teh: Frederick of Germany

[teh]

Turn 58

The horses city is settled - Frankfurt is the name. I buy the tile SW-SE (2 tiles south of the city center) to be able to put down a Hansa there later. Since growth is at 50% before I improve the housing here, the city works the forested grassland hills to the west for the extra production over the bananas (and the extra faith over the horses). I start working on a granary here (17 turns, but it will speed once eventually once I have the horse pastured and start working it for 3 production). This city is weak right now as we discussed above with the lack of housing, but it has pretty good production tiles in the first 2 rings so it will be a good production place (certainly much better than Cologne with its lack of hills) once developed. I also placed down the commercial hub to lock its cost. Recall that Mainz's Hansa will go in between the two commercial hubs for a nice 6 production bonus, and Frankfurt's Hansa will be at 4 production eventually.



You can see the archer in Frankfurt and the slinger next to it defending the city. I have a warrior between Frankfurt and Mainz, and a slinger defends Mainz. There's a slinger to the south (where the campus pin is located) and another archer just outside the screenshot.

I realize that I need builders more than the commercial hub at Cologne at the moment, so I switch the production to a builder there (7 turns). Aachen will produce the first builder in this builder wave next turn.

Turn 59

The builder is out in Aachen. It moves to the grassland hill 1W, and Aachen start working on another builder immediately (4 turns). Aachen will grow next turn to size 5, so I'll shuffle some of the tiles it's working to maximize production there.



In the center, I decide to upgrade the slinger next to Frankfurt to an archer, too. That makes it 3 archers for me, so I get the boost for Machinery. Yuris has 3 eagle warriors surrounding Frankfurt, but the 2 archers, the warrior and the slinger should be enough to stop him if he decides to attack.

Mainz is still working on a monument (13 turns) and it will grow to size 3 in 7 turns (might be faster than that as I'll farm the floodplains SE of the city center with a builder in ~5-6 turns - worst case, it will grow to size 4 faster later).



You can see my 3rd archer here, defending the peninsula in case Yuris decides to move here. The slinger SE of Mainz is also able to move SW or NW depending on need.

Turn 60

The builder next to Aachen mines the hill. Aachen has also grown to size 5 last turn, so I decide to put the new citizen to the unmined grassland hill 2S of the city center for an extra production. Rice, horses, mined plains hill, mined grassland hill and the unmined grassland hill are the 5 tiles that are worked.



The builder will move to Cologne next. I plan to use the next builder that comes out of Aachen to chop the marsh where it says Hansa (E-NE), and mine the two hills south of Aachen. If the marsh chop gives me enough food to grow to size 6, I'll work all the mined hills for production here. I'll probably get another builder out here, and then will finish the commercial hub for the much needed second trader capcity.

In the center, I upgrade yet another slinger (the one in Mainz) to an archer. The fifth one will remain a slinger for a long time as I feel very secure now (famous last words...)

Turn 61

A quiet turn here for a change. The builder keeps moving towards Cologne. It will put a plantation on the bananas tile for an extra gold, and will move to the north to put a farm on the floodplains SE of Mainz. The builder that will come out of Cologne (4 turns) will mine the copper W of Mainz, put a plantation on the bananas NE of Frankfurt, and put a pasture on the horses NW of Frankfurt. The last two will increase housing by 1 in Frankfurt, so even though I won't be able to use the plantation until Frankfurt grows to size 2, it's much appreciated by Frankfurt.



Yuris diverts one eagle warrior to my peninsula, but I have an archer and a slinger (SE of Mainz) ready there.

[unaghy]

You have tighten your defenses quite quickly. Good job on that. Btw. are you not worried that you will force Yurys DOW on you as you have blocked his units?

[teh]

I was worried about that actually, which is why I moved my warrior off from the hill between Mainz and Frankfurt (W-W of Mainz) - look at the first and the last screenshots of the report above. If he wants to, there is a path between my cities for him to move his eagle warriors back to the north. I haven't bought the tile that says Hansa or the 2nd copper hill yet. Now, when Mainz pops its border, it's scheduled to pick up the copper hill, but that will take a while before the monument is complete there.

[teh]

Forgot to mention, but both Sullla and Yuris settled their 5th cities just before turn 61.

Turn 62

Horseback Riding is completed. Next tech is apprenticeship. With my current tech rate, it will be completed in 22 turns, but I'll get its boost by mining my third mine in about 4-5 turns so the tech will be done in 11 turns, boosting my production (especially in the capital with its 4 hills), and enabling Hansa for me.

I also earn an envoy, which goes to Vilnius (first envoy there) for 2 culture in the capital, boosting my culture from 10.2 per turn to 12.3 per turn. Games and Recreation is going to be done in 6 turns (probably faster with the extra culture I got this turn).

Sullla is the first to 11 techs. I'll talk about the tech/civic standings more after turn 63.

Turn 63

The trader finally completes its trade route. It's free to be assigned again, so I move it to Frankfurt to start a new route from there next turn.

The builder moves to the bananas tile NE of Cologne to put a plantation there next turn (+1 gold). It will also give Cologne 0.5 housing, which would be complemented by a farm on the floodplains NW-NW of Cologne to increase the housing by 1 here. I also produce a builder in Aachen, and the production of yet another builder begins (4 turns).

Here's my plan for the next 3 builders:



This is the builder that just came out in Aachen. I moved him over the river. The plan is to move to the marsh and chop it (1), move southwest to the first grassland hill and mine it (2), and move 1W to mine the last hill in sight (3). Given the movement costs, it should take 8 turns to complete this whole set of moves.



Here's the second builder - recall that this one already used one of its charges on mining the hill next to Aachen. It will put a plantation where it currently is (1), and then move to the floodplains next to Mainz to put a farm there (2). It should take 3 turns to finish this set of moves.



This builder is not out yet technically. It's the one in production in Cologne (3 turns). It will mine the copper next to Mainz (1), and then move to Frankfurt to pasture the horses (2) and put a plantation on the bananas (3). Once it's on the copper hill, it will take 6 turns to finish this project.

I'll have an extra builder coming out of Aachen, but I haven't decided on where exactly it will go to improve; probably a mix of tiles near Cologne and Mainz.



You can see here Yuris trying to slip an eagle warrior into my peninsula, but I was able to move the archer to the forested tile here to block his movement. A slinger (NW of Cologne) is nearby to help the archer if needed.

Not much else happening in the middle - Yuris withdrew 2 of his eagle warriors to the north of my cities there.

In terms of science and culture per turn:

Sullla: 17.5 science, 19.8 culture
Yuris: 16.7 science, 9 culture
Archduke: 11.2 science, 13.8 culture
Me: 13.6 science, 12.3 culture

I think I'll be able to catch up in science once my pop starts growing in cities (each pop adds 0.7 science) and recall that I'm investing into a great scientist which will help my libraries (eventually of course - I need to build campuses for that to have an effect). Once the builder is out in Aachen, the plan is to start working on the commercial hub and the campus. The great scientist will build a free library in that campus, so that should help my science a lot (+1 from campus, +3 from the boosted library). In a similar manner, the commercial hub will not only bring +2 gold, but it will enable another trader that's at worst case +1 food and +1 production in one of the newer cities, but I'm planning to run trade routes to my capital so the districts there should boost the trade route bonuses.

As for the long term plans, I think my best bet is actually a military route - with the half-cost Hansas, I should be able to get a good production base. I should be able to turn that extra production to military. Culture (tourism) is out - Sullla is probably going to dominate that. Science is too far out. No one is bothering with religion as far as I can tell. That leaves military, right?

[shinghand]

Sullla is pretty much way ahead of everyone else in terms of culture, any thoughts on how you are intending to catch up to him in that metric?

I think we can all agree that Sullla's lead is because of free monuments everywhere, without which his culture would probably be slightly more than half of what it is now. Do you think Germany's (and Frederick's) traits are superior to Rome/Trajan's? Will
be interesting to see how you intend to leverage Hansas and whether they're equivalent to Rome.

[teh]

I have a monument in production in Mainz, a very cheap monument to build in the capital (4-5 turns), and Frankfurt will definitely build a monument, too. That would give me +6 (or slightly more with amenity bonus), and it would cover the gap. Also, my cities are starting to grow, and recall that each pop is 0.3 culture before amenity bonus. I also have the coffee tile that I can work in the capital, but I think I'll stick with the hills for now.

I think we can all agree that Trajan is a very powerful civ with the free roads and monuments. It's a great early game civ, and we all know civ is about snowballing. I don't think I leveraged Germany's traits that much this game, and having no barbarians prevented me from utilizing the free military policy slot early on (with barbs, I could run +strength against barbs AND some other military policy, say Agoge for extra slinger production, whereas the other civs would've needed to choose between those 2). We'll see once the Hansas come online if I can leverage them to a better military position and have a successful attack.

[teh]

So for those who have not seen the new patch notes, harbors are buffed a lot (much needed imho) - the planned city next to truffles, cattle and iron (SW of Aachen) would go on the coast, and a harbor next to it would benefit from the new adjacency bonus (not yet disclosed - but I'm expecting +2 gold).

My report will be up sometime this evening, but I'm one turn from completing a builder in Aachen and finishing a civic, so I might squeeze in a settler in Aachen with a +50% settler policy swap.

[teh]

Turn 64

The builder improves the bananas NE of Cologne. The builder next to Aachen moves to the marsh tile.



Here are all the possible routes out of Frankfurt - I decided to go with Aachen, since it looks like it might go through Mainz on the way there.

In Mainz, I make a small adjustment - instead of working a floodplains + the unimproved copper hill, I decide to work both floodplains. This drops the growth from 2 turns to a turn here. Mainz will pick up the copper hill to work again next turn at size 3.

Cologne: 2 turns to grow, 2 turns for a builder - not much to say here. I'll buy the hill west of the floodplains here to get some extra production (that only requires a single buy of tiles as opposed to 2 required for the desert iron hill).

I notice that Yuris started accumulating great scientist points this turn - at a rate of 1 per turn. This means he must've finished a campus.

Turn 65

Mainz grows to size 3 and picks up the copper hill back. It will work the 2 floodplains and the copper hill, but I'll switch one of the floodplains for the 2nd copper hill once Mainz pops its borders (2 turns). The monument here is due in 7 turns, but with the 2nd copper hill, it should be finished earlier than that.

In Aachen, the builder chops the marsh for 48 food, instantly growing Aachen to size 6. The new citizen goes to the last grassland hill (in the south). The next builder here will be out in 2 turns.

The builder near Cologne moves NW. It will farm a floodplains tile next turn near Mainz.

In terms of scores, I see that Sullla has gone up by 5 in empire. Normally I would say he settled a new city, but looking at his list of cities reveals no new name (He still shows 4 tradeable cities - so 5 cities in total as before). He must've grown 5 pops in between the turn. A marsh chop at one of the new cities (could even take it up 2 pops) and some regular pop growth. Anything obvious I'm missing here?

Also, Sullla is getting 4 great general points per turn. He must've constructed an encampment.

Turn 66

The last pop growth in Aachen put it at 6/7 housing available, so it's growing slower than needed. I might switch the rice (5f) to the coffee (2f1g1culture). Alternatively, I could build the granary here (last I checked-it was a 4 or 5 turn build). The builder there starts its slow movement towards the southern hills.

In the northwest, the builder moves to the floodplains SE of Mainz and farms the tile with its last charge. That drops Mainz's growth from 9 turns to 7 turns. More importantly, the 4f floodplains tile means it can support the copper hills on its own foodwise (+2f from floodplains, -1 from each plains hill = 0).

Cologne completes its builder. It starts moving northwest. Recall that it will mine one copper hill near Mainz, and then improve the horses and bananas next to Frankfurt. Cologne goes back to working on a commercial hub since all the other available infrastructure buildings here (Monument and Granary so far) are already built. At the current rate, it shows 19 turns, but I intend to get at least one mine for Cologne, so it should be done sooner than that.

Aachen will produce the last planned builder next turn, and the research for Games and Recreation will be completed next turn. In light of that, I might go back to the settler policy to get one or 2 settler out of the capital. Alternatively, Aachen will start working on its infrastructure. It needs a monument, a granary, and it has a commercial hub and a campus to finish constructing. I'll decide next turn on which route I want to take here. Another alternative would be to get the settlers out of Cologne, but it might be too slow there before the mine.



Here's an overview for my whole civ. Notice that the trader (right above Mainz, between where it says campus and hansa) took a route that will take it through Mainz instead of through the two mountains SW of Mainz - I'm happy that Mainz will be connected to the road network. I'm getting more and more warmed up to the truffles-iron-cattle spot. That city could have a decent return in production with just a single builder - cattle (3f1p), iron (2f2p1science - 3p with apprenticeship) and truffles (2f1p4g). They are all in the first ring, so the monument could be delayed here and the city could open up with a granary production instead. When you add up the numbers, it would have more production thatn Cologne with just those three tiles! There's another city spot to the NE of Aachen, just beyond the mountain range in view here, but that's a poorer spot.

[shinghand]

For that city that can't get fresh water - how are you intending to improve its housing?

Also wondering how useful aqueducts are in general. Are you going to build one for all your cities, or only those not on fresh water?

Still lurking with interest - Hansas coming online, hope we can see some action from you soon!

[teh]

Do you mean Frankfurt? If so, I'm building a granary there (+2), and the pasture on the horses and the banana plantation combined will give +1 housing. If you mean the truffles-iron-cattle city with the "city?" pin on the map, since it's on the coast, it will start at 3 housing (so no growth penalty until it grows to size 2). An aqueduct would greatly increase this city's housing since it lacks fresh water otherwise - and luckily I can put an aq. NE of the city and next to the mountain range here. I don't think I'll make aqueducts a big priority - though it might make sense to tech towards them after apprenticeship. Another possible tech route is to get the sea improvement techs (the ones that allow improving sea resources, enables harbors etc). If you look at the capital, it's at 6/7 housing now, but I can get a granary there (+2), and the crabs will get me another +1 (since I have an extra 0.5 unused from my 3 improvements there - horse, rice, and coffee). That means I won't have to build an aqueduct there for a good amount of time. I believe lighthouse (the first harbor building) has +1 housing, too, so there are many options before an aqueduct. Similarly for Cologne, improving the whales will round up housing by 1, and there's a couple of tiles (like the unimproved floodplains) that can be worth farming over.

I'm still assembling my new report, but Hansas are a lot sooner than one would think just looking at the screenshot above.