[Spoilers] luddite tries to remember how this game works

[luddite]

Hmm, Mr. Cairo got himself a new city this turn. He also moved a scout near my borders, so I killed it with a warrior. No sign of his musketeers, though they could be hiding on flat ground 2 tiles away.

I think I will go with the capital granary after all, and also try to get a monument up in Rodman.

[xist10]

The only catch is, it's a huge obvious signal when you pick AGG that everyone expects you to rush...

A bit late, but you picked artillery. Everybody already suspected that you will try a "rush" - if you can call the an attack so late a rush.
And if you can built it, I see nothing wrong with a few civil projects.
Granary and monument are both more or less important buildings.

[luddite]

The only catch is, it's a huge obvious signal when you pick AGG that everyone expects you to rush...

A bit late, but you picked artillery. Everybody already suspected that you will try a "rush" - if you can call the an attack so late a rush.
And if you can built it, I see nothing wrong with a few civil projects.
Granary and monument are both more or less important buildings.

Yeah, that's very true. I just thought I'd have a little more time to prepare, but I guess that was greedy of me. It might be fun to try a rush of AGG/rocketry with just two SAM infantry. But probably 2 AGG musketeers would be better, since they'd arrive much sooner.

[luddite]

Somehow managed to get away with killing Cairo's scout. So far, despite my advanced units, 2/3 kills have come from warriors. And I saw his stack again, still just 5 musketeers. Things could be worse, I'm just... confused by his overall strategy.

[luddite]

Various things...
The "rival best" power now exceeds mine, at 113000. That's *probably* Cairo building another musketeer (or something else?) but could also be Scooter, who's power has been climbing lately.

I finally finished my first building of the game! A granary in the capital. I also whipped another AT in Rodman.

I lost track of his stack. Decided to poke up with a worker to look for it and, yep, there it was hiding in the NE. I was hoping to chop that forest hill, but no dice. We'll see if he takes the chance to hit my worker.

I offered Scooter two deals: OB for 5 gpt, or OB for gems. I'd be happy with either one. Maybe the happiness is more important.

[luddite]

On another note, I've been saving money for a while. Still unsure what to research:

monarchy is the cheapest (about 10 turns) and let's me get HR. Plus maybe wine, but I think that's out of reach. The problem is, I don't want a turn of anarchy right now, and HR is only +1 happiness in most cities other than the capital.

writing + math + calendar. About 20 turns I think? I could immediately improve the incense. No anarchy, and my workers don't have much else to do right now. Maybe another +1 later from the spices.

Metal casting. About 15 turns. No econ benefit unless I build a forge, but it would let me build triremes. 1 blockading trireme could really hurt my economy right now.

[luddite]

Ah, it was actually scooter with the big power increase (graphs just updated).
Current power level is:
#1 Scooter 124000
#2 me 115000
#3 Cairo roughly 107000

Once again he did not attack my worker, just pulled back to the hills. I think I can chop the forest hill now. I wonder, can I push out and force him to whip some defense?

[chumchu]

I would suggest monarchy as the happy costs no hammers except a turn of unrest.

Unless you plan to build libraries and work scientists there is small benefit from that line as most forests are chopped and HG is unrealistic.

Forges would give you 1 happy from silver, no? It is still a heavy hammer investment.

[chumchu]

How do you feel about pushing out to the plains hill south of his stack and settling it? That would lock down the peninsula with a defensive position.

[luddite]

How do you feel about pushing out to the plains hill south of his stack and settling it? That would lock down the peninsula with a defensive position.

i don't mind it, but:

a) settling there means I can't ever settle another site near the spices. admittedly it's not like i'll have calendar any time soon.
b) I don't actually have to *settle* there to defend the peninsula. Just move up there with my stack + artillery and build roads.

I'm thinking of moving up to that area there as soon as I get 1 artillery finished. Right now I feel like I'm almost defending with a bluff. But I'll feel pretty confident with an artillery and 3 on that diagonal. Then I could try to arrange it so that a wave of units finishes almost simultaneously from all my cities. Maybe 1 settler from Tsar Cannon, 1 AT from Dardanelles, 3 artillery from the other 3 cities. Or something slightly different, maybe more axemen, I haven't really planned this in detail yet.

Then I could push into him from there. Settle on the hills just to block the roads and set up another "crumple zone." Maybe defend there with warriors/archers, move the rest in. If he tries to slide by me with just a small force, I can hopefully hold it off with reinforcements now that I've got granaries. If he sends everything, I'll do a base trade where I just focus on taking his cities since they're probably better than mine. What do you think about that?

Also for techs, yeah I probably won't ever reach calendar or build forges. Still I don't feel like I need monarchy yet. Maybe Iron working? It's cheap, and *might* get me a production boost + swordsman who are a little better against musketeers than axes. Or I could just use the gold for upgrades. I'm finishing a monument in Rodman this turn so I'll have copper in about 10 turns.