[SPOILER] Dazedroyalty: Winter is coming!

[Boldly Going Nowhere]

I was going to ded-lurk, but lacking updates I'm going to be a general lurker now. Good luck!

[yuris125]

Sorry Boldly and sorry all for lack of updates.. I hoped for the transition from Dazed to me to be gradual, but in the end it just happened after a quick discussion about the location of the 2nd city. I've been in charge for 30ish turns already, but somehow didn't realise there was a thread to update

We're at T63, and this is how the empire looks



In the west, I have a narrow peninsula which I will settle one day



In SW I met WarriorKnight/Merovech



In SE there is some more room to expand, although it's lacking in food



Finally, due east, I have Slowcheetah, who has been tempting me with undefended workers



The reason I decided not to take those workers is my strategic resources situation. The closest copper is to the west from the capital, in the desert, with almost no food in the neighbourhood. Normally I would found a city on a desert copper, but when that location is surrounded by desert hill, this city might as well be a fort or something. I think the spot shown on the 2nd screenshot is the best option, at least it has a plains cow and a farmable grassland nearby, and a forest to get a chop into a Granary. It's not a good city, but it's not a pure mining hole either

The other copper location is in SW, right next to the landbridge toward Slowcheetah. I feel it's too far away and too vulnerable. I can't go and found a city and hope to defend it, especially if Slowcheetah thinks it's his copper

The horse situation is even worse. I have no horses on the main land, the only visible resource is on the island north of the capital. I will found a city there soonish, but feel like I need to worry more about claiming mainland right now

So... for now connecting strategic resources is the main challenge. I did tech Archery to be able to defend against barbs and early aggression, but if I steal Slow's worker and he makes a small stack of Axemen and comes knocking, I will have to invest too much to defend. Not worth it

I also considered researching Iron Working. But that's too much of an investment right now, it's not like I'm lacking copper, I just need to found a subpar city to claim it. I did try to claim Hinduism, but Jowy has beaten me to it handily. I suspect he's going for Oracle, which is still available. Maybe I should've tried to get Monotheism after the Hinduism attempt failed, but I think delaying Writing for much longer would be a mistake. After Writing, I will come back to the question of religion

So, for now, the primary plan is to expand on the mainland, connect copper, build cheap Settlers, claim the island horses, grab as much land as possible

[Boldly Going Nowhere]

Looking good. To continue the previous theme, Ulundi can be Riverrun. I'm not sure about the other. Maybe The Eyrie.

How many workers do you have? I think I see three in the pic and another just whipped? Last question, which spot are you looking to settle next? Thanks for the update, and sorry for bailing!

[yuris125]

No worries 5 Workers counting the one finished in Ulundi, there are 2 on the hill N of the cow. Not nearly enough Next spot will be the corn/spices one in SE - it's the best production spot available. Then copper. Then cities towards China to establish the border

[yuris125]

mismoved my units and will lose a city to barbs... damn it I'm stupid sometimes.......

[yuris125]

Ok, I didn't lose the city. The barb pillaged the pasture instead. Need to know - do barbs move first or last in a turn? If they move first, I understand that my emergency whip of a Warrior stopped them from attacking. But I was sure they move last, and therefore were bound to take an unprotected city instead of pillaging

Feel like I dodged a huge bullet

[Oxyphenbutazone]

Barbs move in the inter-turn, so after production in a city completes

[yuris125]

Sorry for bad updating.... we're at T96 now, and I expanded to 8 cities, 7 of which are visible on this screenshot



I claimed copper and settled all the spots I wanted thus far. I also settled the northern island for horses



The barb city is going to be captured and kept. This is one of the better remaining spots. But Currency research is the highest priority at the moment. I break even at 30%, and intend to add a bunch of cottages near kwaDukuza, which I feel is going to be a gem of the empire, so economy is not in too bad a shape. But I have to be careful

The other problem is that I'm running out of space to expand. There are several backfilling spots; there also is free land in the east, but it's really low on food, which makes it difficult to claim. See for yourself



The only food resources are a plains cow and a dry rice. There are some viable spots, especially post-Civil Service, but for now I feel it would be too much work to get them up and running

I'm going to settle the spot 3S of Nongoma, which is probably going to make Merovech really unhappy. However, I'm not too worried. My MFG is the highest by far, I have a reasonable military, so attacking me would be difficult. I'm actually thinking about attacking Merovech myself in a not-too-distant future. He's the closest neighbour, has good land (judging by crop yield), and doesn't want to be friendly (he declined open borders when he had a scouting Warrior near my land... made me immediately suspicious). However, again, it definitely has to be post-Currency

Demos



As I said, my MFG is highest by far. Crop yield is up there with the leaders, and has the potential to improve further. GNP is a concern, but I think I can catch up. So all in all, I feel I'm in a reasonable position

[yuris125]

lol, I can't count.... I actually have 9 cities, not 8

[yuris125]

looks like slowcheetah is going to settle my eastern region. I won't contest it; as I said, I think this land is too expensive to get started. I might plant a marble city, maybe NW of the marble, but he can have everything else



I settled the last city in the west. Now it's backfilling, then maybe teching HBR and trying to take a few cities off Merovech



A slightly rushed plant, so I won't workboat the clams for maybe 5 turns, but as long as Merovech doesn't try to fight for it (and I don't think he's in a position to do so), it was worth it. I desperately want some land for my financial cottages