Learning Capria FFH SG

[Brian Shanahan]

I was thnking 1S of Bruti, simply for the hill and attack across the river defensive boni, but with Grottiburg gone, 1SE is a lot more viable now.

[kjn]

I don't really understand the defensibility question? 1S is just a bit further from both Amelanchier and Os-G, but only a bit. Is 1S a hill and 1SE flat -- I can't tell from the screenshot. It looks like 1S would wipe out a jungle while 1SE levels a forest, but that shouldn't affect defensibility.

1S is on a hill. It also has a single viable attack tile with a defense bonus next to it (the SW hill).

1SE is not only on flatland, it is also closer to Amelanchier and with no less than three hills next to it, all of them without a river defence bonus.

Hopefully we can make the city solidly backline, but it will be vulnerable to assault from Amelanchier while he continues to hold Evermore.

[haphazard1]

1S is on a hill. It also has a single viable attack tile with a defense bonus next to it (the SW hill).

1SE is not only on flatland, it is also closer to Amelanchier and with no less than three hills next to it, all of them without a river defence bonus.

Thanks for explaining -- I couldn't tell any of this from the screenshot I found, since it was really about something else and (former) Bruti was just off on one side.

Hopefully we can make the city solidly backline, but it will be vulnerable to assault from Amelanchier while he continues to hold Evermore.

And how long were you planning to let that continue?

[Brian Shanahan]

And how long were you planning to let that continue?

Until you joined the game:neenernee. Blackmail works doesn't it.

[kjn]

Domestic developments

Capria looked out over her mighty realm. The loss of the route to Coimbra had turned parts of it into disarray - the people had already grown accustomed to the nourishing bananas and life-giving magicks.

The cities in the "old empire" made do as much as they could, and wise sages were consulted as much as possible. Thrifty merchants helped to keep the treasury from depleting too fast.

But poor Coimbra. Its citizens were starving, a large amount of the Bannor army was trapped there, not to mention two priceless workers, and there were rampant unrest. As many specialists were working as possible, but it was clear that Grottiburg must be conquered!

The research in Arete was quickly finished, but then it was discovered that the Mines of Gal'Dur had already been completed - before the empire had even started the research!

Instead, it is decided to start research on Warfare. It would enable new government options, and the powerful wonder of Form of the Titan. But first the depleted funds must be replaced - Bologna works mature cottages, while Paris makes itself ready to welcome new citizens and help newer cottages to grow.

Much planning went into building the Form of the Titan as quickly as possible. The city managed to reach the absolutely highest possible amount of ready materials when the work began, and the merchant agreed to serve as a priest for the time. However, it was all for nought - Jonas Endain's capital managed to build the wonder a few cycles before we could complete it.

Two turns before Warfare is due, and we put 58 hammers into a Horseman:



Then, with max overflow from the horseman (58 hammers pre-adjustment!), and with a priest instead of the merchant:

If we had managed to start building the wonder at the same time we had units of sufficient experience, it would have been in our hands, but sadly it was not to be.

A new hunter has managed to learn the skills to subdue animals, and will soon be able to harvest the bear lair outside Spilan. We have still not founded a city south of Oxford, to ship rice to the rest of the realm, since the war with Amelanchier and Os-Gabella is still ongoing, and a decision hasn't been reached on where it is to be placed.

Reports From the Other Realms

Jonas Endain had recently changed his ways of government to Conquest and Military State. This meant that he soon, or maybe already, would be ready to build the Form of the Titan. This was one wonder that the Bannor needed to deny to the Clan of Embers.

Auric Ulvin signed open borders with us, and settled the cities of Tolero and Lakis.

Amelanchier has a strong army, led by the dangerous and mighty Gilden Silveric. However, his production is estimated to be only half that of the Bannor, and he cannot build the strong units that we can. His realm has recently converted to the Octopus Overlords. Capria wondered what might ever have possessed even a man as Amelanchier to worship those wile beings.

However, it seems to be possible to sign peace with Amelanchier. It will need to be discussed with the council.

Os-Gabella still has a large army, but man for man they were no match for the Bannor axemen.

One of the hawks is sent to Bologna, to scout the north and then the west.

Early on, a Great Bard was born in far away land, and it was surmised that the knowledge of Drama had been obtained by some other realm.

The top cities, showing the Form of the Titan and the Mines of Gal'Dur.



And the demographics.

The War with Amelanchier

Amelanchier sent many small probing groups against Oxford, and also a little towards Coimbra. The most serious one happened early, when several hunters and a fawn killed the spider in the mine northeast of Oxford. Reinforcements from the north towards Coimbra were disrupted as they had to deal with this threat, but the entire group was wiped out for the loss of a single axeman.

Other small probes continued, easily repulsed. On the last part of the grander cycle, a larger group of archers, led by Gilden, moved towards the borderlands between Coimbra and Oxford. The exposed workers quickly moved south, towards safety.

The War with Os-Gabella

The forces next to Grottiburg were deemed insufficient to quickly take the city. Reinforcements are sent south, and some units leave Prague to join the assault on Grottiburg. Our forces outside Grottiburg pillaged the horse pasture and the reagents.

A troubling aspect during the assault was that the first group to move against Grottiburg was positioned too far south. It was thus hard for the reinforcements to reach our besieging forces in a timely manner. Nevertheless, our force increased, while Os-Gabella's diminished.

On the 163rd cycle since the emergence from hell, our highly experienced veterans led the assault on Grottiburg. A Thane of Kilmorph boldly enters the city and suppresses the revolt. The route from Coimbra to our heartland is open again, and bananas and life-supporting magics roll into Bologna again. Charles and Diane leave Coimbra, to first road the reagents tile.

Grottiburg will henceforth be known as Prague, and it was quickly connected with the rest of our empire. With the city we gained the Dies Diei, a monument, two workers, and three liberated broken slaves that were once proud soldiers of Bannor. Production was set to another worker, and the slaves were joined to the city's Elder Council.

Tongurstad remained to take. Most of the forces were shifted on the newly built road,first to Coimbra end then towards Tongurstad. However, Tongurstad was built on a hill, and their defenders had had a long time to prepare. We could destroy several Sheaim warriors that ventured out from the city, but could not muster sufficient forces to take the city outright. Things were made harder when Tongurstad's border expanded, to encompass the banana. It hurt the domestic development in our heartland, and made movement of forces towards Tongurstad slower.

Exploring the South

The liberation of Prague meant that we could finally send a well-equipped exploration party to our south. Two experienced hunters with the help of a hawk could tell of mighty beasts with teeth as long as a man, rich fishing waters, and short-legged pink animals in the south. Evading a dangerous bear, they continued west, and far in the southwest found great riches:

Precious gems! Rich dyes! New bounty from the sea! The Yggdrasil!

However, the area is also covered in marshland and jungle. It will take a long time and many workers to expand into and claim this land.

I think I have the largest Civ screen of us (I can do 1920x1280 screen dumps, though I usually run Civ at 1600x900), so if someone wants extra-large images for dotmapping you have but to ask.

[kjn]

Major issues for the next player:

Peace with Amelanchier?

I think we should get some peace for a few turns. It will allow us to settle rice city (which we can do turn 171) and deal with Os-Gabella at our leisure.

Right now, our force mix isn't that good to deal with strong defensive archers, and we have a much higher research and production capability than Amelanchier, and expansion potential.

If we get peace there, we can tech towards Priesthood (Stonewardens), Military Strategy, and Code of Laws at our leisure. Having Stonewardens and Confessors would make our assault on Evermore much stronger. Amelanchier has no military resources at all, and will be thoroughly boxed in.

Expansion

With peace, we could also get a settler out of Bologna (which should quit building the Titan), to settle White, and move on and take Spilan. We should also settle Rice city, which will enable Bologna to grow even more.

Exploration

Our hunter group should try to continue explore the southwest. Be careful! There is spider there that is up at least to C2, as well as other highly promoted animals!

Domestic stuff

We can finish off Philosophy in a turn. Bologna should go for a small food surplus, or stagnation, and maybe try to grow a few of its cottages, too.

Once Coimbra has grown back (we should go max food there) we should run a few specialists there. A priest would be nice (bulb Priesthood, or save for a shrine). A merchant could do a trade mission or bulb Currency. An engineer would bulb Smelting or give us our choice of wonder.

[Brian Shanahan]

Peace would be nice. We can chase after stuff like new religions for a while and build ourselves up to a serious advantage.

Designating a specialist city would be advantageous, allowing us to tailor the GPs to our needs better. Atm Coimbra is probably the best site.

On tech I think running for religious or commerce techs for a while may be to our best advantage. Imagine a huge civ with Currency and Trade advantages. We'll dwarf everybody fairly quickly after that.

And it is usually at about this stage where I start REX phase II

[kjn]

We will also get a lot of failgold from the Titan.

I'm thinking finish off Philosophy first. Then go for Code of Laws - it's on the path to Currency, Order, and enables Aristocracy. With plenty of productive cities, it will decrease costs and give more commerce. Then either Writing or Festivals.

I also would like to get the free Great Commander from Military Strategy. Happily, it requires Philosophy, so I doubt Jonas will beat us there. Maybe go Sailing-Trade after that. More trade routes are nice, and we could finally go for Golden.

We have tons of land to expand into to the south. However, we should get some major culture into Oxford and the rice city - our first two bears should go there, I think. Maybe get Festivals too, so we can get Carnivals and run bards. Also put some more roads between Oxford and Coimbra further south and west, so Evermore's cultural expansion doesn't cut off Coimbra again.

Hart, you up to doing a first dotmap of the south?

[haphazard1]

Very nice work on the report, kjn! Too bad on the Form of the Titan.

I am curious about who Jonas has been fighting. He has the barbarian trait so he must be fighting another civ to develop a level 6 unit. Or maybe it could be Rantine that unlocked FotT? I suppose a priest or arcane unit could do so as well but that seems less likely, although maybe I am underestimating those possibilities.

That southern land will be tremendous, although as you said it will take a ton of worker turns. But it will be well worth the investment. There is a potential gems/triple dye/cow/Yggdrasil site that would be amazing if you choose to put it all in one city.

Peace with Amelanchier for a while sounds good, so you can grow and take advantage of what you have already conquered from Os-Gabella. But how likely is it for the peace to last? With the Ljos turning evil worshipping OO and being boxed in for territory, they may redeclare at an inopportune time. What are your current diplo modifiers with Amelanchier?

[kjn]

Very nice work on the report, kjn! Too bad on the Form of the Titan.

Yes, if we had Warfare on the same turn that we got our first level 6 unit (turn 163 I think), we'd have gotten the wonder. But we had absolutely no margin.

I am curious about who Jonas has been fighting. He has the barbarian trait so he must be fighting another civ to develop a level 6 unit. Or maybe it could be Rantine that unlocked FotT? I suppose a priest or arcane unit could do so as well but that seems less likely, although maybe I am underestimating those possibilities.

There has been no mention that I've seen that Rantine has been built. Jonas has had a few power graph dips and rises, so he has been doing a bit of fighting.

That southern land will be tremendous, although as you said it will take a ton of worker turns. But it will be well worth the investment. There is a potential gems/triple dye/cow/Yggdrasil site that would be amazing if you choose to put it all in one city.

Well, there is a lot of marsh there too (including Yggdrasil), but yes, there are plenty of resources that we want. Gems will give +2 happiness with ToKs, FoY is +1 happy/+2 health, and with both pig and cow down south smokehouses become quite nice buildings. Potentially, we can add 6 health and 5 happiness (with appropriate buildings) from the resources there, and the exploration isn't finished yet.

Peace with Amelanchier for a while sounds good, so you can grow and take advantage of what you have already conquered from Os-Gabella. But how likely is it for the peace to last? With the Ljos turning evil worshipping OO and being boxed in for territory, they may redeclare at an inopportune time. What are your current diplo modifiers with Amelanchier?

Doesn't really matter how long it's going to last. We are teching faster then the Ljosalfar, have access to military resources (copper and horses), we have a much higher production capacity, and we have much more land to expand into. We need to keep a good reserve around Oxford and Coimbra, but Amelanchier cannot do anything without us noticing it via hawk scouting.