Dave Leads the Thousand Nations of the Persian Empire

[oledavy]

[SIZE="3"]Turn 9[/SIZE]

Found ruins and a barbarian encampment in the north.



I moved 1W after taking the screen, moving into the ruins next turn.

This turn I adopted my first Social Policy:



4 turns until my next one. Check out culture production in Auropolis:



I get another border pop next turn.

[darrelljs]

Thank you, Darrell, for posting the popcorn smiley in PB7 Diplomacy Thread.

A very belated "you're welcome" .

Darrell

[kalin]

I just realized that on quick speed (never played) the +3 tradition culture is more powerful. Sure, it won't pay off in the long run (unless you take more stuff in Tradition), but it will help more in the short run!

Kalin

[oledavy]

I just realized that on quick speed (never played) the +3 tradition culture is more powerful.

Social policy and border expansion costs scale according to game speed, so it doesn't offer any advantage (unless I'm just missing something).

Was traveling today, so didn't get a chance to grab a screenshot. Nonetheless,

[SIZE="3"]Turn 10[/SIZE]

Popped the ruins in the north, and got 15 culture. Going to take the Liberty opener next turn to boost my CPT further.

[oledavy]

[SIZE="3"]Turn 11[/SIZE]

Took the Liberty Opener as planned, boosting me to 7 CPT.



With my next policy in 7 turns, I face an interesting choice. I complete calender and can start building Stonehenge in 10 turns. Do I:

A) Take Aristocracy.
B) Take Citizenship then Aristocracy.
C) Take Citizenship and skip Aristocracy.

My instinct is that an additional worker (and the +25% worker improvement speed) would speed Stonehenge up more than the 15% wonder construction bonus. Currently leaning towards B or C.

Probably going to build an additional archer after this worker, then start on Stonehenge on t21.

My scout ran into an annoying game mechanic in the north:



That barbarian spawned on a visible tile. Hate that feature....

On the plus side, they didn't pop my scout. My warrior and archer are headed north to destroy this encampment. After that I'm going to use them to play zone defense around the capital while I build Stonehenge.

On a side note, look how lush that land to my northeast is

I have all my immediate city-locations figured out, barring a little more exploration for sea-based food. However, for the benefit of those lurking, I slipped into strategic view and marked my next two locations:



The highlighted borders are second ring borders for each city. Planning yellow, then blue. Blue has three stable resources, and will be a really solid hammer site when I get it up and running.

Lastly, a quick shot of the demos:



Someone has researched writing I think, iirc how literacy is calculated anyway.

Seems the fire&ice has met someone if he is complaining in the denouncement thread about the diplomatic interface. Odd that we have not met anyone yet....

[oledavy]

[SIZE="3"]Turns 11-12[/SIZE]

Lots of useful intel in the Denouncement Thread. I already knew Yuris had a second city from the scores, but fire&ice nicely confirmed it for us Only way he got a second city that fast is Liberty Opener -> Collective Rule, courtesy of culture from ruins. Alternatively, he could have started out building a settler, but I doubt that is the case.

His research of writing could indicate a Great Library attempt or National College Start, but since he has already settled a second city, it is probably the former.

With any luck, those two will re-enact the American Revolution. We still have not met anyone, which is fine by me. In fact, the land to the East is looking like it might taper off into a peninsula, in which case I have no idea where our opponents are.

We want to play nice with everyone though, which means minimal ragging in the Denouncement Thread. There are five visible sugars, enough to trade with everyone. The gold/luxuries from trading them around will be really nice, and I'm sure happiness from them will be a precious commodity everyone will want. Additionally, we want to sign plenty of Porcelain Tower boosted Research Agreements. So, suffice it to say, we want to be everybody's best friend.

So, here's how things stand with the empire:



Things to note:
- We found dyes to the northeast, giving us a total of 16 happy from luxuries in visibility.
- City-State borders to the east, Almaty or Capetown I think, neither of which is really good Hopefully I'm wrong and it's a friendly cultural CS.
- I'm moving on the encampment, and will be able to begin besieging it next turn.
- Definitely taking Citizenship, now that I've had more time to think about it.

[Injera]

Interesting, it's never occurred to me to rush for the free settler this early given the happy hit. Unless he's found some natural wonders his cities must be stagnant at this point.

That city state's border is interesting, it looks like it expanded on a resourceless tile towards the ocean. I wonder if it has pearls in the fog.

What's your opinion on maritime city states right now? With so many farmable river tiles and an early push to Civil Service I could see food not being a huge priority.

[oledavy]

Interesting, it's never occurred to me to rush for the free settler this early given the happy hit. Unless he's found some natural wonders his cities must be stagnant at this point.

Usually not a great idea, simply because at this point you don't have the happiness to spare for expansion. He's also researched pottery -> writing to date, so he can't improve any happiness resources he does have. So yeah...not sure what he is up to. Maybe he found Yosemite and is settling to net the +3 happiness from it.

That city state's border is interesting, it looks like it expanded on a resourceless tile towards the ocean. I wonder if it has pearls in the fog.

Probably not the case, City-State luxuries tend to be in the first or second ring to prevent any sort of shenanigans. Looking around, the city seems to be surrounded by desert, so that is probably just the best tile in the second ring - doesn't bode well for the health of the CS long-term. Alternatively, the CS might have started out researching Animal Husbandry, and there are horses on that tile.

What's your opinion on maritime city states right now? With so many farmable river tiles and an early push to Civil Service I could see food not being a huge priority.

Not all that great these days, they've been nerfed to death since the release of the game. You need to start really going wide before their effects become worth the gold. If we had food poor land we might need them just to grow; but as things stand, with three rivers and plenty of grassland, we're not going to need a food surplus for quite some time.

[Injera]

So yeah...not sure what he is up to..

I was thinking about this, unhappiness below 5 only hurts pop growth, right? It could be he just really wants the Great Library, and was going to stop growth to work production anyway. While building the wonder he can research plantations and/or masonry just in time for his free worker from the social policy. That's an interesting opening, actually.

[oledavy]

I was thinking about this, unhappiness below 5 only hurts pop growth, right? It could be he just really wants the Great Library, and was going to stop growth to work production anyway. While building the wonder he can research plantations and/or masonry just in time for his free worker from the social policy. That's an interesting opening, actually.

Unhappiness under 10 hurts pop growth (-75% food in all cities). That is a really interesting idea. Assuming he has 10 happiness to play with (9 for difficulty level and 1 for a natural wonder he's probably found by now), he could grow the cap to Size 3, stagnate growth for production, and plant a new city. He would have 0 happiness, but no negative modifier, and so could fill up the food boxes of both of his cities while improving a luxury somewhere to support further growth.

Other good reasons to settle an early second city:
- Cerro De Potosi
- The Fountain of Youth
- El Dorado
- Yosemite

I'm a little concerned about Yuris potentially beelining the Great Library. The typical slingshot techs are Civil Service, Iron Working, and Horseback Writing. If he gets to Civil Service so far before us, there's a good chance he could land the Chichen Itza