[Spoiler] Suboptimal Goes on a Pseudorandom Walk

[suboptimal]

Turn 41

State Workforce is one turn + inspiration from completion so I switch to Early Empire. I’ll get the inspiration for that in...4 turns, though I may have to stall the settler for a turn as the growth at LFSR will be “simultaneous” with the settler build and I forget which comes first – city growth or production completion.

Wth micro out of the way I look to the south. No sign of barbarians. I advance the slinger SW to peek, see nothing. I stay put and wait to see if anything turns up. The tornado has disappeared from sight. I continue bringing my escort warrior back home and the other one continues scouting up north. More jungle hills up that way. Builder crosses the river to the stone to put in a quarry next turn.

[suboptimal]

Turn 42

In the south the barbarian warrior has emerged from the fog and now stands next to my slinger. I retreat in order to buy time for the warrior to heal and to get into position to attack with both units. I bring the slinger directly south of the city and will cross the river next turn.

In the north I find a fresh barbarian scout near my Encampment marker. It must have come from the fog from the west. Builder at LFSR uses its last action to quarry the stone, increasing production and getting the Masonry eureka.

Internationally Woden completed a district but hasn’t earned any GP yet.

[suboptimal]

Turn 43

Open the save to the notification that someone has built the Temple of Artemis. The score shows that the someone involved is Jester. Either he’s got way more resources than I do or he’s got too much time on his hands.

In the south the barbarian warrior has indeed advanced upon my slinger:




I retreat back across the river. I’ll shoot at it next turn then attack with the mostly-healed warrior. The northern barbarian scout moved right next to my warrior. If I attack it’ll just run away. I move NW to see if I can uncover more of the map and...nope...mountains.




As can be seen in this shot, Pindicator has completed Early Empire as his borders are now enforced. With these mountains where they are there’s also a pretty good geographic boundary between our territories. That would make me getting to him, at a minimum, very difficult. Hopefully the same applies to him.

This does mean that I might not need an Encampment in the marked position and that I might be able to send the settler to the Kilimanjaro location first. It would take one turn less to get there. The settler has two turns left, as does Bronze Working and the population growth in LFSR. Next turn I’ll delay the settler by one turn so that I can see where iron appears and guarantee the Early Empire boost.

[suboptimal]

Turn 44

The barbarian warrior has advanced right to the spot I needed it to, so I get that out of the way first. Slinger attacks for 37, warrior crosses the river and attacks for another 43; both are helped by the floodplains giving a -2 to the barbarian. It will die next turn unless it suicides on the interturn. Either way, 10 for me.

Turning to the micro I switch the build at LinCon from the settler to a slinger. That will take two turns to get out thanks to God of the Forge. Once the settler is out I’ll complete the slinger and then decide if I’ll get another warrior out or start on the builders.

The warrior in the north continues finding mountain ranges. I think the Kilimanjaro location is the one to use to serve as the “frontier” city:




Next turn I get to see where the iron is.

Hit end turn, hear the barbarian warrior attack and die.

Looking slightly ahead, with the barbarian kill Early Empire should be down to 2 turns to completion (I get the inspiration this interturn and 10 from the kill) and State Workforce is down to 1. This brings up a few things to consider…


Political Philosophy

This will take ~20 turns unless I can get the inspiration, which would require a scout out of LFSR (in all likelihood). I’ll be able to get 18 culture (3.5 turns) by finding that barbarian camp to my southwest. Oddly, I hope another camp spawns so that I can go get some more .

Builders

With 20 turns in Ilkum I could, in theory, get Liang and stagger builds so that she’d apply to both units. It’d take 5 turns at both cities with Ilkum to get builders out, so I could, in theory, establish Liang, spit out a builder, move her and spit out another builder.

Governors

Originally I was planning on doing Reyna x2 plus Magnus. However, I reminded myself that the +2 for unimproved features from Reyna applies to worked tiles, not all tiles within the city radius. Therefore she’d only be worth 4 per turn at LFSR. This is small but would have been useful over time, provided I was in a river basin subject to flooding and could expect (hope) for tiles to “improve” themselves over time. However, I’m not because WorldBuilder. So, what to do?

Liang for 4-charge builders for certain – she will be the first to be picked. After that I’ve got a couple of options:

- Magnus. Ah yes, everyone’s favorite. +50% to chops and harvests. However, look around on some of my screenshots. There aren’t that many resources around and most of my 4-yield tiles are jungles. If I start cutting them down I’d be losing the majority of my 2 tiles. The only forests around are in the belt between LinCon and LFSR and none of those tiles are in my territory yet.

- Pingala. +15% and . That’s a very small boost in the big picture. However, the Tier 1 promotions give +1 or +1 per citizen, which effectively becomes 1.15 per citizen because of his bonus. If iron’s locations permit me to settle within range of the 3 and 4 Kilimanjaro tiles I’d have a high growth city. In this case I’d try to get Pingala promoted up using the Government Plaza promotions (district + Tier 1 building)

Government Plaza

Building this is a priority and the plan is to put it at LinCon at dotmapped. I’d be looking to build the Ancestral Hall (for builders in new cities and +50% towards settlers in LinCon) and get the legacy policy card for Classical Republic once I get that government in place.

[suboptimal]

Turn 45

Bronze Working is complete. Where is the iron?




One west of my Kilimanjaro site (good), one 3rd ring to the capital (eh) and one right under the hill I was going to put an Acropolis. That’s a slight bummer. I can shift it to the hex SW of the Government Plaza, though that loses 1 adjacency for the city center. I adjust the dotmap a bit and resume the settler build in LinCon. The settler is going to Kilimanjaro. I’ll finish the slinger then start a builder the following turn. I start Masonry.

Up at LFSR the city has grown, earning me the Early Empire inspiration. That civic shows 2 turns to completion so I leave it be. The new population also boosts the city’s growth (and puts me over the amenity limit) so the Campus will be done next turn. The city shows 3 turns to construct a scout, so I’ll do that then finish the slinger (which has 2 turns left).

Back south I send the slinger across the river and the warrior ahead to start looking for the camp. It earned a promotion so if I need to insta-heal I have that in my back pocket. The warrior sweeping across the northern mountains doesn’t reveal anything new this turn.

[suboptimal]

Turn 46

While thinking about things last night a few things occurred to me to keep in mind for upcoming turns…

1) The food situation at LinCon is somewhat fixable with a water mill. That will get me +2 (I’m harvesting the SW wheat). The same applies to the desert hill filler city.
2) I should complete State Workforce before Early Empire. That will save me 6 on the Government Plaza.
3) Mount Kilimanjaro is described by the wiki as erupting rarely, spreading causing minimal fertility and population loss but significant damage to buildings and improvements. Unless I find the site contested by Pindicator I’ll be settling right next to the wonder, on the iron.

Open the save to the Campus completing and earning me 3 era points and boosting State Workforce. Unfortunately I miscounted and State Workforce will take 2 turns, not 1. That does throw a slight spanner into the works. Set my builds (scout in LSFR, resume slinger in LinCon) and get to moving things around.

Warrior advances southwest from LinCon and I find something unexpected…




There’s a peninsula to LinCon’s west. Fog-gazing looks like it’s 1-tile wide 2NW of the warrior’s position. That needs exploration once the camp is dealt with. Settler/warrior pair begin the 8 turn trek the to Kilimanjaro spot. Up north, Pindicator’s scout is in the way so I can’t advance forwards along the mountain range. I half expect that if he finds a good spot for a city he’ll put a mountain tunnel through and send a settler down.

[suboptimal]

Turn 47

Open the save, Pindicator’s scout has moved out of the way. I move the warrior SW and see the scout between my two markers for the central city location, as well as forest to me west (yet another hill). My southwestern pair continue advancing and find the barbarian camp.





Now the trick will be to lure the spearman out to break the fortification bonus. Regardless of what the spearman does I’ll move the warrior SW and promote next turn, along with bringing the slinger 1 SW to get it in view of the barbarian.

[suboptimal]

Turn 48

State Workforce is complete. I swap policies, dropping Agoge, moving Discipline up to the military slot and taking Ilkum. I recruit Liang and place her in LinCon, which starts a builder. She will go active at the same time the builder completes, so because of the ordering I’ll stall the builder a turn. I also place the Government Plaza which has a build cost of 46. I send the slinger for Kilimanjaro.

Looking at the scores I see that Pindicator has a settler out. The good news is that I’m closer to Kilimanjaro than he is so I should be able to get the spot if he’s eyeing it. Interestingly his science has dropped by 2 with the loss of population. Part of that has got to be rounding.

In the tundra I move the warrior and promote (taking Battlecry) and bring the slinger down one hex. That should get the spearman to move out of the camp and between my units, allowing me to clear the camp and attack the spearman with both units.

Up north the warrior continues moving westwards, revealing yet more forested and jungle hills.

I had a notification about being spotted by barbarians – a scout has emerged from the fog to the east of LFSR and is standing on my Campus. My own scout here will be done next turn and will head east through the mountain pass and then turn northeast.

I hit end turn and hear a barbarian attack something. Guess I lured the spearman out of the camp.

[suboptimal]

Turn 49

Early Empire is in. Start Political Philosophy, time to completion is currently 25 turns (ouch). I leave my policies as-is and recruit Pingala. He goes to LFSR since I don’t have anywhere else to put him. He’ll move as soon as the Kilimanjaro city is founded. On a side note civics are now driving district costs and chop values for the time being.

Up at LFSR my Campus was pillaged by the barbarian scout. That...is a problem. It’ll be three turns to repair once I can clear the scout from the tile. The good news here is that my scout is complete. I cross the river this turn and am going to send the scout east. If the scout hangs around I suppose I could attack with my own scout and try to kill it. That might get me a promotion to deal with these hills. However, finding city-states to the east is the bigger goal right now. I’ll wait for the slinger to complete to chase the barbarian away if the presence of my unit doesn’t do it first. I am sorely tempted to buy a unit here but resist the urge and will save the money for archer & sword upgrades.

Down at the barbarian camp I have a spot of good news – the spearman attacked my warrior. Attacking with only the warrior shows a redline but not a certain kill. I bring down the slinger, do 33 points of damage and finish the job with the warrior. I get 50, 12 and 2 era points. The culture takes 3 turns off Political Philosophy. Growth at LinCon next turn will get me an additional 1.3 culture which will take another four turns off the completion time (I’ll go back to working the amber).

Up north I find yet another mountain pass:




Essentially, if Pindicator or myself are going to go at each other it will be because he’s opened up a few tunnels. The settler and warrior move up and I’m four turns from settling City #3.

Before hitting end turn and seeing only a barbarian scout in the immediate area I go back to the policies, which are still available for a change. I take Discipline out and put Agoge back in. That takes a turn off the slinger.

Hit end turn. I hear the barbarian camp sounder. Guess I pulled Discipline too quickly but oh well. Hopefully I’ve got a unit where I can get to it easily. As is traditional in these parts I’ll get up a situation review after Turn 50 is played.

[suboptimal]

Turn 50

First off, find the new barbarian camp…turns out it wasn’t in my neck of the woods. Up at LFSR the barbarian scout has decided to stay put on the pillaged Campus. The slinger there will be complete in one turn and then I can chase it off or kill it. I’ll start a builder while the slinger does the dirty work. The scout moves NE and will reveal some new terrain next turn.

Over at LinCon the new population is in. Since city growth remains slow I work both the amber and the iron. That stops population growth and ups production to 11 per turn and speeds up Political Philosophy. Since the builder is now ahead of Liang by a turn I’ll need to interrupt that build at some point by putting production into the Government Plaza.

Down in the far southwest I start bringing the units back to LinCon. Three more turns of transit and they’ll be back home. My merry convoy of units (settler, warrior, slinger) continue moving for Kilimanjaro. Up north the warrior finds the next pass into Incaland. I also take a look on Settlervision…




I could, in theory, put another city up there as it’s not near Pindcator’s loyalty influence. That is for later, though.

Internationally, based on gold spend, position in the tech tree and resource availability I’d guess that Pindicator has at least one swordsman upgraded. His power spiked by 25 this past turn and his gold went down by about 80.