[90 Spoilers] Saxony's splendour and Miguelusten's glory

[Miguelito]

Where did they place stone on this, lets call it a map? IE is there a reason Plemo has and you don't? That is a LATE Moai.

So you see, we started on that little brown island where the cap is. From there we had the choice of settling either or both of 2 landmasses that are shared between 4 players each, with one of them closer than the other 2. Now the task was to go from there and settle on the other coast, to enable you to settle on that strip of land that alternates between peaks and jungled green. You naturally have 2 of those jungle strips available, each contested with 1 opponent. Every jungle strip has its own specialties, like calendar ressources, marble, wine, or well stone. I managed to settle only one, as Ari (Aztecs) performed a nice settling push in the north claiming the whole strip for himself (calendar ressources there), and got wine (Plauen, top left of the picture). Plemo's city has marble, which is of course very much balanced compared to wine with a mod where the modifier is still 100% and you can print money with failgold.

Recent exploration also indicates that  Plemo has his other big landmass and the accompanying jungle strip (mostly?) uncontested for himself. Maybe it has to do with one of the early wars?

I mean the map is much overengineered, but not necessarily boring (ok, at times it has been, but it also poses interesting challenges). What I don't like is playing cute games with strategic ressources, and the food poverty. My game is screwed because the 2 iron ressources in reach are both in the natural territory of competent players, meaning that on the water heavy map they can kill me sooner or later if they want to.

Late Moai - maybe, I was looking all the time for a decent spot that I presumed must exist on a water map, and finally resolved to put it into the cap. The thought process is that I want bureacracy more than vassalage (because I have no war on the agenda), but at the same time the capital is quite mediocre, so mayb with Moai it's a bit more worthwhile. Also as mentioned, hammers have been very rare, and as you'll have noticed I fought a war of conquest inbetween. Anyway, it'll be there for the first GA so that's not too bad.

[Miguelito]

 
He returned fish/fish though, so somebody else gets to feel the pain (first )



What shade of brown might that be Mali? That would be one candidate, else Empirate (Mongols)?

In the other direction I met shade's Celts and Piccadilly's Koreans. Both have a lot of cities (the one I saw of Picc still bears a Russian name). Of course that doesn't resolve Plemo's ridiculous advantage in tech researched, current GNP, and wonders held. But those seem to be the guys that should be wondering how to win the game.

Plemo's galleon also makes me remember that I fear one from naufragar. However, he has not birthed a scientist for a long time, and of course also has to do the prereqs with the few cities he has left. But I can't ignore him forever.

[Miguelito]

I found no good reason to postpone the GA any further, so here we go:





This could be prettier, but Meißen 3S is busy working specialists, so the cpaital has to take care of the towns, and also can't grow.



Happy encounter on the other side of the world. I still don't know everybody (I think missing Zulu and Babylon?), as I have sent ships only on one shore (and you can't move between them ).

There is not really a plan, but it will have to come down to finishing off naufragar, unless he bulbs astro first and razes our core . Or Plemo decides to administer my territory directly.

[Miguelito]

Amica, for after the game, was this a warning? A proposal for an alliance? But I'm in GA and just want to enjoy life!
Anyways, nothing bad can possibly happen, because I got a fish / fish offer from Plemo right behind this window
I mean, he is sending a galleon into our channel, but surely that's just innocent curiosity

[Miguelito]

GA is mostly over, so my next Quixotic task would be to assault naufragar's island and finish him off - oh, luckily the Mongols have declared war on him! That will draw his forces southwards, and decimate him, lovely!

what in the...? Empirate then proceeded to miss a turn, so no counter attack on wounded units or anything. Oh yeah, my other neighbour Ari is conquering the Mayas whose player also enjoys missing war turns. Also, naufragar will get Gunpowder! Otoh, Plemo might allow me to build knights with his iron... Anyways, after the GA I'll try to amass some more galleys, maybe even whip some units, and see where that takes me.

[Miguelito]

Ha, this is fun:


You will not remember, but before our first war I got a loan from naufragar, but he canceled the payment himself by declaring since I wouldn't give him OB.
I totally am going to attack nauf before this payment is over, but if it makes him commit more to the south then the 100g or so are well spent. He has longbows though, and will get muskets... well in the worst case I'll have to bombard
Also somebody got Tao the turn before I was considering to bulb it. I don't know how to read score, but I'll just assume it's Plemo?

[Miguelito]

 




That went better than I could expect. My preparation for the invasion is horrendous though, and I screwed up with some moves this turn to top it off. Also it would have helped a lot to go second, but that would have created a 3 way split, and my Mongolian ally has not been exactly enthusiastic about playing the turns.

[Miguelito]

saaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad
Plemo libbed Nat the same turn that I researched it. Possibly I could build it faster in Leipzig, which has 2 mines and more forests, but doesn't benefit from bureaucracy. Can't care enough to find out though
Nauf might withstand the siege, it's as lazy as everything else, and he got Janissaries out of the credit that I gave him, which counter everything that I have.

I don't think I'm the last holdout, but I'm up to ending it anytime

[Miguelito]

I didn't look at the odds, but it seems like I got pretty lucky with the longbows. The first crossbow also won at 25%. My horse archer then losing at 90% doesn't really make up for that.
Plemo launched a GA. No way am I getting Taj. Welp, at least for once I'm building failgold (but nothing in the vein of targeted whip overflows. No food for whipping.)

[Miguelito]

It's over
now, off to Plemo's thread ´to learn how to actually play Civilization 4. (no, actually nauf's comes first )