My name is Ozymandias, King of China: Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!

[Nicolae Carpathia]

Still no road...

Hahahahaha, SUCCESS!

Sian basically settled 1st ring against 1st ring, against a city that already had a developed food resource in itsfirst ring, without any connecting roads.

That deserves to be punished.

What to do with my capital? Marked are Sian's likely routes. I have a chop coming in this turn, I could change my hammer configuration 1-turn an axe. Or, I whip the settler, and overflow into either an axe or the 'mids.

Let's see, on Sian's T44, he is going to move onto the forest tundra hill. On his T45, he could move onto the deer, and pillage on T46.

If I build an axe this turn, with some roading action, he can move onto the deer on T45. However, I actually want Sian to move onto the deer, so I can kill the warrior (though it'll force my axe out of position for a brief period of time).

If I whip, I will get 12h overflow, plus 9h from tiles this turn, plus 10h from the chop. Plus 6 foodhammers. I'll have 46h overflow from the whip, meaning I won't be wasting any into an axe. My axe will be visible in my capital on Sian's T45, and can move onto the deer on my T46 (before his pillagin' T46). I also settle 1 turn earlier. Having to move my worker off the hill to road that tile, and then back onto the hill to finish the chop-mine, will be annoying.

But oh well, whip it is

I've been wondering, what is in the south? There are chokepoints just to the north of that land, surely it can't all be safe land. Islands? Nice that I did get circumnavigation

[NobleHelium]

Sorry Nic, but you have egregiously violated the "banter" thread. The votes for diplomacy setting (yours included) clearly stated that it was not to be a public diplomacy thread. If I were playing this game I would be demanding that you receive a penalty right now.

Although then subsequent posts murk that up. Whatever, forget I said anything. It's not really my business.

[Nicolae Carpathia]

You're right, I needed an ass kicking. I'll blame it on PB7 taking up my conceptual space.

No more diplo, more trash talking and bravado, surely I'm still allowed to cultivate an aura of invincibility?

Nevertheless, I've likely sealed my fate with the phract rush. Bring on the dogpile!

[Nicolae Carpathia]

Also, I never thought for even a second that Sian would take the deal I originally offered. Of course, that was a deliberate diplomatic tact, y'know, appear weak when you are strong, etc etc.

[Nicolae Carpathia]

Nice to see people getting called on low-military gambits.

Hahahahaha Stick doesn't know I'm actually dead last in power right now. And I'm the only one who can get a city kill. Don't I feel pro.

(I'll get a huge spike on next EoT, with 1-2 axes finishing)

[Nicolae Carpathia]

Aarrgh.

There is a worker under that axe.

Turns out Sian had a bunch of half-completed roads. Next turn he'll be able to get an axe into the city. But the kicker is that Sian doesn't have Hunting, which let him complete a warrior! The worse part is, last turn he had 6h in his box. If I had stepped my warrior onto his plains forest hill, instead of his gold hill, he wouldn't have been able to finish it, and I would have killed the city!

I took the 9.9% shot at the newly completed warrior with my warrior, died. I immediately regretted it, as otherwise Sian would have to cover his worker with his warrior next turn, and that would give me 50% odds at sniping a worker of his.

[Nicolae Carpathia]

I'm still kicking myself for failing to realise Sian could still build warriors. I got so smug about it that I stopped bothering to count the hammers in Chlamys' production bar. And if I realised he could get from 6 to 10 hammers by working the plains hill forest, that I could have stepped on... ugh. How was I to know he skipped hunting, when he had two (2) hunting resources visible at the start of the game. 2/2/1 tiles are awesome, they give hammers and they don't slow down your whip cycles. Whip cycles are so incredibly powerful, and so much easier to use when you're EXPansive. Which Sian happens to be. Argh, I can't believe he got away with that.

After mulling over what other tiles he could have been working to get the 9 base hammers per turn, I've concluded that Sian has been working a 1/2 plains forest. God, what a terrible tile, when he could have +1 food, +1c, and +1 happy with the ivory. And it's not like Hunting was a waste, considering it would save beakers towards Animal Husbandry.

People have died for lack of spears. Like Gaspar (an exaggeration, but you get the point). And Sian deliberately handicapped his ability to build spears, long after he should have realised the lack of accessible horses.

And the worse thing is, that clue was staring me in the face the whole time. I'd been noticing that Sian hadn't roaded his ivory. "Maybe he feels like he doesn't need the happiness, he can pop out the road any tile." When in fact, he doesn't have the ivory roaded, because he can't even camp the ivory in the first place!

As to what Sian is up to now? I expect a granary after Oracle. I see evidence that Sian is roading north, as there is a tip of a northern road on his city tile. I expect that Sian is going to expand north to the horses, to guarantee that he can build phracts. I am overdue to explore the southern "peninsula", maybe there are horses there?

In any case, If Sian settles 1 of the horses (the best spot, with fish, plains sheep, tundra hill deer and tundra horses), that would threaten my ability to settle my furs. Which is important, I'll need as much happy as I can scrounge up as I ignore Monarchy and those Wines. I think I'll settle on top of the furs, as there is a ridge of rough terrain to slow down any advance. The problem with that site is that the awkwardly placed rivers slow down my ability to reinforce that city from the capital.

If I find settling on top of the furs indefensible, then I can settle 44 of the furs. More defensible against slow-movers, less defensible against phracts. But yeah, the tundra north will be the next flashpoint in the war against the phracts.

[Commodore]

I thought the point was Sian settled without roading well. If his city isn't connected to copper, isn't warriors all it can make?

[Nicolae Carpathia]

Yes

Sian probably does have hunting.

[NobleHelium]

What you could have done was move the warrior 1N. That would force Sian to take a 50% shot with his warrior to clear out your warrior. If he fails his city burns, because he can't get his axe into the city and kill your warrior with it at the same time. That's assuming of course your axe can take two warriors across the river by himself.