[SPOILERS] HitAnyKey, the Sleeping Giant

[HitAnyKey]

Sooooo.....I am like totally hosed here....










I have no Horses and no Copper. I have to reach a million miles to my east to get some copper. And I still have like no other resources anywhere near me. I've been putting off finishing this first Settler (building and growing onto Mines) in hopes that something would appear to give me a decent direction to go. Right now, I think my best option is to settle my second city way down in the south on that PH 1NE of those Crabs. Biggest problem with that spot though...NO GRASSLANDS!!! Tempted to maybe settle it 1 north for less Desert and eventually having some Grass...but that means the food is not first ring. But I have a feeling, with this map I'm going to have lots of cities with no food (or any resources for that matter) at all, let alone getting it first ring. So maybe 1N of that PH is better in the longrun.
And then after that, I'll have to push a city way east to get the Copper.
At least I've gotten a few huts giving me gold...I'm going to need it for these spread out and crappy cities.

Also I was hoping to research something economically useful next, but I might need to go straight to IW to see if I have any Iron anywhere nearby. Though maybe getting Wheel first would be good. Both for something for my worker to do, and also to get roads on those Mines I made...then there is an RNG chance of Copper popping up under one of them.

[MindyMcCready]

Not going to get invested in this game (lost cause,...) but I think that you need to look to those forests.

A chopped out granary working grassland cottages will grow almost as quick as the crab city with no granary. It's awful, but I don't see what options you have.

1N3W for the shared cows and then just build a LH. Then you'll get another city next to the dry, dry wheat.

Archery is in your future and a couple of forest chops will keep you safe. I don't think that you want to try to reach with your cities but instead plant whatever is half decent and keep your worker count low (delay) in favour of granaries.

IW,...it can wait. Sailing for LH & water trade, Pottery for granaries and cottages, Archery for certain near-term defense.

[MindyMcCready]

:LOL: So you're Suilemon,...nothing like being able to quickly crank out a bunch of useless settlers that you can't afford or be able to run specialists with no food.

[HitAnyKey]

:LOL: So you're Suilemon,...nothing like being able to quickly crank out a bunch of useless settlers that you can't afford or be able to run specialists with no food.

Yup, I've been thinking that same thing. I should have already had my second and maybe third city settled by now (or close to it). Instead I just finished building a Monastery after building a second Scout and even about to finish a Work Boat to use for exploring as well.

However, other bits of info....Stonehenge & The Great Wall have already been completed by other people. Stonehenge dropped awhile ago (someone must have done it as their first build) and BrickAstley (who I met his scout at my borders just recently) finished TGW not too long ago. So I'm guessing at least a couple people also had Stone in their Capital BFC. And Khan just got the other religion a couple turns ago and adopted Hinduism already (which makes sense since he's Spiritual).
Brick is PHI, so he'll end up with a Great Spy rather quickly.

Oh, and I'm currently 2nd in both GNP & Production (if I recall). Will post a Demos screen next turn just for the hell of it.

[HitAnyKey]

Well the next hut finally helped me out by getting me something I wanted....


I was just about to research this.

And here are the demos after I ended turn (city grew to size 5):





After the Settler finishes I'm going to build a Lighthouse in the capital while researching Wheel. Then will consider getting Masonry (before Pottery) to chop out TGL. With so little food, trying to get this may be worthwhile. I'll be starting my worker on pre-chopping forests next turn. Still not 100% sure where I'm going to make the city, since to make use of those Mines around the capital I do need it using both food, but starting the second city by taking the cows for awhile is also a good idea. Or at least an ok idea....there aren't any GOOD ideas on this map.

[HitAnyKey]

So forgot to post this the other turn....they've been moving pretty quickly....
Got another Hut....and another Tech!!!



However, the only stupid Iron ANYWHERE even remotely close to me is here:




Question for anyone looking...



Since I have a road from my Capital to that coast....if I settle a city on the marked spot, will it instantly have trade routes by going along the coast, and then following the road? I'm really hoping that is the case, since I just finished a Settler this turn that I plan to send up there. That city will be sucky until the borders pop, but then it'll have access to both Fish and the Sheep.

I'm also considering a future city that is 2S or 2S1E of that Oasis. Haven't yet been able to think which one might be best. There are no other resources in that region. 2S puts it on a PH (for a good city spot) but makes it have 7 Desert tiles and has access to the Grass Forest (that's kind of hidden in the image). The other spot only has 4 Desert, but 1 extra Desert Hill and more water.

Another thing to point out about ALL the land around me. I do not have access to even a SINGLE lake or river anywhere. So I won't have any farms anywhere. This is going to be one low population civilization without a means to grow. Not something good for a PHI leader.

[pindicator]

Since I have a road from my Capital to that coast....if I settle a city on the marked spot, will it instantly have trade routes by going along the coast, and then following the road?

Unfortunately it doesn't work like that. You have to have an end-point, like a city or (i think) a fort. Or uncover the sea route all the way around the coastline.

In your position I think the easiest way is going to be to road up to the city.

[HitAnyKey]

First, thanks for that info Pindicator. I ended up deciding to send my settler up there to make that be my next city anyway, even though I'm going to lose lots of gold while waiting for a road to be built. That city will start with a Worker build.

As for current state of things, this turn one of my exploring scouts met Commodore. So I have now met every player.
1. My first scout has just reached the cultural borders of Khan. He is to my very far SE across the massive desert that way.
2. I built a workboat to explore south, and this turn I DOW on Brick to move it into his borders to get city visibility on both of his cities. For the moment I'm going to continue it along the rest of that part of the coast so that I have the full coast there unfogged (as I want the availability of future trade routes with Khan available). Then I'll either send the WB back home or keep it exploring.
3. I met Sian a little while ago with him having a warrior following my scout along a coastline far to my west (across the other desert). I went west with that scout, hit a coastline, and then started moving SE along it. And Sian is following me from the NW. So my guess is that he is somewhere to my west/northwest. This because of my next point.
4. This scout moving SE just ran into a slightly wounded warrior of Commodore. I'm kind of hoping he'll leave my scout alive, but I'm not expecting it to be there when I log in. Both of our units are wounded, but he should be able to easily kill my scout. But seeing his warrior there, my guess is that he is somewhere SE of that position. This is basically directly SW of my home position.

So this puts me right in the middle of an almost X layout on the map. Oh joy.
I'll post some screenshots after next turn. Want to see if I'll have my scout left alive for uncovering more stuff before I post maps.

[HitAnyKey]

Oh and one other little added comment. I can't believe how awesome of city sites Brick has compared to me. I have like nothing around for miles and he was able to settle his capital on a STONE PH with a second Stone right next to it. And a Wheat in the fog close by, based on it being available in the trade window.
And his 2nd city only 4 tiles away is on a river, has Flood Plains, and a Cow. And he has Iron available a mere 5 tiles west of that, which is right near a dry Wheat. I'm really hoping he also does not have any Horses in his land. I don't see any yet, but there could be some in the little bit of fog to the east of his capital that I have not uncovered.

And Khan also has Iron in a semi-decent spot. I haven't uncovered much of anything around his land yet, but the border that I'm at has a Grassland Forest Iron 2 tiles west of his border. From the shape of the culture, this is likely his 2nd or 3rd city. Still trying to decide if I'm going to want to DOW on him to get visibility inside. This being the first ring of culture, if he has a warrior inside the city (which he likely does) he'd kill my scout if it ends up left inside the borders.

[HitAnyKey]

Well my game just fell even further into the crapper. Khan just finished TGL, which was going to be my only saving grace in this land of no resources. I was 5 turns from finishing (already had 1 chop put into it) and might have been able to finish it in 4 turns with another chop.
I'm going straight for Writing to get OB, which I'm hoping Brick will accept after I send Peace back to him (when my work boat finishes passing through). Since I'd rather not help out Khan even more by giving him these trade routes with him having TGL. If he hadn't build it I was going to be able to get Writing, offer OB to Brick and Khan, and then the following turn finish TGL.
But now.....