[SPOILERS] Isabella of Carthage, starring Ellimist, SleepingMoogle, and Nicolae

[Ellimist]

Let's move our two closest warriors toward the stone site(in advance of the settler), we can replace them from Sirius before NH's warrior can reach one of our cities. Our scout can also provide some intel/cover. I have the settler moves mapped out with signs. If they do have a settler already in the area and manage to settle on the PH, we can still settle on the coast and make things difficult for them.

If you want to reply to NH's message, that would be great. I don't really have the time for it tonight.

[Nicolae Carpathia]

Ah, I just checked chatlogs, not sure what's going on. I don't really know how to respond without sounding like an aggressive jerk.

[Nicolae Carpathia]

Opened the save, only moved the scouts in the indicated directions, haven't ended turn. I think I'll let Ellimist do it so I don't screw anything up. I expect we're whipping the settler this turn, and we'll be grabbing the centre asap. I don't think NH has archery yet, their power is still quite low, and I haven't seen any spikes that would indicate a skirmisher popping out.

NH moved their workboat 2W, which makes me quite unhappy, but oh well, we never got a chance to do any diplomacy. Tell them to gift this turn so we can start working an artist next turn and so can grow with the fish.

Things to recommend...

I prefer not having moved onto the gold at Denebola, but oh well, road it but don't bother mining it. I'd prefer sending Francisco to road the pigs themselves after we're roaded the gold. I want Hernan to start roading to the east, either we immediately move onto the forest 1SE of the pigs, or spend a turn on a cottage at Regulus and the next turn on a road 1E of the pigs. I'd also like Luca to finish a 2nd cottage at Pollux, but no big deal, I don't think we really need to connect Pollux to Regulus (though having workers in the centre would be great.

Concerning the home front, I don't mind overflowing onto the lighthouse next turn (it will allow us to grow to size 4, then I think we should dump the rest of the overflow onto a worker (and we get the EXP bonus on all those hammers!). That means the worker will appear in 3 turns, he might be stuck on the home island for a turn as the galley returns, but no big (put a turn onto a road on the corn).

Also, can you see any way of getting metal onto the central spire? NH still lacks horses, I don't think it's been settled yet.

[SleepingMoogle]

We are really going through with this with just two Warriors?

Wow.. I'd be extremely surprised and disappointed if NH didn't immediately either Axe-rush the city or Skirmisher-choke it. So we need Archers, spears and Axes like yesterday to help defend the city, otherwise it's a wasted investment.

[SleepingMoogle]

Also, stop asking to have the WB gifted next turn. Demand it.

[Nicolae Carpathia]

You're right. One possibility is to hold off on the revolt into caste for a few more turns, let Regulus put at least 5 hammers into an axe or a spear, and then we can whip it. It depends if you're scared of axes, chariots, or skirmishers. It means stacking 2 points of whip anger, but meh, who cares, don't be afraid to stack when we have a high happy surplus.

As long as we have 1 metal unit in position when we settle, we should be okay to trickle in reinforcements. If we're really desperate, we can hold off on 100% research and upgrade a warrior at the front.

[Ellimist]

There's no way NH can get serious firepower(axes) to the area before we can. We have roads and he just started settling on the donut. Unless he can be assured of a quick victory, they have nothing to gain by attacking. 2 warriors and a scout on a hill should be enough to make things sufficiently costly at first. If we wait until we have reinforcements, they'll already have the spot amd also have reinforcements.

It's quite possible that there are other sources of stone on the center island. The big issue for me is that I expect them to keep pushing. If they settle that hill, they'll settle even more in our faces next. From what we've seen so far, I don't expect them to do anything that benefits us in the slightest.

I'm normally against them, but do you think we should try to get a NAP agreement here? I don't really want to worry about skirmishers in the short term. At the very least, we could analyze their response to judge their level of hostility.

[Nicolae Carpathia]

You're assuming that we'll settle the centre sooner, and that they don't have a settler on its way already. No guarantees, any evidence of big whips in the last half dozen turns? Especially around the time they spotted the value of the centre? I doubt they have a skirmisher ready to push the centre, and they have no chariots, so our axes should be enough to deal with anything they have.

[T-hawk]

Just to check, you verified that the hut is gone, right?

[Ellimist]

Yes, I am, because if they settle it sooner I don't think we'll be able to dislodge them from a hill city. Or if we could, it wouldn't be worth the cost. The best we could probably do is settle the coastal spot and put cultural pressure on them with artists, but that's about it. By the time we can put some forces down there, they can do the same.

The only military options I can think of that have a chance are naval. Either a trireme choke(blockades are so overpowered) or a surprise attack by galley, possibly razing Hydrogen before they realized it was in danger. We could get 4-6 decent units out pretty quickly.