[PB81] Dreylin vacations in the Isles

[Dreylin]

T39 -

Settled Eire:


GB will take 5t to finish the Granary, a Warrior, and grow (might need to borrow the Pigs back for a turn to achieve that); then start Settler #2. Eire is slow-building the Granary while growing to size 3, then will start pushing out Workers.

Also found myself meeting up with Gira's Settling party:


Interestingly his Copper is 3rd Ring so can be accessed now, while mine is 4th ring and I have to settle for it.

[Dreylin]

T44 - Hijinks on High Island.

So MJMD has taken a Superdeath city, interesting.

Maybe I'm not so sad to be down here on Low island where things are quiet... 

A quick status overview shot:


Both cities grew last turn, with GB seeing the first benefits of its Granary, and all citizens are working improved tiles. Next turn the Horses will be connected and Eire will put a turn into a Chariot for insurance purposes. Reading the Power graph I think Xist has a real unit of some sort now, but CRE plus that lovely range of Peaks means I've got a good early warning on any shenanigans from that direction. You can also see my Warrior net is about to be completed with the 3rd heading out West. I don't think we're going to have too much of an issue with Barbs this game, but that pocket of Jungle is the hardest to cover. Settler will be whippable in 4t, by which time we'll know where Iron has popped and can react accordingly.

Any questions?

[Tarkeel]

When and where is the next city coming?

[Dreylin]

GB will 2-pop whip the Settler as soon as it can, which should be T48, and the priority will be securing a metal. If Iron pops as I expect it to - at GB or in jungle glade - then the plan is to found on the near Sugar. In that scenario the whip overflow and chop of “free forest” will 1t a workboat to have a quick poke around the islands before hooking the Fish when borders expand.

Backup plan is something to the South to grab the Wheat and Copper. Still not sure how to settle this area; and have iterated through several dot map versions without deciding on something I’m totally happy with.

[Dreylin]

T45 -

I miscounted; Settler will be whipped t47, moving t48 and planting t50.

Current dotmap thoughts:


Blue is where I am expecting to found next. Yellow secures the Eastern approach from Xist with the lake and Mountains forming a natural barrier. In the West, white is the more conservative spot to grab the Pigs, while Pink is more ... confrontational. We'll see how things are shaping up when we get this far. In the middle, Orange has been my default spot for Wheat/Copper, but there are a few different options. Pushing it 1S doesn't grab the Copper, but makes space for the closer filler which does - obviously depends on Iron location allowing for Copper to be skipped. Marble dot is a bit speculative, and I'd expect to be competing with greenline over this area.

I'm behind on expansion, but now that GB is setup and Eire well on the way, I think I should be able to catch up and grab this area before having to look offshore for further expansion.

[Dreylin]

T46 - Barbs, ho!

I guess there are some advantages to not having backlines:


Gira - who BTW has a /lot/ of backlines - is going to have much more trouble dealing with these guys showing up than my complete absence of backlines....

Also, I think Xist is the one who landed Buddhism a couple of turns ago. His culture graph shows a corresponding tick upwards, and I see new borders over by his Gold that would correspond to a second-ring pop. Heading for Priesthood, no doubt.

[Dreylin]

T47 to 49 - Iron

Not quite where I expected it:


I had hoped it would be 1 or 2 South so I could share with Lewis and Harris, but at the capital is still good as it means I can also hand off the Ivory to Eire long-term as well.

There's another Iron in the middle desert, and then this might be Gira's:


I decided to loop the Scout around the Barb Warrior rather than heading off to greenline and found this nice little area ... which I'm not starting to covet.

[Dreylin]

T50 - already!?

We've been doing a pretty solid average of 2t/day, so a great pace for the early game.

I caught up on cities this turn:


You can see I've sketched out a trip for the WB to get some more visibility before hooking the Fish at Lewis and Harris (Natives will have to forgive the "&" in the city name since the correct "and" is too many characters). Anyway, we've aready exposed some Crabs to feed the Silver city when it comes.

GB is pushing out a Warrior or 2 before Iron is hooked and I lose that cheap option. I'll delay finishing the chop so as not to lose overflow, but I do need to decide whether to go for a Settler or Library next.

[Dreylin]

T52 - 3 turns in a day!

So Xist has declared on Greenline and razed a city. Initially I wondered if it was a defensive declaration - Immortal venturing too close - and maybe it is a minor border fracas, but it's cost Greenline a city and I guess I'll wait to see if Xist pushes any further. Xist does have the highest power on our island at the moment. This is probably great news for me as it means my closest neighbour is otherwise occupied, and though we have quite a well-defined natural border between us, his distraction of greenline may give me an opening to grab a bit further in the SE.

As such, I think this is my planned dotmap:


I'm looking at an order approximating: Orange, Yellow/Pink, Pink/Yellow, Blue; with White to follow as filler once Calendar is up and the Dyes are live. While Yellow and Pink are the most time-sensitive, Pink requires a higher Worker investment to get going, and Yellow has no good tiles to work first-ring. Pink can also be pulled back to N of the Pigs if Gira settles for the Deer in the meantime. Orange grabs the Deer first-ring, pops to grab the Wheat and can then pass the Deer to Yellow as it waits to pop and grab the Rice.

GB whips the next Settler in 2t; it has grabbed both the Pigs & Ivory back from Eire to do so, so that city whipped the Granary and the overflow is going into a Worker. I'll switch back to the Chariot next turn and grab the Pigs when GB whips to regrow and then chop to finish the Chariot and Worker. Lewis 'n Harris (the "&" disappeared) is growing on the cottage until borders pop over the Fish.

The WB revealed Clams NW of the Silver - nice! - but the plains tile revealed on the next island means I can't loop around and be back in time to hook up the Fish which is unfortunate. So I'll have to settle for coming around the near side and quickly dipping to the tile N of Stone instead. Still, this trip has already revealed 2 seafood which will help with planning settlement when the time comes. That time is still probably not until after I've grabbed at least 3 of the 4 key dots here.

Tech-wise, as you can see I've finished Writing and am currently saving on Maths. Going after MC for early Forges is tempting, but I really want to prioritise expansion and I now already have my cheap Libraries waiting for queue space... So I'm going to set my sights firmly on Currency as the main goal, with quick detours for Agri, Masonry and Sailing coming when they are needed and not before.

Any questions?

[Dreylin]

T55 -

Workboat tour is complete, having revealed 3 additional seafood to help future planning:



Iron is Mined, but needs 2 roads to connect; in the meantime GB will put out 2 last Warriors then start either a Praet or Library while growing for the next Settler whip.

The xist/greenline war continues, and I think xist is serious about it:


So I think it's time to get a "real" unit out:



After the Chariot, Eire will finish the Worker in 2t and then grow while starting a Praet.

Xist's new city is not unexpected and is in line with the expected land split. It does significantly de-prioritise Yellow dot, since the chance of gaining control of the Rice long-term is low. Settling order is now Orange -> Pink then we'll see; I could cede the lakes completely and just shift white dot 1E for a commerce city that gets 2Dye, Gems and some cottages? Probably this area is now lower priority than getting cities out to the islands; I can't see xist getting so frisky as to try to plant Yellow themselves!