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

[Tatan]

Good job Tatan

I wanted to ask you what your plan is going forward but obviously you answered that

Plans? I don't understand what you're talking about.


So, I haven't posted any real pics in ages, so dumping time:



Running binary on Metal Casting because 1) I'm hoping to have a library soon in Ice Cream Bunny [I'll probably whip it next turn], and 2) I need to keep my options open, because right now I'm flip-flopping all over the place over what civics to run and such, which makes any teching I do ATM suspect.

Demographics:

[For the record, GNP when running 100% science is around 120 or so]

I've managed to cement my position as the complete middle-of-the-pack guy. I'll be getting graphs on Amelia relatively soon, so then I can get an even more complete picture of how middle-of-the-pack I am. Awesome.

I'm mildly alarmed about the Power graphs, but I have a NAP with Adlain until [MAKE SURE TO FIND THIS DATE BEFORE POSTING], and I'll have the spare production to train a few more units soon, so I'm not super worried.

Speaking of which, current units:



And with 15 workers, I'm STILL working unimproved tiles [two floodplains in Diabolik]. I'm fine at micro worker-micro, and consistently manage to do things like minimize turns wasted while traveling. But macro worker-micro I screw up constantly, like here where I have almost all my workers away from the rapidly growing city that needs them the most. Phooey.


Lastly, the city count:
1. Luddite: 14 cities [+/-1]
2. MarSevenDocSpirits: 8 cities
2. Me: 8 cities
2. Plako: 8 cities
5. GES: 6 cities
5. Amelia: 6 cities
7. Adlain: ...3 cities

Again with the distinct tiers. I look pretty good right here, but the problem is, all those other guys at the top have much bigger cities, while my population is puny. Not quite sure how I managed to pull that off, but it's definitely one of the main reasons I'm not doing as well as I should be.

And yet, despite not having a clear plan, screwing up my growth, and generally mucking about, I'm clearly doing better than Amelia and Adlain [and to a lesser extent GES].

So you have:

Noob Tier
Adlain | Amelia | GES

Confused Tier
Tatan [in the third person, natch]

Pro Tier
Luddite | Plako | Mardoc


Seriously, assuming I am being accurate here, this is a weird set-up. I predict that the mid- to late-game alliances will revolve mostly around the Pros trying to wreck each other by manipulating the Noobs. And I'll just be confused and/or dead.


... So did that clear anything up?

[Serdoa]

Yeah, it did. Your plan obviously has to be to leave your tier! Upwards that is

But seriously, it doesn't look that bad. You might actually only be behind 3-4 turns in terms of food. I'd probably would try to expand even more and prioritise building cottages in the commerce cities (Diabolic, Ice Cream Bunny?). Spread Confu and produce somewhere a GProphet and build the shrine for some gold as well. And whip a market there.

At least that would be my idea without knowing anything at all

Oh, can I have a screenie of your finances-screen?

[Nicolae Carpathia]

I'm mildly alarmed about the Power graphs, but I have a NAP with Adlain until [MAKE SURE TO FIND THIS DATE BEFORE POSTING],

... So did that clear anything up?

Nope!

But good it's good to read anyway.

[Tatan]

For whoever replaces me, password is "realmsbeyond".

[spacemanmf]

Incidentally, is it deliberate that your tagline isn't quite palindromic? (EDIT: I appreciate it's a variation of the Panama palindrome.)

[Gaspar]

Okay, just skimmed through the thread. [Wish it was a little more comprehensive, but it is what it is.]

Ilios, I think we're fucked, yes?

Without looking at a single post/screenshot or otherwise, I'd have guessed the leaders were plako/MardocSS followed by luddite, while I'd have guessed Adlain and Amelia bringing up the rear. After reading, it appears to be exactly correct. I'll take a look at the save later (we can d/l from the tracker already, and Tatan provided the password). But the game looks like builder heaven, and we're a wee bit behind for that coming in on T75. Tatan certainly looks like he played adequately, and its always nice to have the Pyramids (though not as nice when you're neither Philo nor Spiritual.) I'd love to go invade Adlain and/or Amelia before the big boys get to her, but it looks like we still have quite a lot of in house settling to do.

I'll save any remaining thoughts on the game until we actually look at it. With regards to how we want to handle this, I'd say with the importance micro will have on this map, we either need to designate a turnplayer, do a micro spreadsheet, or resolve to put signs all over the map every turn. I'm happy with any of those solutions, honestly.

I went ahead and created a gmail for us for diplo, but we can have the save sent to our individual accounts if that's easier. I'm going to ask them to send any relevant communication to that account in the tech thread.

The email is ilios.gaspar@gmail.com. I'll PM you the password.

[Ilios]

Hmm, I wouldn't exactly say we're fucked, really. It's more of a mildly buggered situation if you ask me...

I agree with your assessment, Plako and SSMardoc leading in tech, with Luddite apparently leading in city count (14 cities?!)

The thing that bothered me most when I checked the last screenshot, is that there are 15 Workers running around, but no decent road network...

Invade Adlain or Amelia? We have one Spearman, one Chariot and six Warriors, so we'll have to build one first then.

A microplan is fine for the early turns, but this stage of the game, it'll be more of a hassle than anything else, so I think your idea of signs would be ok. We could have a sort of arrangement where you play say 5 turns, then me, etc. Or the first one who grabs the save plays it. I don't mind either way.

I suggest we both have a look at the game, and then meet up on chat to discuss the situation and our long-term goals. (ilios dot civ @ googlemail dot com)

Addendum: I'm sorry Tatan, but we will need to change your city naming scheme... (Ice Cream Bunny?)

GES called us the Gasios team, so we might as well call our nation the League of Corpulence.

Are there enough famous fat people out there for a new naming scheme?

[Ilios]

I seem to have misunderstood what Gasios stands for, so I hereby propose we rename to the League of Flatulence.

[Gaspar]

I opened up the save, but I don't have a lot of time to discuss anything, off for work shortly. I'll aim to catch up with you tomorrow. If you want to take a look and play the first turn without me to get things running, I'm okay with that too.

The naming scheme I believe is based of Mystery Science Theatre 3000. I recall watching that show a couple times in college, but I agree, Ice Cream Bunny might be pushing it. Not entirely sure I can think of good city names for the League of Flatulence, but I'm always willing to play along.

The issue is pretty much this - I'd say priority one would be filling up this silly island, but the tech rate is pretty close to tanked already. It looks like Tatan had us set for Forges, but I'd prioritize Currency, extra TR will make all this settling that needs to happen a bit cheaper. Also, apparently we've generated no GPP except the Pyramids ones in the capital. I'd rather an Academy personally.

And yes, clearly we won't be invading anyone anytime soon.

Here's a couple of screens. I put it all at breakeven science so I didn't have to do twice as much work.



.

[Gaspar]

Couple of Emails from other players came around:

Hello:

So I will try to give you the most unbiased rundown I can. I've taken over as a sub before from someone who didn't have an extensive thread, and it is rough for sure.

The map is toroidal and very strange. Every civ has their own "island" which is exactly identical as far as I can tell, except for maybe some slight swaps in sourthern calendar resources. Railroads connect everyone to each other, and the way the map is designed, basically every civ is surrounded by every other civ. This means war is a bitch. Quick isn't conducive to war. You really have no direct neighbor to fight over land with. The toroidal maintenance makes holding the territory costly. And due to the design of the map, holding the territory from a counterinvasion would be very tough. This is about the most builder map ever. Gaspar will hate it.


Current player breakdown:

1. MardocSevenSpritis: Probably the leader at this point. Definite tech leader, has Bureaucracy and Academy already, has a religion, and 8-9 citiies. Other than myself, he is the only financial leader, so his tech lead will likely increase. Built HGs.

2. Luddite: Far and away the most cities with 12. He has crashed his economy, but isn't that the goal around here? No wonders that I know of.

3. Plako: Oracled Metal Casting super early, has a religious shrine I think, and grabbed Henge. He is out to 8-9 cities, but killed himself early by planting city 2 in a shitty jungle site for marble. GNP and score is falsely inflated.

4. Tatan: Keeping up in city count and recently knocked out 'Mids.

5. GES: A little behind on expansion (seven cities, three of them size 1), but near the tech lead. Recently I built TGL. I missed TGLH which set me back because I should've settled non-coastal with city 2 ideally.

6. Amelia: Expansion was hampered by pouring everything into TGLH, but still only has two coastal cities 80 turns in.

7. Adlain: Way behind. Only has three cities and recently built TGW despite no barbs, no espionage settings, and no Industrious. Founded Judaism.

I think M7 and Luddite are the clear leaders. I think plako, Tatan, and I are all still competitive. I am really not sure how Amelia is doing, but I think she is behind. Adlain has no chance.


Diplo as I know it:

I pretty much get along with everyone, and Tatan and I got along pretty well I think because we played in a couple SGs together back when, but for the most part, we didn't talk a lot. We exchanged some useful info on what we knew of others wonder builds, and we might have an NAP in effect, but I cannot remember honestly. There was talk of a 3-4 way dogpile just to remove a player and speed things up, but it never got beyond the planning stages because it really wouldn't have had any direct benefit for any civs. If you want to discuss entering/extending an NAP, just let me know.


The game pace has been crazy slow despite not a single war so far. You can catch me on Gmail chat quite often. I will be at work a lot, but I will still respond if I have time. If you have any questions, let me know. I will try to break things down for you as honestly as possible. I don't roleplay in diplo and I am not particularly formal.

I am not sure if Tatan has anything like this in his thread, so I am attaching a photo that will give you a better sense of how the map is laid out. At this point, it probably doesn't matter too much, but don't pass it on to anyone else please.

GES

Here's the map he discussed above:



We got this less interesting message from Adlain:

Hi Nakor and Ilios of France.

Thanks for taking over from Tatan, i Hope we can still get along in this game and as per your request in the organising forums we do currently have a NAP untill T90 (15 ish more turns.) If it is convenient with yourselves im happy to extend that by another 30T to Turn 120
<2 minutes later>
Opps, i pressed the Send not Save button.................. blast - thats what i get for looking at the original Emails at the same time as writing a new one.

anyways, good luck in the game and thnks for taking over

Kind Regards,

Adlain

Hey, Adlain. G-A-S-P-A-R. Nakor's the fellow who is nice and wants NAPs with everyone. I'm the guy who wants to invade you with a Spear, Chariot and 6 warriors. Just sayin'.

I'll save any thoughts until after our chat, since it seems better to just kibitz there then hash it out here then hash it out there again.