Dave's Not Throwing Away His Shot

[oledavy]

Turn 35

It would be fairly safe to say, that I wasn't expecting this when I opened the turn: 



Holy hell. Two horsemen! Where did they even come from? There's no camp in the area. I think they're chasing Archduke's poor scout, who is totally screwed. I was worried at first they might pose a danger to the 10 str. city of Schuyler, but +5 str. for being behind a river should keep me safe. Also, fortunately, my slinger had returned to the city in the nick of time to get some shots in. Here's hoping I can last hit one of these bad boys for 10 culture 

Archduke now has eyes on both my cities, and his scout, in doing so, has moved atop my road/trader. I moved a slinger next to him, but did not declare war. If I do, he just pillages it and runs away after taking damage. I will give him an opportunity here to have a peaceful relationship with me, while signaling my intent to respond forcefully if aggressed upon. 

These were the final positions of everything: 



Also, here's Hamilton at size 4. I don't really want to grow quickly to size 5 until I have a luxury online.

 

In the north, I found the scout again,and the entirety of HK's military. Hopefully these kerfuffles in the south don't delay my army too long from coming up here. 

[Zero_1627]

Speaking of farming though, I now know the size of Hong Kong's military: 2 warriors and an archer, AKA, 27 culture 

Farming time coming! 

EDIT: also, Horsemen venturing around seem serious... don't forget defense, so You're not farmed upon by Barbarians!
It fits - perhaps they're Persians, those barbarians did indeed come to Greece, and in numbers

[oledavy]

Speaking of farming though, I now know the size of Hong Kong's military: 2 warriors and an archer, AKA, 27 culture 

Farming time coming! 

EDIT: also, Horsemen venturing around seem serious... don't forget defense, so You're not farmed upon by Barbarians!
It fits - perhaps they're Persians, those barbarians did indeed come to Greece, and in numbers

I was worried about them being able to take the city for a moment, but they were both severely wounded, and would have been unable to put Schuyler under siege, so we would have been good even if they had come after the city. as things stand, I think they had a "kill units" type mission.

[oledavy]

Turns 36-37

Life comes at you fast. 

So, I want to provide background for these couple turns. I was shopping and mulling over my next moves, when I realize I made an error. I had been planning on completing Archery on t38 and upgrading the turn after that, but I realized that I hadn't factored in Scuyler's slinger. It was for this reason I had decided to cram out a warrior instead, but on impulse when I made the Agoge switch, put in a slinger instead. Now, unless I wanted the unit to upgrade in the queue, I will need to complete archery later. Moreover, I tested yesterday and discovered that if you have 1t left on archery and 1t left on a slinger, the slinger auto-upgrades in queue. The net effect of this was to push back the turn of the attack on Hong Kong. For the record, it will be on t44/t45. 

This feels like it's later than it should be. I feel like I could have managed it sooner. That being said, I do sense I inadvertently stumbled into the best window, for Gorgo at least, to attack. You want to attack after the city has gotten a worker out, improved a few tiles, built enough military to get some culture farming done, and completed a granary/monument (HK is still building a granary). However, you want to do it before the city builds walls. I think I'm going to hit that narrow window here, but it was more accidental than intentional, and in making my plan, I would have preferred to attack the city sooner. 

The net effect of this is that the warriors I sent ahead to HK are there too early. With time taken out for healing, they have 6 turns and 2 turns respectively to explore and make it back. This means I could have defogged more tiles to the northeast of Hong Kong   Missed opportunity there, but this additional time to explore has revealed something amazing. 



There's someone up there!!!

I guess this peninsula goes farther than I first thought. It may be a player, but it feels unlikely, as that player would have no room to expand. We'll see though!

So, at home, I've had a perplexing couple turns, fighting between wanting to send units north and needing units urgently to perform a variety of tasks. 

The first major thing to note is from t36. 



I spent a long time agonizing what I should do with my slinger around Schuyler. I'm not going to explain the entire problem, as it would take me a couple paragraphs, but the basic gist of it was I was trying to figure out if there was a way I could land the kill on that redlined horsemen. I arrived at the conclusion that I could not set up something reliable, so I took the free attack, and went up to 15 xp for a promotion. 

Archduke killed it on his turn, and the other horseman disappeared. 

Also of note, on t36, Archduke settled his second city, Ithaca, to the east. He also renamed his capital. Not sure exactly what his theme is, besides locations/Cities in Greece? I thought he meant to name his capial "My Cannae" for a moment, but he changed the spellings of both cities for t37. Also note, he laid down a district, an encampment. The first district for both of my neighbors has been one now. 

In the east, I continued escorting my trader. Archduke obligingly did not pillage me and moved south. 



Then, a random Singaboy scout appeared from the north. What's more, a barb scout appeared from the south. This slinger needed to turn around on t37 to make it to HK in time. However, I couldn't run the risk that he pillage my trade route, as scouts have been going in SP recently. So, I moved him to block the scout off. No though, with these scouts zoned off, I'm now left playing the: "I hope Singaboy doesn't pillage my pasture" game. Scouts are seriously annoying in the hands of other players in the early game. I'll be only marginally happier when I have border integrity. 



I think Singaboy built a warrior. Looks like we're in a bit of an arms race. 



Arhcduke finished a second worker and is now hooking up another round of resources. 

Only a couple turns to my pantheon! Here's hoping for OLORAM. Schuyler grows to Size 2 next turn and I get the Inspiration for Early Empire, alongside an envoy with HK.

[oledavy]

Turn 38

Huge turn for me.


Well, I can't say I was expecting that   I GET TO TEST OUT MY THEORY!!!! 

I would never have expected that I would be the first to meet a city-state this late, let alone that there was one hiding up here. In the short-term, Carthage will be useful for helping me get settlers and builders out of the capital. In the long term, I can build a civilization completely based on its ability. So many trade routes. This makes encampments on my front line cities, at a minimum the three I've planned, a no duh as they not only render my land more defensible but allow me to run more trade routes. 

What's even better, they have a laughably easy quest, train an archer! 



This will allow me to get to 2 envoys with ease. My first naturally acquired envoy will go here to allow me to become suzerain. That should nicely coincide with the completion of Schuyler's encampment. 

I can't believe I met 4 city-states first. Such a stroke of luck. Granted, 2 of them suck, but still. 

What's even better, because of its isolation, I think I can ensure nobody else meets them ever. At least, I'm going to try my best to make sure that happens. 



In the south, Schuyler grew to size 2 and picked up the coffee. I promoted my southern slinger. Singaboy obligingly didn't pillage me, and Archduke is heading away as well. Looks like I moved that slinger out west to protect my trader for nothing. This will mean I have to start my attack on HK with 1 archer less than anticipated, or delay it accordingly. Almost certainly the former. 

I may have to dedicate a unit to protect the trade route, as it's vulnerable to attack from roaming barbs from the still unpacified northeast. Still, I wish I hadn't allowed myself to get so side-tracked. I just would have kicked myself had Archduke or a barb killed my trader and I had been able to prevent it. 

My final 2 slingers complete next turn, at which point I'll queue up archery, and we'll upgrade and get this show on the road. The mobilization is all but over. 

Singaboy is fighting barbs somewhere. His power went down 10 between turns. 

The surviving barb horseman never reappeared, I assume it's dead or heading south. Pity I couldn't kill one. 

The best thing about all of this, my warrior that found Carthage can still get back in time to attack HK 

So many encampments....

[oledavy]

Almost forgot, I had a cancelled diplomatic deal from Archduke last turn? I wonder if its a bug. If he offered me a deal, how could he have immedietly cancelled it?

[oledavy]

Turn 39 

Both slingers finished, the mobilization is complete. The slinger completed in Schuyler is hanging around to defend the city, I doubt Archduke is coming my way, but is military is approximately equal in power to mine, so it would be foolish to leave no defenders in the south. I won't upgrade it to an archer though, not yet. No sense in having to pay unit maintenance. The other 3 will all be upgraded over the next few turns and begin their march to HK. The city, btw, just finished its granary at long last.

After I finished my turn, my trader moved and revealed a scientific city-state northeast of Seoul. I didn't see who it was, and I didn't meet it first, so I'm guessing this is the scientific city-state Singaboy found. He recently finished his 7th tech, and is maintaining an impressive teching speed with that free envoy and iron.  

I made a potential foolish move this turn, and bought a tile for the encampment west of Schuyler to lock in the cost. For the record, I think buying 3 tiles int he early game is objectively not a great idea. Even with the 20% discount civic, my long-term plan to buy more around HK for Petra may be a bit dubious. Even at minimum, I'll need to buy the iron up there. to ensure I don't get overrun by Archduke. 



However, I'm about to complete a slew of civics and techs, and this was my last chance to buy the tile and lock in the cost of the encampment before it went up. This encampment needs to be built before Archduke's GG finishes, and it now will serve an important economic purpose with Carthage. With this in mind, I concluded that it would be best to get the cost locked in now, regardless of the pinch it puts on my gold supply. 

We'll find out if it was a good move in the post game I supposed. I have few qualms about purchasing a tile to get a +2 adjacency bonus for the campus, or purchasing the coffee to accelerate Schuyler's growth, however. 

Also, check out how fast I'm going to build a campus with double industrials and the sheer hammer potential of Hamilton 



Next turn I get my pantheon, the turn after that, I complete mysticism, switch civics, and become Seoul's suzerain. I'm going to sink turns into Irrigation in the meantime, then finish Currency to get my free eureka from Seoul. Here's hoping for mathematics.

[Sullla]

Wow. Four turns on the Campus build is very nice indeed. Just wanted to post to say thanks again for such descriptive turn reports. You (and all of the other players) are making this a fantastic game to follow along with each day.

[Zero_1627]

Just wanted to post to say thanks again for such descriptive turn reports. You (and all of the other players) are making this a fantastic game to follow along with each day.

concur! (though I read just You)

also: You got Carthage You wanted, and in excelent position!

[oledavy]

Wow. Four turns on the Campus build is very nice indeed. Just wanted to post to say thanks again for such descriptive turn reports. You (and all of the other players) are making this a fantastic game to follow along with each day.

It worked out really nicely where my attack on Hong Kong won't begin until I've gotten all four turns of its hammers into the campus. no though, I'm hoping everyone can keep up with the reporting as the game continues. It's been a blast to play. Thanks again for the map! appreciate the effort you put into finding what seems to be a relatively balanced one. 

Turn 40-41/Early Game Roundup

Turn 41 featured the completion of Mysticism and my swap into Inspiration, and with the campus nearing completion, Seoul now my suzerain, and my force to take Hong Kong en-route, I feel confident in calling this the culmination of my pre-game planning/early-game. I'll discuss the events of the turns as best as I can remember (the quick turns mean there are quite a few minor details I miss). 

First off, the CS was Hattusa. Who I think is situationally pretty strong, but generally one of the weaker Scientific CS.



Confirmed that indeed, Singaboy met them first: 



Great Writer is a quest nobody will get for awhile...

OLORAM was still up!



I counted and I think there are 11 tiles in my settling plan that benefit from it (marshes and flood plains, no oases). I did debate briefly between it and Divine Spark, but I think this will be better. It definitely will make Hong Kong a lot more productive. 

One other thing of note, I forgot to check which pantheons had been taken when I chose mine. Goof on my part. I was just in too much of a hurry to keep the turn moving. 

Anyway, with the Inspiration for it in, Mysticism fell next turn: 



With it came Suzerainity over Korea:



With the completion of Currency next turn (alongside which I'll lay down a CH immedietly in Hamilton to lock the cost), will come a free Eureka and a new quest. Here's hoping for Mathematics to save me a lot of science. Things of note: the barb camp to the southeast of the city is empty, the CS has two warriors, and Archduke's scout still lingers. The effect of the dry start on Seoul's development is very telling, Hattusa is already working on a campus, Seoul appears nowhere close. 

I'm growing concerned Archduke may want to pillage my campus with that scout when it completes. That would be a 4 science hit to me. Districts really do require so much more military to defend than simply being concerned with the city center. 

This shores up my east, giving me plenty of time to know about an incoming rush. Not that I need it: 



I have nearly double the military of my two neighbors. I expect this to produce a mobilization from both of them in response. My numbers will still grow a little bit with one more archer upgrade and a little more healing on one of my warriors. Notice in the bottom of the screen, my slinger standing as a sentry on a forested hill south of Schuyler. This should make me relatively rush proof in the west. 

I was growing concerned that my neighbors may rush me while my military is north in HK, and while there still may be a chance of that, the window of opportunity for them to do so grows smaller every turn. 

Also internationally: 



Pretty sure Woden reached Political Philosophy. I should join him there in ~10 turns or so. 

Forces are now all en route to Hong Kong: 



My warriors in the area are doing a little last minute exploring/healing. 3 turns to war. 

Finally, my new government: 



I ended up changing 3 policies. The military and wildcard slots were easy, the economic one was hard. Due to the timing of upcoming civic switches however, I determined that while switching out of Urban Planning costs me a couple hammers in the capital over the next two turns, it doesn't delay the completion of the campus, and allows me to generate an additional 4 hammers when I switch to a worker. 

Anyway, I think that's it. The broad strokes at least. Archduke swapped out of God King or built an archer. Otherwise, I haven't noticed my neighbors up to much.  

Priorities for the upcoming turns are thus, ordered sequentially, not in order of importance. 

1. Take Hong Kong
2. Continue Expansion
3. Start work on Petra
4. Shore myself up against prospective sword rush
5. Take Buenos Aires

I'm still working out my intended civic switching order and some of the more micro aspects of the upcoming turns, but these will be the broad strokes. I believe my military will be enough for awhile, or I hope so at least. It has a lot to do, 2 city-states to take, barbs to farm, and an empire to defend. 

One thing I had forgotten about playing civ games is how hard it is at times to evaluate your position compared to other players. I vacillate between thinking I'm cruising to an easy win here, and feeling incredibly vulnerable (like to Archduke's scout). Demogs only tell so much, there are a wide array of intangibles. Without seeing everyone's starting area, it's hard to know for sure. 

That being said, I'm feeling very confident about this game at this point. I feel like I've had the second strongest if not the strongest start of the five of us. My plans have more or less unfurled uninterrupted, and I've had a number of lucky breaks with city-states. Carthage in particular will shape how I play the rest of this game. Woden seems to be the biggest threat, but it's hard to evaluate having not met him and lacking exact numbers. 

I feel I'm well on my way to being the dominant civ in the local area, but it will take some big leaps and bounds to be able to overpower both of them. I'm operating under the assumption that if I do continue my faster track of growth in strength relative to my two neighbors, they will combine against me. With this in mind, it won't be enough to simply be more powerful than one. This is where a wonder like Petra comes in, something that can potentially put me head and shoulders above the combined powers of my neighbors.

The three neighbors structure is interesting from a diplomatic standpoint, as it means there will likely be a long period of not a lot happening and tension building followed by a violent outburst that all three jump in on. I need to be ready for a dogpile at that point. For now though, that possibility remains distant, and it is just as likely that they go after one another. Time will tell. 

I may have more thoughts later, but for now, it's a beautiful spring day, and I'm going to go for a hike. Hope all those reading along are enjoying the show

Let me know if you have any questions.