[SPOILERS] Tatan, as the glorious Shaka of France!

[Tatan]

Hi Tatan,

Our warrior found your borders last turn. Well met! No trouble so far, I hope?

I want to assure you that we come in peace. There's no need to rush out a warrior if yours is not nearby, as ours will make an about face next turn. (Promise.)

SevenSpirits (and Mardoc)

...o hai!

Well, if they are lying, I *should* be able to get a warrior out in time by working the plains forest, unless they are currently on the tile 2NE of BC. Just in case, though, I better lie myself.

Bonjour!

Je suis un--just kidding, I took like two years of French in middle school. Anyway, greetings! I'm glad to see you come in peace, I did not expect contact with someone else so soon. Good thing my starting warrior kept nearby my city anyway.

This map is pretty... crazy so far. My scout is already almost across the world! If you don't mind, may I ask which direction your lands are in [since you already know where mine are]?

-Tatan

Nonchalant and cool, with a side of bluff. They can't get visibility on the tile BC is on without declaring, so hopefully they won't call it.

[SleepingMoogle]

Nice dotmap. You may want to consider moving orange dot 1E to pick up those furs (unless you really want that Marble?) and perhaps split up Maroon into a east production city with the hills, and west commerce city using the floodplains but otherwise it's looking pretty decent.

The Warrior's position is a little more worrying. If they choose to call your bluff, you are done for right? Or is it possible to rush out your Warrior before they can reach the city?

[Tatan]

Nice dotmap. You may want to consider moving orange dot 1E to pick up those furs (unless you really want that Marble?) and perhaps split up Maroon into a east production city with the hills, and west commerce city using the floodplains but otherwise it's looking pretty decent.

Thanks, though it's by no means final, since so much land is currently unrevealed. The resource 2NE of Orange Dot you referred to as fur is actually a deer tile, which yields only 3/2/1 when camped, so I thought it would be worth avoiding the overlap. If there is not a lot of room to the west it could probably move 1E.

I agree with splitting Maroon dot up, especially because it turns out there is a sea close to the west and Maroon as it is now would make things a bit cramped. Bears further examination!

The Warrior's position is a little more worrying. If they choose to call your bluff, you are done for right? Or is it possible to rush out your Warrior before they can reach the city?

Actually, no. I had already put one [STRIKE]shield[/STRIKE] hammer into the warrior, so if I worked the plains forest I could get three hammers per turn in the city and get the warrior done in three turns, the same turn the SevenMardocs [MardocSpirit? SpiritDoc? Sevenmarspiritdoc?] could attack Boggy Creek. BUT, because I go before them playing the turn, my warrior would finish just in time at the end of turn. The odds would be my 2.35 strength against their 2 strength; no idea what kind of odds those are, but I would have had the advantage.

The main reason I was so worried was that if they DID charge, working the plains forest would screw up my growth curve a lot, and they would probably go for a choke.

BUT: this is pointless speculation because they kept their word.


Also: no pics this turn, but I successfully circumnavigated the globe [!!!], and the farming operations completed [I think? Don't remember.].

And even more important... while I have had inklings and musings about the map, it was never really more than, "hmm, there appear to be lots of boxes of land and railroad-bridges!" However, while sharing some friendly map discourse with 7Doc [who are to our SE, BTW], they shared an extremely detailed map by SevenSpirits:



Wow. This makes things... clearer. Also, if this map is completely accurate: Ruff, how the hell did you come up with this?!

[Ruff_Hi]

no pics this turn, but I successfully circumnavigated the globe [!!!]

You'll need a screenshot with the blue '+1 boat movement' message to claim the prize! Be sure to capture the turn counter in it so that you can also claim the 'fastest circumnav ever' bonus.

Also, if this map is completely accurate: Ruff, how the hell did you come up with this?!

You'll have to wait for end-of-game to check the map maker / lurker thread to read about that. If it is accurate ... which I am not saying it is ... or not ... neither confirm, nor deny that we are carrying nuclear weapons ... oh shit - I'll just sit over here, shall I?

[SleepingMoogle]

Thanks, though it's by no means final, since so much land is currently unrevealed. The resource 2NE of Orange Dot you referred to as fur is actually a deer tile, which yields only 3/2/1 when camped, so I thought it would be worth avoiding the overlap. If there is not a lot of room to the west it could probably move 1E.

I agree with splitting Maroon dot up, especially because it turns out there is a sea close to the west and Maroon as it is now would make things a bit cramped. Bears further examination!

Whoops, I knew that was a Deer tile. Not quite sure why I wrote down furs.

Still, even camped the tile will do more for a production city than a standard farm. And if that headache-inducing map you posted is accurate, there probably won't be a lot of land west of the location.

It's a little hard for me to see whether the move would make sense in terms of how many hammers you'd potentially lose or gain though, so do what you feel is best.

Actually, no. I had already put one [STRIKE]shield[/STRIKE] hammer into the warrior, so if I worked the plains forest I could get three hammers per turn in the city and get the warrior done in three turns, the same turn the SevenMardocs [MardocSpirit? SpiritDoc? Sevenmarspiritdoc?] could attack Boggy Creek. BUT, because I go before them playing the turn, my warrior would finish just in time at the end of turn. The odds would be my 2.35 strength against their 2 strength; no idea what kind of odds those are, but I would have had the advantage.

The main reason I was so worried was that if they DID charge, working the plains forest would screw up my growth curve a lot, and they would probably go for a choke.

BUT: this is pointless speculation because they kept their word.

Good for us! The faster we can expand the better. I was thinking that with barbs disabled. It would be a good idea to place some sentry units at the entrances to your island later on. That should provide you with some advance warning at least. For now, you may want to place cities at least 3 tiles away from the railroads though.

Also: no pics this turn, but I successfully circumnavigated the globe [!!!], and the farming operations completed [I think? Don't remember.].

And even more important... while I have had inklings and musings about the map, it was never really more than, "hmm, there appear to be lots of boxes of land and railroad-bridges!" However, while sharing some friendly map discourse with 7Doc [who are to our SE, BTW], they shared an extremely detailed map by SevenSpirits:

<snip>

Wow. This makes things... clearer. Also, if this map is completely accurate: Ruff, how the hell did you come up with this?!

Nice job on circumnavigation. Sirian doctrine may be a bit tricky with all those landbridges, but it's always a neat bonus to have.

[Tatan]

Still, even camped the tile will do more for a production city than a standard farm. And if that headache-inducing map you posted is accurate, there probably won't be a lot of land west of the location.

It's a little hard for me to see whether the move would make sense in terms of how many hammers you'd potentially lose or gain though, so do what you feel is best.

Good point. Moving will probably be the best idea if the coast is only a couple of fog tiles away, in order to cram in more cities, but Crow is still working on de-fogging that area. I'll post a map once the area is more clear, to give you a better idea of everything.

I was thinking that with barbs disabled. It would be a good idea to place some sentry units at the entrances to your island later on. That should provide you with some advance warning at least. For now, you may want to place cities at least 3 tiles away from the railroads though.

We would need multiple sentries, though, because of the possibility of an enemy simply moving past without them seeing at all. But still a good idea.

I was also thinking that later in the game we could put cities on the intersections of the railroads and then pillage the railroads two tiles away from them, which would prevent us from being one-moved. This would slow US up, too, but I think it would be worth it.

You'll need a screenshot with the blue '+1 boat movement' message to claim the prize! Be sure to capture the turn counter in it so that you can also claim the 'fastest circumnav ever' bonus.

DO I WIN THE PRIZE?!

Also, since I circumnavigated the world using a scout, shouldn't all my land units get +1 movement instead? It's only fair!



-----Anyway the turn-----



Hey, more people! Plako didn't email me a greeting or anything, so I sent him one.




Alright, now we're talking. Revolt to Slavery immediately.

The worker has finished the farm; how is this for a primitive micro plan?

[this turn]T14: Worker moves to forest
T15: Worker farms forest->6 turns; BC grows to Size 2 at end of turn
T16: BC switches to worker
T20: Chop completes, BC completes worker somewhere around here

After that, it's too far in the future to be sure, but I was thinking of mining the gems while growing to Size 3, so that BC can have a settler chopped out. Thoughts? It's late, so I wouldn't be surprised if I'm missing something here.


There was never a concrete tech plan [?], so I set research to Animal Husbandry to find horses, with Pottery to follow. After that, I have no idea.

And only now does it occur to me to check for Copper, so I reload the save and... THERE IS NO COPPER WITHIN SIGHT. No, I already went through this with PBEM10! If the scouts fail to uncover copper, should we beeline for Iron Working after Pottery? If we have horses, chariots will serve for a time [we already have Wheel, too], but metal is going to be needed eventually...

[SleepingMoogle]

Hmm, you haven't explored all of the starting continent yet so there may be a Copper tile underneath the remaining fog, but going AH for Horses in the meantime is a good idea. Keep in mind that if you are going to move the second city one tile east, it might be an idea to pick up Hunting first (you'll need it for camps) because it reduces AH's beaker cost.

The Worker plan looks good. Just make sure you finish that Warrior before hammer decay sets in (IIRC, it starts after 6 turns for units on Quick speed). Also, the hammer overflow from the chop might be better put into something else (a Settler perhaps?)

[Tatan]

Nothing much continues to happen. I have spotted exactly zero (0) coppers since last post. Luddite [Izzy of the Aztecs] contacted me with a scout, so we exchanged greetings [nothing interesting in them so far]. I've noticed that everybody seems to be sending their scouting units to explore others' home blocks of land, which I should probably do eventually; first, though, I'm going to continue scouting my own land.

[Tatan]

Err, wait, does this thread not update itself? Curses. Stupid other PBEMs with lots of stuff happening in them.

So, for now this must suffice:



Men, get yer siftin' pans and yer shovels, let's rustle ourselves up some copper!

[Tatan]

Owning-up time: okay, so I screwed up the micro plan. I forgot to start a worker after I had grown to size two, and didn't realize until I was one turn away from size three [and the warrior was one turn from completion]. I started the worker at size three, the chop by the other worker came in when he was one turn from completion [turn 20], and so here's where I stand now:


In case you can't tell from my crude signs, I plan two use both workers to mine the gems [which, judging by Demographics, most people have already connected] while growing to size 4 [and completing a warrior], and then the workers can chop out a settler who can head out with the warrior to found the second city.

A helpful dotmap:

I put H's on the hills because they're so darned difficult to make out. I'm not really sure whether to put second city at Red Dot to NE, or Brown Dot to NW. Pro/Con list:

Red Dot:
+Has copper
+Has stone
-Has only one food
-Has very little production outside of copper+stone
-Is not in the direction I want to be expanding

Brown Dot [note: I made the actual dot before hitting end-turn and discovering horses under the city, so perhaps it should go 1S? Of course, that screws up all the other dots in the area]
+Has horses
+Has half a food more than Red Dot [unless I move it]
+Has stone [if I DO move it]
+I want to be going in this direction soon because of the juicy floodplains region
+Has enough hills to be a pretty solid production city [I'll need to build some farms for the food, of course]


Okay, so I just made that list and realized that Brown Dot is a much more superior option [unless I'm missing a resource in the fog over by Red], as soon as I decide where exactly to place the city. Red Dot will probably be third or fourth city regardless.

Thoughts?

[oh and Adlain found me with a scout to the southeast, so that's just GES and Amelia left who haven't discovered me]