Wall of text alert!
We need to agree on some short-term priorities here fairly soon. I think that we agree that we need to hook up the Copper sooner rather than later; I have not run a sim where we try to get that placement as City #3, but will do so tonight. The problem with going straight there is that it's a long stretch to the Cap and won't have any nearby support.
We could try to push City #3 NW of Samarkand (maybe on the hill the Scout is sitting on in that shot), but there are no food resources in the area so it's not going to make a big impact on its own. If we're not going to make a big impact, we might as well take the Stone city. OTOH we are going to want a city in that area sooner rather than later as a buffer to protect the Copper.
On the hill could work Samarkand's Forest Silks tile to start, but will need a border pop to pick up the Sugar tiles to the North. I guess I'll look at a sim of this tonight as well. Bonus of this placement would be that it would support a push forward to grab the nice central continent spot (FOR THE LURKERS: I don't have a screenshot of that area already uploaded, but will try to post one tonight).
My thoughts are that we should push for that spot as City#5 whichever way we go with City#3, and support with a couple of (Shock!)Axes and a Spear. Our event will really give us an edge on this!
Hinduism falling this turn puts us around 7t behind in the race to Judaism (assuming someone lost the coin flip); my personal feeling is that we should let this go and either stop at Myst or Masonry (depending if we go for Stoneville). Racing for Judaism also has the effect of seriously gimping development at Samarkand since we can't afford to switch off the Gold tile. If we're not racing, once the FP Farm is ready the city will grow in 4t and then can go back to working the Gold again while still growing (if slowly).
On thing that is still pulling me back to Stoneville as City#3 is that Stonehenge is still available. t51 does seem late to be able to land it, but if we could then it helps us in the land grab (more so than a Religion IMO). It would also likely delay Coppertown settling and hooking the resource by ~3turns (probably we let the Settler complete naturally rather than whipping) and the backfill infrastructure probably wouldn't be there because of the Worker redirect.
OK, questions we need to answer:
* Copper: City #3 or City #4 (to sim tonight)
* If Copper City #4, where is City #3: Stoneville or Overlook Pass (on the hill NW of Samarkand - to sim tonight)
* If Stoneville: do we try for Stonehenge?
* Judaism: Yes / No?
* If no, what tech next?
Planning break-points:
* Myst finishes in a couple of turns, so we need to agree next tech by then.
* Worker micro plan finishes 1-2t later with Gamma produced and Alpha finishing FP Farm, so we need to know where City#3 is going by then.
* If we go Stoneville as #3, we don't have to decide on the Stonehenge plan until the turn that city is founded, as micro stays the same for both plans.
