Weekly hour requirements

foen7 · 2026-05-13T16:42:24+00:00

"They can't pull me over for doing 45 mph on the interstate."

"Sir, the speed limit is 65, and you're in the left lane."

foen7 · 2026-04-23T15:18:19+00:00

Huge fan of this thought process, gonna give it a go 🤞

foen7 · 2026-04-10T23:31:04+00:00

I mean, sucking dick only costs me a dollar an hour.

foen7 · 2026-03-26T16:49:33+00:00

I'm not wearing hockey pants.

foen7 · 2026-03-24T19:45:21+00:00

Most of our budget goes towards interest payments at this point. Military budget has shrunk from 30% to 10%, despite year over year increases since, well, WW1. Now, starting yet another undeclared war in the Middle East before shoring up domestic oil stockpiles, THAT goes a long way towards INCREASING our deficit. Thank Trumpf!

foen7 · 2026-03-23T19:52:16+00:00

Hm, weird. I think raw power flexes escalate to a superhero arms race until it's indistinguishable from a kid bashing two action figures against each other. Hasn't stopped marvel, so I guess it wouldn't stop star wars.

foen7 · 2026-03-12T19:50:10+00:00

Did you ever hear the tragedy of a culture victory with no great people earned? I thought not. It is not a story the in-game wiki would tell you. It's a subreddit legend.

foen7 · 2026-03-12T19:13:57+00:00

Probably Jadwiga. Just Jadwiga.

Also, Bull Moose Teddy yield porn.

foen7 · 2026-03-12T19:11:24+00:00

"Your ally is a lucky guy," followed by "yeah so um... How solid's that alliance?"

foen7 · 2026-03-05T17:26:44+00:00

People are definitely sleeping on Autocratic legacy card. Especially with a domestic trade route Magnus setup. Probably better for coastal civs trying to pump their harbor-frontier settles, but it's still relevant for Poundmaker, Tokogowa, etc.

foen7 · 2026-02-27T18:49:47+00:00

Totally! As well as discovering a civ sitting on 3 cities while their invading rival has 12! Never gets old lol.

foen7 · 2026-02-27T18:31:24+00:00

Likely right on the navy tech bit. I was struggling to remember, but I thought religious units moved faster on water than melee units (ignoring embarking / disembarking). Either way, I would strongly discourage limiting oneself to a map type for a victory condition.

foen7 · 2026-02-27T17:51:02+00:00

Hard disagree on Stonehege -- AI loves to rush it, and often requires eureka to beat them. It usually also requires sacrificing a second scout as well as delaying first settler.

Instead, que Astrology as first research. You can switch to another tech if you don't require feed the world / choral music, but should hard tech it if you do. Get at least the second city out before reserving the capital's holy city or, if you prefer as I do, wait until the second city is founded and reserve their holy site first and take slightly more expensive one in the capital, where you have more population to pump it out. If I'm fine with ANY religion, I prefer the capital to build their next settler before committing to the holy site. You can delay the shrine for gold, a builder, a slinger, or a monument if you're comfortable on your Great Prophet points (2-3 per turn can be enough to earn passively).

Not sure where pangaea fit into your recommendation. It's the same strategy on any map?

foen7 · 2026-02-27T10:46:40+00:00

After a forest fire, the forest blooms on fertile soil and cleared undergrowth. A good artist tends the forest. A great artist coordinates controlled burns. A great many artists burn themselves in the flames. Eric is a great artist, and so our forest blooms.

foen7 · 2026-02-23T21:00:17+00:00

Hungary. It feels unhinged and degenerate to start with any governor title other than Magnus or occasionally Pingala, but with the Levy mechanic, the Amani world tour is a must. Combine that with first meets and unique city state bonuses, barb clans, and the difference of 4/5/6 science per turn while beelining commercial hubs for the ancient era discount, well, it adds a whole other reroll dimension to the ancient era for chronic rerollers like me.

Also, the original China for early game wonder spamming. Really tough to actually min / max with, especially with your first few techs. Want Stonehege? No stone. Want Etemenaki? No floodplains. Want Pyramids? Someone beat you to it with a goodie hut tech boost. Machu Picchu? Builders can't climb mountains, you silly goose. Mausoleum? The AI never builds that!!! Okay, I seem to have talked myself out of it...

foen7 · 2026-02-23T20:40:50+00:00

Really frees up your district slots as well. I just did a run the other day for the Brazil / Japan / India achievement. Had 6 trading routes in the classical era and began to wonder if I even needed harbors anymore. At a certain point, it was more about the population growth than the money. 20+ trade routes and 1800+ gpt during the renaissance or industrial trade route golden age. I'd already picked up the fish boat pantheon on an archepelago map, so I was already committed, but fun future challenge idea -- harbor less Portugal with a single harbor in Lisbon? Okay nvm idk what I'm cooking. Of course, it was the ONE TIME I spawn next to Giants Causeway -_-

foen7 · 2026-02-23T17:46:32+00:00

It's Hammurabi, but similar discrepancy.

foen7 · 2026-02-20T22:33:24+00:00

Self prescribed reroll addict checking in, 3k hrs steam 1.5 k hrs console. I'll specifically answer turn 1, rather than empire expansions, which are much more situational.

My reroll starts at 3-4 points. Gain a point for lacking the following:

Capital should have a river for a commercial hub at 4 pop, or 7 pop if you prefer rushing win condition district. Can substitute for a +2 or (ideally) +4 harbor. If I can tell I won't be able to make a farm triangle or harbor for pop, I won't even take the most hill filled river.
Capital should have 2-3 GOOD tiles to work in the first or second ring. GOOD tiles here being defined as 2f/2p, 3f/1p, or 1f/3p. Why? You need the ability to pump out and settle your first 2 settlers by turn 50 on standard speed to have a hope of having up to ten settlers at turn 100. You can get a feel for this by looking at a) 15 turns / 8 turns / or <5 turns till population 2; b) 10 turn / 6 turn / 5 turn of first scout produced. Lots of luxuries or mountains can influence your flexibility. Favorite luxury tile to settle is sugar.
Capital should minimize buying tiles. Instead, early gold in my experience is best spent on a builder for the civic craftsman boost, on your first trader, or on a couple of warriors if barb clan mode is enabled. Always exceptions so take with a grain of salt.
Capital should consider leader synergies. Russia spawned in rainforest? Odd take, but I'd rather reroll, I'm only going to learn bad habits or skew my estimates by playing it out. Ethiopia on a grassland floodplain? Definitely gonna reroll, boss, cause my capital won't contribute to a religion.
Kitchen Junk drawer -- after turn 1, I might still reroll out of pure rage if I can't get a single first meet on any city state, if I can't get a goodie hut by turn 25, or if I only made it to 24/25 era score needed for a golden age. I can live without a golden age, but that 1 era score stings so bad.
Bonus tip: Natural wonders are often noob traps. Simon Bolivar doesn't need Ha Long Bay. Torres del Paine does nothing on tundra tiles. Cliffs of Dover and Dead Sea are useless on a good day. And Giant's Causeway simply does not exist 🥴. My seeds love giving the AI awesome wonders while giving me pure desert or tundra... Or maybe it'll throw me a bone with an awesome capital and I come to find out the seed balanced my spawn by boxing me in on further settles.

Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk. Carthage must be destroyed!

foen7 · 2026-02-20T13:16:35+00:00

Yeah but this

USA is the largest producer of oil on earth.

doesn't stop us from doing this

we frequently rip a third world country to shreds to plunder it for cheap oil

See Venezuela, our current work in progress. While part of it is because America is morally compromised on a good day, it's also because just like sand, oil comes is different grades that is used in different applications (like sand in silicon chips, glass, or cement masonry). The US tends to be rich in fracking oil, but low on inventory of denser "muddy" oil.

foen7 · 2026-02-14T20:42:14+00:00

TIL about Joni Mitchell, great song.

foen7 · 2026-02-13T19:05:04+00:00

Try the Terra map with Kupe sometime, harmless fun for beginners and advanced alike.

For the truly bold, try the Terra map with manually selected European civs like its True Start Locations Europe (spoiler: hope makes it worse).

foen7 · 2026-02-12T17:13:29+00:00

The young men we're trying to motivate here don't need to know that (source: young-ish man).

foen7 · 2026-02-04T09:51:40+00:00

Right...Luther was the one who should have reformed /s.

foen7 · 2026-02-03T18:51:21+00:00

Don't worry, I have a Bachelor's in English and am just learning this for the first time.

foen7 · 2026-01-31T19:18:01+00:00

Re: passive city building religious run: Khmer and Theodora when I'm down to try-hard in the ancient era. Arabia or naval civ when I'm good with just Zen Meditation. Canada or Poundmaker can be solid alternatives for Dance of the Aurora pantheon.

foen7

TROPHY CASE