[PB16 SPOILERS] SevenSpirits goes off the deep end and finds Krill

[Krill]

Don't want to share food at the capital, there is only the wheat after all and getting those Impi out has already wrecked early expansion.

777 has sugar that can be farmed, need to build a monument but 1 chop and that will happen easily enough due to the ivory. Once borders pop get another farmable sugar and 6F corn.

The problem with other dot maps is that it then becomes difficult to feed the gold city (which I think should be city #3). Can't plant to have gold and corn both first ring after all, so settling 777 and popping borders there means that can settle 6 of the gold and not have to pop borders there. And I'm not really enamored with the idea that gold/sheep/sugar is going to be enough to feed the gold city.

How I'd probably dot map the area:



And I'd probably settle 2S of the wheat to overlap a few tiles with the capital, to get some more cottages grown quickly.

EDIT: Actually depending on time to Writing could consider library at 777 to get a GS.

[SevenSpirits]

Looks like retep swapped to a warrior build and finished a chop. I think we'll have to cut through quite a few warriors. I didn't whip the second impi this turn because growing truly does have a lot of value. It's a debatable choice though because capturing a second city faster also has a lot of value. The more information we get that says retep will put up a fight, the more we have to wonder if whipping was better.

On the other hand, my plan involves building 2 more road segments which accelerate the next impi by a turn - but only if the impi is produced 2t from now or later. So in terms of impi arrival times, whipping this turn was only 1t better than the option where we work both hammer tiles for the next two turns, and only 2t better than the plan where we keep growing to 3 and finish the impi with the chop. So I'm still happy with my choice.

[SevenSpirits]

t34, war.




I moved to this spot instead of 1 or 2 N so that next turn we can move to the tile S of the city before attacking. That way, the following turn we will be threatening to capture his worker on whichever of those two forests it's presumably chopping.

At home, I went with the plan to build an impi over two turns using both our hammer tiles. We can grow in 1t after that. The net cost to us compared to prioritizing food over the next three turns, is 9f, while the gain is 5h. But the 1t sooner impi could be worth an entire city-turn or even more. And it's a way better rate than converting a bunch of food to hammers by whipping off resources.

Anyone have a clue why he would have moved a warrior out of his city last turn? I guess it's to guard his worker? Is he afraid of pillaging?

[Krill]

You know I don't think we capture that city...retep can whip at least 10 more warriors out of there.

[SevenSpirits]

Well obviously he can produce a lot of warriors. We just have to not get unlucky in the combat too much.

[Krill]

...When you planning on building an axe?

[SevenSpirits]

t35-36. I've been a bit busy with work but since this game moves really slow, I only missed reporting one turn! And that was kinda because I wanted to see what retep did in his slot.

On t35, I moved to S of his capital and promoted to shock before attacking, bringing my odds up from about 90% to 97%. In retrospect I think promoting was questionable. Btw, something I didn't realize until just now is that in pitboss, you start getting fortification bonuses a turn before PBEM (because you get the bonus when your turn starts). In any case, the attack worked out well - we ended up at 3.4/4.

Retep then dry-whipped a warrior, continuing to build 1 per turn. (Oh btw, t34 he obviously moved the warrior back home.) He also either ran the worker away or deleted it.



t36 I realized I could attack first and move after, so I attacked, this time without promoting first. 90.1% odds.



I won and only went down to 2.8/4. Promoted to CR1 because I'm going to next turn anyway, and hey, maybe he could mob me and get lucky. I moved to reveal more info (hey, it's his copper! and he couldn't even settle on it, hah) and to be able to move onto the forest hill or corn next turn if desired.

I am not sure if retep will have enough hammers to complete another warrior via overflow next turn. Obviously I'm assuming a warrior per turn for the forseeable future but it's possible he could mess up or try to play for good combat luck, I guess.



Here's home. Next turn Impi #2 moves into range of Carthage. I spent a turn roading to delay the chop a turn. The hope is to put it into a settler at size 3, but I could complete a third impi in a pinch, if I don't work the corn. Remaining HP of the engaged impi after the next attack probably determines the answer to this. Next attack is the first time it won't be able to heal after, so it's bad if it takes too much damage.

[SevenSpirits]

Forgot to mention, as you can see, I changed tech to fishing. I decided that being able to work the clam would be worth it, and I'm pretty confident we can get the city under our control and out of revolt before we would get fishing if we finished pottery first. And it looks like granaries/cottages at the capital can wait a little bit as we build a settler or two.

[Krill]

Wondering if retep is heading for Archery...?

[SevenSpirits]

We can/should assume he is. I am pretty sure he got Wheel 5t ago (back when he still thought he could settle for copper in time), so I would expect hunting to arrive after this turn or next. It's just going to be too late to matter, barring some extreme luck.