[TURN 9]

Next turn, everybody else who went for a cheap technology (Cera, Ducky, Spike and Chomper minus Littlefoot) will research their respective tech (fishing in most cases, it seems popular and almost nobody started with it, certainly a big coincidence).

I also got something planned for next turn, keep your eyes open (on the post that'll be called [TURN 10] ;) )

[ALI] Focussing on fast production right now...

Hello :)

After my city grew, I decided to switch things around to get the Outrigger Canoe faster. See, I'll have a much better tile on the water then. The sooner the better :)

I'll switch things back eventually. The growth shouldn't halt after all :)

[CHOMPER] Diplomacy sucks...

Well, that's my condition for a collaboration. Though Ducky will have to prove that she can live up to it. If she's weak enough to be inviting later on... screw the deal if it happens.

[PETRIE] More Gold!!!

Me find more gold, muhahaha!

[DUCKY] More neighbors, oh no no no

He really does not make me happy, oh no, oh no... Does he think that I am weak? I am not, oh no!!! 

What do you think? Is it still the right thing to try being nice to Chomper?

[I'd say it's the best chance you can get in this game... keep trying, Ducky.]

Okay... I will try.

The Seer ran into a lion. That is not good. If you look at the stats on the left on this picture and then on the picture below...

The lion is a little stronger-er than my scout, I hope that I will not lose him so soon...

I still need to move my other scouts though, yes I do...

Oh, not again... Well, they said there would not be a lot of space... but this is too close for my liking, yep, yep, yep...

There he is... 

[Don't worry too much, Ducky. Remember your unique strengths ;)]

I just do not like neighbors in this game at all, oh no, oh no...

[Who does? Except as a snack of course...]

You are thinking like my brother Spike, hehe. Well, that is it for this turn anyway. I really do hope things will go well, yes I do...

[CERA] Damn animals!

They're just so damn unnecessary, ugh! Now I need to try avoiding most of these...

[LITTLEFOOT] WE HAVE FISHING!!!

It's been about bloody time, huh? Finally, the water is usable! Though I won't use it just yet as I said...

So here's all techs I could currently research. Quite a decision to make. The good thing is that my crappy city rules out most of these since I just literally don't need them yet :P

Most important to me will probably be Hunting for two reasons. On the one hand, I'll get more food if my scouts kill animals that attack them. On the other hand... well, look.

My fur needs a camp as an improvement later on (work boats have priority for now) so I'd be better off researching Hunting until then so I might as well...

Another option would have been Mining though the only hills that I have are those fur hills where I wouldn't build a Mine on anyway. Might be my next option though... or Sailing.

Anyway, I'm finally able to produce work boats! Thanks to my pretty solid production (pretty much the only good thing about this city right now) I'll have it in 6 turns! Will build a fishing boat on one of the two shrimps, it doesn't really matter which here since they're equal. Can't improve the whale until much later though.

[TURN 8]

Note how Littlefoot is a little faster to research Fishing than the others. His financial trait will really help him boost his research though in this case the reason was simply because he was the only one working a tile that generated some commerce (fur) and not related to his financial trait which only boosts tiles that have at least 2 commerce :P

[RUBY] Now working on a scout

Hello my friends, my friends hello!

I am working on a scout now to explore my island, building a scout I am...

[CHOMPER] An alliance? Hmm...

Hmm...

[SPIKE] Successful hunt

Turns out my scout won, huh? Got some food from it, that's nice. Gonna have to regenerate health though...

[DUCKY] Got another special scout, yep, yep, yep!

Hello everyone!

First of all, I will need to respond to Chomper again, oh well...

If we formed-ed an alliance, Chomper and I would be a team for the rest of the game, sharing resources, technologies and special abilities or units... 

I got a special scout again, this one comes with a free promotion it seems? More visibility is really cool because you can scout a bigger area and see dangers earlier.

[That's right, Ducky. A very useful unit :)]

I still need two turns for Fishing... do you think I should build another scout? I think I have enough now, yes I do...

[Yeah, Ducky, three scouts should be plenty enough :)]

Then I will go for a warrior. I will need it sooner or later anyway, yep, yep, yep!

[LITTLEFOOT] Fishing next turn!

Hey guys! Next turn I'll have Fishing! Then, finally, I can start making my city grow! Since I'm imperialistic, I'll probably build a Settler much earlier than I'd usually do since it's bonified and I really need an early good city, unlike my capital, ahem... :P

Finished the warrior, now I need to pick something for just one turn because I'll want to switch to working on a work boat immediately! You can temporarily postbone building units and keep the production already invested in them for a while though if it's too long, you'll slowly lose what you've already invested. So... I'll do the following.

Pick a scout to work on but switch to a work boat next turn and finish the scout after the work boat. If my calculations are correct, a work boat should take me 6 turns to build if I don't change anything. Once the first work boat has constructed a fishing boats, I'll start making food quickly!

[TURN 7]

Whoa, haven't had 6 of 8 players having something to say yet (well, except for the beginning) but, miraculously, this turn was probably the one that took the least time so far :o

[RUBY] Fishing boats

Hello my friends, my friends hello!

I will now use my work boat to create a fishing boat on the clam so the tile gets much better!

See? Now it is twice as good, twice as good it is! My city is going to use it right away.

[CHOMPER] I'm not sure, Ducky...

I have my doubts about this. I mean... I really wouldn't mind if I didn't have to fight her at some point but it'd feel bad to betray her at some point of the game... even if we do collaborate, how do we make sure noone's having a big advantage?

[SPIKE] Scout in danger

Hmm, my scout has found a critter. My scout should be stronger but I never trust in odds. Let's hope for the best. Scout gets some defense bonus too because he's standing in a savannah, the trees giving him some cover, I guess.

[DUCKY] More diplomatic talk

Hi everyone, I am still trying to convince Chomper...

[Now using the chat instead of the diplomacy screen... works better...]

I really do hope that he sees reason, yes I do...

[CERA] More warriors!

Building another warrior until my city grows. Then going for a worker.

[LITTLEFOOT] There is hope after all

Hi guys, looks like we're not completely screwed!

 First of all, the first barbarians are now appearing on the map. For the time being, only animals will spawn who won't enter my territory and give food if I kill them. The bad guys won't come until some  time later, luckily... 

There's some decent land down there, hooray! 

[TURN 6]

Looks like an interesting diplomatic conversation is going on between Ducky and Chomper right now. I'm kind of amazed though that the message wasn't showing through the diplomacy screen. Guess it only works when you actually offer/demand something? I'll try another method of communication next turn ;)

[RUBY] First work boat

Hello my friends, my friends hello!

 My work boat is ready so let's see what the work boat can do.

 There are two options for me, two options there are. The shrimp gives me 3 food right now.

The clam gives me 2 food and 2 commerce. The work boat adds 2 of both to each tile if I use it. That means the shrimp would give me more food but less commerce. I think it is most important to get our research going right now since we'll have enough food in this city anyway. Before we can adopt slavery with Bronze Working, too much food can be dangerous, dangerous it can be because I can get more people than my city can take...

 See above? Every citizen creates unhappiness. If there's too much of it, some of the citizens won't work... They demand military protection from POP 3 onwards so I'm going to build a warrior, a warrior I'm going to build!

Next turn, I can use to work boat to build the fishing boats for the clam. Can't wait because I really like these snapping shells!

[CHOMPER] Ducky is scared of me.

Got a message from Ducky, guess I should respond...

[Oddly enough, the message wasn't showing *~*]

Ducky's scared of me, I guess? Well, she'll have to do better if she wants me to collaborate with her... don't think she's that strong...

Let's see what happens next.

[DUCKY] Contacting the friendly Sharptooth.

Hello everyone!

Hmm, Chomper has a warrior. That does not look good, does it?

[Well, it's certainly something you should keep an eye on, Ducky. He can't attack you before turn 10]

I really do not want to have war with Chomper, oh no no no... Is there not something I can do to convince him? I mean, what if we work together, huh? Would that not be a good idea?

[Certainly, if you work together, your chances will be better than if everyone does their own thing. I'd try it.]

Okay, I will talk to him then, yes I will!

No matter what Chomper does, though, I will scout his land, yes I will!

That is what I said to him, I hope he will talk back?

[Looks good. Fingers crossed!]

Thank you! *smiles*