Good turnset.
Illinois could be useful for saving us a settler (once we can afford it) ... looking again at the map I would have almost petitioned a City in that region to be either 1 NW (for the stone), or 1 E (to avoid useless mountain tiles).
However, I suppose a filler city could pick up the stone in its southern ring ... and at this point, how useful is stone anyways? I know it can be VERY useful early on ... but I simply lack the knowledge to know if its that useful in the Midgame of BTS. (ie worth an early filler city, or worth a replaced 1NW Illinois). If the barb city wasn't there ... maybe we could have reconfigured that city site (IF it was worth it) .... but since the barb city site is there, it probably makes the most sense to capture it once economically feasible. (Still, 1E would be a lot nicer imho as far as coastal cities go)
I like that we founded Char, I think in a few turnsets that will turn into quite a lovely city.
However ... Above Illinois or any filler cities, we have a few other important City-based priorities.
1) the Iron city on the northern coast
2) the Corn/Cow/Stone/River!! city in the Fog (C1N)
and lastly, the Silks galore city near our capital, but not useful until we get Calendar in.
----------------------
ON SHAKA
I believe we have two basic macro Strategies for Shaka .... especially since I believe Encirclement is useful against the AI
1) we can take his northernmost city next ... to continue the Encirclement of his forces, confusing the AI on which direction to attack
OR
2) we can take his nearest city next, which is ALREADY nicely encircled ... to begin a more 'conventional' war with Shaka
I would be somewhat against #2 because the encircled city has WONDERFUL visibility ... meaning that we have almost total awareness of his troop movements within the Area
lastly we have
3) don't capture any of his cities ... passively kill troops until we have another White Peace.
Technically this is my favorite, at least until our economy is a bit better, as our initial encirclement has been famously successful.
Once we have the additional troops and economy, I would suggest going for Prop1, but for now I think Prop3 is best, at least for the next half a Turnset.
Illinois could be useful for saving us a settler (once we can afford it) ... looking again at the map I would have almost petitioned a City in that region to be either 1 NW (for the stone), or 1 E (to avoid useless mountain tiles).
However, I suppose a filler city could pick up the stone in its southern ring ... and at this point, how useful is stone anyways? I know it can be VERY useful early on ... but I simply lack the knowledge to know if its that useful in the Midgame of BTS. (ie worth an early filler city, or worth a replaced 1NW Illinois). If the barb city wasn't there ... maybe we could have reconfigured that city site (IF it was worth it) .... but since the barb city site is there, it probably makes the most sense to capture it once economically feasible. (Still, 1E would be a lot nicer imho as far as coastal cities go)
I like that we founded Char, I think in a few turnsets that will turn into quite a lovely city.
However ... Above Illinois or any filler cities, we have a few other important City-based priorities.
1) the Iron city on the northern coast
2) the Corn/Cow/Stone/River!! city in the Fog (C1N)
and lastly, the Silks galore city near our capital, but not useful until we get Calendar in.
----------------------
ON SHAKA
I believe we have two basic macro Strategies for Shaka .... especially since I believe Encirclement is useful against the AI
1) we can take his northernmost city next ... to continue the Encirclement of his forces, confusing the AI on which direction to attack
OR
2) we can take his nearest city next, which is ALREADY nicely encircled ... to begin a more 'conventional' war with Shaka
I would be somewhat against #2 because the encircled city has WONDERFUL visibility ... meaning that we have almost total awareness of his troop movements within the Area
lastly we have
3) don't capture any of his cities ... passively kill troops until we have another White Peace.
Technically this is my favorite, at least until our economy is a bit better, as our initial encirclement has been famously successful.
Once we have the additional troops and economy, I would suggest going for Prop1, but for now I think Prop3 is best, at least for the next half a Turnset.