[SPOILERS] One Jump Ahead

[Jowy]

Where would we get a priest slot?
Because if you're thinking of a temple, then please don't - even with spiritual their still a big waste of hammers. Get us some workers/settlers!

Temple, yes. I was thinking way ahead though.

Same goes for the library really - I know we've sunk hammers into it, but I seriously don't think its worth the pop, let alone scientists at this stage. Remember the myth of the sunken cost...

Well we've already built it a few turns ago, so this is what we're rolling with for better or worse! At least we're going to spend a lot of turns at high research slider before it starts to drop, so maybe we can get somewhat of a research snowball rolling.

As for the questions:
I definitely don't think its a good idea to head up mono atm. We're already committed to the monument (right? Its been awhile) at the second city, so we don't need missionaries till then at least, and we definitely don't need to land Judaism.

Nope, we aren't committed to monument yet. We just got the settler built for the gold city. We had nothing at Jafar, but now it's a holy city.

As for other techs, id go up the top of the tree - maths or calender or even currency edit: or sailing, though make sure we either need it for trade routes soon or want a boat first.
As for monarchy, I don't think we can hold it off too long, but isn't urgent either - maybe at 5ish cities.
Priesthood can wait IMO.

This is the problem I can't think of a clear number one tech to go for. There are a lot of options and it's hard to choose.

Regarding farmers gambit, I definitely don't think we should be going entirely unprotected, but nor do we need to be carting axes till they can actually spawn with them - basically, we needn't hold a garrison that can kill the enemy outside the gates, but we should have A garrison.

The starts that improved on our production and food had our 4-5 cities defended by two warriors by like turn 70. That's scary as fuck.

Oh and I don't think we need to aim for too early a academy/GP - the cost is too high and even once we got a academy we'd still not be really using it while we're REXing (as the sliders low). Basically, lets ignore specials for now.

Yeah agreed, again that last point was me thinking way ahead just based on the fact that we snatched a religion.

Now that you're around, one more question! :P We're building a work boat now in Abu, which will be followed by a chopped Settler. After that, we need to grow the city. What should we build while growing, a granary or a work boat for the southern crab?

[Jowy]

We had a quick chat, which uh didn't help me much I decided to go for Masonry and Monotheism next, for Organized Religion. It will help us get infrastructure up and spread our religion. It will be ready so that Jafar can start a missionary after it's done with the Axe and the Settler, which can then be used to pop the borders of our fifth city without needing a monument there. Speaking of spreading religion, we got a natural spread to Abu! Then we went on to found:



Fun fact, it's already connected to our trade network. How exactly, I'm not so sure. I thought you'd need a road, and coast would only work when you have Sailing. Yet, there it is, connected and making the big bucks in trade route revenue. I'm not complaining I started a monument. If we get a natural Hinduism spread, then I can switch builds. If I knew the chances of a natural spread and they were high enough, then I would "gamble" and not build a monument. Make note of the barbarian in the upper right corner. If we went with the high risk variant we'd right now be fending off barbarian warriors with a single warrior of our own. I have no regrets!!



Our lands on Turn 60, and some lines and dots to indicate stuff. Not too complicated, right?? The second chop spot was something I didn't consider at first because without Jafar becoming a holy city, it would not have been inside our borders and would have given less hammers. We could chop that to speed up the upcoming Settler from Jafar, but it might be more important to join with the other worker and start roading north to make sure everything works out nicely. If we follow the plan, the road will be ready for Abu's Settler to use, and we can start improving the cows as soon as the city is settled. Soon after, a Settler from Jafar will follow and settle the orange dot. That is where we want the missionary, so we can grab those cows fast. Also getting those wines would be useful if we're going Monarchy after Monotheism. Very high on the priority list is getting more workers from any of the first three cities to accommodate them once they start growing up.

[Qgqqqqq]

Umm, wasn't the only result of the chat that I definitely didn't want mono?
I think we should try for that chop early, even at the expense of the road - inefficiency can be worthwhile.
Looking at those wines, makes me want a early monarchy again, (but still not before math...).
Coast/rivers connects pre sailing so long as the tiles are in your borders.

[Qgqqqqq]

Oh and we should try for that island in a few cities time.

[Jowy]

Umm, wasn't the only result of the chat that I definitely didn't want mono?
I think we should try for that chop early, even at the expense of the road - inefficiency can be worthwhile.
Looking at those wines, makes me want a early monarchy again, (but still not before math...).
Coast/rivers connects pre sailing so long as the tiles are in your borders.

It might have been.. Thx for the trade route explanation. I remember learning that a long ago, but just like nearly everything else from my CivFanatics discovery era, I had already forgotten about it.



Our first Axe is out! Still dead last in soldier points. I'd post demos if they weren't so depressing.
Spoilers, we are near last in everything, which is no surprise looking at even Kurumi's start compared to ours.
BUT HEY AT LEAST WE HAVE A LIBRARY



Okay Q I'm starting the chop on that forest next. Now let's hope we don't encounter an unmaneuverable barbarian attack against our settlers.

[Jowy]

Wohoo! Hinduism spread to Jasmine, just when it grew to size two. This means we don't have to whip the monument. Let's whip a worker instead. Jasmine will work the crab and the shared mine for now. Someone also built The Oracle a few turns ago. You were right that ours would have been way late. He probably took Metal Casting and will build The Colossus. We could check for score increases in CivStats, but TBH I don't see us going for The Colossus anyway so it doesn't matter. EDIT: It's Gavagai, I checked.



The chop just came in for Jafar. Now back to roading north. I have both warriors and the axe on guard duty, just in case. I'm super paranoid about barbarians. We will get at least a dice roll on landing Judaism too!

[Jowy]

We have Monotheism! I revolted to Organized Religion. Next up, Mathematics.

[Jowy]

Aladdin was founded. Boy am I glad we got an axe there

[Jowy]

Iago was founded. Could have been done a turn sooner, but I waited for the axe to catch up in case there is a barbarian in the fog. And there was, though he wasn't next to the city spot.

We had a natural Hinduism spread to Aladdin. We have a missionary nearly complete, which might turn out useless if we get a spread to Iago as well. Abu completed it's granary, it's now building an axe for happiness and for defense. I'll take a detour for Hunting after Maths so we can get a few spears up so any wandering chariots can't hurt us. Then Monarchy.

[Qgqqqqq]

Don't bother with hunting, axes slaughter them on attack.
Also, chop more!