[SPOILER] The Steak, Beer, and Cigar Saloon

[Catwalk]

Turn 47
Waiting for good things to happen to my economy...

Both workers chopping a forest, done in 3 turns. That's 1t too late to finish the settler sooner, bad planning on my part. Copper city will be great next turn, growing to size 3 and gets to work the copper. I decided to work rice and fish so I could reach size 3, may have been a weak decision. I think my macro is still sound, but my micro is flailing a bit. I decided to go for Hunting before Animal Husbandry, not sure if that was the right decision but it helps me set up my third city faster. I will build a mine for the copper city in the meantime.

haphazard1, when do you think I should build a monastery?

[haphazard1]

Working both food tiles at the copper city makes sense to me -- you have good tiles to grow onto, and food is generally the most important thing early. I think you are doing OK on the micro for the most part. Finishing the chop earlier would have been nice, but the hammers will help with whatever is next. What is next? I am curious. With a third city about to be founded, another worker would be useful. I am assuming you have a warrior somewhere for a garrison unit at the new city? Or are they out exploring?

Hunting before AH also sounds reasonable, since you need Hunting for the deer. Going AH -> Hunting would allow you to hook the pigs up a couple turns sooner but would cost you beakers, and your workers are busy chopping at the moment anyway. I don't think this is a big deal. A perfect micro plan might have had workers ready at the pigs exactly when AH finished, but perfection is a rare thing. At least in my Civ games.

On monasteries, what are your plans for spreading Buddhism? Do you intend to spread it to other civs? If so, how soon? Would you be better off teching Mono and using OR to avoid the hammer cost of monasteries? It is true that a monastery in the capital would be helpful for beakers, but the effect is still quite small at this point and the capital presumably has more urgent things to build (more settlers, workers, military, etc.). Or are you considering a monastery in Vacuuming? With the copper it could be a nice missionary pump when you don't have more critical builds there. Anyway, I think it is definitely too soon right now. I would hope for free spread for at least the capital and the upcoming city.

[Catwalk]

Turn 48
Still nothing much happening. Risking a barbarian warrior attacking my warrior (which has a 30% bonus). Should I try to launch a GA later for switching into both Monarchy and Buddhism? Maybe OR as well. Saving two turns of anarchy is a pretty good use of a GA. I think I want to use religion mainly to boost new cities with culture, freeing them up from having to build a monument. Other stuff can come later.

[haphazard1]

Should I try to launch a GA later for switching into both Monarchy and Buddhism? Maybe OR as well. Saving two turns of anarchy is a pretty good use of a GA.

I would be tempted to switch into Buddhism very soon, probably while the settler is moving to the next city site. Your empire is small enough that the turn of anarchy does not cost you much right now, compared to later. You don't have to fear negative diplo like you would in a SP game, and the extra happiness could be useful. But if you are certain you will use a GA for a switch later (or double switch), and will not need the religious happiness before that point, then waiting makes sense.

I would convert, because it always seems like I end up needing the extra happiness sooner than I think. And one turn's output from two cities at this stage is not that big a cost.

[Catwalk]

Should I try to launch a GA later for switching into both Monarchy and Buddhism? Maybe OR as well. Saving two turns of anarchy is a pretty good use of a GA.

I would be tempted to switch into Buddhism very soon, probably while the settler is moving to the next city site. Your empire is small enough that the turn of anarchy does not cost you much right now, compared to later. You don't have to fear negative diplo like you would in a SP game, and the extra happiness could be useful. But if you are certain you will use a GA for a switch later (or double switch), and will not need the religious happiness before that point, then waiting makes sense.

I would convert, because it always seems like I end up needing the extra happiness sooner than I think. And one turn's output from two cities at this stage is not that big a cost.

I disagree a bit with this. If you look at growth in terms of percentage rather than net output, our growth% is arguably higher right now than later on. And currently I gain far less from conversion than I do later on. If you include snowballing effects, one turn of anarchy now is every bit as expensive as one turn of anarchy later. I will be needing early happiness for sure, but I don't think it's worth it unless I get at least one free spread fairly soon.

[Catwalk]

Turn 49
My warrior won without a scratch and is now the proud owner of an XP. In other news, these are my unit locations:

Whites are warriors and yellows are workers. Notice anything out of the ordinary?

[haphazard1]

The cities are undefended?

[Catwalk]

Yep, just sitting there waiting to be taken over. I do realize this is a bit too careless. The west warrior has been bungling about a bit. I want to unfog a route to Nakor before heading back, I only need to move 5-6 tiles to achieve this. The northern warrior will be heading back after moving one more tile, I want to see if there is a land connection further north. Last warrior is playing zone defense for 3 cities

How urgently do you think I need more troops, given these plans? I could put one turn into a spear at both cities, guaranteeing me protection from surprise units. Both Nakor and Jowy have as low power as me, though.

[haphazard1]

Having as low of power as you is not too reassuring, when a single warrior could conquer most of your empire.

I am not a huge fan of the whole "1 turn into X unit" thing. Hammers in units decay pretty rapidly (10 turns I believe), and they often end up just being wasted. I generally either run the risk (admittedly much smaller against AIs than in MP), or actually build a unit. One real unit and a warrior (or later two or three warriors) will likely be good enough for a while longer. But you are going to want some real units anyway, and they will also be reflected in the power graphs and will help deter others from getting any crazy ideas.

So I would be thinking of building a real unit pretty soon. How far are you from size 4 in either city? You could emergency whip a real unit then even without investing a turn of hammers. Not something you want to do, but we are talking about hopefully unlikely emergencies anyway.

[Catwalk]

Turn 50
Settler on the way to the deer site.

Notice the awesome bit of micro where my borders expand next turn, letting me get a head start on camping the deer! Actually, I just noticed that would happen and was planning on building 1t of road there first.

I made the somewhat embarrassing mistake of forgetting that Vacuuming will grow into unhappiness in 3 turns. The warrior that is returning to it will get there in 6-7 turns, and the nearby warrior is 4 turns away. I'm still a bit behind in demos, but nothing that can't be recovered.