[SPOILERS] Aggressive Creations. Kublai Khan of Netherlands played by yuris125

[yuris125]

T105

I'm not in too bad a shape, actually. Just checked the demos, and I'm solid 2nd or 3rd in every category that matters. Obviously whoever has the size 14 city is the big leader, but I'm not as far behind as I thought. Apart from GNP. I'm very far down in terms of economy. But in a better shape than I was 5 turns ago, because my first gems are connected

Unfortunately I didn't take a screenshot of the demos, will do so shortly

Here's my plan to improve the economy



This spot is awesome. 2 food sources, 2 gems, plains iron. Plus 3 forests which I hope to chop post-Math. Plus a fish which Rego wants is in the first ring, and I'm Creative, so his city will never get it. I know he needed his city for horses, but I want it to be as much a liability as possible. I was thinking about the safer spot 1SW, but this one is too good, I have to try to get it. If I manage to do so, I think I will be in good shape to get to Currency in a reasonable time

[yuris125]

T155

It's been 50 turns since the last update, sorry about this, hopefully I will pick up reporting. Not much interesting happened lately, but I expect things to start picking up

This is my chunk of land on the starting continent (part of Commodore's army which attacks Cyneheard is also visible)





As I planned from early turns, I moved the capital to Tarsonis, it's a better city than Aiur, and closer to the middle of the empire. The jungle belt has been significantly reduced, and I will continue removing those jungles. All my border cities have 4 units for defence; it won't be enough against a strong push, but Commodore seems to be preoccupied with Cyneheard, and Rego's military is even weaker than mine, so I don't expect an attack any time soon

Here's an island in the east



Quite underwhelming land, to be frank. But a chunk of land is a chunk of land, it still can have decent cities. Rego tried to settle here as well, Thyrador VIII is a city he founded. But I had an Axe garrisoning Deadman's Port, and another one arrived on a Galley on the same turn Rego founded the city, and protected it with just 1 Archer. I moved both Archers towards the city, and suggested Rego to surrender it for 100g. He refused, tried to give me a free resource and gpt instead, but I didn't want his city on my island. So I refused, declared war, and he decided not to fight, asking for 125g for the city, which I agreed to. There are 2 more cities I can have on this island, and a Galley with a Settler is on the move towards the easternmost spot, which I think is the last one Rego can contest

I also have an island in the south



This land is even worse, but seafood can support 3 cities which can then work some specialists. Don't see why not. Especially as Netherlands, doesn't look like this game will be decided before Steam Power, so Dikes will come into play, and these cities will be able to get hammers from coastal tiles. There was a barb city on this island, which I've been trying to capture for 30 turns or so - Archers were winning battles against my Swords like it was nothing. The worst battle was when a CR2 Sword had a 70% odds on the last Archer, I had a Chariot ready to clean up if the Sword failed - but he failed miserably, Archer ended up being undamaged, and I had to wait 10 turns until I could build another Sword and bring him over. Still, I didn't have Settlers to found the cities I planned, so it didn't delay anything

Here's another island I'd like to grab



It's in NW from me, not far from Cyneheard - but Cyneheard has other things on his mind at the moment. This screenshot also shows the part of the map which prevents anyone from grabbing a pre-Astronomy circumnav bonus

Astronomy is going to be my next tech target. I had my doubts about it, because I would prefer to bulb Astronomy, but it means I can't research Civil Service (because it unlocks Paper, which is higher in GS's bulb order). I do want to spread irrigation, and Paper is also a very important tech in the mod, because it unlocks bonuses for techs known by others. But I also feel that getting East Indiamen is very important, and grabbing circumnav with them is even more important. Galleons which have higher strength, higher capacity, and also higher speed? Yes please, thank you very much. So I'm researching Machinery now, following it up with Compass and Optics; a Great Scientist should be ready by the time I get these techs

I also have a Great Merchant, who will start a Golden Age in maybe 10 turns or so. It is clear that I will not have Civil Service fast enough, so no Bureaucracy for me, I'll have to go with Vassalage. But if I adopt Vassalage, I want to be ready to start building units. And this is not the case yet. Other civics I will adopt during the golden age are Hereditary Rule and Organised Religion (I didn't yet make any civic changes since adopting Slavery). I thought about also adopting Serfdom, but the cities I planned will not be able to get off the ground without Slavery, so I'll have to keep it for now

Demos



Krill is ahead of everyone else, I'm also behind either Nakor or Scooter/Dazed (don't have graphs from either, and didn't even meet Scooter/Dazed yet). But a solid 3rd place, I'm reasonably happy about it. If I get Knight after Astronomy (or even before it) and kill someone with Knights and East Indiamen (Rego is the prime candidate), I should be in a good shape by the time industrial era and Dikes hit

[spacemanmf]

Why not have the middle tundra island city a little further north to get access to more seafood?

[yuris125]

I'm considering it, but so far I think I would prefer to workshop the grassland tiles rather than found a city on them. The currently planned location also has a minor tactical value as a canal

[spacemanmf]

I'm considering it, but so far I think I would prefer to workshop the grassland tiles rather than found a city on them. The currently planned location also has a minor tactical value as a canal

Yeah, I thought about both those things. It looks like you grab the same number of grassland tiles either way.

Plus you could fort the plains tile and then the tundra tile once your culture extends that far.

EDIT: There's also the strategic element of having your cities closer together - better for defence (and slightly reduced maintenance!).