[SPOILERS] One Jump Ahead

[Jowy]

Got Code of Laws. What next? We're 1T teching Priesthood to build a temple and eventually get our Great Priest. Also Abu could use a happiness point so it's a win-win. We could go Feudalism or Civil Service after that. Feudalism would be the ultra safe bet, just get a ton of longbows. But I actually like the idea of taking a 1T detour to Archery, and instead using just spears and bowmen to defend our cities for now. Spears take care of keshiks, chariots and HA's, while bowmen are even stronger than archers against melee units. Then we go CS for bureaucracy, which should be a huge boost for us considering our capital has fully grown financial riverside towns already.



Found a source of horses. This should come handy later. We can actually fit 4 cities on the island.

[Jowy]

IT'S DOUBLE WAR TIME



Kurumi took the first shot at us. He already had one chance and didn't take it, so I figured he's going to remain peaceful. Nope.
He asked for peace straight away. I didn't accept at that point, but sent an offer to him after looking around. I don't mind losing one axe. Sorry for getting your hopes up, this isn't going to be a long war if it's up to me :P



Then we declared on Gavagai to take out the chariot. I was hoping that moving the spear there would signal him to not come any closer, but it did not. Now the chariot is dead. I sent him a peace offer as well.



These barbs really love us. I'll have to wait to let it grow. Now that I say this, I bet soon a barb will pop up on Phallus Island and take out our unguarded city. I am sending a warrior there on a galley though. But I am also sending another settler to grab the horses, so it is one warrior guarding two cities The other settler I had, I will use for a filler city in the middle of our empire. It can grow shared cottages and work sheep and we can chop some stuff from there.

[Jowy]

Wars have ended, for now. 10T enforced peace with Kurumi I believe. Only cease fire with Gavagai. Not sure why, I thought I sent him a 10T peace offer. He has another chariot running around, might have to kill that one too. He didn't get mad last time (re-offered OB and resource deal), but twice? Hmm.



Found a small stack of Keshiks. I could take the city this turn, or next turn with very high odds. Thing is, it's only size 1, so it would auto-raze. And I don't think I should wait around. I didn't know that we were contending for the city, so I moved before him this turn, even though I was second in the brief war turn split. Being first is a huge advantage, because you will be the first to attack it when it grows to size 2. So I should let him double move next to correct the turn order. It still means that I can kill the city next turn, but I can't wait even one turn for it to grow.



I'm the last in soldiers, but doing okay in power graphs. Bulk of my force is spears.



Overview. Founded Abis Mal in the middle this turn.

[Jowy]

We razed Magyar. Kurumi retreated with his Keshiks. I offered him Open Borders so I can get around him with my WB and check out his troops with my warrior. I was fearful that he might bring that Keshik stack to my lands and I'd have to follow him around with spears so he doesn't snipe any of my cities, but he didn't even come scout with one. I feel like that is a mistake on his part, but one I am very happy about :P



Our units. I ended up 3-pop whipping the Settler to get it out as soon as possible. Our defenses are good over there and I'm not too worried about an attack. Could use some more bowmen or axes, but from what I've seen the bulk of Kurumi's forces are horse units, and Gavagai only has chariots running around.



Some scouting has been done on the Northern Islands. They are covered in jungle. But there is at least a nice rice+pigs spot with some lakes that I want to settle soon. I'm guessing these islands are not connected to anyone's mainland, but rather meant to be contested, with the jungle acting as a deterrent so you have to put some effort in to gain that extra land.

We've also settled a city named The Peddler on the South-East Island. It will get us horses once it's borders pop in 10T.

On the checklist:
- Send ships to scout out Gavagai and BaII
- Settle Magyar II
- Settle Pigs+Rice spot in the Northern Island.
- Finish spreading Hinduism to all our cities.
- Capture the other barb city once it's size 2.
- Get courthouses up after granaries in new cities.

Our shrine is going to be super late, still waiting for those Great Priest points. Guys, in hindsight, I think your advice was wrong.. We should have went for a temple sooner. I know, it would have slowed us down a little bit, but the benefits are worth it. The temple itself is only half as expensive to us as Spiritual, and we would have gotten the shrine up much earlier, giving us a bunch of gold per turn and free religion spread. Just my two cents, maybe I'm wrong here, but that's how I see it.

[Jowy]

Gavagai declared on me to kill off my lookout spear. I guess we are even now :P It did however confirm that he has more than just chariots running around. We signed a 10T forced peace. I'm thinking he is probably preparing for an offensive, because he killed my spear and didn't want to re-sign Open Borders after the peace treaty. I've started building walls in Razoul. It might be a questionable move, but I've really grown to love walls in Civ5, so you just have to deal with it I'm also starting to bolster my non-spear defenses, though I will still add a few more spears because of this:



The warrior also found this:



First contact with JesterFool + Nakor team, and some split culture between Sian and Kurumi. Is Sian to the west of Kurumi?

BaII and Serdoa are in war. This could be good or really bad. Hopefully it is BaII trying to slow him down, rather than Serdoa taking over the lands of another team. We lost our furs from BaII He re-offered them for two of our happiness resources we have excess of. I didn't accept, but now that I think about it, it's probably a good idea to support those who oppose Serdoa. So I'm gonna log in and make that deal with him.

[Jowy]

Yep I was right, Sian's borders are now visible. I have a feeling this area might become a big warzone. Founded Cassim last turn, going to build walls there as well.

TGL was built some turns ago. Glad we didn't go that route.

[Jowy]

Forced peace with Kurumi ended this turn. He double moved his Keshik stack towards us. We will be able to handle it unless he's got more than I've thought, and as long as he respects the turn order. Here is the situation:



Now here's my problem. Does he have two stacks of Keshiks, one going for Razoul and the other going for Cassim? Or did he double move, since he would have enough movement points with the road and the Keshik movement cost reduction to get from Cossack to that tile. I can't really go ask him, because his answer would tell me what he has. He did play two turns in a row though, so it might be that he double moved. In that case he needs to let me move first the next turn, then keep playing with me having the first half and him the second.

[Jowy]

I made a 1T road so I can check for a second stack with the spear. I had the one from Razoul defend the workers. I also moved my warrior to check from that direction. There's no second stack However, I thought of a scenario in which he could hit Cassim in 1 turn from the fog. He could have workers building a road on that desert tile, then 1T road on the grassland tile on the turn of the attack. For that reason I moved everyone to the city (and because there's no second stack to worry about) and I moved that one spear to block the way so he can at least be somewhat useful if we have a fight in our hands. Could have taken out his chariot too, but afaik I have every tile covered so I can kill him next turn if he tries something.

[Jowy]

It seems Kurumi has his hands full I checked out the previous Keshik stack location, there are only two left and no road. BaII and Serdoa keep going from cease fire to war to cease fire. Better than Serdoa just running away with the game with no opposition, I suppose. I will post a full detailed report on all our cities in two turns when we get CS.

[Jowy]

Counted 12 Keshiks this turn, they are spread around though. Only 7 were in a stack, near Sian's borders. He is building a road towards us, so I will keep an eye on that. Still building more spears. I'm mostly worried about pincer attacks on Razoul and Cassim.

We met Slowcheetah (Galley on the Northern Islands) and Yuris (warrior near Kurumi borders).