RBP7 - SPOILERS - Genghis Khan of Egypt

[Ellimist]

I honestly can't figure out why I was able to 2pop whip my settler at 20 hammers invested. Aren't Normal speed whips 20 hammers per?

30.

[sunrise089]

Oh

So I only need 10 hammers in the box for a 2pop IMP settler, right? Good to know...

FWIW it only made the difference of a single tile assignment for a single turn.

[T-hawk]

Bunch of random comments:

- Turn on "Show detailed city info" for those screenshots!

- You can also clean up those old signs. I don't think where you saw a lion 30 turns ago is relevant information any longer.

- Instead of another settler in 10 turns, you may need 2 or 3 workers first. Venlazzo and Wynncore should be getting those granaries chopped, and then they'll need twice as much worker labor to improve tiles, including the jungled gems.

- How is Wynncore expanding borders, did you build a monument (obelisk) ? If so, any thought to using the priest slots for a prophet? If so, any thought to going for a religion?

[sunrise089]

Bunch of random comments:

- Turn on "Show detailed city info" for those screenshots!

- You can also clean up those old signs. I don't think where you saw a lion 30 turns ago is relevant information any longer.

- Instead of another settler in 10 turns, you may need 2 or 3 workers first. Venlazzo and Wynncore should be getting those granaries chopped, and then they'll need twice as much worker labor to improve tiles, including the jungled gems.

- How is Wynncore expanding borders, did you build a monument (obelisk) ? If so, any thought to using the priest slots for a prophet? If so, any thought to going for a religion?

If I remember I'll turn on the city info thing. I've never used that setting even one time

But...but...what if the lion is still out there?!

The plan is to have 2x workers before the settler appears 10t from now The question is do I whip one worker from my capital (which has a granary) or slow-build them somewhere else? I think don't whip one, but obviously there is the snowball factor...

WynnCore slow-built an Obelisk after founding. It just wasn't dramatic enough to provide too many updates on

[scooter]

I'm really surprised a MP guy like you wouldn't use the detailed city info setting. That seems like a pretty essential time saver in a fast-paced game. I can't handle being without it even in slow-paced PBEMs.

[darrelljs]

- Instead of another settler in 10 turns, you may need 2 or 3 workers first.

+1. I vote 3.

Darrell

[darrelljs]

The question is do I whip one worker from my capital (which has a granary) or slow-build them somewhere else? I think don't whip one, but obviously there is the snowball factor...

What does your sandbox micro plan say works best :neenernee?

Generally unless you are whipping away good tiles for more than a few turns, I'd whip in any city that has a Granary, or in any city that's building a Granary.

Darrell

[sunrise089]

Ok, pretty eventful turn.



I turned on Detailed City Info, so enjoy that. My capital is finishing an axe, then will build a MP warrior, then maybe 2x spears, then a settler. That may be over-investing in military (though spears have a long shelf life) but I'm basically trying to minimize variance with my current position. The city is working a corn, cow, gold, and grass river cottage tiles, so it's in no hurry to whip, plus it has whip anger for another 5t or so.

WynnCore is building a worker, with a whip completing it in 3t. However it will also receive a chop in 3t...overflowing the full chop into a granary is fine, right? The city is working a floodplains farm, copper, and grass forest tile.

Venlazzo is growing to size 4, then will double-whip a worker. It will also get a chop or two soon to finish the granary. That city is working a corn, grass river cottage, and grass forest. I checked and it does look like I gain 8 hammers growing to size 4 and double whipping and it's also the same number of turns.

Golden Nugget is slow building an Obilisk with its work boat en-route. My civ will see a bit of a gold dropoff while GN works the clams tile and grows to size 2.

I have one worker chopping the forest at WynnCore and three more at or heading to that gems tile at Venlazzo. Two of the workers go a free chop along the way, hence the sign. The tile will be improved in 3t, just in time to start on the second gems, then chop forests/farm the bananas. Venlazzo can use three workers for the next 12+ turns.

I'm currently working on Hunting, due in 2t. After that I will have to kick down my tech rate to 80%. I don't have another tech goal in mind. I want Sailing eventually for a lighthouse in GN, but that's just one city. Otherwise I'm thinking maybe Writing->Math for the general versatility and the chops on the 10+ forests that will be left. I welcome advice on the tech front though.

I added some signs for some possible cities. Blue dot is the modified site ceded by Mali, though they've still not confirmed we have a deal on that. Yellow dot is a spot I've planned on eventually settling and is based on no seafood in the fog to the south of Wynncore. Finally Red dot is one possibility to pick up Iron, trying to remember the lesson of not under-valuing getting resources in the first ring. I might be dotmapping too many coastals though, so I want to keep that in mind.

Finally my Demos had a nice bump:



Looking good for now. My tech is good though not tops. It will be interesting to see if a cottage growth, seafood tile assignment, and most importantly that gems will be enough to take over that position. Food and production remain pretty strong, though production has plateaued for around 10t while I hook non-hammer tiles (yes grassland gems have hammers, but the city is currently on a grassland forest that also does).

Two demos that look a lot better suddenly are land area and power, both of which moved from the bottom half towards the top. The forthcoming axe and hunting tech may actually make be first in power for a while which will hopefully deter anyone pondering trying to slow my civ down. On the other hand check out the score listing. Due to 2x growth and IW my score exploded, so hopefully no one is putting too much stock in that metric.

I have three fears in the medium-term. 1) Attacked by Praets. 2) City sniped by chariots. 3) Loose my strong position through careless or too cautions play. My countermeasures are as follows:

1) Watch the demos and charts. The only way I suspect Rome could surprise me is to plant up + cash upgrade from their new city, and even then attacking the aggressive civ with copper and known axes seems iffy.

2) Getting my borders popped, building spears, logging in early and often, and eventually trying to build a sentry net on the "s" tiles in my screenshot above.

3) Talking to you guys And, not getting distracted by shiny stuff like barracks in every city (eventually though...half-price so it's cheap power without maintenance), wonders, rushing people, etc.

EDIT: One quick tactical note in case this isn't obvious to everyone. While I will probably plant the blue dot area and then the red dot area, red dot is a great defensive city. Why? Because it actually makes me safer, somewhat rare when adding a city and hence another point to defend. Red dot cuts off the approach to Golden Nugget, and it's on a hill, and it's just further from my core allowing for earlier warning. That plus the fact that it's a strong city as soon as it hits size two, while blue dot needs more worker attention and to wait for culture, appeals. On the other hand blue dot is an area I need to get some cultural presence in so Mali doesn't get a land advantage on our border.

[T-hawk]

My capital is finishing an axe, then will build a MP warrior, then maybe 2x spears, then a settler.

Getting a barracks anywhere in there? You are Aggressive.

WynnCore is building a worker, with a whip completing it in 3t. However it will also receive a chop in 3t...overflowing the full chop into a granary is fine, right?

The danger zone here is if you have more than 60H overflow total from the whip, chop, and natural production for the turn. You lose any overflow beyond the price of the worker, which is 60H. Might be simpler to just chop the worker in 3t and then whip the granary, making sure it's a 2-whip.

Golden Nugget is slow building an Obilisk with its work boat en-route.

Why in the world does it need that? A border pop here brings a whopping 1 land tile in range. And red dot will probably go for an obelisk sooner rather than later which will get that tile anyway.

I don't have another tech goal in mind. ... I welcome advice on the tech front though.

Any thought to trying for a religion at Code of Laws? Possibly via a chopped Oracle? (Not a spoiler, I haven't read anything about what any other team is trying in those departments.)

I like red dot a lot. Go there soon. Rice and iron in first ring is a fine early city, and it's tactically well defensible as you describe.

[sunrise089]

Getting a barracks anywhere in there? You are Aggressive.

I need to list builds better The barracks has been done for several turns.

The danger zone here is if you have more than 60H overflow total from the whip, chop, and natural production for the turn. You lose any overflow beyond the price of the worker, which is 60H. Might be simpler to just chop the worker in 3t and then whip the granary, making sure it's a 2-whip.

Right now the worker has no hammers invested and the city produced three worker hammer-food-equivalent things each turn. The plan is next turn there will be 10 in the worker and 1 chop. Then 20 in and 2 chops. Then 30 in (so can 1pop whip) and the chop for 20 comes in. That means worker produced and with ~29 overflow. That should be fine right?

Why in the world does it need that? A border pop here brings a whopping 1 land tile in range. And red dot will probably go for an obelisk sooner rather than later which will get that tile anyway.

Good question. I guess because Red Dot might not get planted for 15-20 turns, and because cultural defense and expanded visibility (yes this is minimal) are valuable. Also, I will probably slow-build a worker at size 2 since other workers will be busy and I've been encouraged to build 3 more in total. But I'll swap to a granary this turn anyways

Any thought to trying for a religion at Code of Laws? Possibly via a chopped Oracle? (Not a spoiler, I haven't read anything about what any other team is trying in those departments.)

So the best synergy I can see here is for a GProphet + religion for a shrine, but the inability to spread religion outside my borders nerfs that hard. Otherwise CoL is a decent tech for courthouses (I'd like to be able to keep charts on 3-4 civs not 1-2) and of course it's on the way to bureaucracy. I guess the questions would be whether the Oracle path is worth it if I miss the wonder, and whether if I landed Oracle Metal Casting (for more happiness than a religion gives me) or Maths (for earlier chop buff and earlier calendar/currency/construction) would be better anyways. Definitely something to ponder over the next 2t.

I like red dot a lot. Go there soon. Rice and iron in first ring is a fine early city, and it's tactically well defensible as you describe.

So do I. I like that I can plant it in a pretty slam dunk location with existing units too. And it needs worker attention but less than some other spots. I guess the question is how valuable is getting the city that can contribute more and help me tactically helps me versus getting the city that needs time to develop up earlier and possibly helping me strategically via firming up a nice border with Mali...