Civ 5 GMR 16 Reject Earth Edition

[Shishnarfne]

Spectator updates, people! I'm dying here. I hear so much and see so little.

The Carthiginian Royal Times has decided to release the following information for those members of the public not involved in military opposition to the empire.

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Nation Celebrates Golden Age, Full Adoption of "Liberty" Agenda
Carthage currently prospers in a Golden Era of culture and trade, honoring her Imperial Majesty's completion of her long-running emphasis on local production known as the Liberty Agenda. Current speculation holds that the Imperial Will is considering a further emphasis on shared religious beliefs in order to better unify the people. Some daring policy-makers have proposed a more direct investment in the "arts," but that is not reflected in current construction projects.

Carthage to Pause Further Settlement?
With the founding of Carthago Nova just south of the Strait of Gibraltar, it appears that the Imperial policy of rapid expansion may have reached a logical halt with the settling of six cities (including Carthage itself) across the continent of Africa. Most luxury resources available are being developed for the glory of the Empire, although the Cotton fields north of the Sahara have been long plagued by bandit infestation. It looks as though Carthage will be unable to further spread its settlers without expanding overseas. The presence of several city-states in and around the Empire limit some of the possible exploitation of resources, but simultaneously provide an effective buffer against neighboring powers. Especial concern is given to the Iroquois, who dominate much of Europe. Carthage currently has the largest known land mass, but lags in population.

Carthaginian Buddhism Spreads!
With the recent completion of the Hagia Sophia (due to the diligent and tireless labor of our Great Engineer), it appears that the Imperial Religion of Buddhism is ready to expand with the enhancement of further beliefs. Cities of the Empire are spontaneously adopting the religion, and word arrives of Missionaries being greeted with enthusiasm in nearby city-states. Rumor is that Her Imperial Highness is pleased by these developments, but is encouraging further work on a "secret construction project" believed to be of religious significance. Surveyors have been spotted pondering the placement of possible new building sites throughout the Empire. Concern remains about the development of Iroquois Protestantism and its potential influence on the Empire.

Workshops to Come Soon?
Having reached near-parity with other nations on technology, emphasis is being placed on development of the principles of bridge-building (to the great delight of those wishing to reach the capitol by road!) and the working of metals, especially the relatively rare iron deposits. Local officials bring word of a proposed Empire-wide initiative to greatly increase local production across the entire continent "as soon as we figure out the plans."

[VoxRationis]

Many thanks, Shishnarfne.

[Silverraptor]

To Ottomans:

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As the remaining tensions of the marble war settle down to the point of being nothing more then a page in the history book, I felt inclined to inform you that trade has thus resumed back between our people. Even now, a regular caravan route has started between our two capitals.

[Illven]

Spoiler: Venice;Nerd-O-Rama

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Greetings from the world of the Dutch, across the seas.

King William of Orange, would love to exchange embassies with the Venice people.

~King William of Orange.

Spoiler: Spectator updates

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The people of Rotterdam claim mastery over yet another portion of the sea.

you can. SEA why they're excited?



We are told by the scholars that there are signs that another nation has entered the Medieval era.



Buenos Aires requests that we build a great lighthouse, a lighthouse beyond that of all lesser lighthouses.



And Signapore declares that it is an ally of France, forevermore.




Our work boat starts heading towards their work areas.



Utrecht's secruity forces reports no problems.




As we start moving work bands to where they can do the most good.



Amsterdam's guards report no problems now as well.



Our sailors tell tales of having met a Venice. A nation of people.




Our warriors take the delicious delicious influence with Valetta.



Pictures of the glorious science we have achieved.



Here you see maps of the capital.



Rotterdam starts work on a marketplace.



Utrecht works on a circus.... For reasons? What is William of Orange thinking.



Here we see that William of Orange is friend to all the minor nations of the world.



The scholars say we are best in approval and worst in nothing.

[Venice is doing surprisingly well.]





Our accumulated info on other nations.



And an embassy trade with Venice.

[Nerd-o-rama]

Spoiler: Datsmore;Japan

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If you're still in need of salt, we've submitted a new trade agreement under the same terms as the previous one.

Spoiler: Illven;Netherlands

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Right then! Yes! Definitely let's have a talk. You're from how far away? I wonder how we'll even get messages halfway across this planet...

Spoiler: Spectator update

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Okay I'm just going to...do this without screenshots.

It was the dawn of a Golden Age in Ankh-Morpork. After many, many years in this strange new place where the ground seemed to curve and the speed of light did not seem to be approachable on a fast horse, society had still somehow grown into something functional.

"Excuse me, sir, have you heard the good news?"

The Omnians, always the most vocal of Ankh-Morpork's many religions, had grown in power when it was discovered that the planet was actually, finally, probably round, although they were still working on recruiting missionaries to go out and verify this fact. Fortunately, the powers that were among the sect made a strong effort to continue denouncing the violent old religion from before the Eighth Prophet, although they did find it necessary to elect a new Cenobiarch to actually get them to agree on anything else.

Meanwhile, in the palace of the King, the mighty lord slept and drank his day away while the various nameless ministers, magisters, and couriers under his instruction made sure that the city was functioning quite efficiently. Where the giant step pyramid came in, of course, not a single one of them was entirely sure, but it certainly seemed to make the man on the street happy.

"See that there? That's a pyramid, it is. Stops time and makes you immortal if you stand in the right place."

"I thought pyramids were smooth-sided and pointy."

"Come off it, it's a giant triangle, innit? Immortality, friend. Let's go get drunk and celebrate our newfound longevity, eh?"

Perhaps even more importantly, the band of wandering heroes exploring the frozen forests turnwise - sorry, East - of Ankh-Morpork spotted an unfamiliar ship in the nearly iced-over sea. Strangers from a strange land, far away...but ones willing to somehow send couriers the distance, to the Palace, where they met with none other than...some guild leaders that the King had put in charge of business.

"We are very sorry. His majesty is indisposed at the moment. However, I think you'll find that we speak for him in all matters of trade and diplomacy..." one said, after a quick missive authorizing the military funds to upgrade their weapons. Just in case.

[Illven]

Spoiler: Nerd-o-rama;Venice

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We are from the Americans.

[Illven]

So treason has happened! I appear to only be being given 7 of my 9 happiness for difficulty.

Spoiler: Zevox;France

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The deal has been sent.

~William of Orange.

Spoiler: Sunday spectator update

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After finishing horseback riding, William of Orange tells our nations learned folks to study this strange new thing called serfdom.



Record births in Amsterdam read all about it.




Our government grows in scope. Now we work with city states, to bring knowledge and wisdom to us all.




The french people try to sell us a luxury. We don't need it right now, but we talk them into a loan.



Another nation has built the Chichen Itza.



As Signapore demands for us to find copper.



Utrecht's guards report no problems.




Our work boats work double time to stock fishing villages all along the coast.



The palace guards report no problems.



Nor does Rotterdam's guards.



Here we see maps of the palace.



Rotterdam continues work on it's market.



[Why are you working on a circus.]



The sages say, William of Orange is the most loved. They say we are worst at nothing.





The Dutch's info on their foes.

[Datsmore]

Spoiler: Nerd-o-rama;Venice

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Thank you for the offer, though I no longer have need of salt.

[Illven]

My happiness is back to normal. False alarm.

[The_Snark]

As usual it's been way too long since I did one of these... in fact, it seems I haven't given any updates since turn 1. Oops?

Spoiler: Spectators

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Last time we left off with the Great Captain founding a new port from which to set forth and plunder, yarr, so let's start by lookin' in on that:



My capital. There are other capitals like it, in fact there are probably other capitals which are better, but this one is mine. Nothing remarkable here, though I did get a nice spread of luxury resources. The city-state to my east stole a tile of Wine I would have eventually gotten, despite the fact that they already had wine and it was out of their working range; I may conquer them for that someday. In the meantime, though, I have plenty of happiness and one of my other cities will eventually snag a different source of wine.

(This screenshot, along with a lot of the others, is nearly twenty turns out of date, but the capital hasn't changed much. It's grown a little, I built the Colossus, that's about it.)

My second city...



... was going to be in this area, probably right between the marble and stone on that peninsula. Lots of new luxury resources, plus access to the Mediterranean. Unfortunately, the Iroquois happened to have a spearman in the area, and when they saw my settler approaching they sat in the mountain pass and blocked it. I got the hint and turned around, and a few turns later yep, they'd settled near that spot. Fair enough. It is pretty close to their capital, I'd have been reaching a little.

As you can see from the minimap, I'm a little bit boxed in by city-states on both sides, and most of the space not occupied by them is desert.



This patch of desert looked at least potentially useful, though, so I marched my settler all the way back. Polynesia had settled Samoa by the time I got there, which was unfortunate, but the very leftmost corner looked like a decent spot for a city anyway, if I made sure to snag the nearby marble. (I did.) I managed to snag Petra, which is nice. Unfortunately, settling near Samoa, buying that marble, and building Petra all in quick succession had consequences; more on that later.



I'd hoped to settle a third city right about where Tokyo is. Obviously, that didn't work out. Ankara's current location is decent enough: no new luxury resources, but several copies of luxuries I already had, and it's a good bulwark against attack from the east or north.

At this point I figured I was no longer a serious competitor in the game. I'd gone Liberty in hopes of expanding quickly, and if I'd gotten lucky and started out on a continent by myself (like Carthage did in Africa, or the unmet civilizations which I assume are in the Americas) it could have been great. Instead, my starting location turned out to be in Asia, with 3-4 other players and a lot of city-states. Then I was beaten to the punch trying to settle... three times. I had three cities, none of which were amazing, and no good prospects for expansion. This is the sort of early game it's hard to recover from.

Edirne had Petra, which often makes for a powerhouse in the late game, but then Polynesia invaded with a sizable force. I wasn't sure I'd lose the city, but I didn't really like the odds either, and if I lost it then retaking it would be nigh-impossible given the mountainous terrain... I was able to get out of that by offering up some of the disputed territory (taken via their Great General), which left the city not exactly crippled but definitely a bit weaker.

Then I discovered something. After I got Sailing, I made a trireme and sent it out exploring, standard practice when you start on the coast. Usually barbarians and terrain limits make it pretty hard to go far, but my ability to capture barbarian ships turned out to be useful: I'd get into a fight, capture a ship, send one home to heal while the other sailed onwards. Africa to the west was dominated by Carthage, I couldn't settle there without picking a fight and the best locations were already taken. Southeast Asia was occupied by Japan and (you guessed it) city-states, so there wasn't much of use there. But beyond that...



Australia is the one major landmass on Earth maps where there aren't any player starting locations. Usually, it ends up filled with city-states and (by the time players get there) barbarians, meaning it's not very useful. But in this game it turns out there aren't any city-states there. (I guess they ended up in southern Asia instead. Not that I'm bitter or anything.) Still barbarians all over the place, both on land and at sea, and that's hard to deal with at this stage.

But... the Ottoman unique power is pretty good for dealing with barbarians at sea. I didn't have any trouble establishing sea superiority - I wasn't even really trying, I was still just exploring. It's a bit of a journey, but I could get settlers here safely. Landing them would be a little trickier, but I figured I only needed 1 turn of safety to found a city, and then I'd have a secure beachhead.



The islands in the Indonesia/Malaysia region features some nice resources too, and still no city-states.



Fast-forward about twenty turns and settlement is underway. My first outpost is established, and I'm only a few turns away from the second (it'll be right on top of the ruins at the rightmost edge of this screenshot). There are several more promising city locations on the Australian coast, and maybe one on New Zealand as well. I haven't seen any other player venture into this area; it's just me.

So. Things are looking up. My ground forces in this area are a little light, but my "land warrior+settler in desired port location, settle next turn, kill local barbarians" plan has worked so far. Clearing out the mainland will be slow going, but I've got time. With my unique ability and Austronesia turned into a power base, I'm hoping to become a major naval power as the game goes on.

Fun fact: I only ever built the one trireme. The rest of my navy was obtained via capturing barbarians. (There were a couple more triremes which I lost/had to disband, too.)



Here's a present-day view of my starting area. You can see my concessions to Polynesia near the top; I lost a couple good tiles (including the one with the marble), and now there's a citadel within bombardment range of Edirne, which is a bit worrisome. But they're sending caravans my way again, so they aren't planning to invade soon, and honestly it wouldn't be an utter disaster if I lost the area.



This is what the demographic charts looked like 18 turns ago. I forgot to take a screenshot last turn, but suspect it looks more or less the same: pretty good production, low population, middle-of-the-road everywhere else.

[Illven]

@The snark. The spectators never forgive.

Spoiler: Datsmore;Japan

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Greetings from across the western sea. Eastern sea to you. We are the Dutch and we would love to exchange embassies for the glory of William the Orange.

~From the scribe of William the Orange.

[Nerd-o-rama]

EDIT: I appear to have been hallucinating.

[Illven]

Spoiler: Ottomans;The snark

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Greetings from across the waves. We are under the command of William of Orange.

We would like to exchange embassies. And we are quite interested in these truffles your people love. As we are aware that you only have one set, we are willing to offer you pearls and citrus.

From King William of Orange.

[The_Snark]

Spoiler: Netherlands

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Greetings! We would happily make that trade if we did not have a citrus plantation under construction as we speak; would you be willing to substitute some other goods?

[Illven]

Spoiler: The snark;Ottoman

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That would be acceptable. Are their any other luxuries you are in the process of getting online?

~William of Orange.

[The_Snark]

Spoiler: Netherlands/Illven

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Yes, we will be establishing cocoa plantations once the orchards are finished. There are vineyards and incense... plants...? within our sphere of influence but it will be some time before we can access them, so we would be willing to trade for those commodities on a one-time basis.

Edit - Silverraptor, you've dropped; is this intentional or did you just miss a turn?

[Silverraptor]

I think I missed a turn.

[Illven]

I'm going to wait to take my turn.

[Nerd-o-rama]

I'll put up a join code and wind back time after church today. My phone does not agree with Steam.

[Nerd-o-rama]

Join link for Silverraptor below:

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http://multiplayerrobot.com/Game/Joi...f-9803f6dc550e

Post here when you've rejoined and I'll revert back to Polynesia's last turn. Zevox, if you would like to refrain from taking your turn as Illven did, it'll make this easier.

[Silverraptor]

Join link for Silverraptor below:

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http://multiplayerrobot.com/Game/Joi...f-9803f6dc550e

Post here when you've rejoined and I'll revert back to Polynesia's last turn. Zevox, if you would like to refrain from taking your turn as Illven did, it'll make this easier.

I am an idiot... Please make another one.

[Nerd-o-rama]

http://multiplayerrobot.com/Game/Joi...a-5ee49f339e06

Remember: Polynesia. The spirally orange ones who were never actually a unified state, with the giant stone heads and amazing pit barbecue.

[Silverraptor]

http://multiplayerrobot.com/Game/Joi...a-5ee49f339e06

Remember: Polynesia. The spirally orange ones who were never actually a unified state, with the giant stone heads and amazing pit barbecue.

Yes. I know.

What the Frick! I chose Polynesia, and it dumps me into Iroquois! How does that happen!?

[Nerd-o-rama]

I have no idea and it might be something worth contacting GMR support over. For now here's three invite links since I'm going to be out for a while.

Spoiler

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http://multiplayerrobot.com/Game/Joi...6-513e3ed2972e
http://multiplayerrobot.com/Game/Joi...f-a14136ce5e54
http://multiplayerrobot.com/Game/Joi...e-1c9c68e0e503

[Silverraptor]

Okay, this time it worked. I'm back in the game as the proper civ.

[Nerd-o-rama]

Okay the site is showing that it's Polynesia's turn? Let me know if it's not the case and I can start reverting. Leaving the timer at a week until I'm positive this is sorted out.

[Silverraptor]

Yes it is, but then it allows me to watch my turn be made for me, not allowing me to choose my policy or open any of my cities before moving off to the next person.

[Nerd-o-rama]

"I never asked for this"
-the Civ 6 quote for Nanotechnology, probably

I've reverted the turn to Turkey. The Snark, if you'd be so kind.

[The_Snark]

Um. So I took my turn, then the game indicated the next player up is Illven with the Netherlands. I don't think that worked. I haven't uploaded yet; maybe try leaving and rejoining via one of those links to see if that jars something loose...?

[Nerd-o-rama]

Is that indication in the in-game save screen or in the GMR client? If it's the latter I say just upload anyway, it could be a UI glitch. If it's the former we may just need to let the AI have this turn...