[SPOILERS] - tales of Brennus, famous Chinese warlord

[yuris125]

My guess is, he wants a capital with all land tiles. If this is the case, he will have a better capital long-term, which makes sense in a game where vertical growth is prioritised. But I think it's not worth it, working a 2/0/2 tile with your 19th citizen is not the end of the world

Or he wants gold in the capital. Which also makes sense, but not at the price of delaying the capital by 2 or even 3 turns

Will be interesting to read his thoughts after the game

[Zero_1627]

Indeed. But he has scout, so good information - so he thinks he sees location worth sacrificing 2 turns.

Other things: scouting: I'd like very much to see what's visible from the hill to SE - it seems like good observation point and with safe (visible) access. Therefore, NE Archer will return to Beijing, and Warrior will start going clockwise around the city, in large arc (terrain to N-NE seems more lush than W-SW).

This plan has a drawback in not scouting quickly W/SW, where precious metals are located. It may be choice, though: strategic resource or Gold+Silver...
EDIT: It's fully possible COmmodore laughs at my assumptions right now, of course

[Zero_1627]

T3 done - NE archer moves back, remaining scouts don't reveal much. Next turn - SE archer reaches hill, cultural borders expand (and Beijing starts working the Cows!)

[yuris125]

Working the cows, +1bpt, nice

Oh, by the way, I just realised why you said 10% research bonus wasn't giving us anything, and I think you're missing 1 beaker. The game shows we get 9bpt - 8 from the palace and 1 from the city tile. But whenever you have a city, you also get 1 bpt which the game doesn't show - this is why when you set research to 0% and have no scientists, the number of turns to discover the tech is still finite. This beaker is not generated by cities, and is not affected by city multipliers, but it is accounted for when the game calculates pre-req and known tech bonuses. So we were getting 1bpt pre-req bonus after meeting Serdoa

[Zero_1627]

Working the cows, +1bpt, nice
Oh, by the way, I just realised why you said 10% research bonus wasn't giving us anything, and I think you're missing 1 beaker. The game shows we get 9bpt - 8 from the palace and 1 from the city tile. But whenever you have a city, you also get 1 bpt which the game doesn't show - this is why when you set research to 0% and have no scientists, the number of turns to discover the tech is still finite. This beaker is not generated by cities, and is not affected by city multipliers, but it is accounted for when the game calculates pre-req and known tech bonuses. So we were getting 1bpt pre-req bonus after meeting Serdoa

Hmm... we get 9 beakers from cities, and 1 automatically from game. Our total (I checked how much tech increases) is 10 beakers. So it seems the bonus is 0 (after rounding)?...
Edit: If we get bonus with 10 base beakers but not 9, our GNP next turn (visible t4) should be 18.

[Zero_1627]

Turn 3 demographics:


Serdoa settled, and not a completely landlocked capital (8 squares). Rival best GNP increased to 19, but worst production is down to 2 and crop yields to 3. 19 GNP is consistent with someone working Wines and researching with +10% pre-requisite - probably TT switched after meeting Serdoa. That would also give 3 food/3 hammers. 2 Hammers - I suspect Mongolian capital is not on a plains hill. Rival best 5 food - maybe Serdoa founded near flood plains, or just cows?...

Land area - I don't understand this. Rival best has 17, me 6, Serdoa 8. That's 31. Even if remaining player has the same area as rival best (probably has, after founding in place and border expansion!) - that's 48 tiles total. Yet average is 14, which would mean 56 owned tiles total... (well, possibly 53-59 depending on rounding)

[Zero_1627]

Warrior moved 1N... and found Mongolian Archer! I don't think he'll attack while we're in the woods (and on a hill), though - not with one of irreplaceable ultra-modern elite CG3 units . But we now legally have contact... I knew other players would be near and that Serdoa moved, but I hope this doesn't mean I'm his closest neighbor!!!



Location of my SE Archer looks very promising for city location... assuming it has access to any strategic resource (Horses preferably...). Wishful thinking. NW scouting revealed (besides Mongolian Archer) Stone resource - just near Marble, and with Silver a stone's throw away. And with lots of peaks .
Now, should I scout further SE (move on pigs hill), or change direction to NE now (move towards visible forest)?...




Demographics: land area of China increased to 17, average value unchanged (and now correct at 59 total). Maybe it counted with my border expansion somehow last turn?!

Also, Wines are no longer worked - with border expansion, Furs became available (1f/2h/1g, exactly like cows for Worker production).

[yuris125]

We're last in the turn order, so the demos accounted for border expansion of everyone else

I don't see a 2nd city spot yet, I like 2nd city to be the production centre, but there are not many hill in sight yet. Also we didn't explore NE, but we see flood plains there, a city could definitely go there. Let's not get ahead of ourselves, it's just T3 and the first Settler will not be out until T20-something, even if we go Worker-Settler

[Zero_1627]

We're last in the turn order, so the demos accounted for border expansion of everyone else

Yes, but average matches only if I assume all players border expansion (not just all other players) - and then my value should be 17, not 6.

I don't see a 2nd city spot yet, I like 2nd city to be the production centre, but there are not many hill in sight yet. Also we didn't explore NE, but we see flood plains there, a city could definitely go there. Let's not get ahead of ourselves, it's just T3 and the first Settler will not be out until T20-something, even if we go Worker-Settler

Sure, just idle thoughts - currently I think that Horses location will be decisive for 2nd city (not necessarily Copper, that may be substituted by Iron later...). And I also saw those floodplains, that's why I considered scouting with NE Archer for "one more turn". Current plan is to swing both remaining scouts in that direction (warrior already changed direction from W-NW to N, was planned NE next turn but will probably be NW if Mongolian Archer moves away).
...though that location does have 4 hills (grass, one with pigs) and deer. and LOTS of food. Normally I'd seriously cosider it for 2nd city, substituting whip for hammers in early growth.

Also, I think that Worker-Settler may be a bit of stretch... I'd like to grow to size 3 before starting on a Settler - probably Barracks for growing (usually would be warrior, but I see very little point in building Warriors here). I don't yet know whether growth would happen right after Worker, or after 2nd Worker (probably the later option). Growth to size 3 would be reasonably quick with improved Cows and Wheat, and it'll be great if 3rd citizen could work improved Furs.

Edit: Serdoa may try to choke with his super-archer. I hope he won't, though!

[yuris125]

Your stats are not included in Rival Average. So it all matches, (17+17+8)/3=14

I think copper is more important than horses. Normally you don't want to research IW early, copper is enough to hold off any early rushes. But you have to have copper, otherwise HArchers kill you. At the same time, mounted units are not critical for early game

Also remember that copper is not fully substituted by iron; it probably won't matter in this game, but copper speeds up construction of Colossus, SoL, and cathedrals for certain religions