[SPOILERS-PBEM15] Mansa Musa of the Ottomans

[Piet]

So, a short diplo overview :

- Ioan : NAP until T75

Ioan is the opponent who is farthest away (we will have only a small border at best). No interest to go to war with him for a long time. His possible NAP-break with T-I is worrying though, but I have nothing to fear from him with a pissed T-I as his neighbour.
Summary : Cautious

- T-I : NAP until T90

T-I has proved a very good neighbour until now. Although he would be the most logical war target for me (and I for him, due to distance) we worked together really well - if this lasts, I will have a save border there and a friend.
Summary : Pleased

- TT : NAP until T80, with a rolling NAP (5 turns notice) afterwards
Will gift him sugar for 20 turns (with notice)
Will gift him wheat for 50 turns (when borders open)
Will spread buddhism to 4 cities when I receive a missionary

TT has been really greedy in negotiations so far, so he is not the best neighbour I can imagine. Although he got served in quite some PBEMs here, so he is probably a bit paranoid, which hurts his diplo. If I would have to choose a target right now, he would be the one, due to him beeing really difficult to deal with.
Summary : Cautious

- Jkaen : No NAP in place

I found him really easy to deal with in our (short) conversation. He was quite open and could be a good friend with some time. Although we will be neighbours soon, I have not the feeling we need a NAP right now, which is a good sign, given my usual new-to-muliplayer-paranoia.
Summary : Pleased

[Piet]

Sent some info to Jkaen in reply to his save.

Hi Jkaen

Sounds fine.

My scouting progress of "Arabia" is attached. Left my provisorial dotmap in (marked a few possible spots on the east coast just last turn - could help when we are discussing), along with my "channel somewhere here"-circle which you can see in the NW.

My borders are currently just out of sight to the north.

Best regards,

Piet

Btw.: I remembered something from a chat with TT which might be of interest to you. He mentioned teching IW recently - so he might consider settling jungle cities soon.

The information about TT is not really nice from me btw ;-). But mostly harmless.

[Piet]

Anyway, T57 done.

Calendar due in 4 Turns. Can probably do it in 3, but makes no sense anyway until some jungles are cleared (another grew right into the way of my worker 1S of the southern bananas - nasty things). Will check it the next turns.

Sto Lat and Quirm both finished their monuments this turn. Quirm going for a granary now, Sto Lat putting 1T into a chariot (may change that to a worker next turn, as S L has no good tiles to grow upon currently - but having a whipable chariot there will be good).

Whipped granary in Pseudopolis. Probably building the galley there afterwards.

The map



Connected Sto Lat to the trade network this turn. New Worker from Ankh will probably help connecting Pseudopolis by road and claiming spices there. My two workers between SL and Ankh will finish the road next turn, then improve the sugar patches when calendar is in.

And the Demos - funny I fell from 2nd to 4th in military when the numbers in a whole nearly didnt change at all.

[Piet]

Jkaens reply and my answer :

Thanks Piet,

I didn't realise there were 2 ways onto 'Arabia' I came from the NW route which
leads up to just east of the marble (which I guess you already know).

I took a shot of my scouted land, but didnt get a chance to upload it before I
had to head off to work (turns seem to arrive in my morning mainly)

If you see the land on the very left of the screen, that is part of my mainland.

At first glance I see plenty of room for us both to put down 3 cities here
without getting in each others way.

I am not 100% sure, but I think you may get trade routes with me if you stand on
the grass hill north of crabs

Thanks for the IW tip, the lands between me and him are all jungle, hence if he
wants to settle there he will need it.

Regards
Jkaen

Hi Jkaen,

there aren't two ways into Arabia - my map is just a little bit cut off. The tiles in the north which may look like a second land connection end just there, i.e. an L-shaped peninsula pointing northwards.

I agree that there should easily be room for 3 cities each. We can discuss this in detail later, but I see no problems there at the moment.

I will check out the hill and test if I get trade routes from my scouting there. Else I will send a boat later - or go around.

Best regards,

Peter

[Piet]

T58 in

Morpork finished workboat. I started an axe and 2-pop-whipped it at once, because happy cap was critical there (choice was between whipping this turn to 3 or whipping next turn from 6>5, with 1 unhappy citizen). Will regrow from 3 to 4 next turn and start a settler/worker.

Ankh finished worker, started settler. Will probably whip my capital one last time for the settler next turn before happy cap raise kicks in.

Pseud finished granary, will focus on GS now and build a galley meanwhile.

Sto Lat continues to build the chariot, will 1-pop-whip it at S3 and build a worker then while second sugar and pigs are improved.

Workerwise, it was road building time. Roads to S-L and Pseud are nearly finished.

The core :



Demos - fell a little bit on food, mostly because of the - and T-I seems to switch his cities to food once again :



In foreign news, Jkaen founded his 5th city, T-I & TT still on 4 , Ioan on 3

[spacemanmf]

Morpork finished workboat. I started an axe and 2-pop-whipped it at once, because happy cap was critical there (choice was between whipping this turn to 3 or whipping next turn from 6>5, with 1 unhappy citizen). Will regrow from 3 to 4 next turn and start a settler/worker.

Ouch, was that from scratch, with penalty?

[Piet]

Unfortunately yes.

Morpork would have grown into unhappiness a turn after, more or less regardless of tile configuration, barring something completely stupid. So, my choices :

- Whip now, at T0, going to 3, growing to 4 at T1
- Whip at T1, for 1pop, going from 6 to 5 w. 1 unhappy at T1, then whipping again on T3, lowering my happy cap there to 3 for some turns.
- Reconfigure, whip at T1 for 2pop, going from 6 to 4

Was possible the wrong choice, should have tried for the third variant. But there is also a chop incoming next turn, so I would have wasted something probably even in that case. So I decided for the faster settler/worker (build after the axe) in the end.

[spacemanmf]

There's something about settler or worker builds not having to feed angry citizens. I can't remember how it works exactly. But maybe turn(s) into settler. Two/three-pop whip, overflow into axe.

[Piet]

You are right - the best version would have been whipping INTO the axe build, not out of it.

[Piet]

T59 done :

Research news
I switched research to 100% and changed the tiles in Ankh to get calendar next turn - 4 workers are in position to improve sugar (due T51) at Sto Lat and bananas (also due T51) at Quirm. 2 other workers are hurrying to Spices at Pseud - 5 turns to move to them, improve them (jungle over them) and connect them, so they are due T54. This will raise my happy cap to 8/7.

Tech path from now on will be Curreny > CoL (Markets), Medi > PH > CoL (faster CoL for Confu) or Poly > Mono (Judaism has not fallen yet). I suppose I will go Currency > CoL, but I will have to think about it.

Domestic news
Morpork built the hasty axe, switched to settler. Along with the forest chop, I will be 3 turns - I am generally happy with that, since preparing the city site for it (rice/sugar at the northern end of the small land bridge) will start in 2-3 turns minimum.

I decided to
- delay the GS in Pseud until the city grows to 4 (then there will be 2 GSses)
- delay whipping the settler in Ankh to next turn, making it a 2-pop-whip

The settler from Ankh will arrive at pseud the turn the galley is finished, to start for the stone/horses/clams/iron/sheep site in "Arabia". The axe from morpork will probably accompany it - next I will ferry a worker over.

Foreign news
Not much. My scout failed to spot Jkaens borders (he can make them out in the fog I think, no idea if this will yield trade routes). No big score jumps for my opponents, also military is relatively constant.

Map :



Demos - 2nd again in food :




Diplomatic news :

Message to JKaen - his map of "Arabia" is still missing :

Hi Jkaen,

moved the scout to the hill, unfortunately I can make out your borders just in the fog (I think, very unsure with their yellow color), but I have no visibility on a whole tile in your culture.

No idea if this will get us trade routes already, perhaps I will have to wait for a border pop of your city - or I will send a boat/chariot around (if you would like a NAP before I do this, just ask).

Anyway, I proposed open borders this turn.

You still wanted to send me your Map of "Arabia" so we can look over it. I defogged nearly all of it but there are still some tiles invisible.

Best regards,

Piet

Future thoughts

After I founded the next three cities (Arabia, Rice/Sugar and Pigs/Iron in the NW), my borders will be mostly laid out and I probably will have to consolidate a little bit. I have the feeling I am ahead by a good margin atm (Conflict between Ioan and T-I helped a lot) and may become a target if the others realize this (I think only T-I has graph visibility on me at this moment). Anyway, when I have finished those cities, I will backfill the rest a little bit slower and grow a few cities in my core.

Alternatively, I may go for hanging gardens after stone is connected. Sto Lat and Morpork have both still some forests to chop. If I decide trying for it, I will try to settle as much cities as possible before its completition. Depends on getting a few NAP prolongations.

Techwise, I have yet to do some critical techs for spiritual (CoL, and to a lesser degree Mono). Also, I will have to look out for a religion (Buddhist missionary from TT will arrive at some time, but I would like to have my own going), which may come with one of these techs. After CoL/Mono, I will snag up some vital military techs (Hunting/Archery/HBR, perhaps construction), then probably MC/Compass or Bureaucracy.

Diplo-wise, I do not plan to go warring in the ancient or even the medieval age. With GLH up and my empire booming atm, I will try to run away peacefully, then warring with Janissaries / Cuirassiers or something like that. My central position is a little bit worrying though - I can easily be attacked from each side or even be dogpiled if my opponents get the impression I am too far ahead, so I will have to be careful and keep a low profile.