[SPOILERS] Peter of the Ottomans carries a big stick

[thestick]

Played T24, but nothing interesting happened. I saw on the diplo screen that Tankra really hasn't adopted Slavery. No clue why.

Someone's making 12 hammers per turn. I think it's SAT with their second city.

[Bigger]

if he's spiritual and hasn't had the need to whip yet, he'll be reminded to do it when he needs to whip, w/o any real loss. It is odd, though, you're right.

[thestick]

I just realized, we haven't completely sealed off the north. If he moves on the Fur tile he can move southwest and bypass the hill. Whoops.

We could fortify Archers on the Deer tile 1W. Will he have to suffer the river crossing penalty if he crosses the mouth of the river diagonally? We could also hold out on the Deer hill and tundra forest near Tankra's capital, 1SE of the ice lake.

You would not believe how odd this game feels. My mind keeps switching between 'I'm winning' and 'I am so screwed.' Right now I'm feeling the later.

Anyway, time for an honest evaluation of the current situation from the respective sides:

thestick: Our only significant military unit right now is the Archer. The only problem is that they must defend to be effective. We're planning on fortifying Archers in spots that block off the North. However, we will be vulnerable from the South and if he slips through the defence net. We currently have only one Archer in the north. Our first city is going in an economic location. We are currently Size 4 and are preparing to whip a Settler.

Tankra: My only significant military unit right now is the Dog Soldier. Dog Soldiers beat Axemen and Spearmen, but lose horribly to Chariots and, to a lesser degree, fortified Archers on defensive due to Dog Soldier's lower base strength relative to Axemen. I've recently gotten my Wheat improved. My rush has been delayed by approximately six turns. I am most likely rushing thestick. He's settled on flatlands and, if nothing else, I want revenge. I can assemble a significant number of Dog Soldiers within ten turns at the cost of delaying my economic growth if I don't capture thestick's capital. I won't win if I don't attack, therefore, I will attack. I am still at Size 1 and am currently chopping out Dog Soldiers.

Is it time to start chopping Archers? I'm beginning to think 'yes.'

[thestick]

Yup, time to start chopping out Archers.

[thestick]

For some reason, I can't whip the Settler. Whoops. I'll whip it next turn. Judging by the huge power graph spikes, I think Tankra has two Dog Soldiers right now.

However, the real news:


The South has copper! I decided to move the next city to settle it. I think 1NE of the copper is the best spot. Settling a city where the copper isn't first ring probably isn't a good idea. The downsides of the plant are that it's on flatlands and is close to the bottom of the lake. However, getting a unit that has a shot of being effective on the attack - and doesn't get completely screwed if Tankra gets Spears - seems like a good idea. Gold can probably wait.

[Bigger]

yeah I like that first ring city much moreso than the other one we'll just have to pump out some settlers as soon as we feel safe.

2 dog soldiers ain't too scary atm (since we have archers).

whats the build plan after settler in capital? something like archer>worker>archer, I guess?

[thestick]

I moved the Archer further south. Right now I'm not seeing any compelling reason to not settle north of the Copper. Settling on the hills means the plant is way too forward for my tastes.


Tankra whipped his capital down from Size 2 to Size 1. On the same turn, his power spiked again. He whipped out a third Dog Soldier! (Incidentally, I love how we can see Tankra's capital but he can't see ours.)

AH came in on the turn roll, and...

...we have horses! Best spot for Horse City seems to be 1SW of the horses, picking up Horses, Deer, and Fish immediately, and Sheep later.

For Tech, do we want to pick up Fishing to hook up the Crabs at Copper City? I'm thinking yes.

The build order is pretty much Archer -> Worker -> Settler or Military Unit, depending on the situation. Of course, if the Dogs appear, I'll probably forgo the Worker for more units.

For the second city, what do we sink hammers into? We don't have Pottery for Granaries or Mysticism for Monuments. Without a plains hill forest, a Worker will take some time. We could always just sink hammers into an Archer.

[thestick]

Here come the Dogs!


We finished another Archer on the turn roll, but this still doesn't feel too good. We only have one Archer in the north... at least he only brought two of the three dogs. We have the advantage that the copper is to the south of Krakatoa, so he'll have to walk around the city to pillage our connection. I can't think of any good idea on how to block those troops. We can't move our second Archer forward fast enough to block the tundra deer. We could start moving our Archer back.

I'm pretty sure he won't capture Krakatoa, I'm just worried about being pillaged to the Pre-Stone Age. (We're already in the Stone Age!)

I met Sian's warrior in the Northwest. City should be planted next turn.

[Bigger]

well hell, how many turns until AH? I really hope horses are in the BFC of one of our cities

[thestick]

See two posts up. :neenernee

Horses aren't in any of our cities. Oh well.

I was thinking we could move the Archer 1SW of the Deer (pulling a picture from earlier)


That forces him to stomach the river crossing penalty (I think...) or go around the lake. We place another Archer on the tundra hill forest 2W of the Deer to block/scout. I'll post an updated map with the new scouting information later. I'll also run some sims to see if he actually does take the river crossing penalty.