{SPOILERS} 2metra, Dreylin & OT4E. This is the beginning of a wonderful friendship.

[OT4E]

REM/Audrien only noticed trireme heading towards them.

But this is T105, they finished the turn and it is our turn to start war. So as the first victim of the war their WB went to feed fishes near our coast.
Unfortunately they managed to move worker in the "wrong" place so we cant get it. They also managed to slave granary in the top city, not sure if it is good for us or bad. We will see if we get this granary finally. Here is the picture.

We lost about 15 gold per turn from trade routes. HG goes to HitAndKey and we get some promotional cash we can invest into destroying our economic.

[OT4E]

I spend some time planning small foray on dtay.

Here is the picture and my considerations.


T106 and T107 we do obvious worker moves and road 2 tiles.
T108 our warrior reaches the hill and checks the situation. If everything is calm we can move workers to the forest.
T109 we check the city and can road the forest. Stacks of chars must be put in position. I see it is possible to bring 5 chars up to that point though I do not want to spend overflow in Maryland on chars, because it wants lighthouse very much.
T110 we attack.

The other option is to bring 1 more worker and wait 1 extra turn on building road on deers. This is a waste of more worker turns but will let us be more flexible in building and bringing chars. 6-7 chars we will be able to bring there without big extra sacrifices.

5 chars can kill 1 spearman and 1 axeman on the hill but there is a piece of risk of course

[Dreylin]

SO everything is going to plan on the AI/REM front - excellent!

Unfortunate about the mxed-up turn orders, but we're second half of the turn now I guess. Have you pm'd them to let them know?

dtay plan looks solid; I assume we'd just raze this city as a statement of intent? Any chance we could make a simultaneous attack somewhere else (in the North)?

Shame about missing the HG - by 1t again! I guess the gold will get us some way. It's worth remembering that when dtay ran EPs against us he not only stopped us seeing hs tech, but now can also see ours - so will see when we start on Construction or HBR. Maybe we want to do the same to level the playing field?

Oh, not sure if you noticed but Commodore took the Furs-Gems trade, so we want to get that Southern coastal city down soon-ish to claim the second set of Furs.

Also, I do think that we should offer Peace to AI/REM once we clear them off the island - we have no plans to pursue them onto their home island right now, and we may as well try to make that clear rather than risking an escalation. Probably we'd need to offer some amount of gold as reparations to get them to accept but I think it's worth it not to have war going on on both sides at the same time.

[OT4E]

Have you pm'd them to let them know?

No I havent. Do we need to do it? Can you do it? I am currently working about detailed strategy. Hope I can finish it soon.

dtay plan looks solid; I assume we'd just raze this city as a statement of intent? Any chance we could make a simultaneous attack somewhere else (in the North)?

My idea was only to raze this city. Since we can do it from the darkness we dont need to simulate anything in the other place. This must make him play more defensive, though I doubt he will be ready for our main galley attack

Shame about missing the HG - by 1t again! I guess the gold will get us some way. It's worth remembering that when dtay ran EPs against us he not only stopped us seeing hs tech, but now can also see ours - so will see when we start on Construction or HBR. Maybe we want to do the same to level the playing field?

I dont think that we need to show that we have gone full into the wars. Not really necessary to show him what to do.

Oh, not sure if you noticed but Commodore took the Furs-Gems trade, so we want to get that Southern coastal city down soon-ish to claim the second set of Furs.

Yes, we must think how to do it. I wasnt sure that we have 2nd furs before. I think that we must hook it with our WONDER city.

Also, I do think that we should offer Peace to AI/REM once we clear them off the island - we have no plans to pursue them onto their home island right now, and we may as well try to make that clear rather than risking an escalation. Probably we'd need to offer some amount of gold as reparations to get them to accept but I think it's worth it not to have war going on on both sides at the same time.

Dreylin, my friend, gold can never redeem the scars of war. Never try to buy anyone's good intentions or recover the harm you have somehow inflicted. It will not work. All we can do to REM is to show that fighting for this island will not bring him anything worth. My idea is to show trireme. This will tell him that he doesnt only need something to kill shocked axes in cities, but to simply reach the coast to land anything. Triremes and galleys cost a lot compared to the number of units it can carry. So I doubt he will go into well-thought desperate attack, but we of course must be ready to parry his strike at all time frames.

[Dreylin]

Have you pm'd them to let them know?

No I havent. Do we need to do it? Can you do it? I am currently working about detailed strategy. Hope I can finish it soon.

Will do.

Also, I do think that we should offer Peace to AI/REM once we clear them off the island - we have no plans to pursue them onto their home island right now, and we may as well try to make that clear rather than risking an escalation. Probably we'd need to offer some amount of gold as reparations to get them to accept but I think it's worth it not to have war going on on both sides at the same time.

Dreylin, my friend, gold can never redeem the scars of war. Never try to buy anyone's good intentions or recover the harm you have somehow inflicted. It will not work. All we can do to REM is to show that fighting for this island will not bring him anything worth. My idea is to show trireme. This will tell him that he doesnt only need something to kill shocked axes in cities, but to simply reach the coast to land anything. Triremes and galleys cost a lot compared to the number of units it can carry. So I doubt he will go into well-thought desperate attack, but we of course must be ready to parry his strike at all time frames.

OK, I hear what you're saying, but does it cost us anything to offer just a basic Peace deal? I mean I do understand that we want to invade and conquer their whole lands, but not right away...

[2metraninja]

I would love to see us settling city of our own on our PH to use the deers. Maybe chop library to get culture quick?

As for the war with REM/AI I think we are fine keeping at war with them and building our army non-stop. Our huge powergraph will serve us on two levels. First it will make REM/AI more willing to compromise and sign peace, and then, we will have big army ready to use against Dtay without alarming him, as he will see this as normal considering we are at war with REM/AI. So we might actually push even a bit further against Dtay.

[OT4E]

Here are my thoughts about micromanagement:
- how to distribute tiles between cities
- where do we need workers urgently
- what buildings we need and where
- how to build forges

Los Millares

I whipped lighthouse here last turn. Without it is was a bit crippled and couldnt show even a half of its capability.
I have marked a comfort size of 6 for the soonest future, but we can see that there are plenty of tiles it can take. Letting it grow is one of our small goals.
Remaining forest will go into forge and we whip it right after we cross the unhappy line. Or we can chop it into the galley if we schedule a boating trip to dtay's cottage-festival.
Let's also take a note that its borders are going to expand in 9 turns. We will have good sight of surroundings.
Food: 6
Hammers: 4
Commerce: 16+

Samarkand

Samarkand is weak city which we can hardly overburden with slavery. It takes us most of our flood plains to cover the food stolen by gold mine. Forge can be only build there in several steps of overflow from other constructions and only when we will stop being able to whip something small again or comfortly rest on building worker/settler.
Food: 6
Hammers: 4
Commerce: 24

Bodmin

I must admit that my idea to start forge there was a mistake. It is not productional city and will not be able to finish it easy or to use effectively later either. Lighthouse was the right construction. But from the other view we will be able to grow it bigger with forge. Though we need to find the way to build them both. With sheep coming from Los Millares it will be able to whip it with 3 ppl in 7 turns. And we must consider spending 1 forest to hurry lighthouse.
When we reach population limit we can return corn to 54 and rest on some plain cottages. But it is long plan for like 20 turns further.
Food: 8 (9)
Hammers: 2
Commerce: 22+

54cents

As you can see from screenshot even without corn our cap have one of the best growth rates. But I dont think that we must slave it too often or maximize growth. So I am currently thinking that it is good idea to share hill sheep to Maryland where it can bring extra hammer with forge. The plan is to grow it and get some green hills we have already mined.
About mines I have clear understanding that it is evil from the view of effectiveness. Green mines are the least evil, but yellow ones are extreme measure possible only to produce a burst of production for wonder race or when you have simply no other way to spend food. But slaving is like 2 times more effective than using them.
Food: 4
Hammers: 9
Commerce: 6

Stronghold

This city will take sheep from Maryland and Rhodes. In general I am planning to focus on building military here considering high base production and barracks, but when it grows to the higher numbers we can produce settler for island or front if it remains unsettled by this time.
Food: 3
Hammers: 10
Commerce: 6

Maryland

We need lighthouse here, so I want to use overflow from the axe for this need and finish it by it's own production instead of letting go one more chariot. When it reachs population limit it can take yellow mine.
Food: 6
Hammers: 4 (5)
Commerce: 22+

Rhodes

This city also requires lighthouse to start harvesting fruits from the coasts. I am planning to whip it with 2 pop. We'll transfer deers to our wonder city once it completes granary and Rhodes produces enough hammers into work boats. This city later development is based on the number of yellow cottages it can work.
Food: 8
Hammers: 1
Commerce: 20+

Wunderbar

Fortunately despite of closed borders Buddhism came to this city and we dont need to worry about spreading borders. Though I think that we need to think about trying to get 40% of culture here to get 2nd furs. May be monastery or library or both. If we are considering Great library path this could be nice place for it, though I doubt it is realistic for us to get it or even worth to try.
Food: 6
Hammer: 9
Commerce: 7

Lisblis

This city doesnt require any worker turns except chop for lighthouse. Later once we start using all coasts we will be able to think about adding some more cottages.
Food: 5(6)
Hammer: 2
Commerce: 15+

[Dreylin]

Very thorough, and it all makes sense.

Couple of questions:

Rhodes' Settler is heading where?

Next build at 54 is a Settler?

LM is going back to the Spear, or slotting in a boat?

Returning WB is heading to Rhodes' Crabs, or stopping outside Maryland to feed the near island city?

Key projects for the Workers coming of the HG push - presumably the Silks at Samarkand and prepping for Front. Do we need to send any more down to plan for the dtay snipe?

Oh, and nice on the Buddhism spread. Are we still considering the Theology push?

[OT4E]

The questions are welcome. This is not rigid plan but we must tweak and adjust it to the current needs.

Rhodes' Settler is heading where?

I think we should send it to the island accompanied by one worker.

Next build at 54 is a Settler?

Havent thought about it, but I guess we'd better grow it first. I was going to whip one more char for attack.

LM is going back to the Spear, or slotting in a boat?

Spear.

Returning WB is heading to Rhodes' Crabs, or stopping outside Maryland to feed the near island city?

To the new fish city.

Key projects for the Workers coming of the HG push - presumably the Silks at Samarkand and prepping for Front. Do we need to send any more down to plan for the dtay snipe?

If we consider 2 workers enough then we just use those who were hooking deers. Without 3 workers we will be unable to complete full road without losing 2 turns. Each turn is decisive, this is the key feature I have learned about this game. You can bring twice more in just one turns and it can still become not enough. So if it is possible, we'd better try to make EARLIER than MORE.

Oh, and nice on the Buddhism spread. Are we still considering the Theology push?

Our GNP is now 10th, so the main idea is to get out of the pit. Growing cities bigger is our way to go. Let's see what we can get in 4-5 turns to take decisions about where to go.

OK, I hear what you're saying, but does it cost us anything to offer just a basic Peace deal? I mean I do understand that we want to invade and conquer their whole lands, but not right away... mischief

Offering a peace never guarantees us that they are not making revenge even a desperate one. If we make peace too fast it will tell dtay that we are free to break his plans. My idea was to raze that city of dtay at the southern coasts, then make peace with REM and turn our against dtay's northernt city.

[Dreylin]

One thing worth noting is that dtay and AI/REM had not met the last time I checked in-game. I think that means that dtay will not see us declare war, or sign Peace - although he will see the score changes from us taking their cities.