[Spoilers] CH tries to be more than a warm body

[Cheater Hater]

Yes, I've been really lazy with my updates (almost falling to the bottom of the forum), but I finally have enough for an update! Let's start with the capital:


Not only have I finished my Settler and am ready to settle my second city next turn (is that early? It feels like it compared to the leaders), I've even started a dotmap! Obviously the settler is going to C1 like I planned (since it has a lot of overlap), but then the next settler needs to decide between C2 and C3. C2 is a much better city (it shares the corn, and the gems aren't jungled like most of the precious metals on the map), but C3 has copper. I think I'm going to be able to delay copper for one more city, since I haven't seen anyone nearby (though I need to explore directly east of me soon--that's where the next Quecha is heading obviously), and hopefully I have horses nearby to give me some confidence.

Speaking of horses, my next big tech is Animal Husbandry, and I'm not that far away from it--after BW finished I went Wheel->AH, and I'm 4 turns away at the moment. However, I'm taking a two-turn detour to Fishing, so it'll complete when the Work Boat in Cuzco does, allowing me to grow much more quickly. As for the rest of the builds, the new city will start on a Worker (so it can take full advantage of the mine I've already improved while improving the corn), and Cuzco will mainly grow after finishing the Work Boat. The question is whether I stop growing there at size 3 or 4, and if I decide to go for a Worker or Settler at that point. Right now my thought is that I'll grow to size 4 (probably building 2 Quechas, then starting a Terrace if I have Pottery at that point), slow-build a Worker (maybe chopping near the end for some overflow), then quickly building the Settler for the C2 spot (using a 2-pop whip, and maybe another chop, overflowing into the Terrace).

Now for my scouting, and there is a bit of interesting stuff:




The big news here is that I met Elkad a couple turns back, though I still haven't found his borders. Other than that, my scout has found some tundra, so we might have found the northern part of the continent (assuming it doesn't connect north to south--I'm on the southern border, but it might connect somewhere else).

[Fenn]

C2 is only five tiles from your capital, miles away from Donovan's borders from what I can see, and will be instantly productive thanks to sharing Corn and having Gems/Sheep in first ring. Doesn't need as many additional roads as C3 either. I'd say go for it first.

Scouting east with a second Work Boat (eg one that later nets C1's Fish) could be worth it, Exp + Mines makes them quick to build.

If you grow Cuzco to size 4, which tiles would it work when it gets there?

[Cheater Hater]

C2 is only five tiles from your capital, miles away from Donovan's borders from what I can see, and will be instantly productive thanks to sharing Corn and having Gems/Sheep in first ring. Doesn't need as many additional roads as C3 either. I'd say go for it first.

Scouting east with a second Work Boat (eg one that later nets C1's Fish) could be worth it, Exp + Mines makes them quick to build.

If you grow Cuzco to size 4, which tiles would it work when it gets there?

The only problem with Work Boat scouting is that it stalls growth, and EXP/CHM wants to grow--it depends on which tiles I have at that point I guess.

Cuzco can work the cow, the fish, and either both mines (since presumably I'll have other options at C1) or the southern mine and the ivory--one thing I still need to do is plan out my worker movements, but one thing at a time

[Cheater Hater]

Anyone who actually read my update knows why I'm so mad that they let the turn roll: it delayed settling my city by a turn! It also cost me a worker turn, since I stopped my worker so it could start improving the corn right away. Seriously, why is it rolling so early? Last I checked (something like 2-3 turns ago) the turn was reliably rolling around 9pm (server time, so basically right as I went to bed), and now it's rolling 7 hours earlier?

If you want this to be fair (and actually use the "roving lurkers" as expected), turns need to be a week long, with the expectation that lurkers will try to roll the turn after the 24 hour mark. That's why Brick has all our passwords, and we're supposed to be reporting, right? That's also why I'm so mad--why bother reporting if the lurkers don't care (other than my one ded-lurker)?

[GermanJoey]

Sorry man, I'm reading but was busy after I woke up today and didn't have a chance to check the timer to see if anyone hadn't played. You could always ask for a reload, saying that it was a critical turn for you. Is Fenn able to log into your game to cover for you too?

[Cheater Hater]

Sorry man, I'm reading but was busy after I woke up today and didn't have a chance to check the timer to see if anyone hadn't played. You could always ask for a reload, saying that it was a critical turn for you. Is Fenn able to log into your game to cover for you too?

I already played this turn, so it doesn't matter--I'm just never in the best of moods and took it out on the tech thread (especially since I only missed the turn by about a half-hour).

I have no clue what Fenn's situation is, but I certainly wasn't expecting to miss the turn (mainly since it rolled a lot earlier than I expected), and this turn was one of the rare ones I had a plan for, so I doubt it would matter on most turns.

[Fenn]

I didn't think to check the PB27 civstats page yesterday, otherwise I would have done something before the turn rolled. Sorry CH.

I can log in and play turns in the future if you ever need; I won't be available all the time but I can check civstats every so often to make sure the turn isn't about to roll without your playing.

[Cheater Hater]

A quick update now that AH was finished: we have horses! Unfortunately C1 was settled on top of them, but that does mean they are connected right away, and to both cities thanks to the river. That probably means I should build a Chariot next instead of a Quecha after this one finishes, especially since I don't think I'll have Pottery by the time the second Quecha would finish.

[Cheater Hater]

We got two turns today, so to celebrate (and because I'm not sure of some stuff), have a report!


Here's how things are looking now--you can see how builds are progressing, as well as a couple more potential city sites. I'm just now starting to scout to the east, and hopefully I can find some more city sites.

Right now I have two main things I need to decide soon. First of all, I need to decide whether I want to fit in another Worker before I start the Settler in Cuzco. I'm already in the middle of a Worker in Tiwanaku (the chop will go into it next turn), so that'll be Worker number 3--it's probably a good idea, since it can put another chop into the Settler (since I forgot to revolt into Slavery while the last Settler was in transport--I probably should do so after this Settler is built). I also need to decide where I'm going for tech in the near future--Masonry is an obvious stopgap since I need it for both the stone and marble I'll have after settling C2, but then what? Writing is the obvious choice (into Math/Currency probably), but I tend to overvalue Libraries. Iron Working's another possibility, since it would unlock gems at Tiwanaku as well as the eastern city (which would be a good site, except that it doesn't gain me much territory). Is there anything else I care about? Maybe Sailing is interesting? When should I head up the religious path--when I want CoL?

I also need to figure out what I'm doing with all these Workers--I need to improve another tile at Tiwanaku so I can let C2 borrow the Corn for a bit, C2 needs a worker or two to get all its improvements hooked up, and I still want Cuzco to have a lot of improvements (probably cottages) so it can grow really big (as well as hooking up the ivory). The plan is probably to build another Worker in Cuzco after the Settler (followed by a Terrace I can 2-pop whip) and have that Worker stay there, have the new Worker out of Tiwanaku stay there, and have the other two Workers migrate up to C2. Again, having a detailed micro plan would probably help, but that would require effort, and presumably my lack of updates (especially compared to other games) shows I don't have that much this go-around.


That's how far north my scout has gotten--hopefully he can make it all the way around, though I just saw a natural barb spawn, so my scout might not make it that much further. I found Nyles Standish's territory, the third borders I've found so far--I need to remember to do some foreign documentation in an update I actually post


Guess who got the Oracle?

[Fenn]

Congrats on the double turn! Shame about that hut result.

As for religions, which ones (if any) have fallen? If Judaism or even Hinduism are still out there you could move up religious research.

I wouldn't go for Iron Working - save it for after your next tech, probably Writing. Unlocking Gems is nice but they still need like eight worker turns to be productive and another two to road for the happiness benefits, so waiting until you have more/less busy Workers would work out better imo. That labour could go into getting Cottages running early, connecting new cities or chopping forests. In the meantime any new cities you found have plenty of non-jungle tiles to work. City C2 has unjungled Gems too, so you don't need IW for the happiness. Also you're CHA so you probably don't need happiness resources yet.

If Cuzco borrows Tiwanaku's Mine temporarily, how quickly can it build a Worker? Doing that, then having the Worker chop out the Settler, would be the way to go to minimize the time Cuzco spends not growing, but that's probably only valuable if it can work five good tiles when it grows early - that is, could you have the Ivory camped and the river grass cottaged in that time?