[SPOILERS] Cornflakes - PBEM 17

[Cornflakes]

Dotmap time 

   

Notice Cree loyalty peeking out through the fog in the far west. I didn't see that until now so perhaps this is in the direction of Cree's 2nd city? Or maybe the loyalty pressure increased due to city growth such that it reaches farther now? Or maybe I just missed it. Regardless, that got me thinking more about dotmap to the west. I don't like the look of minimum spacing between the cities to the west given Rome's Baths so I'm contemplating shifting YELLOW 1NW to Tiny_Yellow.

PINK dot is very tempting. It would allow me to claim territory beyond the lake choke point from which a future invasion could be launched (see PBEM 16 for how poorly an attack can fizzle through a choke point). It has desert 2nd ring where Pyramids could be built. Two 5-yield tiles are available plus a 4-yield PFH and a 2 city center for great production with no builder labor required. 9 base/turn at size 3.

[Cornflakes]

   

A 1000 year flood brought much fertility to the cotton valley in the north. Fortunately my wounded warrior had moved out of the floodplain region prior to the flood

[varcharmander]

So what is the plan, you've met two neighbors.

[Cornflakes]

So what is the plan, you've met two neighbors.

Implying that it's time to begin plotting their destruction  ? The "plan" at this point is to claim more than my fair share of land backed by Roman Legion. Then figure out how to prevent Russia from getting to Cossacks, or at least figure out how to make myself not the target and prevent them from overrunning the whole world. T125 was TheArchduke's timeframe in PBEM 11. Another straight Cossack beeline is a scary prospect and I'm not sure what the most effective counter is other than hobbling Russia before they get there.

[Cornflakes]

Settler for 3rd city is on the move! You can see the graphic 2W of Rome in the screenshot below. I'm heading for Pink, via Orange so I have the option to stop earlier if I decide that is better. Another settler was started at Rome (7 turns) which will push back Aquileia's settler a couple more turns (probably 11 from now).

   

Here at Rome we see one consequence of the current overflow mechanics. Micro to save a few cogs. By completing the settler as close to 140/140 as possible I lose as little of the overflow as possible. One turn of working the plains forest hill instead of the marsh rice gets me there. Also that leave me just short of growth to size 5 which (as previously explained earlier) is most efficient food-wise. So all around a good move. But I have to remember to swap the citizen back next turn! ... so after taking the screenshots for the turn I plastered pins across the map as reminders 

Pingala is now established and will be promoted to +/pop in 5 turns at State Workforce. It will be tight but I think I can barely squeak out Construction in time to earn the inspiration for Games and Recreation. Maybe not though once the additional monuments come online. I should at least be within range to where it makes sense to put culture yield into other civics while waiting a few turns for the inspiration.

[Cornflakes]

T37: Scoping out the neighbors:

   

Kaiser is quite some distance away to the northeast ... 23 tiles to be exact, which feels close to infinity at this stage of the game. We both settled towards each other and our 2nd cities are still 12 tiles apart. That desert is awkwardly placed from my perspective. It begins 8 tiles from Rome but 14 tiles from Rycroft. That is somewhat disappointing for my expansion prospect in that direction, and part of the motivation for stretching west to Pink_Dot immediately.

   

Notice Alhambram's empire score ... looks like we have our first rival to reach 3 cities. I chose to get a 3rd warrior and 2nd builder before a 2nd settler. Heading for Pink I'll be nearly 10 more turns before I found my 3rd city. Then I'll found #3, #4, and #5 all within about a 5-turn span.

In the south my warrior won't be able to take out the barb camp unsupported, but at least he'll be able to curb the outbreak. I'll start retreating next turn and bring in the 2nd warrior in order to adequately guard the next settler out of Rome.

[Cornflakes]

   

One potential wrench (Greek scout) and one definite wrench (barb horse camp) were thrown into the gears of my planning this turn. The Greek scout could block tiles, either intentionally or coincidentally, and slow down my settler. I fortified the warrior escort to make it look like I might be settling here so that Kaiser hopefully will just move onward. 

The barb horse camp is a potential major pain in the backlines. I have to immediately dispatch my northern battlecry warrior to deal with this situation. Hopefully the barb scout runs in circles for a couple turns so that I can take it out before it starts to spawn horsemen

The trouble now is that I have no free military to escort the two in-queue settlers completing in 4 and 8 turns. What can I do? I will be able to slot Agoge in 3 turns which will allow me to build military at Rome after the settler. I will retreat the southern warrior to guard Rome's settler, and use Rome to build the escort for Aquileia's settler.

[Cornflakes]

For some reason I can't see the screenshot I tried to put at the top of the previous post. Here is another try at it. One more thing I forgot to mention is Bronze Working completed this turn revealing Iron. There is one under Rome's banner E-NE of the city center (1SW of stone) which will be picked up by the next culture expansion in 9 turns. Tech was set to The Wheel since and Iron mine will satisfy that eureka. I need to unlock and start building a watermill immediately upon founding Orange_Dot so that it completes in time for the Construction eureka. I have another source available 1W of the northern builder, 3rd ring to Aquileia / 2nd ring to Plantations_Galore city.

   

[varcharmander]

Yeah with potential Barb horses you need more units for sure.  Is it worth buying one or is gold planned for something else?

[Cornflakes]

Possible change of plans ... I just remembered the free Roman Roads! If I found Orange first, in-queue settler from Rome can use the road to shave 3 turns off the travel time from Rome to Pink. Net result is

Orange founded T42 vs. T49
Pink founded T50 vs. T46.

Gain 7 turns at Orange, lose 4 turns at Pink. Overall 3 extra city-turns, plus I can use the western warrior to escort both settlers. Also Political Philosophy arrives 1 turn sooner since the extra city-turns are on the front end.