[SPOILERS] yuris125 as Gilgamesh of China, or Protective is the new Financial

[Lewwyn]

thats.... insane. did we sign off on that start? LOL

[yuris125]

I can only thank you for signing it off, because it's indeed insane

Here is the situation at T2. The map seems to be full of silver, I have 3 sources next door to the start!



The 2nd city 1SW of the fur is still on. The Warrior is currently heading north. I'm worried about apparent lack of production, hopefully I'll find some hills soon

[yuris125]

I didn't update for a while, but there wasn't much to talk about. Here is how the land looks like

South:


The 2nd city will be where the Warrior currently is. Another one will be in the east, somewhere next to pigs and fish

North:


Didn't think about city locations here yet

Build was Worker-Warrior-Worker (2t remaining), Settler will be next

Research went Hunting - AH - Fishing, now going for Wheel, Pottery will be next

Got 60ish gold for 2 huts; there is another one visible in the north-east, but it was more important to scout the planned location for the 2nd city. Probably the 3rd Warrior will go there

[yuris125]

We're rolling again

It's currently T28. I just founded the 2nd city. My Warriors completed a full north-south circle, so it's a toroidal map. I got Pottery, then quickly researched Archery, now going for BW

I met Dazedroyalty a few turns ago, and Krill this turn. Of course, no diplo messages this game. They both have the 2nd city up as well

My empire



The 2nd city is just insane, it has no less than 6 resources in the BFC. Of course, it will have to share. Krill's Quechua can be seen in the NE corner

I didn't seriously work on a dotmap yet; tentatively planned locations are 1SW of the pigs east of the capital (if Krill isn't around), and in the western peninsula, the hill where the Warrior currently is, and 1E of the sheep. Of course, these plans may change once I get BW and see copper (although without barbs, and with my protective Archers, I'm more interested in chops and Slavery than in copper short-term)

The north



I don't think I will venture settling beyond the marble soon, but we'll see

The south



A Warrior is currently going to explore the area in vicinity of Shanghai, then I'll decide what to settle here, and when

[yuris125]

Found Dazedroyalty's borders to the west



BW in, the only visible source of copper is to my south. Looks like a nice production city can be founded there (3S of Shanghai, unless there is something better in the fog). Not right now though, Shanghai has a decent production potential, and I want to found the sites around the capital first to reduce maintenance



The demos are looking good so far (GNP was 36 on the interturn when I wasn't researching anything, it was 41 during BW research)



I'm second in score, 15 points behind Krill. His cities have the same pop as mine (5 and 2); probably he has a tech on me, and more land tiles in his borders

Beijing already has a Granary, and completed a Worker this turn; next turn I'm going to revolt to Slavery, then whip a Settler. I will probably risk founding the site in the east; I know Krill's Quechua is around, but this spot (pigs, fish, sharing silver with Beijing) seems to be the best option close to the capital. I will quickly build an Archer to follow up; I don't think a single Quechua will be able to kill a protective Archer

After I connect the furs NE of Shanghai (and I will connect them quickly, because the road between Beijing and Shanghai will run through them), my happy cap will be 6, 7 in the capital - this will help dealing with whip anger and unprotected city anger)

[yuris125]

Krill at the gate



Will he declare or will he go away?

If he declares, I will get a Chariot out (I've got a chop coming in next turn), it should be able to kill a Quechua even across the river. If he doesn't, that chop will go into a Settler. With Krill's Quechua in the east, I will send the Settler north, 2N of the rice looks like a good location. The spot in the east will definitely be founded, but a few turns later

[yuris125]

Here're the results of my dotmapping exercise, which have to come in 3 parts due to the shape of the land around me

North:



Red is more or less obvious: canal location, picks up already improved rice from the capital, can work some of capital's cottages

Yellow could be 1S, but I don't see a reason for a large overlap with Red. This could actually be a decent Moai location with 11 water tiles

Cyan - long-term prospect, quite a reach, but I'd like to pick up an extra happy resource, and should be ready to get it when I'm close to Calendar

Middle:



Magenta - a very nice spot, but could be moved 1S depending on what is there in the fog (I actually think the tile E of the fish could be tundra). I would quite like to expand further in this direction, and will send a scouting chariot that way as soon as I can

Blue and Green - these can be moved around. The peninsula is very likely to be mine uncontested, so they're more of a backfill locations. I might move Blue 1S, Green 2S1W, and get another city on the northern tip of the peninsula. That would be an awesome Moai location, but I'm not a big fan of having a Moai city so far in the backlines. I'll keep thinking about it

South:



Black - production city. I was planning a production city 1N of this spot, but the current dot seems to be better. It has less overlap with Shanghai, and more hills, without losing any food resources. It loses canal, but I can live with that. The only problem is whether I can get enough food to support working all these hills. I'm too lazy to count but with 3 farmable grassland tiles, my gut feeling says yes

Orange - this is quite a reach, but if I can grab it, it will make Dazed's expansion in this direction more difficult, which is nice. Not sure yet if I will go for it

White - nothing spectacular, but wheat + oasis is nice

The immediate plan is to grab Red and send a Chariot to explore the east. Then Magenta and Black have approximately the same priority. Then decide if I want to go for Orange - in a game with no diplo messages, such a plant could cause a serious conflict. Not mentioning brutal toroidal maintenance. If I don't go for Orange, settling the western peninsula sounds like a good idea

[yuris125]

Good news: I founded the 3rd city (Red Dot, as planned). I believe I was the first to 3 cities

Also good news: I popped HBR from a hut. Didn't know it was still an option in the mod. Maybe Horse Archer-rushing someone would be a good idea

Speaking of which, here are the bad news - Krill is extremely close to my East



Wow, wow, and indeed... wow. I wonder how much a HA-rush would slow me down. I still have plenty of room to expand peacefully, but getting rid of a dangerous opponent could be worth it. Need to think about it long and hard

In other news, there's suspiciously no news about wonders. We played 42 turns, and there hasn't been a single wonder built. The only religion founded by now is Buddhism, on T6 - almost certainly by Krill, he's the only one starting with Mysticism, and I believe religious techs can't be popped from huts. He also discovered BW relatively late, so it fits. After that, nothing. Looks like everyone is playing a normal expansion game early on, not concentrating on wonders

Techwise, I'm going for an early Currency. After BW, I discovered Writing and Math, Currency is due in 8-10 turns. I'm definitely thinking about getting TGLH: all of my cities are going to be coastal, so it would be a very nice wonder for me. Still, I think early Currency and an extra trade route before Masonry and Sailing would be beneficial. I intend to be up to 5 cities by the time Currency hits, so that's 5 cpt right there, and it will only go up. After Currency, I'll pick up Masonry and very likely Sailing, then either go through the religious tree for CoL and Monarchy, or go Aest-Lit for GLib. Don't know yet, and now that HA-rushing Krill is a distinct possibility, won't know for a while

Demos are decent, although I'm 3-whipping a Settler next turn, so some of these values will go down



I wonder if other teams are be concerned about my lead in power - it's a no espionage game, so they see my graph

[yuris125]

Looks like popping HBR indeed shouldn't have been possible. We're replaying from T39, when I popped the tech; with the fix Scooter provided, I'm now getting Masonry. Which is still nice, of course. And at least a HA-rush is no longer tempting

[scooter]

Sorry Yuris to see your bubble burst like that.... I think a HA rush would've been fun to watch personally, but I figured for the sake of the other players I should speak up. Glad you still got a tech out of the deal at least!