[Spoilers] Suboptimal - Welcome to the Tlachtli of Blunders!

[suboptimal]

My experience with city-states, at least in the test games, is that the units will stay put inside the city. I've only had issues with getting attacked when the CS builds a unit and it needs to move out of the city center. In this instance the iron tile is the only eligible one to move to and since that's a hill there'd be a one turn delay between the build and the attack.

The farm is getting pillaged. I'm going to need to take the city with that unit on Turn 43 to get the eastern EW down to Welcome sooner rather than later. I don't know at what point in the game barbarians go from "nuisance" to "that's a nice city, let us raze it" and would prefer not to find out. I expect I'll see a second horse when I open the save and a horse archer the turn after that. The barbarian situation also delays the Encampment build which, in turn, delays the discounted Campus placements at Cant and somewhere else (Begin, most likely).

I need to rethink Begin the Begin. I think the builder is better off quarrying a stone for the Masonry boost, heading up to Cant for a plantation on the bananas and staying around for a second plantation when the other bananas is claimed. That'd involve finishing Irrigation, which would take three turns via tech or three turns to move and pillage the copper mine at Preslav. I'll hold the EW -> Monument harvest for the next builder out of Preslav.

[TheArchduke]

Barbs razing a city, hmm, you need a lot of horses and being put under siege for that.

2 Slinger can hold off those barbs easy peasy and archery is around the corner.

[suboptimal]

It's a pretty big corner - I don't want to finish archery until I have three slingers at Welcome, which requires dispatching the current barbarian assault first. Remember, I'm not running Discipline so the slingers are only at 16 vs. the horsemen's 20. Leaving a slinger exposed will get it killed rather quickly.

[suboptimal]

Turn 42

I’m going to start the turn with a little micromanagement.  The builder I recently captured in the south will spend the next two turns moving onto and then quarrying the stone that is west of Begin the Begin.  After that the decision was either to harvest the other stone or send it to Cant Get There From Here for plantations.  I’ve decided that the latter approach is better as it will contribute ongoing sources of and .  To that end I need to finish Irrigation, which has about three turns left on it (about 18 if my tracking is accurate).  To avoid spending research time on it I’ll instead spend three turns pillaging Preslav’s copper mine, putting the pillage science into Irrigation.  The Eagle Warrior moves to the next farm and hangs tight until next turn.  The only thing new that move reveals is that Preslav is two tiles from the southern ice.

No change in the scoring internationally.  rho21’s military score is up to 178 as reported by CQUI, mine is at 135 by the same measure.  The native interface has me at 118 and if I were fully healed up I should be at 147.  Barrayar looks to have a slinger garrisoned as its strength is now 15.  It looks like Japper’s district is a Campus as well.  rho21 is running Strategos as he’s making 2 GG points per turn.  Japper needs to be careful. 

Builder at Begin the Begin moves to the stone, slinger moves to the city center.  Up at Cant the slinger moves another hill to the east to fully reveal the mountain pass and reveals marble two tiles away from the jade.  Gotta get a scout up here.

Up at Welcome the barbarian camp has NOT spawned another horse.  Or rather, if it did it was spawned out of sight to the southwest of the camp.  The horseman has moved up to the farm.  I hit it with the slinger for 29 damage.  Now for the main event at Lisbon.

First two Eagle Warriors attack in strength order, doing 38 and 34 damage and bringing the garrison down to 48.  It will go back up to 68 next turn.  Lisbon will fall next turn.  The redlined Eagle Warrior pillages the farm, rising to 62 health and is now the strongest of the three.  It and the swamp warrior will finish off the city and pasture warrior will head for Welcome.  

In looking at Lisbon I think I’ve worked out my plan for city development.  The builder that I currently have will repair the farm I just pillaged, mine the iron and harvest the swamp for an immediate boost back to 4 population.  It will also repair the pasture if I don’t capture a builder when I take the city.  The cleared swamp will be the home for a Campus when I finish Writing.  The first build will be a granary, which will take 22 turns unless I buy and harvest the stone into it.  A better use of cash might be to buy and mine the grassland hill to the northeast for the production – this place has none due to all the coast and the mine might be the better investment.  The stone is on flat land and a quarry might actually make more sense here.

If I capture a builder it will repair the pasture en route to Welcome, where it will put all three charges into the Encampment.   In this instance I’ll use the builder currently there to chop out the slingers, mine the copper and put a fourth charge into the Encampment.  That’ll leave the Encampment needing 16 to finish, which is doable.  If I don’t capture a builder I’ll chop the slingers then chop and mine the 2/2 tile I’m currently working.  If the timing works so that I clear the barbarians before the Eagle Warrior completes I’ll chop into that for the overflow.

[TheArchduke]

Actually, apart from a situation where you are low on production (which Lisbon could be a case off) I think a flatland stone is always better off harvested. I tend to leave hills quarries alone as they are 2/3 which is a good enough tile.

[suboptimal]

At Lisbon the stone needs to stay for the time being. I'm not inclined to spend money to acquire tiles up here just yet as I need the cash elsewhere (Campus tile at Cant, archer upgrades).

[suboptimal]

Turn 43

(I had screenshots for this report but they didn’t save out to my USB key.  I’ll post them after I get home)

Open the save and I’m greeted by the State Workforce and Military Training inspirations, along with notification that a farm has been pillaged at Welcome.   In addition to the horseman a scout has spawned in the territory of the city.  This is going to get interesting.  A barbarian warrior has also shown up in the south near Begin the Begin.  

Eagle Warrior moves to Preslav’s copper and reveals several tundra tiles to the SE, including furs and a barbarian camp.  For the time being I’ll leave it alone – it’s not a horse camp (as evidenced by the warrior) and I need to get some scouting out of the way.  Swap tech to Masonry and quarry the stone, Masonry will complete next turn.  For the one turn delay in starting the battering ram I put the production into an Eagle Warrior.  

Up at Cant I continue moving the slinger into the mountain pass...and meet a warrior from Brussels.  The city-state is literally just over the hill from my southern cities but the only way there is to go around.  They’d like a Campus and they’ve already met someone else who has one envoy present.  It has completed both a monument and a granary and has truffles as a resource.  I’ll leave them be for the time being until I get an Eagle Warrior up here, then farm some builders. 




Slinger at Welcome pelts the horseman again.  Time for Lisbon.  Western Eagle Warrior attacks for 43 damage, swamp Eagle Warrior takes the city, earning me the eurekas for Sailing and Horseback Riding despite the fact that the pasture is pillaged.  I also capture a builder.   I christen the city Harborcoat and start a granary.  The farm gets repaired and the remaining Eagle Warrior heads for Welcome.  



Immediate city-state conquests complete, what’s next?  First, the two Eagle Warriors at Harborcoat will stay put and heal up, going down to Welcome if I need reinforcements.  The remaining Eagle Warrior will go to Welcome and with the slinger will attempt to extinguish the barbarian threat.  Once that’s done I’ll complete two slingers via chop at Welcome.  Once I get everyone healed up and the slingers upgraded I’ll march on Barrayar, hopefully in the early 50’s.  

In the south the discovery of Brussels has me wondering if there is a city-state to my west or not.  I’m going to finish off the Eagle Warrior build in Begin the Being.  Delaying the battering ram has no effect on the invasion plans – it’ll complete on Turn 50, which is around the earliest that I’d move on Barrayar.  The new Eagle Warrior will go to the pass at Cant Get There From Here (which now seems to be aptly named) and will farm a builder or two out of Brussels.  The southern Eagle Warrior will clear the barbarian camp for the gold then come back around and scout out the area NW of Preslav.

Intermediate-term I’ll have a settler out from Cant on Turn 54.  This will go to either city site #2 or #3.  The good news is that I don’t need to decide until it’s halfway there.  If I take Barrayar in the late 50’s I’ll settle site #2 and fill in #3 later.  Another settler will be out of Begin around Turn 60, that’s for the site NW of Preslav.  Brussels, given its position on the other side of the mountains, is not on the conquer list.  I'll definitely try to farm a builder or two, if only because it's closer to Cant than Preslav.  I may also pillage any worthwhile improvements if there's a lull in units.

Internationally nothing has really changed, unless you count my empire score jumping by 11 for the completion of the Encampment and capturing Lisbon. 

I’ve currently met or exceeded the objectives I set after my test games.  There I was looking for one city settled, one city-state captured, at least two builders captured, science greater than 10 and culture greater than 5.  Political Philosophy before Turn 50 generally needed a cultural city-state in those games.  Here I should complete it around Turn 54 or so, which I’ll say is “not bad”.

Gifts for the Tlatoani

Builders Captured: 5
Value: 290
Improvements Made: 3
District Boosts: 0
Chops: 0
Craftsmanship Inspiration

[TheArchduke]

Time to take stock and plan out your next moves.

Probably build up or smash Egypt.

Who is building the 2nd settler? Sure you need it atm?

[suboptimal]

The plan is to smash Egypt with existing forces while building two settlers.

The current order of battle at Egypt will be 3 archers and 4 Eagle Warriors for the attack on Barrayar, with a 5th Eagle Warrior and a battering ram coming up from the south for the attack on Beta Colony. A 6th Eagle Warrior would also be available from the south if I hold off on builder farming at Brussels. RFS-81 remains around 80 power, he's got maybe a couple each of warriors and slingers. Even if he upgrades archer or two, 2/3 promoted Eagle Warriors have Tortoise promotion. Are you concerned this isn't enough?

The settlers were going to come from Begin (T60-ish) and Cant (T54). The plan is to switch into Colonialism while Political Philosophy is researched, then switch out once I complete it if there's something better to take. As an alternative I could hold off on settlers until after Political Philosophy completes and then crank out two while I research Military Tradition and whatever is after that. That'd let me get another couple of units out of Begin and a Campus and a scout or two out of Cant.

I suppose an alternative plan could be to build the ram in Cant and follow the Eagle Warrior in Begin with a single settler, then push out 2-3 settlers once Egypt is resolved. If Egypt is conquered I'd like to get enough settlers out to fill the prior dotmap (four total settler builds).

My expectation is that RFS-81 will either be severely crippled or eliminated by my attack and that rho21 will steamroll Japper around the same time. If this plays out then rho21 and I will be locked in a head-to-head duel by Turn 65 or so. I'd like to have a 2-3 city advantage over rho21 when that happens.

[TheArchduke]

What is the combat strength + from luxuries.

I always err on the side of overkill. What is more important a second settler or that the attack on Egypt succeeds?