OK, turn 75 is pretty eventful...
![[Image: Civ4ScreenShot0004%20%286%29.JPG]](http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3729922/Civ4ScreenShot0004%20%286%29.JPG)
First, I landed Confucianism courtesy of CoL tech. Despite my attempts to put the religion in Venlazzo via population, it instead went in Golden Nugget, the worst possible spot. Oh well. At least I got a free religion spread in my cap, which should probably build a monastery soon.
As you can see, every city is working improved tiles (marked in colored circles). My tech rate is a little bit deceptive too, since three cities will grow onto cottages next turn (marked in colored squares).
![[Image: Civ4ScreenShot0005%20%284%29.JPG]](http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3729922/Civ4ScreenShot0005%20%284%29.JPG)
Demos are still pretty solid, but putting three cities on worker duty definitely slowed me down. Hopefully the ability to now grow everything out to the happy cap while working good tiles will make up for it. I'm top tech, with my lead about accounted for by my new holy city. I feel quit good about my GNP if #2 is Lewwyn. FYI I have 11 culture produced in my empire (holy city, 1 religion spread, 3x monuments, palace). Lewwyn has, at minimum, 23 culture via his two wonders, religion, and palace.
I think number 1 crop yield is Pindicator, who seems to be doing pretty well to my....southeast? He definitely has the best demos of the civs I can see (Rome, Mali, and China). There's also been a big power spike over the last two turns (top power from my 72k -> 84k, but it doesn't seem to be any of my neighbors). Anyways, with cities growing onto good tiles and a new city about to be planted I think my numbers in everything except production will stay high for the next few turns at least.
![[Image: Civ4ScreenShot0004%20%286%29%20-%20Copy.JPG]](http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3729922/Civ4ScreenShot0004%20%286%29%20-%20Copy.JPG)
The real question is what in the world to do on the Rome front. They've made it pretty clear that they don't want to play that nice, considering the stuff I detailed above plus threatening to share details on my land to the other civs if I don't sign a favorable NAP. I don't really see any reason to give them a secure flank and let them go attack someone else though...at least not with how they've treated me so far. So, while I still could get beaten in the race, I'm preparing to settle the Rome border now and negotiate later.
You can just tell from the screenshot that the Roman front city, maybe their capital, is 1N2W of the rice tile in their lands, the ugly shaded are in the screenshot above, with borders expanded to the third ring.
With one city in the neutral area anything between the yellow and purple lines on the screenshot is legal. With two cities obviously things become trickier...but that isn't a bad thing if my city gets planted first
And, aside from Rome's general aggression, keep two things in mind: this is the only visible horse tile within 20 tiles of my capital, and Rome has already said they plan to plant a city in the area.
As you can see, I have a settler on the way, with a decent escort of units and a lot of worker support. My plan is to plant, cover the city, and get neighboring forests chopped down right away. Even if a Roman unit gets next to my city, much less two tiles away, it isn't the end of the world pre-catapults due to my aggressive trait. I also have a missionary to get borders popped ASAP.
So friendly lurkers, I welcome advice on where to settle. Hopefully I'll spot a resource in the fog, but time is of the essence, so I want to plan now. Some options...
*Yellow dot gets horses in the first ring, and is closer to my existing cities. But it's a flatland city and probably resourceless. Limits Rome to planting their city far to the north or to their existing culture's south.
*Blue dot is a nice defensive city. By keeping the forest 1NW of Golden Nugget I even prevent a 2-mover stack from forking the cities. It's slow to hook the horses though, and the whole area is tactically vulnerable until borders pop (because units could sneak by to the south). Limits Rome to planting their city far to the north or to their existing culture's south.
*Red dot is even more aggressive, more or less an f-you city. Horse are in the first ring though and tough to pillage. And (love that rocky!) the tiles W, NW, and N of the city are hills, so it pretty much can't be 1-moved.
Really limits Rome's settling options.
*Finally green dot has horses in the first ring and is coastal, at least giving me the possibility of some seafood. It makes a long front though, and absolutely demands a sentry net to the north. Gives Rome the most settling flexibility.
Which do you like? Or, is this whole plan so silly you don't even want to vote?
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Other issue - Kyan shamed me via chat that I've not been thoughtful enough in my tech choices. At least I got my religion, but he pointed out I spent a lot of beakers on CoL when Monotheism+Maths may have worked out better (though of course I want CoL for Civil Service anyways). So here's my tech choices going forward, in order of how I'm leaning right now...
Mathematics (8t) - Medium priced tech on the way to very desirable Currency, Calendar, and Construction. Forest chop bonus, and about half of my forests are intact with many pre-chopped.
Sailing (3t) - Cheap tech which allows lighthouses in my two coastal cities and the early construction of the Maoi Statues national wonder. Golden Nugget has ten water tiles and good production, so it's a good candidate.
Metal Casting (13t) - Medium-high cost tech which opens up forges. I have two forge bonus happy resources. I also would be in position to have granaries and libraries in most cities when the tech came in, allowing me to put the (expenses) forges right into queues.
Monarchy (9t) - Medium priced tech giving me happiness via the HR civic, and on the way to Theology and it's accompanying strong always war civic.
Polytheism (3t) - Cheap tech leading to Monotheism and a second religion. Needed for Literature tech.
Aesthetics (9t) - Medium priced tech opening up the Parthenon wonder and also on the way to Literature.
Archery (2t) - Cheap tech giving me resourcesless defenders and more importantly cheap MP units.
Horseback Riding (8t) - Almost useless without archery (war elephants are banned), but does let me build stables for better mounted units. Sentry promoted War Chariots are excellent units to use for a sentry net.
Alphabet (9t) - Tech trading is off, so a mostly dead end tech that does show opponent research via the F4 screen.
Philosophy (23t) - Incredibly expensive tech for this stage of the game that is on the liberalism path and provides another religion. Costs the same as Maths, Calendar, and part of a third tech
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