[SPOILERS] Serdoa, Ichabod and Ex-Girlfriends - co-starring NH,Bigger and Lewwyn

[Serdoa]

Overview T16:




Scout is on the gold in the north, a wolf is nearby. We do have odds to win, despite the scout being at 0.9 health. But with 100% vs animals and 25% from the hill he is still at ~2 against the 1 of the wolf. Lets hope the RNG is with us.

Apart from that, there really is not much to tell. The corn farm finishes next turn. Warrior in 4 I think, growth happens at the same time. BW as can be seen is still 8 turns away. Tech costs are really high. Everyone who needs several techs to get his start or the nearby cities up to speed will be at a disadvantage early on. That does include us But we do have quite a bit of land to backfill. Unfortunately not really good land, though I suppose it could be worse.

Tbh, I am a little bit sad that this is not RB-Mod. I would go straight for Oracle into MC, not questions asked. Colossus + Workshops that are actually worthwhile to build already at Caste would be great with this land. Not enough food to whip, but plenty of coast to work. Not enough hills for production and not enough rivers for irrigation without CS. But enough green to put down some workshops that can be worked, even with the low amount of food.

But as this is not RB-Mod, there is not much to do with MC except for Colossus. Which isn't bad and with the land to backfill we don't need to worry too much about running out of land to expand into if we stunt our growth with a wonder early on. I just don't like going the wonder-route yet again I guess.

[Rowain]

Are there any news to be had?

[Serdoa]

If they game hadn't crashed, there might have been. The first warrior has wandered south and uncovered the first row of tiles, unfortunately without any resources. BUT the scout has uncovered a second fish, 3N2W of the pig (so 2W of the fish there). A city there wouldn't be that bad, though it does mean that a city on the stone is even less attractive. Reason of course because that would be a city with 3 6-food resources (2 fish, 1 pig). But the stone-city wants the pig as well, and the cottage city directly north of the capital would probably want it as well, though it can probably get along without it for the most time. Still, 2 cities, 1 sharing corn with cap and pig with NE-city, having stone in 2nd ring and just being a cottage city, and a second one for the NE looks currently much better than settling on the stone.

2 turns left to decide what to tech after BW, around 3-4 turns till we know what is west of the ivory as scout will reach that soonish. Its kinda annoying really, as SH would be great for the plan that is NOT settling on Stone while it isn't necessary for the plan that is settling on it... *sigh* Lets hope there is something in the water for food west of the ivory.

[Serdoa]

Well... there is finally something to talk about.




Overview:




So, where to settle? The rice could at least be improved and depending on where we settle we might just need two roaded tiles for a trade-connection. But settling for the rice is probably only possible if we forget about the fish forever. Yes, I really should not have moved away from it I guess...

Also, with the land in the north being rather not that great and the land in the south being nearly non-existant as it looks right now, I feel we really have to play for Oracle -> Colossus. We will know next turn where copper is, what might have some influence on our settling decision. But in general, I'm not sure what to do.

[Ichabod]

If we settle on the forest there's room for a fish city. Not sure if that's worth, though.

I agree with the Colossus. Remember that we don't exactly need the Oracle to get MC. We could tech it the normal way. If the Oracle builder doesn't go for MC, we'd probably get the Colossus. I think it goes along well with a Stonehenge play (I also think Stonehenge play allows for a city 2N1W of the rice, enabling fish and forest), since we can delay the religious techs for a while with it, meaning more beakers to be spent on MC (yeah, no cheap Ziggurats, but those will be useful later too).

We could also risk going for the Oracle. We could get Pyramids. Or forget about this and beeline Currency for TRs (in that case, let's prioritize sailing, so we can get some International TRs soon - I'm sure there are islands around).

I think a slow teched MC is feasible and we can plan to two turn (or close to it) the Colossus after MC. We'll definetely have time for doing and readying the plan.

[Ichabod]

Another idea: settle the second city on the stone and the third city 2N1W of rice. Chop Stonehenge on the third city. Would it be possible?

[Bigger]

Another idea: settle the second city on the stone and the third city 2N1W of rice. Chop Stonehenge on the third city. Would it be possible?

I like that. scouting will help as well, maybe the fish can be reached by another landmass in the fog? (like a peninsula of our current continent that juts up).

[NobleHelium]

Well...I still want to see the area west of the ivories. Which will be in two turns, I know.

[Serdoa]

Well, in the area west of the ivories is... ocean. There is one tile left which we will reveal next turn, but I wouldn't get my hopes up for anything there tbh.

@Ichabod

The chop SH in 3rd city idea might be viable. Not 1-turning it unfortunately or having to wait till we have Maths at well, which is like T70 (?) and we won't have 3 workers in place to chop the forests at the same turn either so it would be a 5-turns build I think. I mean we can always just put 10 hammers per turn into it (mined PH + city center doubled by Stone) and after 6 turns finish two forest-chops. That wouldn't lose us much, the forests could be redirected into a settler or worker if SH is build in between.

As for slow-teching MC: It costs 729 beakers on this map. We make 11 right now, 13 with bonus. That's 56 turns Given we will get cottages and stuff before, but 150 hammers for 729 beakers is hard to pass up when you need all the techs for it anyhow. The issue comes with building it without Marble. We have a natural production of 15 hammers per turn after improving the ivories and the GH. That's 10 turns of the capital just working on Oracle. With overflow we could maybe shave 3 turns off if I really try hard to cascade overflow, which in itself is kinda hard at this point.

[Serdoa]

T26 Overview:




Some good (Clam) and some bad (no seafood in the west). A city on the GLH to get the fish and the clams seems viable now. But settling it there does need some kind of "help" I think so that the first workboat and first growth isn't taking forever.

Also I realized that I did something wrong yesterday and no one did call me on it. If you look at my calculation for SH in the third city they are off. I had quick-speed and 13 hammers per chop in mind, not 20 hammers. So in reality that means we just need to work 3 turns the PH in that city and then finish 2 chops on the 4th turn to finish SH. That's definitely doable. And would probably also open up the possibility to leave one forest for the fish/clam city to get the first workboat out.

So settling pattern would be: First city 3S1W of cap, doing a 12 turn worker build (have to check if cap can share PH at that point). Second city on the stone, road connections in place (have to check how to get the worker turns for that), build SH in 1st city as soon as settled. 4th city on GLH for Clams, Fish.

First city in the south instead of stone because we can use another worker and it should be quicker IF settling on Stone isn't providing a 2-hammer-center. Someone knows for certain? Else I'd have to test that. If it does provide a 2-hammer-center, settling first on Stone is better than down south, as it can take the FP from the cap which that isn't using anyhow.