[spoilers] Dragon Slayers and Warrior Knights, Oh my!

[WarriorKnight]

Update time:



Just got Calendar at the end of this turn. I'm a little annoyed that 3 civs are in the small area that I've scouted out (not to mention another civ slightly W of my field of vision), but I'm sure there's a good explanation. I'll switch to Agrarianism next turn, grow to size 5 the turn after, and then work on a settler using Corn, Gems, Deer, a farm and phmine. Perhaps chopping will speed up the eta, although chops are laughably weak until archery.

Anyway, diplo update:

Sian's managed to meet Yell0w to his W, roughly the same distance away from him as between Sian and myself. Despite my best efforts, he isn't really that talkative. That said, he hasn't exactly been hostile at all, just quiet. He's probably mostly concerned with his empire, which I can respect. He's switched into God King though which, if he has roughly the capital as me, is probably a mistake, as his land is too good to delay and he's not PHI. Oh well.

TBS has managed to meet the Calabim to his East, so I have a rough idea of where everyone is located. Unlike Sian, TBS has been very chatty and friendly so far after his early game DOW. Indeed, I may very well look over his early game DOW the way things are going right now.

Nothing new from HK. He's the only contact I haven't got any deals with yet after our early meeting, and also the closest. I'm hoping I don't get Treb/Axe rushed, but tbh I have yet to see any evidence that I won't be. BW early will be key, as will Warfare. There's a good reason I'm settling my copper as my 2nd city. Aside from that, I'm not really sure what else I can do about them right now. Perhaps I should mention him to TBS at some point (Sian isn't talkative enough to get a positive response)? Can wait a dozen turns or so though.

[WarriorKnight]

Someone's unhappy already? That's got to be Kurio's, since they are the only civ with a size 7 capital (hence get a 47% approval). Why would Kurio's be unhappy this early though?

Anyway, my 1st settler should be done EoT30 and 2nd city should be settled by t33 at the latest. Probably not a record, nor so I think its one of the faster ones in this game, but oh well. I'll probably have by far the most developed capital (had to detour to Exploration to give workers more stuff to do), and aside from Kurio's I have the highest happy cap this early, indicated by my highest approval. It'll take some time for those advantages to come into play (ie need to finish my settler before then), but I'm hoping that I can get Orion to size 7 quickly then use God King + early mines to get the MFG to REX hard, while retaining decent early commerce thanks to free settled GS plus 2 commerce resources at the capital.

Tech is Exploration then AC/Mysticism. After that... actually I'm not sure yet. Probably Edu enroute to Warfare maybe? Fishing can wait until my 3rd city, as can BW most likely. Other stuff like AH, Hunting, Masonry etc. can all probably wait.

Too many options, but at least I don't need to worry about religion.

[Ranamar]

Are you still going for the gem/copper city as city 2? (I'm assuming that's the case...)

As for the Kurios, something tells me he forgot to set the "don't grow" button on the manager.

[WarriorKnight]

Are you still going for the gem/copper city as city 2? (I'm assuming that's the case...)

As for the Kurios, something tells me he forgot to set the "don't grow" button on the manager.

Yeah, copper city is city 2. Not only for copper but also more MFG. The 'other' reason my 2nd city is a prod city is so I can build either FotT or Bone Palace there for a guaranteed Commander/Engineer or two once I cast Ardor. Way down the road, but got to plan for these things.

I think Kurio's just didn't have a military unit in there, since he didn't need it due to Sprawling. This turn he's size 8 and not unhappy anymore, and last turn he probably grew EoT anyway. Probably just coincidental timing of me posting demogs.

[Ranamar]

I think Kurio's just didn't have a military unit in there, since he didn't need it due to Sprawling. This turn he's size 8 and not unhappy anymore, and last turn he probably grew EoT anyway. Probably just coincidental timing of me posting demogs.

Yeah, that makes more sense...

[WarriorKnight]

I can't confirm it as of yet, but judging by where my settler can/can't settle I think Sian planted a city here. That's... pretty aggressive IMO. I don't know where his capital is located but it's almost certainly a forward plant in my direction. Will have to confirm, and see if there's anything I can do about it before Sian gets FoL.

Also I'm last in both food and MFG. Yet somehow I'm 1st in GNP. I was hoping my start could be a little more production orientated this time around, but it doesn't look like that's happening right now. After I grow a bit it should look a little better.

[Ranamar]

Any confirmation on Sian's city yet?

Also, how's the economy going? Still first in GNP and last in production? ... or are you now first in production and last in GNP? :P

[WarriorKnight]

Yeah, Sian's city is confirmed. I can't see in the city, but it would be easy enough to check since it's planted on a hill. He also has a worker farming the plains forest 1E of the hill, for some unexplainable reason. Can't really do much about it just yet though, although since he has only 1 forest in the city I might be able to attack it at some point in the future even after FoL. Not sure if I want to go through with that just yet or not, but it's certainly a possibility.

As for the economy, nothing's changed much in the past few turns, as I'm still extremely competitive in GNP. Once my capital reaches the happy cap (next turn I think?), I'll switch to working max production with plains hill mines and God King when building workers/settlers, which will almost surely make me jump to 1st in MFG, and I'll still be able to work the Incense/Gems for my strong GNP rating too. I'll rely on that to get the settler for my 3rd city out around t43 or so, settling around t45.

I'll post some pics next turn as well.

[WarriorKnight]

A first look at my 2nd city, which is still just getting started for now. Since Sian is CRE though, I need some culture in here before Hyll reaches 3rd ring.

Something else that occurs to me, I've only seen a single node so far, and that's on the border of the Khazad. I have yet to explore anywhere from my E to the NW, but a push down the arcane line isn't looking like it'll be worth it this game until much later on, with minimal nodes in the game.

[Ranamar]

Something else that occurs to me, I've only seen a single node so far, and that's on the border of the Khazad. I have yet to explore anywhere from my E to the NW, but a push down the arcane line isn't looking like it'll be worth it this game until much later on, with minimal nodes in the game.

Grigori palace mana isn't entirely bad (enchantment is pretty nice if you've got the right units...) but yeah, not worth it if you can't get a collateral mana from somewhere, and then there's the extra node for metamagic... and that's not even assuming you're doing mana stacking.