[Spoilers] AT Ponders the number 52

[AutomatedTeller]

I'll post some pics, but at a high level, Charriu is to my south, MrCairo is to my west and Mjmd is to my south west.

MrCairo is a tough nut - aggressive/protective zulu - not something I really want to deal with at an even level.

I suspect my first target is Charriu or whoever is to my east - might be funny to just send a stack of swords at someone as an intro

I'm still a ways from attacking anyone, of course.

[AutomatedTeller]

This is a pic of my current land:


Pickup (cap) is size 5 and is building a settler. One chop and a 2 pop whip gets it out. It goes to the rice.

Weeks will start a settler when it gets to size 5 in a couple of turns. that will go to 2.

Deck is building a granary, growing on a fish->sheep->copper. It will whip in the granary when it can, then grow on a rax, probably, then whip out a settler->worker. That settler will probably go north, along the coast, to claim near that pigs
You can't see them, but there is fish near those horses.

Mr Cairo's land starts near the incense - I believe that's his capital - I htink he's expanded away from the desert.

[AutomatedTeller]

A couple of things: 1 is a meh city, but it gets the wet rice on line fast, which is nice, because both Deck and the city by the marble need a border pop to get food, which is a problem. I could found #3 first, but that has no hammers, so I'd like to get it's workboat for it. Of course, I could put down #3 and clear out the banana and then whip WB/monument/granary. That might be better - it gets the gems faster and closes off my land from charriu. I don't need the gems for happy (though more happy is good), but gems are a great commerce boost, so a priority. Also, it's faster to hook into the rest of the civ.

ok - I think I'll go 3, not 2.

Seems like calendar is a priority for me - 2 banana, sugar, 7 dye, 3 spice. Plus marble for MoM.

I'm guessing I'm not getting a shot at the lighthouse. I think everyone has some islands - this may be a donut - and one of the faster expanding civs will have a city that can build it faster than I can. I figure the same with Pyramids and hanging gardens. MoM, though - I can prioritize Calendar and get that, if I so choose. That fits in nicely with picking up serfdom and getting an extra hammer on farms.

[AutomatedTeller]

I'm trying to figure out why I'm so far behind.

I think it's barbs. I think my 2nd scout was a mistake - I should have made 2 warriors. Also, getting my first warrior killed was bad - that was partly luck, of course - I should have won vs that panther, but I did move him out onto flatland.

I think it's recoverable, of course - 60 points is not really significant, but the snowball is slow.

Deck was also pretty slow going - the way I planted it, it needed a border pop and a workboat. There is enough land that having the extra food can make a difference in expansion, though.

[AutomatedTeller]

I really have needed to put up some pictures

So, cities:

Capitol will finish it's worker, then it's holkan and then put a turn or two into pyramids.   Settler after that, for the fish/iron spot.


Just whipped it's settler, will build another worker and more holkans.   Weeks is really a production spot which is doubling as my 2nd best commerce site becuase of the gold, but it's never going to have a single cottage



Will probably end up pushing out more settlers - my best food/hammer site so far. Might try to put great lighthouse here, since I'll end up with a bunch of coastal cities.   working the lake to max out commerce and any tile is 4 turns of growth.    That may be a dumb choice, I dunno.



LII is not really a very good city, but under serfdom and a bunch of farms, will be a minor production city, maybe a hybrid commerce one, not sure.

Land



Showing, in less detail, information about the west that you can probably see better in other threads   Looks like a bunch of us are in a circle around this inner sea.  Dunno if we all are - doesn't seem to be enough room, so I'm guessing there are others to the east



Guys to my south


Big news, and why expansion is not the end-all, be-all for big map with barbs. Barb city is key, though I dunno that holkans are the best way to take it.  Archers on hills are going to be tough - might have to wait for swords.    Of course, if it's warriors, that's another thing.  We'll see next turn!!!



All of my available resources.

[AutomatedTeller]

The good:



Barb city with warriors.  Aren't the barbs supposed to have archery?  

the bad



Pretty close to Mjmd there - I think that this city has popped borders, so it's not horrible (I think the city next to the river - no real reason why it wouldn't be) and I guess this is a reasonable border.

The ugly:



I am probably losing LII to the barbs.  if the barb takes the warrior bait, it can still get there before the city can grow to whip the holkan.  I'll send another over there, but honestly - axe vs C1 holkan on a hill = dead holkan.  I figure I'd need 2 holkans to hold it.

This was, simply put, a mistake.    MAYBE I can distract the axe with a worker and give me time to reinforce both cities - maybe.   It's gonna cost me, no matter what.

[AutomatedTeller]

ok, my plan:



it's all about delay.  If I can A)  delay the loss of LII for enough turns and B) not lose workers, I can whip an axe into LII and keep it (probably) safe.  Conceivably, it could even be safe before, but axes vs spear is a bad wish for safe

if the axe just moves into one of the A areas, I lose the city, which is 100 hammer loss, which isn't fun.  And embarassing in the lurker thread 


If it takes my warrior and moves to C, then my workers are at risk, so I have to move them.  if it then moves on Deck, Deck is in trouble, which is worse the LII.  that said, I should be able to get more units into Deck and hopefully, the axe can't kill them all singlehandedly. 

So, if the axe kills my warrior and moves to A, I can have a warrior and a holkan there, and then 2 more warriors.  I THINK i can get copper hooked up by then and can whip an axe in.  Maybe. 

I figure it's about 50/50 for the axe to just move in (not sure what the odds really are and, if it doesn't, still about a 30-40% chance I lose the city - so it's probably toast.  *sigh*

[AutomatedTeller]

so, axe vs C1 warrior on a hill in a city fortified is about 98%, which is actually better than I thought it would be

axe vs c1 spear on a hill, not fortified, is about 88%. maybe my best hope is that the axe kills my warrior in the field, but the warrior gets a couple of licks in and then loses a coin flip to a holkan. hoping.

It's possible I made a bad situation worse by moving my warrior where I did. If I lose LII, that's basically 115 hammers, which isn't great. If I lose Deck, it's very bad and I may have steered that axe to a place where I'll lose Deck. That would suck.

That said, this barb should be moving randomly, so maybe it will just go away

[AutomatedTeller]

An eventful turn.

Over at Polynesian, my WIII holkan attacked at 89% and won, picking up enough xp to promote next turn.  I think shock, instead of CII, to make it easier to take the city.   

Founded Tellurium



I'm chopping the banana and will then cottage it for now, to keep jungle from regrowing on it.  Plan will be to whip out a WB, overflow into a granary, whip a monument, overflow into a granary, then whip the granary.  That should work slightly faster than growing up to whip a granary, though I might sim it out. 



Well, the initial distraction worked.  Barb killed by warrior (and took 11 hp damage!)  barbs don't hold up to heal, so that helps a little.  If it goes right at LII, I should be able to hold it off long enough to get an axe, I think.  I also might be able to distract it again, I am not sure.  

I figure now I have a better than even chance to hold LII - axe might just wander away.   We'll see.


oh - I was also a jerk to Charriu, killing his WII scout with a 2nd WIII holkan. I didn't really want him to see the barb city. Sorry, Charriu. I offered peace, which I presume he'll take, since he's at war with Mjmd.

[AutomatedTeller]

Turn 74

This is looking ok. the axe did the best thing it could do, which was



Well, best would have been go away completely, but that wasn't going to happen. This means my workers can connect the copper without being bothered. I have a holkan which can get to LII next turn and 2 more warriors, which can get there is 2 turns. This means that the city can hold long enough for A) copper to be hooked up and B) me to save enough gold (+26 at 0% science) for me to upgrade the best surviving warrior to an axe. And with that, I should be safe, unless of course all the slaughter of melee units has given mr barb axe shock or something.



Demos are still a large problem, though I hope that gets better once I deal with mr axe. 74 is a lot, though that's Mjmd, who has stonehenge and a religion accounting for at least 18 of that (13 for stonehenge + monuments, 5 for religion and holy city) probably more. he's beyond the writing splurge.

Well, more expansion