A long time ago on a planet far far away....

[haphazard1]

Thanks for the detailed updates, Ellimist. Especially all the screenshots. Very much appreciated by us lurkers!

Definitely something strange going on with the demo numbers.

[SevenSpirits]

I can't even figure out what the crop yield number means. Rival average is 34, right? And there are 4 rivals? So that means the total between them is 136. But then I subtract the rival best(barbs) of 127 and that leaves me with 9 split between the 3 human players. Except, the rival worst is 4, so that doesn't work. Life expectancy numbers don't work either.

Rounding.

(127 + 4 + 4 + 4) / 4 is 34 too!

[Ellimist]

Turn 17 played after the Packers/Vikings 45-7 massacre. BW finishes eot18 and the worker completes the following turn. Once I see where copper is, I'll be able to make a decision about when/where to have the first settler.

I'm still not sure if going for Buddhism is the right move. If I don't, I should still be able to get Judaism or Confucianism.

[Ellimist]

Turn 18 played. Bronze Working completed at the end of turn.

So where's my copper?

Options for the next tech:

Map/City overview:

I'm not sure what to tech next or where to put the second city. The copper appeared at the exact place I was already mining, which is just insane. To me, this says I should grow the city to size 2 before starting on a settler.

I'm leaning toward getting Wheel/Pottery, which will take 15 turns. However, with the barbs knocking down religions like they are, Buddhism might not be available for long. Some other options are also attractive.

[Ellimist]

Research started on the Wheel. Pottery will allow me to begin leveraging both of my traits(as well as my civ) due to cottages(FIN) and terraces(EXP). Verne will require 5 turns to grow, but can finish a quechua in 4.

Grrr... I still might go for a settler next. Catwalk, your opinion would be welcome here.

[haphazard1]

Research started on the Wheel. Pottery will allow me to begin leveraging both of my traits(as well as my civ) due to cottages(FIN) and terraces(EXP). Verne will require 5 turns to grow, but can finish a quechua in 4.

Grrr... I still might go for a settler next. Catwalk, your opinion would be welcome here.

I rarely build a settler at size 1, as an additional tile can make a big difference in total production time. It will take 5 turns to grow to size 2, but then you will add the excellent mined copper hill. What is the build time for the settler if you start it now?

Tech choice looks good to me as well. Get those terraces available, and start some cottages.

[Ellimist]

Research started on the Wheel. Pottery will allow me to begin leveraging both of my traits(as well as my civ) due to cottages(FIN) and terraces(EXP). Verne will require 5 turns to grow, but can finish a quechua in 4.

Grrr... I still might go for a settler next. Catwalk, your opinion would be welcome here.

I rarely build a settler at size 1, as an additional tile can make a big difference in total production time. It will take 5 turns to grow to size 2, but then you will add the excellent mined copper hill. What is the build time for the settler if you start it now?

Tech choice looks good to me as well. Get those terraces available, and start some cottages.

I just realized something. I kept thinking the forests would give me 30 each, but I obviously don't have Math yet, so it's only 20.

If I build the settler now, I'll need to produce 57 hammers naturally. I'll also get 3 overflow and 40 from chopping. I'll be producing 8 per turn so it would require 8 turns. If I grow to size 2, that will require 5 turns delay and I probably won't have any overflow, but I'll produce 12 per turn, so it will only take another 5 turns. I suppose a total delay of 2 turns is acceptable.

[Catwalk]

Growing sounds good to me, with two good tiles available for use. That 2 turn delay will most likely be recovered after the settler is done. While it looks like you're done exploring your starting island, getting confirmation soon would be very nice. Will allow you to plan out a very nice dotmap straight away if you know about all seafood as soon as possible.

[Ellimist]

Okay, the copper mine finished this turn(T20), and due to the river it's already hooked up. Clearly, there is only one choice to be made here...

Okay, just kidding. But that is kinda tempting. Is T20 the earliest anybody's had the opportunity to build axes?

I can build 2 turn Quechua's at size 1 if I want. I'll be mining the 2 forested hills east of the capital next, and it won't be long before I can produce 1 turn quechuas. A stack of quechuas backed up by a few axes and/or spearmen could probably kill anybody if I hit them fast enough. Really the only worry is Serdoa and his war chariots, but a zerg stack of quechua could probably beat those as well. Quechua start with combat 1, so if I build a barracks, they could all be promoted against whatever unit I end up facing.

Of course, for now, I continue according to plan...

[Ellimist]

A few things of note this turn...

It's a good thing I wasn't going for Buddhism...

I really hope that wasn't "Barbarian" that founded it.

I see Nakor's warrior, but he hasn't messaged me yet. Is diplo allowed in this game?

One thing to note is that I'm going to prechop the forested hills that the workers are on, then mine them until the settler starts. At that point, I'll finish the chops and then the mines. I'll be able to build 1 turn Quechua soon, without chops