[Spoiler] Suboptimal's Next Attempt at Lurker Frustration

[suboptimal]

Turn 32

Foreign Trade is complete, Early Empire eureka is in as well. Start Early Empire and leave policies untouched (Discipline & Urban Planning). The barbarian warrior is making its way towards the horses as Alhambram predicted. Up north the spearman did not attack but just stayed put (it didn’t even fortify).

At London I switch back to the Campus build, that’ll complete in 4 turns. I bring the exploring warrior back from the west and the other warrior to the bananas. I think I’m going to have a problem here – next turn the barbarian warrior will move out to the horses. It could then either attack my warrior (good) or stay put (bad). If it attacks I’d be able to kill it next turn; if it doesn’t then it’ll survive my initial attack and pillage the horses (unless the barbarian AI decides to retreat). As a result of that I need to hold the builder in London for one more turn so that I can see the outcome of all this.

Over at Birmingham the new citizen is working the jungle hill. I shift the citizen from the cow to the forest for extra production. Right now that’s what matters more than food in order for me to keep “on schedule”. I buy the trader for 170.

Up north the slinger takes another shot at the spearman for another 34 points of damage. The unit is under 15 damage remaining and should retreat into the woods next turn. I’ll kill it then clear the camp. End of turn screenshot:




Kaiser gained 2 empire points and completed his fourth civic last turn. I’ve gained my first domestic tourist. Still no GPP on the board yet.

[Alhambram]

If barb warrior pillages horse tile and you get rid of that barb warrior to allow builder repair horse pasture. Why not make the best from this little setback by improving stone quarry since after all mining is set to complete after 3 turns.
Then builder moves to Birmingham to improve ivory tile, we need amenties and make use of our pantheon. Also we already got horseback riding euerka and pasturing cow tile is just adding measly one production.

[suboptimal]

Turn 33

Open the save to earning the Bronze Working eureka. Look around the map and see that the spearman killed itself attacking my slinger. Also see that there’s now a slinger making its way down. Hmmm...looks like a raid might be coming. I also see that the warrior by London came through the woods and attacked my warrior. This is good news as I can kill the warrior, save the horses from pillaging and get the builder moving out to Birmingham.

The view at the start of the turn:




First things, first, take care of business at London. The barbarian warrior is dead and I’ll leave my warrior here to heal for the time being. Warrior NE of London moves NE, builder moves to the warrior’s former location. I’m going to pasture the cows en route to the elephants. Why? Because that actually gets the upcoming settler out of Birmingham a turn earlier. Trade route to London starts, gaining some extra food & production in Birmingham along with the eureka for Currency.

Now, about that barbarian slinger up north. This isn’t a leftover unit from a prior spawn – the first warrior and slinger at Birmingham and the just killed warrior were the raiding party. This slinger is either a new raiding spawn or the start of something quite a bit worse (full on city attack). What I can’t tell right now is if there’s a unit in the fog to the slinger’s east. After considering my options I decide to move the slinger west to the other elephants. Moving out to attack seems like a good idea but if the camp is actively spawning and there’s a warrior to its east my slinger would be in big trouble. Likewise, staying put only ensures that my slinger gets attacked and is forced to retreat next turn. If the barbarian slinger pursues to the west then I can attack it on open terrain, kill it the following turn and likely get my slinger out of there (or have the warrior on-scene) and avoid a unit loss.

Kaiser’s two empire points last turn were not a district as he’s not generating any GPP yet. Depending on how things hold out over the next couple of turns I might very well be the first to a district. I have dropped down to fourth in milpower and am ahead of only Woden on that score. However, part of that situation may be due to the damaged condition of my units rather than military builds on their part. Need to keep an eye on that.

[Alhambram]

I argee with your idea for pasturing cow instead quarrying the stone, I did offer latter as option in case that barb warrior pillaged horse pasture forcing builder to return for repair which didn't happen.
Barb situation seem pretty under control barring suddenly opening up can of barb warriors in north camp, is the plan to to send promoted warrior north for clearing camp now slinger got occupied with barb slinger?

Remind me again, what did you plan again to research after mining? Bronze Working for encampment or irrigation/sailing till 60% then you have take care of remaining 40% by eureka.

[suboptimal]

Yes - the promoted warrior is heading north just in case there's more than a slinger wandering around up there. It'll also be used for settler escort out of Birmingham.

I'm going to research Bronze Working to completion, get Sailing to eureka + 1 turn, finish Astrology and get Celestial Navigation to eureka + 1 turn. I expect that I'll be able to finish all of these techs to completion by T56 or so. After that I'm undecided, but I've got about 25 turns to make up my mind.

[suboptimal]

Turn 34

Situation normal, generally quiet. Barbarian scout remains in the fog, ditto the slinger in the north. However, there’s a new guest in town:




Alrighty then. My unit is at 57/100 health and is too far away from a promotion to be able to use that to heal. Attacking out is no good; it’d get killed next turn. I don’t like my options here – stay on the horses this turn and be forced off next turn (or lose the unit) or move into the jungle hill this turn and hopefully soak up the attack there. I decide to do the latter, because the barb is likely to attack and I get better defense in the jungle. I can build a warrior in three turns at London for backup. I do take the time to run numbers over the next few turns and switch a citizen from the jungle hill to the PFH for extra production. It doesn’t do anything for the warrior build but the added production (at least, while I have the horses pastured) might be enough to make a difference down the line.

The warrior and builder NE of London continue on their intended paths. I fortify my slinger on the hill for the time being. Next turn I’ll move the warrior to the forested hill elephants and see what’s around.

Ichabod has crossed the 200 culture mark and I’m now in last place in milpower at 37.

Edited to add: The loss of the Craftsmanship inspiration works out to a little over two turns of culture yield - I'll be yielding 6.9 per turn starting on Turn 36 and the boost is worth 16. The loss of and horse yields from the pillage will have a larger effect than the delay on completing the civic. The pasture can be repaired once South Coast's builder is out in the 50's.

[Alhambram]

Bummer about that new barb warrior, there might more incoming from south-west, warrior after campus in London it is unfortunately.
We shall see what it is better to do with craftsmanship eureka.

[suboptimal]

It wasn't clear in my report (sorry) -- I've switched London over to a warrior now in case that barbarian has friends. I'll get the Campus out next, followed by the granary and the settler. It pushes the settler back to Turn 47, but that needed to happen anyway to prevent London from beating Birmingham to the 110 cost settler.

[suboptimal]

Turn 35

Mining is done, start Bronze Working. Monument in Birmingham is done, start a settler there. Big question for the turn – did that new barbarian come alone or with friends? Nope, he’s alone. The warrior has moved to the horses, though, and they’ll get pillaged next turn. I move my warrior into London to spend next turn healing some damage. It and the new warrior will then set out to take out the barbarian and then head south to deal with the camp. Builder reaches the cattle at Birmingham and will pasture it next turn. Brmingham has also expanded to the eastern rice tile and will grab the northern one in 7 turns.

Up north the warrior moves to the forested elephants. The barbarian slinger has not moved nor has it been joined by anything else…




I move my slinger down from the hill to the tile northwest of the warrior. If the barbarian moves to attack on the interturn it will die next turn.

Kaiser looks like he’s having his own barbarian issues – my milpower rose to 38 due to the slinger healing and he’s now in last place on that score. He has, however, also gotten his third domestic tourist and is generating quite a bit of culture. He’s likely got a couple of sphinxes down. His empire score also went up by two so I’ll find out next turn if that’s his first district getting completed.

[suboptimal]

Turn 36

The horses have been pillaged, as expected. In a roundabout way this may actually help me pull off a slight bit of deception – if I’ve got the numbers simmed out right both London and Birmingham will be able to produce their settlers without suffering a loss of population. London’s new warrior will join the field next turn; the existing warrior stays put to heal a turn. The builder at Birmingham pastures the cows and the city switches the citizen working the forest back over to the cattle. More food, same amount of production. The city will get another boost to food in three turns once the Campus completes.

Up north the barbarian slinger advanced out of the woods and attacked my warrior. The bad news is that it moved SW instead of W and I can’t attack it with both of my units. I leave my slinger where it is to continue healing and attack with my warrior. If the barbarian doesn’t run away it will die next turn. My warrior will need to sit and heal for a bit or head down to Birmingham and heal there.

Kaiser’s completed his fifth civic; Woden his fourth tech. My milpower of 36 puts me in last place; I’ll be curious to see where I stand in that ranking with the shiny new warrior.