[Spoilers] Gavagai, Bacchus and Elizabeth Form a Romantic Trio

[suttree]

Also, a mechanic question for lurkers. With coast fully defogged between our capital and Egypt borders as visible on the first screen, will we get a trade connection with them after we research sailing?

No. You need a route (road/coast/river) to a city. Culture isn't enough.

[Bacchus]

What are you doing with Dusty? Why is he walking around and not healing to scout the peninsula?

[Gavagai]

He will heal in place and then will scout west along the coast.

[Gavagai]

Demos do suck after whip. They were even worse until two other guys whipped after us - we were last both in food and MFG.

Other news:
1. Egypt improved the cow.
2. We got a religion spread in Yark.

[Gavagai]

I'm considering an early war with Egypt yet again. It's just that I don't see any positive long-term strategy for us if Egypt takes floodplain region uncontested. We can take Mathematics from the Oracle and have something like eight axes and five chariots ready for battle by T76. The key here will be to conceal the fact that we can build chariots until they are revealed in numbers and hope that they will whip a lot of axes to react to our own axes.
Of course, if he has horses than we are a toast.

[Bacchus]

To contest the floodplains region we do not need an all-out war, nor stacks sufficient to take over multiple cities. We need enough units to make the area too hairy for building a city and to destroy any improvements that he builds on the floods (which takes a while, thankfully). I'm pretty sure a good show of force will redirect his expansion efforts elsewhere, at least for a while.

[Gavagai]

What exactly do you suggest to send there and when?

[Bacchus]

I suggest sending most units that we build there as soon as they are built, provided they can reach the region safely. I also think we should be OK just building units naturally in Yark. I will have a look at the timetable of their completion in the evening and come up with some sort of plan. My only worry is that they will settle the fourth before we get even the first unit there. First of all we should park an axe on the hill that is the most likely city-placement spot.

[Gavagai]

They can do the same thing faster. This way they will takeover this region eventually.

[Gavagai]

To be clear - my idea is not just to contest floods. Target is to take floods AND the copper city. Tech to catapults after that and eliminate them. In my sims I had 10 axes and 8 chariots on T78 without causing an overwhelming stress to our economy. This is starting from non-threatening four axes on T72. If we use this force skillfully, we should be able to reach our goals.