[SPOILER] Ikhanbod

[Ichabod]

I build roads pretty haphazardly, whenever a couple workers have a few spare moments. Roughly when cities reach size 6 or 7 and slow down on growth so worker labor comes available, which also happens to be when the trade routes become profitable. But I have no set practice there.

Yes, fish is 5 food fully improved, and goes to 2 gold with some later tech (Navigation?). However, I often see fish tiles never actually get the work boat. That's 50 hammers for just +1 food, a very bad payout among hammer:food conversions. Compare to granary at 60:2 plus wheat/deer, watermill at 75:2, lighthouse at 75:2 per fish, aqueduct at functionally 100:4 for a city at +10 food surplus.

So, just like going granary first in the capital can be better than worker first (in terms of growth), going lighthouse without WB can work for the second city... Civ 5 has some weird things...

[Ichabod]

Scout moved, revealing 2 interesting things. First, we met Pindicator. He's a very tasty target to have close by -> Wonder focus, Burial Tombs and a UU that replaces a sub-par unit without fixing its flaws. Keshik rush target number one (maybe even composite bow rush target)! He upgraded his warrior in a ruin. That's good, it's one of the worst hut results (scout to archer is good, though).

The other interest point is another good place for a city. A different luxury and a high food tile + river. The gems are on a desert hill, by the way, and Pindicator spearman is standing on a floodplain. There's probably desert in that direction (egypt has a desert start bias?). That's a good thing, because it's likely to mean more different luxuries. I'm hoping, though, that Pindicator isn't that close. I doubt he can contest my planned Citrus city, but that'd be very bad, if it ends up happening. Not sure if he'd like to annoy the mongols.

Another good thing is that my scout can really outrun his spearman, making it easier for me to get the huts.

The warrior will explore some more too, then I'll get him back home. Hopefully I can go around those mountains (damn, my warrior screenshot seems to have not been taken - he didn't find anything too interesting, though).

I'm doing the trick described by Seven to get the most of the pop point that'll grow inbetween turns. I'll get another scout before anything else.

[Ichabod]

Huts and good city sites!

The hut is mine, Pindicator dear. I even blocked him from the best scouting path, just to be sure. If I get the hut, the scout will be close to paying of its costs already.

Go, warrior, go!

I decided to work the 2/0/1 tile instead of the 1/2/1. I made some calculations and that seemed best. I'll have to work the sheep tile for some turns later, to speed some builds, but it's not needed now. Well, now that I think about it some more, maybe I've made a mistake. But that's one in many, no harm done.

My worst mistake was the following: teching 1 turn of AH before pottery. Now, I can't start a shrine or granary next turn, since I don't have pottery. So, I could invest a turn in a worker. Maybe that's best. I can also build a monument, but that'd go against my choice of Tradition. So, either I go liberty and start working on a monument, or I go tradition and invest a turn into worker. Decisions, decisions...

It's a tough call... I'll open both huts before deciding, maybe one of them gives me pottery and helps me postpone the decision.

By the way, I think my naming scheme is very creative. Let's see if people discover it. Next clue due in a billion turns, when I finally get my second city in this slow game that's Civ 5.

[Rowain]

By the way, I think my naming scheme is very creative. Let's see if people discover it. Next clue due in a billion turns, when I finally get my second city in this slow game that's Civ 5.

My best guesses would be either chars played by Charles Bronson or chars from the movie "Once upon a time in the west"

[T-hawk]

I wouldn't call Civ 5 slow. It takes 30-40 turns (normal speed) to build a second city in Civ 4 also.

Building a monument doesn't go against Tradition that strongly, it means you trade 40 hammers now for a 100 hammer amphitheater later. Although you'd have to find time to actually finish the monument before getting Legalism.

[Ichabod]

The first hut gave the worst result possible, it revealed barbarian encampments far away from everything... I'm having trouble with the screenshot system from Steam, so I don't have a SS. I have one from the bettre result, 75 gold, which the villagers gave to my warrior.

My newly ready second scout went SE. I could explore that patch of land west of my capital, but I have a feeling it'll end in those mountains. Pindicator is going that way, hopefully he follows my warriors path and doesn't find any hidden huts.

I've been thinking about a second city, and the red X on the screenshot below seems pretty good. It's either that or the purple one, depending on if I'm ok with settling on top of the Cytrus or not. Settling it would be instant happy, without the need of a lot of worker turns and the BW tech and might end up being a must. Either way, that city would have a good amount of food to grow quickly, between all those bananas, but it'd also open food for other cities. The yellow banana could be worker by the capital and the blue one by a possible later blue city. That's really nice, because otherwise, these tiles would take a billion years to be avaiable. I still have my scouts moving, so that can change.

Well, Pottery was finished when the turn reached me, though I can't really tell why that happened. Without asking questions, I placed the production on a granary. It needs 40 hammers, so 5 turns of sheep + one turn of gems, for a total of 40 prod in 6 turns. I end up losing 3 gold, because if I had worked the sheep tile last turn, I could use the overflow hammers to work 2 times the 2/0/4 tile and still end up with the same prod. This way, i worked a 2/0/1 tile, instead of the 2/0/4. But how was I supposed to know that I'd get free beakers out of nowhere?

Rowain is almost right about the naming scheme, so i'll reveal it. It's the name of famous western characters (maybe I'll even make it only from Leone's movies). The next one was going to be Sentenza, Angel Eyes' name in the original script of "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly", just to try and make things more difficult. But since it was already guesses, Angel Eyes will be city number 2.

[Ichabod]

I wouldn't call Civ 5 slow. It takes 30-40 turns (normal speed) to build a second city in Civ 4 also.

Building a monument doesn't go against Tradition that strongly, it means you trade 40 hammers now for a 100 hammer amphitheater later. Although you'd have to find time to actually finish the monument before getting Legalism.

Well, the decision was postponed once again, so I'll have more time to be undecided.

And don't take much of my criticism against Civ 5 seriously, I only do it for the joke of it (that mostly everyone here keeps bashing endlessly at the poor game). There are some very irritating issues, especially lack of meaningful information, but a lot of the things I say is just unreasoned whinning.

[T-hawk]

Well, Pottery was finished when the turn reached me, though I can't really tell why that happened.

Tech devaluation works differently in Civ 5 than in Civ 4. It doesn't multiply your produced beakers. It cuts the cost of the tech instead, so you get the full benefit of devaluation immediately when somebody else you've contacted learns the tech. Check the F6 screen, it should show a lowered cost for Pottery now.

[SevenSpirits]

They added known tech discount? When? How much discount?

[Ichabod]

Wow, I'm so pro at this game.

Already leading the tech race, baby! Can't touch this!

Seriously speaking, I'll probably get a good boost to Calendar as well, the more people I meet (since it'll be pretty delayed for me). And that's a good way of doing C&D against opponents. I know Pindicator has pottery. Though I wonder when the discount gets avaiable. It wasn't in my turn, which was after Pindicator added the last beakers to Pottery, I presume. Bah, what a strange mechanic.

By the way, why would I finish any tech before actually needing it? I won't do it, since I'll get the full beaker discount if someone else discover it first. I don't need mining until I want to improve something or tech BW/Masonry, I don't need AH until my worker is sitting on top of the sheep or my settler is on the move. Well, there's the risk of wasting a hut. I'll think about it some more.