[SPOILERS] Dazed and Whosit walk the line: Darius of Egypt

[Whosit]

Ok, some quick stuff as I'm looking in the save:

I missed that our Settler is done. Howwwww are we protecting him? I see the capital is about to grow and finish the Granary. Is this where we want to use that Stop Growth trick? That pasture finishes this turn....

Workers:
Rial could reach the forest 2S of the cap this turn.
3 turns to chop.
Could move to another forest and chop. So....8 turns of work? 2 forests.

Lira could do pretty much the same for There You Go, just a turn behind since he's finishing the pasture this turn. So... 3 forests before math comes in, 1 right after, it seems.

We do have another Worker about to pop. Could move to chop the forest for Things Happen, then move on. I guess we are resigned to settling 1S of intended position, on the plains hill? No sheep, no gems, but the plan is to share the capitals deer, right? Again, how are we defending the settler/city? I don't wanna trust in the charity of our rivals.

At least the city 2N of that could get cows, sheep, and clams (and gems). If only it could get a lighthouse, since it'll also have 5 regular lakes.

EDIT: If Rial finishes the road to get city 4 settled a turn sooner, then obviously those other chops are delayed. Not a big deal, as that means 2 get the math bonus, I think.

EDIT 2: What do we think about switching Queen's Ballad to a WC and whip it out before we get the granary there? Not ideal, but I'd feel safer down there, plus it could get to the new city in 2 turns (once it spawns) if TH has no other defenders.

[dazedroyalty]

We don't have an extra warrior at the moment to cover the settler. Our original plan I had set up had a WC coming until a warrior was ready but this settler is ready 4 turns sooner than the settler in the first plan. In the interim, we can probably send the capital's warrior out as long as we stay under the happy cap.

Hmmm... three chops is a lot with math about to come in. I'd rather we at least wait on 1 if not 2 of them until after math. We can pre-chop and road in some combination I imagine. Tho this is a moment when "opportunity cost" is the name of the game. We gain 7 hammers from choppers post math but we have to wait longer for them. With our now urgent need for workers, the wait might be worse than the loss of hammers. What we would want to avoid for sure, though, is chopping into something that wouldn't complete until after we get math. E.G. chop comes in T47, Math finishes T48 and worker completes T49. Since, in that scenario, we really gained nothing but lost 7 hammers.

[Whosit]

Right. We'll have to do some more math on that. Ha ha, pun unintended.... :| Is our primary goal to replenish Workers right away?

Also, I was thinking we could send the Cap's Warrior. Note that it has a whip unhappy, and it'll get +1 unhappy for being unprotected, so if it grows to size 4, we'll have an angry citizen. Might not be a big deal if we can get a Warrior out shortly after the Granary....

[Whosit]

Okay, actually, it looks like math in 9 turns instead of 8, because TYG will work Sheep instead of a cottage.

I was doing some calculations when my computer overheated and shut down. I guess I should have packed the extra fan pad after all. If only this thing wasn't a glorified paperweight. I've resorted to sticking a bag of ice on it. Let's hope no water leaks in....

Anyway, I'm assuming that TH will work the Cap's dear immediately. A new Warrior is going to take 2 turns to build in the Capital no matter what we do, I think. Unless we whip, but that seems stupid. So we'll have a couple turns with an angry citizen. After that, I think we can work Sheep, Cow, and two cottages that TYG won't be working. That leaves... what was it, a total of 10 production towards Settlers and Workers. TYG will have 13. The cap can benefit from a chop into a Worker after the Warrior, and I think if we start a chop now TYG can get 2 more Workers out in 5 turns if I understand overflow right.

I would still really like to whip a WC in QB next turn (we'd have to switch production now). Without Worker attention, though, I think it's gonna be a long wait for the Granary. Probably have to grow it to size 4, which sounds really awful to me, with no improvements. Considering our Worker shortage, might we be better off whipping a couple of WCs out and, I dunno, build another Worker while we secure the area and improve elsewhere? It sucks to do all that whipping without a granary, but I dunno.

We will probably end up with more chops pre-math than I thought (we should get it EoT 49), unless we do more pre-chops and roading. I don't think I can do that planning now, though. I'm kinda running out of my free time for the day, but I can check the forums or e-mail periodically during the evening.

[Serdoa]

You should be able to grow to size 4 this turn in the cap while starting a WC, next turn start the worker, double-pop whip it the turn after, overflow in another worker, finish it the same or the next turn (probably the next). Cap-warrior can move with the settler (settle a turn later if necessary but you probably should have enough vision, do you?). WC in the cap can be whipped next turn if necessary instead of starting the worker or the overflow can applied to it if necessary etc. So you should be ok on that front.

The worker east of TYG should finish the pasture this or next turn right? I would move him 2S afterwards into the forest and chop that one. That should get you enough into the already started Granary to whip it as well as you can put 4 more turns of hammers into it. Best to start a WC for one turn (if that does not delay the Granary) so that you can whip it if necessary.

The other worker probably best starts with moving into a forest and chopping. Till Maths come in are enough turns that you will want at least that chop (and the one in QB) to come before imo. Though if you see something better to do with him, do that.

Lastly, TYG can probably grow to 3 for the improved sheep, 4 for the Cottage while building a WC. Start settler at 4, double-pop whip, overflow in WC.

As always, those are just suggestions. It might not make sense, I don't have the full picture. Just what I can take from that one screenshot.

[Whosit]

The pasture finishes this turn.

I'm kinda too tired to process all that, but it feels like it's slightly too light on military. It sounds like we'll be getting another Settler out without being able to escort and defend it. But maybe I just missed something.

[dazedroyalty]

Well, this game needs some serious attention and planning as the last 3-4 turns have been played with very little planning. After the great Worker Destruction of 2013, a new plan has been badly needed. Unfortunately, Whosit has had to drop off the team due to real life issues which is a blow because discussing the game with him was the best motivator for planning. I'm sad to see him go, but will soldier on.

As to the actual game, I took some screenshots that don't seem to have made it to my dropbox folder. Not much to say. My one concern is that Nicolae has a warrior fortified on a hill by my border and that's not a good thing. He's clearly keeping an eye on me. Maybe he thinks I'm going to try to retaliate at him for the worker thing. Maybe I'm paranoid but I think he might be planning a settling push my way. I'm debating killing the warrior with a war chariot.....

More soon.

[Whosit]

I'm with you in spirit! If you catch me on gmail I can still chat about stuff, though I will probably not know much about what's going on in the actual game. But if thinking out loud or having a soundboard would help out, I think I can still assist in that capacity for now.

[dazedroyalty]

Too bad this isn't full diplo! You could be the silent "bad cop" on the team. Hard to do that with AI Diplo tho...

[Whosit]

Bad cop is fun. Instead, I recommend you just silenty kill NC's Warrior with a War Chariot.