[TURN 5]

Action is slowly picking up ^^

[ALI] Just a small update :)

Hello :)

Just a little update. My borders just expanded and I think there's something I can change now...

See the difference? The city grows a turn later but everything else will be much faster so that's an improvement :)

[CHOMPER] The prey is spying on me!

Just when my borders expanded, I saw this babylonian scout right at my border. Ducky is trying to spy on me! This will not be without consequences, I have a warrior!

What promotion should I give him? Militant is a really cool trait... free XP is a useful bonus...

I think Combat I might be alright... I mean, it's extra strength. Not the strongest promotion but it's always in effect no matter what kind of fight you get into...

[DUCKY] More scouts, yep, yep, yep

Hi hi hi! My next scout is finished. Now that I know that Chomper is my neighbor, I need to find out who else is nearby and where... or what they do, yep yep yep...

I will move this scout along the southern coast, yes I will.

Meanwhile, the other one will go north to see what Chomper is doing. Another one will go west once it is ready, yep yep yep.

Oh, also my borders expanded-ed, yes they did!

[CERA] No big deal

No need to get excited, I just switched from the sheep to the cows now that I can use them... they're better.

[LITTLEFOOT] Guess I could call that an improvement?

Hi guys! I'm back with another update!

My second scout is finished. Time to do some exploring, shall we? I'll send one left and one right...

I'll continue with a Warrior. I don't really need one yet but my production will get close to zero once I can use the water to get food for my city. Well, maybe once I have a work boat, that is... Better build a warrior now so I don't have to later...

I'm not sure if you've noticed already but my borders have expanded. The borders you can see in blue right now are also the limitation of what my city will be able to work with. For everything further away, I'll need other cities to work with it.

Either way, now I have an additional piece of land that I can use which happens to be better than the one I was using thus far (because a forest grows on it, giving an extra hammer. So I'll switch to that of course...

[TURN 4]

Next turn, the borders of everyone's cities are going to expand (well, except for Ruby's who started with the expansion due to her leader's trait)

We've seen the first AI player make an appearance in this game now and this is just the first of 38 who are in this game :P

[RUBY] My city is growing

Hello my friends, my friends hello!

My city just grew a little bit so I thought you'd like to see it grow.

Now that it has grown, I don't need the food so badly anymore. For the time being, I should try to upgrade my food so it actually gives me food. Well, I'll need some production, some production I need to finish that work boat as soon as I can so I switched things around a bit. Like that. I still needed to make sure my people have enough food not to starve though because... when they starve, I would lose population again, population I would lose...

[SPIKE] Meeting Isabella of the Mayan Empire

Just met that neighbor I discovered. Had a good laugh about her introduction to me...

Lol, just shut up and leave me alone. Looks like she's not on my piece of land so I hope there won't be any issues... for now.

[PETRIE] First preparations for war!

Me back with update guys!

 Scout is finished, gonna try to find a way to Ruby's island. This my land, me want it!

It still early but me need to prepare for war at some point. That why me build barracks now. Soldiers need training...

[DUCKY] Oh no no no...

Oh no no no... I hope Chomper will not eat me...

[Note to self: Find a screenshot of Ducky looking worried...]

[TURN 3]

Well, the first 3 players now have their first units to move each turn and Spike, too, finds out that this map is rather "cuddly" with rather few space between the civs.

Also, Ducky is about to bump into someone but she doesn't know yet, nope, nope, nope :P

[SPIKE] Pesky AI neighbors...

Meh, the first thing my scout had to find is another player. Lovely...

I'm building a worker now. My people need food, I need a farm on the wheat.

[DUCKY] A strange unit?

Hello everybody, I am back, yes I am! *giggles*

My scout is finished, yippee! Although... why did I get an Animal Keeper?

[Ducky... you are a creative player, remember? *sighs*]

Huh? Oh, right. Now I remember, yes I do! I get special units sometimes. The Animal Keeper is stronger I think?

...

Hello? Why are you not responding?

[Yes it is. Against animals to be precise. Sorry, didn't realize it was a question. I only act in the background, remember. I'm guiding you a little, Ducky. If I don't say anything, then you're probably right about whatever it is about]

Oh okay, no problem, hehehe. Well, I do not know much about the northern border so should I explore that first?

[*nods*]

Then I will do that. yep, yep, yep! Oh, and I would like to have more scouts, I am just so curious to see what is around me.

Okay, are we done?

[Yes, but I have an idea. How about we take a look at the technologies you already have?]

One moment... ah here.

I have Hunting. I do not have any resources though that need a camp... I get more food from hunting though, I think that is pretty good. 

Mining allows me to build mines on hills. Hmm, I have a lot of these oh yes, yes, yes *giggles*

[Yes, though you will also need Bronze Working for most of them since a forest is growing on them.]

Yes, I know but thank you for reminding me! Are we done now? Yes? Okay, then see you, yep, yep, yep! *waves*

[LITTLEFOOT] First scout, building another one

Hey guys, I'm back! My scout is finished so let's take a look at our situation.

The scout spawned in Uruk. Now there's only one way to go... go south...

By the way, on the left you can see some information about the city. Name, amount of food stored, amount of money (0), research (12), culture (2) and espionage (4) per turn (right now, this all comes from the palace which comes automatically with your first city, making it the capital), Maintenance, current buildings and culture level (6/10 right now, 4 needed for expansion of borders).

I moved the scout as I said. A scout has a movement of 2 per turn though a hill costs two movement so I couldn't get very far yet...

I decided to build another scout because... I still can't build workboats... Usually, there's more than one direction a scout can walk so having two will help... it's not like they're expensive after all. This one will only take me 2 turns to build. We have a production of 4/turn right now as you can see above and a scout costs 10. The production overflow from the first scout is the reason why it only takes 2 turns by the way...

Before I finish my turn, let me show you something.

This is the technology "tree" of the game - or at least the beginning of it. The green techs are those I already have. The light blue one is the one I'm researching right now.

I already have Agriculture (which is about as useless as a rock right now...) which allows me to build farms. Where?! There's only Tundra and... salty water! A farm needs freshwater. If it isn't irrigated by it, it can't be built. 

The Wheel allows me to build roads with my workers and allows chariot-units to be built. Need horses for that though, I don't have them yet.

Fishing is what I really need right now, ugh! I can't use any of the ocean before I have it... it also improves tiles next to rivers though that's less important here right now.

[TURN 2]

Nothing happening, everyone's working on a project in their cities but there is nothing to do yet. Next turn there's something to report about though ;)

[TURN 1]

Just to let you know, I'll make such a small post on every turn just so you know which turn it is, occasionally saying additional things about the game in general or having a bit of RPG when the characters get to talk about the game (maybe every 10 or 20 turns or so?)

Everyone made their first moves and founded their first cities. I'm almost feeling sorry for poor Littlefoot who's the only one who got a bad place to start :P It also looks like we'll have two pairs who start right next to each other so it'll be interesting to see how things develop.

I'm still debating about some formal things, maybe I'll make amendments to the format but I'm not sure yet.

[ALI] A good start

Hello, I'm Ali. I'm a bit shy but that's alright. My friends asked me to play in their new game of Civ 4 while I'm over there at the Great Valley so I agreed. I'm sure this will be fun

My friend Littlefoot told me a bit how this game works, I hope I can do it right and win the game with him. He's so handsome, trust me. I wish I could always be with him and his friends sometimes but my herd keeps moving around... anyway, let's see how our start looks like. Littlefoot already said that there are more than enough resources in this map...

Wow, my land is really cool. I think this is the best place for my first city since there are the most resources.

I was lucky to start with Fishing so I can build my special version of a work boat right from the start. I think I should improve the two water tiles first. I can't reach them yet but the borders will expand in a few turns and then I can. I decided to research Animal Husbandry first because I see a lot of resources around my city that I can only use with this technology... like the sheep right north of my city.

I'm playing the Polynesians. It's probably a good thing I started right at the water. See, most of their advantages are linked to water... But their special ability is not. Buildings are cheaper in my capital and once I built them in my capital, they'll also be cheaper in the rest of my new cities.

[Ali got two traits we've already seen so I'll skip the explaining for once xD]

I think my traits are okay. [Kamehameha I who happens to be a Polynesian leader. Ali got the right civilization against all odds :P] Financial [11% odds] helps my economy and Protective [5% odds] helps me if I'm being attacked.

This is what my first city is building right now. It's a cheaper work boat with additional movement. A pretty useful unit I'd say.

The Koa Warrior is a Broadswordsman with more movement which has an additional attack per turn. It can also be built sooner since it only requires one technology instead of two.

Units get a penalty for crossing river/attacking from the water but this unit is actually stronger when attacking from water. It's a unit of the Renaissance so I'll have to wait quite a bit but, eventually, I might start an invasion from the sea.

This building is really helpful because it gives some production in addition and it can be built really early. Only in coastal cities, but still...

Well, I think I can work with that. Let's just hope Littlefoot is nearby so we can work together against the others.

[RUBY] Right next to Petrie... but this is looking good, good it is looking.

Hello my friends, my friends hello!

[thanks to the awesome RockingScorpion for the permission to use this!]

I'm a fast runner, I'll also try to run fast in the game of civ 4 me and my friends have started playing, fast I will run. I know the weaknesses of the others, the weaknesses I know.

Here is my starting location. Honestly, that is more than I could have asked for. Although I didn't ask for it, hmm...

The gold in the east is tempting but I'd have to miss some of the food in exchange, some of the food I would miss. There are no less than 6! Silk resources up north, wow! I'll need to place my first city in a way that allows me to put another in the south later. Considering there's a certain distance cities need to have to one another, I think I know where to start...

There we go. That way, I can have the shrimp and the clam (or Snapping Shell as I call them, they're really tasty, tasty they are!) as well as the bison. I can't have the gold with my first city but I might get one with a city at the southern tip of this island. Actually, wait... there's someone!

I'm right next to somebody, I'm not sure if that's good or not. This must be one of us, this is not the AI, they haven't had their turn yet... but who is it? *looks at the scoreboard at the lower right* It is Petrie, Petrie it is! I don't think he's very strong but you never know what Petrie is going to do, I need to be careful.

Oh, I almost didn't tell you something that I wanted to tell you. Since I have Fishing already, I can start building the work boats for the water resources already. I had a few choices in research but I decided to do Bronze Working. That will show me where Copper is and I will be able to chop down forests.

I am playing England, England am I playing. Their ability is pretty cool. A free Golden Age is very very strong and the small bonus on fishing boats on water resources is small but useful. One more reason to build a work boat *grins*

My leader is pretty good I think because I think he's good. [Suryavarman II/Khmer originally]

Usually, I like to play with a leader who gives me an economic advantage but this combination seems to be very strong, especially in the beginning so it's giving me a good start, a good start it's giving me.

Expansive [4% odds for Ruby] makes my cities start on 2 so I can work two tiles around my city right away as you can see... I can work the bison and the shrimp at the same time which my enemies can't. That should give me some head start, a head start it should give me. I also get a map of the area for every city I found. I got one in the north-west which is why I might not even need a scout at all. On top of that, my people are less unhealthy because of overpopulation and I can construct two important early buildings faster!

Artistic [16% odds, second favourite of Ruby] is another trait that gives me an early advantage and I like that advantage a lot! As you can see, it's all about culture. You need 10 Culture for your borders to expand so you can work all tiles your city can reach. They can expand another 4 times and the more culture you have the more land you will have because a tile belongs to whoever has most culture on it. So having a lot of culture can be a huge advantage.

My cities start with the first border expansion and get 2 free Culture per turn so they will continue to grow. If I conquer a city, I can build the unique building of the former owner in there and buildings are less likely to be destroyed when I do [as you can imagine, it would be totally OP if a city you gain from your neighbors would keep all the buildings :P]. I also get some happiness from some cultural buildings which I can also build faster than the others.

I think I had a lot of luck with this leader and this civilization. Let's see if we can outsmart the others.

Here are my unique units. The first is the Yeoman. I can't use him before reaching the Middle Ages but it's a strong unit, a strong unit it is. Usually, Longbowmen are the best units to guard cities but not so good offensively. Since this one here has a little more strength [normal Longbowmen have only 6] and an additional first strike with the Drill promotion, I could use it to attack too.

This unit doesn't come before the industrial age but it's really strong because of the bonus against other gunpowder units [the bonus against mounted units is not special though, all Riflemen have it]

I don't really know what's the unique thing about this unit since I have never used it before but it seems mighty strong to me, mighty strong it seems to be.

This building is really cool and gives me a significant economic advantage. The unique thing is that I get a free Merchant in every city where I build this [which is one of many specialists you can hire in your cities instead of working tiles around your city. They all have unique boni and help to grow Great Persons who have even greater abilities. More about this once it becomes relevant] and they're also giving me more money than normal merchants. Unfortunately, the building can't be build before the Renaissance Era.

Well, that looks very promising, very promising it looks. I think I will do good in this game and actually succeed to build a spaceship this time to win the game. Cera destroyed mine in the last game...

[CHOMPER] War is inevitable, just a matter of time...

Let's see how my leafeater friends will do in the game. Unlike in real life, I'll use my teeth!

I got a good start, guess I can work with it.

A lot of food, that I actually like! Fish... Shrimp... and Cows!

Needless to say, I didn't need a second thought when I founded my first city.

I think it might be a good idea to found a few cities very close to each other at the coast, that's also why I put the city so far in the south that it won't reach the shrimp. It'll have enough food anyway lol.

Oh crap, do I really see borders of the enemy already? THIS CLOSE?!  I mean, I don't mind war but this is insane... hope it's an AI player because these are stupid lol... although... the AI's have their turns after us. Which means.... oh no.

[Cookie to whoever figures out who Chomper's neighbor is :P]

In that case, it might be better to build a warrior first in case my neighbor is trying to kill me right away. I can scout later!

I could kinda need something like Archery to have an early advantage in case of a war but my economy would suffer so I'll go for fishing... really want that fish lol.

Well, at least I got good military advantages. Not really helping my economy but I'll be fine once I take over a couple neighbors...

Playing as the HRE. Really like the free XP later on and the cheaper techs. Also need less XP for promotions.

I'm playing as Gaddafi, a leader just worthy of a Sharptooth! Actually, he's got my favourite traits, I got really lucky there lol.

Militant (25% odds) is basically improving my soldiers a lot + my military buildings. Free XP and less XP needed, nice synergy with the HRE trait, that'll be interesting to watch. I can also specialize my units more once they're reached a certain XP level...

Repressive (19% odds)makes slavery more effective [available with Bronze Working technology] Honestly, slavery is totally cruel but it's the best way to get shit done lol. I can switch religions and civics without causing anarchy and take cities without a revolt taking place too. Pretty neat.

Here are my special units/buildings. I'm gonna be insanely good in the middle ages...

I love this unit. It can just ignore the strongest unit in a stack and go for the units it's good against. Well, outside cities anyway...

Normal Pikeman are only good to stab the elephants and horses but this guy here is super strong against Melee units too! I think only crossbowmen can kill them easily since they're archers with a bonus against Melee units...

This one's a little stronger against other Mounted units and gets a free promotion. Probably the least effective of my special units but it's still useful I guess. Though I'll probably rely on those Landsknechts the most once I can train them...

Instead of 50%, this one reduces maintenance costs by 75%! Guess that's the key how to keep my economy kinda good by reducing the bills lol.

Well, looks like I got real chances in this game. Let's just hope my neighbor isn't trying to kill me before I get my good units...