[Spoiler] Suboptimal's Next Attempt at Lurker Frustration

[suboptimal]

Turn 80

In thinking about the Canada situation a bit more I’m considering whether or not I should attempt to lend a hand to Canada if/when Egypt goes to war. Sniping the city is a non-starter – whether I keep it or return it to Canada the reduced population would immediately come under pressure from Egypt, resulting in the city flipping into at least free city status. I’ve only got a horseman in the area that could offer immediate assistance. It’d be enough to make the day of an archer or two, or perhaps assault a warrior/battering ram pair. I’m going to send the horseman along Bruins’ southern border over the next few turns and if there’s an opportunity to intervene in Canada’s favor maybe I take it. Having them around as a pseudo-vassal state right now is better than having Egypt pick up a few cities. Alhambram, thoughts on this approach?

Looks like the game is going to start its “Amenities Wheel of Fortune”. Howard no longer has an amenities issue but Foggy and Marina are now complaining they lack amenities. The good news here is that the -2 amenities at Howard have been redistributed into two -1 amenities at Foggy and Marina so none of my cities are currently penalized.

Drama & Poetry completes next turn. Iron Working will get one more turn of research, then I’ll switch over to Construction. Given my totals and the fact that the price will go up next turn (though only by 5) I buy the iron tile at Nora Batty. That’s fine because Howard will be completing its RND next turn and I’ll have a plantation down in three more turns at Marina. Oh, then there’s this…




I place the RND on the sole coastal tile, move the builder out to the flatland stone and harvest. The RND is at 62/65 and will complete next turn. The city will start on a monument next. The Brazilian galley is slightly in the way since it’s 4 tiles from my galley. I move up next to it. Focus moves to Nora Batty, where I actually push the button on the tile buy. I reassign the citizen on the open plains to the iron for more . Further east the warrior moves adjacent to the camp and the quadrireme shoots. I’ll clear the camp next turn.

Up in the central region the archer and builder in Howard move into the SW jungle. The from the harvest will boost the city to 4 population and I’ll put the into a granary. Foggy’s builder is done, it heads towards Compo. I’ll be pasturing the sheep, putting in a wine plantation and then a farm. Compo has been flip-flopping between the crabs and the rice. Given that the rice is highlighted on the odd turns and that expansion is checked before the tile picker (I think) I should get the rice. If I don’t then I’ll just farm the plains to the SW because . Foggy starts a second builder – this is a Feudalism pre-build. The builder will get 2-3 turns of production and then I’ll start on the library. After that it’ll be an archer (for Machinery once I upgrade the slinger) and two horsemen (for a better standing military).

Out west at Marina I harvest the jungle. I could wait a turn for an extra 22 but I’ve got things I need to get done here. The new population starts working the hill stone. I’ll plantation the silk next, followed by harvesting the flat stone to the SE. That should complete the walls and I’ll complete Engineering so that I can get cracking on the Aqueduct here. Meanwhile, over in Canada:




Looks like the settler pair is still making its way northeast. Good. A Canadian warrior has also shown up. Also good. That Egyptian archer to the SW is new. Not so good. Bruins is also under a bit more pressure as population pressure is now at a meager (sorry, it’s Canada...meagre) +0.5. Kings has dropped to 3 population so that might be another settler (or starvation perhaps?) I decide to send the scout north to see what’s going on. I move north of the Egyptian archer & warrior and find:




I think Kaiser may be rethinking whether or not he’s going to declare – that northern archer was where my scout now stands. I move the horseman to the open hills and send a 1 for 1 trade to Canada.

Southern galley finds nothing interesting yet.

Internationally it looks like Canada’s empire score dropped by 4. How’s that happen? I had them at 39 on their Turn 76, 41 on Turn 77, 43 on their Turn 78 and back down to 39 on their Turn 79. I see that Kings is down a population (to 3), so that’s where one point went. Where’d the other 3 go, though?

I also just learned (or was made to remember) that the free builders from Ancestral Hall cause the construction costs of builders to increase. That switches things up a little bit.

[Alhambram]

Canada losing 4 empire points means either settler spam or pushing production for military build to get units online on time before dealing with Kaiser's units resulting in starvation.

And the question whether we should intervente in potential Egypt-Canadian conflict that might break out soon?

If there is one thing clear: the biggest obstacle in our way is Egypt. We are going hit maximum expansion in west soon or already with Canadian settler on route.
That leaves us with 5 backline cities. After that only way is westwards by conflict. In north is Egypt and in south Canada. The unknown factors are Phoenica and Brazil which are further in west.
Therefore Egypt is one that we need to deal with and if possible with support of Canada.

We can do several things:
-Do nothing and just keep building. This likely means that Egypt is going absorb Canada in longterm and we might face a civ that became too big and advanced for us.

-Intervente, Two versions: first build military asap to match Egypt. This likley keeps Canada around till end of times but cost us a lot production and economical planning.
Second version is use current army to support Canada, keep them around as psuedo vassal as you suggested. But when Kaiser makes determined attack with more advanced units, Canada probably collapse and our supporting Horsemen wouldn't be enough.
Seeing his warriors and archers milling around and lacking GG means that Kaiser isn't determined yet, Canada can withstand Egypt for a while with this, but if Kaise brings in more modern units, Canada is toast.
Sending Canada help can help us, short term: is there some amenity that Canada has and we not, trade? Long term Canada can support us when we decide to invade Egypt.

[suboptimal]

If you count Howard, Marina and Compo as "front line" then we have 5 back line. However, there is room for 3-4 more settlers to head east if wanted or needed. I agree that Egypt is the primary hostile issue to the west. As I see it if Egypt takes Canada then loyalty-flipping cities is a non-starter as their pressure is too great as Canada is closer to Egypt. In that case there'd have to be a concerted effort to get a couple of close-by cities (Horse Hill and the open area south) before engaging in a military solution and then start taking cities from Egypt. Hopefully Woden/Ichabod get frisky on his eastern front at some point - I don't know if he'd be able to handle a two-front war (heh....me and Ichabod attacking Kaiser would be shads of PBEM 3).

I think if Bruins gets its walls up then Canada has a little bit of time. However, if either Bortus or Issac grow in population OR Canada his a dark age then Bruins will face serious loyalty issues and eventually be lost via non-military means. I need to run the loyalty numbers to see what happens to Bruins if Yerevan is captured and a Canadian Horse Hill city exists.

Canada does not have any amenities that we lack - they only have wines hooked up at present and are on the same continent. Kaiser isn't generating any GG points - just Canada and myself and they're currently behind in that race by a couple of turns. One thing to keep in mind - a denunciation lasts for 30 turns, so Kaiser need not declare after 5 turns - he's got another 25 to go. I'm actually surprised, given his and iron availability, that he hasn't fielded any swords on this front.

The plan at Foggy is to put three turns into a builder for the prebuild, then build the library and spit out some horsemen. What I could do is make a policy change once Recorded History completes (EoT 84) and slot Maneuver. I could get out a couple of horsemen quickly and then finish the library. They'd take 8-9 turns to get to Canada but would be in position to take Yerevan as well.

Edited: Ran the numbers - it'll depend on the relative populations of Isaac & Bortus vs. Marina and Yerevan. Marina would need to run Bread & Circuses at a minimum. One option would be to build two horsemen and then get Colonization slotted when Defensive Tactics completes (currently expected EoT91). I'd get a settler out of Foggy at EoT 98 and could settle in the Wine Valley 8-9 turns later. Of course, that throws off the plan with having a settler available for Military Engineering but I should complete that a few turns before the settler needs to find a spot to call hom.

[suboptimal]

Turn 81

My original plan at Foggy was to prebuild a builder, build a library, two horsemen and an archer. I had also previously discussed building a settler to coincide with the completion of Military Engineering in case I needed a resource grab. The intent of all of this was to bolster my science and military forces, complete a eureka (Machinery) and be ready to hook up niter. Events in Canada and the distance I need to span to deal with a potential Egyptian incursion and wanting to take Yerevan (if it has no walls) during my Golden Age have necessitated a slight shift in plans.

The new plan is to put in Maneuver (I’ll take out Conscription, I can afford it) and build two horsemen. That’ll take six turns. I’ll hold off completing Recorded History so that it completes when the second horseman does. I’ll be able to do a policy change on Turn 87 (Veterancy, Maneuver and Ilkum out, Conscription, Agoge and Colonization in) and then build a settler and archer at Foggy. I’ll take advantage of Agoge to get out some units at Compo (it has no build queue past Turn 84), likely some warriors for swordsman eventual upgrades and maybe an archer as well.

Open the save, got two notifications. Kaiser wants to send a delegation, I decline because that’s a +3 combat bonus for visibility. CMF accepted the 1-for-1 trade. Good. Drama & Poetry is complete, as are the RND’s at Howard and Auntie Wainwright. Iron Working is at eureka + 1. Switch research to Construction and Recorded History. I’ll put three turns into the latter then jump up to Defensive Tactics while the horsemen complete. Take out Conscription, put in Maneuver. Foggy starts the first of two horsemen. I’ll want to get Conscription back in when the horses are done – with them on the map that policy is worth 9, which is almost half of my current output of 19 per turn.

Builder time. At Howard I was going to build a granary. However, a lighthouse gets me more and I can take advantage of Veterancy while I’ve still got it slotted (to Turn 87). It’ll delay the Theater Square build a bit but I think the trade route (and Medieval Faires inspiration) is worth it. Queue it up, chop the jungle and cut 8 turns off the build. Archer returns to the city center and the city is at 4 population. Unfortunately one of those population is working a flat plains tile but in another five turns they’ll be working the third bananas. I don’t see district discounts yet, so that means research goes before production. That should update when I complete my next tech or civic as everything but Campus and RND’s should be discounted.

Over at Marina I move the warrior back to the city and the builder over to the silks. The builder going to Compo from Foggy stops and puts a farm down right where it is. I’ve realized that by putting a farm down here it gives Foggy +1 housing and a second 3 tile to work. The galley and builder rendevouz at sea at Auntie Wainwright for the trip to Nora Batty. Now, what to build here? Whatever it is will take a while given the city’s poor production output (3). I start a monument because it’ll get me some culture and expand the city faster.

Out east the quadrireme shoots the barbarian spearman. I get the boost for Naval Tradition, which is actually a “boost plus”. The inspiration gets me 40% of the current cost, which is actually 48% of the base cost. That’s one reason why I want to get the boosts for Feudalism and Military Engineering done this age – 8% extra on the boosts. Warrior moves in and clears the camp. That nets me 50 and two era points. With the two era score from completing the RNDs I’ve reached the “magic number” of 47 and have secured my Medieval Golden Age. :banana: With the camp dead I’ll bring the quadrireme back towards Nora Batty. If I can catch up with the Brazilian galley I’ll escort it out of my territory.

That leaves the goings-on out west.




I think Kaiser was trying to gauge my stance with his delegation. That’s fine, he can infer negative things from it. Better than a denunciation or war for now. Canada appears to have the situation marginally under control, but I’ll still bring the horseman into the area and send it southeast. The scout moves west on its side of the river. It doesn’t get eyes on Bortus but confirms that the silks are third-ring to the city. That makes the loyalty situation here a bit easier. However, Canada is going to need to move a governor to Horse Hill upon founding – the area is at negative loyalty for anyone who settles there. The scout is going to now head south once more to look for a city-state in Canada’s western backline as well as defog the area around the capital.

Internationally Canada likely swung a major trade deal with Woden. Canada had 288 gold on hand last turn and it’s up to 445 this turn. That or they’ve pillaged something somewhere, though they don’t show as being at war with anyone (unless it’s with a city-state but that’s against the rules IIRC).

Hypatia is up as the next Great Scientist. I’ve got 46 GSP, Kaiser’s got 45 GSP. However, he’s pulling in 6 per turn while I’m pulling in a measly 2. If I scrounged together another 220 or 235 in the next two turns I could purchase her. However, that’s not likely. On the other hand I’ll be recruiting Artemsia in two turns and then the first Medieval admiral some 15 turns later.

[Alhambram]

Hypatia is up as the next Great Scientist.  I’ve got 46 GSP, Kaiser’s got 45 GSP.  However, he’s pulling in 6 per turn while I’m pulling in a measly 2.  If I scrounged together another 220 or 235 in the next two turns I could purchase her.  However, that’s not likely.  On the other hand I’ll be recruiting Artemsia in two turns and then the first Medieval admiral some 15 turns later.

Is it still posisble to chop for campus project or is that too late?

Or make a trade with Canada or Brazil or even Egypt which you get hard coin?

[suboptimal]

I've got two builders on the map - one at Marina and one embarked at Auntie Wainwright. Neither can get to a city with a completed Campus and chop in two turns. A Magnuschop only gets 91.5 out of 105 required to complete a project. They're also both committed to their course of action - plantation & wall chop at Marina (gets Engineering eureka as well as walls) and a forest chop (RND), iron mine and wheat farm at Nora Batty.

I don't have anything that I could do a longshot trade with Canada for. There's also a reason they acquired all that gold and it's not to give it to me for a Great Person. Hypatia would be nice but I'll save my points and figure out how to get one of the Medieval or Renaissance ones. Kaiser has most of the same resources I do and I think is aware enough to not trade me enough gold to purchase Hypatia out from under him.

[suboptimal]

Turn 82

Watermill at Truly has completed, that’s worth up to +3 and 1 and the Construction eureka. That tech is down to three turns. I’ll get it to one and then work on Currency until I’m ready to complete Engineering. I’ve got two other notifications. The first is a new barbarian camp has moved in. Where?




Well, that’s roughly where my horsies are going to be going but spearmen can be a pain in the ass. I’ll send Marina’s warrior down there to deal with the camp and should have it cleared right around Turn 90. The second is a deal notification from Ichabod:




Hmmm...part of me says “why not?” (in the “sure, why not” manner) and part of me says “why?” (as in “why would I do that?”). On the why not side is having a friend in the neighborhood of Woden that might be persuaded to do some damage and if he’s friendly, well, he won’t start rogue pillaging my districts. On the why side, well, nothing comes to me. Besides, at some point I’ll find Brazil and want to go wandering through his borders, so I accept.

Truly starts its barracks, 6 turns to complete. I’ll still be able to pull Veterancy on Turn 87 since the barracks will be under 1 turn’s worth of production. The city is now at a surplus of 12 and will hit 8 population in 5 turns. It will also expand to the other jungle hill in 5 turns, so that’s good timing. Cleggy is likewise about to launch its population growth in two turns and looks set to take the tile directly south of the elephants in 3 more turns. I do realize, though, that rounding here will have me literally less than 1 from completing the lighthouse. I shift a citizen from the massive food tile to the forest and will complete it next turn. Over at Marina I put down the plantation for that extra amenity.

Builder/galley pair at Auntie Wainwright head for Nora Batty. The galley will have two turns of builder escort duty and then I’ll turn back for Yerevan. I’ll lead Ichabod’s galley with my quadrireme back up to Cleggy. That’ll let me find anything interesting off this coast first. The warrior moves to the hill, finds the scout and settles in to take some abuse. The other builder moves to the sheep for a pasture next turn. The southern galley? Well, it’s moving right along and is now along shoreline that is outside Canada’s influence. Hopefully it finds a city-state in the next couple of turns.

Over in Canada:




Things are looking interesting but static. I bring the horseman down to the desert NW of the copper. I’ll “spyhop” from here, moving two tiles west and then back east each turn to keep an eye on things. The scout heads to the roaded desert SE of that archer. That reveals some more Canadian units in the fog, just out of view of that Egyptian archer:




Looks like Canada is ready to defend against an incursion. That’s good. Just what I want. I’ll continue heading southwest with the scout, particularly since the capital’s borders are visible to the south. Their settler has also not founded yet. Based on its position last turn it’s either on the horses or crossed the river onto the forest SE of the horses. That forest is likely Canada’s most favorable tile from a loyalty standpoint, so next turn I’ll figure out if that forest or Horse Hill is the settlement target. Any further northeast of there and my loyalty will likely be too great for them to settle.

One thing I’m still trying to puzzle out is Canada’s and yields. They’ve currently got three cities with a somewhere around 13-14 population. For science, being favorable and saying the capital is at 8 population, that’s 7.5 from population, another 18.4 from a double-promoted Pingala. Assume a +3 Campus with a library and Geneva and that’s 31.9, add the palace and you’ve got 33.9 which is almost the 34.4 reported on the score screen. OK. That works. Culture from the palace, Pingala and population is only 15, leaving 7.8 to go. Kings and Bruins both lack monuments. A cultural city-state with an envoy is worth 2, perhaps he’s got a resource or two? Still doesn’t provide that many answers unless he’s got a natural wonder at his capital.

I’ll recruit Artemsia next turn. I’ll send her to Nora Batty next turn and have her scout out the one or two little coastal “outcrops” to the southeast, then send her to catch up with the quadrireme. I won’t use the retirement ability just yet as I may build a quadrireme at Compo for some extra naval muscle. I’m curious to see who the first Medieval Age admiral will be. They’re all good in my book but Leif Erickson would be a great catch – I could use him and my 5-move galley to circumnavigate for an easy 5 era points during the Medieval Age.

[suboptimal]

Alhambram, looking ahead I think I might cold-build the Masoleum at Halicarnassus at Cleggy starting in about 10 turns. The current build queue there is builder (EoT 86) -> trader (EoT 90) -> trader (EoT 93), with the builder putting down two mines and either an elephant camp or a lumbermill (leaning towards the latter). I was intending on putting down an Industrial Zone when Apprenticeship completes but I'd need to buy two tiles and I'd prefer to use the ~200 elsewhere. Besides, the city would be at 25 per turn without the IZ. If I delayed Defensive Tactics to Turn 94 I could pull Colonization, slot Corvee and start the Masoleum at Halicarnassus. It'd take 16 turns to build and complete EoT 108. Then it's just a matter of expanding its coastal tile control to take advantage of the extra yields. I'd then build a Theater Square and Amphitheater on the marsh (likely after a Serfdom builder).

[suboptimal]

Turn 83

A scout has appeared out of the mists at Marina; the barbarians are frisky. The scout at Nora Batty also attacked. No matter. Both research items at two turns and getting paused after next turn. Lighthouse at Cleggy complete, move the citizen back to the high food tile and start a builder. City is at 5 population growing to 6 next turn and pulling in 10 surplus per turn. This builder is putting down two mines and a lumbermill to add 4-6 to the city. I’ll get another builder up here at some point for the elephant camp, cow pasture and perhaps a couple of farms for housing.

Next up is Artemsia. I recruit her and she appears at Cleggy’s RND. Next up is Leif Erickson . I’m pulling in 9GAP for the next two turns 10GAP the turn after that and then 12 points per turn. I’ll have Lief in 14-15 turns unless Woden goes project crazy. Artemsia enters Cleggy and transfers to Nora Batty.

Down at Nora Batty my warrior fortifies. I can’t kill the scout this turn so I’ll heal for a turn, let it attack me and then kill it off. The quadrieme heads up the coast, finds nothing interesting. The builder escort group moves to the RND and the builder will head for the forest over the next couple of turns and then chop out the RND.

Over at Compo I was going to pasture the sheep for some added . However, I’ve realized that I’m going to be putting an IZ right over the top of the sheep in about 17 turns so that’s a waste of a builder charge. The city grabbed the crabs so I’ll go plantation the wines and then decide if I want crab boats here, another silk plantation at Marina or if I go back up to Foggy for a lumbermill (thinking lumbermill for production there).

Over at the now-frontier west of Marina we’ve got this:




The city is running only +3.3 loyalty with a governor posted. Population pressure is -4.7. Part of me is going “buy a shared second ring tile NOW” and the rest of me is going “Heh, nice city you’ve got there. I won’t mind adding it to my collection in about 30 turns”. Canada did me one favor, though – it showed me that I’ve got my loyalty calculations in my spreadsheet correct. Based on the numbers, if Canada has a Dark Age they’ll likely lose the city in 10-15 turns, fewer if I get that Entertainment Complex up and running in time.

My warrior moves to the jungle to the west to see who’s home. The promoted archer is in the city and the escort warrior is on the hill to the northeast. Builder moves to the stone for a harvest and wall completion next turn.

Over in Canada proper my horseman does the twostep and finds nothing Egyptian in the area. Canada has moved their promoted horseman up and appears to brough a second one out of the fog (or built it at Kings and it hasn’t registered in milpower yet). Kings is also back up to 4 population. I move the horseman back and will go south along Yerevan’s borders and perhaps explore across the river while the others get here.

Scout moves up to the borders and finds a horse pasture. I’ll move southwest next turn and further probe the borders. Southern galley has traversed the ice passage and appears to have open coastal water to its north. Now things should get interesting…

Nothing of note internationally except for the founding of Wild.

[suboptimal]

Turn 84

Well, hello there!




I take a quick look at the Canada/Egypt border. An Egyptian horseman has shown up, Bruins has walls and Kings is building them. No sign of actual fighting yet but I’ll come back to the theater and decide what I’ll do with the horse and scout. I also see that Wild’s units have cleared out, presumably across the river. What is also interesting is that the barbarian scout has entered Marina’s borders but doesn’t have the Red Exclamation Point of Doom. Wonder if that camp is not keyed to this city? If what I read/cited earlier is true and camps spawn 7 tiles from their “target” then Compo is the target.

Recorded History and Construction are each at one turn. Change over to Defensive Tactics and Engineering. I realized after sending the save along that I can’t chop out the walls until Engineering is eureka-complete since I need the wall overflow to go into the Aqueduct. Since there’s no overflow loss this doesn’t hurt me in the long run. The downside is that I’ll lose quite a bit of overflow on Engineering. I’ll put two turns into Defensive Tactics and complete Recorded History for the civics swap on Turn 87.

Out east the barbarian scout has disappeared into the fog. Or rather, it’s just gone. There was only one tile it could have been in based on its movement rate and the line of sight (the jungle SW of the bananas). I moved the warrior to the swamp and it’s not there. The quadrireme works its way up the coast, finding nothing unusual. Artemsia moves out next to the Brazilian galley and I’ll probe those two coast extensions next turn. Builder comes ashore, galley turns for Compo. I’ll stop there for two turns to heal up.

Up north Cleggy has gained its population and the auto-governor has put it on the grassland forest. Good choice, but I lock it in position just in case. The city will expand to the open plains tile south of the elephants next turn. With a tech completing next turn I don’t expect my tile purchasing costs to go up. I’ll buy the open plains NW of the city next turn so that Howard can lock down its discounted Theater Square next turn. If I’ve messed up the discount calculation I’ll likely still buy the tile.

Builder and warrior at Compo move to the wines, the former for next turn’s plantation and the latter to clear the city. Foggy’s first horseman is done and moves to Compo; Foggy starts the second one. I move the builder back into Marina even though the barbarian scout can’t get to it (yet)…just makes me feel a little safer. Warrior turns towards the camp and will be adjacent next turn.

So, Canada…




That’s what I can see. The Egyptian horseman is new. Canada has three horseman visible. The scout is going to head southwest as planned, partly to get out of the way and partly because I can poke around. It goes onto the copper hill, finds a promoted Canadian warrior in the way and turns west. I find a nice little bundle of resources




and start wondering why Canada hasn’t settled a city in that direction. Settlervision shows that the iron and silk are in the 3-hex range of a city. The oasis marks the southern boundary of Bortus’ third ring. The copper is in the third ring of The Blues, which also makes the two tiles in a line to the SW third ring, along with the tile SE of the silk. Guess I found the backline city-state. Or so I thought. I find it later, but it’s not here.

As for the horseman, well, I was going to move south this turn but with war on I want to go see what’s up. I move to the banks of the Columbia River to see if anything Egyptian is there. Nope. There is an archer in the Encampment, though. I back off the river and will head south next turn.

I think what I’d like to see here is some aggression on both sides but no real progress. If Canada captures Bortus I’m hopeful that they’d be forced to raze it rather than keep it due to Egyptian loyalty pressure. This would ease the pressure on Bruins a little bit and make it slightly easier for me to flip if/when I assimilate Wild.

That leaves my fast galley. It moves north two tiles and sees the yellow borders of a commerce city-state poking out from the fog. Move north one more tile and I meet




That’s a nice city. Like Yerevan they want me to recruit a Great Prophet. The city has no luxury resources. Ichabod and Kaiser each have two envoys there, Canada has one. As much as I’d like to use Diplomatic League to get two envoys in here right off the bat I don’t think I should. That would require dropping Urban Planning and given the production levels at a couple of my cities that’s a bad idea. It’s only be for 5 turns but that’s enough to add one turn to builds in five of my cities. I put an envoy in now, getting the +4 per turn. I’ll eventually want to get three envoys in here since the +2 to lighthouses would be worth it. What’s interesting is that Antioch has built walls while Geneva and Yerevan haven’t even started walls. So long as the latter doesn’t build walls for another...16 turns...I’ll be a happy camper. I also forget to move my galley its remaining two movement points.

In reviewing the scores I see that Canada jumped by 7 empire points. I check the deal screen and learn two things. First, that “city-state” that I think I found is likely their new fifth city, Blackhawks. Second, I see three gossip reports, which is unusual, so I check them out. I learn that Kaiser is suzerain of Vilnius and Bologna as both have declared upon Canada. Well, that’s useful if you’re Egypt. It also explains some things regarding their early culture & science output. The double settler build also explains Canada's earlier drop in empire score a little better.

I’m also reconsidering sending the upcoming settler to the valley northeast of Yerevan. Yes, it’d apply loyalty pressure to Bruins but it’s provide minimal loyalty pressure to Kings and be saddled with food issues even after I got an Aqueduct in there. If I capture Yerevan then I don’t need that city for loyalty. If Yerevan builds walls then I’ll need some swords and a battering ram to take it (and could then roll on to Canada by force). The city would be viable if I were to settle the desert hill east of the barbarian camp and build Petra with a Great Engineer. No guarantees to that, though.

What’s got me hesitant is that I’ve got room for two productive city sites to my east (see first screenshot this turn). It looks like three are available but the spacing of the rivers, lake and existing cities mean that I can settle on only two of the fresh water sources. However, all of these sites would be more productive than that western valley location. There is a volcano-side +3 Campus spot in the southern end but the Avon River (between rice and stone) and Greenlee Lough (on the wheat) would probably be the better alignment.