Horses and Camels: Northstar vs. Aurorarcher the Awesome

[Northstar1989]

WOW, Aurorarcher got that save back to me FAST!

I immediately took my turn and bounced it back to him. Who knows, maybe we'll knock out 3 or more turns in one night!






Regards,
Northstar

[Northstar1989]

OK, yep, 3 turns in one night.



At least my Scout came across some interesting terrain. Another river-valley! Might make a good place for future expansion...

Too bad this map so strongly favors the Malakim with all its Flood Plains tiles... Oh well, I know what I was taking the risk of when I selected an "Arid" map to try and minimize tree-cover...



Soon the Malakim will finish Agriculture (almost certainly their first tech) and their GNP will skyrocket ahead of mine as well... At least my starting-tech and traits are a bit more useful than theirs for early expansion...


Regards,
Northstar

[Northstar1989]

Uh-oh, my Scout's in trouble...



And, here are the Demographics:



I hope my Scout lives- my Scouts seem to have a talent for getting themselves in fixes like this...


Regards,
Northstar

[Northstar1989]

A touch of good news...



My Scout lived to see another day- and discover some Dragon Bones...



Which is good, because the Malakim are already starting to pull ahead thanks to their Hill/Plains capital location...





I choose to settle where I did for early access to the Cotton and closer proximity to some other good city-sites. Already I'm starting to question the wisdom of that decision... Hopefully I can still manage a win...


Regards,
Northstar

[Northstar1989]

OK, so my Worker is finally done...



And my Scout continues to explore (I'll have to let him heal up at some point- but I have to push my luck a bit if I want to win...)



And a look at the Demographics:



Aurorarcher may have the advantage of higher population and foodhammers production for now (thanks to relative advantages from settling on a Hills/Plains- as I opted for having Cotton in my capital's BFC instead so as to help me not fall as far behind in tech-rate, and give me a little longer for my Expansive trait to show its benefits... Plus, my capital is in a location that will be much easier to defend from attackers *before* they get to the city once I chop the surrounding forests...), but it won't last once we get to founding additional cities- as he will have to wait twice as long for each additional Settler... I intend to expand quickly and crush (or choke) him early- before the advantages of his civ's innately higher Commerce on this map really have a chance to take hold...

Last, but not least, LURKERS, what unit is there in the game that only adds 1000 to a player's Soldier count? I noticed Aurorarcher's Soldier count is 1000 higher, even though we should both have *exactly* the same units at this point (1 Warrior, 1 Scout, 1 Worker)


Regards,
Northstar

[Qgqqqqq]

Look here.

[Northstar1989]

Look here.

That doesn't help- if the Power Ratings of units were equal to the effect on Soldier count, that list doesn't contain a single unit worth only a Power of 1...

Is there something I'm missing? How could Aurorarcher's Soldier Count have increased from 5000 to only 6000? (o0ther than gaining a Warrior and losing a Scout on the same turn)


Regards,
Northstar

[Northstar1989]

OK, so another turn and I noticed this...



See the health breakdown for my capital? Well, while I have a massive 10 health-points, I realized Aurorarcher should only have 4 at his capital- 2 from the difficulty level, 1 from his palace Life Mana, and 1 from the surrounding forests of where he must have built his city (4 forests but 3 flood plains, for +0.8 health in all, rounded up to 1 health point by the game...)

That means his long-term growth will be slightly hampered by unhealthiness- while he might gain a couple additional health-points from the Corn and eventually Sheep, he's going to probably end up having to lose another health-point when he chops down forests to make room for Mines... And even if he doesn't do that, he's going to have trouble growing his capital much past size 6 without investing in buildings like a Granary...


All this means he's probably wise to prioritize and early Granary. Which means I should do the same- because a quick and dirt analysis of the possibilities for attacking his capital reveals it is NOT going to be easy to wipe him out with an early rush- any Warriors he builds benefit from up to +75% defense bonuses when fully-fortified, plus the option to take the Guerrilla promotion for even greater effect (once he reaches Apprenticeship with Education). In short, I'm going to have to focus on out-building him and raiding his Farms to weaken his economy in the long run...


My Scout, meanwhile, discovered a nice river valley with everything you could ever ask for in a capital on a map this infertile- a food resource, Flood Plains and a wet Grassland, forests and hills for production, a freshwater lake, and a River!



I'll have to be sure to send a Settler there fairly early on... My strategy has to be a nomadic one of rapid far-reaching growth to the best city locations (inevitably I will have to adopt City States at some point to support this), raiding of my rival, and heavy reliance on my highly mobile mounted forces to help defend a far-flung empire... Of course this strategy will collapse if Aurorarcher is allowed to build up too powerful of a concentrated empire- which is why I need to raid him as early as possible to stint his growth...


Speaking of growth, here are a look at the Demographics:



Hopefully I'll start catching up before long as I found additional cities...


Regards,
Northstar

[Northstar1989]

Another turn...



I have begun teching Animal Husbandry- as my Scout has a decent chance of surviving to take the Subdue Animal promotion, and a subdued Wolf would eliminate the need for a Monument at one of my new cities... There are also Sheep adjacent to where I intend to found my next city- and sheep pastures build faster than Flood Plains Farms (and yield the same Food/Commerce) if I am not mistaken, so there's that...


Also, Demographics:



I might change my mind about Animal Husbandry, however (I haven't invested any beakers in it yet...) A strong argument could be made for teching Exploration first, so I can link up my 2nd city with my capital and use Worker partial-builds to start Roads...


Regards,
Northstar

[Northstar1989]

Discovered Calendar...



Immediately switched to Agrarianism and Religion because this is the best time to do it...



I lose a turn of production without a Farm in place, but gain a turn with a Farm in place (vs. revolting AFTER completing my first Farm), and will actually grow faster this way in the long run...


Also, there's a Wolf hanging around my western border...



Which means I probably wouldn't be wrong to go for Animal Husbandry early on- but I want to get Exploration first so that I can complete a Road to the northeast of my capital for free through two partial-builds, which will ultimately provide a trade route to any city I found along the River in the future...


Finally, here are a look at the Demographics:



I'm in a building-war with the Malakim, and am actually the civ with a pronounced disadvantage from my traits. Once again, I'll have to start raiding the Malakim early and often if I want to win this duel...


Regards,
Northstar