[Spoilers] Woden takes on the World (PBEM18)

[Cornflakes]

Your starting screenshot:

   

Good luck!

[Woden]

Interesting start and difficult decision to make. If I settle in place, I have an extra production to kick out a few warriors. If I move north, I can settle the coast and start sailing right away.

If I stay in place, my second city can probably go on the up by the river in the north. I think my first action will be to move warrior onto the stone and see what is up there. Overall goal of my start will be to get the Celestial Navigation and my unique district as fast as I can. Settling in place might be the best option but we will have to see when I move the warrior.

[Woden]

Thanks for the Map, Cornflakes!

[Woden]

Phoenicia/Dido

Civ Ability: Starts with the Eureka for Writing. Coastal cities founded by Phoenicia and in the same continent as their Capital always have full Loyalty. Settlers receive +2 Movement and sight radius while embarked, and pay no Movement costs to embark or disembark

Leader Ability: Cities with a Cothon gain the unique Move Capital project, which moves the Phoenician Capital to that city. Gains +1 Trade Route capacity after building the Government Plaza or any Government Plaza building. +50% Production towards districts in the city with the Government Plaza.

Unique Unit: Bireme-Prevents friendly trade routes within 4 tiles from being plundered as as they are on a water tile. Higher CS (35 vs. 30), higher movement (4 vs. 3).

Unique Improvement: Cothon-unique Harbor. 50% production cost. +50% production towards naval units and Settlers in the city. All naval units heal +100 HP per 1 turn. 

Dido would be a god on a water map, but also has some benefits for a Pangaea map. Extra trade routes and bonus production to settlers if I can build a Cothon can create a Settler producing powerhouse. 

Game is about to start and my start looks promising. Should be able to make the most of Phoenicia and Dido.

Overall Starting Strategy
I more I look at my starting screenshot, I am thinking the best option is to settle in place. Go for the extra production. This will leave a second city location across from the river along the northwestern edge of the fog. If I can get a city there, I should be setup for some nice district clusters. Governor Plaza NW of capital, Cothon NW of that, aqueduct W of Capital. Then Dam and Aqueduct along E edge of the NW river and 2 Industrial Zone on the Stone and Forest tile SW of stone. Northern IZ will be +7 and southern will be +5. Capital will be settler pump and 2nd city will focus on military production. Both will have a Cothon. 

I am thinking my start will be with a warrior then settler but might push out another warrior if not a size 2. No 3 food tiles, so no speedy growth. After the settler a few more military, a builder, and/or trader while I wait to get Cothons available. Tech-wise, I am going to start by researching sailing and astrology down to their boosts and then pick up the builder techs. No need right away since I am not going to have a builder for a while. Hopefully I can find a natural wonder for the boost to astrology. I will finish sailing when I found my second city and hopefully there is some seafood around to boost Celestial Navigation. Civic-wise, it looks like I already have the boost to Foreign Trade, as the continent counter shows 2 and the civic boost icon is present. The tech boost one is for writing, a civ ability. For civs, I am going to do CoL->Foreign Trade->Early Empire->Craftsmanship->... 

I played a few test games and it is not hard to get a golden age with Dido. Lots of unique stuff to build for lots of era points. I will use the dedication that provide science to harbors to help science along. The longer term plan is to try and expand as fast as I can while maintaining a decent military presence to deter any early attacks. I also want to try and control the seas and prevent the others from gaining any foothold. 

Overall, I think this might be a slug-fest of a game. I 100% expect Ichabod to try and recreate what he did in PBEM3, go to war early and snowball over everybody. There are a few things are different in this game versus PBEM3 that might slow him down. Most were fairly new at the game in PBEM3 but not so much here. And, I might see if I can do the same. If the opportunity arises, I will do an early war...or at least aggressively settle other players. 

I am excited for this game to start, probably tomorrow.

[Woden]

Turn 1

I ended up settling in place after moving the warrior. Found no reason to move but did find a couple of whales just off the coast that will give me the boost to Celestial Navigation...
   

I did get the boost to Foreign Trade and +4 era points for first to set foot on the continent of Australia. Don't thing I ever got that before. The continental divide runs on teh east side of the mountains. I start a warrior and work the sheep.  I am going to research Sailing down to the boost then switch to Astrology to do the same while I wait for the boosts. I want to get a start towards CN to unlock the Cothon. I will pick up the other builder techs once I reach the boosts. Hope I can find a natural wonder relatively soon. 

I figure since the warrior and growth to pop 2 will happen on the same turn, I will directly go into a settler to get Sailing finished quickly.  As for my current warrior, he is going to follow the coast west to check for another city location in that direction before swinging back, along a southern arc. Next warrior will head east a city or 2 length and swing back north to find what is along that coast. City 2 will start a Bireme for faster coastal exploration. Let's hope I am no stick in one of those northern bays, blocked in with ice.

Both Ichabod and Suboptimal settled this turn.

[Woden]

Turn 2

Not much going on, since I just move my warrior but I did pin out a possible district plan...
   

I can get some nice adjacency bonuses on some Industrial Zones for 3 cities. I might still play around with it to see if I can do a little better. Being turn 2, as you can see I did check settler vision and found a neighbor to my northwest. Warrior will cross the river next turn and probably meet them in a turn or 2 after. Let's hope for someone good. 

Did check out the Great People screen and not really anybody of note, except maybe Crassus for the GM. He gives 60 and a tile. The GS is Euclid for the math boost and a random Medieval Tech. The GG is Boudica. I could use her for some barb quadriremes like PBEM14. The GA is Themistocles. He grants a quadrireme and +20% to ranged boats. I should get him unless suboptimal follows a similar plan to mine. 

Everybody settled on turn 1, so no one moved more than a flat tile.. I am leading n score, thanks to my 4 era points.

[Woden]

Turn 3

Moved my warrior across the river and am able to pin where the city state is located...
   

Might be able meet next turn if there is not a hill or forest blocking LOS. Looking through the rankings, I notice Kaiser is leading in culture, so either he is working a culture tile or he has a really close cultural city state. Best guess would be a culture tile. Turn 2 would be a really early city state met but still possible.

[Woden]

Turn 4

Move warrior and find...
   

La Venta! I couldn't ask for a better one! No need to run God King and probably first to a pantheon. They want me to train an archer for a second envoy. Very do-able. Although it doesn't really matter because I figure as soon as they build their Holy Site, they will be assimilated. Also, looks like I am along the northern coast since it looks like tundra to their north. Warrior will move to the plains hill next turn to get vision on a few more tiles then head west and south to explore, then swing back to protect the settler. 

For pantheons, I been thinking about what might work for me the best. I can't see a lot of animals around or plantation luxuries, so unless I find a bunch soon, I don't think I will go for a culture one. I think I am leaning more for the builder and faster growth one. I am going to pump out a lot of settlers, so a little quicker growth might be helpful. Also, it lets me forgo building one to improve the whales. Can't buy a builder, since I will need the money to buy the second fish and tiles for the Cothons. 

I think I have a plan started for the first 50 turns. Once warrior completes, I start a settler. I should get my pantheon sometime while the settler is being built. Builder will farm the wheat for a 3 food tile and faster growth. Once the settler is finished, I go slinger->monument->slinger->trader. For my second city, I will start a monument until Foreign Trade finishes and I get the 100% to boats. Then I will switch over to a Bireme and research Craftsmanship to finish about the time the boat does, to switch to Agoge. Then pump out units until I can build Cothons. I need to grow my capital to for population, so I can build the government plaza and chop put the Ancestral Hall for 2 more trade routes and a builder when I found new cities. Then, I will start pumping out settlers and don't stop until I have 6 or 7 cities. My first Governor titles will go into Magnus, so I don't lose a population when my capital builds settlers. Hopefully, right about that time, La Venta has completed its Holy Site and I can add the city into the mix. 

I am still unsure if I need a 3rd city before the Hall is finished, we will see. For each new city, I think a monument will be their first build, then a district. I will start with a Cothon if possible (even in a small lake) to activate the district discount. I will already be behind in the district count because I need to unlock Holy Sites before I reach Celestial Navigation. And I really want to get Industrial Zones unlocked because there seems to be a bunch of flat land around my second city site. Also, I don't think I will have a problem getting a Golden Age, so I want a bunch to go with the dedication that gives science to harbors. 

I biggest worry right now with this plan is falling behind in science. Campuses will be built as second or third districts and it wil be awhile before I start any, but should be able to build a few with the discount. One good thing, is once the Government Plaza and Cothon are built at my capital, the trade routes back to it will be 2/3 and I should have a bunch to help cities get online.  

Well, that is my current plan and I am sure as I get more information it will change...hell, even as I type this I am thinking about building 2 Biremes right away. For the boost to Ship Building and so I can sent one each direct along the coast. I will have to think about it. Thoughts?

Edit: Also, forgot to mention that Kaiser is now also leading in science. Not sure if he met a CS or had a 4 food tile for fast growth.

[Woden]

Turn 5


Not much going on, moved the warrior to the plains hill along the coast and got a little more visibility of the east side of La Venta. Saw more tundra, definitely on the northern coast. 

Ichabod grew this turn, so he has a 3 or 4 food tile at his capital. CMF is now leading science and must have met a scientific city state. He plays before Kaiser, so he would lead him in the ranks if both met scientific city states. I think we should start seeing increases in military power next turn if somebody settled a plains hill and started with a scout. 

You may have noticed I changed my thread title to "Woden takes on the World". From tracking posts, it seems everybody else has multiple dedlurkers and it looks like most of the community is dedlurking someone. Should make for an interesting game.

[Woden]

Turn 6

Moved warrior next to La Venta to get a little bit more vision as he heads west...
   


Found some more jade but not a lot of production in this city. I can fit a 3rd ring Cothon, so that will work. Warrior will head southwest and swing back to guard settler. Should get a good sweep of vision in the west before he has to come back. At least be able to see if another city state is close.

Suboptimal grew this turn, so best bet is Ichabod has a 4-food tile and suboptimal has a 3-food tile. I am now last in culture and 2nd to last (tied) in science with CMF. 2 more turns until I can double my actions with another warrior, then I will go directly to a settler.