[SPOLERS] yuris125, Pitboss 71. The battle Warrior of Light is unlikely to win

[Tarkeel]

The land is barren, and not irrigatable in any way. I said a few posts back that the tile W of the southern gold was riverside, unfortunately the sim session this morning made me realise that it's not, the river is too short. The screenshot above confirms it (no commerce on that tile after the forest is chopped). The two rivers in my area are both fully surrounded by hills, I cannot irrigate from them. There's no roundabout way like Serfdom farms to make these plains useful

It's not the length of the river, but the direction of flow.

[yuris125]

Ohhh I never realised that direction matters! Still, it's both - if the river was 1 tile longer, it would've worked too

Good news - S of the horse is indeed viable. Lets me firm up the settling plan in the south




This lets me not worry about culture for a bit, 3rd and 4th cities have everything in the first ring. The 2nd city has pretty bad long term prospects, as it doesn't have its own resources, but in the early game its role will be very important, it will allow me to continue working good tiles when I whip pop off them in other cities. Sucks settling what will ultimately be a filler as my second city, but it is one I can get up and running the fastest

Can anyone confirm for someone shaky about visibility rules that Thoth currently doesn't have visibility on the circled tile? That would be the staging point if I went with the swords on galleys plan

Still nothing worth mentioning in the north. Coastal bananas are the best prospect, but that city would be 7 tiles from the capital

Notheworhy though that Thoth is still the only civ with 2 cities. I thought my settler was slow, but looks like it's slow for everyone (don't know how Pindicator is faring, still no contact with him)

[Tarkeel]

Can anyone confirm for someone shaky about visibility rules that Thoth currently doesn't have visibility on the circled tile? That would be the staging point if I went with the swords on galleys plan

Pretty sure that tile is out of vision before optics or a sentry unit. It would be visible if it was land.

[yuris125]

Thanks!

You know, after all that talk about how 2nd city location is set in stone, I think I will end up skipping it. It's just not going to have any good tiles once the other cities start growing and don't have anything to share. Settling wheat / copper / deer as the 2nd city is better

Research-wise, while swords on galleys is a cute plan, and one I might come back to, I won't have production to spare for military. What I think I should do is Writing - Math for better chops. I don't really have food for slavery (currently dead last in crop yield, without many prospects to improve it), but I do have forests to chop, and early Math is a way to convert my early GNP advantage into hammers

[yuris125]

Settler is out, and I did not forget to revolt. As I said, I don't really have the food to take advantage of slavery, but there's no upside in delaying

Just as I type it, I realise that there could've been a situation where delaying was sensible. If I ended up going for Judaism, there was merit in waiting to revolt to slavery and OR together. Actually wish I thought about it earlier - but not sure how I would've felt not having slavery for emergencies for another dozen turns. Too late anyway, now that I already revolted




Found a food source at the ivory / double gold spot. E of the ivory is a possible city; it would be 8 tiles away from my capital, exactly halfway between myself and Krill. Could be an option after I settle strategic resources in the south...

Unfortunately no additional food around the bananas, although as I said, I think coast will be good enough to work in this game. Is bananas + lighthousable lake enough to justify a city? Probably yes

My scout is stacked with Superdeath's - do you guys know how the game decides which scout will defend against the lion when it attacks?

[yuris125]

My scout ended up being the one defending, and is now at half health. He did finish revealing everything around my start, and can spend 5 turns healing before continuing his journey (probably time to go east and find Commodore and Pindicator)

More importantly




I have my second city. Putting a turn into archer to have an emergency whip available (life is scary with an army of a single archer for 2 cities), then switching to granary. Can't really see on the screenshot, but both workers are on the wheat, protected by the archer, and started farming the turn the city was founded. Will move them on the deer next, then copper, and road via the copper back towards the capital. Also icy furs - didn't know about them, but will be able to use them once the city has the 3rd ring

Also, had a nice event




A free sheep pasture in the capital - will save me a handful of worker turns. Also lets me grow the city to size 4 and build another archer before starting a settler for the horse city

This all happened last turn, which I played late at night. Nothing noteworthy this turn, but next turn I'm declaring on Bing (nothing serious, just getting the workboat through)

[yuris125]

I obviously haven't met Pindicator yet, but looking at the log, he may have just settled the 3rd city this turn (T44)

Cor blimey is all I have to say to that

[yuris125]

War with Bing is over, and for what




The workboat cannot continue anyway. Probably shouldn't have signed a cease fire before knowing there was a way forward (mostly wanted it so that we don't have to stick to the turn order)

Probably will end up just deleting the workboat tbh. There's not a single seafood resource along the coast, and if I want to continue exploration, I would have to not only redeclare on Bing, but declare on Thoth to get through his territory. And declaring on Thoth, even if it's a fake declaration, is a risk I'd rather not take

All in all, workboat investment didn't pay off. A second scout would've been better if I wanted a scouting unit. But I dind't foresee the situation where the entire stretch of the coast has no seafood whatsoever

Also, gods, my demos are awful when I'm not working the gold




Meanwhile, Thoth also settled his 3rd city

[yuris125]

What's the condition for being able to offer a peace treaty? After I went through Bing's territory, I could only offer a cease fire. Is it a tech requirement, or does the war need to last for a certain number of turns?

[yuris125]

No one knows? I vaguely remember something about Writing being required for a peace treaty. If that's the case, I literally signed a cease fire the turn before I could offer a proper peace. Really not happy about this. That said, I know diplomacy is my biggest weakness in these games. That's why I like to play always war

Anyway. Realised that as it stands, I can get around Thoth's territory with the workboat, if I get it back




So yeah. I may have declared on Bing again. Hope he doesn't hold a grudge. Turns out, it's a good thing I could only offer a cease fire. That said, would've been even better if I didn't offer one at all before ensuring I had a way forward beyond his territory

You may notice in the screenshot above that I'm sitting on a dragon's hoard worth of cash - that's because of an event last night