I'm not a fan of lowering research just to gain money when the chances of actually getting it are so small. If it does not slow down the time needed to finish Priesthood, then yes, do so. But I think that collecting 5 gold would cost us a turn. Then again, I don't have the save to check.
We need to think beyond Priesthood I think - it would need to not slow down Writing as well. But either way, I'm not a big fan of lowering the research slider, because the odds are very low, the penalties are still severe (lost forest), and we might get a different event anyway (eg lost research).
It looks like the northern warrior should continue SW (should be obvious) and the southern warrior (Orion) should go SE. We should see some more floodplains near the horses in the next few turns.
Agreed with that.
Also, any news on demographics or the top 5 cities (not to see if wonders have been built since they haven't, but to see the population size of cities)? I know this information is relatively minor, but if we see that we are last in GNP by a huge margin, then it's time to worry about our enemies having 6 gems in their capitals.
Populations of rival capitals: 5, 5, 3, 3.
We're 4th in GNP, but in reality are higher than that (it's low because we're researching a tech without prerequisites, so there's no research bonus). (Our value: 26. Rival range: 25 to 34.)
MFG - 4th. Our value: 6. Rival range: 4 to
20!!! (Someone got given a very high hammer capital by the map maker...
)
Crops - 4th. Our value: 15. Rival range: 11 to 21.
Lastly, do we have a backup plan if we fail to get the Oracle? If this happens while we have 2 hours left on the timer, for instance, then we'd like to have one.
Actually, I think we won't need one. I can't BELIEVE I neglected to notice this before, but... NONE of the religions have been founded yet.
That means that there is NO possibility that anyone else is even close to Priesthood yet.
As an interesting side-note, we might just have a chance of ending up founding Buddhism completely by accident at this rate.