[SPOILERS] Bismarck of Mali (NobleHelium and Lewwyn)

[NobleHelium]

Played turn 49. Lithium will be founded next turn.



I noticed that I messed up the power tracking again, and it was in fact EMC at 20k. Jkioan was at 17k, then they got Wheel for 21k. So yes, the 2k power gain last turn was in fact EMC. EMC is now at 27k, from Metal Casting and growing their second city to 4. Kuro whipped both his cities from 4 to 2, and lost 2k power. That should be something like a loss of 22-23 points, but he only lost 8. So the difference should be from land points from his second city. 10 points is 4 land tiles, so 15 points is 6 land tiles. Checking the land area gain on turn 29 reveals that Kuro gained 7 tiles with his second city, which is about 17-18 points. If he founded on the tile equivalent to 1W of Helium, that would be exactly 7 tiles of new land, since the peak would already be in his borders from his early third ring. EMC gained 18 points, which is 5-6 points from population and 12-13 points from MC (Classical tech).

Also, Jkioan did not actually meet their other neighbor, they fell behind on EP due to the anarchy turn from Slavery.

Reminders: Lithium will need to steal a mine from another city because the work boat will not be in position for two turns. It should probably steal the grass mine from Hydrogen for one turn, and then steal the gold mine for the subsequent turn (Hydrogen needs the mine back after growth to 4). Turn after that it returns everything and works the Clam. The granary should complete at around growth to 2 with the chop.

[NobleHelium]

Okay, I've played turns 50 and 51. Last turn I founded Lithium:





EMC whipped their capital from 6 to 4. They also built a warrior at the same time, resulting in a net 1k power gain up to 28k (average went up by 333, and Kuro/Jkioan's numbers didn't budge). Kuro got an ancient tech that doesn't give power. Jkioan's second city has still not grown, which probably means all their workers were tied up chopping forests at the capital for Oracle. They told me they would have slaved on their turn 50, after their capital grew to 6. So EMC beat them by 2 turns, counting turn order. Anyway, Jkioan also got a no-power tech.

Right now our island looks like this:



Some interesting micro points to discuss here. Right now Lithium says 1 turn to granary completion (this is after ending turn):



Originally I was going to immediately swap to the Clam next turn and work it until growth. This would mean the granary completes in 4t. But now that I think about it, it should be better to work a grass mine for one additional turn, because 1) we still grow in 6 with 5 turns of working the Clam + 1 turn of working a grass mine (21 food + 1 existing = 22, size of box), and 2) we then complete the granary immediately and will have a half full food box after growing to size 2. Obviously, this results in more overall food than working the Clam straight out. Of course now the issue is that the grass mine is currently being used by Hydrogen, but I am now planning to whip it again anyway...



The previous plan was to time the warrior to complete right at the same time as Sailing. And that would have been accurate except we forgot about the fact that the city would grow back onto the mine. So now the warrior is complete one turn earlier. So next turn we work all four tiles as seen here. Then the turn after that we'll 2-pop whip the worker for 75 adjusted hammers, on top of 16 production the previous (the next from now) turn. That frees up the grass mine for Lithium on turn 53. 75 + 16 (turn 52 production) + 11 (turn 53 production) = 102 - 60 = 42 adjusted overflow / 1.25 (Expansive bonus) = 33 base overflow. The northern worker will be chopping the northwest city site as you can see, and that will add 16h for 49. Galleys cost 50h. So we finish a galley in 1t, at EOT 54. I hope my calculations aren't off.

And to make this a landmark report, I'll post Helium as well.



We're not actually working the unimproved fish, the governor switched to that after the work boat completed. We'll swap back to the gold mine for a turn before working both food to grow to 3. I'm still not sure what we want to build here. The original plan was to build a warrior and then build the work boat for Lithium's other clam. After that we'd build a settler probably for the northwest spot, or maybe a worker. Now I'm not too sure we need the warrior since I think we want to grow Lithium to at least 3 (probably 4) and it needs to build something while doing that. And, you know, we can't build forges or libraries right now. Could start on a lighthouse. That might be a decent idea. So yeah, maybe we still go warrior->work boat here. We may or may not be able to finish the warrior before we have to swap to the work boat.



Kuro has built a third city. Not surprising, one of those whips had to be for a settler. Ellimist planted his second city on turn 31, so he got land points this turn. Turn 31 demos seems to indicate his new city scooped up 8 land tiles, which means it might very well be in the same location as Kuro's, since he hadn't gotten that peak tile from his capital's third ring yet. And that fits with both of them using the rice, as his second city having 6-7 forests in radius. 8 tiles would be ~20 points, which would only bring him to 194. He didn't gain any pop, so he must have completed another (ancient) tech, likely worth 2k power (or maybe Kuro built a warrior).

[NobleHelium]

So yeah, I got it wrong, the granary completes in 2t even while working the Clam. So no need for that mine business. We still need to whip the worker in Hydrogen next turn and overflow into the galley. Another important note: Helium should swap off the warrior onto the work boat to make sure we complete it in time to get it in position. We can swap back later if the calculations are incorrect and it'll complete too soon. Other than that we'll finish Hunting and then we can go for Monotheism in 5-6 turns or do AH first. I am inclined to say we should go for Mono, since I don't think we'll get a settler out onto the mainland within the 8-9 turns it'll take to research all three techs. After that we do Writing.

Turn 52:



One of Kuro's cities grew back to 3, probably his second city since it doesn't come up on the cities screen. Nothing else happened.

[NobleHelium]

Played turn 53. We need to swap over to the grass mine (from the gold) for 1t on Helium to grow immediately rather than be one food short. I tentatively set us on Masonry; getting Judaism will take us 6t total. Alternatively we could do AH first, which would take 3t. Not sure what to build in Lithium, could be a warrior or starting the lighthouse. Lighthouse is probably not a bad idea, we could slow build it and then whip it when at size 3-4. Helium needs to finish the work boat and then the warrior before building workers and a settler in some order. We should found the northwest spot with the Helium settler and save the next Hydrogen settler for the mainland, for the simple reason of logistics. After the galley in Hydrogen we probably want another warrior or work boat before slow building a settler or worker.



Demos look decent. Kuro's points are from his second city's second ring. Five points seems to indicate 2 land tiles, and indeed the change in his land area from turn 32 to 33 was in fact 2k land. Quite sure he planted on the tile equivalent to the tile 1SE of our rice now, since the two new second ring land tiles would then be the ivory and the grass hill forest 1SW of the ivory. He already has the tile 1SW of the rice from his capital's third ring.

Also, I noticed Jkioan actually really did meet someone else now, and they sent us a message saying they met Kuro. So Kuro is in the SW and Ellimist is in the NW.

[NobleHelium]

Quick summary. We met EMC, exchanged pleasantries. Then he asked us to sign a general confidentiality/non-brokering clause for the information we gain from each other, which seems pretty damn weird to me. I'll probably say I don't want to sign an overarching agreement like that, which is true. Need to phrase it in a way that doesn't cause him to think I'll be selling his information all over the place though, which I don't intend to do.

EMC has already researched Sailing because they have a trade route to us. This turn (55), Jkioan gained a trade route to us, so they've also just researched Sailing. I put all our EP on EMC since we already have graphs from Jkioan.

Cities are doing pretty well, but it seems I should have dumped the Helium overflow into the work boat after all, I don't think we can finish it in time to get it into position. It'll be one turn late. Main problem is that we don't have enough improved tiles to go around in the eastern side, since Helium grows again in 2 and needs another mine to work. Lithium will also grow in 2. Not much to be done about this I think, unless I whip another worker in Hydrogen. And I really don't think we need one right now, notwithstanding the fact that we're short on tile improvements in the east. Working the bare ivory for one turn in Helium (probably) isn't a huge deal.

We are currently going for Judaism, due in 4 turns. I hope we get it. EMC has gotten power the last two times they got a tech, so they probably don't have Masonry yet. Someone's GNP is at 76 though, to our 54, which is a little scary if that's EMC and they're researching Masonry right now. Fortunately (sort of ) we still have gold saved up and they don't.

And we will finally be scouting something next turn! The warrior will step foot on the mainland. Need to remember to move the galley back out of sight of EMC's work boat.

[NobleHelium]

Okay, time for a real report. Let's see here...

On turn 54 we got this.



I got the calculations correct for once, booyah:



We met EMC as I mentioned...



I checked their trade screen.



Nothing really surprising here. I figured they'd have the ivory hooked up by now though.



...And I just noticed that there are exports/imports going on. Went back to old saves and the earliest record is turn 51. EMC and Jkioan do not have Writing yet since I cannot sign OB with them (more on this later), so it must be Kuro. Kuro got a powerless tech on turn 50, so that's probably it. Kuro has contact with both other players, and he met Jkioan on turn 50 based upon EP allocation. +6 incoming trade routes means all his cities have trade routes, and nobody else has a third city yet. So that probably means he's signed OB with both the other players. What I don't understand is why rival worst comes up as -3 and not -4...since I'd think one person would be providing two cities for trade routes and the other one. So one should be -2 and the other -4. Not much clue on this one.

Anyhow, EMC got 23 points. His second city's second ring gets 4 tiles, which is 10 points. He grew his second city and an ancient tech for the remainder. They've gone with an astronomy theme, naming their cities after stars. I quite like it. Kuro got..7 points. Which must be from a fourth (!) city. So maybe both whips were settlers?

Turn 55.



Jkioan got a tech. Must be Sailing since we got a trade route. Plus their power went up by 2k. I check their trade screen...



Yeah, they're not doing so well.

And behold, turn 56, where we explore something for the first time in millennia!



That is some seriously nice land. Not so easy to dotmap based upon what I see so far though. I want to plant SW of the copper but that'll end up with crappy useless coast tiles. Might still be the best spot, need to scout more. Where the warrior standing would be better at first glance but Hydrogen is going to build Moai Statues (13 coast (not ocean) tiles) and will want all those coast tiles, so it's not that great. Tentative plan is to scout towards the northwest with the warrior before looping back around, while the galley explores the southern shore for 2-3 turns before returning to ship more units to the mainland. I want a second warrior and a settler/worker pair on the mainland pronto.

We also got this:



We should be able to get Judaism. I'm pretty sure EMC is researching Writing and getting their GNP inflated, and Jkioan just got Sailing. And Kuro is nowhere near the religious line. After that we get AH, Writing, and then we'll see.



EMC grew their capital back to 5. Jkioan whipped their capital to 4, a worker or settler most likely. Kuro gained a pop, and is up to 3-3-1-1 for cities now. And the other six points must be a tech I guess, no power.

Anyhow, Ellimist asked whether we were planning on building any wonders, and I said we have no plans yet, because we don't. He also mentioned religions, I didn't mention Judaism to him since I don't think he can compete for that anyways. He's parked his work boat on our borders as you can see, so I expect that high GNP is from them researching Writing. I told them frankly that I'd rather not sign OB with them at the moment to give them trade routes without getting any in return, since they're kind of winning at the moment. Although that was before I went back to do the C&D and noticed Kuro has built a fourth city. I told them that I intend to build a boat to defog the shore as soon as possible, and I do intend to do that. Unfortunately I've queued up a bunch of warriors in all the cities right now, so those will need to finish before I build a work boat somewhere (probably in Hydrogen).

Also finally I've decided to whip the work boat in Helium next turn while it is showing a 2-turn ETA. This will get the work boat on the clam as soon as it's available, and avoid working an unimproved tile for several turns. Plus it's not so bad to whip Helium right now while it still has two food resources to itself. The overflow will be dumped into a settler and then back to the warrior to grow to 5.

[NobleHelium]

EMC claims that they already have trade routes with Kuro. Hmm. Well I just realized that the 6 export value actually means two and not three cities, since the trade routes are worth 3 each. So that could very well be EMC. But then Kuro would be at -6...which means he has to have one foreign trade route from somewhere. So if he has one trade route to Jkioan, he'd be at -3 and Jkioan would also be at -3, which would fit with the numbers. That's a little odd, but plausible if Jkioan's cities are not connected to each other.

Anyway, I agreed that I'd sign OB with EMC when they get Writing.

[NobleHelium]

Tech and city roundup.

Kuro
Agriculture (0), Wheel (0), Mining (6), Bronze Working (18), Fishing (23), Hunting (29), Pottery (36), Sailing? (41), Animal Husbandry? (45), Writing (50), No-Power Tech (56)
Cities: 3, 3, 1, 1

EMC
Fishing (0), Mining (0), Agriculture (7), Bronze Working (20), Mysticism (25), Polytheism (33), Priesthood (38), Wheel (42), Pottery (44), Sailing (48), Hunting (51), Animal Husbandry (54), Writing
Cities: 5, 5

Jkioan
Hunting (0), Mysticism (0), Fishing (4), Meditation (13), Agriculture (20), Mining (25), Bronze Working (35), Priesthood (39), Wheel (45), Pottery (49), Sailing (54)
Cities: 4, 1

Us
Wheel (0), Mining (0), Agriculture (7), Bronze Working (20), Mysticism (27), Fishing (32), Pottery (35), Polytheism (42), Priesthood (45), Sailing (52), Hunting (53), Masonry (55), Monotheism (due 59)
Cities: 4, 4, 1

I saw the gap in research for Kuro and went back and checked every turn, and noticed that I missed his tech on turn 45 because I thought he got two pop increases. But he only got one since his cities were 3-2 before that and not 2-2 as I had mixed up. His power went up 5k that turn; 1k is from the pop and he couldn't have gotten any of the 4k techs so he must have gotten a 2k tech and a warrior. We know he has Sailing since he got a trade route to Jkioan, so most likely the two techs he got that coincided with power increases were Sailing and AH.

And I just realized that EMC must have researched Hunting only recently, I had them mixed up with Kuro and thought they got it earlier. So the techs that coincided with power increases are very likely Sailing, Hunting and AH. The listed order is probably correct since we know trade routes started on turn 51, and he needed Sailing to get those.

[NobleHelium]

Played turn 57. Warrior didn't find anything interesting.





EMC researched Writing. They asked me to propose OB so that their work boat can get going on their turn, which I did. Kuro grew one of his cities to 4, probably his second city since his capital isn't showing up on the top cities list. Jkioan's capital grew back to 5.

I chatted at length with Ellimist. He seems pretty similar to me, the chat was quite enjoyable. Apparently they found a weird nonriver desert flood plains tile? Hmm.

[NobleHelium]

Played turn 58. Found lots of pigs this turn.



Fish makes that city spot obvious, that's kind of fortunate I guess. Still not sure what to do about the west area at all.



Demographics are looking good. EMC founded their third city this turn, named Pollux. Kuro got a tech, should be a powerless one (Jkioan's power went up by 2k, and Kuro's also went up by 2k, and there aren't any 2k techs left). Ancient techs are also starting to run out, so basically he either got Mysticism or Masonry. He just got a tech on turn 56, so most likely he researched a fast tech, like one with two arrows (Masonry). So probably the turn 56 tech was Mysticism, and this one is Masonry. Maybe he wants to build the Pyramids to use with PHI? I hope there's some Stone or Marble that I can get so I can build the crappy wonders for GPP in Helium.

Talked with Ellimist a bit more. He says they'll gift us their work boat after it comes back up from meeting Jkioan, and then I can move it back to them before giving it back. That'll give me trade routes to them. I'm quite happy about this.