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

[TheArchduke]

Turn 32

Kind of annoying that I do not have as good secondary cities as Cornflakes. Gotta knock a little harder will be settled. It is a plains hill settle and only has a march 3 and a plains hill 1/2.

It will have to do. Plan is to get a worker down there from the capital and mine the hill, harvest/clear the marsh and enable a farm for a quick boost. First up a Holy Site for +3 era points. I want to have a golden age for monumentality as I can not manage to get a dark age by now.

   

I have also firmly decided against settling the area towards Cornflakes. I am in no rush at all to border him.

So after some agonizing, I decide to get a 3rd builder. The logic is easy, I can get a quick +2 gold from the camp in Tank! and want to mine a hill and harvest a marsh near Gotta knock a little harder to get it going ASAP. As soon as that builder is done and craftsmanship we do a quick 2 warrior and 3 slinger build for a basic army and then switch over to a ToA just in time. After that early empire and Magnus for 3-4 chops into settlers.

The builder of Space Lion will do a mine and 2 plantations on the bananas to get my gold production to a serious level.

   

[TheArchduke]

If you ask me, turn 33 stonehenge is a bit too quick and a waste of ressources. How would anyone beat this with mere holy sites?

Turn 33

I must admit that Cornflakes has 2 superior city sites for both capital and city #2.
He shows his inexperience somewhat by offering me 20 horses for 50 gold. Get real!:D I am not an AI. Reoffered DoF, take it man, do you really want a war?

   

Also not the distinct lack of ANY barbarians on my end. Are they turned off?

[TheArchduke]

Turn 34

Cornflakes accepted the DoF. Good, I think I am leaning towards having at least a 2nd DoF after that one.

Some other musings.

- I would like to keep both of my northern CS, they are a liability against Hungary however. Right now I think I am best of trying to keep Nazca around and envoyed up to the top. Each levy by him is 2! envoys, which is rather nasty. I expect an uphill battle not quite unlike what you see when you play against Greece. Look at those tiles. Ugh I am not conquering Nazca.

   

Zanzibar is worth a conquest, but I love their amenities and like to keep them around. In SP that is. I very much fear that I am longterm better of annexing them. Especially as both India and Hungary breezed through my lands and have contacted both. I won´t be able to keep Zanzibar under control.

   

Following that logic, Bandar Brunei has to go. The City is ridiculously easy to defend against land and only tough to defend against my direction on sea. So my 4th city has to be the Blue spot and has to churn out galleys. I think my plan will be to get 1-2 warriors and 3 galleys for Bandar Brunei and archers and warriors for Zanzibar using the DoF as cover to take it. No idea where I will get the time for ToA. I may abandon it.

   

[TheArchduke]

Turn 36

Alhambram is nicely enroute to a Dark Age. Something I would prefer as well.

   

India has EE, which means settler push incoming. I am considering a DoF with Hungary in 10 turns.

   

[TheArchduke]

Turn 37

Absolutely flabbergasting.

Having a cheap religion via Stonehenge, China decided to go for choral music.

Fine by me, go ahead and build Holy Sites to take advantage of this and do not take +faith for wonders. Absolute   move, no idea how this got past the lurker crowd over there.

This makes my decision A LOT easier. Choral Music would be excellent for me, as I want to establish at least 6 Holy Sites or more. This means Jesuit Education or Feed the World.

Other stuff, I need to get a monument to catch up to Cornflakes 7! culture. Monument and 2 pastures as far as I can see.

   

[TheArchduke]

Turn 39

I am getting used to this. It makes me nervous and I have yet to encounter barbs, but I am still drugging along with only a scout and a warrior! 
But I think I am performing quite decent in the growth curve.

   

Anyway, we get a peculiar no damage flood (phew, my poor holy site).  The Rice tile is nice though. Space Lion will grow to size 5! in 7 turns thanks to the housing and amenity provided by my pantheon. Next turn a campus will be laid down for +4 west of the Holy Site. We will finish the worker though to get more gold into the economy via plantations and pasture the horse. After the worker, a slinger and then the campus.

   

The capital is working 4 improved and 1 unimproved tile. Quite happy atm, the camp for a bit of extra cash. The monument will help me catch up with Hungary and India, after that a Campus SE of the Holy Site (buy the tile? I am unsure). We need to push out 1 warrior and 2 slingers somehow before the ToA. And then Early Empire into a settler push. Unsure if I should stay with my ToA plan or shelve it.

   

Gotta knock a little harder (Gotta from now on) is a new city, which immeaditly puts down a +3 Holy Site and will keep working on it. I also decide to go scouting with the warrior. I need a better feel for the SE. After the holy site probably 1 slinger and 1 warrior.

   

My high population, city count and 2 districts show in the empire score. Which is good and bad. It definetly paints a target on my back. Notice also the indian backyard which seems to be explored by Cornflakes only recently. Or does his scout return from somewhere. I will explore this region until I can find a CS, I am confident he should have at least one what with my 2 personal CS up north.

[Woden]

I am getting used to this. It makes me nervous and I have yet to encounter barbs, but I am still drugging along with only a scout and a warrior!   

What happen to the barb camp your scout came across on Turn 12? Did the city states take care of it or is it still there?

[TheArchduke]

Turn 40

CS took care of this. This is a problem. Both archery and BW are dependant on barbarian fights and behind BW encampments hide who not only would be nice to have but also are cheaper.

Good news, I meet Hattusa first and with the monument next turn I should catch up. More then that, I forgot I have a good +4 campus on all three cities which should enable me to catch up.

   

The question now is do I lay both down (sacrificing a forest in my capital (should have chopped that, stupid me. I could return the worker to do that, but I loose 3-4 turns.) and Space Lion (thereby preventing an encampment there for some time.)

I do not want to go GG early and attack, but they are nice to have on the defensive and Varu´s worry me. Getting 3-4 slinger is a no brainer, add some warriors. But do I try for even more science thereby having a target on my back? If so, I need crossbowmen fast. At least Alhambram seems to be far away. I will detour over irrigation to get 4 more gold and enable ToA, but I think the prospect of a risky wonder against China is fading. I offer a DoF to Hungary this turn. If accepted, ToA. If not, I will get some warriors and slingers.

   

[TheArchduke]

I delayed that question for 2 turns. Finishing a warrior. One campus will be discounted, but which one?

Turn 42

Yeah, there goes a forest at my capital. I urgently need a science infusion and fast.
In any case, Space Lion will go for a slinger, and I will probably need to do research in both BW and archery the hard way.

Which is terrible. 

In any case, I got shafted by DotF going to China as well, more understandable then Choral Music though. I am considering Crusade.

   

[TheArchduke]

Remember back in turn 30 or so?

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.

Something weird is going. I found Kilimanjaro first. Where is it?

Here:

   

I nearly overlooked the fact that I got 3 era score on the notifications. I did see the golden trim and thought to myself damn, no dark age for me (something I vastly prefer in the classical age).

But this means the scout of Alhambram did not come from the SE. It showed up NW of Gotta so what is going on? I can think of two directions:

   

So if is east this means:

xxx AD sss ALH xxx
CF  xxx xxx xxx scooter

xxx AD sss ALH xxx
CF  xxx xxx scooter 

Maybe 4 petals of a flower and the area of Kilimanjaro in the middle.

How about south?

xxx AD xxx
CF xxx scooter
xxx ALH xxx

Again 4 petals of a flower shapewise.

I am unsure, my first scouting of Bandar Brunei would suggest the south option. But my first meeting of Hattusa is preplexing as well.
Also I found a second CS in Cornflakes backline. One I managed to first meet. Which means Cornflakes scouted atrociously. 

   

So with that, and the map size. I think Alhambram is east of me beyond the sea. I will know more if my warrior goes further south.