[SPOILER] PB37 Dark Savant tries not to be a blatant MP n00b

[Dark Savant]

Turn just rolled; I can't get to it right away, but I do have a question.

Gavagai just got a tech that I think is Animal Husbandry.  How soon do we need a spear in Castleview to deal with a chariot testing border security?

[Dark Savant]

Turn 49 (2040 BC)

Scouting near Harmondale reveals the following:



Yes, Coeurva is close.  It may be best to move green dot (I can always plant a filler city 3N1W of Harmondale, so that seafood won't be wasted), and since I'm not sure where (or if) to move green dot yet (probably one of those two tiles to the right of the corn), I swapped Harmondale to a worker, due in 4.

We could actually settle green dot, and eventually settle the incense tile and possibly grab the fish, but that fish probably won't be secure while Coeurva is in the game.

We now have a random work boat I was going to use at green dot; that, er, wasn't an efficient use of hammers for the snowball, oh well.  It can go scouting for now, at least.  (must ... push... back... fog...)

Coeurva's warriors are moving to depart my territory.  I'm moving warriors to cover the worker and settler (due next turn) en route to blue dot; they won't be delayed.  If Coeurva is right on blue dot when I plant it, his warrior will be teleported towards his territory, which sounds like an ideal arrangement.  

I declare a scouting war on Krill, and I guess my fogpeering skill needs work, because what I found isn't forest:



Oh well, I can step on those at least without bothering Krill.  I should make a point of moving early next turn, just so Krill doesn't get annoyed he can't move a worker to the forest.

C&D: Gavagai researched a tech that I think is Animal Husbandry; I'll check next turn.  Krill somehow just gained 4000 soldier points last turn without getting technology or population.  Wait is that two barracks?   No, I doubt he has any resources connected yet (he doesn't have The Wheel), any rush can't come quite that fast.

Pop point watch: dtay, CML, and JR4 gained population points.

Gavagai played at the same time I did and still hasn't planted a new city.  Uh, Krill has probably noticed this too.

[Dark Savant]

Oh, and Gavagai both revolted to Slavery and his city Edirne grew to size 5.  He's going to whip Edirne imminently, since he can't have the happiness to support that.

Krill's Worker 3 just finished chopping a forest.  I'm now going all  (one player left to move) so I can move off the forest tile.  

[ipecac]

Oh, and Gavagai both revolted to Slavery

Wait what? He wasn't in slavery despite having city #2 planted?

And you won't be able to fight Couevera for the fish if he settles with it first-ring.

[ipecac]

Turn just rolled; I can't get to it right away, but I do have a question.

Gavagai just got a tech that I think is Animal Husbandry.  How soon do we need a spear in Castleview to deal with a chariot testing border security?

Well

[ipecac]

Turn just rolled; I can't get to it right away, but I do have a question.

Gavagai just got a tech that I think is Animal Husbandry.  How soon do we need a spear in Castleview to deal with a chariot testing border security?

It'll be easier for me to comment from now on if you don't mind me logging to take a look at the situation.

A few things to consider:

1) Of Gavagai's land that we have explored, is there an extra hammer anywhere? If so that's horses.
2) How many chariot moves is he away from us?
3) How many turns of warning can we get before he moves a chariot in from out of the fog? Do we have a warrior acting as sentry net there?

[Dark Savant]

Turn 50 rolled, and I've played most of the turn but haven't ended the turn yet (things are currently set as previously planned, but I may change things).  First, answers to your questions:

Oh, and Gavagai both revolted to Slavery

Wait what? He wasn't in slavery despite having city #2 planted?

Yes indeed, but that's because he didn't research Bronze Working until after he planted his second city.  I'm presuming the settler for his third city was just produced by Istanbul.

Krill is still not in Slavery, but everyone else other than he and Gavagai has used Slavery by now.

And you won't be able to fight Couevera for the fish if he settles with it first-ring.

That isn't actually possible; the only land tile next to that fish is a peak.  So I could in fact contest it, but it'll be a while before I can settle on the incense, and I'm not sure exactly where I'm putting cities around the western peninsula anyway without more scouting.

It'll be easier for me to comment from now on if you don't mind me logging to take a look at the situation.

Okay, I sent you a PM with my password.

A few things to consider:

1) Of Gavagai's land that we have explored, is there an extra hammer anywhere? If so that's horses.

Nowhere that I can see.

2) How many chariot moves is he away from us?

He can move a chariot from Istanbul to threatening Castleview in 4 turns, 3 turns if he built appropriate roads within his territory (which didn't exist at the time of my scout passing by).

3) How many turns of warning can we get before he moves a chariot in from out of the fog? Do we have a warrior acting as sentry net there?

We don't have a warrior sentry net; not enough warriors.  We have one warrior scouting the western peninsula, another fortified in Harmondale, two guarding the worker and settler en route to blue dot, one guarding the worker farming the corn next to both Castleview and Gavagai's warrior, and another warrior playing zone defense between Castle Ironfist and Castlview.

Yes, Castle Ironfist is currently unguarded.  It doesn't need a garrison for "we demand military protection" until ~t56.

[Dark Savant]

Turn 50 (2000 BC)

I quickly move our scout, and wow, check out Krill's amazing capital:



He's already working at least 6 improved tiles: 4 food, copper, and silver. And he doesn't need The Wheel just yet, because he has that river to connect his copper to his capital.

And Krill does have a 4th worker -- he is 0-indexing his unit numbering.  He's got 3 workers chopping forests in Animal Farm and 1 more worker that was chopping another forest in Room 101.

And that 4000 soldier points Krill gained was from a spear -- which my scout is now right next to.  I made that move because I didn't want to step on Krill's silver tile.  If he wants to kill the scout, he can this turn -- but if he does so, Animal Farm will be unhappy for want of military protection (unless he just chopped out a unit).  That mined silver lacks a trade route, so Animal Farm is right at the happiness cap of 4 base + 2 RtR-Charismatic + 1 Palace.

Man, Krill hit the jackpot with that initial settler move.

Here's an overview of our core, since we're on a nice round turn number:



The current plan is to whip the granaries in both Castle Ironfist and Castleview as soon as they can.  Castle Ironfist will have exactly 30 hammers on t52, so I'll do it then; Castleview can hit pop 2 to do so (it already has >30 hammers from the whip overflow and chop) on the same turn.

Castle Ironfist is currently scheduled to produce an axe or spear after the granary, which I can build on t57 or so, and it could reach Castleview in 3 turns.

C&D: Ventessel just finished researching a tech.  He's been getting new techs at a fairly constant rate, so I'm presuming he has all of Mysticism, The Wheel, Hunting, and Pottery by now.

JR4 finished a tech that I think is Mysticism (done in only 5 turns).

CML also finished a technology, in 13 turns, and failed to found a new religion.  I'm not sure what that is.

Population point watch: Coeurva +1; dtay -1 last turn (whip); Krill +2 (one pop in each city); GermanJoey +1 in city #2.

And CML lost a population point while dtay was playing.  CML and dtay must be in a real war; we do know they have contact from CML mistakenly implying it in the tech thread.  So that was a size-1 city of CML's razed, probably by an impi (dtay has had both Bronze Working and The Wheel since t36), and CML was probably frantically whipping military before, not a settler or Stonehenge.

Total land value went up by 12000; that's JR4's borders expanding.

Gavagai gained 6000 soldier points last turn.  This is very likely 2000-point Animal Husbandry plus a 4000-point spear; he's not going to have a 4000-point chariot that quickly.  That isn't a threat for now, but I'll be watching vigilantly.  (I don't think he produced a 6000-point axe, because then he'd have to have researched Mysticism or Masonry.)

Krill lost a quechua last turn.

So we know Gavagai and Krill both just produced spears -- is this the normal play to protect against early chariots?

[Dark Savant]

I do want to have border cities start to put several hammers into a spear so I can whip one in an emergency, but I'm unsure when to start doing that.  Let me know when you think a good time is -- I didn't end the turn yet in case you think I should start now.

Castleview will also be at size 1 for 4 turns after I whip its granary.

I do think I can get away with both of those granary whips for now, but I'm not quite sure.

[Dark Savant]

Our research rate is also currently bad, because I'm not working even the clam at Castle Ironfist right now -- it's working 12 hammers per turn to get it to exactly 30 hammers for a whip, and then its food box will be exactly half full the turn it's done.