[Spoiler] OW PBC1 Chaotic Neutral

[Bruindane]

I'll cut through the woods with the worker. Need to evaluate if we are going blue or long to red for the rider seat.
Initially I intended the settler for the Rider Seat settle blue, but I think your advice is pushing for red. I don't think Kaiser has spotted the city site yet.

I'll push the scout east and north. The first ruin was visible to me when I settled and Kaiser settled the mirror spot, so they might have left it for their slinger, though I doubt it. If I do spot the slinger it will also inform the decision on attacking their scout if visible.

[Bruindane]

Year 4: Rome is coming




Spot CMF's scout. Based on the beeline, it is not paranoia to assume that I'm their initial target.

[Ginger*]

I wouldn’t be too concerned, early attacks are hard, cities have a decent bit of inate defense, I would still open with second settler straight away in the capital, if you want to be cautious found a second riders city and delay statesmen. You don’t strictly need to found three different family seats out of the gate, there’s a small per turn discontent penalty but it can be worth it to better tailor timing and location to different family types

[Ginger*]

Got the goody hut event that gives Rhetoric, which is nice, I won't have to research administration.
I had some spare orders this turn so I took the liberty of advancing your slinger (hidden in forests whole way ofcourse)
If you have spare orders on your turn (which I doubt with artisans start), scout moves for me would be appreciated.

[Bruindane]

Turn 5: A Forced March

Thank you for moving my slinger. I let 2 orders become 20 two turns back as it didn't occur to me to move your units. I do expect to be order limited for a long time now.




I chose to force march my scout to the cover of the forest beyond Babylona. More visibility is nice and I think we'll be able to pick up all the ruins in their backlines at leisure with minimal cover, while you pick up ours with the Egyptian scout.

Next turn I'll plan to follow the blue path and settle northeast near the marble for the Rider seat. I like the idea of founding two Rider cities back-to-back, which suggests I will build a warrior next at Carthago and a Rider family settler first thing at the new city.

[Ginger*]

I settled my second city this turn to the south, Clerics seat, founding Zoroastrianism and grabbing the Monasticism tech
Normally I would build an immediately 3turn a disciple to build a Clerics-boosted (4 science) monastery straight away, but I would rather have a worker as we have two marble deposits. 

In two turns I will adopt Epics law to unlock a garrison at the Clerics seat (ETA about 15 turns because of worker requirements)

Also my Orator leader is now Gracious and Exotic for a total of 8 charisma stat  , so as soon as the Garrison is ready I will seat him as governor in the Clerics site. Lategame we set this city up to pump culture and civics and hopefully unlock tier 3 inquiries which can convert civics into science at a respectable rate (requires a scholar governor, but not a huge concern as the Clerics family has good RNG to make scholars)

I imagine Kaiser will, with his mirrored city site, settle the Statesman seat (can convert civics to orders) 

Clerics not only provides me with a large early science boost (arguably better than Sages), but will also allow me to keep all my families very happy if we all follow the same religion and the religion likes me. Orator leader is arguably one of the most powerful archetypes in the lategame, because of the extra order generation from Friendly Families. Early game this usually isn't very useful, but religion offers a special trick to make everyone love you quickly.

[Bruindane]

Year 6: Hoping that military builds will hide economic missteps

I didn't pick up a good selection of techs after finishing stonecutting. I pass on the one time border expansion bonus card and select husbandry.




Cutting forests certainly sped up movement, but this time I didn't force march, leaving city settling to next turn. I imagine there is a lot of possible mischief and counter-play could happen, but I am assuming they are not in position.




On the plus side, scouting picked up a ruin and spots a better location for the Statesman seat. Spending 300 for porcelain versus saving to hiring mercenaries might not be the right choice, but I haven't spotted any tribes yet.

addendum: Good city site for Egypt too if you want to settle the back lines

[Ginger*]

I sent some thoughts on discord, namely I think second settler is more important than a warrior.

I should also note that it’s possible to make a Statesman seat that has zero yields, but as long as the culture level is high enough, you can use a Judge governor to rushbuy Decrees whenever you need them.

One marble is also useful for training specialists, so any city that wants intensive development or even a riders city that will want to train some officers benefits. Civics are universally welcome

[Bruindane]

One day the stars will align on discord, but mostly I'll be offline.

I believe I need more food to start a settler at the new city and to slot in another settler in front of the warrior in Cathago. An extra obvious misstep in not improving the farm first thing. I'll do the double settler if you have food available to send.

[Bruindane]

Post-Kaiser Turn: Old World Lets You Take a Peak




Out played 

I played optimistically last turn not force marching and settling last turn. I'll have to head toward the hills and settle there.

It would be a mistake to attack their scout, without a second military unit to watch for Kaiser's counter-attack and stun lock.