[Spoilers] Shallow Thought and Hitru's series of (unfortunate?) events

[Old Harry]

It's always more fun to worry about the game than real problems..

[shallow_thought]

Logged in to my first MP diplo - a war peace from MS. That's good news - we want to focus on pushing the other way for a few turns. We accepted without much delay. The bad news is that, while we have won one settler race by the thinnest of hairs, Charriu has made it to the cows in the W. Given his warrior's presence I am not surprised. It might even be that is his "AA", based on distance between us and RFS-81.




We will be trying to grab the "F" (now "E", I guess) cows with the new settler. Exact site TBD now. We'll try to get vision SW of BeaB with a workboat over the next couple of turns. If there is seafood, we probably want to leave the plains cows for a coastal city. If not, we can settle to get them along with the grass cows and jungle gems. Perhaps.

Hey - and our cap has finally made it into the top five cities. That's despite it not growing as we expected. Hitru was kind enough to say he'd miscalculated, but I have a nasty feeling I applied his advice to work the sugar instead of the copper a turn too late. Either way, our settler will be a turn behind out calculations. Karma about to kick in, anyone ?

Oh, and speaking of amusing errors, Hitru and I spent a good ten or 15 minutes agonizing over what to do with two workers. Would a road on the stone actually speed up getting the settler to site F? No; it ends moving into woods, so being 1 tile closer before that final move doesn't help. Exactly when can we start camping the ivory? We have a spare worker turn to spend before we want to move there and start roading. So, we got it all sorted and then ... I misclicked . The workers were muddled up with a warrior on it's way to the cap for MP duty and the wrong unit started en-route . Sigh. No major damage, and trying to get the details correct is the right approach, but still... oh well, at least I can see the funny side today.

[Hollybombay]

Trying to get both the Gold and the Gems? Greedy persians! Any long term plans that involve blood?

[shallow_thought]

Trying to get both the Gold and the Gems? Greedy persians! Any long term plans that involve blood?

Hey, we have orphans to look after here. Orphans. It's not greed, it's charitable work.

It suits us for things to be peaceful right now. IMP gives the most edge when everyone is spending on settlers; the more support that is needed the smaller the advantage. This looks like quite a cramped map, so that stage won't last much longer, but right now we just want to peacefully grab everything. We will, of course, need enough force to hold it.

We did consider the offensive power of our UU, the Immortal (chariot that receives terrain defense and has +50% against archers), particularly if our exapension to the silver had been blocked. It's not a bad unit; nothing you're going to build your game around, but useful. The defense bonuses make it better as a scout. They also make it a counter of sorts to chariots (it defends roughly the same as an archer on flatland), so that you can build fewer spears. They can also help to clean up barb cities. But at C1 they only get around 60% odds against fortified, unpromoted archers in cities, a coin-flip if the archer has drill, so they don't really provide a reason to rush anyone. Because they are useful anyway as scouts, they do put pressure on people to build spears. Not so useful against the Zulu, who will build them anyway, sadly.

We will likely be using military in two ways - to deter agression and to be ready to take a slice of whoever the Zulu or Rome hit. Ideally I'd like to solidify the border with Charriu's AGG/PRO troops and be free to look E/NE. I'm very aware that most of our cities are flatland plants, so we need to be careful.

Proper report on last few turns coming later.

[shallow_thought]

So, picking up things after another weekend away, wrestling with the twin unpredictabilities of the British climate and transport system. Hitru handled things nicely while I was busy; next report we can look at what stumbles I made getting back up to speed.

We've founded another city, Evil End. This should be "The End" if I were following the titles strictly, but I have a sneaking suspicion that my alternative won't be too far off, when I eventually get round to finishing the series (probably will just watch the TV now). Once this pops borders and we can get to work on the jungle, it's a potential monster.




One fly in the ointment is the yellow border to the north. We've met Superdeath's Zulu. He immediately war-peaced us, which means we have a window where our workers don't need to fear being impi-fodder. The really good news is that I suspect this means we are literally as far away from Courva (and his eventual paetorians) as possible. I think we're on a two staggered rows of three, each with contact with four others. Anyway, the bigger picture looks a bit like this. The question is whether the culture is first or second ring. I'm hoping second. Either way we need that jungle down ASAP  - and ideally another city on the hill by the horses, for more culture and defense.




There was briefly a barb city around - we saw its culture on the tile W of the gems, before someone took it out.

For contrast, here is the city all the earlier fuss was about. Duncan Q is frankly a bit sad. It will look a lot better with access to the wheat, but even then irrigation is needed. It's all about the silver, and nothing but the silver.




Finally, here are some demos. They are a little big sneaky as I ramped up the science spending just for the screenshot. Also, we have two whips planned for next turn. Still, not complaining.




The land area and crop yield are good, although perhaps what you should expect for IMP. Our next city will be claiming exactly one land tile; sailing is in, and we have a galley and settler in production - those whips I mentioned for next turn. We may have either have to delay settling slightly or risk sending without an initial garrison  - the galley could come straight back for one, and the position is a long way from anyone else, directly south of the cap.

[shallow_thought]

Sadly, Evil End is unlikely to achieve its full potential. Those Zulu borders to the N were first ring. Not only that, but there's another Zulu city on the old barb site. I suspect it was a capture - who other than me puts their border cities on flatland   ?




The gems are a straight cultural fight in which we have no advantage - although no disadvantage either. The bananas are a lost cause in the long term, as the culture will spread from the north. This is a tight, sparky border.

So, we need to expand elsewhere. We'll be loading up our first galley with a settler next turn for the island. It will be good to try and find out what else is out there - how many islands there are has a direct impact on the value of Currency, and we have a tech choice to make after IW. Beyond that, we'll try a sneaky quick IMP settler out of AA to grab the hill between us and RFS-81 with the fish second ring. This is the pink dot in the screenshot. Bear in mind that the next city eastward is his capital, so it is a little aggressive. But, not only are we IMP - and thus all about the cheeky land-grab - but we're waiting for the big, Praetorian sandal to drop. RFS-81 is the only non AGG/PRO guy here; if Couerva moves on him, we'd love to be able to grab some of the spoils.




With IW we can also open up the other sites in the north. Green dot could go further N, but being able to farm those bananas first ring could be important - we're a way from Calendar. Yellow dot is mostly about securing borders with Superdeath. At least all of these dots are hill plants!

[shallow_thought]

We've met Courva, on the turn he grabs the Oracle. So, he's making the religious line pay. Sigh. 




The direction he's coming from does confirm me in my thinking that we're

-- Superdeath --- Magic Sci --- Couerva
Charriu  --- ST/Hitru  ---    RFS-81

A quick round-up of city counts:
 Couerva: 6
 Us: 6
 Charriu: 6
 Magic Science: 5
 Superdeath: 7 ( )
 RFS-81: 3 ( )
 
Our settler is loaded up in our galley and on its way to try to regain our rightful position. We've also got trade routes with Charriu (with my observation skills they could have been there a turn or more). I'm hoping to get a nice, stable border with him - maybe even OB. I feel our targets and those who could make gains against us (albeit at cost) are elsewhere. A crab-crab offer is a possible start; we'll see. I plan to move an Immortal to get a better view of his lands next turn, and could well want to signal friendly intentions. 



 
My worker micro since coming back has been annoyingly poor, but will hopefully get tighter as a I string turns together again. Only one out-and-out wasted turn so far, as some guy has to trek back across the road network to help get the route to EE up and running across the desert.

Our peace with MS runs out next turn. We're not over-supplied with units on that front if he's quick and decisive with chariots from the fog, but that would probably lead to him getting crippled by our revenge and being eaten by someone else. There's no power spiking anywhere at the moment. In three more turns borders will pop at Duncan Q and we'll be a bit safer.

We get a nice shiny library next turn; still pondering whether to work some specialists for an early academy, or focus on getting more settlers and workers out while still working some cottages. Probably the latter. As the turn has rolled I've put in a worker as a placeholder while thinking. Annoyingly we have nothing much to grow on that we want from the cap; maybe another workboat? We could do with a turn or two more to fill the food bar.

[shallow_thought]

Well, I'm mostly worried now that my continued requests for pauses this week may make me the target of PYDT wars . We have been keeping to 1t/d, so it's not bad, but I've needed a full 24hrs or so most of the time, because of work and an unwillingness to play before breakfast without a firm plan. So, perhaps this weekend I need to find time to actually do some planning. We'll see.

We don't have quite enough cash to get IW at 100%, but I've turned it on anyway, as we can get it at 80% in the same time, and I don't want to delay - we need to get chopping in a few places. I'm hoping we can get it a turn sooner in fact, as we'll have overseas commerce coming in next turn.

Not a huge amount of other news. I've sent crabs-crabs to Charriu, hoping to make it clear that my Immortal is just nosy, not threatening. RFS-81's power has spiked a bit, which is important for his survival. However, he's still on 3 cities, and if he doesn't change that fast lack of build queues will get him killed . Possibly even by us.



Superdeath has a highly promoted Impi there, from fighting barbs and Magic Science I imagine.

[shallow_thought]

Urgh, wasted worker turns everywhere . I wasn't really on top of things when I played at the start of the week and now it's coming back to bite me. That, jungle and forgetting we don't have bridges yet. Sigh - should improve now that I'm back to playing regularly. Things have moved on quite fast. We've planted Frank D on our island.




Sadly this didn't quite give us enough extra commerce to finish IW in 4t. As I've no workers needing immediate access to jungle chop, I'm running cash for a turn to avoid inefficiency. At 100% science, the demos look like this. Which is nice. We're still second in GNP at 0%.




And that was after a whip this turn: we've got a new settler coming out, ready to fill the gap between us and RFS-81. His power has nearly caught up with ours, so I need another unit or two on that border ASAP [fake edit: the axe from AA this turn went into the galley, but we don't need it at FD, so it can be shipped back along the coast - flashing a galley at RFS-81 has a certain psychological impact, also]. In fact, while we're number one in military (and that will look even better with IW in 2t), it is stretched, given our ongoing expansion plans and the tense borders. In fact, lack of troops is a limiting factor in getting settlers out. BeaB gets an Immortal out next turn, pencilled in to cover the worker headed for the new city, while a whole pile of chopping will be happening at EE, and some of that will go into new units. I'm hoping to have enough happy and overflow to squeeze one more out of poor, double-whipped AA before it has to switch to a worker. Speaking of tense borders, this seems to be the outcome of the Superdeath / Magic Science clash.




Our border with Charriu at least seems calm. He accepted crabs-for-crabs. Accepted, rather than signalled back, which means that everyone can see it (I think). That may have been deliberate; I'm not unhappy - indicating to potential predators that we've got secure backlines and they should focus elsewhere is good. This Immortal needs to head back to EE for the end of our peace with Superdeath, but has checked that we're not missing out on a city plant (well, plains cows...).




The remaining question is whether/when to whip the cap for a settler. As said, we're a bit short on military. I could cover it with the Immortal out of BeaB, but one wandering Impi in the lands between us an MS could be embarrassing. I'm kind of happy to gamble that they are busy elsewhere, just for a few turns. Also, the cap spams settlers / workers every 4t anyway at the moment, while working two river cottages as well. And what to grow it on? I guess it could spit out an unpromoted unit, but we don't need another galley, or a workboat, or a lighthouse. Hitru will probably have a smart idea.

[shallow_thought]

Well, there was a slight misunderstanding. Hitru wanted to go for the horse city on the SD border first, I was instinctively cautious and moved workers to support the weaker but safer banana city. So we're going to do both . The chops at EE, combined with a whip, will give us an extra settler. The cap was also whipped for its latest one this turn, and we have a settler just ready to found on the coast. There's also a barb city just spawned - two Immortals are going to have a peek.




If we can do so without too much risk we'll raze it and hope for some gold. Our economy is at 30-40% break even, and Currency is 35-40 turns away. We're about to found three more cities, and we'll have a window where we're not working the silver soon as we finally get to grow DQ on it's dry wheat farm . We'll probably be re-configuring for more commerce soon, but we may have to consider Alpha before Maths. We're production heavy - even the cap is a hybrid - so Research builds might make sense.

Ideally, we'd go Maths-Currency, then pick one of Calendar and Masonry-Construction; the latter would then probably be followed up by HBR, and a back-fill for Archery. I'm still expecting this to be a military-heavy game.

For all of one turn we had graphs on Superdeath, then lost them again as I switched EPs to Couerva. Maybe that was the wrong thing - the big C is a long way-away. I have no real feel for this. Still, we had them.

That power spike from Charriu is sharp, but he's our friend and can be trusted, right ? More immediately, he's not geographically in position to hit us quickly, nor to hold the resulting gains against Superdeath.

The whole expansion plan remains a gamble - if anyone (let alone more than one player) hit us we couldn't hold the borders. We'd have enough total troops and whippable cities to make their lives quite unpleasant though, so we're banking on that.