[Spoilers] TheArchduke thinks it is all a dream as Japan

[TheArchduke]

I am here to entertain.

Turn 23

A bit less agonizing, moving units, hit enter. Not every turn can be overanalyze hour. Though judging from the explosion over by scooter, one can overanalyze anything.:D

[TheArchduke]

Turn 24

The hungarian scout stalks about, I do not have enough units to block him from scouting the CS north. And without early empire no chance at blocking with city tiles.

Damn, this is a problem longterm, I may be the main target of Hungary in the midgame.

I am glad I moved Space Lion, Blue as a coastal city is decent enough with tiles in the 2nd ring having 2/2 as well.
I like my dotmap overall.

2 Great Prophet points so, the jig is up, people will know I rush religion. Gotta think about which beliefs to take, although I will have second dibs. The question there really is choral music or jesuit education.

   

[pindicator]

Feed the World?

[TheArchduke]

Feed the World?

Bear with me. I aim for super high housing and amenities and I could use feed the world to grow faster and work more productive tiles.

I will analyze this Monday when I got time.

Turn 26

   

In any case, the big question is whetever to forward settle my SW neighbour, I assume it is Cornflakes, Alhambram came slightly from the SE-E. (The Rice tile to the SW is red, and I doubt it is a CS.)

[TheArchduke]

Turn 27

Some thoughts.

   

Judging from the continent setup I can see by now, it seems I am on the NW continent, Cornflakes on the SW and Alhambram might be NE or SE (I guess the latter judging from the commercial position and the fact that I met it before.

   

I think I will buy a worker next turn. I need to get going with improvements and the horse tips the balance in favour of getting on with it. I like my idea of a quick third city/HS.

[TheArchduke]

Turn 28

I offer friendship to Ghandi after a long hard look at the situation. Pink Dot is out of the question, I do not have the military might for it, especially with the builderbuy. We are going to stay a bit defensive for now. Especially as I see a potential city as not very defensive, whilst Space Lion can be defended very easy with an encampment in place.

   

Let´s see if he takes it. If not, a very bad sign, I will have to be more aggressive then.

[TheArchduke]

Turn 29

Rejected DoF by Cornflakes, more later today.

   

So it seems Cornflakes either does not want friendly relationships, or he fear that the DoF is too early and a sudden attack if the DoF is over.
Could also be that he wants to do a Varu push against me.

There are two city sites on the border to Cornflakes and I dislike them a lot. Why? Floodplains. A defensive position along the river is nullified by the floodplains, making those units very liable to be shot. The same can be said about his defensive position, but his is worse and dare I say poisoned. Why?

If you consider placements. He can either settle in the middle across the river, thereby enabling me to shoot from 2 hills, one possibly with an encampment.
Not really tenable. 

The other possibility is on the coast for a +4 gold harbour and on the geysir west. The geysir city is rather defensible, the coastal city is not. Especially if I manage to get boats in my city Gotta with a harbour. Still better placement then in the middle. 

Things is, all my options are worse and would result in suboptimal cities. Across the river is out. On the geysir is likely to be easier attackable by Cornflakes then it is for me.

And the spot in the middle is not the best production city I can think of and could be easily bombarded by him as well from 2 possibilities. Considering all this, I think I am actually better of leaving this area of the map to him. I did not get the + culture pantheon for plantations (4-5 culture only overall) and the site is not worth it for me. Also you notice that Cornflakes took the God of the Sky pantheon, I am not actually depriving him of a thrilling city site there.

So with that all said, my military very untypical for me is rather low and I did not manage to inspire Military Tradition. Thus an early war would be a nightmare for me. I am much better staying behind a defensive cordon and teching away from Varus if Cornflakes does not want to be friendly.

It is imperative that my scout scouts as much as possible of Cornflakes so we will make due haste to achieve that.

And thus:

   

There are 3 excellent encampment sites, which actually let me create a very impressive fortress Japan. I have no intention of staying peaceful the whole game but I would much rather like to do any aggression by sea and slightly amphibious where my bonus shines. I am also nicely setup to produce a LOT of faith with my Holy Sites and my private CS. Bandar Brunei is still a consideration for aggression, but I think I am better of keeping it around, I just need some nice ships to protect myself against a levy. Unsure so far. This means I could kill the commercial CS in my backline at a later date which suits me fine. 1-2 CS are aplenty to dump my envoys into.

On the shielded tiles, you can see where I want units. Those are all hills and 3 are coastal. I think I can very nicely erect a great defensive border and hope for more backland to settle, which the continent setup hints towards.

So onto religion.

[TheArchduke]

So religion. The most important, the follower belief. 

I have to assume China gets its religion first. This makes my choices difficult. The consensus seems to be that

Choral Music (+ for shrines and temples) Very strong with many holy sites, else rather weak)
Jesuit Education (buy Campus and Theatre buildings with ) Very strong as you need campi to keep up. The Theatre is just a bit extra)

are strongest with 

Divine Inspiration (+4 for each Wonder) Great for China.

a possibility for China.

One would assume that Divine Inspiration will be taken by China but he could opt Jesuit Education and unlikely Choral Music (more a deny really as I doubt China wants to spam Holy Sites).

What else is there. For Holy Sites there is:

Feed the World (+ for shrines and temples) Never underestimate the power of food. You can stop using or building farms and can work more hills. 
Religious Community (+1 housing for shrines and temples) More housing is always good, but I guess I have that covered, also my land is not very fertile.

Outliers:

Zen Mediation (+1 amenity in cities with 2 districts) Themed for Japan, but I would take it only if the stronger choices are gone.
Work Ethic (+1% for each follower) This can add up in very big cities, but is rather neglible at the start.
Warrior Monks (Strong buyable units) Can be overpowered but you have to gear your whole civilization towards it, not interest atm. Also something that works against the AI, not a player probably. Something for a more faith driven civ in the future.
Reliquaries (Triple : and :tourism  You always have less of those then you think, not worth it, a culture victory is done in the late game.

I think Choral Music is a no brainer, but after that I am not so sure. If China takes it, I am tempted to do feed the world, to fill up my increased housing gap. One shrine means you can work 2 mines without having to use a worker on a farm. I could always get even more housing and more amenities though. With big cities, work ethic could actually help a bit, but the other stuff is too strong and you need huge cities for Work Ethic to make a difference. 

Jesuit Education can be very strong to jumpstart into libraries and later universities so it is something to consider, but I am tempted to go for Feed the World with my increased housing and amenities already.

Worship Belief

I am not overly impressed by them. The Stupa is nice, the Wat is good and the Mosque for a religious run. The meeting house seems to be the default AI choice, which I disagree with actually. I think most things are more difficult to get then production which you can always plop down another mine for.

Founder Belief

I think there is case for lay ministry or Stewardship as we aim to become big, but this means not a big increase overall. Church property is probably the most useful one, followers in other civilization is not something you want in a PBEM. We will see if I can snatch church property.

Enhancer beliefs

I am actually tempted by the burial ground for culture bombs, but it will probably only benefit 4 sites.
What I think could be downright nasty is Crusade. Get an apostle with x3 in foreign cities and get the CS bonus.
Anything else is more for a religious war and I doubt we will see this in MP as the human player will always dow.

[TheArchduke]

Turn 30

Ah, Cornflakes is annoyingly competent. An excellent city plant. Spice tile, fresh water, horses and a 4 yield tile in the first ring. Mind you the city is not terrible defensive, but still. Judging from the continent layout which I assume is:

XXX AD XXX Scooter
CF  XXX ALH XXX

I will have to worry about CF and AL whilst Scooter and the lurker death squad will wonderwhore away.

Shudder. If Alhambram and Cornflakes were switched I would conquer the SW with Archers then wait. This will be one tough game.

   

[TheArchduke]

Turn 31

   

I wait until Agoge with my more military, which means builder in Space Lion, and my capital is another matter. I think I want to aim for the Temple of Artemis, so another builder perhaps? A monument could help a lot as well, seems Hungary has a cultural CS and India got lucky and has 2 pastures for God of the Open Sky hooked up.