Some food for thought. I'm mostly just spouting out ideas rather than anything coherent. But,...
Overall, your d-lurker's advice remains much the same.
Hunting:
+ Spears (prevents a single chariot from owning your empire.)
+ Puts you a step closer to CG1 or CG2 Archers
+ Whatever resources you're looking at (furs?)
Archery (25H CG1 or CGII near impregnable REXing ablilty)
Writing
+ Open Borders
+ Libraries
Economically, you're in a very good position. The financial + culture + shrine income will put you in good position in medium term. The problem right now is your food and hammers. That 10 food deficit you've got will likely only get worse before it gets better.
I think that for the near term: Settlers > Library; Workers > Library; Military > Library. I'm not sure that you'll be able to land a library in the near term without costing yourself some land. So why Writing? Expecially since your first GP will likely be a prophet, and I think that's what you'd want.
A lighthouse has a better payoff than the library at this point, but still REXing to claim silver, furs, ivory would put you in a better positon I would think.
You're financial. Lay claim to a good chunk of land and then grow up to a high happy cap on awesome food and financial cottages.
my d-lurker, in fact, made excellent points and, my post-posting analysis is similar - expansion> buildings. Archers>cheaper rex defenders than dogs. Thus, hunting->Archery.
In fact, we are 1 turn from hunting as we speak, we have copper mined (not hooked up yet).
My next city is going to be the clam/cow site, then the commerce one, then marble, then the lake fish one.. I think. We'll reassess at that point.
I need a better look at the map but I'll still venture some suggestions on your city ordering:
Clam/Cow - agree. Archer/military pump.
Then Lake Fish - This city will help more with landing the workers/settlers that you'll really need.
Then Marble - defensive location to makes sure that Joey doesn't come a knocking. Unless you're trying to land a wonder?
Then Commerce - We need some scouting down here.
-It looks like an undisputed location, but we'd probably need to make sure.
-Fog buster to make sure that Barbs don't plant a city in our choosen location.
-As much as I'd want the happy, if we're focussed on REXing the need for Settlers and Workers may keep us below the happy cap making this a lower priority.
The choice of city location ordering is really dependent on your vertical vs horizontal growth strategy so none of what I've said may apply.
Also, we really need to get a Dog Soldier to scout our West. I'm interested in knowing if Joey has a path to his North and our West.
-If he doesn't and he's really screwed by the tundra then his optimal move would be to come at us in force.
Suggestion:
-To not overuse the whip. Try not to whip away productive tiles unless its for a stragetic purpose (City location, wonders, military duress).
-I switched my SP games from whip heavy to whip light and it made a huge difference.
-krill also in PB5 made impressive use of straight tile yields (nerf to whips, fraction of the food you have but still,...). Mostly he grew onto grass mines.
-Heeding this suggestion will require significantly more workers to keep up with the required tile improvements.
ahh - more pics will show why I want marble before lakefish:
Marble has 2 fish, marble and 2 hills. It's actually a really nice site. It does need commerce to get the 2nd fish... but MASH can create all the 2nd workboat. Lakefish has a great tile... but that's about it. I think it's a lower priority.
Maybe I should get commerce 4th - get the happy hooked up and the city growing onto 4 awesome tiles.
This is the borders of our lake with Jowy:
he clearly has access north, so i expect him to go that way. my guess is that I run into him somewhere West of Lakefish.
ATeam:
Growing to size 5 cuts a settler from 8 to 7 turns (though it takes 3 turns to grow there) - more importantly, i can whip off and save more time. plus, continue to slooowww build the granary.
Still building a dog soldier. Azza has a warrior poking around north of A-Team - I have no wish to be at war, but not point in tempting the man..
M*A*S(H will build some archers next, I think. Cheap defenders...
Demos:
Remarkable what mined copper does for your production numbers, isn't it?
So, I have Praets, the only civ that can build war elephants and impi near me.
Well, i guess there aren't really any easy people to be near - the other choices are musketeers, keshiks and, of course, commodore, who might be the most aggressive player on RB.
I guess, at least, I'm likely to have my opponents find easier targets the CG II archers and dog soldiers.
Commodore is basically a unique unit because of his willingness to fight and talent at fighting (he's pretty good at the economic side too, he just doesn't show it as much).
Merovech's Mapmaking Guidelines:
0. Player Requests: The player's requests take precedence, even if they contradict the following guidelines.
1. Balance: The map must be balanced, both in regards to land quality and availability and in regards to special civilization features. A map may be wonderfully unique and surprising, but, if it is unbalanced, the game will suffer and the player's enjoyment will not be as high as it could be.
2. Identity and Enjoyment: The map should be interesting to play at all levels, from city placement and management to the border-created interactions between civilizations, and should include varied terrain. Flavor should enhance the inherent pleasure resulting from the underlying tile arrangements. The map should not be exceedingly lush, but it is better to err on the lush side than on the poor side when placing terrain.
3. Feel (Avoiding Gimmicks): The map should not be overwhelmed or dominated by the mapmaker's flavor. Embellishment of the map through the use of special improvements, barbarian units, and abnormal terrain can enhance the identity and enjoyment of the map, but should take a backseat to the more normal aspects of the map. The game should usually not revolve around the flavor, but merely be accented by it.
4. Realism: Where possible, the terrain of the map should be realistic. Jungles on desert tiles, or even next to desert tiles, should therefore have a very specific reason for existing. Rivers should run downhill or across level ground into bodies of water. Irrigated terrain should have a higher grassland to plains ratio than dry terrain. Mountain chains should cast rain shadows. Islands, mountains, and peninsulas should follow logical plate tectonics.
Azza hasn't been too aggressive in the games that I've followed. More reactive than a proactive warmonger. Still he's put up a stubborn defense in the past. Our dog soldiers should provide the necessary deterrant from him.
Same with the impis. Pillaging won't turn off our ability to produce impi-killing dog soldiers. Hey, these guys are pretty useful after all (hate them in single player). Actually North America is pretty good in multiplayer so long as its combined with a good characteristic like financial.
I was thinking that your civ is financial, charismatic, half-creative and half protective. Not too bad! Little slow out the gate, but should be able to grow into a pretty significant power. Just got to watch out for those elephants.
and, my post-posting analysis is similar - expansion> buildings. Archers>cheaper rex defenders than dogs. Thus, hunting->Archery. ![[Image: t57marblecommerce0000.JPG]](https://dl.dropbox.com/u/68908721/Pitboss9/t57marblecommerce0000.JPG)
![[Image: t57jowylake.JPG]](https://dl.dropbox.com/u/68908721/Pitboss9/t57jowylake.JPG)
![[Image: t57ATeam.JPG]](https://dl.dropbox.com/u/68908721/Pitboss9/t57ATeam.JPG)
![[Image: T57MASH.JPG]](https://dl.dropbox.com/u/68908721/Pitboss9/T57MASH.JPG)
![[Image: t57demos0000.JPG]](https://dl.dropbox.com/u/68908721/Pitboss9/t57demos0000.JPG)
![[Image: azzawarrior0000.JPG]](https://dl.dropbox.com/u/68908721/Pitboss9/azzawarrior0000.JPG)
