[SPOILERS] yuris125 on a Pitboss77 boat

[yuris125]

The most annoying thing that can happen is horses popping up on that suspiciously unforested tile E of the capital. Because I would want to improve it asap, but the river means it would unavoidably lead to lost worker turns, and would require completely rewriting the worker plan

(well, actually the most annoying thing would be someone sending a galley with a mighty force of 2 warriors my way, but seeing that no one knows yet where I am, doubt that's happening)

[yuris125]

Settler whipped




Move T34, settle T35. Think Scooter already settled his 2nd, and Mjmd whipped last turn, so expecting him to settle shortly as well. But I am keeping pace

Horses popped in actual Narnia (NW corner of the screenshot)

[yuris125]

Looks like everyone settled the second city on T35 - except Scooter, who beat us all by a couple turns

The real question will be the 3rd city - which depends on how good everyone's starting island is, how much better offshore options are, etc. I may well be late to the 3rd city with my Stonehenge plans. But since I don't even know where I want it to go, it shouldn't be a huge deal

[yuris125]

Sheep improved, I followed the settler in Kyoto with a worker. Now both workers are going to complete the road between the cities, improve the copper, mine the hill S of the copper, and then chop both forests next to Osaka into Stonehenge

I am in a bit of a conundrum with regards to the 3rd city. The outlines suggest that southern islands are bigger and more likely to have good city locations, and I will have a scouting workboat down there ready to improve any seafood. But with the current plan the first galley is coming from Osaka, and sailing it around the island to bring the settler to southern islands will take forever. The workboat from Osaka will have a few turns for scouting, but its primary objective is to improve the crab once Stonehenge pops borders. I would like to see the area around the horses to understand how best to connect it, but don't think I will have enough turns

Don't have a solution yet, but this is what I'm thinking about presently. The big question is - how much can I delay Stonehenge, how much De Gaulle's presence deters others from attempting to build it

[yuris125]

I played around in the sim, but could not find a reasonable way to get a settler out of Osaka. This means that I basically have to commit to the 3rd city going onto the easter islands. That will be the scouting focus for the workboats currently in production. The Osaka one will have to come back to improve its crabs once the borders pop, but at the very least it can check out the spots which can make use of the fish 2NE of Osaka (although that will likely be city 4 or 5, since it will take 12 turns after Stonehenge completion to get it within my borders, ideally city 3 should have good tiles in first ring)

Last resort is settling the spot on the eastern edge of the starting island as city 3, with the discovery of horses it does have ok tiles to work. Have to be mindful that a city in that spot won't actually connect the horses - and finding the best way to connect them is another task for the workboats. But on the bright side, it does have plenty of chops for the Oracle - who knows if there's another spot with enough forests for that

Speaking of Oracle, research path is Sailing - Mysticism - Pottery, but then I'm not sure if I want to go Polytheism - Priesthood right away, or fit Hunting and possibly Archery. Depends on the scouting really, I don't need either right away, so the question is if I find any Hunting resources. Archers I'm very unsure on, their main draw is the ease of emergency whipping them, otherwise if I feel the need to have real units there's always the option of connecting the copper

[yuris125]

I moved my workers. Then I checked the log




Based on scores, that must have been Bing. Well done - I was never beating this completion date. The benefit of good starting techs and being able to slot Mysticism in sooner

EDIT: actually I didn't refresh PBSpy, and was wondering about it - Bing did have a big score increase, but it was at turn's end, so should've been due to culture, not wonder completion. Actually it was Mjmd / Cairo. Who started with Mysticism, so makes perfect sense for them to go for it

Leaves me with a decision. Now that workers are in position for chops at Osaka, but Stonehenge is no longer available - do I chop the forests into a settler instead? Or do I leave them for Oracle? Probably the former, I'm sure I'll find a spot for Oracle elsewhere. Not that I'm guaranteed to build it, I'm starting to feel lack of granaries, and do have to research at least Pottery after Mysticism before going for Priesthood

[yuris125]

Whipped my first galley




Settler is not ready yet, but the galley does need a few turns to circle around the northern cape before going east. I can load the settler on the tile E of the copper

Chops are coming in next turn and will be put into another settler, along with overflow from the galley. Not sure yet if I will want to complete it at size 2 or regrow first

The southeastern island is looking lush, and is probably the location for the third city. The most logical spot seems to be S of the wheat, but that misses the seafood. 2S of the wheat gets the fish, but has fewer good first ring tiles. In theory I could leave the fish for a future filler on the desert hill, but is it worth it? Going to reveal the rest of the island before committing to anything. Also depends if I run into a neighbour, can't be long now until I meet someone

[yuris125]

Settler in Osaka only takes 4 turns with whip overflow / chops, so I will finish it at 2. If anything, I'm unsure if the galley will return fast enough to pick it up

Next turn I will finish revealing the southeastern island and can finally decide on the exact spot for city 3

Scooter already is on 3 cities, don't think anyone else is

[yuris125]

From resource point of view, the best location for the third city is N of the pigs, which has three food resources in the first ring, including seafood I can improve right away with a scouting workboat. The hill S of the wheat is better from safety point of view, but slower to start, as it will have to wait for the wheat farm to get food. I need to continue scouting while the settler is on the way and see if there's a neighbour in close proximity in that direction, and who it is

I don't see a reasonable way to take advantage of the southern seafood from this island, but it's reachable from elsewhere. The fish is awkward to use, as it's only in range of a 2-tile island (the desert hill visible on the screenshot). Being locked into accessing fish from lower quality spots has been the general trend of the map so far

The other possible 3rd city location is the horse island, which can be settled sooner, but I don't see an amazing city spot yet - really the only way to utilise this island is to settle 2S of the deer, but that city would need to pop borders to be useful. Finding seafood on the other side of the island would change that - but the SE island still looks much more attractive

Changed production in Osaka to workboat, I would not have a galley for the settler from there, might as well let it grow at least to 3 before finishing the settler

Need to build more workers

Probably going Polytheism after Pottery, still no immediate need for Hunting, might as well try to claim religion and make progress towards Priesthood

[yuris125]

No neighbours in sight




In the east, there are still islands which look relatively lush, could be natural land to settle for whoever is in this direction, could be something we're supposed to compete for. In any case, whoever is there is not terribly close. I think I will accept the rist of the spot N of the pigs being off the hill, it's just way easier to set it up without investing hammers in border pop. I will aim for this to be the Oracle city, so border pop in general shouldn't be a problem (unless I lose this wonder as well of course), but I still need to do a lot of research, build workers and get them over

Border pop in the capital revealed gold on the SW island, there was good reason for me to scout towards the east first, but I really need to loop around and start scouting that way. The gold could well be city 4

The horse island sucks. There's food, but no land tiles. Maybe I'll find another source