Contrast journal - The Celts part 1
Turn 0
Initial thoughts without moving any units. Only one dye and one sugar within view and from the starting point they are both in the 2nd ring. This is actually okay as it takes a bit of time to get to Calendar to improve them. They are both on forest so bronze working will be needed as well. Having plenty of grassland tiles to farm and some hills for production, this is a good spot. I'd love to know if there was coast nearby but doesn't look like there would be, at least not for the capital to make use of. I do see a tundra hill to the south, so we are on the southern portion of the map. Not sure what the second challenge thing mentioned might be. I'm wondering if we are isolated... At any rate, I believe I will found on the spot and go with it.
Lock citizen on the forested hill, it provides 1 food & 2 hammers. Yes it reduces growth from 5 turns to 8 turns but changes monument production from 17 turns to 11. Sacrifice 3 turns to save 6, I think that is good.
I know I want my UU sooner rather than later so that it may be of use much quicker. I'm just going to go ahead and get that out of the way. Mining for 11 turns
Turn 8
Edinburgh pop 2, locked new citizen on a grassland tile. growth in 13, 3 turns left on Monument, 3 turns left on Mining. Barbarians have been spotted and pathfinder has been attacked already. Have found a source of crab, it would be in the 5th ring of Edinburgh. As long as I have a coastal city to send a work boat, I don't think I'll need to settle to grab it. I did find another dye near some desert. Not sure if I want to try for Petra. Really don't want to over do it with trying for wonders. Think I may just work on infrastructure / defense and possibly offense. I can always get wonders from conquest if necessary.
Turn 11
Mining finished, researching Pottery for 10 turns
Monument finished, building Pictish Warrior for 10 turns
next growth in 10 turns
The grassland tile I had locked in on turns out to be a stone tile, now have another hammer
Turn 12
That is a bummer, pathfinder was killed. I have got to remember to move it only one tile then look before moving the next. I had moved it the full two tiles and it landed next to a barb camp. No more scouting till the Pictish Warrior is done.
Turn 16
Three barbarians now on my unprotected city. 5 turns till Pictish Warrior is built. Wonder if I can hold them off with just the city bombardment
Turn 21
Pictish Warrior built, one barbarian was killed in its attack on the city a turn earlier.
Pictish Warrior kills off one unit, 14 faith.
Building Shrine paid down 80 gold to make it 5 turns.
Turn 22
Pottery finished, researching The Wheel in order to improve research times with the Council.
Turn 26
Shrine finished, building another Pictish Warrior.
Policy: Opened Authority
I might as well get some culture from killing these barbarians...
Turn 28
Between a few kills with the Pictish Warrior and a couple turns with the Shrine, I now get to choose a pantheon (first pantheon of the game). The Celts get their own set of pantheon beliefs that no one else can benefit from. But what of these can we benefit from?
The downside to my selection is that with the death of my pathfinder, not much territory has been explored. I have forests which do make Cernunnos, the Horned Stag a viable choice. I do like that one, it makes the forest extremely viable and productive. There is no dirt specific pantheon such as plantations or mine etcs. But there is Rhiannon, Goddess of Sovereignty. It provides +2 culture to each city and every improved resource gains +1 gold an +1 production as well as +5 golden age points from the Ceilidh Hall.
Almost any of them could be useful...
I think I will go with Bran, the Sleeping Guardian. Why? It gives +100 to ranged combat strength which will help once I get ranged units. It provides 25% growth as well as +8 culture when a citizen is born. This may be the "tall" pantheon but I feel it will have benefit here. Especially, since I may not get many settlers out until these barbarians are dealt with.
Turn 32
Continuing to kill barbs as they approach the city. 3 turns left on building the second Pictish Warrior. Then I can start to take the fight to them. Finished researching The Wheel going with Trapping, get those Archers on line to give support to the Pictish Warriors.
Turn 35
Pictish Warrior built and heading to closest barb camp. Building Council for 7 turns. Then I got to get a new pathfinder out.
Turn 38
Policy: Dominance
Turn 41
Trapping finished, researching Animal Husbandry
Turn 46
Pathfinder finished, just found Mt Kalesh with a Pictish Warrior. Building a settler to claim it. 6 faith a turn when worked, you better believe I am grabbing it.
Turn 48
Animal Husbandry finished, researching Fishing in order to improve where my new pathfinder can go. I put it on auto-explore. I cannot be arsed to control it right now.
Turn 50
Probably a bit late compared to others, finally met Colombo. They gave me 50 gold for being the first. Definitely isolated if no one found them by now.
Turn 52
Policy: Tribute
Turn 55
Settler finished, sending it towards Mt Kalesh. Building a granary and bought a worker.
Turn 58
Dublin founded, Mt Kalesh tile purchased, building shrine.
Turn 60
Building a Settler in Edinburgh
Researching Bronze Working now that Fishing is complete. I need both Bronze Working and Calendar to improve these luxuries. Might as well see if there is any iron first. I plan to place this settler north of Dublin and east of Edinburgh to claim two horse tiles and a marble that will be in its 3rd but out of reach of Dublin.
Right now if something does not change, it looks like a great prophet at turn 94. Not bad but it should have been sooner.
Turn 67
Settler finished and taking it to the locale I mentioned with a Pictish Warrior escort. Farming in Edinburgh as I do not have the GPT to safely do another unit at this time nor are there any buildings available to build.
Turn 71
Cardiff founded. Building a Shrine
Turn 74
Shrine finished in Dublin, building work boat followed by a Monument
I can improve whales in 8 turns and help out my happiness which has dropped to 1
Looking at turn 88 now for a great prophet.
Turn 75
Bronze Working finished, Research Calendar
Iron found in Edinburgh's 3rd ring. It will be the next grab in 40 some turns. There is also Iron in Dublin's 3rd ring. No idea when it will expand that way.
Starting to think, I picked a poor pantheon. Sometimes a steady rate is better than bursts at certain events.
Turn 76
Antananarivo discovered on another land mass. They also have a barbarian nearby. Too bad, my two Pictish Warriors are heading to a new camp that spawned not far from Colombo. Colombo also has a quest to clear it so yay.
Turn 78
Switched Edinburgh from farming to building a new worker.
Turn 80
Cleared the barb camp for Colombo, heading one Pictish Warrior to deal with the barb camp for Antananarivo. The other is returning to Edinburgh
Turn 81
My happiness went negative with the growth of Dublin.
Shrine finished in Cardiff, building Monument.
5 turns till great prophet at turn 86. Can not get any closer unless that one Pictish Warrior makes it to that barb camp in time. However, that was going to take at least 5 or 6 turns just to get there. So no, turn 86 for GP looks like it.
Turn 82
Work boat finished in Dublin and Monument started. Whales connected but it wasn't enough to offset the unhappiness. Now at 2 unhappiness due to Edinburgh growth. 5 turns from finishing Calendar and 2 turns from finishing the second worker in Edinburgh. I'll just let it sit on a lux tile till the research is complete. The other worker is improving horse over in Cardiff.
Turn 83
Met Yerevan. Buddhism founded by another civ in between turns.
Turn 86
Great Prophet born in Dublin
Everything left untouched and ready to continue
Thoughts:
With better pathfinder movement I might have been able to have kept the first one alive. That may have allowed me to find Mt Kalesh sooner and settle there sooner as well. However, I really doubt it. To have the faith for kills, I needed the Pictish Warrior and those cost almost twice what a regular warrior costs. I could have pumped out plain warriors to deal with the barbarians and settle to grab Mt Kalesh much sooner. That would have pushed the pantheon founding back but perhaps brought the religion finding sooner. Should have gone that route instead since the Celtic pantheons are unique and cannot be used by anyone else.
Plus, these barbarians are way too ragging than what I am used to. I usually do ragging barbarians with the chill barbarians option.
I could have also picked a different pantheon. I never did get archers built to take advantage of the ranged bonus. I'm sure it will help out later but certainly didn't in the immediate. And having to rely on kills only for culture is not a good thing. Never did get the policy which gives a free settler. It is way too late to be having only 3 cities unless planning to go tall or there is a neighbor already crowding the area. I'm sure it is survivable, just not ideal.
, +18
, +24
, 4 
, 56(+14)
, 
(+3
, +2
(5/12)
, +3
, +4
, 43(+7)
I did consider Mannanan, but I disagree with your logicin the end, I think. Isolation doesn't need to burst out of the gates immediately because, well, there's no threats to need to be ready for. You can take your time and build something that picks up momentum later on. I'm surprised you left it until Truro to settle Mt. Kailash - you could have Religion a good 10 turns back if not more given how wide you played. I am very surprised at how different our City placement is, in the Austria one we picked about the same places, a few tiles off either way, here we have had totally different priorities.
Good job, team!
