[SPOILERS] FFH II PBEM I Lurker Discussion Thread- No Players Allowed!

[darrelljs]

Find copper which doesn't exist .

Hunters are by far his best chance but he delayed Hunting too much.

Darrell

[Maksim]

Not sure about that - a hunter costs 60 hammers versus a warrior's 25. Hunter is strength 4, warrior is strength 3 with a +25% city defense. I think two warriors beats one hunter in this case.

Warrior spam, sad as it sounds, may be the better option - though there are no truly good options here.

[sunrise089]

Not sure about that - a hunter costs 60 hammers versus a warrior's 25. Hunter is strength 4, warrior is strength 3 with a +25% city defense. I think two warriors beats one hunter in this case.

Warrior spam, sad as it sounds, may be the better option - though there are no truly good options here.

I'm not even sure it sounds that bad. What difficulty level is this game on? I've been noticing the very low cost of warriors in SP, and were it not for the economic crash of making 50 warriors early, I think an all-warrior army has got to be pretty darn hammer efficient.

[darrelljs]

Don't forget the civ trait though, his Hunters get the Sinister promotion so they are strength 5 on attack. Couple that with the ability to capture Elephants, (which should be easy to find) for defense and I still think that's the better route, especially given the lack of Copper.

Darrell

[darrelljs]

Also he later said that Archduke is a bit more distant from me than 6 tiles.

I think its at least 15 tiles .

Darrell

[Maksim]

So, Pocketbeetle is considering where to place his second city - for Kuriotates with their three-ring city working radius, that's actually an interesting question.



The realistic options are:

- Settle 1S of the mana node

Five tiles distance. Small two-tile overlap with the capital may actually be desireable - an irrigated farm will be available to use straight away (or whenever the capital can give it), and thus Pocketbeetle can choose to slow-build Monument instead of firing off the worldspell, saving it for the third city instead.

- Settle 1E of the mana node

Six tiles distance. Requires the worldspell to be kicked off straight away to get to its juicy, juicy tiles. Worker will probably go to irrigate the wheat, and afterwards can grow onto perfectly decent forested silk tiles (2/1/1 and 1/2/1). Loses the cow and two grassland hills, gains three plains hills instead, one of which is forested and is the only 3H tile he has until Mining. Can still use the Oasis.

- Settle 2E, 1N of the mana node

Seven tiles distance. Gains sheep but loses oasis. Avoids southern peaks and has better cottageable land to the east, but these cottages will be on the frontlines - on the first turn of his first war, they will be pillaged into oblivion.

I think my preference would be for the 1E location with an immediate Legends being fired off.

In all three cases, there is a time bomb - where will the third city go? I'm just not seeing any good locations to the east, despite a lot of land there. Maybe more scouting will help.

[Ilios]

My vote would go to the tile 1SE of the Deer. Lots of production, and gets the Wheat tile in range much quicker (he hasn't got AH or Hunting yet for the other food resources).

You make a good point concerning the third city site. I don't quite get why PB is queing two Settlers in his current capital. He doesn't have the resources yet to improve and defend his new cities. I think he was planning on using a Scientist for an Academy (4 culture/turn) in his second city.

[Maksim]

My vote would go to the tile 1SE of the Deer. Lots of production, and gets the Wheat tile in range much quicker (he hasn't got AH or Hunting yet for the other food resources).

You make a good point concerning the third city site. I don't quite get why PB is queing two Settlers in his current capital. He doesn't have the resources yet to improve and defend his new cities. I think he was planning on using a Scientist for an Academy (4 culture/turn) in his second city.

1SE of Deer will not be able to use the Wheat, I think. Did you mean 1SW (aka 2E, 1N of the mana node)?

Building out second and third settlers in quick succession is fairly normal for me in SP as Kuriotates. It allows you to lay claim to your land-hungry city locations quickly, get off a quick Legends spell that will benefit them both, and allows you to concentrate on growing vertically.

Using an Academy for culture rather than research would be an unorthodox move, I think. There are no easy high-commerce tiles for the second city, so it will take time before it overtakes the current capital in commerce production - especially since that has the incense tile! I'd rather use Legends for culture, and build an Academy in the current capital.

[Ilios]

1SE of Deer will not be able to use the Wheat, I think. Did you mean 1SW (aka 2E, 1N of the mana node)?

Erm, yes...

I actually think the Academy is a pretty good move. Once he gets that city up and running it'll more than make up for the lost commerce.

Building two settlers and spamming cities might work in SP, but there's no way PB can defend three cities with the forces he's got right now.

[Maksim]

I actually think the Academy is a pretty good move. Once he gets that city up and running it'll more than make up for the lost commerce.

Moving the palace is not a short-term exercise, and unless he does so, even with three silks the commerce potential of the new city will lag behind the current capital.

I'd like to see some number crunching before Pocketbeetle does something like this.

Also, if he's going to be building Pact of Nilhorn in the capital, he'll probably avoid running the scientist, and go for a 3-hammer hill instead, thus delaying the GS further.