[SPOILERS] The Rise and Fall of Whositania (all glory to Whositania!)

[Whosit]

I'll put pictures up later, but CH moved his Impi onto the forested plains hill. I whipped the Archer in the Capital. I decided to move the Worker forward as planned, and I'm covering it with both Warriors. If he wants to declare, he can't kill both. However, I may have to whip/chop out a lot more Archers than I was planning, because he can fork my first two cities. Ugh. This is scary.

[Whosit]

Also it looks like Cheater Hater is in a corner. I envy his position. I'm basically dealing with a cornered Zulu who only has me to expand into. I might have to scrap my original plans and just get a ton of Archers out until I can secure my Copper. This means that my plans to settle south, that Stone location, isn't going to work until I've got more troops, because that spot is heavily exposed. I might try to settle that rice spot, though, as that should be safer from the Zulu, at least.

[Whosit]

OK, shots from last turn, T50:

I went and played because I think I forgot the order in which CH and I had played, but I just logged back in to check his movements, and he didn't declare war. I forgot to take a new screen of my updated scouting, though, but it certainly looks like he's got coast to his west, and I think I can extrapolate that there's only tundra and water to his south. So that sucks for me.

Something else sucks for me. I thought I grabbed a picture, but.... Dtay got his 4th city

and it's north across the water from my capital. If I'm not fast, I probably won't even get that Marble location. I knew a lot of people were asking for cramped conditions, but I guess I didn't realize it would be quite like this.

Ah, and the wandering Impi:

My city's borders won't pop until the end of turn... 53. I decided to move my Archer back into the city so that it can move to cover the Worker that's going to work the gems. I'll just have to hope that Krill doesn't poke around my east for a few turns until I can get a couple more Archers out.

I also think that I am going to make some major changes to my settlement plans. I don't believe that the location to my south is in any imminent danger of being taken by someone else. It's a nice spot, yes, but it's slow to start and I think I'd rather secure that commerce city by the rice before it gets taken up by one of my other nearby rivals (I'm still very nervous that Krill and Novice don't have a 3rd city yet, but their power isn't spiking, so that's probably... I wonder if they're trying to build a wonder...?).

I think this change in priorities is probably better strategy considering what I've learned, but I'm nervous about going off-plan and playing by the seat of my pants this early. I think I can make it work. 5th city will either be Horses or Marble plant. I don't think I'll have city 5 by turn 70, at any rate. As part of my strategy change, I think I'm going to go for a bit more vertical growth over the next 10 turns or so. I'd rather get a cottage or two down than a fast 5th city, and build my population up as much as I can.

We'll see if I can even do that.

Finally, in contradiction what what I've just said, I'll probably have to make a swift push to grab that city south of the copper before the Zulu, but I don't think I can move out without a couple of Axes to guard the way, so we'll see what happens.

I think that war between me and the zulu is inevitable because they have nowhere else to go. I'm not sure if that Impi is just scouting or if he's looking for a weak point to exploit. I do know that more could be coming, so I'm going to have to get a few more Archers out. I hope Krill and Dtay bother each other.

[Whosit]

Turn 52 Report

I'm already at the point where every turn makes me nervous because I wonder what's coming next. I'm very clearly behind, but I'm not sure if it's cripplingly so or not. Anyway.

That's as far as I could scout, but yeah, I think the Zulu are in a pocket. I'd really love to swap places with them. Being able to settle that city by the oasis and wheat might really be a stretch in this situation, because the Zulu are ahead on cities, population, crop, production, etc., and because Cheater Hater has that Impi patrolling my borders, he also has tactical initiative as well.

I spent 5 or 10 minutes trying to decide what to do. At Overland Park, you can see that I opted to move the new Worker to a forest. Gonna chop out that Archer. Gems will be delayed, but I can probably live with that. Will hopefully have a couple archers to defend a gem mining Worker in a couple of turns. Will probably get an earlier cottage somewhere. By the new city, after a lot of consideration, I decided I couldn't risk splitting up my units (Archer+Settler, Warriors+worker). Impi would have bad odds against that Archer, but if CH took them and won (crazier things have happened) I'd be crippled for sure. So I think I might improve the cows first and hook up copper later, and just rely on a bunch of Archers to cover my cities and units until then.

My current cities are safe because they will be able to whip out their Archers next turn if they have to.

Look at that, I'm nearly the strongest power in the world... but that's not really where I want to be right now, is it? I'm nearly last place in crop yield (and about half of the #1!). Even comparing to my closest neighbors I'm doing horrifically. Pigs online at OP and a new city will help somewhat, but I need to get more land soon. That Rice city will be number 4, and I may try to get that oasis city as number 5. Marble is a close contender. I'll probably be chopping out a lot more archers than I was planning to. I was hoping to chop out more Workers and Settlers, but I'll have my chance, I'm sure.

Known World:

I'm pretty much off the plan now. Nothing to do for it. I never set out to win the game, but it's not even close to 1AD.

[Ceiliazul]

its not over yet! chin up and watch for mistakes... while not making (many of) them yourself.

[Whosit]

Ha. Ha ha... I'll try not to make mistakes, but I kind of lack the experience and perspective to tell when I'm making them.

I kind of consider it a mistake that CH hasn't Impi rushed me as soon as he found out where I was, if that counts, though it's possible he didn't know I hadn't settled for Copper until the last couple of turns. Based on graphs, though, he's making a lot of Expansive Workers and upping his crop yield. Anyway, thanks for the encouragement, but I'll probably be in Despairmode until I feel that my position is more secure and stable. Until the last few turns, I believed that the Zulu would have had other directions in which to expand (and possibly other targets), so I wasn't quite as concerned.

[Whosit]

Turn 53 Report

Fuck you Novice. Go away!

Though I'm sure that showing the Archer will convince him to back off.

New city. Decided to get Copper hooked up first. Impi hasn't moved this turn, but I have 3 guesses where it could be. I'm rather nervous if CH decides to attack. Archer should have reasonable odds to defend, but not guaranteed odds.

You'll also notice that all my cities are on Archer builds, which makes me sad. I'd like Prairie Village to start with a Granary, because it needs it, but it's on the front lines against Impi, and I won't feel comfortable unless I have 4 units defending the area: 2 for the city, 2 for the Worker. I'm tempted to log back in and swap to Granary, as I COULD whip out an Archer later if I need it.... I just don't want to whip the city, either.

Willow Lake needs the Archer for MP duty. It would have been a Warrior except Impi. Overland Park is going to produce 2 Archers before moving on to other things. It needs some Archers to defend the city, and at least 1 Archer for either side to handle marauders from Noviceland or Zululand. Willow Lake is going to do a Worker after this Archer, because it badly needs more improvements. Overland Park will probably move on to a Settler for the Rice town. Hopefully I'll have enough units to defend it. We'll see. Could pull the Archer from Willow Lake. It's in a fairly safe position. It just needs MP happiness for a little bit.

[Whosit]

Turn 54 Report

Fuck


Fuck

They're just gonna pen me in, and then I'm boned.

[Ceiliazul]

They're just gonna pen me in, and then I'm boned.

That's what this is for:

[Whosit]

Yeah. I'm just not sure at what point it's wise to stop building Settlers and just spamming Axes and Spears. I should probably hook up those Horses at some point, too.

I went into this game with a mistaken assumption: That everyone was going to have multiple neighbors to deal with. Unfortunately, it looks like that's not the case. The Zulu are in a corner, and while that has disadvantages, I feel like it's an advantage in a big, cramped game like this because they don't have to worry about being backstabbed. Krill/Novice have dtay nearby, but I'm starting to feel that they don't have anyone else adjacent to them. I drew the short straw in the region by being surrounded by 3 other players.

Somehow I'm going to have to kill the Zulu while preventing Krill/Novice from hitting me while I'm busy out west, and I'm not going to assume that they will politely sit by while I do that. I'm not sure how much damage I can do before I get catapults at this point. Meh.