[SPOILER] - Suboptimal finds trees, still seeks forest

[suboptimal]

I'm currently planning to get out a settler to settle the southern lake in the mid 50's. We'll get some scouting done with either the slinger or an archer....

Turn 17

Open the save to see that the barbarians are coming over:




My units should be safe since there are hills in the way and I move southeast as planned. The warrior will likely move to the diamond hill and then attack across the river next turn. With this development and the current timing on Archery I’m inclined to switch techs to Pottery next turn. Archery will be at eureka + 1 next turn and the barbarians will pursue the slinger to City #2. In the relative safety of the city I should be able to kill one or both barbarian units to get a promotion for the slinger and the eureka for Archery. In theory we could then upgrade the slinger a bit earlier to get more done with the unit while the rest of the plan moves forward (like, say, kill off that barbarian camp).

Down south the warrior tops the hill and...




The desert is the West Nubian Desert, so we’re the first ones here. I will also issue a correction from a report a few turns ago – the name “Lakshadweep Sea” is in the generic name list for Gathering Storm. As a result we’re still in territory unexplored by any player. I’ll head for the salt next turn.

Internationally Kaiser has his second tech and TBS has a settler out. Pindicator has probably found a natural wonder. We remain first in religious rankings.

[CFCJesterFool]

Mid 50's for the next settler seems real slow.

[Banzailizard]

I would generally agree with Jester here except to say mid 50s seems slow for a third city. Early production will be spent on archers for a city conquest. What is the rough timeline on conquering Nazca?

[suboptimal]

The settler would be built around T45 (Mashed) or T51 without slotting Colonization. Depending on when Early Empire completes we may be able to pick up the pace a little bit. The issue with the southern lake location is transit time -- 5 turns from City #2 or 9 turns from Mashed. We could go settler-aggressive and get out two at the same time - one for that southern lake location from City #2 and then park something coastal NW of the volcano with the one from Mashed. With Nazca that could give us 5 cities by Turn 60.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

5 cities at turn 60 -> archer push on a neighbor seems solid. Turn 50 is slow, but we're spending that early production on archers which will convert into a city for us anyway. We can't do everything, obviously, and need to pick and choose. Going for the archers leverages Nubia's strengths, and getting a city state that early will be a boost to the snowball. Long-term, if we can get Nazca productive, it'll be important to have good port cities. Look at PBEM11, where rho21 conquered his home continent before Archduke did and then used naval dominance to force concession on the other continent. That's our rough model for victory here.

[CFCJesterFool]

Need a trade route from city 2 back to Mashed to speed up transit time. Quality of cities also matters. Freshwater city>slow growing aqueduct city imo. District considerations are also important. I agree that Nazca should be absorbed once your pantheon is founded but think delaying the conquest to get out a settler for a city that can get a quality science district makes sense, hence the need to scout the geothermal vent area. Two archers and a warrior is enough military to start the conquest with more units added after another settler is built.

[suboptimal]

The bulk of the transit time is actually between City #2 and the southern lake location. It's only four turns between Mashed and city #2. I think City #3 should be the one to get a trader out and send the route back to Mashed.

The current military build plan was a warrior, two archers and another warrior at Mashed and three archers out of City #2. That gives us a total of six archers and three warriors. We could scale that back a bit, say only two archers out of City #2 and two archers + 1 warrior out of Mashed. That gives us one archer from Mashed to scout north/east, three archers + one warrior to deal with Nazca and one archer + one warrior to go south and start looking for opponents, city-states or barbarian camps. While Nazca could probably be taken with two archers and a warrior three archers would make things go a bit faster. That third archer is also a rear guard - I've seen city-states and AI spawn newly-built units in their second (or third) rings when all eligible first ring tiles are occupied.

[CFCJesterFool]

The bulk of the transit time is actually between City #2 and the southern lake location.  It's only four turns between Mashed and city #2.  I think City #3 should be the one to get a trader out and send the route back to Mashed.  

The current military build plan was a warrior, two archers and another warrior at Mashed and three archers out of City #2.  That gives us a total of six archers and three warriors.  We could scale that back a bit, say only two archers out of City #2 and two archers + 1 warrior out of Mashed.  That gives us one archer from Mashed to scout north/east, three archers + one warrior to deal with Nazca and one archer + one warrior to go south and start looking for opponents, city-states or barbarian camps.  While Nazca could probably be taken with two archers and a warrior three archers would make things go a bit faster.  That third archer is also a rear guard - I've seen city-states and AI spawn newly-built units in their second (or third) rings when all eligible first ring tiles are occupied.

I think we do want a total of six archers and three warriors. Just need to fit in the settler. Maybe Mashed goes (finish builder)>warrior>archer>archer>settler>archer and City #2 goes warrior>archer>archer?

[suboptimal]

The bulk of the transit time is actually between City #2 and the southern lake location.  It's only four turns between Mashed and city #2.  I think City #3 should be the one to get a trader out and send the route back to Mashed.  

The current military build plan was a warrior, two archers and another warrior at Mashed and three archers out of City #2.  That gives us a total of six archers and three warriors.  We could scale that back a bit, say only two archers out of City #2 and two archers + 1 warrior out of Mashed.  That gives us one archer from Mashed to scout north/east, three archers + one warrior to deal with Nazca and one archer + one warrior to go south and start looking for opponents, city-states or barbarian camps.  While Nazca could probably be taken with two archers and a warrior three archers would make things go a bit faster.  That third archer is also a rear guard - I've seen city-states and AI spawn newly-built units in their second (or third) rings when all eligible first ring tiles are occupied.

I think we do want a total of six archers and three warriors. Just need to fit in the settler. Maybe Mashed goes (finish builder)>warrior>archer>archer>settler>archer and City #2 goes warrior>archer>archer?

Switching the archer and settler at Mashed only saves three turns - we'll be running Agoge and the archers are 3 turns apiece.  At City #2 a builder is the first unit out in order to get plantations down for culture.  In looking at the build micro I think getting military out earlier is better.  One consideration is a trader - City #3 could make that its first build or we could see if we had the gold to buy one (though that might not be a good use of gold).

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

And remember that Nazca isn't the only payoff for early archers. Getting 3 movers in place to choke our nearest neighbor's second city is pretty important. No one can kick out archers as fast as we can, swords are still a ways off, and nothing short of lots of swords or horsemen can even stand up to the archers. It's okay to slow down future cities if we can absorb someone else first.