That's five (Sirian, OneInTen, Schnarrd, Charis, Jester). Admissions are now closed.
With nothing else to do (the forum being down awhile) I have played the start for this game. We have a very interesting choice to make, which either way, will require strategic cohesion from the team, so I will present my report and my thoughts, and ask the participants to weigh in on what direction to take the game. I think we should vote and come to a consensus, then commit as a team to whichever course has majority support. Sound good?
4000BC: I examine our starting location. My first instinct is move a square to the right, to get access to the coast (coastal wonders, harbor, shipbuilding). However, that's a dry location, so before I commit us, I right click on the other squares. Lo! The jungle above us offers one unit of trade! IT'S ON A RIVER! North we go, as fresh water is too valuable to pass up.
3950BC: The Mayan capital, Xenalia, is founded on a river in the jungle. Our people suffer an incredibly high rate of disease (55%!) but spices are spotted to the north, 2 of them in range of Xenalia. We have two grassland with shield in range, some hills and food grasslands, and LOTS of jungle. Lots and lots. Thick, sweltering, damp jungle. We're going to have to put some priority on clearing it or we will repeatedly suffer plagues. There are no food boosting squares (wheat, cattle, flood plain) in range, so we are going to have a slow start. I set to researching Mysticism at min science, and training a Jaguar Warrior.
3750BC: Our warriors grow to sufficient numbers to be able to take action. They set out to explore southward while a temple is constructed.
3500BC: Our warriors heading south have crossed a desert and found another river. There is a goodly bit of land to the south.
3450BC: Our borders expand due to high culture! Our capital grows to size 2. A minor tribe is located deep in the jungle to our northeast, across the river. We should send emissaries.
3300BC: The Temple in Xenalia is completed! We are surely the first civilization on the planet to complete such a great project! With production at 5 shields per turn, I decide to train three more Jaguar Warriors before building our first settler. I know this will only further delay our second city, but it should not at all delay our third, and I believe (based on how far we've already explored without contacting any other civs) that further scouting would be to our benefit. Additional goody huts, or contacting civs before they find one another (making us the middle man, at least for a while) would gain us more than we lose on six turns of production at the second city. At the very least, I will have a look around and figure out where best to send the settler, rather than sending them out blindly into the dark.
3200BC: Our first warriors have turned west, following the southern coast. A lovely inland lake has been spotted, and the Benevolent sets his sights on founding a Mayan city there. Our second warrior party is completed and sent to make contact with the minor tribe near Xenalia.
3100BC: Our third warrior party is trained and sent south into the interior lands. Our first warriors are circling clockwise around the outer coast, now heading north.
3050BC: The minor tribe teaches us Pottery!
3000BC: Our fourth warrior party heads northwest. Xenalia finally set to train settlers.
2950BC: Our third warrior contacts a minor tribe, who agree to join our rich culture to serve us as warriors. They are poorly trained but highly devoted, and are sent to defend Xenalia. Our first warrior encounters hostiles in the west, and fortifies in the mountains. Xenalia grows to size 3! Sadly, there are no more mined grasslands, so shield output remains at 5 per. Settlers due in five more turns.
2900BC: Hostiles attack and are beaten back. More hostiles approach, so our party continues to camp.
2850BC: Our first warriors defend a second time. They still did not promote to veteran, arrgh. Rather than head west into another thick jungle, where there are silks, toward the source of these barbarians, we choose to head north, into a fertile valley. Another minor tribe spotted! Our third goody hut, to be.
2800BC: Our second warrior has reached the end of the peninsula to our east. It is smallish, and entirely choked with jungles. Entirely. Our first warrior recruits the minor tribe in the far west to serve us as conscripts. We are now running a serious budgetary deficit, with so many troops to pay for (4 jags, 2 conscripts, 1 worker, at 3 gold per turn), and desperately need to found another city soon, lest we go broke. We have been running 1 science per turn all along, though, so our treasury is up near 50 gold now and we will be OK, but times will be tough for a little longer.
2710BC: Settlers produced. They follow the road out of Xenalia as far it will take them, then turn southeast, toward a forest in the midst of grassy plains, where there are cattle. Our second warrior in the south has found gems in the mountain above Crystal Lake, at the origin of that second river. Xenalia begins construction of a barracks.
2630BC: Our western conscripts make contact with our fourth minor tribe and another conscript force is recruited! One will be sent south toward the silks, the other to continue north in tandem with the jags. Costs now running at 5 gold per turn (temple, 5 units over our limit), with income at 2 per turn. Losing 4 per turn! Hurry settlers, hurry!
2550BC: The great Mayan city of Riggoro is founded in a rich valley and begins to produce settlers. I know this will waste two turns of production (six shields), in the long run, but the Benevolent has his eyes set on Crystal Lake, and our capital can soon churn veteran units, which is deemed better. Our budget breathes a huge sigh of relief as Riggoro is able to provide support to some of our warrior parties in the west without expending our treasury.
2510BC: two more goody huts are spotted by our first and third Jaguar warrior parties, one in the far west, one within five squares of Riggoro.
2470BC: BOTH minor villages declare war on us and attack! In the desert west of Riggoro, our warriors defend valiantly against three units and are promoted to Elite!!! They have suffered two wounds and must now rest awhile. In the far west, our jaguar warriors are badly wounded by the first of three enemy units and are forced to retreat! The second unit attacks them, and they are too winded to get away, but they make a stand and somehow survive the onslaught, promoting to veteran! The third enemy unit then attacks, and wounds our party down into the red yet again, then perishes! What a heroic engagement!
2430BC: Our second warriors, who have turned north, and who found that the jungle extended only a little farther, but that there was a huge deciduous forest beyond the wet jungles, have finally reached the other end of the endless vegetation and discovered... barren desert. Endless sand dunes as far north as the eye can see. We appear to be entirely alone in this world. Our first warrior party must retreat to heal, so I run them past the remaining unit of angry locals, running north now along a river over there.
2350BC: Our badly wounded forces in the west reach the mountains at the origin of that river, discover another sourch of rich gems, and make camp to recover. Barracks completed. More jags to be trained. (I'll pump another settler as soon as I can, but the city is many turns away from size 3 yet). Thirty turns have passed.
2310BC: Our second warrior, returning south and exploring the far side of the great forest, run into another minor tribe, which declares war! Our jags defend, are promoted to veteran, then are wounded and retreat.
2270BC: Our newly trained veteran jags provide cover for the wounded group, attack and are promoted to elite! Xenalia starts on settlers. Our third warrior spots yet another goody hut right in our near vicinity. This one is the last, at least in this region.
2230BC: We are attacked again! The minor tribe declares war and, losing one unit, then chases off our elite forces. We have to do a bit of shuffle and dance to protect our wounded units.
2190BC: Barbarians eliminated. And it occurs to me to observe that in all this time, the only "random" barbarians I have found have been those two in the west, encountered early by our first group of warriors. No camps anywhere. I now believe our random barbarian setting rolled up "Sedentary" and those early attackers had to be the remnants of a hut one of the AI's poked into, perhaps killing off the AI warrior or scout and then wandering into our party. It seems almost a shame we haven't had any chances to pick up 25 gold from camps, with so many units running around. Ah well.
2150BC: Forty turns have passed. Our three jags in the east are sent north to explore. One is fortified at Riggoro (he'd been sent there to heal). Our party in the northwest appears to have found the end of that land. Our first jags are told to begin the long journey home, intending to fortify them at our soon-to-be settlement at Crystal Lake, while the conscripts continue northwest to clean up the last bits of darkness in the area.
2110BC: We discover Mysticism! Start on Polytheism. Our southbound conscript in the west, beyond the silks, has met with a French settler/warrior pair. We trade them Mysticism for Masonry and most of their treasury. They also have Bronze, Wheel, and Alphabet, but we say no to further deals.
2070BC: French found Lyons right in front of us. Our conscripts leave their territory and explore southward. Xenalia produces settlers, starts on Granary.
1990BC: Riggoro produces settlers. They head south toward the lake. Riggoro starts on temple.
1950BC: El Dorado founded at origin of river to the north, on the edge of the jungle, where the forest begins. Starts on temple.
1910BC: Jags in the north spot green borders. It's the Persians. Another northern jag spots a goody hut. Out pops three units of warriors and we are attacked. Unit defends, but is forced to retreat. Second unit mops up.
1870BC: Trade Mysticism and 3 gold to the Persians for Bronze Working.
1830BC: That "last bit of land" in the northwest appears now to be a strait leading to another large land area, as we encounter a veteran Indian warrior. We trade India Mysticism for Wheel, Alphabet, and most of their treasury.
1790BC: We find yet another goody hut in the northern desert, just before a Persian warrior could get there, and the minor tribe teaches us Horseback Riding! I change Xenalia over to Pyramids, then discover the Persians are already building them! Did I miss the notice, or did they start way back before I even met them?
1750BC: Crystal Lake founded, starts temple. Elite jag from north returns to guard El Dorado. Our conscripts in the far southwest, below French lands, reach the southern shore. Our elite jags in the north have explored most of the edge of Persian lands. Fifty turns have passed, and our Mayan civilization's Founding Era has come to an end.
Now it is time for the High Council to meet, to set the path of our future and choose the course of our destiny. I will detail our dilemma, and the options I see, in the next post.
- Sirian
