[Spoilers] RFS-81 and haphazard1 don't know RtR, but won't let that stop them

[RFS-81]

Two turns on, and I met a warrior of superdeath on my way to scout around the gold city location.

   

My scout to the west found shallow_thought's*  borders. I'm feeling boxed in!

   

*Hitru is playing turns for him

Workers are building a pasture for the pigs at Rocky Paths, a cottage near Lighthouse, and a road to Rocky Paths. Lighthouse also whipped a new worker for 2 pop. Also, it turns out that Golden Void grows in 5 turns and is out of whip unhappiness on that same turn. I'd love to say I planned it this way

Now, about further expansion. Shallow_though is also close, so he might grab the silver location.

   

I'd love to have both the gold and silver city, of course, but if I have to choose, I'd rather have the silver city because it has both food and silver in the first ring. So I think that's where I should send my next settler.

The unit list turned out uninformative, as expected. Here's the power graph:

   

Not sure where the small dip comes from...

[WilliamLP]

The power rating comes from certain techs, buildings, units, and also population, which gets divided by two and rounded down. So whipping can cause power to dip a bit.

[haphazard1]

WilliamLP answered the power question already. Pop is one component of your power score, so whips will show up as (usually) small drops this early in the game. Later on unless you get multiple whips in one or two turns the change will often not be noticable against the background of other factors like tech, units, etc.

More contact with other players -- things start getting more complicated (and interesting ). I would not be surprised if the gold and silver are positioned by the map maker to be points of contention between neighbors, so grabbing them if you can is both positive for you and likely to cause conflict with your neighbors.

On the unit list, I should have been clearer; I was curious about your unit list, to see just what you have built/available at this point. It only shows what currently exists (for you) and what you can currently see (for your rivals).

[RFS-81]

Thanks for all those rule clarifications, WilliamLP

Unit list off the top of my head:

- Spearman guarding Golden Void
- Axeman guarding Lighthouse
- Warrior guarding Rocky Paths
- Warrior moving to Gold City location
- Scout who just stumbled on shallow_thought
- Three workers doing what I described in my last post

[haphazard1]

Thanks for the unit update. Hmmm, I had forgotten about the auto-upgraded in queue spearman. Usually when that happens in a game I find myself wishing it had been an axe instead, but with Charriu having horses, that may come in handy after all at some point.

[RFS-81]

Another uneventful turn. A new worker out of Lighthouse joins in building the cottage, which should be done next turn. I plan to send one of the workers to help with the road to Rocky Paths and to have the other one chop another forest to help getting the barracks at Lighthouse done.

Shallow_thought has caught up in power rating. I need more troops! Golden Void finishes the barracks in two turns. I'll build another axe then.

[haphazard1]

Another worker joins the empire. Always useful to have enough of these guys to keep up with demand for improved tiles and roads.

Enough military is also good to have. Any sign of barbarians? With close borders from other civs the barbs will hopefully be less of an issue.

Cottage for more commerce, nice. What does your economy look like now?

[RFS-81]

Ok, another turn: Cottage finished, the one worker who still had its move left joined on the road to Rocky Paths, as planned. My warrior arrived near Gold City. Here's what it looks like:

   

Still unclaimed, at least. I figure I just let him hang around here, hopefully that can deter unescorted settlers.

Rocky Paths grows next turn, just in time for finishing the pig pasture Need to get a copper mine quick for the third citizen.

Barracks in Golden Void finish next turn. I plan to build an axeman next. Then, I'll whip a settler for the silver location. I should do some number crunching to figure out if it's faster to wait for a 3-pop whip or not.

I break even at a 70% science rate which gives 14 bpt.

No sign of barbarians...

[haphazard1]

Hmmm, interesting area around the gold. If your warrior is going to be waiting a bit, hopefully move NW to clear some more fog? It looks like you could position a city using the rice, or maybe a city to the north and west to use a flood plain. If there is something else useful in the fog to the north, that might be a better city than the rice. (You could also go west and use the pigs, but that would take the food source you probably want for your luxury city.)

70% breakeven is pretty decent for this point, with expansion and no big commerce tiles (gold, gems, etc.) yet being worked.

[RFS-81]

Shallow_thought's settler is moving to the silver site, presumably.

   

Got to try and get the gold site then! My warrior didn't turn up any more high-food tiles in the area. You suggested using the pigs for food. So, do you mean planting the city on the copper? Then it'd have nothing in the first ring. I'd probably want a monument there, but it would go up relatively fast...a downside is that charriu might plant near the rice, and then we'd have a culture-fight over the gold.

Axeman at Golden Void will be out in 3 turns. In two turns, it will grow and be out of whip-anger. Then, I'll calculate the fastest way of getting another settler.