[SPOILERS] Yuris125 tries to win a game of Civ5 before it fades away

[yuris125]

I did a quick test and confirmed that stone under a city does not count as a quarry for Stone Circles. Makes it much less appealing, means I only have one quarryable (word!) stone, and may or may not get the second. If I want a faith-producing pantheon, Religious Idols (faith from gold and silver) is strictly better, because it definitely does give faith from settling on gold. Is it better than food from camps (likely to account for 4 or 5 food per turn down the line, but no immediate benefit) or Fertility Rites (+10% food, so up to 0.3 food per turn in the capital, but no immediate benefit while it's on Settlers)? Possibly... still have time to ponder

[yuris125]

Went with Religious Idols. It's weaker down the line, but gives an immediate benefit, and that benefit is culture and faith, resources which are harder to come by than food

Hanoi still didn't move out the Worker!

[yuris125]

Finally!!




Stayed at war for now. The way the game works, there's pretty much no downside to staying at war with a city state in the early game, when they don't have units to disrupt you. When they start sending units your way, you can just go ahead and make peace then. But there's a significant downside to making peace and then declaring war again. The first war against a city state is free, the second causes a hit with all city states for the rest of the game (I believe it's -20 to influence immediately and -20 to resting point. It's significant). Considering I still have hopes to make Hanoi part of my empire at some points when I actually have something that can be called an army (I'm not going to work on relationship with a militaristic city state, but I would rather it didn't give free units to other players), staying at war for now seems best. I might nab another Worker later as well

[yuris125]

T30

Barbs ahoy!




This is actually nice in a weird way. Means HAK is very unlikely to be able to get to the spot I planned for my 3rd city. Not that he seems to be trying

I did switch the capital to a Worker. After that will get two more Settlers out, then Pyramids

Didn't look at the demos for a while, here they are




Looking good in general, but some interesting numbers. First, someone is at -3 unhappiness (Approval rating is 60% at 0 happiness, +/- 3% for each positive or negative happy. Nothing wrong with that, I'll join them for a few turns assuming I meet no obstacles on the way to the third city

Second, no one has Writing (Literacy rating is 0% until you research Writing, then percentage of research techs). Whoever goes for Great Library will be able to slingshot an expensive tech. Sadly my production is spoken for, don't think I will have a chance to make a run for it. Pyramids is just more important, capital will be busy with that and Settlers until at least T60, while the rest of the cities will build some other essential stuff...

like units. Not only am I last in soldiers right now, but it's also Nic who is in first. And Nic appears to be heavily focusing on production - his cities are still at sizes 3 and 1, doesn't look like he's growing them. My second city was founded 4 turns after his, and is going to grow next turn. His yields have to be going into production, and judging by his soldiers count, that's where that production could be going. I don't want to slow down my expansion and growth, but I have to respect the possibility of his attack. So non-capital cities will be on units for the foreseeable future, and hopefully that will be enough

[yuris125]

Of course, maybe I'm paranoid, Nic's cities are not growing because he's building Settlers, and his power is high because.. because.. well, reasons. Fact is, however opaque the mechanic for calculating this rating is, it does serve its purpose as an indicator of military strength (or weakness). And Nic's is scary

[yuris125]

T31

Here he comes....




I might be ok. Who knows. Decision to go Archer first in Tombouctu sure seems justified now

Since there's at least 3 known barb units in the area and I'm about to be declared on, let's send that Settler unescorted. What can go wrong

[yuris125]

A little bit of tactics




There are 4 tiles Nic can shoot at my city, shown in red.
Cyan area will be controlled by the third city, assuming I get to settle it as planned. Forests block line of sight from the NW plains tile, and the rest is too close to the capital

He would also need a melee unit to capture the city - Archers can't do it. There's only one way to move a melee unit in range without exposing it to city bombardment for more than one turn, shown in orange arrow. I know he has a Spearman, so that wouldn't be a problem

Assuming he has an Archer on the tile with magenta square, probably his most visible moves would be as shown in blue (for visible Archers) and magenta (for the assumed Archer) arrows. His problem is, if he does that, he puts an Archer on flatland, inside city bombardment, without getting a shot on the first turn of the war, and taking a lot of damage from the city

The scariest scenario is if he additionally has an Archer on the brown tile, moving as shown. That way he would utilise all 4 tiles he can shoot from

I think I should be fine if he only has one of the assumed Archers. If he has both, I'm likely in trouble. Only instincts though

If he only has the three Archers I can see right now, or if he doesn't do the blue arrow onto the jungle move, I may be ok as then he wouldn't be able to utilise all 4 tiles he can shoot from

If he doesn't declare war next turn, it increases my chances of holding the city. I don't think he will though. This is clearly an all-in rush, his cities are at sizes 3 and 1, I already have 7 pop, soon to be 8. He can't delay

If he moves an Archer inside city bombardment range (e.g. blue move onto the hill), I would not hesitate to declare myself. He's clearly coming for me, and me getting the first shot would be beneficial

Finally, after the Worker is done in the capital, I would be able to go 2 turn Archers there, which would also be helpful. Unfortunately because of the marsh and the river they would take 3 turns to get to Tombouctu. So it may be too late. But I really don't want to delay the Worker any more. It may be silly, but since the capital can't quite get to two turn Archers and has to rely on overflow for that, it's actually only a 1t delay compared to if I switch immediately

Speaking of, here's how the capital looks




An aside on the third city. The timing is working out poorly, because I'm going to fall into -4 unhappiness, and therefore will get -8% combat penalty. That's another big reason I don't want to delay the Worker. Getting happiness back into positive will be a priority, and the happiness penalty may decide the war. I will consider delaying settling the city when the Settler is in position and I'm sure I can use it immediately if I see barbs or HAK's Settler approaching

[yuris125]

It's not the worst case scenario




Just three Archers. I know Nic has another one, the one that was in the city last turn, but I don't see how it can join the battle effectively. I think the war will be largely decided in the next 2 turns, either Nic takes the city before I get the Archer out or he doesn't. If I do get an Archer, that Spearman will have a lot of difficulty getting in position to capture the city. There will likely be more combat - Nic can't really afford to peace out without taking my city. But if the city holds until it has the first Archer, then I have time to train another one in the capital and bring it over, and life gradually becomes much easier

Seeing how much health the city has after the first shot makes me optimistic. It's annoying that I can't see the exact amount of health the city has (or can I? is there a way? couldn't find it). But I would think the city currently has around 95hp after the first shot and then an interturn heal. So the shot was for 15. 6 shots for 15, another heal for 10 on the interturn would leave the city at 15hp. A fully healthy Spearman would take it. A Spearman shot at by the city and then attacked by the Warrior? Maybe, maybe not. It's going to be close

Speaking of, I kept the Warrior unmoved this turn. Moving him into the city only adds 1 point of power to the city, and I think healing it for 20hp is going to be much more helpful (it's currently at 59hp, going up to 79)

[yuris125]

So Nic has two valid moves this turn. He can move the Spearman next to the city, exposing it to bombardment and whatever units I have in the fog (the tiles E and NE of the city are fog for him). This is probably the safest move, since even if I have units on both tiles, I wouldn't be able to attack the Spearman with both because of the marsh SE of the city. One units moves into the city and attacks the Spear, the other can't reach it

Alternative play is to move the Archer from the stone towards the city, and put the Spear on the stone. This protects the Spearman, pretty much guarantees it doesn't die, but exposes the Archer (and the city shot at the Archer this turn, dealing 32 damage)

Pretty sure moving the Spearman to the city is the better play. Will Nic be scared though? If he loses the Spear, I don't think he has another melee unit anywhere near the battle. He may be tempted to try and keep it in the back...

Yeah - this is going to be VERY close

[yuris125]

Nic made a move I didn't expect




Spent a few minutes trying to figure out why he would move the Spear there, and I think he wants to do this




The healthy Archer moves next to the city and still has a shot next turn (blue arrow), while the Spear gets into position to attack from a hill, thus getting defensive bonuses the turn before it attacks (orange arrow). Presumably he also wants to swap the wounded Archer on the stone for the healthy one

This is a good plan, except it gives me an extra turn before he actually tries to take the city. Which may end up being crucial - I now will get an Archer out before the Spear can attack. I get a feeling Nic didn't expect me to go Archer first in Tombouctu

I delayed founding the third city for a turn, because I'm finishing the Archer with no hammers to spare. I'm not sure if the production penalty from unhappiness would delay it, but can't risk it. Once again left the Warrior unmoved - it will now be at almost full health (99hp) by the time Nic is ready to hit

Also pictured: Milan issued a quest for me to connect Truffles. Yet another example of dumb luck of city state quests. Truffles are in the third ring of my capital, and the border should expand naturally to them in not too distant future. So it's a relatively easy quuest. If it asked for, say, silver, I would not have been able to do it ever