Alright so Bronze Working is in and we're in anarchy, here's the rub.
Seems the Asoka player is directly below me so expanding in that direction would require caution. I'm not worried about grabbing the gems but I'd like to get the Ivory and Spices if I can, assuming there's actually food in that area.
The surrounding land is
dire. Lots of flood plains up north but that's about it. Nary a food tile outside of some stray Sheep tiles and that Pig close to England. I was struggling for a long time trying to figure out where the heck to even put my second city. It was only after seeing the sheep here that I begrudgingly decided on this spot here, fresh water, working the sheep first ring with the ability to share the Capital wheat and some flood plains. I'm not happy about it though and it's gonna be a struggle to grow effectively anywhere.
I opted to improve 3 cottages right away and leave the fourth for later (it wouldn't have even been done until this turn) in favor of roading several tiles and connecting the Wheat, though I did lose some worker turns keeping my second worker safe from a Carthage warrior roaming my borders. I was only just finishing a second Warrior (the other went scouting) so he could've been aggressive and blocked my wheat in order to force me to take the 50/50 but fortunately he left me alone.
It also occurred to me that if I was going to stick with three cottages for now I should have improved the two farthest tiles first. That's my bad
My initial Warrior scouting has not been optimal to say the least but it's still alive and managed to get to Woodsman II without much time lost healing with some lucky combat luck. Having this guy will be extremely helpful for exploring Europe.
For real though, what the heck am I supposed to do with this? There's something near the gems sure but that spot is still looking kinda paltry and it's so far away I'm liable to press against another player at that distance. Part of me really wishes I had just explored South instead, but then again as already stated, India is already down there!
Oh right and as you can see, I'm already paying maintenance on units. Gotta love Deity
Animal Husbandry has to be next and then uh... Writing? Maybe head straight for Math? Archery could be an option too but I'd rather just get Axemen and Chariots out to deal with barbs, who should be coming soon now that I think about it.
Masonry is an option since Stone is fairly close to me but I don't even know what I'd do in Rep with so little food. I guess the happiness is welcome but still. And even considering all that, competing for wonders in a 52 person game (in which something like a fifth of them have IND) seems like a terrible idea on its face.
For some good news, Copper is right next to me so that'll be easy to improve. I've put four turns into mining the Gold since I want the happiness even if the tile itself is trash. The plan is to have one worker road north towards the settle spot covered by my two Warrior escort and then work on a cottage/pasture in the new city while the second worker doubles back to the forest and chops it out. Capital will whip the settler straight into a third worker which will be finished by the chop (starting the chop earlier would make no difference in this) and then regrow into its cottages in preparation for another settler whip. Everything outside of that depends on how the game progresses.
Also England already whipped an Axe out. For some reason. He isn't super close to anyone in this direction for a rush that I can see so what gives?
So yeah not enthused about my position but the land being food-poor seems to be true all around at least. We'll see what happens.
