RBP3 [SPOILERS] Team Nice Shot - Pacal of Carthage

[Shoot the Moon]

Looks like we will actually need to stay on 0% research for two turns, not 1 as that says.

[Mr. Nice Guy]

What about just waiting turn with William. I am not sure if he would heal before the lion attacks (I think he would, as the lion will attack *next* turn). That would allow us to get the hill bonus (which should be almost assuredly safe) and then move on the path we had laid out only 1 turn later.

Brilliant. He would have actually landed on Red Dot one tile sooner than needed anyway, so this is perfect. I had assumed he would heal on the extra turn at Red Dot, but why not heal now? I didn't re-make the direction signs, I think it'll be pretty easy to follow the signs off by a turn.

Regarding the horses:



Without knowing the whole context of what lies north of the screenshot, I lean toward the southern-most "Or here" sign. Its location would be very easily defensible, and it would have enough food to be a halfway decent production city in the longterm. By the time watermills come in, it could actually be quite nice. Plus, it leaves open the possibility of a city on the northernmost "city here" sign. We can revisit this area in a few turns when we have more information, but I think it would be prudent to use our next settler to pick up horses...

[Mr. Nice Guy]

Looks like we will actually need to stay on 0% research for two turns, not 1 as that says.

So.... leave tech at 0% on T44, and set it up to 100% on T45?

[Shoot the Moon]

So.... leave tech at 0% on T44, and set it up to 100% on T45?

Yeah.

Those horses come at an awkward place for us. I like the sourthern site too, except for the fact that it has a TON of mountains in the fat-cross. I don't think we really have a choice but to grab the horses with the third city though.

[Mr. Nice Guy]

Yeah.

Those horses come at an awkward place for us. I like the sourthern site too, except for the fact that it has a TON of mountains in the fat-cross. I don't think we really have a choice but to grab the horses with the third city though.

The bad news about that site is the long term... it won't be able to keep up with cities like Carthage, Utica, Hadrumetum, etc. But in the short term, it will have grassland sheep for food, horses plus stone plus a couple of hills plus settled on a plains hill for hammers. So for its first 50 or so turns it will be a decent (not great) city.

The bummer for me is that we are already planning on settling a long-term "meh" type of city site. That, and the horses didn't appear where I had hoped... next to the pigs. Oh well, we can always hope for iron.

[Mr. Nice Guy]

T44 played according to plan. Warren did get attacked on the IT, is down to 1.4 health, but should be fine sticking to the defensive terrain over the next 3 turns. Good news, there is corn 1N of the hill that the lion attacked from (previously marked Warren T43). So that area has some potential for future city.. corn+riverwine+several river tiles.

Settler due next turn, and then he begins his trek to Red Dot. Other than that, we continue as planned.

[Mr. Nice Guy]

Ummm, cardinal directions are not my strong suit, apparently:

Greetings Team Nice Shot

We thank you for your message. However you mentioned that you were
going to do some 'western exploration' while trying to meet DIM. DIM
are located somewhere to our E so is this a typo?

We haven't seen any human barbs yet, although the animals are
plentiful. Have you?

Enough Talking!
WarriorKnight of A4

I have re-routed Jordan to head one south of what I believe is the lake they are talking about. Her new ETA is T51. I still want to explore to the west, but the sooner we meet team DIM, the better (the sooner we meet anyone, really). I don't know if you had any thoughts on the matter, but I am beginning to get nervous about having just four warriors for our entire nation (and only three in our borders). I think thanks to the efforts of Carthage and Utica, we will soon have enough workers for the immediate future, so until pottery comes in, Hadrumetum ought to be a military city. I just can't wait until we can produce something better than warriors! I know that we have an NAP with A4, but it appears that they just had a major boost in production... from hooking up copper/horses?

Okay, so I will send a note to A4 letting them know that we have re-directed our scouting unit to the north-east, with a new ETA of T51.

Other than all that, T45 played according to plan, research turned back to 100%, sheep pasteurized in Carthage, settler finished and heading to Red Dot, gold mine started, etc.

[Shoot the Moon]

I too am a bit worried about our military, but at the same time I don't really see a use in building more warriors. Thankfully, we should be able to get archery pretty quickly after pottery, and if need be be able to whip out archers (remember, we are in slavery, so if worst comes to worst we can easily
chop and whip out a couple warriors in a threatened city.)

[Mr. Nice Guy]

It is a given that the Wheel and Pottery are both going to be critically important for our civilization. It's also obvious that with the +3 rice tile and a quick granary, Utica has the ability to grow like a weed. So I'm not terribly worried about growing it right now, since all it will work right now are unimproved tiles. So... prioritize research means work two lake tiles right now to get The Wheel online as fast as possible? On T47, that looks like 3 turns but that will change with Hadrumetum getting founded.

Despite (still) being last in score, I feel quite optimistic about our opening. At the very least, the experience has taught me the power of expansive. And frankly, we're just beginning to see how nice it can be.

Anyway, I am torn and would like your input. I'm also too tired to think any deeper about this. So I will sleep on it for now. If you also lean toward research-first at Utica, feel free to end turn. Otherwise, I will end turn in the morning with whatever decision we come to.

[Shoot the Moon]

Sorry, I missed your post last night (I thought it looked like the turn was going to turn over in time due to technical difficulties, but I guess I was wrong in that). I'm going to go have a look now.

EDIT: Ok, I am in game now. I am almost positive it will be better to work the rice for now. Remember that the gold mine finishes in two turn. Working the rice now makes us grow to size three in two turn also, which would be perfect as we could work both lakes and the gold mine. If we were to work both lakes now, we would either have to work only one lake and the gold mine, or delay working the gold mine until we hit size 3.

Essentially, by working the rice now, we lose 4 commerce (two turns of working the lake over the 1 commerce rice). To go the other way and work both lakes now, we either lose 3 commerce per turn by having one less lake worked once the gold mine comes in (so we'd make up the lost commerce in less than two turns), or lose 21 commerce by delaying working the gold mine for 3 turns until we hit size three. Either way is a terrible tradeoff for 4 commerce, so I am almost sure it is better to work the rice.

Considering how clear the math was, I went ahead and ended turn working the rice and the lake. I hope that was alright.