[PB25-SPOILERS] The Lunacy of the Reign of HAK Continues

[HitAnyKey]

So this current turn I flipped a coin for the second movement of the scout (last turn I had him only move 1 space again) since I couldn't see the bear anywhere. And for the moment he's still safe. We'll see what happens next turn.


We live in very dangerous times, with all these mean creatures about....
We'll move SW onto that Grass and hope we actually see the bear somewhere so that we can move somewhere away from it. Otherwise, we'll just have to move into the random shadows again and hope we don't end up next to the deadly creature.

We get our Warrior next turn, and then we'll put 1 turn into another Warrior so we can grow before switching over to the Settler.

[MindyMcCready]

Looks good on the scouting moves.

One thing I noticed during a SIM: the animals move around more than I had expected. So I wouldn't expect that the bear to hold to that T14 location.

From the combat with the wolf, is there a vs animals bonus on Monarch? I noticed 20% from the sim which makes a pretty big difference.

Now that we've confirmed a southern passage towards Grimace we have options on how to expand into him. In a few turns when we can see copper we'll have a few advantages if we pursue an early military aggression:
-We've scouted 1/2 of his capital.
-We known that he's gone religion first.
-We know that he's very close.
-He's unlikely to know how close we are thanks to bear.
-Rameeses + Industrious + religion. Add Stonehenge= early shrine. If he goes for this, he's going to be way behind on this tight map. If this comes to pass it's entirely possible that a couple of axes could net Stonehenge + a Religion.
-We're the least likely military threat in the area. By this I mean that a player being in a tight map with Commodore (+DTay) and Retep and HAK. No offence, but HAK is more food than predator, so most any player would be putting full EP into the warlike Master Commodore or the unpredictable Retep. There's low chance that Grimace would see this coming via graphs. We're likely facing a bit of a unique opportunity here.

Mr. HAK,....with our single warrior we stand astride the world like a Colossus!

[HitAnyKey]

Oh, no offense taken. I know I'm probably known as a low threat compared by most people in this game. I'm not known for much planning or making impulse decisions. After all, this is the most planning and SIMing I've done in a game so far.
It would be nice to surprise attack Grimace if he doesn't go military quickly enough. Just as a quick update, these are the EP ratios:
Commodtay: 0/14
retap: 2/7
Grimace: 16/23

I'll have to doublecheck again next turn, but I believe Grimace is probably splitting his EPs 1/2 and 1/2 between me and Commodore. After all, he knows Commodore also saw his capital. And he's likely more worried about him. I'm putting 3 into Grimace and 1 into Commodore. Doing this for two reasons. I have some worry about Commodore, so want to eventually get his graphs earlier rather than later. And I don't want Grimace to realize I'm putting all my EPs into him and get concerned. If he sees that I'm putting at least one into someone else, that might help. Maybe at some point soon I can even make it a 2/2 split. At current rate, I'll have Grimace's graphs in 4 turns.

I am currently leaning towards wanting my 4th city in that area south of the Peaks. Yes, that double-corn river to the NE is an awesome site....but I have a feeling Commodore isn't too far from there, plus retap is also likely up there. If we might want to try to conquer Grimace early, we likely want to get cities settled in his direction. And that area with the Pig and River Corn is also good.
I'm betting he's already seen that Marble (his scout came from down there), and with his being IND, he'll probably head for that Marble early. Which might also be a good thing for us. If he makes a city there, we can axe rush it first on our way to his capital.

[MindyMcCready]

I am currently leaning towards wanting my 4th city in that area south of the Peaks.

Yes, absolutely. My main objective was to expand towards Grimace not to fight out disputed territory with Commodore/Retep. Now that we have this southern route, we get to keep a strong defensive 2nd ring city chokepoint. Let the other two fight over territory if we can nab the religion + capital and, with a double dose of luck on our side, Stonghenge.

I'm betting he's already seen that Marble (his scout came from down there), and with his being IND, he'll probably head for that Marble early. Which might also be a good thing for us. If he makes a city there, we can axe rush it first on our way to his capital.

Hmmm, I hadn't thought about the marble influencing him. I was picturing his 2nd city on either of those hills to the SW of his capital for sharing his inner sheep and the fur happy. Alternatively, he's got that amazing double-corn north of his capital. Our land is pretty good, but his is outright amazing. Where he chooses to plant is going have a big effect on what we do and/or how hard it will be to do anything.

[HitAnyKey]

Hmmm, I hadn't thought about the marble influencing him. I was picturing his 2nd city on either of those hills to the SW of his capital for sharing his inner sheep and the fur happy. Alternatively, he's got that amazing double-corn north of his capital. Our land is pretty good, but his is outright amazing. Where he chooses to plant is going have a big effect on what we do and/or how hard it will be to do anything.

Yeah, he has some pretty wild decisions ahead of him. Going straight for that Marble would be very tempting for me if I were him. But the risk in that is it being kinda far from his capital, and not being able to share any tiles to help get it started.
The hill SW of his capital would be the smarter/safer move. Since it would be able to share take the Sheep from the capital (with the capital likely utilizing it's Corn in the north, along with other tiles) while it improves the Cow. He would then quickly hook up the Furs for happiness, and even before all that is done the borders would likely have expanded for him to then improve that other Sheep. That's probably where I would go for my 2nd city. And while improving that city, be working on the military and next settler for going further south to the Marble.
Certainly going to be interesting times ahead of us.

[HitAnyKey]

Just as a quick update, these are the EP ratios:
Commodtay: 0/14
retap: 2/7
Grimace: 16/23

I'll have to doublecheck again next turn, but I believe Grimace is probably splitting his EPs 1/2 and 1/2 between me and Commodore. After all, he knows Commodore also saw his capital. And he's likely more worried about him. I'm putting 3 into Grimace and 1 into Commodore. Doing this for two reasons. I have some worry about Commodore, so want to eventually get his graphs earlier rather than later. And I don't want Grimace to realize I'm putting all my EPs into him and get concerned. If he sees that I'm putting at least one into someone else, that might help. Maybe at some point soon I can even make it a 2/2 split. At current rate, I'll have Grimace's graphs in 4 turns.

So this turn the EPs are:
Commodtay: 0/15
retap: 2/7
Grimace: 18/26

So that confirms that Grimace is putting 2 into me and his other 2 elsewhere. And neither of the other two are putting anything into me yet.

Spotted our bear on the southern border, so now I at least know where he is. Made me feel a bit more safe in my move the turn. Which gives us the following southern land layout:



I'm going to do a couple SIMs right now to decide which I like better for this upcoming turn. Do we put a turn into Warrior or a turn into Barracks? And do we grow on the Corn or grow on the Mine? Both Corn & Mine will get us our Size 3 so we can start our Settler next turn.
For the scout I'm planning SW-NW (or maybe SW-W) next turn, with him then to start making his way back north through the fog after that.

Also, that is an awesomely long river area down there. Can't wait to have a city down there with Levees.

[Boldly Going Nowhere]

That river would make a beautiful pile of SP watermills.

[HitAnyKey]

That river would make a beautiful pile of SP watermills.

Ah yes, good point. I just checked that out in the Civics screen. I've never made it far enough in a game lately to try out SP, so had to review it.

[Boldly Going Nowhere]

That river would make a beautiful pile of SP watermills.

Ah yes, good point. I just checked that out in the Civics screen. I've never made it far enough in a game lately to try out SP, so had to review it.

Most of the time your city will have developed a pile of mature cottages on the river by then and it isn't something you'd want to just leave laying around. I'm guessing that much river in one place is destined to be a commerce powerhouse but it would be fun to see what it looks like as a maxed out hammer city too. Lots of good terrain. Good job OH.

[HitAnyKey]

Really what OH did was try to see if I can still screw up my game, even with having really good terrain.