My second BTS report is Epic 16: Something Fishy. Now, I was a little in the dark on this one as I have only played one game of BTS to this point. In that single game, I hadn't encountered corporations at all. I've read a little about them, but I thought they were more trouble than they were worth. They seemed quite expensive to me, and didn't provide much in the way of benefit.
Well, we start this game with Sid's Sushi co already founded in our capital, so there's no escaping corporations this time. Examining it a bit shows me that I lose Gold every turn for each city I have it in, but I get 0.5 Food in each Sid-city for every one of Rice, Clams, Crabs and Fish I have.
Now initially I read this as meaning I could get a maximum of 2 Food extra per city. I was very glad to find out quickly that I was incorrect on that one, and that it's the amount of each resource that counts.
I see 3 clams and 2 fish in range, so that's 2.5 bonus food per city already guaranteed. As this is an Archipelgo map, I'm sure there's more of the three water based resources - a LOT more. Rice - never guaranteed to have many of those, but it'll be nice to grab if I see a source of it.
So, I check up and I see we're the Vikings. I've never played this race before. I mainly play land based maps, so I always thought it'd be a waste of the Viking's special building (Trading Post) as there are some whole games that I don't actually build any lighthouses (Adventure 25 is a good recent example) On an Archipelgo map, it's quite different. It's quite possible that every single city will also be a port, with it's own Trading Post. All depends on the map script, but we'll find that out as we go along.
Looking at the starting postition:
3 clams in immediate range. 2 fish will be in range after a border pop (automatic with the palace). I'll also have a gems in range, and I see pigs to the south. I really like the look of this starting position!!!
Starting plan. Well, hooking up the sushi resources will be pretty obvious. I have no scout, no warrior, only one of Sid's executives for scouting. I'm guessing that I'll have a little breathing room at the start. My reason is that I don't think the sponsor would have put an enemy civ within 8 turns march of me. So, I'm going to really gamble and go with a Work Boat as first build. I want those sushi resources kicking in ASAP.
Tech wise, I already have fishing so no need to go for that. I want bronze working. Luckily, I also wanted mining (to get those gems) and it's on the way. If I have bronze in range, that should keep me safe for a while. Also, my capital really really really looks to have a big "Whip Me" sign on it. Seriously, 5 food resources! At times, I'll be fighting to keep it's population down to keep under happy caps!!!
I'm going to need culture for border pops in early cities, in the early days there's 3 ways of getting that. Stonehenge, Monuments or religion. Since I don't start with Mysticism, it could be very hard to get Buddhism or Hinduism. I'd usually go for Stonehenge, but on higher difficulty levels (this is Monarch, I think) I think I'll only get one or maybe two of the early wonders. Oracle is always a great one, I'll take a stab at getting it. But the one, the only, the most important wonder I see for this map - The Great Lighthouse. I played epic15 and made a beeline for it, and managed to get it. It really kept my economy going all through the early years. +2 trade routes per coastal city! I'll have a piece of that if I can get it. After that, Collossus would be a nice one (that would make even ocean tiles yield 2G, which would let my Financial trait kick in an extra 1G). Great Library and Pyramids are also nice. I'll think more about them as time goes on.
3775BC - I've went scouting a little with Sid's executive.
After roaming around a little, I realise that Sid is an executive not a fighter.
Force of habit with the initial unit 
.
I recall him to home right away!
Even though we're only a few turns in, I'm getting nervous and realise that I need a warrior for defense.
I'm going to gamble and stick with the work boat for now and go for a warrior straight after.
3700BC - Mining comes in. Onto Bronze Working. Also Buddhism FIADL. Never would have got that one!
3475BC - Work Boat finished. 7 turns until Warrior.
3325BC - Warrior comes in. He wanders off exploring... I feel a lot better with a Warrior in play. Unlikely to see anything more scary than a single Barb warrior or enemy warrior/scout out scouting. I park Sid's executive on a hill to the SW, so he can see any incoming nasties, so I'd have enough time to recall my Warrior if needed.
3225BC - Bronze working comes in. Straight to slavery. Start on sailing.
3150BC - Hinduism FIADL. You know, I think I could have got that if I had made a beeline for it, and used the coast (3G for me with financial) Oh well, something to think about for the future with a financial civ.
3125BC - Yarrrr, my warrior beats Yogi bear!!! Combat I for free rocks! Crack the whip in Nidaros to turn a 9 turn wait for a work boat into a 1 turn wait :)
2950BC - I've built a scout (which, are much better at scouting, funnily enough) so that I can recall my Warrior to Nidaros permanently. My new scout faces a lion - and wins!!!
2850BC - My scout faces another lion - and wins again!!! Sailing comes in, I start animal husbandry. It's nearly time to expand, and that pig site to the south is crying out to be settled, especially since I can get a fish resource too.
2850BC - Pop a hut - 48G. Would have preferred a tech, but 48G is pretty good for cash! Wonder does being financial help with how much Gold a hut will pop?
2725BC - Tacitus does a great work which shows that I'm 5th out of 6 in the world in terms of size. Well, not suprised there since I'm still on my first city. Way too early to pay that stat any attention.
2675BC - Crack the whip again for the trading post. Next stop - Settler!
2525BC - Animal Husbandry comes in. Onto Masonry for great lighthouse. Have hooked up my gems now. 1 food, 2 hammers and a big pile of cash means nice research rate!
2350BC - Masonry comes in. Onto the Wheel for roads
2250BC - Judaism FIADL. I think I need confuciasm. At the end of 2250, I have scouted out my island. It's quite big for an Archipelego map. I have some decent resources, but a lot of jungle. Pity it's not forest, I hope the other civs are hampered like this! Here's a map of my little island, and a city planner that I've drawn out.
I've put my priorities of when I'd like to get these cities. As I'm on an island by myself, I can be fairly confident of getting most, or maybe even all, of these cities just where I want them. I think these cities all have decent amounts of water tiles, good food potential, but also have a decent amount of land squares for production. While playing epic 15, I really hampered myself by building too many cities with only a few land squares to work, so as the game went on I fell very badly behind in production. Won't make that mistake again!!!
City site 1 looks nice. Pigs will give me a health boost (which Nidaros will need eventually) and it has a few hill squares for production. The fish resource is just the icing on the cake! City site 2 will get me stone and a second gems source. It's mainly just a stopoff on the way to city site 3, which will get me the much needed copper!
The order after that is how I see things at the minute. I don't have iron working yet, so can't see if I have iron. If iron is available at another site, a city site there will go way up the rankings.
2125BC - Wheel comes in - onto Iron working. Do I have Iron??? I have copper in the deep south, but a while away from claiming it. Found Uppsala south of the capital, but realise I need iron working to clear the jungle on the hill so I can build a pasture for the pigs:
Doh!!!! :)
2025BC - I put two turns build into Great Lighthouse. Capital grows to 5, so I start on a worker. I intend to whip on the last turn for a lot of whip overflow.
1625BC - Great Wall built in a far away land. Haven't seen Stonehenge built yet, think I might have a good chance of the Great Lighthouse!
1600BC - Enter classic era with Iron Working. Go onto agriculture to farm a bit. Now I can clear the jungle and get those pigs!
In 1500BC, I have a bit of a quandry. Will I sacrifice 3 population in order to bring in the Great Lighthouse???
Not really a question, is it?
*Crack* 
1475BC - Tacitus reports that I'm 6th in the list of most advanced civilizations. I don't really care because this turn I get:
Hmmm, least advanced, eh? I'll have to do something about that!!!
1425BC - In comes agriculture - onto pottery for granary
1325BC - Stonehenge built in far off land. Seems pretty late. Just as well I didn't switch my techs over to going for it.
1225BC - Pottery comes in, onto writing. I build a galley and send him to the land mass to my east.
1100BC - Oracle built in far off land. Suppose I did wait too long before prioritising it. At this point, I realise I'd quite like the Great library, but also the circumnavigation bonus (my galley is too slow)
1075BC - I get a Great Merchant. Hmmm, I can pop out Metal Casting with him. That'd ease the pain of missing out on the Oracle. I do that.
1000BC - Wow. Major luck. Pop a hut and I get a tech - Compass! I didn't realise huts could give techs like that. It's a damned useful one, as i planned to go for it soon for harbors and also to get optics for caravals soon:
I take back all the nasty things I've said about my luck with huts :)
925BC - Found Haithabu:
Still haven't met anyone else! Currently training old techs like Mysticism. I'll do the Meditation - Priesthood after that. Might have a chance at COL for confuciasm.
850BC. Meet Brennus. He's got no religion and 3 cities, just like me. Don't know much about his personality, but since he's aggressive I think I'll be cautious around him. He's a little way away, a few islands off to my east.
675BC - Get Meditation. 3 turns to priesthood. Might make COL after all!
Brennus goes to Hinduism. I have open borders, so it might spread to me which would be nice.
650BC - Meet Louis. He's Hindu, probably where Brennus got it since they're quite close. A Hindu grouping of us 3 would make for a nice arrangement for all, since i don't want wars!
625BC - Looks like Orleans is the HinJew holy city:
If I can get all the other religions and bury them, then peace would be easy (hey, I can dream, can't I???) Well, except for Buddhist civ, whoever that is. In 600BC, I see something I really really didn't want to see:
Oh well, it'd be a boring game if there wasn't a wild aggressive personality in there, I suppose.
Genghis is a Buddhist, so I'm sure he'll come to blows with his neighbours at some time.
And I thought Buddhism was all about peace and self enlightenment..... 
The only good thing about the situation is that, as you can see, Genghis is miles to my east and nowhere near me.
He'll have to come through Brennus to get at me, and they're unlikely to ever be that friendly due to the difference in religion.
Tech Wise - Priesthood comes in. 20 turns for COL
575BC - Typical. Genghis demands fish for nothing. Of course, I can't give it to him. *Editorial - Like many people, I had read the rules as being that you couldn't trade sushi resources. Sullla later put in a clarification that you couldn't trade for sushi resources, but you could trade yours away if you liked. If I had known that, I may have given him fish (though probably wouldn't). By the time I had read the clarification, I had already played quite a few turns (well beyond this point) and hadn't been trading sushi resources at all. At that point, I decide that Sid surely wouldn't approve of me trading away sushi resources, so I keep this as a rule for the whole game. I will never trade in sushi, whether it's trading for the resource or trading it away.
500BC - Meet Justinian. He's with Genghis as a Buddhist 
485BC - Meet the final other civ - Gilgamesh. He's only got 2 cities and no religion.
I expand Sids Sushi Co into Hiathabu. As you can see, I was in the black at 60% research.
I had no cities running wealth and no merchants (don't think I had Currency yet 
):
I think it was about this point that I had realised that it's the amount of sushi resources that give you the +0.5 food per city. This would allow Hiathabu to grow very quickly indeed, without need for loads of farms. It's got a lot of jungle, but I'll get the workers right on that one! I also have the full list of my opponents. As I haven't played much BTS, here's what I know about their personalities:
| Brennus - dunno. Was in A25, but Ruff stated it was random personalities. Probably warlike, given the aggressive trait. |
| Justinian I - dunno. He was in Adventure 25. In that game, he was fine to deal with. |
| Gilgamesh - dunno. Another that was in A25. He seemed quite warlike in that one. |
| Genghis Khan - You just can't deal with Genghis. He WILL declare war on me at some time, no matter the distance between us. Also guaranteed to make frequent unreasonable demands. *sigh* |
| Louis - I find him unpredictable at times, but you can deal with him ok. He rarely makes unreasonable demands, and is usually receptive to tech trades. |
395BC - Start building the Collossus in my capital.
31 turns, straight down after I chop a forest 
Hehe, St Augistine's great work shows that I'm not very powerful.
Bottom of the pile, in fact
I don't really mind, since most civs are too far away from me to effectively declare war on me. I think I have a chance at confuciasm!
320BC - Get COL and Confuciasm. I don't like the unhappiness to other civs that converting will cause, but I do like the happiness in my cities! I need it in some cities, especially any one with Sid's sushi co!
155BC - Not much happens for a while. Alphabet comes in - time for tech trades. Go onto mathematics.
140BC - Trade Compass to Gilgamesh for Archery and Mathemetics. Also trade Meditation and Priesthood to Genghis for Polytheism.
125BC - Brennus demands clams. I tell him where to go. Is he going to be as ridiculous to deal with as Genghis is????
5BC - Nidaros builds the collossus. gotta stay away from astronomy, i think .
This isn't as big as the Great Lighthouse, but it is a very very nice wonder to get.
It won't last as long as the Lighthouse, nor give as much cash. But the +1G for every water tile is great on a map like this.
Especially since my financial trait means that +1G on an ocean tile brings it to 2G, so I'll get a bonus 1G from my trait.
Since all my cities so far are ports (and all my planned ones are too), that means a lot of water tiles worked!
That's only two of the early wonders for me. But I think I've chosen wisely with the ones I've went for. I'll need a very high GNP if I'm to deal with getting Sid's sushi co into a few more cities!
10AD - Aesthetics comes in I have 2 cities with Sid's Sushi. 3 fish and 2 clams, and i've had those for years. I've documented founding Sid in Hiathabu and here's a screen showing the available amount of sushi resources:
By the scoring mechanism, at 5AD I currently have 2 cities with Sid's corp (5 points each) and 5 sushi resources (2 points each) for a total of 20 points at 5AD.