[SPOILERS] Suboptimal's Arabian Adventure

[Cornflakes]

Ranged units count at ranged strength, so the math on your power checks out. I believe there is a turn or two delay in updating the power ratings so this might explain the discrepancy for Kaiser's rating (just speculating, don't actually know when the units completed)

[suboptimal]

Ranged units count at ranged strength, so the math on your power checks out. I believe there is a turn or two delay in updating the power ratings so this might explain the discrepancy for Kaiser's rating (just speculating, don't actually know when the units completed)

Thanks for the answer - he's been at 30 power since he found me during Turn 18.  It's possible that he finished the slinger this turn and the power calculation happens before new turn items (e.g. unit production) are counted.  I'll see if he's at 45 on Turn 21.

[suboptimal]

The Next 20 and Beyond
In PBEM 2 the players occasionally outlined their thoughts and plans during the game, either on a regular basis or as the situation warranted.  This being the end of 20 turns I figured I’d do the same, and probably give additional updates every 20 turns (or 10, if things get moving fast).

First off, I’ll be curious to see what, if any, reaction I get out of Kaiser with my scout moving into his territory.  I suspect he may have a builder lurking somewhere to the west and may be trying to warn me off with his slinger.  OTOH with a warrior just outside an undefended Tomatin he might get cheeky and make an attack (perhaps hoping that Rowain joins in).  I shall see (though you’ll all know before I do).  Back to the update.

Short Term Objectives
Holy Site/Religion: I should complete Pottery on Turn 22 and Irrigation on Turn 28, barring anything happening to my science rate. That will let me place the Holy Site on Turn 28 with a cost around 97 cogs.  I’ll probably start putting some cogs into it around Turn 40.

Glenkinchie: The settler is due out on Turn 28.  It’ll take 3 turns to get there and 1 to settle, so that will be done on Turn 32.  Military builds will be the first task for this city, though at some point soon-ish I'll want to work a Tsingy tile for the science.  

Bronze Working: I’m behind my initial "schedule" of finishing it on Turn 30, but that’s by design given the start I had and my objective with the Holy Site placement.  It might come back to bite me, it might not.

Intermediate-Term Strategy

Religion

I’m questioning my plan of Jesuit Education.  On a faith vs. production generation scale it’s faster to build a Library + Madrasa than to faith-buy one, as the faith takes that much longer to make up.  This is especially considering that a missionary will be needed to start converting cities before I could consider getting the campus buildings up.  I’m not concerned about amenities, given the number of luxury resources within a dozen or so tiles of my capital.  That makes the follower belief a toss-up between Feed the World and Religious Community.  The six food (once the temples are up) could free up some citizens for specialist slots and extra housing is always good.   

As for the initial Founder’s Belief, it’s Defender of the Faith all the way.  The +10 combat strength bonus is HUGE.  It’s effectively worth 2/3rds of an era advancement in unit strength – Archers at 35 ranged, spears at 35, horses at 45 and heavy chariots at 38.  With those kinds of strengths finding iron for swords and quickly getting to engineering for crossbows become less essential to defense and a military that would cost me 1gpt per horseman once Professional Army is slotted in.  Unless I wanted to go on the offensive I wouldn’t need iron at all, since I wouldn’t need it for Mamluks, either.  If I need to do some projects or buy a Shrine to ensure I get first pick of religious beliefs I will most likely do so.  Part of my conquest plan relies on having this belief (but that's for the Turn 40 or Turn 60 update...)

No PBEM2 Players!

Why Woden didn’t take this when he evangelized his faith is beyond me – he would have had a much better shot against the Cossacks.  Edit: never mind.  Azoth pointed out he locked himself out of it when he took Scripture as a belief.

Settling

Glenfarclas is the next priority for settlement.  It’s not a strong location but puts something between me and Kikyo.  It’d also be on the “right” side of the forest belt, giving sight issues to ranged units (but not city bombardment).   After that, it’s a tossup between Cragganmore (for the fantastic campus location and securing the NW chokepoint) or Strathisla (to complete the southern front and access more of Tsingy; need to correct the spelling on that pin).  

Research
Masonry and the Wheel are the tech priorities after Irrigation and Bronze Working.  Archery will slot in once I get the eureka.  Political Philosophy and Mysticism are the target civics.

Military
Once Glenfarclas is up I need a few units to get rid of the two encampments and keep pace with future military development by my neighbors.

Recon
The scout is heading south of the city-states to see what’s there (and help me determine if I am on the west coast or a saddle formation in the middle).  The warrior will go find America once Glenkinchie is settled, then do another sweep to the east.

[suboptimal]

Turn 21

It occurred to me this morning that the presence of the two warriors is actually a bit dangerous.  Kaiser and Rowain could singly, or doubly, decide that my capital could be taken early.  The only thing stopping them would be the fact that they’d have as much interest in preventing the other one from taking the city.  However, this realization nagged at me a bit.  Call it a slight touch of Oledavy Syndrome.    So, opening the save and….peace.

Note to Oledavy: As a genlurker in PBEM 2 I found your occasional pre-save-opening anticipation descriptions as almost funny, given the genlurker's almost-omnipotent viewpoint.  Now playing in a PBEM myself I fully understand what was running through your head.   

I had a notification that Kaiser cancelled the negotiation of a deal.  Never seen that before.  Does that occur if a deal is offered and then cancelled before turn end or whenever someone goes into the deal menu under diplomacy?  I also see that Kaiser’s military score has updated to 45, accounting for the slinger.  That means that the information is effectively a turn behind for me and that the slinger just got completed.

The situation at Tomatin and Kikyo:



He has moved his warrior onto the deer tile, next to my worker.  However, he’s moved his slinger away from his scout and moved his worker right next to it.  I have to interpret this as a sign of early game trust.  I do want to get eyes on Kikyo, though.  I move around the builder past the marble (2 tiles NW of the builder) and will curl back around to the SW next turn.

In the north I bring the warrior down to the rainforest next to the sheep tile.  I also move the slinger across the river to escort the builder, who hangs tight for this turn.  Rowain also seems to be moving out (or shadowing Kaiser) so if the deer tile becomes open next turn I’ll move the slinger & builder there next turn to put down a camp. If it doesn’t I’ll move the warrior to the sheep tile and the slinger/builder to the plains east of the deer.

Forgot to mention previously that the tile chooser grabbed the third rice tile and is now focused on the cattle to the SE.

[oledavy]

Turn 21

Note to Oledavy: As a genlurker in PBEM 2 I found your occasional pre-save-opening anticipation descriptions as almost funny, given the genlurker's almost-omnipotent viewpoint.  Now playing in a PBEM myself I fully understand what was running through your head.     

The anticipation and worry definitely can be killer. Especially when you're in a delicate situation like your current one. 

I actually don't know if the 2-3 turn a day turn pace of PBEM2 was helpful or harmful in this regard. On the one hand, I never had to wait too long for the new save confirming my worst fears had not come to pass. On the other, with only 8-12 hours between turns means I can never completely dismiss the current game from my mind. 

Loving the thread so far!

[suboptimal]

Turn 22 (and some thoughts about Beyond the Next 20)

Around Tomatin, Rowain hasn’t budged.  Kaiser, however, has moved clear of my territory.  I have to wonder if Rowain is thinking about poaching the builder by attacking the slinger escort.  He might be able to one-shot it, given the +20 strength differental between the two units.  I move the slinger/builder escort NE to the empty tile and the warrior down to the sheep.  At a minimum he’ll need two or three hits to kill my warrior.  Down by Kikyo, Kaiser has moved a warrior into view.  I’m not going to be pushy and will continue moving west.  I find a barbarian camp, which I’ll leave to Kaiser, and the dashed purple borders of a cultural city-state.  I’ll find out which it is next turn but if it’s Nan Madol I can be sure we’re near the west coast given their high coastal start bias.



Further Thoughts

Defender of the Faith and Iron: Iron still needs to be a bit of a priority instead of a “not needed” item.  When writing the post I forgot that America, with a Great General, would negate Defender of the Faith in Tomatin and the planned Glenkinchie and Strathisla.  West of Tomatin Rowain would lose America's +5 continental bonus.  

Religious Community: Yeah, no.  Housing is easier to get than amenities.  Zen Meditation, especially since most cities are planned to get to three districts.  Gotta stop doing this type of thinking late at night and/or at work.

Around Turn 30 I'll have a complete work of probable fiction known as “Suboptimal's Grande Planne (tm, pat. Pending)” outlining my game objectives and how I intend to get there.

[suboptimal]

Turn 23

Begin the turn, Pottery finishes.  Start Astrology, due in 6 turns.  Rowain has moved clear of my territory, so the builder moves to the sheep, the warrior fortifies in place and the slinger moves to the deer.  Down in the south the scout moves around the barbarian spearman’s zone of control towards the pink borders and finds….



Kumasi, with a quest to trigger the Inspiration for State Workforce (complete a district).    That sounds doable .  Kaiser has an envoy here as well. The scout finishes the turn in Kumasi’s territory.  Next turn I’ll move NW to see what’s across the river, then work my way towards the area south of La Venta.

Internationally, I believe Kaiser has gained an envoy in La Venta, probably from a quest.  He’s also in the lead with three civics and three techs completed and completed a warrior last turn.  He’s also started a Holy Site and definitely built a builder as there’s a farm west of Kikyo in the fog.  



I’m not going to let the holy site in Kikyo alter my plans – I don’t have a good spot to put one other than the one I’ve planned on.  Astrology will finish on Turn 28 and Irrigation will finish somewhere around Turn 33 or 34.  At that point I’ll build my holy site and proceed as intended.  The risk is that Kaiser gets a religion and takes Defender of the Faith first.  I do have alternate plans, though, just in case.

[suboptimal]

Turn 24

Kaiser’s warrior has disappeared into the fog, Rowain’s is moving off in that direction but still nearby.  Builder puts a pasture on the sheep, get the eureka for Horseback Riding in addition to the extra production and housing.  The builder’s next destination will be to put a camp on the deer in order to get the gold.  Later on if I need really need cogs I can remove the camp, harvest the deer and put down a lumber mill at the cost of three builder actions and the loss of 1 gold per turn income.   The warrior escorting the builder stays put, as does the slinger.  By Kumasi the scout summits the hill and reveals some more terrain.  There’s no room for a city between Kumasi and Jerusalem but one might fit in southwest of La Venta, so that’s the next destination.

Internationally, Ichabod appears to have gotten a settler out last turn – his empire score dropped from 8 to 7 with the turn update.  The strategic view also shows that Kaiser is actively building his Holy Site.



Next turn I’ll be swapping out Craftsmanship for Foreign Trade as I believe that, after this turn, I’ll be just under 50% completed and the camp will get me the eureka.

[suboptimal]

Turn 25

First things first.  Switch the civic research from Craftsmanship to Foreign Trade.  It appears that I’ve got the numbers right as the little dial is just under 50%. 

Rowain’s warrior is still milling about.  Move the builder to the deer tile, will build the camp there next turn and gain the eureka to finish Craftsmanship. Slinger and warrior remain in place and fortify.  The scout crosses the river headed west and finds just open space.  The scout will head W-W then start looping up around to La Venta, movement permitting.



In international news, Bacchus’ empire score has dropped back to 8, so he’s now got a settler out as well.  Rowain has researched Foreign Trade prior to Craftsmanship as he’s got two civics completed and has the option for Joint War in the deals section.  That leads me to believe he has either two faith-providing resources (probably dyes) or there's a religious city state in his direction.

I need to start pondering what my next builds in Tomatin will be.  Settler completes at the start of Turn 29.  If I don’t have to avoid Rowain’s warrior I’ll found Glenfarclas on Turn 32 (29, 30 and 31 moving, settle on 32).  When Tomatin drops to 2 population it should be 1 turn away from expanding back up to Size 3 (I should have 23 or 24 excess food).  The question becomes should I continue running my current production focus or to take a slight break and run three rice tiles to get to 4 population first.  I also need to determine if creating a settler zeroes out the excess food when it removes the population point or if the excess food stays in the city. EDIT: Surplus food is kept

[Cornflakes]

I also need to determine if creating a settler zeroes out the excess food when it removes the population point or if the excess food stays in the city. EDIT: Surplus food is kept

Actually just tested this a couple days ago out of curiosity  The food box maintains the same food amount. After dropping the size from the settler, if the city has enough food in the box to grow (including the surplus from the turn that the settler completes) then the regrowth is immediate and you don't spend a turn at the smaller size. Since the food cost for each additional pop scales up by about 10, there is usually a couple turn window where a settler can be completed without dropping pop ... and I think food wise it is actually more efficient to complete a settler before growing rather than waiting to grow, but no hard numbers to back that up.

For an example completing a settler in a 3 pop city: Growth from 2>3 requires 24 food, growth from 3>4 requires 34 food. Therefore on the turn a size 3 city completes the settler if it has accumulated at least 24 food then it will not drop to size 2. The 24 food is just subtracted from the amount in the box. I tested a case where a settler completes just before growth with nearly full food in the box (as close as I could judge), then complete the settler simultaneous with growth. The result was that the food box indicator ended up about 40%-ish full, having subtracted the amount needed to regrow from but preserving the rest in the box ... really wish they gave us the actual numbers on the interface