[Spoilers] Pindicator's Nice Thread

[pindicator]

065

If he's out there lurking somewhere, I hope Kuro is pleased.




Settled my 5th city. There only seemed one fitting name for this one:

Indeed!




I would say that is Gavagai's Iron Working, but his power is still horribly low. Not the graph, which would still need a turn to catch up, but on the ratio. He was 1.7 before and he's 1.6 now. If that isn't him with IW then he's probably without metal and screwed here. If it is him with IW then I'll be fighting Praetorians soon.

I also screwed up the turn. I was supposed to finish connecting the Copper this turn and start an axe in David the Gnome. But I thought I had a skirmisher selected instead of my worker and ended up wasting a worker turn. I'll see what that does to micro down the line; it just may mean that MLP needs to slow-build it's granary instead of getting it chopped. We also had to start a 4th skirmisher in DtG instead of starting our first axe. But we'll get it connected next turn and start our first couple axes then. Guess I'm going for the war mode path after all.

[Tarkeel]

Settled my 5th city.  There only seemed one fitting name for this one:

Name approved.

I think it's been a while since we saw Mali use skirmishers to push around neighbors; last time was probably PB61?

[pindicator]

T65 is rather late. But Gavagai has been painfully slow here. If I get any traction at all or if I disrupt him hooking up his strategic resources then I'm going to send everything into war mode and try to conquer him

[pindicator]

066

The Iron Working was indeed Gavagai - the ratio must now have the same delay as the graph (talk about that sparks something familiar in my mind) - and Gavagai retreated his units. We go in.




I need to find if he has Iron in his culture. So this first skirmisher is going to stick to rough terrain while we wait for the next 2 to catch up. With 3 warriors on a hill, I think we need to wait for axes - the warriors will have odds with full fortification, or at least it will be a 50/50. And if that in turn means we're facing archers instead? Sigh, it might. I'll look for a quick kill if I can find one.

Copper was successfully hooked up this turn. Axes started in the Rainbow Brite and David the Gnome. Next turn we'll start an axe in Thundercats. Why the delay? Whip overflow.

[pindicator]

068

We move up.




4 warriors at the capital is enough to take out a single skirmisher. My race now is to find if he has any iron and to prevent him from hooking it up. The lead skirmisher is going to need to cut the road network to the capital at the first safe location. The two skirmishers that are just approaching are going to keep the pressure on the capital and try to pick off any of those warriors if he keeps them separate. Preventing him from hooking up any strategic resources is my primary goal with these units. Meanwhile my first axe is out. Another finishes end of turn, and 2 more the turn after.

If I am able to conquer Gav then I'll look to put a city down right where the skirmisher pair is currently standing.

[pindicator]

So am I wrong in thinking that once you have lighthouses built it's just not worth building non-riverside cottages? Considering it takes 30t for the cottage to reach 4c and surpass the coast tile, and then another 40t to break even in commerce ... that means you're not coming out ahead until the cottages become towns.

[Cornflakes]

So am I wrong in thinking that once you have lighthouses built it's just not worth building non-riverside cottages? Considering it takes 30t for the cottage to reach 4c and surpass the coast tile, and then another 40t to break even in commerce ... that means you're not coming out ahead until the cottages become towns.

You are absolutely correct! And that is why I like RtR FIN sooooooo much better than CtH … it actually makes non-riverside grass OK and adds variety and options to the game play. CtH only makes non-riverside grass even worse by comparison to coast!!

[Mjmd]

Then you end up where Nauf / Colossus Commodore were in PB64 where Commodore had to suddenly cottage his land late and Naufs economy was medium and only was in contention because Amica was doing serfdom only economy.

There is also a payoff in printing press later vs just working water tiles.

I always think of Financial as the best late game economic tech and easily even by mid game. For some reason I just always get in whipping wars early so I tend to shy away from as you don't get the most of it from whipping wars, but sometimes you get it randomly and do what you have to do.

[pindicator]

069

Not nice




As soon as I saw the city had been whipped I figured, but I had to duck in to make sure. At least I'll be defending at over 10 strength with Skirmishers on a hill when the praets come calling. Or perhaps Gav won't be so upset as to make it personal here: I didn't kill any units and only pillaged a road, after all.

I offered peace. What else do I do against Praets here? Perhaps if I had my axe stack at his border already I'd keep pushing, but I only have 2 axes to my name and they're both still back behind Rescue Rangers. Sigh, I knew this was a late attempt at a rush but I was starting to hope a little. And it does pain me to think that Gav got rewarded for ignoring metal for so long - he even got blessed with a ton of commerce, enough to get a religion and then also get IW.

Though it would have been a big stretch to send skirmishers out before Rescue Rangers was settled, and I feel I settled things in a decent enough order. I certainly am glad I opted for the defensive positioning of Rescue Rangers. (Please don't be map-edited iron. Please don't be map-edited iron. I might just lose my cool if I keep discovering the edited things in this "hyper random" game are all to my detriment while I get stuck in the ass end of the map.)

So what do I do now? I guess I just need to cottage up. I was thinking more about the cottage question from last night and I believe the answer is to use a lot of city overlap. The coastal cities will work the coastal tiles while the inland filler cities work their green cottage tiles. Once the cottages mature to villages then the coastal cities swap over and the filler cities work specialists or start new cottages. (Pop growth? What's that when you have no happiness!)

My demos suck and will continue to suck for the foreseeable future.




Also, did I get the worst start in the game?  Certainly looks like I've been stuck on the ass end of this map.

[pindicator]

Enough complaining, let's figure out a plan for moving forward:




First thing: if Gav doesn't give peace then all the following isn't worth anything and we're going to have to stay with war. I'm assuming he takes peace here though because he's obviously not ready to go to war himself and he would certainly want to improve his situation, settle that horse & copper location, and probably conquer that barb city with his praets.

I've been saving gold while deciding on the next direction, but leading candidates are Agriculture, Writing, Metal Casting, or Horseback Riding. Agriculture is going to be needed when borders pop at Rescue Rangers, but that is not until turn 77. I could certainly see getting Writing for Open Borders first because I want to get a religion to land in my borders. I'm also considering pushing straight for Metal Casting with the hope to land Colossus. However, I think Writing first still needs to happen: open borders and libraries are too much good stuff.

We still need lighthouses in all 3 coastal cities. The capital swapped off its axe to use the chop for a work boat and getting the last clam hooked up. I also need another work boat to scout the east; or perhaps I should go straight for a galley and try to settle the coastland to the east. Thundercats needs to pop its borders so I can work the Sheep, but I may end up using the Sheep to cram in a city in the far south of the coast. All these tightly laid cities screams Great Lighthouse, but I don't believe I have a chance at winning that race. Fairly certain other people are already halfway to it.

I also want to get that last filler city spot settled sooner than later. I'm going to have to start pumping out cottages, which means more workers too. I mentioned this in the last post, but this is my plan for getting the capital up to speed with cottages while still letting Thundercats and Rainbow Brite work the coastal tiles for good commerce now:




So lighthouses in Thundercats and My Little Pony. Work boat out of the capital and then we follow that up with another work boat for scouting. Writing next sounds like the best play, but I want to see peace with Gavagai before I officially turn on the slider for that. Otherwise we go for Horseback Riding. Get a wave of workers out along with another settler, and then try to set myself up for expanding east across the sea - if that is even an option. Scouting is enough of a priority that I think Thundercats needs to overflow it's whipped axe into a work boat so we can see what is to be seen out east.