[Spoilers] Old Harry's Game

[Old Harry]

Turn 38

Hydra didn't settle the pig first


And his Quetcha is heading this way, I'd move my warrior so he can see it before he thinks about entering my borders, but Altrincham is going to need him for MP next turn. I'll build two-turn warriors in Crewe from next turn instead


Demos

[Old Harry]

Turn 39

I think Hydra now has four Quetchas to my two warriors, while Serdoa might have just got priesthood. If I'm right he'll get the Oracle next turn in his size four second city and take Metal Casting.


This is how the pop seems to be distributed:


Hydra doesn't like snoopers, but if he declares next turn I'll probably enter his borders to try and cause some trouble, I've offered open borders to be friendly instead. Lets see if he takes it...


I'm not keen on snoopers either (for some reason I didn't need the MP in Altrincham this turn so moved the warrior to be visible. Probably not that scary tbh). Darlington will be founded next turn and the copper could be hooked in three turns.


I'll whip the worker next turn and overflow into a warrior if Hydra attacks.


Demos

[Old Harry]

Turn 40

Right. So how normal is it to wake up in the middle of the night worrying that you're going to get choked because you haven't built enough warriors? It all turned out fine though - Hydra accepted open borders and is coming to have a nose through my teritory (Quetcha up north, scout in the east). I'll need to be careful about settling the horse city.


In return I'm checking out Legoland - doesn't look like he's built any infrastructure yet either, but he's got a lot of mines - this is what is letting him built lots of Quetchas...


Power graph seems to correspond with what I've been recording, Azza just researched Iron Working or Horseback Riding. He's Byzantine with Cataphracts coming later so I'd presume the latter. I'll think about some spears.


Demos


Serdoa didn't complete the Oracle this turn. Maybe next?

Crikey! After the turn ended Barnet's borders popped and we can see that Hydra settled his second or third city miles away from his capital


I think he's settled 1N of the marble - has he got wonders in mind?

[Old Harry]

I've just opened the save to discover one of my workers trying to farm a cottage. I must have accidentally set him to do that after he completed the cottage last turn.

He executes this turn's action straight away when I open the save. Is there any way to prevent any queued actions happening when you open a save, so I can cancel the farm or have I just lost a worker turn?

[Bigger]

usually you have to perform some action (like moving a unit) before the queued actions will kick off. try opening it again and cancelling the action before you do anything else?

[Old Harry]

That's what I thought, but I go straight to him and he's already put a turn into a farm... It's not the end of the world, but it's frustrating!

[Old Harry]

Turn 41

Hydra has four workers (that I can see) and settled pirates so it can't get the crab but does have fish and copper. Should I go check out his third city (his pink dot to my south) or investigate Serdoa a bit more?


Ian Holloway decided to farm for a turn rather than getting on with building cottages, but it doesn't hurt the plans too badly. Maths should finish in six turns, allowing four maths-chops to come in the turn after for two settlers and a granary.


Overflow finishes the granary in Altrincham this turn.


The one in Barnet is whipped.


Warrior soon in Crewe.


And in Darlington. After Maths I think Monotheism should allow Judaism to found here. Being SPI I can revolt to OR and get spreading the religions around.


Demos:

[Old Harry]

Turn 42

I think I need to investigate Serdoa so Jimmy is heading SW, Hydra may have pink dotted me, but I think his tech rate will be poor because of it and have you seen Serdoa's score?


I'm planning to settle Exeter and Forest Green t51 and ~t54


Demos

[Old Harry]

Turn 43

Jimmy is on his way to see Serdoa


I'm doing lots of tedious tile shuffling, the most marginal of which is this - Darlington is working a cottage instead of the copper so it can grow to size two next turn. I think that makes sense, but haven't actually done any maths to make sure it does, since maths isn't due for another four turns.


I'm having second thoughts about where to site Exeter - If it goes on the ? instead it gets lots of extra forests to chop and a defensive bonus, which then pushes the northern city to settle with the pig in it's initial radius, meaning faster development. it could even settle with the pig and gold in the initial square. Anyone have an opinion which way is best?


Victory! (Okay, okay, a tiny lead in pop and land. Except I think Serdoa's numbers are rounded down, so it isn't at all )


Demos

[Old Harry]

Turn 44

Azza is coming - he's had soldier increases of 10,000 and 5,000 in the last five turns - it looks like he settled for the horses, then teched horseback riding, which together with the archery he teched a while ago means Keshiks (Horse archers that ignore terrain movement costs).

You could argue it would make sense for him to send them after Serdoa who is just to his north, is clearly the most able player and will get Cataphracts instead of knights, but I've got a holy city within 8 tiles of his nearest city and haven't got copper hooked up yet. Oh and remember how I was worrying about Serdoa's score a few days ago? Have a look at the scores now... It's mostly due to the land I've got from the Hindu holy city, but I don't know if it paints a target on me from where Azza is.


So I'm going to change the plan so I hook copper next turn (delaying the settler in Crewe by a couple of turns, but that settler may not be getting built anyway if I need more spears!) I'm pretty sure he hasn't built a Keshik yet (unless he deleted a warrior last turn to mask it) but I'll be keeping a close eye on the Demographics. I'm sending a warrior to have a look at Azza and I might go for spears over the library in Altrincham in the next few turns.


Barnet will complete a worker, barracks and two spears in the next five turns (unless I stop worrying about Azza) according to the new plan:


Power


Demos