[SPOILERS] Land of Chaos - HitAnyKey

[HitAnyKey]

Huh - that's a bunch of archers plako is moving there. Mr Pokey can cover the workers, right? I don't think you want them out there on their own...

Theoretically yes, but if Mr Pokey moves to the workers, then I can pretty much guarantee that plako will throw those 3 archers at Thor. And I highly doubt Thor can defend against 3 archers (one of which would have 2 promotions). And then I'd have lost the axe & settler.
So it's either lose the 2 workers or lose the axe & settler. The lesser of 2 evils, right?

Like I said in the diplo thread....a nice big ole cluster-f*ck.

[HitAnyKey]

Well, that concludes some of the stupidest turns ever. I obviously have no idea how to plan activities when in war time. I probably should not have let LP talk me into coming out of retirement to join an AW game. It sounded fun at first, but I've done nothing but make extremely huge mistakes that have probably cost me the game. And my first mistake was before the game even started, by not trying harder to get a teammate since it's quite obvious that I can't do this on my own.

I just have no idea what to do now. Obviously I have to pull all units back into my borders to fortify around my cities. Gotta make at least a few more units, and then gonna try to make a couple libraries. And then just gotta get all my cities to start growing, without any more whipping. I have all these tile improvements down at Dragon's Mouth that I can't even work. And then there is Hard Knocks which has almost no capability for growth due to no food resources (except the Banana which plako's culture will beat me to).

I suppose in a short bit I should have PoD make a new settler and build a city somewhere to the north while I can. With LP concentrating on Azza, and CommoXenu concentrating on mackseven, that area should be readily available.

But can I get some in put from you guys one where to settle? The land is all pretty much crap. I have two spots that I'm kind of leaning towards. The first is right in the middle of the desert. It'll have a lot of tiles right around it that can't be worked, but it gets the pigs and if need be can work the capital floodplain. I'm also in the process of mining that other hill by the capital, which this city would also be able to use.
I'm also half-tempted to use the tile 1N of that, as it would also get the production capability from the Iron up there. That one also would have Port capabilities to the ocean. Is that tile better than the one I have marked?

The other option is for the other spot I have marked, but after typing out the details above, I'm thinking this is probably a better spot for the city after the desert city. As it will take much longer to get improved workable tiles, and there is again no food resources over there to help with growth. And right now, getting cities that can grow fast is a big thing for me.

Thoughts?

Expansion aside, and as pissed off as I am at my stupid trying to get that Iron spot to the east, I'm really not all the bad off I suppose. I'm actually above average on GNP and even with those huge losses of military recently, I'm still above average in Power. Though I really need to get my production up, since I'm only above Azza in that. That won't happen until my other three cities grow some more though. Those whippings destroyed my hammer output in those cities.

I just should have backed off that Iron jungle area once plako said he was going over there. I just felt that with him expanding towards me, I had to do everything in my power to stop him. I didn't see any alternatives.
And then the RNG screwing me, and then being hugely in his favor (his first attack on the city was a 5.2% odds battle of his archer vs my axe....which his archer took my axe down to 10/100 HP before it died...that based sealed the fate of the city). I really don't know how I'm going to keep him from pressing ever onwards right at me.

[oledavy]

I would settle 1N or 'here?', then on the desert hill east of the the incense. Both get a 5-food tile and a lighthouse lake tile for a +6 food surplus, which is pretty decent. You can share the iron between them for production. Neither has great potential due to the crappy land, but they'll both be profitable plants in the long term. Pigs city can actually reach a respectable 13 base hammers per turn working the iron, plains hill mine, and GHM. the incense city is little more than a fishing village, but will supply a nice sum of commerce after you improve the incense and grow it out enough to start picking up coastal tiles.

[AutomatedTeller]

So, davy is a lot better than I am at multi, so listen to him.

I completely agree about 1N of here, which is a nice little city.

The only question I have with the second site is that there seems to be a silver on that peninsula - I don't think you have one and it's probably easier to use than incense and might be a better spot than the clam, I dunno.

[oledavy]

The only question I have with the second site is that there seems to be a silver on that peninsula - I don't think you have one and it's probably easier to use than incense and might be a better spot than the clam, I dunno.

I missed that gold/silver - the icon is hidden under the overlay. I can't see the color, but I'm guessing it's gold. I've never seen silver spawn on a desert hill on a non-edited map. When I was looking at settling cities, I was mostly focusing on sites that could get the lake tiles into play boosted by lighthouses.

Both 1S and 1SE of the gold will make pretty good city-sites. Settling in the desert would allow the city to serve as a canal across the peninsula. Settling on the hill would be more defensible.

I hesitate to push settling in that direction, because it is relatively close to LP's capital. You might get a unit up there to serve as a sentry and check out the area. It would also be a good idea to scout north, past the incense, and look for good sites in that direction.

[HitAnyKey]

First a quick mention. Last turn I was feeling crazy again, and took the ~60% odds for a sword killing one of plako's archers on his jungle Gem. And about the same odds for the other sword killing the archer that was sitting on the hill by Mt Whacko. I won both battles. The Sword/Spear over by Rotterdam is now returning home to heal and such. The other sword (and the chariot I had moved onto it as protection) are already back inside my borders.

Now for the future plan. Putting the city on the northern desert tile does make a lot more sense. That city would certainly need a Lighthouse eventually, and since it needs to be on the coast to have one, it would need to be there. For the city after that, I'm thinking the plains hill will be a good one. I've also marked out the incense city, but that's looking like it could be ugly to have (if it's even available by that time, as I'm sure CommoXenu will have sights on it too.

As soon as I can get a Chariot up there to start exploring, I'll see what Xenu & LP have done with regards to their expansion. I haven't looked up there in awhile, so there's a good chance they have some cities in those areas that I don't know about yet. But for now, I need to build home military protection (now that plako will have metal) and infrastructure.
I was working on a library in PoD with growth turned off (since I as at happy max), but then remembered I also had a Monument close to finishing. So that will finish next turn, giving me more happiness and then I can grow the turn after that. Then I'll get out the Library, followed by another sword, then the settler.

[oledavy]

Yellow is going to be a very poor backfillish plant without food, it should be founded after the other two. Still, it does have long-term potential; it would be one of those cities you rarely whip and pretty much just grow for commerce potential. You can farm the three freshwater grasslands in it's bfc for a +5 food surplus at size 3 and grow to pick up 3 cottaged grasslands. Throw windmills down on all the grassland hills and continue growing out, converting to mines/cottages when you're ready to halt growth. Chop the three forests in the BFC into a library to boost beaker yields. You could also plan to farm all the grassland post civil service for a +8 fpt bonus and run a pair of scientists while continuing to grow the city.

On that note, have you been running any specialists?

[HitAnyKey]

Yellow is going to be a very poor backfillish plant without food, it should be founded after the other two. Still, it does have long-term potential; it would be one of those cities you rarely whip and pretty much just grow for commerce potential. You can farm the three freshwater grasslands in it's bfc for a +5 food surplus at size 3 and grow to pick up 3 cottaged grasslands. Throw windmills down on all the grassland hills and continue growing out, converting to mines/cottages when you're ready to halt growth. Chop the three forests in the BFC into a library to boost beaker yields. You could also plan to farm all the grassland post civil service for a +8 fpt bonus and run a pair of scientists while continuing to grow the city.

On that note, have you been running any specialists?

Well I really don't like that northern spot (as it would be a long time before it's usable....and I don't have plans to research fishing anytime soon) and until I've scouted both the landbridge between me & LP and the area up there between me and Xenu, it could be a moot point if they already have cities that would interfere with it.

I know yellow will be poor. That whole area of the map is poor. After all, Hard Knocks already has that same issue of essentially no food available. (those Bananas will belong to plako for a VERY long time, at this point)
But at this current point in time, I don't see settling anywhere other than there as the next new city (after Red Dot) as being good. I really have almost no choices for additional city locations anymore.

As for specialists, I don't have any buildings in any cities yet that open up specialists. After the Monument is completed this turn, PoD will finish the Library which should take just a few more turns or so. Then that city can think about running a specialist.

[oledavy]

As for specialists, I don't have any buildings in any cities yet that open up specialists. After the Monument is completed this turn, PoD will finish the Library which should take just a few more turns or so. Then that city can think about running a specialist.

I ask because your capital or gems city could use a scientist for an academy.

[HitAnyKey]

I'll post a pic tomorrow after I get a better view, but the exploring Chariot I just sent northwards already sees the edge of LP's borders. It's in the NW tile of the Red Dot fat cross. So that means he either settled on the desert 1S of the gold and has had a border expansion already, or he settled on the desert 2S of the gold. But that one doesn't make any sense, as then he wouldn't have the Clams. So he definitely must have made his city on the tile 1S of the gold. Which means, that whole land bridge is his and also the Clams near the Incense city is also already his. So that makes a city there very poor (other than for gold).
So it looks like my second city will definitely have to be the Yellow Dot. And I'll just have to figure out the best place to make farms and cottages for appropriate growth.
But Red Dot is first on the list anyway, so I got plenty of time.
I just whipped the Library in PoD, then I'll make a sword or archer while I grow a bit, then put out the settler.