[PB22-SPOILERS] HAKFlakes...the cereal that will choke you until we win

[HitAnyKey]

After posting the previous post, I noticed my bigger issue right now...with my eastern neighbor Gavagai.




This turn he'll be settling a city on that forest tile, with it's borders right up against Golden Grahams. Makes sense, since he's trying to secure the Sheep/Gold/Iron/Spices/Oasis...and would share the Cows with his eastern city. So glad that Judaism spread to GG last turn, so at least I'll get a border pop before he does. Then I just need to pump culture buildings into that city to hold it. But that's going to be our conflict zone. I was sending the Axe I just built (first one) in Reese Puffs north to the new city Trix, but have redirected him to GG. Also have my first Archer getting there soon too. So that city shortly will have Warrior/Archer/Axeman/War Chariot as defense. And eventually will put a Spearman in there. The walls the city is currently building will switch to Barracks as soon as I cancel my stone trade with mackoti.
Something tells me I'm going to have a two-fronted war sometime in the near future between two powerful players. I'm gonna get squished.

[HitAnyKey]

In world news, awhile back I had gotten maps of Gawdzak (to Gavagai's east) on his own island and Furungy (to GermanJoey's east). I know these have changed a lot since then, since they would likely have settled more cities...but this gives a general picture.





And down south of me, there was conflict between REMAI & Dreylin. REMAI must have settled the island between the two of them...and then Dreylin declared war, razed a city and took the city you can see in this screenshot. Just happened last turn (or the turn prior). They used two Galleys & a Trireme at minimum based on what I can see there, using Axes & Chariots.

[HitAnyKey]

Now for the domestics.....I'm severely lacking in Workers, since I rushed to get out cities both to catch up to everyone else and while building the HG. As soon as I get out a little more military, I'll be having cities making Workers whenever they can since I have a LOT of tiles that need improvement. Especially on my eastern front. And Cheerios will be making a Settler after it's Archer so that I can go settle that Marble spot before mackoti comes across the continent.




I have 7 workers for 9 cities, and that's just horrible. So right now it's tough to know where I need to send them first.



I have a worker at Reeses Puffs making the plantation on the Spices. Trix will uses that tile while that worker than moves north to the Cows and then Furs.
Another worker will finish the Rice farm at Honey Nut in 4 turns, and then I need to decide where to send him. Possibly north to improve tiles around the soon-to-be marble city.
A worker just moved to the Grass/Forest/Hill north of Bran Flakes to chop then mine that.
Another worker will get to the plains hill north of Honey Nut to build a mine there on the river.

The last 3 workers are currently in the south:


The one by Fruit Loops will finish his GH mine next turn, and then will need somewhere to go. Thinking I should send him next to Cheerios on the grass rivers, because that city can continue to grow onto cottages. Let him be the core worker for improvements at Cheerios & FL.
Had two workers that just finished the next Sugar plantation. One will be heading over to the new Golden Grahams city to improve those Cows, then the Gold.
The other will mine the PH northeast of the plantation he just finished. That city needs some good hammer production now that it has all that food capability. After that he should probably build the last plantation before heading off to help elsewhere. Then that city can grow onto specialists for awhile.

Any thoughts from you on the worker management? Other than the fact that I need to BUILD MOAR WORKERZ!!!!

As for tech path, I was originally planning on getting Literature next to try to build the Great Library, but not sure how viable that is. Especially with both mackoti & Gavagai encroaching my borders and likely needing to build up military. So don't really know what to do for tech. Forgot to take a screenshot of the tree before logging out, so if you have any questions, just ask.

Here's a couple demos:

mackoti has an insane GNP (as to be expected) and I have an absolutely pitiful crop yield.

Ok, that's it for now. Time to do some work.

[Cornflakes]

How many war chariots do you have right now? I think you need to deal with Gavagai's city plant ASAP, because once he gets cultural defensive bonus you're going to need siege and a full-blown attack. What is he guarding that settler with? I suggest moving all WC in that direction, but keep them out of sight (i.e. in the city behind the Gold hill and forest). Don't open borders. I can give more specifics once you tell me the size of your/his force. A road on that Gold is a natural tile improvement, and it will allow you to 1-turn his city from the fog. Guard the worker with a spear if you have one, otherwise axe.

[HitAnyKey]

This is a screenshot of our units:




Three of the WC's are not really usable (right now) for taking care of Gavagai. One is on the Galley I'm sending west to go find plako. One is currently an MP unit in one of the new northern cities, and the other is running protection in that north for keeping an eye on mackoti and will protect the settler & worker I'll eventually be sending up there to build the Marble city.
There is one in GG right now, and one in RP (as MP unit) that can be sent to GG quickly enough if need be. And one north of Trix that can get to GG in 5 turns.
For building new ones I can finish one in Cheerios in 2 turns, Lucky Charms & Crispix each in 4 turns, and one in Fruit Loops in 5 turns. Maybe less for one or two of these depending on growth.

He's got the settler guarded by an Axe/Spear. So if I attack the city, I would likely lose the first 1 or 2 chariots against the Spear. And that's if he doesn't get an Archer in there before I can do anything.
No idea how many WC's I'd need for an attack to take the city. But if I need at least 5 or 6, it'll likely be close to 10 turns before I can attack it. That should be plenty of time before it's borders pop, unless he has insta Judaism spread (or has a Missionary ready to spread it).
Then the big worry is what he does in retaliation. I assume I'd want to raze the city if I'm even able to take it. And I doubt he'll accept peace after my doing so. And that whole thing will likely get mackoti pushing south to attack me from the other side. I'd hope he'd take that advantage to attack the distracted Gavagai, in hoping that he can easily eliminate me later as the weaker player...but that's a slim chance.

EDIT: Suppose I can/should send at least one of the two WCs in my NW over that way. The one being the MP unit can probably leave that city, as it can be left empty for a little while. At least until it has time to build it's own Archer. I'll start sending stuff over there next turn to see what type of force I can muster in the next 10 turns.
I've never really done much early (even though in actuality this isn't even all that early) wartime stuffs. But that is why I chose this civ, for using the WC's for such. And if it costs me the game by then getting dogpiled by Gavagai & mackoti....at least I made the attempt and hopefully learned something of early warfare.

[Cornflakes]

Warfare (early & late) is all about timing. You want to hit the enemy when he is not prepared. I would put 1-turn into road on that Gold, and then start mining. Cancel worker action each turn, so that you can evaluate each turn whether to finish the road and move in, or continue putting turns into the mine. I'll post more thoughts when I'm on my laptop at home as smartphone keyboard is cumbersome

[HitAnyKey]

Ok, so right now if I looked at things correctly.....in 5 turns I'd be able to attack with 8 WCs. He currently has an Axe/Spear in the city, and another Spear on the Sheep (which he just had two workers finish pasture/roading). So that spear will likely also end up in the city. If he adds any other spears (or even War Elephants if he's reached Construction) to the city, then I'm likely screwed. I'm still hoping I can take the city with it having 2 spears. His power graph has been spiking higher a lot faster than mine has. So he has a ton of military somewhere. Something tells me he's building up in his shadows to attack me. If so, then he has probably been building to counter against my WC's...and if that's the case, he'll be able to steamroll over me and that's the end of it. I'm starting to build some Archers as well in my distant cities, and a Spear in the north, and will build some more spears after these last couple WCs are done. But if he's got a War Elephant army ready to come at me...well....goodbye.

[HitAnyKey]

Forgot to take a screenshot, but my WC (via Galley) just landed on the north western continent (likely somewhere east of plako and way NE of Commodore), and found a barb city. Next turn I get to see what's defending it. If it's not a Spear I'll be able to take it. Sadly it's really too far away to keep as a colony. Since I assume the maintenance costs would be obscene. Next turn when I see it, and before I attack (if I can), I'll try to post a picture so you can offer any opinion on if it's even worth trying to keep it.

EDIT: Decided to log back in and take the screenshot. It's almost 15 tiles directly NW of my capital.



And while I was in, I took a screenie of the homeland. Commodore just recently landed a scout in my lands, which he's using to explore. It's currently on the hill next to Fruit Loops.
The troops are all headed east, but I'm having to stage them north of Reeses Puffs because Gavagai has a scout nearby that I'm betting next turn he moves it onto that hill between my cities, which would give him visibility inside both cities. Though if he moves it NW to the coast, he'll see the chariots north of RP.




I think this is all just going to be one big sloppy mess...but at least it should be fun....for you guys to watch.

[HitAnyKey]

Something else I've idly been thinking about. Since I'm in job transition (ie. was laid off) I'm home all the time while doing the job hunt and a little contract work....so I can (have mostly have been) play the turns as soon as they flip. But I've noticed a lot of people tend to try to wait to have the second half of the turn for declaring war. Is there any reason to try to start getting myself into the second half of the turn or am I just as well off attacking before him on the turn? Not sure if I'd have the patience to wait for him to play before doing my turn for the next few turns. Plus that might tip him off (if he's not already) that I'm trying to start always having myself be after him in the turn, when I've been before him almost every other time.

[HitAnyKey]

So I just noticed in the trade routes that Gavagai is trading away both his sources of Ivory. So unless he already previously built some War Elephants, he certainly isn't doing so now. He's sending Ivory to GJ in exchange for Whale & 4gpt. And he's sending Ivory to Adrien in exchange for Silver. And the Power for both Adrien & GJ have been growing off the charts....so I wonder if Gavagai's funneling of Ivory to them both has been allowing them each to build War Elephants to fight each other. LOL I don't know how long these trades have been going on though. Don't know why I didn't think to check those trades before now.

Also, mackoti just offered me Open Borders and a Map trade. I accepted both. Probably not the best of ideas, but I've been REALLY wanting to know if he's been settling towards Gavagai or only just towards me.
They certainly are in contention for land over there. But kind of sadly, mackoti's power is very low. So as much as I'd hope he attacks Gavagai from that side when I attack from this side...I'm sure it wouldn't happen.





The barb city over on the other continent had 3 Warriors in it. I killed the first one. Next turn I'll kill the next one. Then just need to decide if I wait for the city to grow before killing the last one in case there's a chance it might be a good idea to keep the city. I'm almost tempted to keep it, since it gives me an automatic foothold over there. It's just SO DAMN FAR AWAY....though I guess 15 tiles isn't really obscene. After all, mackoti's western city is easily that far from his capital. Then again, he has an amazing GNP that can afford it.