[SPOILERS] Roland and Suboptimal Team Up

[roland of gilead]

TURN 53

Dust storm went west.



City state wants me to convert it. My city state tasks are poor all round.

Lot of land up west and of course a barb camp pffft.



I also slot in the granary to finish at tav as i have a housing issue then back to settler, Later I realise if i was going to do that i should have done it 5 turns ago.

[roland of gilead]

I must also remember next turn to buy a Missionary!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[suboptimal]

Turn 53

Wheel is done, Bronze Working done in four turns. That dust storm is headed west but it went right across the length of that island first.

Nazca galley finds another barbarian scout but the island is otherwise empty (for what I can see of it)




Find a small bit of land out east




and the central galley is still covering “old” ocean.

Down at the loyalty zone I see that the loyalty pressure on our shores has increased to 10. I close in on the coast and head north to defog the area between us and “them”. The pressure is Norwegian:




Given that the name is Odin, Frigg is the only city listed in his deal screen and the pressure that’s emanating from the area, this is his capital. Damn, that’s close. I’ll gain visibility on it next turn. The jungle hill in the city’s borders are second ring; the marble is third ring.

One the one hand, if I were to get to very early Jongs an assault here could be easily supported. OTOH given how close they are I have to wonder if it’s in our (and their) interests to work on diplomatically making this game a 4 v 4. Based on their proximity to our lands I think our best move might be to have you settle the Chocolate River site before Petra, if only to lock down the area for loyalty purposes.

In theory I could try to cut off Woden’s access to the area east of Vilnius by making an inland settlement of the island east of Vilnius. Of course I forgot to take a screenshot. However, you’ll see my pin next turn (everyone else look at the third screenshot on Turn 52 and imagine a pin on the tile east of the horses ). I’d settle on the inland marked location so that he couldn’t boat the city. It’d also only be visible from the sea to the NE, unless that’s a hill tile in which case he can’t see it at all. Something to discuss for when Monumentality starts up.

Based on expected Campus completion times I should have Shipbuilding on Turn 61. I’ll have enough to purchase my first settler when the Classical Age starts, also on Turn 61. That doesn’t leave my escort galley much time to scout things out. Here’s my current plan:

- Escort galley will defog the eastern short of Chocolate Island, then head back to Al to pick up the first settler.
- The warrior at OC will head to the southeasternmost point on the desert and embark for Big Island as soon as Shipbuilding hits so I can get that scouted out.
- Assuming no faith purchases of builders and only counting the Holy Site completion at Diamonds, I can have settlers out on Turn 61, Turn 67, Turn 76 and Turn 86. The arrival times will likely go down as I’ll build a shrine for both Holy Sites (+2 each) and just about wherever the first two settlers go will get me additional income.
- If we want to settle East Vilnius then that’s where the first settler will go. Otherwise Settler #1 is headed for the Big Island.
- Settler #2 is Starfish, Settler #3 is Chocolate Island. If we settle East Vilnius first then these bump back a slot and settler #2 goes to Big Island.
- First builds at all cities would be walls, which will require me to go Shipbuilding → Masonry → Celestial Navigation

I moved the pin on Starfish Island to the furs. Settling there minimizes visibility and firing lines from the sea. All other locations I’m planning on settling inland as a matter of security. For trade routes I can build Commercial Hubs and keep all the routes between my cities and China, secure on the mainland for .

Bruindane had mentioned building warriors instead of scouts. I’m wondering if slingers might be the better option – I’d get them out faster and they’d all upgrade to archers for city defense when the time came. Al could get out Agoge slingers at a rate of ½ turns.

My homeland cities are all currently on slow growth – Al and OC are at 4 population and I’m going to keep them there until I get more amenities lined up. Diamonds is just running slow because of no high tiles. I’m going to use the settler expansion to jump start overall growth, especially since I’ll be gaining access to four new luxuries at three of the city sites.

Roland, any thoughts on all of this?

CMF has founded his religion:




Nothing unexpected there.

[roland of gilead]

Quick question as my turn may come round soon what am i doing with the missionary again.

I agree on you getting those islands sorted asap.

My walls are going up really soon. I had decided on chocolate anyway it just has better starting tiles. Petra needs to be a city that has gold and builders from turn 1 to do anything. Also needs petra tech in place.

[suboptimal]

The missionary needs to convert You Can Call Me Al.

Sounds good for the chocolate city.

[roland of gilead]

TURN 54

Settle Connor Goldson and that flood and pantheon Kicks in immediately. Growth in 6, 5 5 immediately



this takes me to 26 era score.



Buy that missionary. Also 8 turns now to convert you close city somehow. He can be down to Al in 4 turns after this.



Fortify my Warrior awaiting attack.

[roland of gilead]

on diplomacy the way i see it peace with our near naval neighbors is a good idea. We realistically are better than them as long term civs.

i would favor diplomacy with them while we get set up.

What do we have planned for city states. I will have envoys coming out my ears but i really don't think any will last long. They aren't great prizes no doubt deliberately but people won't want other teams having them as Suze. blockades may be the only option if we want to keep any.

[suboptimal]

That's a nice looking city there....5/5 at 1 population will get that city going quickly. I don't know that city-states will fall that quickly...eventually I think several "close to home" ones will fall. I am wondering if getting a few envoys into Nazca for extra would be worth it...also need to consider if Nazca lines would be usable for a desert city to my east.

I agree with staying friendly with the neighbors for the time being. No need to get aggro with them early. Do we want to settle East Vilnius or leave that one open?

[roland of gilead]

explain east Vilnius to me again?

[suboptimal]

Turn 54

All’s quiet and the sandstorm has dissipated. I start walking the warrior at Obvious Child down towards the desert. It’ll be four turns until it reaches the southern tip and then it’ll sit for two turns before sailing. Likewise, the warrior at Diamonds starts making its way south. It’ll embark from the marked City A location and head for the island south of Nazca to beat on some barbarians. The builder at OC makes it to the coast and will boat the fish next turn.

At the eastern galley I choose the northern route.




Southeast of Nazca I move east one tile, find no immediate land, then turn north. I’m going to follow this up to Big Island and then do some scouting of its southern shores.




At Norway I come to a dead end – no more coast to travel on:




Nice. Also really close – 15 tiles capital-to-capital. I’ll head south and go the long way around.

Chocolate Island is completely defogged except for where I want to settle my city:




The only place it can be seen from the sea (maybe) is the coast SW of the wheat. Given the lushness of the land here I’m tempted to make this city location #1 and Big Island #2. I’m going to turn this boat around, head over to the desert hill island and then see what my movement count is to get back to Al for turn 61.

I also see that I oopsed and didn’t start Craftsmanship. I’m just going to finish that out and then get Craftsmanship out of the way.

I think Diamonds’ time to convert went up because the city gained a population last turn. Don’t spend any missionary charges there since it will convert on its own before the Holy Site is complete. We don’t need to worry about getting OC converted as it won’t have a Holy Site for a while.

Regarding East Vilnius, here’s where I’m referring:




The question is whether or not I/we should settle it early. It’s possibly a foothold for Norway to settle the islands to our south and thus it might be worth considering settling first. The marked site is inland with low sea visibility (if any), so I don’t know that even frigates would be able to beat the city’s defenses down.