[SPOILER] PB37 Dark Savant tries not to be a blatant MP n00b

[Dark Savant]

Turn 89 (650 BC) - Part 1

Our military around "our" gold island finds it's actually a great city site in its own right (the planned city site is where the axe is, on the jungled desert):



I get vision on JR4's island city near ours, and it looks like he had much the same idea as me.



As in, make a point of claiming gold, and do so with an axe and a chariot.  (The galley made sure to stay out of JR4's vision.)

[Dark Savant]

Turn 89 (650 BC) - Part 2

Iron Working is in, and iron is in fact everywhere (this shot was taken before I moved much of anything).



Shame Castleview is planted right on iron, but we do happen to have it already connected.

It turns out Castle Ironfist is a good production city after all, since it has horses and copper and now iron.

A settler is now on the tile next to the jungled gems (which two workers are now chopping).  The settler will settle in place next turn.

I 2-pop-whip the settler in Garrote Gorge; that one will claim "our" gold island.

We also have enough workers in production to ease our worker shortage for now.

[Dark Savant]

It's going to take about 15 turns to research Metal Casting -- I think that's too slow, and the two cities I'm planning to plant won't help that in the short run, either.

So I'm going to pursue Writing by way of Meditation and Priesthood; I think that is worth pursuing with religion in our capital.

[Dark Savant]

Oy, I'm apparently comparatively slow to play on the weekend -- t90 rolled and I may well be last to play the turn; I can't actually play for about another 5-6 hours from the time of this post.

Turn 89 (650 BC) - Part 3 (C&D)

Score tally:

• Us: -5 points for a -2 pop whip in Garrote Gorge (31 pop total); +12 points for researching Iron Working.
  
• Cheater Hater/Domovan Zoi: +2 points for +1 pop (11 pop total).  Wait, are CH and DZ the same person?  I don't actually know.
  
• Coeurva: +7 points for +3 pop (+1 in Stygian Terrace) (43 pop total); +6 points for researching Archery.
  
• dtay: +5 points for +2 pop; -3 points for a -1 pop whip in Angle (35 pop total).
  
• Gavagai: +6 points for +2 pop (+1 in Istanbul) (38 pop total).  Yeah, +2 pop is usually but not always +5 points on this map; my score calculator says it's +6 from 36 to 38.
  
• GermanJoey: +5 points for +1 pop in each of Heavenly Star and Yellow Maple; +3 points for planting city #8; -5 points for a -2 pop whip (35 pop total).
  
• JR4: +5 points for +2 pop (39 pop total).
  
• Krill: +2 points for planting city #6, Bates Motel (32 pop total).  I officially have no idea what Krill's city theme is now.
  
• yuris125: (t82/t84 score tally corrected to lower pop) +3 points for +1 pop; +2 points for planting city #5 (17 pop total).
  

I have a couple more whips planned on t90 (for a granary and a stele, which we need), and probably a lighthouse on t91, so we're going to be low on population (and crop/production rating) for a while before our pop recovers (and our planned new luxuries start to kick in).  Yes, we're below Krill on pop right now , and our economy is about to crash harder with some new cities. 

Yeah, Metal Casting is a no-go under those conditions.

[Dark Savant]

Turn 90 (625 BC) - Part 1 (Graphs!)

Yeah, I'm last to play.  It'll likely be worse next weekend -- once I get details tomorrow I'll alert everyone in the tech thread.

We have graphs on JR4 now:







Okay, he actually has a fairly high power rating.  GermanJoey must be thankful for Protective's bonuses to archers this game.  

I'm also having to go through some contortions just to be sure I maintain graphs:



That is the only way to guarantee we don't lose graphs on anyone next turn.  Well, assuming no one suddenly dedicates espionage slider to us.  

I may actually get graphs back on the former Ventessel, since he's now playing more competently and it would only take ~7 EP.

[Dark Savant]

Turn 90 (625 BC) - Part 2

GermanJoey built the Great Wall, so never mind taking a flyer on that.  (It isn't in a city we currently have vision on.)

I planted city #9, Middlegate (the first town in Might and Magic II) this turn, on the east coast near the jungled gems.  It's going to share Castle Ironfist's rice when it can spare it, like this turn; it will build a stele first to expand to its second-ring seafood.

Gems are due to be connected on t92.

Harmondale built a galley and is now going to build a lighthouse; I'd like to be able to work the lakes with better food yield as desired.  Sorpigal, having just finished a worker, is also going to build a lighthouse, as it can use one even more.

Garrote Gorge pushed out a settler and starts on a sword (it has no useful infrastructure to build).

Vertigo whipped a stele (for expanding to second-ring seafood), and Fountain Head whipped a granary, as planned.

I'm going to fortify Mist with an extra spare chariot, just in case JR4 gets any ideas about poking at it.

We should be able to plant a city on gold island on about t95.  Actually getting gold connected won't happen until about t100.

[Dark Savant]

Turn 90 (625 BC) - Part 3

Score tally (this is corrected for what must have been Seven Mysteries' border expansion on t86, so GermanJoey has 2 fewer pop than I had thought):

• Us: +7 points for +3 pop; +3 points for planting Middlegate; -5 points for -1 pop whips in Vertigo and Fountain Head (33 pop total).
  
• Coeurva: +4 points for 3 land tiles claimed in the first ring of Westward Ho! for 20 turns.  (Coeurva is going to get a lot of points for library-fueled border expansions soon.)
  
• dtay: +5 points for +2 pop; -8 points for a -1 pop whip and a -2 pop whip (34 pop total).
  
• Gavagai: +7 points for +3 pop (+1 in Samsun) (41 pop total).
  
• GermanJoey: +10 points for +4 pop (+1 in Masked Moon) (37 pop total); +18 points for building the Great Wall.
  
• JR4: +10 points for +4 pop; -15 points for a -1 pop whip, a -2 pop whip, and a -3 pop whip (37 pop total).
  
• Krill: +3 points for +1 pop in 12 Monkeys; -3 points for a -1 pop whip in Animal Farm (32 pop total).
  
• yuris125: +3 points for +1 pop; -5 points for a -2 pop whip (16 pop total).
  

dtay and Gavagai now have contact with each other; maybe we can stop having to protect our graphs against Gavagai soon.

It's our good luck to be next to the two rivals with the highest power and highest population, isn't it?

[Dark Savant]

Turn 91 (600 BC) - Part 1

This turn was quiet.  (Speaking of quiet, I figured it was worth bringing up that no one is at war with anyone else.)

I'm going to run 0% science for one more turn, then sprint to Meditation in 2 turns.  I'm going to hold off whipping Castle Ironfist for a little bit (its whip clock is about to expire) so I can whip a monastery instead.

We produced 2 workers this turn and currently have 13 workers for our 9 cities, so our worker labor shortage has been eased for now.  We do need to start cranking out work boats in a few more turns, which will happen as soon as I complete a couple lighthouses.

A settler/worker pair will load onto our eastern galley next turn, on schedule to plant on Gold Island on t95actually, no wait, that will be on t96.  Gem is actually close enough to Gold Island now that she will finally work some seafood, about 50 turns later than originally intended.    (She's currently scouting past the untamed jungle east of Coeurva's capital.)

We have a chariot in Mist now, so our important island city is reasonably secure now.  I'm not sure where to send that galley next; I do want one on our northern coast so we can plant a city on the island to our north, though that would preclude any imminent sea attack on anything on our western coast, and we don't actually have a settler in production at the moment.

[Dark Savant]

Turn 91 (600 BC) - Part 2

Coeurva is the first to produce a non-military Great Person: a Great Scientist in Ignis Fatuus.

Krill's Hinduism is starting to take hold in a few other random rival cities -- including Krill's capital Animal Farm, making the Incest Empire capital even more ridiculous.  Castle Ironfist is actually the only city we can see that has Buddhism.  In other news, Judaism still has not yet been founded.

We're still lagging somewhat in all of population, food, and production, though it isn't by much.  I didn't whip anything this turn and don't plan to whip anything next turn (I plan to 2-pop-whip a lighthouse in Sorpigal in 2 turns), so we should visually catch up some.

Our bad economy is going to take longer to fix.    It will happen as we grow our cities with new luxuries and a temple in Castle Ironfist, work more commerce resources, and produce a monastery and libraries, but it's not going to be fast and I'm concerned we're going to fall farther behind in economy.

[Dark Savant]

Turn 91 (600 BC) - Part 3 (C&D)

Score tally:

• Us: +5 points for +1 pop in Sorpigal and Garrote Gorge (35 pop total); +7 points for 5 tiles claimed by the second ring of Sorpigal for 20 turns.
  
• CH/DZ: +3 points for +1 pop in Anchorage (12 pop total).
  
• Coeurva: +10 points for +4 pop (+1 in each of Whitehall and QRTHDSHT); +2 points for a -1 pop whip in Whitehall (46 pop total).
  
• dtay: +3 points for +1 pop (35 pop total).
  
• Gavagai: +5 points for +2 pop (+1 in Edirne); +3 points for planting city #10, Kayseri (44 pop total); +11 points for 8 tiles claimed by the first ring of Samsun for 20 turns.
  
• GermanJoey: +5 points for +2 pop; +3 points for planting city #9, Moulan Prairies; -3 points for a -1 pop whip (39 pop total).
  
• JR4: +3 points for +1 pop; -3 points for a -1 pop whip (37 pop total); +8 points for 6 land tiles claimed for 20 turns .
  
• Krill: +3 points for +1 pop in Wigan Pier (33 pop total).
  

Gavagai's economy isn't doing well either -- he doesn't appear to have a library anywhere other than in Ankara, and he doesn't have a Classical technology yet.