[Mjmd #56 no players] One ring to find them

[Miguelito]

Parents take naps when allowed, definitely.

So corncow it is? Well certainly not a bad direction to expand, although I'd really want the bacon toast as well... how long till the next settler?

[Mjmd]

Nope Bacon Toast first. If Vanrober is fighting / expanding the other direction I want to block out Cairo (who can't be happy with food situation towards me, but that makes it even less likely he will care to contest as it isn't like I'm pink dotting him; 'Bacon Toast' is literally my side of the midway point; mind the wheat is his side by 1 if you went 6 tiles from each of us that way). I think even without conflict the corn cow (Wet Pink Cows) will be available based on other spots Van could settle. I might even make 4 corners the 5th city depending on what my scout finds. It is a little risky, but less risky with war and much higher upside.

Next settler timer would require micro to be done past the current turn......... Antium is about to grow to 3 so not long. 3rd worker is out in 3 turns.

[Miguelito]

Sounds good then

[Mjmd]

Micro brought to you by bad sleep schedule. We would settle 'Wet Pink Cows' T47. Plan is to tech pottery > sailing > mysticism or writing. At some point I'm going to try to fit in a scout build, but mostly building warriors for now while I can. Maybe I'll build another scout after copper is connected. Talking about I like that I think.

T41 Uno goes to *** explanation below
T42 settle, Una starts improving whichever, new worker Song puts 1 turn into rd on dry rice
T43 start settler in Antium; song goes E. Dan starts roading copper
T44 whip settler
T46 Dan moves onto ??? to rd to capital (leaning hill to put worker in a better position to go help improve new cities. If I wanted a chop into granery I would step onto forest. Still deciding. Song starts roading Wet Corn.
In order to maintain whip cycle have capital start worker (plus just need a worker)
T47 Uno goes to improve other resource, Settle 'Wet Pink Cows' Song starts improving wet corn
T48 whip worker in Rome

** improving the wheat first  gets 5 more commerce. Improving the pig first gets 2 more hammers (get to work forested grassland hill for 2 more turns while growing to size 4). I know early hammers > commerce, but unsure at what point that stops being true. Thoughts?

Turn rolled while I was doing micro. Vanrober settled 3rd city T40. It was NOT the horse copper city east of me.
EDIT: someone has archery (Ruff?). Ruff gained 17 pts on turn roll. My understanding is that archery would only be worth 6pts though? Not a wonder went back in to double check (editx4 duh land pts from holy city?). Also, I forgot to mention I met Jowy somewhere last turn.
Edit Edit: at some point I should start building a work boat for an island city. Just a note to self. But might do that over warriors. Capital will also need to build a granary and galley. Real question I guess is how fast do I want to settle the northern most island spot.

[Mjmd]

Well wife and kids are at inlaws, so more MICRO!!!! Plus delay dishes and because actual turn hasn't rolled yet......

I ran just that city through and with 2 pop whipping a worker or settler timing didn't change on finishing the granary (matters if I 2 pop whip the worker or settle (T61 vs T65), but the extra 2 hammers does not matter. Therefore wheat first it is.

I probably should have run capital through as well though to see if I should chop out a granary. I imagine that is just the play though vs getting the road on the hill / worker out of there. That worker can start roading towards 4 corners if that is indeed my 5th spot, which will depend a bit on Vanrober / Ruff situation.

[Mjmd]

Mig there is no reason to pink dot Cairo when I'm pretty sure I should just be expanding the opposite direction right? I could place Bacon Toast 2S to still grab both first ring, but also grab stone in the 2nd. It would also allow for a filler city north. Probably just way too greedy though right?

[Mjmd]

Ya talked myself out of it. Mainly because I think I can place a different city for the stone later if I really want to go for HG. The stone would be right outside his caps 3rd ring tiles. I would probably gift him the stone after I used. Man I wish I was Vicky this map. Or hell Augustus Imp/Ind, or whomever Imp/Org is. I took Rome to do a timing attack at math making Prats my wonder to build. But I have one neighbor picking a fight one direction and Cairo who got shafted on food towards me in the other direction. I mean I'll get to crash my economy super hard so that part will go to plan.

I'm really hoping this Van vs Ruff thing is serious, but that ruff isn't getting run over. You can see a celt warrior fought something. I assume scout unless there was a warrior and Van had 2 warriors. If it was a scout means Ruff is kind of desperate if he was trying to block that tile. Which is bad. I hope it is Ruff that has archery and not Vanrober.

[Miguelito]

Ya agree that the pink dot would be too much
Maybe Ruff/van is just a scout snipe? But they would've made peace by now...

I don't see why we would not still a want to chop out praets after maths?

[Mjmd]

That and why would they scout be in their territory? Warrior is facing west so it moved that direction.


Because I would still be naturally expanding and I would want to chop out HG. If I got every city I wanted without the silly little filler S of my capital I could get to 14 cities uncontested. If the war between them is serious enough I could grab some cities on northern side of the river up there and bumb that up a couple. Based on land area and looking at natural empire size no wars in PB54 that seems like a solid number of cities!!!! Mind you I would be crashing HARD so would need to be whipping out libraries and cottaging river tiles rather than chopping / whipping Praets.


Then I chop out Praets after / during researching currency. Latest while researching construction.    Gotta change plans based on situation. If I can already get a 1.5 size empire without sacrificing economy, why not do that first. THEN transition to war
 

[Mjmd]

Speaking of reckless expansion. Instead of doing a fairly inefficient worker whip just for timing sake at capital. I could instead at size 3 steal the dry rice back. Then size 4 build settler. 2 pop whip is a turn later than unhappy wears off. Dan can go road 4 corners beaver. Timing actually works perfectly for Dan to then be at dry corn T52 settling 5th city. After cap getting to size 4, Antium gets to steal the rice back and then perfectly grows to size 4 in time to put a worker in queue for a 2 pop whip.  I would do multiple workers after, especially as distances I'm traveling north will need road support anyways. Obviously most of this timing is very solid. It obviously delays improving ivory and road network. It delays capital granary because obviously Dan isn't then chopping that forest.

Thoughts? I kind of like it. Usually when the timing feels that clean it is a good sign.

To note Cairo did see my worker finish my copper. I am monitoring for 1 pop whips. I have good vision and I should be fine even if he starts whipping axes now. Which again I'm not really pink dotting him. 4 corners is only 4 tiles from my capital. I don't think he knows about Cumae yet, but that is essentially 6 tiles from both of us. I would then solely focus on expanding north until HG (which I'm leaning heavily towards).