Chevalier Rides Again: A City Lights exploration

[Ginger()]

Should be called “city lights-out exploration”

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Turn Somethin'

The game progresses slowly. We average about one turn every four days, and while my motivation is somewhat sapped by the tight map and Germany sending his first settler into barbarian-infested wilds to fuck with me, I'll soldier on. I still think I can win even if he does invalidate 3 of my 5 possible cities in my starting area. 



We unlock mining and I start on Masonry, which will unlock mining villages. I'll finish it by using a builder charge on the marble near Ponyville. 

Speaking of the settler...



I wasn't kidding about the barbs, and it's why I thought Germany would send his first settler east, into the clear and profitable terrain there, to get his city up more quickly. I can only guess that Eltargrim wanted to win the settling race (ie = must settle towards neighbor) and wasn't thinking about timelines like getting his city down as quickly as possible to maximize ROI. We still have opportunities. I use my scout's superior mobility (holding the promotion in reserve as ljubljana so cunningly suggested) to stalk the warrior. If he gives me an opening, I shall declare war and seize the settler, escorting him back to German lines and informing Eltar that he must settle in a different direction (after Baltimare is plunked down, which I'll work on as soon as the Holy Site finishes). I have a warrior en route to this AO as well, but need to move carefully given the heavy barb presence. 

Here's the lovely ground east of Aachen, with room for two cities and a science city-state in the fog:


For you non-Civ VI players following along, you can tell there's a science state by peering at the southeast corner of the hill which is two hexes SE of my scout (located in the forest at right center) - you see the dotted blue line? That's a city-state border peeping out of the fog, and blue = science. We'll meet next turn. 

In other news, my friends got frustrated with the slow early-game and we did a live session a few weeks ago, racing ahead in this second game through about 30 turns in one evening, before swapping over to PYDT hotseat at the end of the night. In Game 2 I am up to 3 cities and my own island, including Definitely Not Rapa Nui:



This one might be more promising. 

On the other hand, a game with randoms I joined out of boredom had this start:



Delightful.

[williams482]

What is your plan for the first settler sent towards Germany? It does look like there's a fair shot you'll be able to capture or block that german settler given the barb presence (does battlecry work against scouts?).

Real shame we didn't get game 2's map for this one. That looks, if not perfect, at least in line with your pregame expectations.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Essentially, we're going to let the barbs do the work for us. The lone half-health warrior Eltargrim has escorting his settler won't be able to muscle through the two warriors, scout, and slinger any time soon. So, I'll pull back to give the savages room to whale on Germany and drive the settling party back towards his territory, while bringing in my own scout and warrior to attempt to re-establish the blockade.

Canterlot is going to finish its Holy Site in 3 turns, then I'll need to start Baltimare's settler. I'll also need a boat for the classical golden age, though, and the sooner that's out the better. But Baltimare must come first! IF we miss Monumentality, that's recoverable, but losing 3 cities to the east will be a significant setback.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

The German expedition pulls back and will either have to make a stand in the pass there or withdraw all the way to Aachen. I will shadow on the southern side of the mountain, spending my promotion to heal the Oki and enable rapid hill movement. 

Elsewhere, the Dutch have a settler out and are headed southwest, and we meet Geneva in the far east beyond Germany. 

I will keep my fresh warrior out of Canterlot near the capital, and he'll serve as settler escort alongside the Oki to muscle for Baltimare. Our Holy Site is due in 3 turns and I'll start the settler right after. 

In Game 2 the main news is first contact, meeting a Phoenician (Incurian) and a Korean (Eltargrim) scout on a small island south of us:




I have an entire landmass to myself, at least. Need to scout the seas more - two galleys are prowling around.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

The campaign in the Gudbrandsdalen Valley continues:




The barbarians have driven the Germans into headlong retreat, a battered few surviving warriors shielding the women and children as they limp back into the borders of Aachen. My oki takes up a blocking position and hits the slinger, hoping to secure a kill next turn and work towards Bronze Working, while being a "good neighbor" and shielding Germany from further aggression. 

Otherwise the turn is quiet. The Holy Site is still two turns out, as is my worker at Ponyville and Craftsmanship, so turn 31 will be big. Otherwise my 3 military units begin to concentrate around the valley in an effort to secure a corridor towards the Baltimare site - I expect we shall need to hold it for two weeks or so, 15 turns. 

Overview:

[williams482]

Barbs turn out to be extremely helpful for once. Although certainly Germany won't think so.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

@thrawn, I think they definitely have overtuned the urban cities in particular. Once you have your 4 rural cities for trade routes, I don't see any real way rural cities can ever compete with urban ones. Take a look at some city-planning I did today in Game 2.

Game 2 turn 31

We miss a Golden Age in the classical, but no worries, we can still get Monumentality in the Medieval and Renaissance:




I take Exodus of the Evangelists, since I'm planning on founding at least 3 cities in this era and will be converting at least 5, possibly more, to my religion, so +10 era score there should guarantee a golden age. -knock on wood-

I also acquire Political Philosophy and, with only 3 cities and few districts and no prospects of combat, opt for Autocracy:




Definitely Not Rapa Nui finishes the Government Plaza on the same turn and COULD start the Ancestral Hall...




...but I opt for the Holy Site instead. Here's the plan:

My first settler is out of Canterlot, which is taking 2 turns to push out a shrine. The settler will walk to my MOST DISTANT settling site, taking advantage of the pacified island and lack of competition. That walk will take 10 turns, it seems. Meanwhile, Rapa Nui will take 9 turns to finish its holy site, and the Great Prophet is due in 10 turns once the shrine completes. Got all that?

So, on turn 41, our settler should arrive, Rapa Nui has a holy site, and we found our religion with Work Ethic. That will take Rapa Nui from 5 production/turn to something closer to 15 production/turn (will finish Theology via boost on the same turn -> Slot Scripture for double adjacency, Holy Site is +5 due to Desert Folklore pantheon I grabbed). At 15 production/turn, we can get the Ancestral Hall's 75 production knocked out in 5 turns, so the settler kicks his heels until turn 46, at which point we found Fillydelphia. Meanwhile I'll have gotten two more settlers out for the closer Cloudsdale and Appleloosa sites, so all 3 cities should go up at about the same turn and instantly have builders. 

Where to found those cities? Here's an initial dotmap:




3 sites with lots of fresh water and aqueduct sites - I think I will make 2 urban cities and 1 rural here. 

Appleloosa and Fillydelphia, one rural and one urban site:




And Cloudsdale, another urban site:




These cities will have insane production and the trade routes should let me hit 12 pop for all the districts, some might hit 15 for a bonus district. Order of priority is Holy Site->Campus->Commercial Hub->IZ->ED->Theater Square for all.

After the Ancestral Hall, Rapa Nui will grab the Pyramids and then become a settler pump with promoted Magnus. Might add Petra later but honestly it's an urban city, it doesn't work the desert tiles, it builds on them. Petra might make sense for one of my filler cities along the fringes of the desert (powered by Desert Folklore Work Ethic holy sites!).

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Quick update - 

Game 1, the barbs have indeed chased Germany into Aachen. No other major developments. 

Game 2, I'm scouting to try to find Korea and Phoenicia, with whom I made first contact last turn (don't recall if I mentioned).

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Long Delay But Turn IN

So let me break down our pattern of turns: I will typically take my turn in between 2 - 4 hours after I receive it, unless it comes at a weird hour. Then the save gets to England, who sits on it for 2-3 days or so. After England plays, it races through players 1 (Germany), 2 (Rome), 3 (the Dutch) until it gets to player 4, Phoenicia - where it sits again, for typically another 3-4 days. Then to me, where I turn it around right away, and the cycle repeats. So we're only managing about 1 turn a week at the moment. The game should end ~150, so, uh, in 3 years. Jesus. 



In Game 2, our scouting galleys find Brussels and Mt. Roraima, as well as I think Punic loyalty, but no vision on cities yet. 

The main action, of course, is at home development, the point of this game. In a rare move I do something I've never done before - I order a Holy Sites project:




My motivation for this is Korea and at least one other power are garnishing 2.3 Great Prophet points per turn, and while I THINK I have enough of a head start, they could beat me to the post for Siddharta if they run a project of their own. Now, since Work Ethic + Desert Folklore is more or less my entire gameplan at the moment, I have to be first and guarantee that pick. 

At the same time, DFWE will help this move pay for itself. The Holy Site is +5 faith, meaning it'll be +5 production as well. The project nets me the Great Prophet 5 turns sooner, so that's 5 x 5 = 25 extra production - and the prayers only cost 5 production themselves. So while it's not quite break-even, it is certainly very cheap to secure the first religion and attendant era score and faith on top. 

This will mean the prophet pops out before Definitely Not Rapa Nui finishes its Holy Site, but that's fine - I won't be getting a Classical Monumentality, so I can spare the faith for a few missionaries, and I"ll take Exodus to net myself even more era score for every city converted and really secure the Medieval Golden Age. 

Game 1 is even slower. The barbs shut down Germany's settlement attempt and I withdraw my warrior to heal up for the big Baltimare push:



So far so good. Slow games.