Chevalier Absolutely Knows What He's Doing as Best Korea

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Turn 31

Another turn, another revision of my plans, this time focusing on Magnus. 

I start the turn finishing up the last of the starter techs, Pottery:




I immediately slot in Irrigation, to open up improvements at OCISTLY - a lot of chocolate and coffee there. Notice how much slower R&F is as a whole in the early game - it's turn 31, I've finished 4 techs and 2 civics, with a handful of military units. All of this is going to go out the window once Magnus comes into play, of course, as production will cease to be a limiting resource. Instead, players will depend on science and culture to unlock new things for them - I think I have an advantage there, with cheap 4 adjacency science districts ready to be planted in almost every city. Note that the Seowon's bonus IS boosted by Natural Philosophy, and they DO qualify for Rationalism if the game should last that long. 

Culture is the big issue, and why Choral Music is important to me (but if I miss it, I can hack culture with Valetta, Goddess of the Harvest, and faith purchasing monuments). That brings me to the one alteration I've made in my early building plans:




Korea as we know it, with the settlement and Holy Site dots. I've slotted in a monument instead of another builder, like I initially planned. Why? Well, in a word, Magnus. He's a much bigger boost than even DOTF and Choral Music would be, and it seems silly to delay his arrival so I can build an early non-discounted district. Instead, since both my cities are rapidly approaching size 4, I'll research Writing after Irrigation. That lets me place 2 cheap Seowons - which in turn gives me 40% discounts on my first 2 Holy Sites (I think. Maybe only the first 1? I think just the first 1. Damned formula is too complicated for me to remember. All I remember is "If you don't have as many districts placed as you have types unlocked, you don't get the discount, period. If you do, then you need to have fewer than average of a particular type to get the discount." Eh, that seems wrong. Whatever. I'll look it up. 

Anyway, the plans is Monument - builder - Agoge-chop-Slinger/Seowon - Agoge chop/warrior Holy Site. That pushes the timeline on the Holy Site back but moves everything else up way more. At OCISTLY the plan is the same, only the builder will come earlier, hopefully, and OCISTLY gets Magnus first. The district chops can precede the settlers because I need State Workforce for the Magnus promotion and free settlers for life. 

Military units are more for the overflow bonus, I don't need them as urgently because Japper isn't attacking imminently:



I accept. There's plenty of land so I'm not in a settler rush with him, and this way his unique scouts will be teched to oblivion by the time it expires (and I might have DOTF). I send one to Alhambram, too - if he accepts, I might skip military builds entirely and just rush Holy Sites to get DOTF in place before the friendships expire. 

Here's the land between Alhambram and I, for reference: 



Very dry. The lake near Tsingy, the lake near Antioch, and the river near OCISTLY are the only freshwater spots between us, more on my side of the border than his. Here, I MIGHT be in a settler race, so the first Magnusettler is going to the Southern Frontier dot (A Startling Lack of Gravitas).

[skanar]

Looking good. Was going to suggest that one of Alhambram's early builds was likely purchased. Sorry for no immediate commentary over the weekend - was away - and don't have much input on the Magnus plan since I don't have R&F. But it sounds great!

Thrilled to get early DOF with Japper!

Planned border with Alhambram looks long - won't be easy to defend, I suspect, though the terrain is pretty rough; DOFs there would be nice longer-term.

From a pure builder perspective, I strongly support the writing-first plan. Only thing that worries me is the metagame: skyrocketing science around turn 50 or 60 could paint a huge target on your back, since rightly or wrongly that's been something that triggers concern amongst the other players - see oledavy in PBEM4, who certainly would have been hit the target if Singaboy hadn't been even more threatening. And science is especially visible. I think the plan is still a good one (start leveraging your civ's biggest advantage ASAP) overall.

Can't wait to see what's next.

[Cornflakes]

That lets me place 2 cheap Seowons - which in turn gives me 40% discounts on my first 2 Holy Sites (I think. Maybe only the first 1? I think just the first 1. Damned formula is too complicated for me to remember. All I remember is "If you don't have as many districts placed as you have types unlocked, you don't get the discount, period. If you do, then you need to have fewer than average of a particular type to get the discount." Eh, that seems wrong. Whatever. I'll look it up.

Rather than re-post the formula which you can find, I'll re-state the conditions in a way which I think result in the earliest possible circumstance where the 40% bonus would apply: (1) Two and only two district types unlock, (2) at least 3 total districts completed. If all 3 of the completed districts are of the same type then you would get the discount on the first AND second district of the 2nd type placed. If you complete two districts of the 1st type and one district of the 2nd type then you would get the discount on the second district of the 2nd type that you place. EDIT: Woden is correct below, ignore this.

Krill specifically has noted a couple of cases in PBEM 5 where the conditions seem to have been met but the district did not apply, so use at your own risk

[Woden]

That lets me place 2 cheap Seowons - which in turn gives me 40% discounts on my first 2 Holy Sites (I think. Maybe only the first 1? I think just the first 1. Damned formula is too complicated for me to remember. All I remember is "If you don't have as many districts placed as you have types unlocked, you don't get the discount, period. If you do, then you need to have fewer than average of a particular type to get the discount." Eh, that seems wrong. Whatever. I'll look it up.

Rather than re-post the formula which you can find, I'll re-state the conditions in a way which I think result in the earliest possible circumstance where the 40% bonus would apply: (1) Two and only two district types unlock, (2) at least 3 total districts completed. If all 3 of the completed districts are of the same type then you would get the discount on the first AND second district of the 2nd type placed. If you complete two districts of the 1st type and one district of the 2nd type then you would get the discount on the second district of the 2nd type that you place.

Krill specifically has noted a couple of cases in PBEM 5 where the conditions seem to have been met but the district did not apply, so use at your own risk

You can get the discount on the 3rd district if you have only 2 districts unlocked and the 2 built districts are the same type. You may have to wait for a tech/civic completion for the discount to apply . For example, if you have unlocked Campuses and Encampments, you can get the discount on the 1st Encampment if you have built 2 Campuses. You can get the 2nd Encampment discounted once the 1st is completed, as long as no other districts are unlocked. The minimum built districts ins 2, not 3. I would show you proof but it would be a spoiler of PBEM7.

[Cornflakes]

You can get the discount on the 3rd district if you have only 2 districts unlocked and the 2 built districts are the same type. You may have to wait for a tech/civic completion for the discount to apply . For example, if you have unlocked Campuses and Encampments, you can get the discount on the 1st Encampment if you have built 2 Campuses. You can get the 2nd Encampment discounted once the 1st is completed, as long as no other districts are unlocked. The minimum built districts ins 2, not 3. I would show you proof but it would be a spoiler of PBEM7.

I stand corrected, this does indeed satisfy the conditions

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Looking good. Was going to suggest that one of Alhambram's early builds was likely purchased. Sorry for no immediate commentary over the weekend - was away - and don't have much input on the Magnus plan since I don't have R&F. But it sounds great!

Thrilled to get early DOF with Japper!

Planned border with Alhambram looks long - won't be easy to defend, I suspect, though the terrain is pretty rough; DOFs there would be nice longer-term.

From a pure builder perspective, I strongly support the writing-first plan. Only thing that worries me is the metagame: skyrocketing science around turn 50 or 60 could paint a huge target on your back, since rightly or wrongly that's been something that triggers concern amongst the other players - see oledavy in PBEM4, who certainly would have been hit the target if Singaboy hadn't been even more threatening. And science is especially visible. I think the plan is still a good one (start leveraging your civ's biggest advantage ASAP) overall.

Can't wait to see what's next.

Alhambram also agreed to a DOF, so it's all building here in the east at first. We can declare war on turn 62 for Japper, or turn 63 for Alhambram - not that I plan to, but it's important to note the dates. 

You're right to be concerned about the metagame and the defensibility of my border. Alhambram in particular is aggressive and willing to challenge the leader. The border issue can be mitigated with a road from Antioch to Southern Frontier, which lets me transfer military units quickly (and Antioch could always be ceded in the event of a Dutch attack, no need to fight to the death over that outpost), while I'm hoping I can grab DotF to discourage any dogpiles. +10 combat strength is by far the best bonus available in Civ VI's combat system - in PBEM4 it allowed Archduke to overcome nearly twice hsi numbers in a naval battle (achieved by stacking 2 Great Admirals.  

That lets me place 2 cheap Seowons - which in turn gives me 40% discounts on my first 2 Holy Sites (I think. Maybe only the first 1? I think just the first 1. Damned formula is too complicated for me to remember. All I remember is "If you don't have as many districts placed as you have types unlocked, you don't get the discount, period. If you do, then you need to have fewer than average of a particular type to get the discount." Eh, that seems wrong. Whatever. I'll look it up.

Rather than re-post the formula which you can find, I'll re-state the conditions in a way which I think result in the earliest possible circumstance where the 40% bonus would apply: (1) Two and only two district types unlock, (2) at least 3 total districts completed. If all 3 of the completed districts are of the same type then you would get the discount on the first AND second district of the 2nd type placed. If you complete two districts of the 1st type and one district of the 2nd type then you would get the discount on the second district of the 2nd type that you place.

Krill specifically has noted a couple of cases in PBEM 5 where the conditions seem to have been met but the district did not apply, so use at your own risk

You can get the discount on the 3rd district if you have only 2 districts unlocked and the 2 built districts are the same type. You may have to wait for a tech/civic completion for the discount to apply . For example, if you have unlocked Campuses and Encampments, you can get the discount on the 1st Encampment if you have built 2 Campuses. You can get the 2nd Encampment discounted once the 1st is completed, as long as no other districts are unlocked. The minimum built districts ins 2, not 3. I would show you proof but it would be a spoiler of PBEM7.

Oh, excellent, I was right the first time. So I can build 2 50% districts, then two 60% districts, in both my cities - maybe even while chopping out settlers at the same time! 

See, Magnus kind of has the same effect that the peanut butter aisle has on me - there are so many good choices, I get paralyzed by indecision, because which one is best? Given the importance of Defender of the Faith, and the abundance of settleable land, it might be wisest to grab the districts first, then the settlers...but I hate to forgo expansion. Maybe build a district at one city while Magnus is chopping the other? Who knows! 

Anyway, 

Turns 32- 33




As previously noted, Alhambram accepts my DOF. He jumped to the lead in milpower, so that's a mild relief. He could still rush me in 30 turns, but I will be sure to stay on top of his military score and build to match as best I can. He'll be competing for any GGs with Mongolia and Sumeria, so I ain't too worried here. I expect he wants to build as well, same as Japper 'n me. 

Speaking of, my builder is ready to quarry the grassland tile. Normally quarries are pretty lame, only offering +1 production, and stone is great to save up and harvest later, but a)you want at least one quarry to get the Masonry inspiration, which unlocks walls, rams, and the Pyramids. I won't be getting the Pyramids, obviously, since there's no desert anywhere nearby, but in the new age of Magnus it's not production that matters for wonders, it's science. First person to unlock the tech has a VERY good chance to land a wonder with aggressive (and well set-up) chops. 

b)This tile is already 2/2, so the quarry makes it a decent 2/3 tile. It also doesn't cost a charge to remove the quarry later, so I can still harvest the stone down the road if I want. For the medium term, 2/3 is a good tile to work until Apprenticeship starts to push mines ahead. 

c)This also unlocks the Craftsmanship inspiration for me! 




Gotta speed up culture any way I can. Being too late to Magnus will probably be a death sentence in this game - and I'm currently last in culture! Everyone else beelined monuments or is much better at building than I am, it seems, because I'm still 4 turns out from my own monument, which will put me in the middle of the pack in terms of culture generation. Magnus needs time to set up - builders in place, policies ready to go, pre-built units for best effect - so arriving soon enough after others won't be too deadly. I've got the EE inspiration, and it'll take about 7 turns to research. We're looking at a Magnus ETA of ~11 turns, then. 

City spots to the west don't look too promising:



My lakes are the last freshwater in sight. I MAY consider re-jiggering First Expansion onto a slightly less ideal tile to enable another city out this way. Right now it and JRTI block all expansion in this direction. 




Meanwhile, the slinger finds more wheat to the northwest. A fertile river valley, with some hills nearby. I may be in competition with Japper f or this land, but unless I see an amazing site I'm not going to rush too hard for it. Find a defensible border and turtle up behind it, I think - with my spot on the side of the map I've got damn near 25% of the map behind me. Again, land is not an issue for me in this game. 

Turn 33 a barb scout obligingly wanders itno range of the slinger and I whack it.




I wish I had a warrior nearby to trap this little guy, then I could get the Archery eureka easily. Need to be cautious as I explore, though - there's a camp somewhere in the area, and it's suck to blunder into a wave of horsemen. Those are the worst in the early game (poor Singaboy, in PBEM2. Never had a chance). 




Here's the score, and a bit more of the west. I'm on bottom, but I'm not hugely concerned. Alhambram leads me by one civic (probably craftsmanship) and a lot of Era score - otherwise he's dead even with me in most categories. I have slightly more techs researched than most, which is nice considering I grabbed the expensive Astrology tech already, and am working on the equally-expensive irrigation. Empire score is tied with the leaders - my constant trailing in empire score, the source of so many of my woes in PBEM7, has not manifested here yet. Hopefully I'll be a better builder in this game, I'm learning as I go. 

Regarding city placement: If I move First Expansion one tile southeast, I open up a new city on the cows here. That means giving up the ideal seowon at First Expansion, but it opens up a GREAT seowon at this new city - there's a hill next to the warrior that borders 3 other hills. That's like a 7 adjacency seowon! Again, no luxuries - but I already have all 4 on my starting continent available to me, so that's not a major issue. 

A larger issue is the fact that I've only found 1 horse so far. An encampment will be necessary unless I've got 2 iron spots. Hmmm. We'll see.

[skanar]

Alhambram also agreed to a DOF, so it's all building here in the east at first. We can declare war on turn 62 for Japper, or turn 63 for Alhambram - not that I plan to, but it's important to note the dates.

In general, that's great, but will need to be careful, as it would be even more ideal to have the DoFs staggered to prevent dogpiles.

Regarding city placement: If I move First Expansion one tile southeast, I open up a new city on the cows here.

Minor note: shifting FE to the PH means moving the rice city 1 tile east as well. Not a major impact but could affect seowon placement etc.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Turn 34

Did I complain about the lack of barbarians a few turns ago? I might have complained about the lack of barbarians a few turns ago - I certainly thought it. It makes getting 3 eurekas hard: Archery, Bronze Working, and Military Tradition.

Well, I'm not complaining any more. 

I start the turn with the scout obligingly presenting itself for murder:



Bam, archery eureka in, easy-peasy. Couldn't have happened any better if I planned it:




So far so good. Except...well...That scout wasn't the only one I ran into this turn. First off, a cheeky bugger appears just outside the borders of JRTI:




Further investigation reveals the camp he must have come from, just south of the Sailing city dot. The worse news is that the scout already has the ! of doom meaning he's seen my city, and I have nothing in the area to intercept him with except for the injured slinger I intended to scout Japper with. I have another slinger due in a few turns out of OCISLY, so I'll need to combine the two in order to resist these barbarians. Happily, there are no horses near that camp, so I don't need to go into emergency agoge mode. Even better, all my improvements are on the OTHER side of JRTI, so even a wave of warriors and slingers will have a hard time pillaging. If that were my only problem, I'd transfer one scouting warrior over and have no worries - 1 warrior backed by 2 slingers can weather anything a normal camp can throw at me. 

But of course that's not my only problem. My western warrior finds more friends:




That camp is right on top of a horse resource. Why the hell did I complain about only 1 horse nearby without knocking on wood as I did so? Rookie mistake, Chev, rookie mistake. Anyway, this camp is a much bigger problem. The scout is gone - I have until he gets back to attack this fortified spearman with my warrior and remove it, otherwise the camp will erupt with horsemen and horse archers and make my life a living nightmare. The warrior can get in two attacks, then heal to full and finish off the camp. 

My final warrior is scouting north and west. No sign of a city-state yet and I'm worried I'm on a fool's errand. Best keep pushing for the slim chance of ONE city-state bonus, though. 

Here's an overview of my lands - I rejiggered the pins to allow 1 more city in the north. It's more important to grab that spot now since it has the second horse resource, and honestly Western Rice wasn't that great a city anyway. The new spot has a tougher time placing a Seowon but I can burn that bridge when I come to it:




Starting at the former Sailing Dot, now rechristened Another Fine Product from the Nonsense Factory, and proceeding clockwise. 

Another Fine Product: Triggers the Sailing Eureka for Antioch, can be used to explore inner city later. Has bananas and wheat for fast growth, a few hills for production and a seowon, and a river for a CH. Lots of forests/jungle for chopping. 

A Startling Lack of Gravitas: Formerly Southern Frontier Dot. Grabs bananas, chocolate, and diamonds, has a ton of jungle to chop, some hills for mining and a seowon. A defensive spot to keep the Dutch away. 

But Who's Counting: rejiggered Western Rice. LOTS of food, with a city-center rice and another neighboring rice, 2 first-ring jungle hills, can share rice and stone with other cities. 

I Saw It First: rejiggered First Expansion. Weaker seowon spots, but LOTS of hills, diamonds, coffee, stone, horses, and cows. One of the finest spots in the dotmap, apart from the lack of decent seowon placement. No worries, I ahve plenty of seowons, one low adjacency won't kill me. 

Me, I'm Counting: A dot to grab the horses in the north. Stone and some second ring-hills and luxuries. Not a great spot but better than nothing, and it'll be useful to be able to build horsemen. 

In One Ear: Former TLC dot. Has a TON of hills in the west for production and seowons, with some wheat in the north for growth. Terrible first-ring tiles, though. Lower-priority spot. 

I Blame the Parents: Former Northern Frontier Dot. Lots of forested riverside tiles, some wheat for growth. Mostly to keep the Cree away, relatively unscouted location.

[RFS-81]

I've never finished reading Consider Phlebas, but I still love your naming scheme! Good luck with those horse barbarians!

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

I've never finished reading Consider Phlebas, but I still love your naming scheme! Good luck with those horse barbarians!

Really, I advise skipping that one and starting with The Player of Games or Use of Weapons. Both are a lot more, eh, "traditional" space opera-y, they're not as long, they do a better job showing off the Culture itself, and overall just serve as a better introduction to the universe. If you don't like either of those, then go ahead and give the series a miss. 

Turn 3somethingI'veforgottenlet'scheckmyscreenshotsohthereitis5

Quiet turns, but next turn should be quite fun! For three reasons. Reason the first: My warrior has reached one of the camps and will begin grinding it down next turn. Can't wait for reinforcements, every other military units committed, so he's going to solo this. As long as the scout doesn't return, I can manage that. 




Over on the other side, my slightly injured slinger is cautiously approaching the other camp. I have a good spot across a river to set up a defense and chip at units outside the camp, but I need melee units before I can clear this out. Need one more slinger and one more warrior, I think:




That upgrades to 3 archers and 3 warriors, which will be more than enough to keep the barbs away. Further military units - namely, horsemen - will need to wait as my DOF with my neighbors draws to a close. Japper's scouts I can shoot to death, but Alhambram could still go for a conventional rush. I don't think he plans on that, it's not really his style, but if I leave myself vulnerable he'll totally take advantage. 'course, I also don't want to repeat my PBEM7 mistake and build TOO much military at the start - gimping your development at the start leads to you chasing the leaders the rest of the game, and frankly I'm exhausted trying to think up ways to stay in striking distance (I don't think that was too spoilery, anyone with any awareness  of the gamestate at all can tell my probable mindset). Let's not do that here and just try and lead from the start. 

Reason the second next turn will be fun:




Monument's almost done. I'm also about to unlock Ilkum, but I just realized I still need a pantheon. Shoulda delayed finishing this. : Oh, well, live and learn. ANyway, this will double my culture output and take me from dead last in culture (3.2, Alhambram has 4.7 last I checked, Japper about the same) to 5.2, so middle of the pack. I'll be a LITTLE behind to Magnus - Rowain already unlocked him somehow (civics score shows that he's gotten State Workforce or Early Empire, most likely Early Empire since he hasn't built a settler and he hasn't built a district). Alhambram's early monument will put him close behind (he has one more civic complete than I do), with everyone else trickling in over the next 10 turns. Those 10 turns won't be TOO decisive, I hope, since Magnus's full power doesn't unlock until his first upgrade, the free settler promotion. That's what I'm gunning for, but I will use him to chop out a district in the meantime probably. 

Anyway, reason the third next turn will be fun:


  

Good things come to those who persist! I think there's a good chance Japper hasn't passed this way yet!