A Challenger Appears!

[Tankra]

That city is too rich for it's own good! Amazing.

Yeah I know, it's quite remarkable. I'll definitely have to make it into my buro capital, methinks.

What about expansion? Also need to think about what kind of economy to run. If you plan on buro cap, getting cottages down asap pretty important.

For my next expansion I essentially have one very big dilemma: do I settle to the North for a double deer/fur/clam/whale/copper city, or do I settle South for a city with a potential of five fps/sheep/pig and a few mystery fog tiles. My thoughts on the matter are as follows, and here's a list of advantages for each position:

North vs. South:

[COLOR="Cyan"]-Is more easily defensible
-Has a decent food surplus; would be good for running some scientists
-Secures a good amount of resources, two of which being happy resources
-Requires less maintenance and is closer to capital for reinforcement purposes
-Is fully scouted and has no jungles so no surprises or delays[/COLOR]

[COLOR="Yellow"]-Also has a good food surplus, and would be perfect for cottages
-It would probably give me more commerce in the long-term once cottages mature
-Has a possibility of having nice resources still not uncovered[/COLOR]

It's pretty clear to me that in a game like this, it's of utmost importance to not overextend my empire, which would put North as the most logical spot. Also, considering I'm already planning for Senile Felines to be my commerce capital, it might be unwise to try and settle two heavily commerce-based cities in a row. It's not like the Northern spot would be bad in any way shape or form, either; just less viable in the long run, considering it has only maybe 6-7 useful tiles in its BFC, and according to my calculations basically, it would be unable to grow past size 8 or 9 for the whole of its existence.

Oh and there's also the smaller dilemma of either settling towards Nicolae or thestick. According to his most recent banter, Nicolae has recently settled on the floodplains to his East, thus away from our common borders. That means that I shouldn't need to expect an immediate threat from him in the settling department.

So considering all of this, I think it's probably wisest to settle the Northern spot that I was considering before, on the border with stick. It's an aggressive move, but meh, my gut feeling is that in an AI diplo game like this with no real mutually binding deals, once a bond of trust is severed, it can never be mended. In other words, we're probably going to be nothing but hostile towards each other until one of us fails.

As for longer-term strategies, I think it's fair for me to give up on any of the ancient wonders, unless I inexplicably try to get TGL. With two Industrious leaders in the game and with my early war setting me back, it's quite clear I won't have the Pyramids this game by stacking any stones on top of each other. And if Nicolae is to be believed in the Banter thread, Sian might already have constructed Stonehenge (not that I would consider building it, either way). However, I *AM* spiritual, and I could casually attempt to nap me a religion right after Writing. In fact, Monotheism might be a worthwhile endeavour - it could do wonders for my production.

Pun most definitely intended.

[CFCJesterFool]

I see no reason not to make sure you get BOTH north and south spots. Early wonders really don't help you but securing the most land does. It also doesn't hurt to have multiple cottage cities...the only downside is that you get a tech lead.

[Tankra]

The turn passed rather smoothly, with my Dog Soldier managing to take down an Axeman and an Archer before taking his final breath. Going to sign for peace wtih thestick. We'll see how long that lasts...

Oh and I finally decided to properly rename my Civ and leader according to my naming scheme:



I am now Dr. Awkward of the Tons o' Snot Empire, leading the Detartrated people. I wonder who of my opponents will guess my naming scheme first - I tried my best to choose obscure ones that hopefully won't show up on a google search. I want to keep them guessing. There really isn't that much tying these names together; I'd be surprised if someone figures it out, even with the help of Google :neenernee

There's also a screenshot of my fair lands. Gonna start pumping out Workers and Settlers in Elite Tile, while I wait for Senile Felines to get fully operational. After the Granary, I'll build some military there in order to feel more secure. I feel kind of exposed right now, but the 10t peace with stick will buy me enough time to get the Granary and pump out a Worker and a Settler without a serious risk of danger.

I see no reason not to make sure you get BOTH north and south spots. Early wonders really don't help you but securing the most land does. It also doesn't hurt to have multiple cottage cities...the only downside is that you get a tech lead.

Yeah, I was just talking about which to settle *next*. Obviously I'd rather be able to settle every spot I find that is decent, but there are constraints. I still see the North as being the best choice, for now.

[Ceiliazul]

Yeah, I was just talking about which to settle *next*. Obviously I'd rather be able to settle every spot I find that is decent, but there are constraints. I still see the North as being the best choice, for now.

Figures you'd settle next fo horse... if not that, then the plans hill (for deer, clam, copper) in Stick's direction looks promising...

but!

You MUST scout toward nicolae asap. squeeze in a warrior at least during those worker/settler builds.

[CFCJesterFool]

I still see the North as being the best choice, for now.

I would have to agree (since that spot caught my eye *before* the gold spot was discovered). You just missed my sly insinuation that you need to speed up the settler parties...too much good land for your opponents to claim it. :D

[Tankra]

So in the last two turns, I heeded ceil's wise words and began work on a scout to keep an eye on mr nicolae, as well as starting on a 5t settler in my capital. The plan is to settle the north, and stick will probably choose the floodplains between us as his 3rd to counter my aggressive settle. This will become a cold war with 2 fronts, I fear... But then again, with this map, all wars will have two fronts.

And I have to choose my next tech after archery now. My choices are between writing and myst, mostly, unless I want to venture off into more useless techs like sailing and masonry. So it's basically a choice between having libraries faster or going for happiness/religions. I don't think it would be wise for me to have the hubris to attempt the oracle, what with 2 industrious civs, but I could start going for organized religion, and perhaps improve my chances of getting a later wonder down the road.

Alternatively I could just start teching horseback riding and settle the horses for more blood. Always more blood.

[Tankra]

So I've given a lot of thought as to what my next move should be, and I think what I've come to realize is that I'm going to need those Horses because one way or another, I'm not even close to being done with warfare. The fundamental reasoning behind this conclusion is simple: the map is hella small, pretty much every single settling decision can result in a fight between two civs, and to exacerbate these points, the map also gives us two different fronts with each of our enemies, making warfare all the more unpredictable and potentially deadly. In addition to these points, I might add that one of my neighbors is industrious and will no doubt be attempting to grab the Pyramids, which gives me a motive and/or an opportunity to strike.

Having Horses with either Chariots or HAs allows me the possibility of making much faster attacks that could be quite devastating if done properly. Also, if nothing else, it helps me organize a much more flexible defense in the face of a two-front war.

It also helps that I can grab the Horses with a city that would share the Sheep tile with my capital - a very good idea for my empire right now, given that I'm currently very very low on Workers. Two Workers for three cities is quite noobish, I know, but I do intend on pumping more out as soon as this settler comes out. At least settling with a shared and improved tile will make me feel the effects of my Worker shortage to a much lesser degree. Here's a screenshot of what my prospective city would look like:



So yeah. Once I get the city going, it could be interesting to chop/whip a fast Library and run a couple of scientists with the help of that fish. That is, of course, until I get Horseback Riding...

I really think I'm going to have to play this one aggressively, and I'm saying this in a detached, emotionless way. I'm not at the point where my plans were foiled by my opponents and so I decide to just rage at them nonsensically - I honestly think that the map itself lends itself extremely well to warfare, and I think that a lot of the standard ideas here on RB about the benefits (or lack thereof) of early game attacks might not be true for a map like this.

So I'll be taking the first steps down the path to a HA or Chariot rush in settling this third city. I think if I've learned anything from the earlier part of this game is that I should not doubt myself so much after taking an initiative. It's necessary to pick a goal and focus all your efforts on it, I think. Now all I need is to flesh out how exactly I'll be accomplishing this, and what my target will be. But that is for another time.

[Tankra]

So I got my Scout out and started exploring towards Nicolae, and I found something quite interesting:



Stone! And it's jungled! Interesting. I guess that means that if you want to get it for the Pyramids, you pretty much have to settle on it. Which looks like an extremely bad choice for a city spot, IMO. Another interesting part about this screenshot is that we can see that there's a coast. Already a coast? This is a small, small map. My guess is that there must be another, uninhabited continent. Otherwise this map will get crowded extremely fast. This makes it even more important for me to grab as much land as I can ASAP and protect it with some Chariots.

Speaking of our equestrian friends, my Settler popped out and it's headed for the North, giving me access to the Horses quite soon. The way I see it, after Writing, I'm going to want a religion. I'm Spiritual, after all, and having the option to switch between Organized Religion, Pacifism and Theocracy is something I'm going to want further along the road. Plus, I'm going to need Code of Laws, so I might as well go towards Mysticism -> Polytheism -> Priesthood.

[Tankra]

So just a quick update here. I moved my settler into position and he'll be planting next turn. Still got a 3 turn peace treaty with thestick; my hope is that we'll remain peaceful towards each other for at least a little while. I've got a Dog Soldier defending my new city, and an Archer from my capital will be joining him before the peace is off. With any luck that will dissuade him from trying anything funny with my new city; I really don't want another war right now, and I don't think he does either. We're both quite behind in score from the others and the last thing we need is more derping.

My other neighbor, however, has gotten himself in a war with Sian over the floodplains. Apparently Sian settled quite aggressively, which made Nicolae unpleasant. He used the banter thread at least 3 different times to offer him a deal, but alas, Sian does not reply, and so Nicolae continues his offensive against him. I don't know how it'll end, but I enjoy the fact that they are also at war early on. That leaves just SAT who remains untouched by the blight of early warfare, and he has the score lead to prove it.

Oh and Writing just finished. I was thinking of going Myst -> Polytheism next to try and grab that religion and go towards Code of Laws, but seeing as I've just discovered this continent is really small, which means I'll have a natural barrier for how many cities I can have, perhaps it would be a better move to go directly for HBR? If anyone's got some advice, I'd be glad to hear it.

[CFCJesterFool]

Do you expect to HA rush someone? If not then getting a religion seems to be more important right now. What does your GNP look like (vs opponents)? +12 gpt seems low.