[Spoilers] Suboptimal - Welcome to the Tlachtli of Blunders!

[suboptimal]

Turn 18

Quick turnaround time today.  I did take the time to run some numbers.  The slinger will complete on Turn 21, the settler would follow on Turn 28 and the Eagle Warrior would be out on Turn 34.  Back to the action…

Despite the DoF I’m not going to be polite and continue moving through Egyptian territory.  It’s now fully in view and, like my capital area, has more production than food, though he does have a floodplain he can work.


I’ll continue around it on the southern side and then upriver for a bit.  

Over at Vilnius #0 crosses the river into the forest – I’ll defog in that direction first and leave the NW area to #1.  I turn up a barbarian scout.  Looks like this might be a good place to stop and heal next turn.  The scout can’t kill me but it can give me a serious maiming.  Losing any unit at this point will kill any early attack opportunity.  #2 continues its trek.

rho21 was definitely sandbagging techs a bit as he’s finished his second tech in two turns.  RFS-81 looks to be in combat with barbarians as his score has dropped from 25 to 22 (mine’s at 64).  Oddly, RFS-81 is not in last place...that’s Japper.  He must be up to something...unorthdox...again.  

Next big milestone is in three turns – Bronze Working will complete and I’ll get to see what iron, if any, I have in the area.

[suboptimal]

Turn 19

Didn’t expect to get a third turn in today. 

Everything seems to be quiet...no Egyptian units, no barbarian units.  #0 fortifies in the woods to heal, #1 moves west one tile and #2 continues its...travel.  The Preslav warrior seems content to sit SW of the stone at Begin the Begin.  Maybe it’ll act as a screening force against any barbarians that decide to show up.  

I’ve dropped to last place in score as Japper has finished a second tech.  I’ll catch up over the next two turns as Begin the Begin gains a population next turn and Bronze Working finishes in two.  It will also culturally expand in two turns and the tile picker has settled on the NW stone resource.  

It would be nice if Vilnius could get to size 3 before I attack but I don’t know how long that will take.  The monument, however, should be completing in a couple of turns.  Given the land situation up here I’d expect it to start a builder next.

Next turn I’ll purchase the desert tile 2 NE of Begin for 50.  This is where the Encampment is going to be placed once Bronze Working is in and I don’t want the tile cost going up.  I’ll most likely have two more tile buys – the 3/2 bananas at the settled city and a tile in Vilnius’ second ring for an Encampment.  The first district at the settled city will be a Campus.

I don’t know what RFS-81 had for builds – besides a scout he should have been able to get a worker, slinger and settler out by now.  Or something.  Wonder if he’s had barb trouble and lost something to the barbarians….

[suboptimal]

Turn 20

I got a fourth turn! That's really moving things along!

First up, capital management.  Begin the Begin has expanded to the second stone tile so I lock citizens into both stone tiles and the 2/1 forest they’ve been working.  I’d consider working the forested plains hill but want to keep food production up in order to minimize the amount of time I spend back down at 2population when the settler is built.  The tile picker is now back to the wheat tiles, which is where it should be.  I buy the desert tile in preparation for placing the Encampment next turn.

Up north I continue moving units around.  #1 moves 2x NW, revealing both a warrior from Vilnius and RFS-81’s warrior.  It’s got 70-80 damage left.  I also think he’s lost a unit as his military power is down to 17.  Next turn I’ll move SW out of his vision and head for Vilnius.  So long as he doesn’t follow I’ll be in good shape here.  If I get out of vision range and the warrior hangs out here I may declare early to try to get a Builder out of it.  

#0 remains in place in the woods; the barbarian scout has shown up again.  There must be a camp off to the west in the fog.  #2 is six turns out from Vilnius.  

Once Bronze Working completes I plan on almost-finishing Pottery and Animal Husbandry.  Once I’ve got Vilnius conquered I’ll put down an Encampment, finish both techs and start Writing or Masonry depending on the game situation.

The north:

[TheArchduke]

With Vilnius conquered we actually have a great situation where we can box in Egypt from two sides.

[suboptimal]

Yeah, RFS-81 is going to wind up surrounded early. I don't know if my cities would have enough in them to get 5 Eagle Warriors to Beta Colony and one Eagle Warrior to Preslav by Turn 47. If RFS-81 doesn't rectify his military situation soon, though, he won't be able to catch up. One thing working in Beta Colony's favor is the terrain - the entire southern half of the city is difficult terrain. If he builds a settler in the next 30 turns I'm willing to bet he settles on the lake - the area in the SW corner looks like a good city location. With two cities he won't have enough military to guard both and I can try to pick off the weaker city first. The terrain by the lake is also more open.

With Vilnius I'll probably declare in the next turn or two. If RFS-81 keeps vision on my warrior and sees the attack he may get the impression that I'm just farming a builder off the hapless AI and not go see what's going on at the city itself. I don't know that it would delay the city assault that much as #1 would get a promotion to heal up with after its first city attack. With three mostly-healed Eagle Warriors the city should fall in two turns.

[suboptimal]

Turn 21

Open the save and am greeted by an Egyptian settler...who looks to be headed towards Vilnius.  RFS-81 has also brought his warrior across the river.  The settler going west is good.  The warrior coming with, not so good.  More importantly, Bronze Working completed.  Where’s the iron?  Two tiles due south of the gypsum resource by Beta Colony.  That’s it as far as I’ve defogged.

Begin the Begin has finished its slinger.  I place the Encampment and lock it in at a cost of 63.  That’s about 7 turns at my current production rate so I’ll probably just slow build it.  Next up in production, a settler.  That will be out on Turn 28.

I continue moving Eagle Warriors around.  If Vilnius’ warrior stays put I’ll declare war next turn and attack it.  It would then attack me, hopefully surviving, and I’ll kill it and hopefully get a builder out of it.  I decide that at half health #0 can move and put it up on the hill to the W to see what’s out there.  Sheep, copper, cattle to the south and a barbarian camp pretty close to Vilnius.  Next to the copper I see a boulder that looks like it might be a cliff.

The situation at the end of movement:



Down at Begin the Begin I move the settler out to the south.  I’m going to do a little bit of scouting down here to see what’s around while the Settler gets built.  

Last thing to do is my next tech. I’ll put five turns into Pottery, then switch and put 5 turns into Animal Husbandry.  By then I should be able to place an Encampment and hopefully have a builder down to the settled city.

[suboptimal]

Turn 22

The Egyptian units have disappeared back into the fog.  It’ll be interesting to see where he goes.  Perhaps he’s going south into the fog to stay out of view?  I don’t think he has Bronze Working yet so he won’t know about that iron.  

Eagle Warriors continue positioning.  #2 is 4 turns out from Vilnius.  I move #0 one tile closer, parking on the hills due south of Preslav.  I’ll stop there to continue healing and move into Vilnius on Turn 26.  The move does confirm that there is cliffs and ocean north of that barbarian camp, along with us being near the west coast.  I also see that Vilnius has completed its monument.  Excellent.  As long as the camp doesn’t spawn anything before Turn 27 or so I’ll be fine.

As for the city-state’s warrior in the east, well, time to get a builder….I move onto the oasis and…



The subsequent attack does 43 damage while I take 25.  Perfect.  The warrior should counterattack and then I’ll kill it and hopefully have my first builder of the game next turn.

Down south the warrior from Preslav has moved into the fog.  I send the slinger SW and there’s an injured barbarian scout in the fog.  No Exclamation Point of Sighting on it but given its position I think it’s come from a camp located somewhere W or NW of Preslav.  Maybe I’ll get to kill it with my slinger next turn – the interface says I’d kill it with one shot.  However, it’ll probably sight the city and run of, staying out of range.  

Internationally, rho21 has got a settler out this turn.  I change my civics research over to Craftsmanship – I should have been researching that. I’d like to be ready to go with a switch to Agoge after I take Vilnius and get rid of that nearby barbarian camp.  Of course, that assumes I get a builder or two out of the next several turns.

[suboptimal]

Turn 23

Open the save to two notifications.  First, as expected, the Vilnian warrior attacked my Eagle Warrior.  My Eagle Warrior is at 57 health while the Vilnian is under 20 with a 69% chance of capture.  Back at the capital the scout has approached the city and now sports the mark of “Ha ha I found you!”.  Unfortunately for the scout it has remained within range of my slinger and should die.  RFS-81 has not settled yet.  I suspect he’s going for the end of the river next to the iron and is staying in the fog to do so.  The good news here is that with his warrior back towards Beta Colony he won’t be able to interfere with my attack on Vilnius.  Headlines out of the way it’s time for the news.

Slinger at Begin the Begin moves west, attacks and kills the scout, netting me the Archery eureka. In the north #1 attacks the Vilnian and captures a builder.   The Eagle Warrior is at 36 hit points and 12/15 XP.  Oh, and look who popped out of the fog:



RFS-81 has decided that he’s going to settle upriver from Beta Colony, up in the corner, rather than east.  I don’t know what’s going on here.   It also means he won’t be settling near the iron for now.

#0 fortifies in place on the hill, #2 is three turns out.  Next turn the builder will start its dash for the settlement spot and I’ll move #1 to the oasis to get a turn of healing or two in before the attack.  That should get everyone healed up enough to take the city in two turns.  It’ll be helped by the fact that there is no river to attack across, so none of the warriors will be giving a +5 CS bonus to the city.

[suboptimal]

Turn 24

Open the save to see that RFS-81 has founded the city of Barrayar right on top of the citrus resource that was up here.  A good city plant at 4/1.  Also convenient – if I’m able to take it after the DoF I don’t have to try to hook up the citrus in the south right away…Japper has also founded a second city, looks like he hid is settler build with his population growth.  That’s OK.  I should have a second city in 3-4 turns and a third on Turn 32.

I get the moves in the north out of the way – #0 stays put, #1 moves to the oasis just outside Vilnius, #2 moves to the cattle to cross the river next turn and the builder starts its journey to my planned city site.  That trip will take about 8 turns, which will get the Builder on-site just as the settler arrives.  The builder will also fog bust the last bits of unexposed land between Azteca and Egypt.  These moves do uncover two wheat resources on the north side of Vilnius.  

In the south I move the slinger to the riverbend, finding an incense resource next to the horses.  It’d be a bit challenged for food but this would make for an OK city site.  I’ll cross the river to the hills next turn, then turn around to head back for settler escort (just in case of barb trouble)  

[TheArchduke]

Looking good so far, especially the builder is right next to Vilnius. Nice.