[SPOILERS] Roland and Suboptimal Team Up

[suboptimal]

That's....interesting. Wonder if policy slot allocations are only checked when you change a government type or build a wonder that adds a policy slot.

[roland of gilead]

Must be something like that. suits me certainly for now.

walls and units to build. Then harbors.

I think i want my initial trade route to go to capital for food and hammers. That city has good tiles but lacks a bit of growth. also for the road. I do need to get my gold up but working those chocolate will be part of that. Need to be able to work crater lake too.

[suboptimal]

Turn 65

As expected my western galley at Brussels has a promotion available. Eastern galley moves in for the kill and the city is mine:




Note the tile NE of the city center – 1 . It looks like the pantheon bonus is checked when it’s applied and then not again. I also managed to capture the builder there and it’s got a full set of charges. I purchase the fur tile since that’s best yield in the area. Unused galley promotes and I take Embolon. The city’s amenity situation will sort itself out next turn (I have spare amenities). I can’t buy a settler this turn because of the builder so I’ll do that next turn. The caputred builder is going to camp the furs, boat one of the fish and then put down a kampung. I’ll use this city for the first two settlers on Big Island, after which I’ll switch to more conventional builds. That’ll give the first two Big Island cities enough time to grow and become the main source of settlers for that island. The city starts repairing its monument. I’ll start walls here once I can slot Limes.

Southern galley finds nothing interesting. Embarked units continue on their way. I just about confirm that Antananarivo is blocked in:




Unless there’s a passage through the ice to the northeast it’s likely that no one will find this city-state for quite a while.

Kaiser and CMF both recruited great people this turn – Kaiser got his prophet, CMF got the first great writer of the game.

Next turn I’ll be completing Recorded History, Celestial Navigation and earning the inspiration to Mercenaries. For my tech path Archery is next and that should take one turns to complete. I think I might do Construction next – I’ll have the boost for that shortly and it’ll unlock lumbermills. For civics I think once Political Philosophy is done I’m going to take Oligarchy, put in Maritime Industries and have Al start working on quadriremes. That’ll save the for settlers on Big Island.

Roland, are you planning on completing Engineering as your next tech after Construction? My thinking here is to use the boost for Engineering to finish Horseback Riding. That gets you the boost and lets us see the entire first column of the Medieval era.

Al’s slinger completes next turn and as with Have a Good Time I’ll wait for Limes before starting walls. A monument is a 5-turn build here and that fits nicely. A library is tempting but I need more first. Looking at OC and Diamonds I think I’m going to have Diamonds build the trader. The city is chopping into its shrine next turn and has 15 turns until it can start on the Campus. That’ll let OC build either the library or the Harbor after its warrior completes.

[roland of gilead]

i can do engineering next yes.

i believe is will fully chop out walls at Borna this turn.

Stealing that builder is really good as is getting a promoted boat.

[roland of gilead]

TURN 66

Chop out the walls at Borna and start on the Holy Site.



Long way to go to get to stirrups but will pass on engineering in 3 turns.



Set my trade route to the capital to get Borna growing



chop a forest at Tav and will get a mine down next turn.

Capital finishes a worker next turn and will chop out walls then into water mill.

also pick up farm 5 of 6. farm 6 next turn then we can work out where we are heading culture wise.

Sub when will you be researching construction?

[suboptimal]

Construction will be sooner rather than later. I'll likely get it to eureka + 1 then switch to Engineering and HBR to get you the eureka for the latter and see what's ahead in the Medieval. My "top four" tech list for the Classical is Construction, Engineering, Horseback Riding and Mathematics (naval movement). Iron Working and Currency are not important yet. Currency will eventually become important as I'll be putting a few down on Big Island (most districts will be Campus or Holy Sites, terrain permitting) in order to run routes back to your lands for upgrade .

[roland of gilead]

You will need mathematics to get to HBR and i am a bit away from passing that over.

Certainly from boosting it. At last 10 turns unfortunately.

Are you building a Water Mill currently. Trying to work out if I can build Temple next in cap. No issue if not cap could really do with that water mill.

[suboptimal]

Ah, I missed the fact that Mathematics is also a prerequisite. Hmmm....

I'm not building a water mill yet. I'm eventually building on in Al for some extra but the next build there will be a monument. That'll complete the same time Defensive Tactics completes and I'm going to put in Maritime Industries to start getting quadriremes out. My income is going to drop for a bit since I'm taking the citizen off the diamonds at OC next turn to get some more growth out of the city.

All of your eurekas take two turns off the research time at this point. Here's the thing about eurekas - there are occasions where getting the eureka causes more headaches than just hard-researching the tech. At three turns to complete I'd be willing to argue you're at that point. A water mill will take you, what, 6-7 turns to complete? The tech takes three and you're not building a more useful thing (the temple) in the process. A water mill at your capital gets you 21 and saves two turns of work on a tech (and is not worth a chop). A temple gets you 44 (5 if you count the GPP) and isn't a bad use of a chop (though I'd hold the chop and the builder charge for later). If I had to choose between the water mill and the temple in your situation I'd choose the temple every time.

In looking at the farm triangle that I proposed south of your capital you've actually got terrain for two overlapping triangles - the wheat NE of Goldson and the forest to is SW would overlap with the previous triangle I mentioned. That might be a good "breadbasket" for your core since that region could be shared between three different cities (though Tavernier can only access the wheat). That'd probably be your best spot to perform your chops and get the Feudalism inspiration. With that breadbasket built your capital wouldn't need a water mill for the .

In looking at things I'd almost say that getting a couple of warriors out, finishing Iron Working and upgrading one (and only one) to a swordman would help you defensively. A garrisoned swordsman at the capital is almost as good as walls since the city would have a higher CS than a longboat. I might take that approach at Al since slotting Limes is a ways off (want ships before walls). Hmm...maybe I go Irrigation -> Iron Working.

[roland of gilead]

Water mill is 3 1
i get 50% eureka so that does tip the balance a touch.

but that still perhaps doesn't make it close to the temple.

The 3 chops i have are one on a hill to be replaced by a mine. one for oracle and one for a campus.

i do need a couple of warriors. i am running limes but like the sword idea.

chopping those 2 forests south of my cap for farm triangles i like but i really do not know where my production comes from ling term if i do that?

honestly i barely have a hill in my territory.

i will look at this next turn some variation of it will help. Maybe warrior-mill-temple.

Maybe i hard tech mathematics.

I may build a quadririme soonsh as well and go kill that trapped scout for the boost there.

[suboptimal]

The wheat by the lake is currently in your capital's control?

Good point about the lack of production. Here's a question about the two first ring hill forests at the capital - would it be better to spend two builder charges, lumbermill the forests and save two builder charges for 4 and 5 now or spend four builder charges, chop & mine the forests to get production now a bit less ongoing? "Traditional" economics would say lots of production now is better than steady production later but the trade off with that is not being able to build anything quickly later on.

I think my inclination here might be to chop/mine the plains hill and lumbermill the grassland hill. They'd both be 4 tiles and lumbermill is a prerequisite for a later tech (Mass Production, IIRC). An alternative would be to lumbermill both hills now as that will give more steady production and remove, chop & mine if you need the tile or production NOW or we find Apprenticeship in the tree (for the +1 to mines). Improvement removal takes a turn but does not cost a builder charge.