Where to will Singaboy steer the Teutonic power?

[Dreylin]

Yay, you certainly deserved some good luck here, though I think you've played very well to maximise the chances of a positive outcome.

[Commodore]

Glad to see you pulling through, albeit highly setback.

[Singaboy]

Turn 13:
The barb horseman, though injured, really attacked my warrior that goes down to 34 hp. I am not worried about the horseman now, as it is almost dead. However, a combined horseman + scout attack might just be too much. The horse archer, most likely attacked the city but it recovers to full health instantly. Good to have a slinger in there, that can simply bombard the horse archer without taking any damage. Sweet.


I decide to move the warrior into the grasswoods for a better defense, if the horse wants to suicide itself. It would take the warrior two turns to get into the capital for proper healing, but it needs to be in a state where it can survive.
The scout moving along the river has yet to find a city state. I am getting nervous here

[Singaboy]

Turn 14: Will my fortunes turn around?

The situation at the beginning of turn 14.



My warrior obviously survived the barb horseman attack with a mere 7 hp left. Good thing I move into the woods. The horse archer seems to be indulged in useless city attacks. CoL is a turn away and then those barbs shall feel the pain.

I decide to fortify the warrior so it is safe from the scout and will heal to 17 hp, then probably make a dash for the capital or heal while getting attacked by the scout.
My slinger attacks the horse archer for a third time (as a result having 10/15 exp for a promotion) and I gain the first barbarian related Eureka.



I debate about a switch from a warrior to a slinger or builder, but decide with the horseman around, 2 warriors and 1 slinger might be a better bet while trying to slot in a builder, before resuming with 2 slingers. I simply need to time everything right. The research plan is to get animal husbandry, then go for archery (stop 1 turn before completion) and swap to bronze working. Northeast, there are lots of irrigable resources. With farming the wheat, I will get that Eureka. In fact there are nice city spots too. I should maybe use some of my gold to rush buy a settler later on.

My scout, at last, pays back some of its investment, when it runs into Hattusa. I am first to spot the city  This will boost my science to 5.6 from next turn onward. Though I rather have more culture or gold, who would say no to this? The quest I get is doable too, sending a trade route. I spot something else. If you look closely, you can spot some city borders (SW in this image). Is this another city state? Science city states are in blue, one more of those? Or Pericles?




Following the rather good news this turn, let's look at the bleak present, the scoring. I am dead last



Well, next turn I will get my first civic and science should speed up a some with that city state. My capital is not really strong at the moment. I will need to get out a settler fast. A builder too, of course. After the fast paced last turns, I will need to think about my build order and where to plant the next city at. Of course, I still have that huge barbarian nest with at least 1 spear and 1 horseman around.

[Dreylin]

Things are definitely turning around. The SW borders have to be a CS; hard to believe that a player wouldn't have met Hattusa by now if they're that close!

On that note, I guess Woden must have met a Cultural CS to be so far ahead on Civics - bet he went Builder first and got away with it too.

[Singaboy]

Currently working on the finer details of the short and long term strategy.

Production:
finish warrior => builder (done by turn 24) => slinger or settler (I need a second more productive city). The reason why I would like to start with a settler after the builder is so that I can wait for the craftsmenship bonus for slingers/warriors. They would be done very fast.
Maybe warrior/builder/settler up to the point where craftsmenship kicks in (depending on the situation with barbarians)

Research:
AH => archery (currently takes 6 turns, 1 turn from finish by turn 20) until 1 turn to completion (I want to have at least 3 slingers before getting archery), then bronze working (eta turn 27)

Civics: finish CoL, then go for craftsmenship, stopping just before 50% (around turn 24), switch to Foreign Trade and finish craftsmenship when I need the boost for melee/ranged units.

Expansion:
The spot on top of the stones looks still good to me for the next city to grab Kilimanjaro. Followed by expansion north. The land there looks really nice. If Kilimanjaro is a safe location for me (nobody nearby), I might go north first. If the second city state turns out to be another science city. I am contemplating to capture it. 2 warriors and archers should be sufficient for that with Germany's added +7 strength.

Thoughts, anyone?

[Singaboy]

Turn 15: First of, I finished CoL and selected both Survey and Discipline, of course as well as God King in order to get the Pantheon.

And look, who popped up at my capital. TheArchduke with his scout. I decided to rest the warrior one more turn (now 17 hp) before moving home. I stepped out with the slinger to attack the barb scout. I am sort of hoping that TheArchduke attacks the scout too. More evil thoughts I harbored involved TheArchduke's scout moving north into the barbarian hornets' nest. I am wondering where he came from. Maybe from the west and hence, some of those barbarians started to harass him instead of me. All speculations only.

I almost switched my warrior to a builder, but that again, I should stay careful with all those barbarian horses potentially lurking in the dark. 


I also checked on TheArchduke and he has got no luxuries, just less gold than me (as he is #5 in the turn rotation). My scout had to round the warrior from Hattusa and will most definitely meet that city state next turn. Need to keep my fingers crossed, that I am the first to discover it as well.

[Singaboy]

Turn 16:

TheArchduke continued south. I start to bring my warrior home, while trying to defeat that barb scout.

And we make contact with oledavy, I am not too sure where and how because I can't see any of his units. Unfortunately, it is getting crowded here and my scout runs into Seoul, but we are not the first ones to discover that. It also hold the same quest to send a trade route. I am confirmed in my belief that I should go after Seoul once I got 2 warriors and 3 archers ready.

As animal husbandry is done, I switch to archery. You can see the tech tree with the Eureka's I have accumulated so far.



I will do three turns of archery research, then switch to bronze working (I am sure that I can easily get that Eureka too, shortening the research time for it to 7 turns).

I am wondering where to explore next with my scout as I would like to discover a second city state as the first player.

[Dreylin]

for Seoul being discovered already. Don't have a great overview of the map, but maybe continuing to head E or trend SE from Hattusa?

[Singaboy]

I am thinking of sending the slinger a little to the east from the capital. I am assuming there is a coast there. Maybe you are right and the east is better to find another city state not yet discovered.

I will take a snapshot of the minimap so far during the next turn