Cultural Domination in Balance: EitB Succesion Game

[Qgqqqqq]

Firstly, remember that the clan will pop third border soon, so a site up there will struggle to hold its first ring tiles. I think we want to plant a city where copper lands (hopefully picking up some silk/floodplains in the process), and then consider founding for culture push. I think we go Mining->Exploration->Bronze Working->Festivals in the near future.

[Molach]

Plains hill 4N of capital?

I'll propose on the bananana then. Block land to stop clan settlement eastwards.

[Qgqqqqq]

Which banana?
If its the one I'm thinking of, then it'll be very difficult to defend/improve because of the distance involved.

[Mardoc]

Plains hill 4N of capital?

Yeah, that's the one I meant. Decent hammers, great GNP potential. I think we'll do better to get ourselves launched strongly than to start working too early on the foes.

I'll propose on the bananana then. Block land to stop clan settlement eastwards.

I like blocking a lot better than trying to flip cities this very instant, yes. @Q - it's not that hard to support if it's the third city rather than second.

Maybe move it 1E onto the hill, though? With that lake as the only fresh water, I'm not sure I want to lose the banana as a food tile.

[Qgqqqqq]

Ah ok. What about the plains 1NW instead then - if its post BW then its got enough food, and that'll let it a) be a useful pressure site when we try and flip their capital, rather then getting in the way, and b) actually claim those tiles off the clan (including the useful silk) as otherwise it'll be their third verus our second.
If we get their pre-BW then I think on the banana is superior.

[Mardoc]

when we try and flip their capital

You sure it's worth the effort?

I feel like I need to look around in game before I really have a feel for whether it's worth rushing north like this. Maybe other land is more important to us.

I'll play after dinner, maybe 2-3 hours from now.

[Qgqqqqq]

Eventually, yes.
With large multipliers, several religions and esus state (meaning all apply - this game is made for Esus tbh) and eventual specialist dominance it seems inevitable IMO.
I'm not suggesting it as a near-term goal, just something to keep in mind.

[Mardoc]

Oh! I hadn't quite grasped the true situation - of course we want to work north. It's that, or not expand at all!



Ok, so we can fit one city for the fish and clams eventually, but it's not a priority.

T41: ok, so we've a choice. We can either release the scout, and fight a poor odds battle, or we can take the Rod of Winds for the Heavy and give a decent showing. Guess Mr. Scout gets to stay locked up for another turn



T42: They don't attack. So we release the scout and move to the hill

T43: Still no attack. Fortify a little.

T44: 2 XP for the heavy! He'll heal a bit while the scout goes on scouting.

T45: We've found some rich lands, and the Bannor. We'll want to grow this direction next, after we manage to cut the continent in half.

I'm bringing the Heavy home, with the Rod. That's the vital ingredient for a not-too costly clearance of our goblin forts.



T49: And...it looks like the Bannor have their own little blockade going. Not going to make any progress this direction until we've got either Cartography or some dominant culture this way.



T50: Mining is in...do we have any copper? YEP! Three of 'em!
Also I see some Elven borders encroaching. We may start our culture battling sooner than I expected. Oh well, on to Exploration for now.



T53: The in-progess Settler finally completes. On to a warrior; I want to clear some gobbos! Plus we've got Gold now, so we can use a bit of growth.



T55: Exploration is in, on to Festivals. Also, warrior's done, with growth, so we move on to another worker.

T56: Oops! Looks like we're going to be minus one Scout:



In better news, we're now a two-city civ. A little behind on improvements, but another worker or two will get that fixed. At least the river gives us a trade route!



T60: Finish the worker, time to hand the civ over again.

In foreign news: How the heck did Sheelba manage this? Looks like two cities, both in our direction? We'll need to pick a spot and put up a Freak Show and Carnival pretty quick-like. Maybe the plains hill by the dyes?

Edit: Depends on the exact location of the cities, of course. If those are first-ring, that plains hill isn't a legal spot.




With Faeryl, I've been looking, and I think I've finally found a decent spot for a good pressure city that's still worth something on its own: where the warrior's standing, if we can manage to get a settler here before her borders close in.



We are, fortunately, still Creative, so we can count on keeping a city anywhere we plant one. We'll shortly have access to Freak Shows and Carnival Bards to ensure cultural pushes can work.

Tech path: I think I would start heading toward OO, actually. Ancient Chants -> Mysticism -> Fishing -> MftD. That unlocks Monuments, which we'll actually want, among other things. Especially as long as we stay Creative - 20 hammers for a Monument is a pretty good deal in a game like this.

I don't think Bronze is a priority anymore, because with the new settlements the barbs are really becoming much less of an issue. We'll want a few warriorpults and good Freaks around to clear out the goblin lairs, but we've no pressing need for extra military tech. Not nearly as much as we want more culture sources, anyway!

Drama is also quite important, of course - but I think we should aim to bulb it. We'll want to build Freak Shows and work Bards on the borders anyway, for the culture output; that'll have the secondary effect of a lot of Bard GPP. Might as well put those to use.

The Save

[Mardoc]

Also, on second thought, we may not want to kill the Goblin forts. We can be to Slavery a lot sooner than we can be to HN units; those forts may be our only source of Orcish slaves available for a long time. They're annoying and require care with workers, but Freaks and Slaves can't really be beat as a method for quickly boosting a new city's cultural output.

[Qgqqqqq]

Looks good
I've no idea where Sheelba's cities are placed...the jungle/forest looks to rule out most options.
Agree on forts.

Downloaded, and it can only be one city, in which case its probably the bard event