TheArchduke in a critical Role as Scotland

[TheArchduke]

Are you kidding me?

Rowain complains about the map and has Torres del Paine?   

   

I know he plays not that well, seeing PBEM #8 but this. 

How about settling next to it with your capital or your 2nd or 3rd city, instead of forward settling me. Sigh.

Without fresh water, without any good ressource access.

   

This city helps Australia out of his hole how? Except for painting a big target on its back? Well this place is so bad, I need to raze this anyway.

And when I dow him, others will probably supportdow ™ him anyway, the joy.


Anyway, Korea is a much bigger threat longterm as he actually seems to manage to get science and infrastructure going.

Also, at the Indonesia´s capital:

   

Without any desert. So useful.

Another Natural Wonder.

   

In the Tundra.

I am not complaining about the map, I just wonder in which world Rowain thinks he can complain.

Also Korea and Australia seem to have met each other in the last 2 turns, because yeah, why scout?

[Banzailizard]

I legitimately cannot even begin to understand that forward settle. Its so bad it's frustrating. Look it's even right next to fresh water. Australia wants to stay by the coast anyways. The only thing I can think is that is is trying to goad you into an attack to activate Australia's ability, while giving you war exhaustion to hurt your ability. Even then why make it such an aweful city?

Korea is in a dark age. I wonder if they avoided scouting intentionally so as to hit a dark age now and a heroic age next? Their cheap campus let's them both get science out early and work the discount formula if they are careful.

[TheArchduke]

Was planning to forward settle Australia twice. Unsure at the moment though..

   

   

[Banzailizard]

Why are you having second thoughts about forward settling? Maybe it is supposed to be obvious from the pictures but I am not seeing it. Is it because your military is stretched thin?

[TheArchduke]

I was planning south of Zadash and southwest of Nicodranas.

[TheArchduke]

Uploading screenies, comments later.

Overview of the map.

   

If both settlers arrive at their goal (likely at the west, unlikely in the east) I will sandwhich Australia between those two cities.

Center

Investing into Hypatia, the only GS worth getting early on.

   

Kandy

A quick 5 turn detour. I am considering to declare on Korea, burn 1-2 cities and leave him crippled. An outright conquest is unrealistic and not necessary.
3 swordsman and 2 archers. In 5 turns I will expand those forces to 5 swordsman and 3 archers. With a ram and an archer thrown in afterwards.

   

Southern settlement

Squeezing Australia, getting two luxuries and opening a 2nd front.

   

Western settlement

Getting whales and a vital 3rd harbour (a very likely harbour city is W of the capital, Rexxentrum)

   

Doing 3 major things at a time:

- Hyperexpand against one opponent on the continent
- Declare War on the other
- Race for Great Persons

What could possibly go wrong?

[TheArchduke]

Turn 69

I will talk about this encampment when at work.

   

I am really suprised at the encampments placement.

Sydney is in a terrible location. Without an Aqueduct it can not grow. It grabs just one Luxury. Its City Center only has 2 and 1.
It is supposed to serve a defensive purpose.

So why put the encampment in the most useless place you can.

Defer to PBEM #2 and Oledavy´s and mine encampments which were crucial to the defense of both of our cities.

The tiles between the two rivers are toxic. If you stand on them, you can be shoot by archers moving up to it and taking potshots. Quite contrary, crossing a river prohibits those units from shooting and they are sitting ducks.

Now check out the encampment. The encampment in essence is a non-vital (if taken no city falls) fortification which enables a second archer to shoot with impunity. The problem here is that the encampment can be difficult to support, as it is isolated and IN FRONT of the river. Which means not only can it be shot by 2 archers, whilst it can return fire only with one archer and the encampment. It also can be quickly attacked by 2-3 direction by melee units.

There are 2 better positions. One I have indicated is at least behind the river. It is a bit better, but not much. Keeping in line with the idea behind this city. 
Much better would be 2 W, as there would be only 1 tile where a melee unit could move up to attack.

The really smart move would have been to settle either:

- On the Tobacco for an aggressive forward settle and protected archer location which can shoot up the northern river and then place the encampment on the river hill.
- Or if you want a size 2 fortress city, erect it 1 tile SW on the swamp

I know the current location grabs the iron in 2nd ring, but how exactly are you going to protect that?

In any case, my 2 settlers and this subpar location coupled with the encampment which only serves to aggro me further makes a dow on Australia as soon as the DoF ends very likely. Maybe even more so that I will offer a DoF to Korea after my conquest of Kandy.

[Banzailizard]

I know that I have not been the most consistent dedlurker of late but what has been going on? The presence of the encampment makes me think that this was not a "bait" city, designed to force you to declare war, activate Australia's ability, and then suffer war weariness from razing.  I never thought about how impactful that encampment placement could be but it is a good point. Did Australia lack iron somewhere else that they felt they needed to expand to here?

How are things going on the other landmass too?  I see suboptimal's thread being updated regularly and you said there was war brewing.

Finally why Reyna as your second governor?  I do not think that she is a bad choice but I mean why did you pick her specifically.  At least in my SP games, a poor comparison admittedly, I tend to prefer Ling for the builder charge as my second choice.  In the early game there is always more that needs to be improved or chopped than there is time.

[TheArchduke]

Any questions, Banzai, I will answer them as best as I can when you looked at the save.

[Banzailizard]

Any questions, Banzai, I will answer them as best as I can when you looked at the save.

Silly question, pointless question, inane question but the naming convention.  What is it? I am assuming its something from the critical roll podcast, which I have not, but have been meaning to listen to. If you can give a list of names I can draw from that would be appreciated, I like consistency.

More important question, where did you plan to send these settlers being built? Ultimately it is my choice, and I was thinking to send them north of the river north of Rex. That being said if you had a plan in motion I am happy to hitch aboard.

What mod do you use for your display? I rather liked it and want to install it as well.

Have you sent any diplomatic messages or offers in the last few turns I should know about? When does the DoF with Australia wear off?

You don't happen to know what happens if I take Kandy without astrology do you?

Sort of weird taking over a game like this. 

Ok I have looked at the save.  In general the position I am in is good.  I have:
1. A strong army;
2. Plentiful cities and more on the way; and
3. Decent science and cultural output.

On the other hand:
1. My military is stretched out wide;
2. Korea's science is better; and
3. Many of those cities are under developed both in terms of population and in terms of tiles.

It sort of feels like a scenario game or something.

In general I tend to write long rambling reports.  I do like that they give me screenshots and such to look back at when I am done. That begin said they neither help me focus nor do they help paint clear picture of the turn. For the rest of this game I am going to compromise.  Like an academic journal I will push my main points up front and dump all the rest of the screenshots in an appendix spoiler.

So what is the main issue/ take away this turn? The main issue is a question: What direction do I want to go? Archduke said as much in the above posts but here are the three choice.

1. Go after Korea
2. Go after Australia
3. Do nothing.

Option one: Korea

Pros:
My army is already here.  After Kandy falls the turn south would be quick. Hui-Seong Kim is north of the river too which makes it a tempting target.  No walls (unless they are 1 turn away).  Korea is also the bigger threat, might be worth leveraging this bigger army to take him down.
Cons: he is stronger than Australia so I can expect more of a fight. Any delay here lets Australia build up.  I would assuredly need to run Oligarchy to even try to break through.

Option two: Australia

Pros: weak militarily, cities are weak defensively but well developed. Plus they have a religion which, if I take their cities, I can take from them and spread to my cities.  Not as good as founding my own but I am not going to found my own.
Cons: my army is a continent away. In attacking I would also fire their civ bonus 100% production. Finally I would be leaving a stronger enemy at my back.

Option three: peace?
Pros:I mean I do have more cities and should spit out two more settlers soon.  I can just out boom my enemies.  I am not supper competent with the military aspects of the game as well.
Cons: I am over extended, trying to play defense alone leaves me open to attack.  As I develop I will be the #1 target too. It does nothing to take advantage of the larger army I have either.

I still have a turn or two to really chose what I am doing.  Archduke I think you were leaning towards Korea, and the situation I am in suggests that as well.

Appendix 1 summary info:

I forgot if it was Indonesia or Korea who got Hypatha. Either way bad news.  Not too thrilled with the next GS either.  Good if I wanted a religion, bad because I do not. I switched to Astrology because Kandy has a HS and I can work that right away. There is some denial value in not allowing the religious civs to take him.  Need to review which other GG's are available and which are likely to come up next.

Civics tree.  Leaving this alone.  When I want to attack someone and go Oligarchy I can use drama and poetry to do so.

Tech tree: everything except astrology before this was researched. I swapped to astrology.  Waffling on that, might swap back.  Not likely to get any district discounts anytime soon.  4 districts unlocked (Campus, Gov, CH, Encampment) and 2 built. Still it is possible and more possible at 4 than 5.  Not sure what happens if I take Kandy and do not have astrology. Might be worth testing.  The bottom line of tech is tempting for crossbows. 

Settling a new city was enough to push me to golden age points.

City screen. 

Apendix 2 scores for tracking purposes