Summing up here a bit as we have actually had couple of quite rough turns lately.
I think we started the game in a really strong way. 6 cities by T50 is definitely a great start and I think we abused IMP well and put ourselves into the lead or at least in a great position. However, then we narrowly missed our two key targets.
1. We decided to go for a Stonehenge, which would have been a great wonder for us (border control from culture and 20 % def bonus + couple of our core cities need a border pop to reach their food resources). Going for the 'henge led us to commit beakers for Mysticism&Masonry and settle on the flat ground at William border. Losing the wonder to a coin flip is especially painful
2. We rushed for a sustainable border city at OT4E front and got beat due to turn order if I've understood our team chat correctly. While our city plant would have shared the resources in the area, OT4E went for a city that grabs them all. Not really blaming him as that is the most natural plant from his perspective. In retrospect, we are questioning us whether our southern reactionary city is a mistake or whether it's a decent attempt to get our share in the south. For the moment the city is not really productive and definitely creates tension.
So in the big picture I feel we drew a short straw when it comes to neighbor and in hindsight our gambles did not pay off. William's aggressive behavior does not really feel necessary and it's a pity that OT4E decided to expand in a straight line towards us. At the moment we are sitting with 2-flat-ground border cities and are forced to build up military and it will definitely slow down our development. At the same time someone, somewhere will definitely run away from us and enjoy playing his sandbox for the first 75/100 turns and eat an easy neighbor
It remains to be seen what kind of damage the latest events will cause us and whether we can create any openings to pull us from our future hole back into relevance. However, the big positive is that the game is very dynamic at the moment and we can't complain that our game would be boring - not even close
I think we started the game in a really strong way. 6 cities by T50 is definitely a great start and I think we abused IMP well and put ourselves into the lead or at least in a great position. However, then we narrowly missed our two key targets.
1. We decided to go for a Stonehenge, which would have been a great wonder for us (border control from culture and 20 % def bonus + couple of our core cities need a border pop to reach their food resources). Going for the 'henge led us to commit beakers for Mysticism&Masonry and settle on the flat ground at William border. Losing the wonder to a coin flip is especially painful
2. We rushed for a sustainable border city at OT4E front and got beat due to turn order if I've understood our team chat correctly. While our city plant would have shared the resources in the area, OT4E went for a city that grabs them all. Not really blaming him as that is the most natural plant from his perspective. In retrospect, we are questioning us whether our southern reactionary city is a mistake or whether it's a decent attempt to get our share in the south. For the moment the city is not really productive and definitely creates tension.
So in the big picture I feel we drew a short straw when it comes to neighbor and in hindsight our gambles did not pay off. William's aggressive behavior does not really feel necessary and it's a pity that OT4E decided to expand in a straight line towards us. At the moment we are sitting with 2-flat-ground border cities and are forced to build up military and it will definitely slow down our development. At the same time someone, somewhere will definitely run away from us and enjoy playing his sandbox for the first 75/100 turns and eat an easy neighbor
It remains to be seen what kind of damage the latest events will cause us and whether we can create any openings to pull us from our future hole back into relevance. However, the big positive is that the game is very dynamic at the moment and we can't complain that our game would be boring - not even close