4000BC (1) The starting spot looks great, with cattle, wheat, and two bonus grass, with several hills and more grass. I can see some jungle to the north and I think I see the coast to the east. I move the scout one tile north east and see that the coast is indeed to the west. I move it onto the hill directly north of the starting spot to try to reveal as much land around the capital as I possibly can. I move the worker onto the cattle and found Moscow where the settler is. Founding reveals three more bonus grass that will be in Moscow's radius. This might be the best city I have ever seen, with cattle, wheat, 5 bonus grass, 10 regular grass, and 3 hills. Wow. We are very lucky. I make sure the citizen is working the cattle tile and I change Moscow's production to a scout.
3950BC (2) I start research on Alphabet because it is the most expensive tech (so it would pop last), and I hope to get all the cheapies from huts or through trading. Research is set at the minimum of 20%. Once I build one road, I can drop it to 10%. I irrigate the cattle first because the food is much more important than the gold at this point. Food is the most important resource at this point. Moscow will be able to run 5fpt (food per turn) with irrigated cattle and wheat and will be able to get many shields from the bg. It will be able to build a settler every 4 turns forever. The scout hops west and northwest, ending his turn on another hill. The more hills you can end your turn on, the better, since they reveal much more land than anything flat. Mountains are even better.
3900BC (3) The scout again goes west and ends his turn on a mountain. A giant jungle is revealed. This will take forever to clear with non-industrious workers, so we will have to build a lot of them. A good long-term plan might be to have Moscow alternate between settlers and workers.
3850BC (4) Rather than trudge through the jungle, wasting movement, I go back north and end on the other mountain. This reveals three spices northwest of Moscow. There is a freshwater lake, more rivers, and a whole lot of jungle. In case you were unsure, we are right near the equator.
3800BC (5) With another scout due in one turn, I decide to bite the bullet and send this scout north through the jungle. Hopefully he can find some level ground soon.
3750BC (6) Irrigation finishes and I start a road. Scout finishes and I send him south and start another scout. More jungle revealed in the north, but I will trudge on.
3700BC (7) Moscow grows, so I must bump luxuries up to 10%, but the additional commerce lets me drop science to 10% as well. The governor assigns the second citizen to work a bonus grass, but that would slow down our growth by a turn, so I change it to the wheat. Make sure to ve vigilant about doing this. The scout in the north finds more jungle, while the scout in the south may have found the edge of an island?
3650BC (8) Just more exploring of jungle in the north and what seems to be the edge of the continent in the south.
3600BC (9) Moscow finishes its road and I find myself with an interesting choice. We are already making 5fpt, so irrigating the wheat will put us at 6fpt, which doesn't help us at all (think about the food that will be wasted). So instead of irrigating the wheat, I let it be and move onto one of the bonus grass tiles. To the north, contact is made with a Scandinavian scout, who is expansionistic and militaristic. We are both expansionistic, so we both have pottery. We have bronze working to his warrior code, but he requires all of our gold plus most of our income along with bronze working to make a trade, so I hold off. Southern scout shows that we indeed are on the edge of the continent.
3550BC (10) Finally my northern scout reveals the edge of the jungle. I check back in with Scandinavia and there is nothing new on the trade front. They have one more city than us and only 10 gold in their treasury, to our 38. Moscow will grow next turn and finish its scout, but no micromanagement will help.
3500BC (11) Moscow's cultural borders expand and Moscow grows again, so I have to bump up luxuries again, this time to 30%. I change the citizens so they are working the wheat, the cattle, and the bonus grass on the river to the southwest. This will be changed as soon as my mine finishes. I find the borders of a Scandinavian city to the north. We really have little land to work with here due to the huge jungle. I start on a warrior for mp, since I have 3 scouts already. Scandinavia has developed or found Ceremonial Burial, but I again hold off trading because they want money along with our tech. I need to make more contacts to lower the prices. Furs are discovered northwest of Moscow.
3450BC (12) More exploring and nothing on the trade front.
3400BC (13) Bonanza! Contact made with Egypt, who is Industrious and Religious. They have Masonry and Ceremonial Burial, but lack Bronze Working and Pottery. I quickly check back with Scandinavia and confirm that they lack Masonry, so I trade Pottery, Bronze Working, 1gpt, and 39gold to Egypt for Masonry (expensive tech), which I then trade to Scandinavia along with Bronze working and 2gpt and 5 gold for Warrior Code, which I then trade to Egypt for Ceremonial Burial and 49 gold. The overall trade nets us Masonry, Warrior Code, and Ceremonial Burial at a price of 55 gold (3gpt minus 5gold). This will hurt our income until Moscow grows some more, but at this point, it is worth it. I will be making more contacts soon and have a lot to trade now. Egypt has no other cities besides their capital, by the way.
3350BC (14) Gems found near Egypt.
3300BC (15) Chinese warrior found north of Moscow, while Chinese borders are found to the west. China has all the techs I have, has 10 gold and no extra cities. We will be hemmed in here before long. Moscow builds warrior and starts on granary. With a surplus of 5 food, a granary will be invaluable for Moscow, letting it grow in 2 turns. Warrior for MP lets the luxury rate stay at 30%.
3250BC (16) Mine finishes and granary time drops by four turns. Road will get us back in the positive and hopefully will let us lower the luxury rate.
3200BC (17) Northern scout has a ton of land to explore, but instead of exploring in a circle to reveal as much land as he can, I send him in one direction to try to go farther and make more contacts. The quicker we make contact, the easier we can trade for techs cheaply. Nothing new on the trade front. I have been checking this every turn.
3150BC (18) More exploring and nothing new.
3100BC (19) Moscow grows and luxuries must be increased to 40%, which forces us into a balanced budget. We have 57 gold in the bank, so this won't kill us. What are our options here? Building another warrior would allow us to lower luxuries due to the increase in mp, but we already have 5 units, so the warrior would cost 1gpt anyways. The problem is that there are three tiles being worked without roads (two on rivers). Moscow has grown too fast for our one worker to keep up, and building a mine, which took 6 turns, did not help in that regard. It is no big deal, I will build a road first on the next tile (a mine would take so long that the granary would be finished first anyways) and we will be back in (the) black.
3050BC (20) More exploring in the north and I think we are near to finding some more contacts. Dyes exposed near China and more gems near Scandinavia. Thus ends my 20-turn reign.
Conclusions-
Technology: We have Bronze Working, Masonry, Pottery, Warrior Code, and Ceremonial Burial, with Alphabet due in 22 turns.
Economy: 57 gold in the treasury, making 0gpt at a slider setting of 5.1.4. In 13 turns we will recover 3gpt from trades, but before then we need more roads! Building a settler after the granary and founding another city will also increase our budget big time.
Cities: Moscow will grow in 3 turns and build its Granary in 6. No food will be wasted since Moscow will be almost ready to grow to size 7 before it builds its granary.
Other: We have three contacts so far and need more. I am a little disappointed that I didn't get to pop any huts yet, but choosing Alphabet, the most expensive tech, for a 40turn research was still the right move. If any of you chose Ceremonial Burial or Warrior Code for your first research project, I hope you see why that was a mistake. If not, I will explain it to you.
Screenshot to follow.
EG1-Team1-Speaker-3050BC