[SPOILERS] yuris125 - PBEM55. Travelling around England

[yuris125]

Continuing south and finding Gazglum's land would be nice. But I think I have to turn around. I still need to understand what's to the west of London, what's in the east.. uncovering the land around the capital is a more immediate need than finding someone else's territory

[yuris125]

More food!



W of the gold is the obvious spot. Probably as city 3. I want to claim gold as early as possible, but still think there is value in 2nd city sharing food with the capital. Also, it's enough to build 1 road to have the Settler move to the 2nd city spot in 1 turn, while road to the gold will take a while

[yuris125]

And even more food

[yuris125]

Not food this time. For a change. Still interesting though



Scout will pick up the hut in 2 turns, then return to flood plains and explore there. First Warrior will go check the NE corner. Worker will farm the wheat, then move onto the sheep. Shameless waste of Worker turns, but improving sheep before silver is significantly better, speeds up the first Settler by a turn without losing anything (well, maybe a few beakers, but I still get all critical techs on time)

[yuris125]

Got AH from the hut. Yay! Don't see any horses though

No other news, Scout is moving around known territory for now, Worker is still farming the wheat. Hunting research finished EOT, BW next

[yuris125]

T15

Screenshot of the area to my south didn't save, will take it next turn. But I found Gazglum's border. It was just out of sight on my previous screenshots, his capital is a dozen tile to the south from mine, maybe less. With geography basically dictating my expansion to the south, that's not much. Also, this means we're in a race for the gold and the flood plains - they're closer to me, but not by much

So, here's the new order for city plants



Gold will be city #2. Flood plains city #3. This may change when copper is revealed in 4 turns, but not by much. I will have 2 Warriors for early defences, and can pick up Archery if needed

These cities are farther apart than I'd like - I prefer some overlap between my cities. But these are the best spots I see. There is a fish I'd like to claim SE-S from the planned flood plains spot, and that's the only way I can do it

This means that I need a way to pop borders to solidify the southern border and claim all the available flood plains. So after BW and Wheel I'd like to go for religion, and make the flood plains city a holy city. Spiritual leader benefits from religion a lot in any case. And if I'm going for religion, might as well try for Oracle too. This is the point of the western city. Claim the marble, claim the cow and corn, maybe even chop the Oracle right there, as it seems to be the most forested location. If I go for it, might take Currency rather than MC. It's not much cheaper, but is likely to have more immediate use, and also is a pre-req for CoL - another key tech for spiritual leader. The problem with this plan is that I need to research Writing and Maths before Currency is available, and delaying the Oracle that long will probably mean I lose it. Will think about it when I get closer

Finally, I'm more and more inclined to ignore the northern crab and settle the eastern city N of the hill, so that it claims the deer without losing anything compared to the hill city

So, immediate research plan is to finish BW - Wheel - (Archery?) - Pottery, then religion, preferably Hindu, then Masonry and Priesthood if Oracle is still available, then Writing, then either Maths - Currency or CoL. Need to fit in AH somewhere as well. Not decided on the exact order

[yuris125]

For naming theme in this game, I will use names of English cities/towns I visited. I travelled around England some amount - to visit friend, to attend Magic tournaments, and just to visit places. I do love my adopted homeland, and would like to travel more... but even now, I think I visited enough places to name all cities in this game. We'll see

[yuris125]

The Warrior in the north revealed something interesting



Did you REALLY have to stick my horses all the way up there, Commodore, huh? :P
Actually forgot that I popped AH earlier, so seeing a horse resource at all was a nice surprise. Obviously, this messes up the dotmap again. The best spot probably is where the Warrior is now, because it gets both the deer and the fish. In 2nd ring though, and the city has a lot of ice in BFC. Founding on the silk gets rid of the ice, but still no food resource in the first ring, and gives up the fish. If I'm willing to give up the fish, the best spot is probably 1W of the silk - shares the wheat, has the deer in the first ring, horses and crab in the 2nd. Think that's what I have to go for, unless I see less awkward horses somewhere

Here's the screenshot of the south I meant to take last turn



As I said, Gazglum is not far away at all...

[yuris125]

Actually, there's another possible spot - S of the horses. If I'm giving up a food resource anyway, might as well give up a 4-food tile (deer) rather than a 6-food tile (fish). That also is a very reasonable Moai spot in the future. And it leaves open a possibility of eventually settling a fishing village W of the deer. The problem is, it blocks every possible spot which uses the eastern crab and shares wheat with London. Maybe I can found S of that crab if there's more food to the east. A bear in that area makes is awkward to scout though.. with Gazglum so close, I don't want to lose my early Warriors. Do players get a free win against barbs on Monarch?

[yuris125]

Finished BW EOT18. Looked around for copper



Hrm. This can't be my nearest copper, can it?