[SPOILERS] Chevalier Mal Fet and Marcopolothefraud lead a Soviet Down Under

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Save the gold, I think. No improvements to pillage and he won't attack the city yet. First build there could be a slinger/warrior and then you're set. Also an opportunity for Archery eureka with that slinger coming out.

[Cornflakes]

Some quick thoughts on Russian city locations:

- Suvurov: In general I agree that 1W on the Gypsum is a better city location ... HOWEVER, in the current location the Sugar 2W can be split off to feed Navarin. The might be worth factoring in, depending on what else your warrior uncovers west of Navarin (looks like the end of the continent may be near with those cliffs sticking out of the fog)

- Navarin: what more is there to say? Hopefully the next ring of fog contains some wonderful tiles

- ?-next-to-lake-Torren: This is a viable site since it can steal the rice 3W for a 5 tile, and get the Russian tundra production bonus on silver, 2 forests, and another hill, plus a 3rd ring forested hill. Tundra hills are equivalent to plains hills for Russia so they are fine as long as there is food available. The two forested tundra hills south of Borodino are nice tiles for another possible city site to the south that could steal the same rice (unfortunately the rice can only feed one of those sites).

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Turn 23-24

Scouting at Oslyabya reveals horses, making it a much more attractive location:




Again, I don't know if makes a better Russian or a better Ozzie city, we need to discuss that, since it's one of my stronger sites. One possible location is 3 tiles from The Blueprint - it'll have fresh water, first-ring horses, pearls, and a 2/2 forest hill, with some cattle, rice, marshes and hills in the second ring. Not a bad little spot. Australia doesn't need the fresh water and could settle somewhere along the coast instead, if we thought that was better. Again, note that the projected Australian cattle site invalidates everything in the Olsyabya area, so we might need to rejigger the dotmap there. 

Here's an overview of my own area:




Scouting further south has made Imperator Aleksandr a decent spot for my third city, unveiling some silver and lots of fish. The city can live off seafood, the silver mines are our best chance to boost the Wheel, and it should have a monstrous lavra. I need to heal my warrior, kill the scout, and then finish scouting the western end of the continent, but like Cornflakes I suspect I'm nearing the end here.

Knyaz Suvorov is founded, and after a lot of waffling I decide to sink production into a granary until Astrology is in. 




I wavered between the granary, a builder, and a warrior or slinger. Since Ilkum and Agoge are both possibilities, it seemed most efficient to sink the cogs itno something I can't boost - a granary is going to be needed to get enough housing to profit from the abundance of food Knyaz Suvorov enjoys. However, I don't intend to finish it first. My first build will be a lavra once Astrology arrives in ~5 turns. Since the cogs aren't essential, I'll work the high food tile until I hit the housing penalty at 2, then swap to the pair of sea turtles. I'm not working them yet since the extra science won't help too much - I want my pantheon in before I place my lavras, so I can see the adjacency. That will arrive in 6 turns. 

Same story at Borodino:




With the 5-food tile newly available, I drop the tundra hill (Pantheon in in plenty of time) and opt for growth instead. Both cities are in holding patterns until Astrology and Dance of the Aurora open up our huge faith lavras. 

Some micro questions:

To get the best lavras, I'll need to purchase 2 third ring tiles in the tundra. I'd also need to buy the horse pasture UNLESS I wait for Imperator Aleksandr. That's a lot of gold to splash around, so should I delay the pasture? I have decent enough tiles to work without it, and we can wait on the eureka for a second builder. I can go Farm -> Quarry -> fishing boat? with the first builder.

[marcopolothefraud]

Farm-quarry-fishing boat sounds great. The farm is mainly for the Irrigation boost, right? High-food tiles aren't really too important, but that extra bit of science would be.

Turn 25

A lot going on in this image:

- The two warriors will kill the Pacific barbarians next turn. Both of them are one battle away from receiving a promotion, so healing shouldn't be too much of an issue. The slinger will kill the warrior next to Illmatic soon, then remain on defense on the off-chance that barbarian camps spawn again (most likely in Oslyabya).

- The Blueprint was founded. I turned on Appeal map mode to highlight one important thing: should I put a district east of Blueprint, or mine the grassland hill? I'm leaning towards leaving it unmined for now...perhaps Blueprint's third district will go east of that spot, and that's going to happen relatively soon if I play my cards right.

- Both of my cities are making Monuments. This is why:

Writing is about 16-19 turns away; it's going to be faster than 19 because population growth will yield science, but I haven't calculated how much science that would bring. There's no point in making military units because the barbarians are mostly dealt with. There's no point in making builders because I don't have Mining, Animal Husbandry or Sailing to use them. There's no point in making Granaries because both cities are far from the housing limit.

There might be a reason to make another Settler though, even without the +50% production card, given that it's very early in the game and there's plenty of spots left to make +5 adjacency campuses in my area. Still, it won't be as useful as a Monument. Illmatic's Monument should finish right as I get the Mysticism boost, and then I can hopefully barrel through the civics tree to get Political Philosophy or Recorded History.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

More settlers, I think, is always good, even before Colonization. Honestly, the best way to get ahead is just to get more cities faster - tech is just there to enable that (and to make sure you have the military to defend those cities, of course).

Nothing to report on my end. Cities are working, I finished the scout, and paused my warriors to promote and heal.

Right now, the biggest issue is the science bottleneck. Animal Husbandry enables pastures, but unfortunately I didn't have any camp or pasture resources within the capital. Mining and Sailing are both necessary for the quarry/fishing boats, too, so my worker won't be able to do much even when I finish - just pick up the relatively weak Irrigation boost (which is indeed why I'm farming - I will need irrigation eventually to hook up the sugar). But there's not a lot else to spend production on, either. I need sailing as a top priority after Astrology, so I can start building galleys at least, and then once some are out exploring it'll likely be a good time to get at least one, possibly two more settlers out for Aleksandr Imperator and either Olsyabya or one of the tundra sites.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Turn 26




Builder pops and heads to farm the rice, which is regrettably the only improvement I can make right now. Tough break on the pasture resources, but oh, well. The lavras will truly be the start of my snowball. With Dance of the Aurora, I can get +6 adjacencies from this tundra, or +4/+5 for Knyaz Suvurov (not sure). Imperator Alexander can get +6 easily. IF I can beat China to Work Ethic, then those will all become instant boosts to production. Making matters easier is the fact that China might not want Work Ethic - it depends on adjacency. He might want to take the far more logical Divine Inspiration instead, giving him faith for every wonder he builds. 

Now, Marco, I think we have an opportunity here. I have vast amounts of tundra, and fairly good amounts of food in the north and with lake-caught fish in the south. Coupled with my +1/1 on tundra tiles, I think I can make those cities work - there's food and production to be had aplenty, IF I get Work Ethic. Borodino and Knyaz can be production monsters, churning out ships really rapidly, while my interior cities spit out faith. That, in turn, can be used on the Grand Master's Chapel to let me pray up an army quickly.

But wait! There's more!

Work Ethic is a follower belief. Look what Thrawn did with it in PBEM19. That, in turn, means that Australia can profit from it - which means you can use your Appeal bonus for productive holy sites! There's a synergy here. Russia settles the back tundra, Australia the appealing coast. A few Russian missionaries seed my religion in your territory - you just need one follower, I believe, to benefit from Work Ethic, or you might need a majority, not sure. Anyway, both civs will be rolling in faith and production. Regrettably, we're not Indonesia and can't pray for a navy, but faith has plenty of uses. If your holy sites lead to you getting a religion you could even take Jesuit Education or something to synergize with the campuses. 

Basically, this is a way to get our crappy land to work, I think. Food, production, and faith are all solveable problems. You have high appeal areas, I have lots of mountains and reefs, so science is easy to come by. Finally, security is provided by the high production work ethic - we can't match Phoenicia/Norway's bonuses, but we CAN outpace everyone else in raw hammers. We flex our muscle and try to seize neutral islands and city-states (3/4/5 galleys are easy to come by and can take all unwalled city-states, depending on garrisons) nearby...yeah. This can work. I think that's our gameplan. 




So how to get this up and running? My pantheon is coming on turn 31, which is also the same turn I finish Astrology and will boost mysticism to a finish, too. Then I need Mining so I can chop down the woods (and plant my quarry), so I'll keep Knyaz on a high-science configuration and grab that ASAP so I can lay down Knyaz's lavra as soon as possible. I will need ~200 gold to buy both tiles, which is in hand. I get the lavras down as rapidly as I can, which will grant +4 prophet points per turn, meaning about 15 turns from completion. That gives religion an ETA of about turn 55. That's ahead of everyone except Stonehenge China. Not especially FAST, but we are dealing with the fact that Astrology is a second-line tech and it was hidden from me at the start, so it's in line with the usual benchmarks. 

Era score is a problem. I'd love Monumentality OR Monasticism, but I think I"m going to fall into the middle by clearing those two barb camps. I've got 5 and the lavra alone will push me to 9, and the religion will dump me into a normal age, plus galleys, etc. But how to find 20 points for a golden age? That's something we've got to work out and see what I can maximize. 

Everyone except Woden/Ljub have their cities planted. That team apparently went for a late plant, but should have settlers on the map, probably disguised via pop growth.

[williams482]

A few Russian missionaries seed my religion in your territory - you just need one follower, I believe, to benefit from Work Ethic, or you might need a majority, not sure.

You do need a majority for a founder belief to take effect (unless you're playing India, IIRC). Of course with small enough cities, one pop is a majority.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Yeah, I realized that. So that'll complicate the timelines. But both Australia and me having a religion won't be too bad, if he can pick one that works with a minority of followers. Hmm...I'll look over and see if there's something that works well.

[marcopolothefraud]

Sorry for the lack of posts. I've been a bit busy over the weekend.

Turn 28


Research and production are chugging along without any problems. I've killed the Pacific barbarians, gained a promotion on both of the warriors, and my Illmatic slinger is still busy fighting off barbarians. (It's due for a promotion, though, which is pretty nice.) I already boosted Archery, which is located after Sailing on the tech tree.

There's a synergy here. Russia settles the back tundra, Australia the appealing coast. A few Russian missionaries seed my religion in your territory - you just need one follower, I believe, to benefit from Work Ethic, or you might need a majority, not sure. Anyway, both civs will be rolling in faith and production. Regrettably, we're not Indonesia and can't pray for a navy, but faith has plenty of uses. If your holy sites lead to you getting a religion you could even take Jesuit Education or something to synergize with the campuses. 

Basically, this is a way to get our crappy land to work, I think. Food, production, and faith are all solveable problems. You have high appeal areas, I have lots of mountains and reefs, so science is easy to come by. Finally, security is provided by the high production work ethic - we can't match Phoenicia/Norway's bonuses, but we CAN outpace everyone else in raw hammers. We flex our muscle and try to seize neutral islands and city-states (3/4/5 galleys are easy to come by and can take all unwalled city-states, depending on garrisons) nearby...yeah. This can work. I think that's our gameplan.

As much as I'd like to take advantage of Work Ethic, I think I won't be able to, because I'll likely run out of gold. Illmatic almost *has* to go Campus -> Government Plaza -> Harbor, given that all three of them are more useful than a Holy Site. It'll only reach 10 population (and be able to place a Holy Site) in the Medieval Era - and there's a good chance we may be deep into military production by then.

Likewise, I think it's smarter for The Blueprint to go Campus -> Commercial Hub. We will run out of money very quickly if we're not careful, especially since my cities don't have any gold-yielding tiles nearby. When The Blueprint reaches 7 pop, of course I'll consider a Holy Site...but it depends on the situation.

As for galleys taking early city-states, I hope we don't outstretch ourselves too much. Navies cost precious gold to maintain, and faraway cities are very hard to defend. Something to think about.

Era score is a problem. I'd love Monumentality OR Monasticism, but I think I"m going to fall into the middle by clearing those two barb camps. I've got 5 and the lavra alone will push me to 9, and the religion will dump me into a normal age, plus galleys, etc. But how to find 20 points for a golden age? That's something we've got to work out and see what I can maximize. 

I think I'm in the same boat. I have 4 era score now, and I have to gain
+3 era score from killing the Mackay Barbarians
+3 era score from Illmatic's 5 adjacency campus
+3 era score from Blueprint's 6 adjacency campus

which will put me at 13/25 era score. I made a post speculating Era Score, which I'll update and repost:

You already have 5 era score. 20 to go.
These are the milestones you're near-certain to reach, in rough chronological order:
- 1 era score for a pantheon.
- 4 era score for the unique Lavra.
- 1 era score for Imperator Aleksandr founded on Tundra.
- 2 era score for Russia's first seafaring unit.
- 1 era score for the Great Prophet.
- 3 era score for World's First Religion, or 2 era score if Roland of Gilead beats us. 
- 1 era score for a Classical-Era civic.
- 1 era score for the Great Writer. (In PBEM19, Ljubljana's Russia got it t56...it doesn't seem like you'd fall behind him, so we can chalk this up to a certainty.)


That's 13 guaranteed era score, plus your current 5. You would be at 18/25, 7 era score short of a Golden Age.

These are the situationally-plausible milestones:
- 1 era score for a city founded on Tundra. 
- 1 era score for a city founded near a Volcano, or a floodable city site.
- 1 era score for building an improvement on a tile affected by a natural disaster.
- 1 era score for a city founded <5 tiles away from another civilization's city. Not sure if this triggers, because we're on the same team...
- 1 era score for a Classical-Era technology. The chances of this seem low...the most important Classical tech might be the Quadrireme-technology, which doesn't seem too important.

- 1 era score from meeting a different civ. I'm going to take a wild guess and say we meet 4 other players by turn 60...that gives us 4 era score. Of course, it may just be 2 other players. Or we might even meet 6 other players, and then trigger +3 era score from meeting every civilization...
- 1 era score from meeting a Natural Wonder, and 3 era score from meeting it first. I'm not even going to guess for this one.
- 2 era score from clearing Barbarian Encampments. 

It's no longer "guaranteed" that you will have first religion, but I still think it's quite likely. It is now "guaranteed" that Imperator Aleksandr will be founded on Tundra, so your "guaranteed" era score still hasn't changed. I think it's quite doable to reach 25 era score from 18 guaranteed era score...but it won't be as doable for me.

[marcopolothefraud]

Oh, and I'd like to revisit this post that I made five weeks ago. Can we construct a strategy around this? Who will make the Encampment and who will make the Aqueduct? There's a lot of potential chops northwest of Illmatic, and appeal will likely remain Breathtaking regardless of chops, mines and Encampments. Maybe that might be a potentially good spot.

That should be the general pattern: Lavra, Campus, Commercial/Harbor. What about all of the other districts? Don't build them, they aren't worth it. Just get one or maybe two of them to unlock their related boosts and nothing more.

Well Sullla, we need to brace ourselves to boost as many Technologies and Civics as we can. This is a tech-shuffle map and we need all the boosts we can get.

Take Square Rigging (490 - 660 Science, depending on where it is in the tech tree), the tech that unlocks Frigates and one we desperately need to rush. We need to "kill a unit with a Musketman" to boost it.

Musketmen are from Gunpowder (490 - 600 Science, depending on where it is in the tech tree). We need to build an Armory to boost it.

Armories unlock with Military Engineering (275 - 390 Science, depending on where it is in the tech tree). We need to build an Aqueduct to boost it, not to mention an Encampment + Barracks.

Aqueducts come from Engineering (120 - 200 Science, depending on where it is in the tech tree), which requires Ancient Walls to boost.

Almost a thousand beakers are up for grabs if we do this right, even though it's such a massive production burden. That means we will likely chop and harvest a little bit to build all these Eureka-making prerequisites. To optimally build Musketmen, Armories, and Ancient Walls, we need to unlock the correct policy cards. That most likely means getting as many civic inspirations as possible too. We have to prepare for Engineering -> Military Engineering -> Gunpowder -> Square Rigging to be on opposite ends of the tech tree, which may mean that both of us have to share the production burdens.

There are also some asinine boosts like "Construct 3 different specialty districts", "Build 2 Markets", or "Build a Classical-Era or later wonder" that are just too impossible to even bother. One of us will have to hard-research those techs/civics and let the other one coast.


EDIT: Here's why I say "almost a thousand beakers". By fulfilling the boosts, we're not only receiving a 40% discount. We're also discovering the tech's location on the tech tree and doing less guesswork on chasing dead ends. I have played Random Tech Tree on singleplayer a lot of the time, and I find it super important not to stumble around.