[SPOILERS!] Grimace and wetbandit hope to stay on their side of the DMZ

[Grimace]

Turns 71 & 72

Dude, we are a barb magnet right now. First, we had a barb spear come at us in addition to the barb warrior.


Attacked out of Bismarck with an axe on the barb spear with 98.8% odds and won (but took 3 hits...he's down to about half strength). He also earned 2XP so he's got a promotion pending.
Attacked the barb warrior with the axe waiting for the gold city at 99.9% odds and won a flawless victory.

But then, I noticed ANOTHER barb axe coming up south of Yamato. He will be adjacent to Yamato in 2 turns, so I whipped the chariot under construction in Bismarck...we have 2 unhappiness there now (for 12 turns), so we'll have to freeze it at pop 3, but there's nothing else that has a chance of getting there in time, and there's only a warrior in Yamato at the moment.

Other than the barbs, everything is going well. Gold city will be planted next round (I didn't full-move the settler because the barbs were coming and I didn't want to risk it if the axe lost through some freak of RNG) instead of T72, but c'est la vie. Yamato has 7 turns left on the GLH, but will grow to size 5 EOT and start working another grassland hill mine and switch from the fish to the sheep giving it 4hpt more, plus in 2 turns we get the second forest chop which will put us 1 turn from completion, so 3 more turns for a EOT75 GLH, assuming no one beats us to it. Not the fastest ever, but not terrible either.

EDIT: I just ran the numbers, and that turn of unhappiness in Yamato (which cost us 1 hammer) kept us from getting an EOT74 GLH. At EOT74 we'll have 179/180 hammers in the GLH. How much does that suck?

[wetbandit]

Looking now: wow CH is on 8 cities and presumably that monster CY. Good to get city 6 and the GLH (hopefully) to help fund further REX.

I'd move the wounded axe in Bismarck towards Yamato next turn just in case the chariot fails against the southern axe.

Yamato goes from GLH to a settler, yes? What does the GLH sim look like? It's possible we can find an extra hammer somewhere along the way, even if we have to work a non-optimal tile. Looking at the numbers, it will be 147/200 after this turn (GLH is 200 hammers btw not 180).

T73: 14 -> 161 (work grassland mine and sheep, don't work fish)
T74: 14 -> 175 and then?
T75: 14+20 (chop) ->209 (saves whip)

If you were planning on chopping that forest on T74 with the worker in Bismarck, he can't even get there until T74 because of the river.

[Grimace]

Looking now: wow CH is on 8 cities and presumably that monster CY. Good to get city 6 and the GLH (hopefully) to help fund further REX.

Especially since the bulk of our next several cities will be coastal and able to take advantage.

I'd move the wounded axe in Bismarck towards Yamato next turn just in case the chariot fails against the southern axe.

Already planning on it.

Yamato goes from GLH to a settler, yes? What does the GLH sim look like? It's possible we can find an extra hammer somewhere along the way, even if we have to work a non-optimal tile. Looking at the numbers, it will be 147/200 after this turn (GLH is 200 hammers btw not 180).

T73: 14 -> 161 (work grassland mine and sheep, don't work fish)
T74: 14 -> 175 and then?
T75: 14+20 (chop) ->209 (saves whip)

T72 (now): 137/180
City (1h), 3 mines (9h), fish
T73: 147/180
City (1h), 4 mines (12h), sheep (1h)
T74: 161/180 + 20 (chop)

Ok, nevermind, we will have it EOT74 after all. I think I forgot to include the hammer from the city tile itself. Whew!

And yes, I hadn't 100% decided on it because I wanted to check with you first, but it seems like a settler should be the next build for Yamato.

If you were planning on chopping that forest on T74 with the worker in Bismarck, he can't even get there until T74 because of the river.

Nope, there's a worker 1S of Yamato (which finished the grassland hill mine this turn). It will move to the forest on T73, and chop it T74 (I tried to time things so the chop would finish it).

[wetbandit]

GLH is 200 hammers. Unless you have a whip planned, it's not going to finish EOT74.

[Grimace]

Damnit, I can't keep all these numbers in my head.

[wetbandit]

It's going to be dicey, but I think we have a decent shot. Three turns of anguish ahead.

[Grimace]

Turn 73

Gold city (Musashi) has been built and is working the handy-dandy-already-there riverside grassland hamlet for the moment. Three workers are now helping out at Musashi -- one is mining the gold (which was pre-roaded), one is building a road connecting it to PoW, and one is chopping the forest 1W (which will go into a granary) so that the river tile there can be farmed. I think Musashi is going to be a farms & mines city for the most part (except for the hamlet) because it's not going to have enough food to grow to any worthwhile size if we cottage it.

Worker 1S of Yamato moved to the forest 1N and will chop it next turn. The Chariot is 1NE of Yamato and will be able to attack the axe if he moves onto the sheep or the mine hills S and SE of Yamato. Not sure offhand what the odds attacking an axe on a hill are, but they should still be better than even, and we really don't want him pillaging those tiles right now. The wounded axe is following along, but he won't even arrive in Yamato for 2 turns, so it'll be over one way or the other by then. Hopefully at the very least the axe will be damaged enough that the warrior will be able to finish him.

We'll get writing next turn, so we can start building libraries soon. What's next after that?

Also, I'm thinking we should settle the pigs/horses city in the far west next, as it will block in Elum from expanding in our direction and provide a nice border. Maintenance will be a little harsh, and it won't be able to take advantage of the GLH, but it'll be a decent city all by itself. Maybe a Forbidden Palace location later. Then I think settling down the arm towards Whosit should be next so that we can block off as much land as we can there, too. Thoughts? I'm thinking of some settler spam to get the spots we need ASAP...maybe 4 or 5 settlers in a row (with maybe a pause to let E grow) between Enterprise and Yamato while we build units and workers in Bismarck and PoW.

[Grimace]

Turn 74

We're so close to the GLH. We're 4 hammers short of having it T75. ARGH. And there's nothing we can do that will accelerate it any more than 2 turns. But we'll definitely have it T76.

The chariot had 89.1% odds on the barb axe on the sheep hill, so I attacked, figuring those odds were good enough, and we won with the chariot taking 2 hits and gaining 2XP. Yamato is once again safe. I think it's a good idea to use the chariot to fogbust on that southern peninsula. Is there a spot we can place him that will cover the whole thing? What's the rule with barb spawning?

Bismarck should have another Chariot in 2 turns, and I think I want to use him to explore a little bit to our north/northeast.

[wetbandit]

No barbs will spawn in the 5x5 grid in which your unit is at the center. The chariot can fogbust the entire area 1S of the hamlet. Elum's culture has vision over the ivory and the adjacent tile so that should cover that area for now.

Few other things:

1. Moved mine->sheep in Yamato
2. That warrior in Bismarck can pillage the plains hill hamlet for gold while his MPness isn't needed. We're going to replace that anyway.
3. I'd move Musashi's citizen from the hamlet to the farm to grow the city faster. That city is going to need all the food it can get.
4. hope and pray T76

[Grimace]

Turn 75

One more nail-biting turn. *fingers crossed*

We've got a new barb spear coming in from the NE towards PoW, but the axe there should be able to handle it without any problems.

The worker on Nevada's island has started building a cottage on the riverside plains, and it's borders will expand next turn.

I also reassigned all of our EPs towards Cheater Hater, but it'll take several turns before we get his demos. Compared to Elum & Whosit, though, we're equal or behind on almost everything...not really excelling at anything.