Turn 23
Man, I happened to be checking the client when the save got to Woden yesterday, and I was all excited because he almost always plays his turn within the hour, and I was ready to play! We'd whip through both our turns very quickly! But he's pretty busy with Christmas stuff, as for the first time the save sat with him for over six hours and I missed my window.
Can't complain, our pace has been great so far. I got my turn in last night, and I'll try to give a bit of an overview since I haven't done that in a while.
Score report:
Notes: A flurry of cities - Archduke, Emperor, and Singaboy all get down their second settlements on the same turn. I knew there were settlers out on the map, and everyone's hot on my heels! I notice my domination score spiked with my city's foundation - do they factor in? But Emperor's domination score did NOT spike - perhaps I'll see that next turn? I dunno. Anyway, nothing else of interest that I noticed. It'll be fun to see if Mike/Emperor start competing GP projects.
On to my turn:
![[Image: qzUakli.png]](https://i.imgur.com/qzUakli.png)
I start the turn by finishing foreign trade, finally completing my second civic! Rome/China are already midway through researching their fourth, but we all know how much of a cultural powerhouse Rome is in the start of the game. Once I settle my area and take Kabul I can get out a round of monuments to equalize things. Anyway, foreign trade lets me slot in new policies, so I go ahead and create a new government:
![[Image: qo6xAtj.png]](https://i.imgur.com/qo6xAtj.png)
Especially with Salamis being founded, I want to get out of God-King and into Urban planning. However, Operation Apollodorus depends on as much faith generation as possible, so I can't swap out yet, not if I want a good pantheon. Meanwhile, I go ahead and remove discipline in favor of Maritime industries. It won't benefit me for 8 turns - 1 turn to finish mining, 7 to research Sailing - but I'm not confident I'll have Craftsmanship done in 8 turns to slot it in then. Anyway, this civic is usually not very useful, but I'm not fighting barbarians at the moment. When I do gain the ability to build ships, this will boost the production of my first two galleys. After that, I'll swap into Agoge and get my land forces up and running for the Kabul attack.
The situation at Salamis:
![[Image: vySmESk.png]](https://i.imgur.com/vySmESk.png)
The purchased builder moves out to the stone. If I had been wise, he could have started the quarry this turn and I would get an extra 2 faith in the pantheon race. As it is, my research mistake costs me only 2 faith, one turn. I hope it's not decisive.
I start my warrior north. I have fog just two tiles from my capital in the north! My starting warrior got sidetracked down here, hunting down the barb scout and shielding the settler, while my other scout is headed into the great unknown, but it's time to clear out that patch at least as far as the tundra. I have to say, I'm not satisfied with my exploration this game so far - but it's a consequence of only having two units to work with and otherwise focusing on economy (which may have been a mistake - more on that later).
My other scout continues to plunge westwards as quick as I can go. The land continues in that direction for certain, and I think my next settler is headed out to that isthmus. No foreigners in sight, but the opposite is not true on Woden's side of the map
![[Image: 5VFzMa4.png]](https://i.imgur.com/5VFzMa4.png)
There's a city 3 tiles from the shore of that lake! I expect Woden will check it out once he clears out the barbs. Could that be Emperor's new city? A city-state? Either way, there's a settling race in this direction for certain.
Speaking of, Woden, I realized that with your military you don't really need to win a settling race. If you send a small army of archers this way, with a warrior for backup, you can effectively deter Emperor from settling in our claimed spots. If he does, without the muscle to back it up, you can just seize the city! I want to see if there's room for small border wars between players, without having to escalate into a full on battle of annihilation. If we seize the city, then offer peace in 10 turns with no further aggressive moves, would the hypothetical Emperor take it? Or would he interpret it as a sign of weakness and press on? Just noodling for down the road.
Trafalgar I think demonstrates why an early builder might have been a mistake on my part:
![[Image: nIphEbW.png]](https://i.imgur.com/nIphEbW.png)
I improve the horses, then...nothing! I don't want to chop this riverside forest (although a mine might be better than a mill?), I can't chop the jungles without bronze working, I can't plantation the silk without irrigation, and I can't research irrigation until I farm that wheat! The tile picker says it's going to take it, but that's 8 solid turns! I really want this tile over the stupid bananas tile, but I don't see many alternatives here. So, my builder is going to stand around uselessly for 8 turns waiting for a tile to improve or a tech to finish. Should I have built a slinger instead, to explore, and only THEN gone for the builder? Probably, in retrospect. My research mistake doesn't matter here, since the jungles have to wait for irrigation and irrigation has to wait for the borders to grab the wheat, unless I want to waste a bunch of culture.
I know that small advantages can add up in these games, but I'm hoping that my play in grander strategy makes up for my lackluster micromanagement thus far.
Speaking of micromanagement, I notice that even working the bananas tile my city is growing slower than a snail in peanut butter, so I swap around the tiles a bit:
![[Image: 0JiwNhn.png]](https://i.imgur.com/0JiwNhn.png)
I drop the bananas, taking growth from 17 turns to 31 (whoop de doo), but dropping the trader I started this turn from 4 turns to 3. I can swap back later, or just wait for the wheat farm to be my growth tile.
As for the trader, I have 3 options, I figure:
1)Send him to Woden's capital to build a road connection between us. This will be important down the road, when we need to shuttle military forces back and forth, but for now I don't think it's high-priority.
2)Send him to Kabul, to build a road for our forces approaching there. However, Kabul is close enough and our timeline on conquest loose enough that I don't think this is an optimal use either.
3)Relocate to Salamis and run him to the capital (or to Amun!) for a road and boosted yields. I think this is the best choice - extra food for the food-poor Salamis, jumpstarting the city's growth a bit.
So that's the plan on that front. When the trader finishes, I might get my new settler out fast. I think EXPANSION MODE is the way to go right now - Kabul boosts me for the moment, and is quietly developing on its own. Once I have the immediate area settled and I'm ready to start infrastructure instead of units, the city will have outlived its usefulness. Do you agree, Woden?
Finally, an overview of the known world:
English lands:
![[Image: UcG8pMz.png]](https://i.imgur.com/UcG8pMz.png)
The southwest is looking like better ground than the disappointing northwest. I tentatively plot one of my blocker cities, but I need to explore more to find the best spot. Leyte is mostly a placeholder/jumping off point for discussion. It looks like there's an offshore island with horses, cattle, and whales, as well.
Nubian land:
![[Image: YFkL8Vy.png]](https://i.imgur.com/YFkL8Vy.png)
South and east of Woden's capital lies a fertile land of clustered lakes. On the far side of the lake country is likely Russia. I wonder what lies on the far side of Kandy?
Woden, I think I need either a pair of canal cities or a city on the coast in that direction, to deploy ships. I'd prefer two canal cities, so I can transfer my navy back and forth, but we'll see. Again, just a thought for down the road.
This will probably be my last update before Christmas. Enjoy the holiday in whatever manner you deem fit! Merry Christmas, all!
Man, I happened to be checking the client when the save got to Woden yesterday, and I was all excited because he almost always plays his turn within the hour, and I was ready to play! We'd whip through both our turns very quickly! But he's pretty busy with Christmas stuff, as for the first time the save sat with him for over six hours and I missed my window.
Can't complain, our pace has been great so far. I got my turn in last night, and I'll try to give a bit of an overview since I haven't done that in a while. Score report:
Notes: A flurry of cities - Archduke, Emperor, and Singaboy all get down their second settlements on the same turn. I knew there were settlers out on the map, and everyone's hot on my heels! I notice my domination score spiked with my city's foundation - do they factor in? But Emperor's domination score did NOT spike - perhaps I'll see that next turn? I dunno. Anyway, nothing else of interest that I noticed. It'll be fun to see if Mike/Emperor start competing GP projects.
On to my turn:
I start the turn by finishing foreign trade, finally completing my second civic! Rome/China are already midway through researching their fourth, but we all know how much of a cultural powerhouse Rome is in the start of the game. Once I settle my area and take Kabul I can get out a round of monuments to equalize things. Anyway, foreign trade lets me slot in new policies, so I go ahead and create a new government:
Especially with Salamis being founded, I want to get out of God-King and into Urban planning. However, Operation Apollodorus depends on as much faith generation as possible, so I can't swap out yet, not if I want a good pantheon. Meanwhile, I go ahead and remove discipline in favor of Maritime industries. It won't benefit me for 8 turns - 1 turn to finish mining, 7 to research Sailing - but I'm not confident I'll have Craftsmanship done in 8 turns to slot it in then. Anyway, this civic is usually not very useful, but I'm not fighting barbarians at the moment. When I do gain the ability to build ships, this will boost the production of my first two galleys. After that, I'll swap into Agoge and get my land forces up and running for the Kabul attack.
The situation at Salamis:
The purchased builder moves out to the stone. If I had been wise, he could have started the quarry this turn and I would get an extra 2 faith in the pantheon race. As it is, my research mistake costs me only 2 faith, one turn. I hope it's not decisive.
I start my warrior north. I have fog just two tiles from my capital in the north! My starting warrior got sidetracked down here, hunting down the barb scout and shielding the settler, while my other scout is headed into the great unknown, but it's time to clear out that patch at least as far as the tundra. I have to say, I'm not satisfied with my exploration this game so far - but it's a consequence of only having two units to work with and otherwise focusing on economy (which may have been a mistake - more on that later).
My other scout continues to plunge westwards as quick as I can go. The land continues in that direction for certain, and I think my next settler is headed out to that isthmus. No foreigners in sight, but the opposite is not true on Woden's side of the map
There's a city 3 tiles from the shore of that lake! I expect Woden will check it out once he clears out the barbs. Could that be Emperor's new city? A city-state? Either way, there's a settling race in this direction for certain.
Speaking of, Woden, I realized that with your military you don't really need to win a settling race. If you send a small army of archers this way, with a warrior for backup, you can effectively deter Emperor from settling in our claimed spots. If he does, without the muscle to back it up, you can just seize the city! I want to see if there's room for small border wars between players, without having to escalate into a full on battle of annihilation. If we seize the city, then offer peace in 10 turns with no further aggressive moves, would the hypothetical Emperor take it? Or would he interpret it as a sign of weakness and press on? Just noodling for down the road.
Trafalgar I think demonstrates why an early builder might have been a mistake on my part:
I improve the horses, then...nothing! I don't want to chop this riverside forest (although a mine might be better than a mill?), I can't chop the jungles without bronze working, I can't plantation the silk without irrigation, and I can't research irrigation until I farm that wheat! The tile picker says it's going to take it, but that's 8 solid turns! I really want this tile over the stupid bananas tile, but I don't see many alternatives here. So, my builder is going to stand around uselessly for 8 turns waiting for a tile to improve or a tech to finish. Should I have built a slinger instead, to explore, and only THEN gone for the builder? Probably, in retrospect. My research mistake doesn't matter here, since the jungles have to wait for irrigation and irrigation has to wait for the borders to grab the wheat, unless I want to waste a bunch of culture.
I know that small advantages can add up in these games, but I'm hoping that my play in grander strategy makes up for my lackluster micromanagement thus far.
Speaking of micromanagement, I notice that even working the bananas tile my city is growing slower than a snail in peanut butter, so I swap around the tiles a bit:
I drop the bananas, taking growth from 17 turns to 31 (whoop de doo), but dropping the trader I started this turn from 4 turns to 3. I can swap back later, or just wait for the wheat farm to be my growth tile.
As for the trader, I have 3 options, I figure:
1)Send him to Woden's capital to build a road connection between us. This will be important down the road, when we need to shuttle military forces back and forth, but for now I don't think it's high-priority.
2)Send him to Kabul, to build a road for our forces approaching there. However, Kabul is close enough and our timeline on conquest loose enough that I don't think this is an optimal use either.
3)Relocate to Salamis and run him to the capital (or to Amun!) for a road and boosted yields. I think this is the best choice - extra food for the food-poor Salamis, jumpstarting the city's growth a bit.
So that's the plan on that front. When the trader finishes, I might get my new settler out fast. I think EXPANSION MODE is the way to go right now - Kabul boosts me for the moment, and is quietly developing on its own. Once I have the immediate area settled and I'm ready to start infrastructure instead of units, the city will have outlived its usefulness. Do you agree, Woden?
Finally, an overview of the known world:
English lands:
The southwest is looking like better ground than the disappointing northwest. I tentatively plot one of my blocker cities, but I need to explore more to find the best spot. Leyte is mostly a placeholder/jumping off point for discussion. It looks like there's an offshore island with horses, cattle, and whales, as well.
Nubian land:
South and east of Woden's capital lies a fertile land of clustered lakes. On the far side of the lake country is likely Russia. I wonder what lies on the far side of Kandy?
Woden, I think I need either a pair of canal cities or a city on the coast in that direction, to deploy ships. I'd prefer two canal cities, so I can transfer my navy back and forth, but we'll see. Again, just a thought for down the road.
This will probably be my last update before Christmas. Enjoy the holiday in whatever manner you deem fit! Merry Christmas, all!
I Think I'm Gwangju Like It Here
A blog about my adventures in Korea, and whatever else I feel like writing about.
A blog about my adventures in Korea, and whatever else I feel like writing about.
![[Image: HzbbBPz.png]](https://i.imgur.com/HzbbBPz.png)
![[Image: j84eeZp.png]](https://i.imgur.com/j84eeZp.png)
into City Center infrastructure.![[Image: 4ZOnxfD.png]](https://i.imgur.com/4ZOnxfD.png)
![[Image: vL5LPsR.png]](https://i.imgur.com/vL5LPsR.png)
