[SPOILERS] Charriu and Zalson are fighting the honorable post count war!

[Zalson]

I think this means we need to eat RFS-81 sooner rather than later. Once we find horses, perhaps we start poking around?

[Charriu]

About that: Animal Husbandry will finish next turn and I will have to decide on the next techs. I see the following options in order of my priority:

1. Sailing: Let's us see what resources Shallow and RFS have. We also need it if we want to do that sneak attack with swordsmen on galleys. And we also need it to settle that island south of the cap.
   
2. Iron Working: We will need it to improve the terrain north-east of us. Additionally the swordsmen could be used against RFS
   
3. Masonry: Mainly for the walls against Shallow, but also to connect the marble at Wind Raptor
   
4. Mysticism/Religion: Nobody has founded a religion as of now.
   
5. Writing: Karlabos could work enough food tiles to give us an early scientist. It's also needed for important follow up techs.
   
6. Horseback Riding: To attack RFS really hard.
   

[Zalson]

It looks like the choice is between writing and sailing, since we want that over water city sooner rather than later? Early libraries and an early scientist seems valuable? right now we'd get a scientist/academy around T75?

[Charriu]

T51:

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Quite a lot happened this turn. So let's get on with it.



International: I founded Karlabos as planned. As you can see I also moved my warrior back. I will keep him stationed on that hill, so that I see any potential danger from Shallow, while still being able to protect Karlabos if needed. Shallow did not move the warrior towards us. I was thinking about exploring more of his area, but found the protection of my new city more important. He also started putting espionage into me.



I think the question about our north-eastern neighbor has been answered. Welcome Superdeath, please stay at your side of the continent and bother Coeurva   Notice also my workboat at the southern edge of the screen. I have one extra turn of movement with it, which I will use to look at RFS' city.




Sometimes you have to admire this game for it subtle attempts at art. Nice shape. I suspect that RFS and Shallow have contact for a longer time now, so maybe his potential Immortal rush goes toward RFS. We have to keep an eye on that.



Should I be concerned about RFS? Or are these power spikes just spearmen against Shallow?



Last but not least, just as I promised with the 3rd ring border pop from the capital we will have a good view on that island south. Well that'll be a 1 tile island city with crab and whales and an obvious location for moai.

To summarize:

I'm not especially afraid of Superdeath Impi's right now. He just gave Magic a beating, but he has to be more concerned about Coeurva, who also just founded his 4th city. Shallow can still be dangerous, it's possible that he will attack RFS, because they know each other longer and RFS already started some military production. By the way RFS is still the only player at 2 cities. Magic also has 2 but he already founded and lost his 3rd.
I will have to settle that island down south mainly for the happiness from whale, but I think trying to settle towards the gold and gems is more important right now. There are still some questions to be answered:

1. Should we try to expand to the gold and gems or should we just try to eat RFS?
   
2. Where are the horses?
   
3. If we attack RFS. Should we do it by horse or with the sword/axe?
   
4. What will Shallow do?
   

I think the next turn and the discovery of Animal Husbandry will give as a few more answers.

[Charriu]

Oh and I noticed that Coeurva has decided on a theme:

"Reich der Träume"

That's german and translates to Kingdom of Dreams.

[Charriu]

T52 Part 1:

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As promised Animal Husbandry was discovered. We have horses in Wind Raptor, which is also the only horses that I've seen on the whole map so far. I expect the other to have horses in a similar place around their capitol.
The work boat did not see anything interesting at RFS, but I also could only move 1 tile towards him, otherwise it will be to late to improve the crab.



Another small detail that I noticed. Superdeath declared war on Coeurva at some point. I suspect that it's only a scout being killed, but it's good to know.

[Charriu]

So to keep you up of what I'm thinking right now. Should I abandon settling the gold and instead produce chariots to attack RFS?

To answer that question I'm looking into the following:

1. How can I scout his city before I have chariot? I want to know if there are any spearmen.
   
2. How can I produce just one chariot to do the same as in 1.
   
3. How quickly can I produce chariots, by abandoning 5th and 6th city.
   

Even if I keep the plan with the 5th and 6th city, I will produce some chariots, because I can use them for zone defense. I will propably tech Sailing next, for the following reasons:

• It will allow me trade connections to RFS city without road connections
  
• I can see Shallows resources and RFS
  
• I will need galleys for an attack on RFS with swordsmen
  
• I can use the galley to scout towards Shallow's coast
  
• I can give Shallow a crab for crab trade or even copper for copper (By the way could somebody explain more about the kinds of trade-diplo?)
  
• It's needed to settle the south island
  
• I don't see me building libraries in the next 20 turns. I need to build up a defense first before thinking about libraries.
  

[Charriu]

So to keep you up of what I'm thinking right now. Should I abandon settling the gold and instead produce chariots to attack RFS?

To answer that question I'm looking into the following:

1. How can I scout his city before I have chariot? I want to know if there are any spearmen.
   
2. How can I produce just one chariot to do the same as in 1.
   
3. How quickly can I produce chariots, by abandoning 5th and 6th city.
   

To answer my questions:

1. The only way I see to scout his city is with my workboat, which is an options as I can use the sugar in Wind Raptor which has the same food value. The only problem is that I will only know what he has in his city as of now or next turn T53. By the time I can produce chariots, everything could have been changed. All the other military units are needed for happiness patrol.
   
2. To answer this first I have to know when the horse is connect. As you can see I only have one worker in the area and I definitly want to build a road on the copper first, so I can whip spearmen against Shallow. This means that the pasture will be finished in T59 and a road on it in T61. I also assume that I need the road, because otherwise the horse is not connected. With all that I can whip a chariot in T62 in Wind Raptor, which would could have vision on his city in T64, but would have to declare war against RFS otherwise I can't get close enough to see. The problem, by the time I have vision I also had to decide on building more chariots, because...
   
3. With whipping I would have 4 chariots ready in T66, which could attack in T68. The big problem is that this whipping would cause unhappiness in Wind Raptor and Exdeath.
   

There's another big disadvantage in attacking RFS with chariots:

1. He did not settle any 3rd city so far, so his productions is going somewhere else.
   
2. His power has risen the last turns
   
3. He knows Shallow for quite some time and propably has graphs on Shallow
   
4. This means he may already have build spearmen in advance, because he is anticipating an immortal attack from Shallow.
   

So for all of these reasons I'm abandoning a chariot attack on RFS right now. I think it will be more promising to attack him with swordsmen or axemen on galleys, after I settled 5th and 6th.

[Zalson]

The only change I would recommend is to consider writing after sailing. Are you prepared to whip out the galley when sailing finishes? Are you prepared to load it with a settler?

If not, I may be able to help you make a plan. Remember, that spot is worth +4 commerce the moment it is founded.

[Zalson]

And the horses at wind raptor are awesome!