[SPOILERS] How do you make this thing work: Krill randomly mashes some buttons

[Krill]

Overview map:


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As you can see there is iron at the eastern horse location and near the the dead sea. I think I have to settle for the eastern location as that also gives horses, but I can't see food over there. I will have to buy at least one tile.




However, there does seem to be a nice city location to the NW that also has iron.





Next turn swapping to a settler, then swap back T37.





Got to suck up a few turns of unhappiness...pity. Citrus improved T39 before chop lands though.

[suboptimal]

Am I correct in seeing that the water by the horse is being marked as "coastal"? If that's the case then either the land mass is unusually shaped in the fog to the SE or we're not near the west coast as initially suspected.

It might be worth considering settling the stronger of the iron sites with the next settler and then getting another iron settled shortly thereafter. Having two iron resources would allow a bit more flexibility in getting swordsmen built.

[Krill]

Occasionally I like to look back on the decisions that I've made previously, to reflect about potential mistakes. I don't often post about those reflections, because I don't have the time or energy to do so.

But looking at this game, I'm starting to wonder about how swingy some of hte events and maps can be.

I met a CS for the free Envoy in Lisbon around T33? Jester got Hattusa and Kandy, which meant he got first pick of Pantheon and an extra 2 science per turn. By this point he must have made at least an extra 40 beakers from meeting Hattusa, plus the extra 10% on inspirations and eurekas making him a bit of a rush civ. Cheap Encampment and everything. Jester built military units at the start (like 3 military units?) compared to me going Scout>Settler.

Now, we've talked about this, and there is a plan in place to mount a strong defense. Encampment 63 and IW to upgrade swords, Walls to pound anything that gets to close and Strategos for the GG. I'm 10 turns from reaching the Encampment, but I'm also 60 beakers from IW and about 28 beakers from Archery, plus 40 beakers from Masonry! I am not yet convinced that I can actually hold VV. I am also uncertain if I would have been able to defend from a rush if I had planted anywhere differently.

What I'm trying to figure out is this: what alternative moves could I have made that would make us think this is a better position.

Should I have not gone scout>settler? Well, with the barbs spawning how they did, any delay in the settler would likely have required me to wait 10 turns to move it out of the capital, so I think early settler wasn't bad however city location can always be argued. Should I have moved the warrior differently to kill the scout? If I had kept the warrior at the capital then I could not have interdicted the scout due to the rough terrain and the lake, so I don't see how different warrior movements could have changed anything.

Rushing to Writing for the Campus seems to have been a mistake, but at the same time that is in the context of being rushed. Is a T45 Encampment actually slow?

Ohh, turn arrived as I was doing some cleaning and adding to this post. Update to come...

[Krill]

Motherfucker.

Open Sky was taken by someone else.

I'm probably the last person to get a pantheon aren't I? Jester got one, someone is generating a GP, so I'm at least third.

Need to think about this, but learning towards Oral Tradition.

[Krill]

OK let's look at the options.

Anything that generates faith is worthless to me. That discounts Desert Folklore (faith from deserts), Sacred Path (Holy site faith from rain forests), Religious Idols (Faith from resource mines), Stone Circles (faith from quarries), Initiation Rites (faith from barb outposts), God of War (faith from killing units, synergy? Would this be useful, somehow?), Goddess of the Harvest (faith from harvesting resources) and Earth Goddess (faith from appeal).

I'm not building wonders, so Monument to the Gods is out (+15% production of ancient and Classical wonders).

I'm not building Holy Sites, so River Goddess is gone (Amenity from holy sites next to rivers) as is God of Healing (+30 healing in Holy Site and adjacent tiles).

What does this leave?

1. Fertility rites (+10% growth).
   
2. Religious Settlements (+15% border expansion)
   
3. God of the Forge (+25% produciton of ancient and classical units)
   
4. Goddess of Festivals (food from wines, so +4 food at best)
   
5. Oral Tradition (+1 culture from banana and citrus plus other junk)
   
6. God of Craftsmen (+1 hammer from mines on strat resources, +2 hammers at best for a long time)
   
7. Goddess of the Hunt (Food from camps, which gets me nothing)
   
8. God of the Sea (Production from work boats and I have no coastal cities)
   
9. OLORAM! (+1 production on marsh, Oasis and Floodplains for a total of 1 culture)

You know what, Oral Tradition gives me 1 culture from T39, another culture once VV pops borders for the banana and a further +1 culture at every city location I'm planning to settle except the eastern iron city. So border pops are easier, plus it gives teh highest yield, only slightly worse than Open Sky.

[Krill]

Am I correct in seeing that the water by the horse is being marked as "coastal"?  If that's the case then either the land mass is unusually shaped in the fog to the SE or we're not near the west coast as initially suspected.  

It might be worth considering settling the stronger of the iron sites with the next settler and then getting another iron settled shortly thereafter.  Having two iron resources would allow a bit more flexibility in getting swordsmen built.

The eastern horse is coastal. Which is the better site though? The desert iron on the tile 1 of the rice? Second ring Citrus, iron and wheat with inner ring 3 yield rice? Or will I desperately need the horse tile?

[suboptimal]

The NW iron is probably the better first site - the rice in the inner ring will allow for faster city growth, which is a little more culture and science at this point in the game. The horse iron would be a good city spot later on - we won't know unless/until that area is fogbusted. The area SE of the capital and the small area between VV and the NW iron need to get fog busted -- having unrevealed map this close to the capital might lead us to missing a very strong city site.

Regarding pantheons, Oral Tradition might be good given all the citrus & bananas - just need to get plantations down on them to collect the (and it'll give you 2 from those tiles as well).

I don't think a T45 Encampment is slow -- I haven't gone back through PBEM 4 to check when initial districts got out, but that's also a different strategic/tactical situation than this one. PBEM 2 got the initial districts out in the mid-40's. Only one of the players built an Encampment as their first district but that seems to be changing a little after seeing the GG situation.

If a rush is that much of a concern then military builds are in order as soon as the settler is done.

[Krill]

Until there exists a known strategy to foil an attack in a cost effective manner, I believe that the meta game will exist as: explore for CS envoys, plant a second city for strat resource, build encampment, upgrade and murder someone.

The issue is see is that archers don't beat swords and walls come on a tech that it's questionable to rush, so what stops the sword rush?

[Krill]

Also...do horsemen get a bonus attacking melee units?

[oledavy]

Also...do horsemen get a bonus attacking melee units?

Nope!

Infantry get a bonus vs. Anti-Cavalry and Anti-Cavalry get one versus Cavalry though