RBD13 SG - Cretan Army Variant

[Charis]

Some would call it the running of the bulls, but throughout Crete a Golden
Age was seen unlike any before. Some remembered the sting of Chinese and
Iroquois barbs and wanted blood. Others wanted peace, and did not want
to further our reputation as "Cretans". The advisors convened in Knossos...

Eighteen glorious cities, 38 units, including 20 normal mil units and 6 mighty
bulls. Mil advisor report: Big Barbarian outburst near, entire world is in
Monarchy except Despotic England. Entire world is at war. We're weak compared to
EVERYONE except England?? Ack! Can this stand??

Land? Ah! A break in the land between China and Egypt, so... we're SMACK in
the middle! China can be 'contained' with the choke point city/area of
Macao. Wormtown and a wall of units would be the chokepoint vs Russia,
if we can capture the cities south of there. We need settlers out the wazoo,
just for unclaimed land, never mind captured land. Hellespont and Rafkos form
the Eastern choke, although we have expansions further East and would like to
continue growing in that direction. It just widens up a lot past there however.

Foes? Eight puny cities for England. 17 for expansionist USA, 16 for China with
lots of room left to expand. 13+4 for Russia. We're first in population and GNP,
income, productivity... we top the charts Knossos is #2 city behind Salamanca.
We're third in land area, doing awful vs disease, and dead last in military

service. That Great Wall doesn't scare me in the *least*. It doubles the effect
of walls in towns that have them, so +50% to +100%, and has zero effect on
size seven cities. Total culture... 274 What do they know?! China has less??
That's just pathetic

Tech? OMG! We *are* in the middle ages, and researching Feudalism!! The dominance
of our Bull Riders is short-lived at best! Must... get... Sun Tzu... (After
colloseum, Colossus prebuild for SunTzu is an option, although it can't be
allowed to complete as is)

The *desired* plan would be... sack Macao and set up a fortress there, then
end the war with China. Take on England and grab one to several cities, build
several Bull Riders and while we still face spears, gogogogo. We DO have seven
barracks, more than expected. All in core cities. Of these Pungetoss and Goryna
are building courthouses, and should continue. (It's effect is like a factory
if you're losing 1/2 shields to waste!) Vai, Malia and Hellespont turn to Bulls
before resuming their marketplace. That's all I can afford to switch. As much as
I want a stronger military, the infrastructure is too weak.

150 BC (0) -

Immediate plan: hmmm... York is "out of the lanes" but two before it and two
after it are BOTH still river spots. The nearer one is unclaimed -- we can
settle there asap. Vai is switched to Settler, due next turn. We have 2-3 bulls
we can send to Macao and one slower spear. That's ALL we can spare, the war will
have to end there. Can't afford war with Russia yet either. 8-\

130 BC (1) - HA!! China and England sign a military alliance against us!
Could that be brilliant deduction by the AI? Or blind luck? Good luck?
Bad luck? In any case, Liz chooses **VERY** unwisely and we're going to

BRING IT!

China and Russia sign an alliance vs Iroquois. (Uh oh... not Russia in
vs us too I hope!) We sell Russia incense for Literature and 150 gold,
to make it disadvantageous for them to get silly thoughts. They won't
ally vs the Chinese though (Yes vs Iro but they couldn't actually do
anything) An english spearman on leave when war was declared finds himself
in the distinctly WRONG neighborhood at night, and is gored!
We toy with idea of trying to research Feudalism, but almost the whole
world studying Monotheism, we can buy it far cheaper.

110 BC (2) - Littos spear made elite by a barb.

90 BC (3) - Rome and England come to peace. Russians moves around 100,000
units. (Sheesh, or seemed like it anyway. All horses, which means...
Cossacks later )

End of last turn we moved two Bulls into Koutoloufari, three steps away from
York. The first, and elite, now attacks. And autorazes York!!?? Sheesh!
The power of surprise Bull rush! Woo! We even capture a catapult (cough,
our nations first!) The second bull picks off a wandering English archer.

Up by Smutville... a bull goes for the upcoming Chinese spear. Hmmm, he's
Elite. Wouldn't a GL be nice... THESEUS!! It was YOU riding
the mighty Bull??! Hazaa!

70 BC (4) - Vet spear takes on TWO chinese swords and wins becoming elite.
Cathy says "GET OUT OR WAR!" Er... would you like a right of passage,
Cathy, seeing as you're tromping around my land like you own the place?!"
"You have chosen wisely she says." "No, girl, YOU have!"
Durn now horses are REALLY flying! They hit Warwick but are repelled.
Hey now, we're going to raze Warwick Oh shoot, they get in Taurus'
way. Well, we can't capture and no settler anyway, Russia will get it.

Knossos... settler, bull, barracks, start towards university, or prebuild
Sun Tzu? What to do with Theseus?

As a military society, with lots of fighting ahead, and knowing how rockin'
a bull army could be, especially now, I'm thinking Army and Epic. *AND*
such an army could raze London So let's form one, then Epic in Knossos.

Courthouse in Pungentoss Weedae confirmed as good move - it lands and now
our output is the solid 10/turn (12 minus two).

An English ship disappears SW of Doxologia in our dye territory. A bull
and settler are ordered there to investigate and 'correct' the situation.

50 BC (5) - Phew! Our exposed elite spear and hurt bull are ambushed by
three Chinese swords and one spear. Bull wins first, spear drops quickly
to 1 hp then wins, the bull to 1hp then retreats, and no one left to attack
either 1hp unit. That was close. Regrouping is in order, and we'll bring
up the army in a turn or two to deal with this.

More Russian horses STREAM towards Warwick.

Iro start Great Library. Aztecs complete Colossus. No one switches.

We found Pamplona in lane formation on floods and river.

There does Theseus meet with the three bravest of all bull riders in the
nation for a solemn ceremony...

The Running of the Bulls!! An army is formed.

 

[Charis]

30 BC (6) - And Russia responds with the running of the horses. I'm glad
they're gracious, let's just say that.

10 BC (7) - England and Rome sign an alliance against Iros. (Poor Iros, muhaha)

Against London our Army gains its first victory!
JUST in time to switch off library, Knossos turn to Heroic Epic.
It's due in 7, but if we get Feudalism before, su-weet, Sunny Tzu Bully!
Russian settler to our east, way too close to Knossos. We'll need at least
one city there as a border asap. Settler put in queue at Weed.

10 AD (8) - Rome offers contact with Japanese for a mere 30 gold, what
a bargain. Why not contact with India and Germany too, for 75 total? tnx

Bismarck is still a bullhead. What ya want for your territory map?
Currency and Polythiesm????!!!! HAR!!! I'm saving a horn just to core you bub.
India not a ton different. Hmmm... if their maps are worth that much, let's
broker them around. It seems Germany is alone on an island East of America,
and Japan and India share an island just SW of us. (In fact, Japan is
across the straight from our dye factory.)

We need to bleed off the power of Russia as well as knock China down a
notch. Why not see if these new maps can persuade Russia? They can?

Russia declares war on China. World map and around 600 gold.
I like that better than them swallowing up England and coming for us next.
Alas, Rome may have done a good job bartering. I can't get much else for
the new map.

The raze rule is a tough one indeed. We could likely strike first at Coventry
and snatch the lovely ivory, but couldn't get a settler there in time.

30 AD (9) - Egypt and Russia ally vs England (the sharks circle).
Russia horses stream again, into the mist. Is it towards China, or towards
Coventry? Can't see...

Crud!! *Japanese* settler has landed on Dye penninsula. If he founds,
I'll raze it to the ground. No Fukumura's horse this game!!!

50 AD (10) - Egypt and Russia sign alliance vs China. (cool!) Egypt declares.

Ack!! Can... not... handle... it... Japan founds... "Hakodate" on our
land! In a mighty and terrible sight, a Bull Rider charges headlong at
the town guard. A quick call to Toku suggests that for his own safety
he renegotiate peace by abandoning Hakodate. He doesn't understand the
urgency and declines. The testosterone laden crazed bull razes it to
the ground before the paint is dry on the town sign... He was annoyed
to start (bah), now he's really ticked.
The bull is sitting on the intended founding spot, which was just right
of where we razed Hakodate.

Russians pull AWAY from Coventry, which was theirs for the taken, and
begin a large battle with China south of Macao.

Courthouse done in Wormtown, start Barracks as it is our bordertown with
Russia.

London vs the Bull Army. London 0, Bulls 1. ONE defender?! Sheeeeesh.

Our glorious Army shows the superiority of Cretan Culture, and shows the
superstitious western Cretans no fear, RAZING London.
Canterbury is hit, killing one defender, but it was at least one more.

Coventry is razed, with two bulls doing the damage. It's on the coast,
on top of Ivory, next to three other ivories. It's **BEGGING** for a settler.
In our last combat of the round, a bull up north goes elite.

We establish embassy in India (Delhi is kind of backward). It's nice
having all this cash for deals and such from running no science!
Whoa!! Good deal from this -- now we can seek alliances and when asked,
he'll rumble with Japan for... the World Map. Have at it Gandhi!
May as well embassy Washington (size 3, 6 shield production? lol)

Berlin is size *one*, working on the Great Library, and is anarchy!
Well... then he gives us Monotheism for RoP.

Thoughts... our next leader, whoever it is, has a lot of settling to do
and choices to make!

* There is an UNMOVED settler in Kai who should get west quickly to cover
a razed city (although east for Red dot is another option).
* There is a settler under a spear four squares past Pamplona, it is
there intending to found "Mississippi Mudflats" You may have
other thoughts, and he did arrive there afterall, before London was razed.
The square he is on the river and has 3 flood plain squares, a hill,
and will instantly bring one wine online, with another just needing a road.
Of course, "Minoan Palace" is a nice name for a city too
- The Army is sitting under this spear. Ex-London is at the spot between
the three irrigated tiles, two SW and one S of the spear. Consider getting
a second settler there (quickly! perhaps from Vai) Get the army back to
a barracks methinks - there is one in Pamplona.
- Get one or two bulls up to Macao asap, and a settler to follow. Let the
Russians clear the path to it, but... before they can take the city,
WE should capture it Then plant settler on that choke spot.
- The settler just outside of Foul Odors can head towards Green Dot
(four NW of the bull is, at Orange Dot), or Blue dot (next to fish).
- The settler due from Pungetoss should hop over to Orange dot asap.
(Can rush for 36 gold but I didn't)
- Did I mention the site of ex-Coventry is BEGGING for a settler.
The elite bull stands on this spot, next to another bull with cat and worker.
- England has just 4 cities left. The fools will see us but not give in
to all demands. With the number of enemies they have, they're doomed
to disappear, so finish them at your leisure without hesitation...
- There is an unmoved bull near Pamplona for you to deploy.
- Koutolafari, near Canterbury and 10 steps from ex-Coventry and 4 steps from
ex-London, is due a settler next turn.
- Hersonissos is due a settler next turn. Gortyna could get one in 2, but
with a barracks and decent shields is our "Spear producer" for the region.
- Smutville could, with no rushing, produce a settler next turn if switched.
(What it's working on is useful too) Speaking of Smutville, the settler out-
side it in the forest is just healing (no rax there).
- Before the epic completes, see if anyone has Feudalism and can sell.
- Everyone has world maps, trade it at will.

Good luck!
Charis

 

[Sirian]

Thesseus!!

Overall a very busy turn.

So... who's going to step up to finish off our Golden Age?

 

[meldor]

I would love to grab it and spread the bull but unfortunately I am waiting for the results of the second save file in RDB12 to see if problem is fixed and don't want to slow this one down with a possible bad file. It is hard to sit on the sidelines during such an interesting time!

Also, being relatively new to SG I didn't realize how temping it would be to just continue on with the game. I have stopped myself from taking any extra turns after the saves, just so what happens will be more of a suprise and more enjoyable. I assume this would be a standard thing, too akin to foreknowledge and cheating. I do however take the files after the next person someone posts and run the turns as I would have to learn from how others do it differently. It lets me know how far I have to go!

It is a shame that civ3 doesn't let you do a replay of the actions taken so you could watch a players turn simular to a movie. I have played some games with this feature (some of the warcraft IIRC). And it was pretty neat to see exactly what they saw when they made their choices. Then again these SG games allow each person to put more of themselves into what they write and make it more enjoyable that way as well.

Last, I notice that Charis has refered to discussions that took place at RBD. Is this a public site? I also play a lot of d2x but it is mostly in private games as I think the PKs sort of kill the enjoyment on some of the open games. I hate finding a group of good players and getting into the game only to have a PK show up.

Hope this isn't too far off the subject.
You guys do a good job of making new people feel welcome, I just wish I had found the SGs when I was playing civ2!

 

[Schnarrd]

Sounds like a great turn! And we've also got our bull army! Probably after we finish the heroic epic we'll get another leader to use for the Forbidden Palace. I'd love to grab the game at such an interesting point, but I've still got benevolent king to do.

 

[Sirian]

Hey! Quit rolling your eyes at our Benevolence! And you don't have to restrain yourself with India, go ahead and knock yourself out up there in RBD6.

Crete is still waiting to see who is going to step up and take the reins during the last half of our Golden Age! "Come one, come all, to the Running of the Bulls!"

 

[meldor]

Since no one seems to want to grab it, I will take it and post save tonight.

 

[meldor]

After drifting for what seemed like centuries on the raft off the shore of Lottos, Meldor suddenly awoke. He was really well tan by this time and quickly made for the shore. The people cheered his return and call for him to move immediately to Knossos, for the last ruler Charis had gone missing and we were at war!

Meldor quickly assumed the throne and called for all of the latest information on the kingdom. The people are working better than ever before and we are in the midst of a golden age! Meldor saw that we were without temples in any cities and was shocked. Before he could order a massive temple building project, the ghost of Charis Past appeared with a strange rod he called a Cattle Prod. ZAP!
“Ouch!”, screamed Meldor. “What was that for?”
Charis replied, “No temples”.
“Hmmmm…., OK I will build great stadiums like here in Knossos so all may enjoy bull fights.”
ZAP! “No Collesseums”, stated Charis.
“What about Cathedrals? Just a little one?”, asked Meldor.
ZAP!
“OK! OK! I get the message…..jeeze. Can I at least go the Weedae to show off my tan?”
Charis smiled, but before Meldor could move…..ZAP!
“Hey, what was that for?” Meldor turned and saw it was not Charis who nailed him but another ghost.
“I am Sirian, and decree no weed may be used until after golden age is finished or…..”
ZAP! ZAP!
“I get it! I get it!” Meldor yelled as he ran from his chambers.
He heard behind him...."Remember the lanes or else...."
He quickly assembled his advisors land set to work.

Pre-turn 150 AD - Several cites can't grow any more but are still set to max food. Knossos is one but needs work to get more shields. A ton a settlers are being built and there is a lot of room to build cities befreo Russia grab it.
India and Egypt sign a pact against England, India declares war on England.
Egypt wants our world map and 90g for his world map, Meldor gives him world map for territory map and new fuel called bull chips. Russia settles near orange map and

(1) 70 AD - Meldor order people of Hersonissos to gather up and move to were Ivory can be found. The people of Stalis ar ordered to pack their things and head for spot were London had stood. A new city is founded on the banks of a former Englis river, and Meldor names this Bull Run. ZAP! "I wanted Minoan Palace", states Charis. "Allright, next one you get your darn name....just stop that...." Canterbury is captured and meldor starts to rename it Mino.....ZAP! "Burn it to the ground!". "Darn, that hurts, OK, raze it is.....happy?" People are dispatched from Koutouloutfari to rebuild on that spot.
Egypt and the Iroquois sign a peace treaty.

(2) 90 AD - After a busy first turn, Meldor gets to relax and nurse his sore side but keeps vary out out for floating prods. Egypt starts building Sun Tzu's. Russia starts building Sun Tzu's. Sirian is heard to scream.

(3) 110 AD - Meldor looks around for good deal on Feudalism, but only two people have it and both want 400g for it. Purchase it from Russia as they can use the money to fight the Chineese for us. It was the last turn for Epic so Meldor switches quickly to Sun Tzu's as he sees both Charis and Sirian charging him with Prods raised (Due in 19 turns). At last second he founds Minoan Palace on the coast were Canterbury stood and so avoids the sting the the Prods.

(4) 130 AD - Bulls are on the move towards Nottingham. Romans, Americans and Germans all start Sun Tzu's.

(5) 150 AD - Steal two English workers near Nottingham. Army is now healed and moves towards Newcastle to raze the English capital. China and India jion the rush for Sun Tzu's. English start the Great Library with only three cities left. Maybe they stole some of our weed! America and Egypt sign a pact against China.

(6) 170 AD - Nottingham falls, netting us another worker. Meldor orders a march on Oxford, the last English city outside the capital. Bermany and Egypt sign a pact against China, Meldor wonders what China did to get Egypt so mad, or are they trying to get everyone else fighting while they make off with the prize?

(7) 190 AD - Kyrie Eleisson founded. Iroquois and America sign a peace treaty. Our golden age ends and Sun Tzu's promptly goes back to 19 turns.

(8) 210 AD - Dispursed a barbarian camp between England and us in the open area. Newcastle falls and is razed, Meldor promises that a new Minoan city will one day sit on that spot. Worker to the southeast complete a great road project and there are now dyes available throught the kingdom.

(9) 230 AD - Makritihos founded and with over lap on Russian city. ZAP! ZAP! ZAP!..."Ha!", shouts Meldor, "That won't work any more. There is more than one use for Bull chips, and they make great insulators, whatever they are!" "The Rusian city will have to go, but it brings in improtant squares and helps lock our border to allow for back fill. It is started on a barracks and can be switched by the next person or left in case we don't get Sun Tzu's". Also founded Stakia and started them on a barracks as well. Same song, second verse. China asks for peace but won't give anything but the treaty, Meldor introduces the emmisary to the PROD! Japan gets on the bandwagon and starts Sun Tzu's. Meldor contemplates they cascade from this mess and is glad we don't have to worry about happy wonders.

(10) 250 AD - Oxford falls to the army and the English are gone....NOT! London mysteriously appears to the north of Elena and Loutro. I hate when that happens. Now out only army is on the other side of the country and will have to travel a long way to raze it. Keratos is founded and placed on barracks place holder. Samarias is founded and get the same. Paleohora is founded and get more of the same. Meldor, feeling like a vacation, tired of having bull chips under is shirt and dodging flying PRODs decides to turn everything over to the advisors and head for Weedae! "Let the darn ghost pick on the next guy" he mutters as he mounts his bull and rides off.

This turn took a long time as I tried to get as much out of the golden age as I could. I founded 10 cities and we have 4 more settlers built. One in the south, two near Bull Run, and one headed out to found a city on the blocking point.
We now stand at 11 Bull Riders and still one army. I upgraded about half of our wariors and spearmen to swrods and pikes. I got pikes in to several cities that needed them, but there are a lot of undefended cities and there are several places building piles to cover these as soon as possible. I took the chance of leaving them open since China ws busy and the Iroquois were so far away. If it doesn't pay off, you can put me to the PROD! Charis had a lot of settlers going and I just continued the trend.
Liz will give all she has for peace if the next leader doesn't want to move the sole army all of the way across to get one city.
Also the Russians and Chineese have fought to a stand still and no one is winning! No ground gained. I left them to fight while I settled the land.

 

[meldor]

Here it is.......I tested it to make sure it would go to the next turn.

 

[meldor]

We will probably have to Knock the Chineese back and take the choke point ourselves as it has been a stale mate at that point (although Russia has been using Horsemen and China using Swords. China did offer a straight up peace treaty if you are so inclined.

Second, there is a big dark spot on the map to our south. I don't know if anything is in it, as I didn't notice it until too late too build a galley to go look.

Russia looks like a good option for next to go, but even after all the units they lost to China, they still had a strong army compared to ours.

I didn't just build settlers...I also built 3-4 new workers and got another 5 or so from England. We still need a ton of improvement but that goes without saying.....

Boy the deals you get are really tough when you have no culture.......

 

[Sirian]

I posted a fun reply, with praise, jokes, commentary... and the forum apparenlty ate it right before it went down yesterday!

Bah.

Anyway, nice job, meldor.

- Sirian

 

[meldor]

I feel cheated....I would like it get the full treatment [plasma]

I don't want to steal Charis' thunder but here is the list of people that have played reverse order of when they played last...

Meldor - ZAP! must be good boy and let others play....
Charis - one turn removed, but has warm PROD....
Sirian - 2 back with slightly cooler PROD (will be really warm after commentary).
Xrang II
Warstrike
Schnaard - ZAP! OK, OK Schnarrd! (who let him have Prod!)
Meldor - still can't play
Jaffa - might remember he is playing this one....and last but not least....
Arathorn - No Prod, but last seen mumbling about returning to tower.....

 

[Arathorn]

No prod in my hands. Nor am I claiming a "Got it". Because between

- fear of messing up the intricate dot map
(my city placement is usually pretty ... ummm... spontaneous)
- the 8 hour deadline
- no weekend time since I've been possibly up
- general laziness

I don't want to claim.

I'm really hoping to claim and play sometime in the next couple days (we'll see how long lotr takes toinght. And I've planned a baby-sitter tomorrow just so I can play Civ3). I really want to play around with bulls. I'm thinking a reasonable army should nearly sweep our continent, no?

Arathorn

 

[Charis]

Hey meldor, great job, on many counts!!

- Diving in there under 'pressure' conditions
- Doing a splendid job
- A great write up, I love the 'zap!'s

Sorry for the lack of post, I finally got "unburied" in the wee hours ('UP' in seven was an unwelcome new record), and have missed several posts, forgotten to post a save, and am generally unkempt and, well... Cretanous! Jaffa was right next to me in the order in three or four, so he's been buried too. And too bad forum ate Sirian's post, sounds like it would have been a good read 8-\

I usually give 'treatment' when I open the map and see silliness, so these comments are only based on what I see in your post...

> > I founded 10 cities and we have 4 more settlers built.

- Way to go on founding cities!! I'm glad the AI didn't leap in and STEAL. It looks like the key "get one there" site is ex-London
(Interesting what a REX this has become)
- "Minoan Palace" as a name was slightly suggestive of a Forbidden Palace site. The location of the city currently named that is coastal and not a 'hub' spot at all. At the point where we go for a FP, there might be a city name-swap.

> Egypt starts building Sun Tzu's. Russia starts building Sun
> Tzu's. Sirian is heard to scream.

Hehe. Erm... "starts to" or "cascades to" ? SunTzu or Leo are a pair of the few ones we CAN build, and so far only Knossos can try.

> It was the last turn for Epic so Meldor switches quickly to Sun
> Tzu's as he sees both Charis and Sirian charging him with
> Prods raised (Due in 19 turns).

Ah, if they won't get there in 19, good move!

> Worker to the southeast complete a great road project and
> there are now dyes available throught the kingdom.


So did Japan do ANYTHING for kickin' his butt out of "our" land? I wonder what his attitude will be if at end of the 20 (ie ten from now) we make peace for free, and or give him a small gift -- with zero fighting after the city raze. (Oops? Raze? Did I say raze?)

> Liz will give all she has for peace if the next leader doesn't
> want to move the sole army all of the way across to get one city.

Well that sounds like a pretty good deal. We can annihilate her in 20 turns if no one else has by then
If we smash her now, she might respawn AGAIN?

> Also the Russians and Chineese have fought to a stand still
> and no one is winning! No ground gained. I left them to fight
> while I settled the land.

Woooo!!! Perfect!! This was the hope!

> Russia looks like a good option for next to go, but even after all
> the units they lost to China, they still had a strong army
> compared to ours.
They had enough horses to eat our lunch (twice maybe) last time I saw. They may be the next to go after, but will that be sooner or later? There's minor fill in on the left, defense building, and expansion to the neglected ease, plus FP thoughts yet to do.

As far as taking a turn, I'm hoping to let someone else get a round in to not hog, but at some point that's antiproductive, and I'll jump in.

Looks at others calmly with the prod...
Charis

 

[Warstrike]

I'm going to the APS March meeting from Saturday night through Wednesday or so, so no games for me until after the wife calms down after I return. Hopefully I'll be back by by next Roman turn, and I'll pick this up sometime if it is open and I am not too busy

 

[meldor]

>> Egypt starts building Sun Tzu's. Russia starts building Sun
>> Tzu's. Sirian is heard to scream.

>Hehe. Erm... "starts to" or "cascades to" ? SunTzu or Leo are a pair of the few ones we CAN build, and so far only Knossos can try.

All of the AI civs started (not cascaded to) on the turns that they appeared to get the tech. It ws not available until I got the message that they stated it. The 400g was the thrid civ (no cullture) price. I didn't sell it to any one else so as to get as big a jump as possible.

I assume that One of the two sold it off to the next tier of AI and then it made it to everyone based on who was fighting who. It disappeared form the trade menu the turn they started, againall were fresh.

A couple of other things.....
1) I did let Russia expand to the north for two reasons. One, I thought the land to the southwest (formly known as England) was more likely to be settled by those AIs on other islands to the south. Also, we pretty mush have their main cities bottled up and it lets them stay less aggressive. Their empire is already cut in two and will be easier to claim. Also I saw no harm in them doing a little upgrade to the land before we descend upon it. It wasn't until the next to the last turn that they settled right next to our capital. I had intended getting that spot when I had a free settler, just never got around to it...

2) Someone prior to me had not done the one offset in the lane and so there are going to be some lost tiles in the area covered. Maybe some one can do an updated dot map for the western lands. I did miss the placement of the city in the jungle pennisula. My bad. It leaves one square exposed but does have less overlap.

 

[Charis]

Ack, didn't notice Grozny was not-quite black.

Not a huge issue, although it TIES OUR HANDS -- Russia is now an objective, and enemy. He may (should?) yet see many years before we're ready to take him to task for this, but he will, nevertheless...

We're lucky, sorta. The dot map on pg 5 still applies if we move quickly. They founded not on, or next to dots, but two squares away. We can immediately found 'red' and 'green' dots before Grozny and Riga expand. I can't see from the map but yellow is likely open too.

> I did miss the placement of the city in the jungle pennisula.

Ugh - we started a war to keep them off our continent then leave an open spot that won't get filled in? Unless we want war again (and again) we'll need to station a unit there permanently, or disband the city and resettle (? not sure, haven't looked at the save or map)

Still, a great turn. And that was easy to miss. I sometimes leave too many details for the next leader to remember, I may have to Bold the "don't miss!" points

Charis

 

[Schnarrd]

Sure, I'll jump in and grab the game.

 

[Schnarrd]

Ok, I'm 3 turns into my reign, but right now I have sort of a dilemma. We have another Great Leader, and I was going to rush the Forbidden Palace, but I don't think we ever came to a consensus as to where to rush it. With such a game altering decision, I was reluctant to just choose a spot myself, so before I do anything with the GL, I'd like a sort of poll to find out where the FB should go.

EDIT: Well, no replies and I need to finish my turns very soon. I guess I'll just save the leader in a city and the next ruler can decide what to do with him (upon consensus of the group, of course ).

 

[Schnarrd]

In the house of Schmutzig in the month of March, a page dashes in, a message dangling from his belt. However, upon smelling Schmutzig's formidable stench, he turns a queer shade of yellow, vomits, and faints. When he comes to from smelling salts (as if anything could wash out the scent of Schmutzig), he gulps and reports, "Our report has been delayed by a strange organization called Entseedoublay. We believe it is some Chinese trick to slow our intelligence efforts."

"Entseedoublay? What's that?"

"This organization causes a madness among our men by enticing them to predict something called 'brackets.' Unfortunately we have no other information."

"Very well. Hopefully we will get a full report by tomorrow."