[SPOILERS-PBEM15] Mansa Musa of the Ottomans

[spacemanmf]

That's good news. By the way, how did you get those green lines on the screen whilst actually playing?

[Piet]

Zoom out - tactical view, where you can set signs. There you can draw lines too.

[Piet]

T36 in.

Nothern scouting warrior meets T-I's second city and will turn around next turn.



Something very important happened which will change my plans a lot. Just look at the map below for the important piece of information.



Yeah, copper turned up, right next to my capital. My third city will go there, but I will have to change my micro quite a bit because of this. But anyway, very very good news.

In domestic news, I switched Ankh back to a worker and whipped the granary in Morpork. In foreign news, Ioan took MC with oracle (no Confu found).

Demos after T36 :



just fine. But boy, is that a heap of food someone is harvesting (T-I I think, will confirm it later).

[Piet]

Chatted with TT, mostly to tell him I have copper and to inquire a little bit about wonders.

[12:34:50] Peter Hannappel: Hi TT
[12:34:58] Peter Hannappel: just found my copper
[12:36:07] Jack Birkinshaw: nice! not too far away I hope!
[12:36:38] Peter Hannappel: just where I hoped it would be
[12:36:46] Peter Hannappel: right next to my capital
[12:36:59] Jack Birkinshaw: sweet
[12:38:25] Peter Hannappel: yeah, thats really nice -athough I will have to make new plans now
[12:38:35] Peter Hannappel: but this is ok
[12:38:44] Jack Birkinshaw: at least its not miles away!
[12:38:52] Jack Birkinshaw: Ioan got Oracle last turn btw
[12:39:00] Jack Birkinshaw: i dece
[12:39:06] Jack Birkinshaw: decided to let him have it
[12:39:25] Peter Hannappel: yeah, it was very fast
[12:39:45] Peter Hannappel: are you going for another wonder now or expanding first ?
[12:40:19] Jack Birkinshaw: I'm getting a quick henge but its in my 2nd city so still churning out settlers
[12:40:37] Peter Hannappel: yeah, henge does not delay as much
[12:40:58] Jack Birkinshaw: nope - only a handful of turns from scratch with copper & shizz
[12:41:26] Peter Hannappel: sounds good
[12:41:52] Peter Hannappel: I will have to go back to work now - see you later
[12:41:58] Peter Hannappel: and good luck henging
[12:42:21] Jack Birkinshaw: cheers you too

Henge is fine - with this information I should set for building GLH "unrushed". I will tell him beforehand that I am building it, but I will wait with this until I at least started it (i.e. in about 10 turns)

[Piet]

T37 in.

Morpork finished its granary, switched to Workboat. Border Pop due in T39. Growth due next turn. My workers have connected the gold and will move towards the rice next turn, improving it as soon as the border pops.

Anhk finishes the worker next turn, then starting my second settler. It will be whipped on T40.

Jkaen had a double pop increase, perhaps also his third city. Still did not met him though.

Scouts proceed S and SE.



Thats a great city site there. Guess I saved the best direction for last . I suppose I settle 1E of the copper, let the WB from Morpork improve the clams and whip out a library ASAP, then regrow and work two scientists from Size 4 on along with building settlers/workers there.

Also, no direct land connection to the south, which is not bad.

Demos :



Foreign news : Ioan took Monarchy, not MC. He is in HR now

[Piet]

Just thought about a different tech path, i.e. a CoL beeline.

It would be Writing > Medi > Priesthood > CoL, will probably net Confu and enable Caste System, which beeing spiritual would be great.

This would be done instead of Writing > Math > Calendar (> Hunting) > IW
It would delay the GLH (1 or 2 turns, 14 hammers less by chops), Calendar (2 happiness resources) and IW (settling of my 2-3 jungle sites). Also it would delay Currency, which wont be that much of an issue if I land GLH.

I will sandbox it out to test it. Also, I will have to think about the chances beeing first at CoL. Will have wiriting in 4 turns (incl. a turn at 100% gold), then 3-4 turns for the prereqs, then 7-8 turns for CoL probably.

- Ioan has PH already, but will probably not go for it (no returns compared to other techs - he has religion, isnt spiritual and has to catch up elsewhere)

- T-I and Jkaen shouldnt have much religious techs. It would be a head-to-head race only if they beeline it too

- TT has Priesthood (probably) and could very well go for it. But it is not very attractive for him (same reasons as Ioan actually)

Opinions are welcome ;-).

[Piet]

tested it out : it would be CoL T56, GLH T58, could squeeze a round or two out by MM I think

[spacemanmf]

Some thoughts.

Beelining Code of Laws is tempting, but it sounds like it might restrict your growth a little. Landing the Great Lightouse could speed up your research of those techs after the IW/Calendar line.

The copper site looks great, although anyone planting on that landmass to the south is likely to steal the fish. Also, you'd possibly waste a grassland tile or two. Obviously, having three food sources would outweigh that, but I would consider settling in between the rice & spices too.

It depends a little on what seafood is to the SW of that bit and whether it makes that (X) denoted city site more viable (although coastal sites will be made more viable by the Great Lighthouse).

[Piet]

Thank you, Spaceman.

******************

About CoL, I was also worried before.

To my surprise the effect on growth was not so bad in my Sims. CoL and Confu came up a while before I would have been able to connect calendar resources and build hammams, and I had enough non-jungle-sites to keep up settling until IW was in.

Happiness was only a problem in my capital for a few turns in this sim, solved well by Confu (& whipping, of course). My other cities kept small working mostly only special tiles and whipping their infra and workers / settlers.

I was able to extend the borders of cities 5-8 with artists (city 5 founded on T54) and omit Monuments there. Switched between Slavery and Caste about every five turns. Also got an academy in my cap around 500BC because of caste, running 3 scientists in my copper city when it reached Size 5.

Teching Math/Calendar/IW afterwards was early enough in this case - they came in just when I needed more happiness - access to more city sites.

I did not run a sim in which I lost Confu though. This could be more worrying, a CoL beeline without Confu would probably be not worth it. I will also have to try and check what the others have teched in the last turns - to estimate the danger of losing Confu.

********

Regarding the City sites by the copper, I will definitely scout the coast for more seafood the next turns and think of splitting the area into two cities.

Edt.: After re-reading and looking at the map, I see what you mean. You are right, 1N of the current position is definitely better.

[Piet]

Did a new dotmap in my sandbox :



This could be the build order if I go Writing > Medi > PH > CoL > Math > Calendar > IW

Ankh will be focussing on commerce, getting cottages up and running and building mostly infra with a few settlers between

Morpork will be my primary worker / settler-pump once the food is connected, due to 4 very good tiles and not much else.

City 3 (Pseudopolis) will serve as a GP farm early, focussing on getting a fast GS. Later it will serve as commerce city. Moai could also go here.

City 4 (Quirm) will be a military pump early game. Later it can serve as a hybrid city.

City 5 (Lancre) will serve as production site and military pump and is founded to stabilize the empire. Could switch places with city 6

City 6 (Sto Lat) will have to be discussed with TT. I am willing to cede the marble (S of the rice and not on the map) to him if I get settling rights in the contested area at the rice and N of it. Since he is industrious I think it may be an offer. Also, I should send Ioan a note I am settling it - it is definitely not his territory but it would be polite to inform him.
Note : Could be on a hill in this area - this is hot territory

City 7 (Llamedos) is my first jungle site. It will be a great GP farm or production site. My second potential Moai city.

City 8 (Al Khali) will be a great commerce site once all the jungle is cleared.

After that, there are some filler sites left (f.ex. N of 6 / W of 8 / seaside city S of cap).

*****

Note : If I go Math > Calendar > IW > Currency > CoL (my other tech path possible), city order will probably be 3 > 4 > 7 > 5/6/8.