[SPOILERS] Woden and ljubljana like boats

[ljubljana]

Also, what do you think about attacking Vilnius? At its current defense strength, you could probably take it out with just 3 longships, and while that would hurt our culture rate in the short term, I'm sure suboptimal/roland will come for it sooner or later if we don't.

edit: Good point about Construction, I think we should both make that a priority in the near future. Should one of us try to work a watermill into the build order somewhere? It's hard for me to find space for it in before the AH + 5th city settler in the capital, but maybe after that I could do one after...that might be too late though. We could also just have one of us bite the bullet and hard-research it, since it's pretty urgent and the watermill is a weak building otherwise (at least for our current cities).

[Woden]

I good with grabbing Vilnius. I will have my longboats sail towards them. I will turn my two that I previously built around and will have a new one this turn. Three should make it easy. What do you think?

Edit: And then probably send them to Nazca!

[ljubljana]

Sounds like a plan to me! I think we're just about at the point (namely the discovery of PP) where an extra city for you is worth more than 2 cpt for each of us, and obviously if you can get Nazca too that's so much the better. I wonder if once we're in Oligarchy we should start snacking on the nearby science CS too? I'm nervous that two attacks per turn in Oligarchy still won't be enough to crack Akkad without embarked warriors to cut off its healing, but we should be able to get the CS like Mitla that have multiple approaches.

[Woden]

Turn 57-Vikings
To my surprise, Bronze Working in. I wasn't expecting it to complete but the added science for completing Hattusa quest pushed it over the edge. I have 3 iron on my side of the island...
   

Two are already in my borders and I have a 3rd-ring source at my capital. They are all grassland flat tiles, so helps with production. Longboat finishes at Odin and it starts a builder. The builder will mine an iron, camp the deer for a little more gold and harvest the cows. I will probably build a second builder until I can build the Government Plaza. 

Longboat heads towards Vilnius and will hook up with the other 2 I have recently built to take the city. I did check and they have a monument, so no lose of culture if I grab the city.  I will just need to repair it. 

Looking around, I think Nazca could be a decent next target...
   

I also think it might be good to get a settler over to the bigger island and start claiming it for ourselves. I will have shipbuilding in 6 turns but will take a little bit after that to get a settler out. I might send my warrior over there to take out the barb camp for some era points and scout the island out while I wait to get a settler over there.

[ljubljana]

Turn 58 - Phoenicia

Domestically, the third city settler finally finishes and starts heading towards the eastern mercury, where it will buy the sheep tile to get its growth and border expansion started. Internationally...



Well, this sucks a little bit. English galleys coming in from both sides now means we're sure to get scouted, so...I just decide to blow my cover and occupy the tiles next to Akkad to make sure TAD doesn't do so. The galley still won't leave the city either, and I'm not sure if we can take it without embarked warriors even in Oligarchy. I probably could embark some warriors when Shipbuilding comes in to pull that off, but it'd take a while to get everything in position. Alternatively, I could just reposition and go for Geneva while not worrying too much about denying TAD Akkad, or while leaving two biremes behind just to occupy the tiles next to the city. Idk, what do you think is the right play here?

[Woden]

I say leave Akkad open for his attack. He will not take the city unless the galley moves out and you can attack him if it does and he weakens his units against the city. You could probably scout the south and west a little bit while waiting to see what he does. As for Geneva, you have teh same problem there, as their defensive strength is in the 30s, probably a galley or chariot. I would take 2 or 3 of your boats and poke around the map. Then keep 3 near Akkad to attack TAD if the galley moves out of the city.

[ljubljana]

As far as Geneva goes, I don't think its quite the same problem as with Akkad, as I can have Oligarchy in place by the time my ships get there, and I can attack Geneva from 5 directions at once instead of just two. I'm pretty sure that means that I can take it in just a couple of turns even with the galley in there. Also, when I checked this turn, its defense strength was back in the 20s, indicating to me that the galley moved out - this could be a narrow window of opportunity for us to pounce on that before TAD does. If you think it makes more sense to keep an eye on Akkad, though, I'll defer to that assessment of course - ceding the Akkad area to TAD could be really bad for us geostrategically down the road, and I don't want to underestimate the potential impact of that.

[ljubljana]

Turn 59 - Phoenicia



Deploy at Akkad. Geneva's defense strength is still at 24 this turn, so I'm starting to lean towards trying to sneak down there and capture it - I can have 4 biremes there in just 5 turns for an attack. That'd hurt our research rate in the short-term, but only until it gets a Cothon up. If the galley leaves Akkad this interturn, though (which, honestly, I don't understand why it hasn't yet...the AI isn't usually this competent), I'm still in position to swoop the biremes back down and make a play for it.



Here's the core, since it's been a few turns since I posted a shot of it. The GP's actually due in 3 after a bit of micro - I'm still a little unsure about which governor title I'll take, though. The builder will come out one turn faster than this, too, since I'll swap into Urban Planning once PoliPhil comes in for the last few hammers. My plan for this builder is iron mine + PFH chop into AH at the capital + jade quarry at the third city, which the settler will found in 3 turns. I might ask you for a loan in a few turns so the third city can buy both the sheep tile and a trader as soon as it's founded. The third city will probably open builder (with Liang?) - Cothon unless I think of something more urgent for it to do.

I also double-checked this turn and we're the only ones with DT, so TAD still had a long unboosted research ahead of them before even starting on PoliPhil for Oligarchy/Twilight Valor, which again could give us an attack window in the future if they start making progress against Akkad.

[Woden]

Turn 58-Vikings
Defensive Tactics is in and I promote Pingala with the science per population promotion, bringing my science rate up to 21.2  This shaves off a turn on Shipbuilding. Founded my fourth city (Loki) and it starts a longboat...
   

Longboats are making their way to Vilnius but will still be 3 turns until I can attack. Hopefully they don't produce a unit to increase their defensive strength and I might be able to take it in a single turn with 3 attacks. 

As for Geneva, go for it. I thought their DS was higher than 22. Should be able to conquer it fairly easily, especially with multiple attack vectors.

[ljubljana]

As for Geneva, go for it. I thought their DS was higher than 22. Should be able to conquer it fairly easily, especially with multiple attack vectors.

It was higher than that (in the 30s) until two turns ago - I assume they had a galley sitting around like at Akkad, but that it just left the city center. I'm a littler nervous that they'll build another one before we get there, but that probably won't happen since the city's production potential is so poor. With 5 attack vectors, though, I should have good odds to take it in Oligarchy even if they do build another galley.