So, we're nearing turn 100 in-game, which translates to about twenty-five turns having passed since take over. We've all made our marks on what the AI left us, lets look at some key Arid cities I've wrought. One thing to notice; I don't actually have a real production advantage over my rivals. What boosted me so impressively early were two things:
-I swapped to Serfdom, so I chopped a lot more than “them”.
-Brennus had long had Metal Casing, so I had forges up all over the place.
Beyond that, I've got the second-biggest but most-dryest empire in the world. It's a grim long-term situation but I'll give her a go.
Atacama, my capital:
As you can see, in hungry and dusty Atacama, sell stock in mines, buy in windmills. At size sixteen she'll stagnate making some pretty nice hammers and a few sad, marginal commerce. The tragicomic presence of that settled Great Prophet actually does make this the best city in the empire, but the presence of a single sad village mocks any dreams of long-term viability. The one thing I will say for the city is that it loves a golden age, all those tiles get hugely boosted. I don't really have a big plan for this place; no great people after squeezing the golden age guy out, get up a castle and some decent EP buildings, build lotsa good stuff.
Al-Kufrah, decent by elimination:
The Colossus made farm-happy Al-Kufrah worth something; in combination with the Great Lighthouse this is a pretty okay commerce spot. I toyed with making this place a Moai spot, but it sucks for natural production...until State Property comes to give me watermill joy, I think this sucker is going to have to content itself with just making me cash. Its infrastructure is a little lacking compared to some of my other cities, as Brennus had only just begun getting this city up and running upon takeover. Castle, Nationhood, enjoy EP.
El Callao, Moai Powerhouse(ish):
In the weediest weed that Brennus smoked, this perfectly adequate coastal site languished unsettled for far far too long. Now I've got a long road ahead to get it into shape to actually build the moai stone, but even now this is hilariously one of my best cities. Coastal commerce and a fish; in the Arid Empire, that's pure gold. Well, once you salt in the Great Lighthouse. Once the Moai do drop this place is gonna be epic, but I need to decide how I'm going to manage them sooner rather than later. This is one of the only cities that I could actually see drafting, ain't that sad?
Mohave, wonder land:
Ah, Ruff, Ruff, Ruff...so many hammers sunk here, making it basically required for someone to come and take them away. This is my only prize from the huge war against Khmer, and I'd consider it worthwhile to do it again in an instant. I'm going to dump a Great Artist bomb into here and that should enable some movement against Ruff again, as well as kind of screwing up Retep offensives. It might piss off Retep, but dude is in a massive tech race right now against the real leader, so he'll probably stick to the smart play and keep on teching. His funeral, otherwise!
Dry Valley, lush oasis:
Okay, that's lush oasis by this world's standards. It's getting a bumper crop of windmills, first south in the riverland, then north in the dusty spine hills. Cities like this one oddly tickle me; its kind of like my capital only moreso. The deity infrastructure in these places is frankly insane, by the way. But yeah, basically just hammer out crap while enjoying a paltry coin or two. I actually upon reflection might just mine the north hills, as health is going to be hurting this city for a long, long time. Do you people see what Brennus left me to work with here! Good freakin' grief.
~Break~
Anyway, that was my cities a few turns back; a couple other things have happened since but it's been mostly very buildy. Molach is still waiting for something or other...here are his workers swarming about to chop crap in Navajo. Boy this city was a real coup of a barb capture, wasn't it?
I converted to Pacifism and Caste, and then used the resultant prophet out of Atacam to launch a golden age. Mohave is starving anyway, so I turned it to all-artists. Two turns after coming out of revolt, we come to this turn:
Booyah. Now I'll get one more GP out of here next turn and then we'll be nice and stabilized in the population wicket. I'm just going to chain two golden ages at once; I'm spiritual so I don't need them for swaps and I must get the minimum knights/muskets/Nationhood done as quickly as possible. It's a hard world out there.
But one hell of a fun one!
-I swapped to Serfdom, so I chopped a lot more than “them”.
-Brennus had long had Metal Casing, so I had forges up all over the place.
Beyond that, I've got the second-biggest but most-dryest empire in the world. It's a grim long-term situation but I'll give her a go.
Atacama, my capital:
As you can see, in hungry and dusty Atacama, sell stock in mines, buy in windmills. At size sixteen she'll stagnate making some pretty nice hammers and a few sad, marginal commerce. The tragicomic presence of that settled Great Prophet actually does make this the best city in the empire, but the presence of a single sad village mocks any dreams of long-term viability. The one thing I will say for the city is that it loves a golden age, all those tiles get hugely boosted. I don't really have a big plan for this place; no great people after squeezing the golden age guy out, get up a castle and some decent EP buildings, build lotsa good stuff.
Al-Kufrah, decent by elimination:
The Colossus made farm-happy Al-Kufrah worth something; in combination with the Great Lighthouse this is a pretty okay commerce spot. I toyed with making this place a Moai spot, but it sucks for natural production...until State Property comes to give me watermill joy, I think this sucker is going to have to content itself with just making me cash. Its infrastructure is a little lacking compared to some of my other cities, as Brennus had only just begun getting this city up and running upon takeover. Castle, Nationhood, enjoy EP.
El Callao, Moai Powerhouse(ish):
In the weediest weed that Brennus smoked, this perfectly adequate coastal site languished unsettled for far far too long. Now I've got a long road ahead to get it into shape to actually build the moai stone, but even now this is hilariously one of my best cities. Coastal commerce and a fish; in the Arid Empire, that's pure gold. Well, once you salt in the Great Lighthouse. Once the Moai do drop this place is gonna be epic, but I need to decide how I'm going to manage them sooner rather than later. This is one of the only cities that I could actually see drafting, ain't that sad?
Mohave, wonder land:
Ah, Ruff, Ruff, Ruff...so many hammers sunk here, making it basically required for someone to come and take them away. This is my only prize from the huge war against Khmer, and I'd consider it worthwhile to do it again in an instant. I'm going to dump a Great Artist bomb into here and that should enable some movement against Ruff again, as well as kind of screwing up Retep offensives. It might piss off Retep, but dude is in a massive tech race right now against the real leader, so he'll probably stick to the smart play and keep on teching. His funeral, otherwise!
Dry Valley, lush oasis:
Okay, that's lush oasis by this world's standards. It's getting a bumper crop of windmills, first south in the riverland, then north in the dusty spine hills. Cities like this one oddly tickle me; its kind of like my capital only moreso. The deity infrastructure in these places is frankly insane, by the way. But yeah, basically just hammer out crap while enjoying a paltry coin or two. I actually upon reflection might just mine the north hills, as health is going to be hurting this city for a long, long time. Do you people see what Brennus left me to work with here! Good freakin' grief.
~Break~
Anyway, that was my cities a few turns back; a couple other things have happened since but it's been mostly very buildy. Molach is still waiting for something or other...here are his workers swarming about to chop crap in Navajo. Boy this city was a real coup of a barb capture, wasn't it?
I converted to Pacifism and Caste, and then used the resultant prophet out of Atacam to launch a golden age. Mohave is starving anyway, so I turned it to all-artists. Two turns after coming out of revolt, we come to this turn:
But one hell of a fun one!
If only you and me and dead people know hex, then only deaf people know hex.
I write RPG adventures, and blog about it, check it out.
I write RPG adventures, and blog about it, check it out.
