January 1st, 2018, 14:23
(This post was last modified: January 1st, 2018, 14:40 by Woden.)
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Nubia-Turn 32
Slow turn for me, eventful turn internationally! Start off by moving my units on my side of the continent...
Warrior is going to investigate the city in the southeast, maybe have vision next turn? Archer moves back to Amon to protect the Builder coming out next turn. Slinger by Isis moves south to defog a little bit and finds a potential canal city. I place a pin. The east side looks like the lake continues straight south, so unless the west side jets back west, it should be a 1-tile spot. Hopefully I didn't screw it up settling on the Tobacco and not 1 tile northwest.
Here is a look inside Isis...
First tile grab shows 1 sheep but could be either sheep or the stone since they have the same yields. Will be one of teh sheep since I plan on buying the stone to harvest into a settler. I finally figured out something with the CQUI. If you notice on the above screenshot, there is an exclamation next to the city name. I have been trying to figure out what it is for a while now. Come to find out it reminds you to check what tiles the citizens are working. Above I don't have anything locked but if I lock the jungle hill...
It goes away. Small but useful and thought I would share because it is not very intuitive.
In the west...
No notification if spearman attacked but archer is injured. Now a warrior appears! I take a shot at him. He will be able to attack me next turn and, if need be, retreat to a hill and attack him. I do have a promotion that I can heal with but should be able to take him out before needing it.
I put back the desert dot map, making sure they were set to "team"...
Also, I left a pin for CMF. There is a new barb camp by Salamis. Hopefully I can clear the northern camp and make it down there before the scout finds his city. CMF, you might want to bring your slinger to Salamis, after taking out the scout, to protect your improvements.
Internatioanlly...here is the score...
We are at the bottom but most of the differences can be attributed to religion (Holy Sites and having a religion). Too early to be worried. I think we are on the track and have a good plan. Now for the interesting part...
Mike bought the second Prophet! I say bought (and not another project) because no new religion this turn and if you buy a GP, they can't move until the following turn. Unless Singaboy finishes Stonehenge this turn, Mike will have the second religion! Also notice that the Prophets are still 60 points, if Singaboy is building Stonehenge and completes it soon, we may have the chance at Classical Age Prophet! You don't see that in every game! Are we playing against the AI? I don't even think the AI is that quick. Now we need to find a Natural Wonder.
January 1st, 2018, 14:46
(This post was last modified: January 1st, 2018, 21:16 by Chevalier Mal Fet.)
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Turn 32
More slow early-game turns, sorry about that. I'll try to hit the highlights.
Score report:
Notes: a)Mike manages to beat China to the second prophet, meaning that Rome/China despite the free monuments and despite China's wonder-building builders will be johnny-come-latelies to both religion and to pantheons. It looks like Woden and I made the right call in staying out of the religion race - our two neighbors flung their early efforts into it, only one came up with the beliefs they wanted, and both have set their development back a bit. Japper and Mike are both still on one city, and it's possible that neither has a settler out yet, while I'm 2 turns out from settler #2 and ~7 turns out from being ready to take on Kabul (although I think I want archers first, so call it more like ~15 to give me time to research and upgrade).
2)Emperor's treasury is empty, again. I take it back about him buying tiles - my new theory is that he's feeding gold to the Archduke. I can't check the Archduke's treasury without meeting him, so I no longer know how much gold he's accumulated and have replaced his gold total with a ? to indicate that it's purely an estimate of his generated gold so far, based on Woden's numbers from a few turns ago. He should have enough to buy a builder by now, so if the gold feeding continues I expect it's for a settler purchase.
I'm only a few turns from Early Empire myself, so I kind of shudder at the waste that represents - you can build settlers at half-price soon enough, why burn precious gold? Woden and I collaborated to buy a builder mostly to grab the free envoys and make a play for a pantheon. Still, Archduke is behind the settling curve a bit, so maybe he's trying to accelerate the snowball. Or maybe he wants the gold for something else entirely! Who can know these things?
I don't spot anything else interesting in the score, although my Domination score now exceeds my CQUI domination, a first.
On to my turn.
Scouting report in the west:
I continue to slog through thick tropical terrain south of Nan Madol. I uncover little of note, but I learn two things about Mike: First, his capital has apparently grabbed all the good second-ring tiles, since I can't imagine that mountain was a worthwhile purchase or that it's in his second ring, which can only mean it's natural second ring expansion. His culture rate is fearsome - Trafalgar has only taken 3 second-ring tiles so far, with many more to go. Could he have bought tiles? I dunno.
Second, he just finished Early Empire - note that his borders are closed. Combined, the two things make me happy my scout scooted through here already. A few turns later and we might have made contact. As it is, I think I'll slip past unnoticed. Part of me wonders if Mike has slipped his own scout past our borders somehow, and is giggling to himself that he knows I'm here but I have no idea of his presence, but I think there's enough activity between Salamis and Trafalgar that he couldn't manage that one.
The home front is heating up:
The barb scout steps towards Trafalgar, so I cross the river behind him with my warrior, trapping him. Meanwhile, the slinger steps into the city and unleashes my first ranged attack of the game. That scout is dead meat next turn. To the west, behind the interface, Woden's archer faces a wounded warrior out of the camp.
However, the barb troubles are only just getting started for me. A camp appears just to the west of Salamis!:
Thanks for the tip, Woden. 
It's close enough to grab the horses at Trafalgar if a scout activates the camp, so taking this out is a top priority. My slinger out of Salamis and the other at Trafalgar will divert this direction, if I hit it early the two should be enough. I don't want to call on Woden's archers for help, I need to pull my own weight, too.
Economically, Salamis starts work on my first trireme - er, galley. Still in Civ 5 habits. I will use one to help take Kabul, and then scout the coast. The other naturally will head in the opposite direction. Trafalgar is two turns out from a settler, then will build a pair of military units.
There'll be an interesting chain of events in 2 turns. Salamis is two turns away from size 3. At the same time, Trafalgar will build a settler. Now, I believe growth happens before production, so Salamis should hit size 3 while Trafalgar is still also size 3, triggering the Early Empire inspiration. However, it's possible that Salamis will grow after Trafalgar drops a pop, in which case I won't hit the inspiration until Actium is settled. In that case I'll divert to another civic to avoid wasting culture.
Finally, Isis is already revealing intresting facts about the terrain to the southeast. Namely, we need another canal city:
Yep, that's a chain of at least 3 lakes divided by a bunch of 1-tile isthmuses. The bright side is that it's VERY defendable, exactly what I was hoping for on the map. The downside is it's a LOT of settler investment in mediocre sites to lock down the border and give England a two-ocean navy. The wines make Woden's new isthmus city more appealing, so I want to help him get that settler out as quick as possible.
Thanks for following along, and I'll see everyone tomorrow!
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CMF,
Just an FYI, it is going to be a couple of hours before I can play my turn. Still at work and didn't turn my computer on this morning or remote play. Just thought I wouldn't leave you hanging.
January 2nd, 2018, 22:20
(This post was last modified: January 2nd, 2018, 22:20 by Chevalier Mal Fet.)
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No worries, Woden - the pace is slowing as we exit the holidays and everyone goes back to real life. Today was my last day of vacation - teachers report back tomorrow and our students are back on Thursday. I dunno what my new playing window will establish itself as, but we'll see.
Anyway, on to turn 33, a very fun turn abroad!
Turn 33
Score report:
The score has just about all the excitement! First, it looks like Singaboy finished Stonehenge right after getting the save from me yesterday...but he didn't found a religion yet! Can you not move the Stonehenge prophet on the turn you recruit him, like a patronage Great Person? I dunno, but the one turn's delay was a lucky break for Mike, who DID found a religion on his turn - good catch on the Faith buy, Woden, I hadn't connected those dots. I've also never used patronage to buy a great person (because in single player the AI is never really challenging me for them anyway, at least not the ones I want), so I didn't know that you couldn't move 'em.
Anyway, that means that our religion race has come to an end. I think it worked out pretty much ideally from Woden and I's perspective: Our two neighbors both sank lots of production into great person projects, slowing their expansion (Team Relic is still sitting at one city apiece, and still no settlers unless masked by population growth). Then, Emperor/Archduke, a team we don't mind having peace with, grabbed DOTF and Choral Music, denying those to the religiously-focused Kongo/Khmer. Meanwhile, Team Empire is in the background putting together Stonehenge, only for their investment to come up just short, as Relic founds one turn ahead of them anyway and Woden and I were never fighting for a prophet to begin with! Singaboy could have gotten the prophet perfectly naturally. I imagine the culture is nice to have, but it's still not the best return he could have gotten on investment. I hope this means that nobody except for Emperor is happy with the beliefs they landed. Now, it's up to Woden and I to capitalize on our neighbor's investments by grabbing as much land as we can.
Let's see, what else...Emperor continues to dump his money into Archduke's coffers, and I did the same for Woden this turn. Not sure what his plans are, and he hasn't posted as I type this so you'll have to wait to hear from him!
With the score analysis done, let's dive into the turn. Woden finished Bronze Working, giving me the Inspiration:
As Woden and I start to go back for some cheap techs, our science numbers should start to catch up to our neighbors'. Nothing to be done about culture, at least not until I can figure out how to make Nan Madol mine and mine alone.
The west sees Nan Madol's warrior in an inconvenient spot:
Another freshwater lake appears. Are they normally this common? And no rivers, apart from the two by our capitals. How odd. No sign of Japper yet, either - I could be passing north of him, Woden and I were on roughly the same latitude. I'm happy to keep cruising by, I want to find city-states more than anything. Once Woden suzerains Kandy Natural Wonders will also come into play.
At home, the battle of Trafalgar continues as the scout crosses the river:
He's dead meat for my slinger, and I easily clean him up. This also means my slinger is perfectly positioned to cover the settler as it emerges. I'll need to skirt north of the Salamis barb camp, which is hemmed in by the lake down there. The warrior on one side and the slinger on the other will lock down the camp. My warrior's a bit beat up but I'll camp in place and heal while the slinger pecks away at the spearman. The scout will be cut off and unable to trigger a barb wave...I think.  Cross your fingers, folks!
Woden's archer took a hit from the barb warrior but survived. That man is a hero.
With domestic matters done, let's take a look at Mike's new religion:
Holy of Holies - they're making no bones about their religious gameplan! He took Jesuit Education, a really powerful belief as oledavy showed in PBEM4. Tithe seems okay - I would have gone for Church Property myself, unless they plan to have lots of followers in other cities outside their empire. Does this mean they're planning a wave of missionaries? We either let them convert us and they win a religious victory, or we create bunches of relics and they supercharge Kongo. Again, this cute plan runs into the crippling error of Condemn Heretic. We're never signing a DOF with these guys, we're not going to fight them religiously, we're just going to murder every hapless Mightily Oats they send our way.
Finally, a shot of England's core:
Galley in 6 turns, slinger in 1 turn. Irrigation finishes next turn, and hopefully I land the Early Empire inspiration.
Hopefully there's a turn waiting for me after work tomorrow!
January 2nd, 2018, 23:03
(This post was last modified: January 2nd, 2018, 23:05 by Woden.)
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Nubia-Turn33
Lots of information this turn. Start with...
Now lets see where our iron is located. First in the southeast...
One first ring at the center canal city plus 1 more 2 tiles northwest by the 1 tile lake. By my capital...
1 3rd ring at Amon. Might want to buy that tile since I get +1  to mined strategic resources. There is 1 more in the north under the "Your" notification. And over by CMF's lands...
Nothing by Tafalgar and one a copy in one of my planned desert cities. Valletta has a source and 1 more by next to the Jutland spot. Looks like CMF is screwed for iron. May have to rethink the planned desert city?
Also notice in the above screenshots that a wonder has been completed. Let see what Mike and Singaboy have selected...
Only Mike's Khmer has founded a religion. Confirmed it was Mike and not Singaboy by checking the score. I wonder if Singaboy ran into not being able to found a religion if you don't have a pantheon? I ran into that went testing for PBEM2 when I went for a super early Stonehenge and had to wait a couple turns until I had enough faith for a pantheon. And I think this is around the time Rome should get their pantheon, might be a little early for China?
Now since all the other teams have got their prophets super early, I check and...
We can still grab a Classical Era Prophet for 60 gpp! Well, as long as Rome or Germany don't build a Holy Site before us. Nice! I might want to research Astrology half way after Masonry to be ready if we ever find a Natural Wonder.
Lastly, in the desert...
A barb slinger shows up. This will complicate getting the barb camp gold in time to buy the Encampment tile in 2 turns. I decide to move to the iron tile to get out of reach for the slinger but still be able to kill the warrior...
Next turn I will move towards the camp and promote. Then by pass the slinger and take the camp and come for the slinger afterwards? Anyways, just in case I can't, I send this...
I don't need the extra Luxury since I won't get a 3rd by the time the deal runs out and CMF has just enough gold to where I can get to 60 gold to buy the Encampment tile in 2 turns, unless my costs go up to 65 gold. I don't think they will since I think they just increased to 60 gold, from 55 and I don't plan on finishing a tech or civic and the capital just grabbed the 2nd wheat this turn (probably the reason the cost increased).
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Damn, I really have to reach for iron. Guess I should focus on horsemen? That would make sense anyway, since Agoge boosts melee and ranged, but maneuver boosts horsies, so we wanna specialize.
Plus, if I can grab the middle canal city and the Jutland site, I can have two native sources, and you can always supply me with extra. It's not too big a deal as long as the team controls 2 or 3 copies.
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(January 2nd, 2018, 23:09)Chevalier Mal Fet Wrote: Damn, I really have to reach for iron. Guess I should focus on horsemen? That would make sense anyway, since Agoge boosts melee and ranged, but maneuver boosts horsies, so we wanna specialize.
Plus, if I can grab the middle canal city and the Jutland site, I can have two native sources, and you can always supply me with extra. It's not too big a deal as long as the team controls 2 or 3 copies.
Ya, we actually have access to a lot of sources but they all fit my settling plan. Maybe we forgo the southern desert city and have you plan to settle a city 1 tile southwest? That will give you at least 1 native source. We really need to get a presence in both the southwest and southeast as soon as possible, which means having your next settler go towards the southwest and mine going to the middle canal site. Maybe I will have my next archer head southwest to connect with your settler and I will bring the current archer in the desert and we go for an extreme pink dot and have you settle the Jutland site? This will grab you iron and deny Khmer an iron. I think with 2 archers and whatever unit you bring along, we can defend it until we get more units built, especial since Khmer went religious crazy and probably has a small army.
What do you think?
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Then again, that might be too aggressive. At least we have a little time to think about it. Your settler should have 7 turns to make it to Actium site, so we have about a week to weigh our options.
January 3rd, 2018, 02:55
(This post was last modified: January 3rd, 2018, 02:56 by oledavy.)
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(January 2nd, 2018, 23:40)Woden Wrote: Then again, that might be too aggressive. At least we have a little time to think about it. Your settler should have 7 turns to make it to Actium site, so we have about a week to weigh our options.
Agreed, could I get a run down of the possible third city locations?
Nicely done reading the religious race you two. I think Japper007 and MikeForAll are setting themselves up for some pain later by not expanding and focusing too heavily on religion. You're definitely going to want to capitalize on that, because Sullla and Singaboy are certainly going to.
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Oledavy, I will get some screenshots of the southwest unless CMF beats me to it. Agree on taking advantage of Mike/Japper's delay of development.
I am almost liking CMF settling a close city, like 1 southwest of the Nubian pin close to England's capital (by the iron). There may be a few advantages:
1. City can be founded in 4 turns,
2. Close and easy to protect, and
3. Delays Japper/Mike for meeting us soon which gives us a little time to set up invasion,
Here is my reasoning, now that Japper and Mike have a religion, there next step should be to expand and each put out a few cities. They will probably have to run a little but of a farmers gambit. Why not let them build us a few cities? CMF settles a quick third city and builds a few warriors and another settler. I build a few warriors and more archers. We rally our troops southwest while I research Iron Working after Masonry and Sailing. We bring CMF's third settler to settle further southwest and upgrade the warriors to swords and then start an invasion. Now here is the sneaky part. CMF's scout north of both their capitals. Try and make it to the northwest part of their continent and maybe head towards Rome and China's continent. Once we are close to being ready for an invasion, backtrack the scout to their capitals to meet them in the west so they think we are west of them. Then hit them in the east. Quite an elaborate plan and doomed to fail but what do you think? Maybe we could even get a GG and a few horses out.
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