A Challenger Appears!

[CFCJesterFool]

I would settle where his archer is (on PH). Steal his tiles. Border cities imo should really focus on troops anyway. Settle another city for the horses.

[Tankra]

I'm not sure I agree, Jester. A few Chariots would go a very long way towards successfully getting rid of TheStick. If I settle only for the copper, I won't be able to get chariots for a very long time. And what does copper give me, really? I already have Dog Soldiers...

Otherwise, on the war front, I have 3 Dogs and a Warrior going towards him, and his Archer actually backed off when I got adjacent to it:



So, that's interesting. I finally grew back to size 2 last turn after having whipped my 3rd Dog, and my Settler will be coming out in 3 more turns. I don't think I'm *too* late with my second city (which reminds me that I should really do some more C&D and figure that out, but I have to admit I'm getting slightly lazy for that).

So, as of now I have one important decision to make: 1) settle the blue star and get a more foward position against thestick, or 2) settle the red star and get some Horses and Chariots hooked up asap, all while also getting the copper, but being on a flatlands in a less fowards position. There's also a third option which is to 3) see what I find to the South and settle in a theoretically more prosperous place while eschewing the strategic resources until my third city. I'm currently leaning towards 2, but I see the merits of the others as well. Settling the red star has the benefit of also making him unalbe to settle the plains/hill spot due to proximity, and either way I'm cultural, so I don't think I have to worry about wrestling him for control of it.

Thoughts? There's also another possibility, which is settle the green star, the one directly on the deer. If I settle the red star spot, he would be able to settle there, potentially.

Gah. Too many choices. Still have 3 nights to sleep on it though.

[Ceiliazul]

I'm not sure I agree, Jester. A few Chariots would go a very long way towards successfully getting rid of TheStick. If I settle only for the copper, I won't be able to get chariots for a very long time. And what does copper give me, really? I already have Dog Soldiers...

I agree with Jester, settle that plains hill. It's not about getting copper for yourself, but stealing it from Stick. Next settler will have to reach toward Nicolae to keep him from doing the same thing to you. Send a dog toward the plains hill on his side to keep him honest.

(The above paragraph doesn't require any fighting actually, if TheStick continues to be passive he's already lost)

Edit: is the mirror perfect so far? Even on happy resources? There's gotta be more than ivory and fur... is the south totally blocked by water?

[Tankra]

The South is not blocked by water at all actually. Currently (and finally) have a Warrior going down there to check out the goods. As I said before, my hypothesis is that it'll be more lush down there, possibly with some precious metals and other happy resources. From what I can tell, the mirror should be perfect at the top, and variance in resources is probably more to the South.

I see your point about the plains/hills. It's true that it would most probably leave him enough room to make a city there hypothetically, which would suck. I can always make another city for the Horses (which wouldn't be too bad of a city, sharing a Sheep with my capital and having Fish, Deer and Horses).

Another interesting thing about the plains/hill is the water bridge that it gives me access to. If I'm not mistaken, the water tiles North of the site are coasts, not lakes, which gives it access to creating ships. Ships that would be linked by lakes to my capital...



It could eventually shave a few turns off of moving my troops, which is always a plus. That is, of course, unless I've grossly misunderstood how these things work.

And, even MORE interestingly, I could hypothetically get my boats all the way to the other side of a player's territory with two well-placed forts (the pentagons are forts):

[Commodore]

Diagonals lakes, alas, cannot be crossed. You can break my map but you'll have to work harder on it.

[Ceiliazul]

Diagonals lakes, alas, cannot be crossed. You can break my map but you'll have to work harder on it.

Tankra, do you have a sim going yet? It can be really really helpful for testing mechanics like this.

If you do create one, make sure it has "reload random seed" checked for combat sim purposes later.

I look forward to seeing what you find in the south.

Edit: I don't expect you can build boats in your capital anyway, with that tiny lake being less than the required size.

[Tankra]

Aww. But it looked so enticing! I guess that explains the peaks flanking the lake tile there; you'd planned against us being able to canal our way across that easily. Shoulda known.

And I wasn't talking about building the boat in my capital, but rather building it in the second city. I do have a sim going btw, I'm just not using it much at the moment, and certainly not to test whacky theories about ship movement. I really did think that diagonal lakes could be crossed. Interesting how there are obscure rules in this game that you just don't come across during normal play.

[Tankra]

Finished The Wheel and started my research of Pottery. I figured I needed Pottery before Writing, because I'll need my Granaries up before my Libraries, especially if I plan on whipping some folks.

Otherwise, found my first happiness resource down there, namely some wine. Oh well, I won't whine!



Someone should clearly shoot me for that joke. Anyways, still at the bottom of the score, although it's not breaking my heart all that much. Stickman has two Archers, and he's placing himself in a position where I believe he intends to make a stand, behind that river:



I'm thinking the best thing would be to just circle around for now, although it's just a bare flatlands behind a river... I get 60% odds with a Dog Soldier. Considering I have two Dogs and Warrior ready to attack, if I attacked him with Warrior-Dog-Dog, I would have very good chances of killing the first one, wounded as he would be by my Warrior, and a little bit better than a coinflip for killing the second one.

The way I see it, the choice all depends on what I want to do with these Dogs. I could use them purely as a blue-balling device, making it impossible for him to expand north and get strategic resources, or I could try directly for the kill. The latter option, IMO, would necessarily imply me trying to exterminate his Archers in such a relatively advantageous position. The former, however, implies splitting my troops up and just ransacking and blocking his way. It's much less glorious, but is it better in the long haul? Choices, choices...

[Tankra]

Alright, so on the stick front, turns out my planning was once more based on a false assumption about his behaviour. He actually moved his Archers to two separate forest tiles of varying use, and seemingly decided to fortify them there. My plan as of now is to completely ignore them and go to his capital and wheat farm and have a look-see.



Unfortunately, though, as you can see from the screenshot, two scouting units appeared from the West, one of them being a Warrior from Sian's lands. He's going to make my settling a little bit more annoying, cause I'll have take a care and defend my Settler from any random hostility, which might cost me a few turns off of my third dog. Grrr.

The good news is that although I've failed numerous times at predicting what in the nine hells thestick plans on doing, I'm actually not too bad at predicting how the map turns out:



My prophecy of Gold has been fulfilled, and I daresay that the grasslands NE of my Warrior seem like a pretty nice settling spot, although I'll have to get the lay of the land a bit more before I can say for sure.

Oh and I forgot to mention that my settler has just finished on EOT. He's going to be able to settle in just a few turns from now; it's going to be pretty sweet.

[Ceiliazul]

My prophecy of Gold has been fulfilled, and I daresay that the grasslands NE of my Warrior seem like a pretty nice settling spot, although I'll have to get the lay of the land a bit more before I can say for sure.

Wellie, a choice:

1) given Stick's passive stance, settle on his face
2) given your nonurgent need for copper, settle gold/cow/wheat for growth!

In my opinion, it's a question of which site is more likely to be there if you leave it for city3. If you think your dogs can delay Stick enough to get the copper with your 3rd city, then by all means settle the gold!

And, a final item to throw on the priority list: you simply must shake loose a dog to keep tabs on nicolae. Giving him free reign to settle you from that side is probably not a good idea. Keep him honest.