[SPOILERS] Novice's nominal nonchalance

[novice]

I was having trouble visualising those cities, so I made a map:



I put the 3 "next cities" we've talked about - A is the sugar one, B is deer+horses, C is Ichabod's proposed copper one. I wasn't sure where you were thinking near the marble, Ichabod, (and whether you were thinking marble to the east or marble to the west ) so I didn't stick a dot on for that.

I also put little blue dots on for the repeated resources north & south. We are very tightly packed in here, I'd not quite realised how much!

[novice]

[novice]

That should bring this thread back up to date.

Another option I'm looking at is building 'Henge in my capital. I'll probably tech Archery regardless. And if I miss on Henge, no biggie, failgold is useful too. Serdoa's probably going for The Oracle so I may have a good shot at Henge.

Some questions/commentaries:

1. Is it possible to get SH on your second city? It's a good city, it has chops and food. The main benefit of getting it there is getting massive culture on the city in the direction of your main threat, Nico's WCs. I don't expect to see many bronze units soon, due to that awkward copper placement.

Just remembered that you'll probably get a religion there, so this may be overkill.

2. if you are going for SH, would it be between 3rd and 4th settler, I believe. This seems to fit with a strategy of getting a 3rd city that doesn't rely on a border pop to be effective (like the sugar one) and getting the 4th city in a place where culture is needed. What about that spot 2E of the copper? Grasslands aplenty, 2 calendar resources, copper and wheat. only problem is that everything useful is in the BFC. Is it possible/worth it to get that spot as city number 3?

3. After those cities, I think you should expand in the direction of marble and get fishing (before pottery?) -> sailing looking for calendar as soon as possible. Calendar means a lot of happiness (with already settled cities, considering the sugar and the copper city) and MoM, which will be heavy in such a cottage oriented map.

4. This map is really tight (spelling?). That northern corn near the gems are the one you "stole" from Nico. I wonder if SH is worth the hammers + time here. Man, some WCs from Nico could really hurt someone. Luckily, early warfare oftens lead to defeat, especially in quick speed.

SH in your second city would make you reach the gems from Nico in just a few turns... I don't know what to make of this, but it's certainly interesting.

Building Stonehenge in my capital works out better with regards to the micro and where I want my workers to end up. A quick city on the sugar followed by a city to grab copper sounds good. Not sure I agree with settling marble next - basically I need to grab all the happies and then I won't be able to afford settling marble, let alone tech Calendar. At any rate, I think this shows that the time and hammer delay due to building Stonehenge is insignificant. I'll run out of economically viable builds soon enough anyway.

[novice]

Nico seems to prefer scouting over harassing with his warrior.

If hinduism has been founded when the save gets back to me I'll be a sad panda.

Sandcastle is working two forests this turn and next to grow to size 6 while finishing a second warrior. I'll then 3-whip a settler and hopefully have enough military to safely found a city on the sugar. Overflow from the settler whip will then go into Stonehenge. Grow back to size 4, 2-whip a worker and overflow into Stonhenge again on t36, finishing it aided by two chops.

That's the best case scenario, at least.

[pling]

Mackoti's capital's borders popped - 14 new land tiles, as expected.

Serdoa's second city grew to size 3, he also built a Warrior.

Nicolae's capital grew to size 4.

[pling]

Turn 29 arrived before I woke up this morning, and I've no idea if you're going to get to it before the evening, so I just had to check ...



No need to be a sad panda :D

Only other news of the turn C&Dwise is that Serdoa whipped his capital from size 4 to size 3.

[novice]

Yay!



The founding of hinduism leads to an immediate border pop, revealing that Nico is indeed our southwestern neighbour and that he did indeed settle a city 1N of his horses, 3S of the marker in this screenshot:



In the east, Seven's promoted warrior should have shown up on our borders by now if it had gone on a direct beeline. (I think, although I don't remember offhand how much healing, if any, it required.) So hopefully I'll be able to settle a city on the sugar without too much trouble.

[novice]

I'm thinking of putting my fourth city 1NE of the copper. I can have that city settled T42 and have copper hooked (using four workers) on T43. The city can build its granary while waiting for its 'Henge monument to grab the wheat. The city also enables a marble city to its northwest, and it's a possible spot for TGLh. Most importantly, the copper should allow me to deal with Nico. With copper hooked by T43 I might be able to tech Pottery-Hunting-Writing. Some library scientists would be a great way to turn my foodhammers into something useful that won't crash my economy.

Btw, border expansion at BB revealed that the tile 1N of gold is water, so I'm now thinking those two seas there are actually one.

[novice]

So it seems Serdoa is going for both Stonehenge and Oracle. Good for him, I think that's the right call for him.



All the more reason for me to settle with copper first ring.

Mackoti showed up with a Quecha to my north, and Nico is moving up my west coast. Here's how my current military of four warriors is deployed:



I need a new microplan since I'm not building Stonehenge, but I didn't have time to make one now, so I just proceeded to prepare a city on the sugar.

[pling]

Seven planted a new city, and this had 9 land tiles. His capital's borders popped on cue for 14 new land tiles. So he could also have planted 1N of his horses, but possibly more likely to've planted for Copper given his UU?

Nicolae's capital's borders also popped for 14 new land tiles.

Mackoti is the only one left who hasn't got a second city, he's also the only one left who isn't in Slavery (connected, I'd guess). And he doesn't seem to've met anyone except for you ... wonder what he did with his scout? Very carefully didn't venture beyond his plausible borders?