lucky. If I move NW next turn, I imagine he will probably use a warrior from the city above the PH mine to kill my warrior together with the one chasing me. Not sure if that's worth it, although he does run the risk of me pillaging his copper if both his warriors die. Surprisingly, a combat simulator tells me that at 55% health I still have odds when defending. I will probably go for it.

AA will grow next turn, reclaiming the grassland mine. Granary will finish in 4t without whipping, letting me grow quickly to size 6 with happiness from the gold mine. Not sure if I should get a settler or a worker next, if I'm whipping from now on I think I will be able to maintain enough improved tiles to get another settler first. Should I double or triple whip it?

BB is also set for growth, getting its granary a little later. Not sure if I should whip it, its food surplus is only +4 and it can't really borrow the corn at this time. Not going to build a monument, waiting to see if the holy city lands here. If not, I will build a library later.

Cheeky Cheetah had its growth stunted a bit in order to get an important worker, it will get a granary after this worker completes. It will share two river cottages up north and get a grassland hill mine soonish. Getting the holy city here wouldn't be bad, would put the pigs under my control in 10t which would allow me to go ahead and settle the excellent cows site.

The Dingy Dingo is finally online! It cost me an extra 6gpt in upkeep, earning 5 of those back right away and saved 1gtp in unit upkeep from the 2 workers being outside my culture. So it's not delaying Monotheism any. I have 4 good tiles available right away, this should be a very decent city in a hurry in addition to providing happiness (1 now from gold, 1 later from incense). Only problem is its low production, it won't go above 4.

Commenting on these later.

[slowcheetah]

I'd triple whip the settler in AA, transferring the cottage to CC for the turn in order to keep up growth. We've got low happy caps so we might as well whip big when we whip.

[slowcheetah]

Two additional comments.

1) I'm enjoying the reports

2) How many tiles are you going to farm at Dingo. I'd go for the bare minimum personally?