[SPOILERS] - tales of Brennus, famous Chinese warlord

[Zero_1627]

City of Beijing detected Mongolian Scout coming from unexpected direction - it is really small map!



And our stalwart scout regained sight of Celtic Warrior (and some more terrain):


In 2 turns we'll have a Worker and would be able to improve nearby terrain somewhat! I hope all those scouting units won't get _too_ close... but would feel much safer with at least one Chariot. Some more time...

Trivia: mountains to the South may be inhospitable for humans, but vegetation thrives even at high altitude:



Also - Lincoln already has 50 points, while AT does not. So AT researches something costly (Mining?... Animal Handling?...), while Serdoa quickly gained a small tech (not Fishing and not Mysticism judging by research boni we get, so I'd say Agriculture).

[Zero_1627]

Robert Tye observed wonderful spectacle of freshwater whales:


Also, AT got his tech. I don't think he could have gotten Animal Husbandry (edit: he surely didn't as we don't get "known tech" bonus for research), but he should have enough (even with quite a lot over) for Pottery. Makes sense, as he's a Financial leader. But to get Pottery, he should need Wheel first... Unless he went for Sailing and Lighthouse (can they be built without salt water a ccess?)?! (makes some sense for Financial leader, but then I'd expect him to start with work boat, not Worker, and already have bigger population!). Or he got cheaper tech but switched research in the middle to make such guessing more difficult

EOT - first dangerous animal spotted - a lion directly below the Whales.

[Zero_1627]

Next turn Worker should be available. I see 2 options for him - either farm Wheat, or farm 1N of it as temporary activity, to be able to pasture Cows as soon as possible. I think option 1 is better, as we'll need upgraded tiles close to city anyway.

Of course if those tiles are threatened (there are some warriors and archers roaming nearby...) use Your discretion.

Scouting: Robert Tye's next move would probably be into the open . I think moving directly N will be safer than NW (only 1 unseen tile), and that general N direction is preferable to E - more city location potential, E is already very far away. If any danger is spotted, again use Your discretion.

I'll probably be able to move before noon both Saturday and Sunday, but not be available at later hours - so if You see save at 1400 GMT or later please go play turn .

If there's more than 1 turn: probably best next tech is Bronze Working, unless there are horses within our current cultural borders (then Wheel first).

[Zero_1627]

Next 2 turns are in, and I've done everything contrary to my own advice .
First of all, creating a Farm costs 4 turns of Worker activity! with that long to wait, we'll gain more by pasturing Cows ASAP than Wheat 2 turns earlier. So new Worker moved 1E from Beijing and began farming, breaking at EOT to be able to react to any spotthed threats. In retrospect I shuld have moved to Wheat and put 1t of farming there and 1t where I did, but now it's too late. Next turn he begins priority job: pasturing Cows!

Robert Tye found missing player: TT's Warrior moved into the open NW from him:

We welcomed him traditionally (with arrows), and they were overwhelmed by our hospitality. Robert tye was hit twice for 30HP total, but gained 2XP - a promotion! I decided to promote immediately, as it'll both speed healing (and scouting) and will be useful for attacking any opponents/animals/barbarians if that's needed, as well as defending in the open. I took Combat I - Guerilla is purely defensive (he's already superior defender) and too many units are immune to first strikes (namely Horse Archers ). And additional +10% everywhere is always useful.
Next turn he moved to the hill to admire the view and heal:

The lake has A LOT of useful life forms in it! I'm afraid we can't afford locating city here, though (almost no production) unless there's Iron or otherwise unclaimable Copper nearby.

When we are talking about strategic resources: we now know where Horses are!


And they are reachable by Beijing culture (in 16 turns)! Remember that site I was wishful for (1 SE of horses)? I want it. Badly. A LOT of food, reasonable production (3 hills, horses, deer), a lot of farming potential. And secures Horses.

More will come - RL intervenes, I can't continue now. But I modified research path, please don't change it if You play today!

[Zero_1627]

(continuation)
Also, last but not least, it's close to Beijing but doesn't steal any important tiles, and is on defendable hill.
In short - I think it's the best available city site (assumin Copper is placed similarly to Horses).

Also, I have rethought research path:

1) The Wheel: access to Horses (and making some Chariots ASAP)
2) Bronze Working (to make sure Copper is accessible)
3) religion! - I haven't yet decided which one, but (contrary to the image) I'm thinking about Polytheism, which allows Monotheism later (for Organized Religion and/or if someone is faster). Having very own religion allows culture in cities and more happy...

then take some quick and/or essential techs and beeline IW to be able to place 3rd city.

Beijing production plans at the moment look like:
1) finish second Worker
2) grow to size 2 (not 3, 3rd citizen will not be as useful and will be further away) while building Barracks (there's not much to choose from!)
3) build Settler
4) build Chariot (basic security)
5) finish Barracks, build 1-2 more Chariots (experienced ones!), stop to think

And, lastly, I've entered espionage screen and assigned weights - 2 to Serdoa, 1 to everyone else. This way half our current espionage points go to Serdoa (he returns compliment ) and we maintain difference with everyone except Mayans, who chose not to put espionage at us (at the moment). Spies are banned, but espionage itself is not and research visibility is really nice (not that I expect to have it on anyone any time soon, but Serdoa's graphs are another matter).



Also, 3400BC is in. Not much happened (Worker began pasturing Cows, Rober Tye began healing). Serdoa gained another tech!!! (high commerce, high boni, cheap techs, combination of all 3?)

[Zero_1627]

Addendum:

proposed city site:


..And remaining known territory (NW of Beijing, with nice and otherwise unclaimable resources and more hills but not quite as hospitable):


Potentially something N of Robert Tye's position may be nice (we know the lake is extremely lush!), but it's also significantly further from Beijing.

[yuris125]

It's too early to tell, need to know where the copper is, but I would hold on founding the city next to horses. With limited number of cities, I think if we can claim a resource with existing cities, we should do so

And if we delay the 2nd city until we know where copper is, researching Wheel before BW doesn't make sense. Horses will be in our borders in 16 turns, we don't need Wheel until then. I would strongly suggest BW before Wheel. After Wheel, we need Pottery for Granaries and cottages. Then we can start thinking about religion

[Zero_1627]

And if we delay the 2nd city until we know where copper is, researching Wheel before BW doesn't make sense. Horses will be in our borders in 16 turns, we don't need Wheel until then. I would strongly suggest BW before Wheel. After Wheel, we need Pottery for Granaries and cottages. Then we can start thinking about religion

I disagree (about a few things). Knowing location of Copper before planting any cities - of course, that's the plan, but Wheel->BW is fast enough for that. And Wheel first allows me to start building road network - for defense now even if not anything else (road allows city defense Archer to strike at marauding Warrior trying to pillage an improvement 2 tiles away and return next turn).
Pottery - I don't plan to build many cottages, as they're slow to grow and easily pillageable. Granaries would be nice, but not that much of a priority.
And having own religion is, I think, important - extra Happy and culture withut hammer investment. And grabbing it quite early (as You say, Pottery and BW at least are important) increases chances that we won't have to race for religion and will get it with first religious tech.

As for city location - 3 tiles SE of Beijing is the best I see now, but I plan to see a bit more before having a Settler (N/NW of Robert Tye's position, specifically). No hard decisions in this regard yet.



Other things: 2 other players have their first upgraded tiles, so my decision to go for Cows first means we delay only 1 turn. Also, one of them has 7 food, which means either Serdoa with something I don't know (grass Wheat?) or someone making Work Boat and working Fish (very strong tile, btw!).

[yuris125]

I still feel you're overvaluing early defence. The earliest you will be attacked by other players is when Serdoa gets his Keshiks. Barbs, even though raging, won't be much of a problem: on such a small map, there won't be much space for them to spawn. Build a couple of Warrior for fogbusting, and you're safe. Also, you won't have much Worker turns to build roads for some time, improving special tiles has higher priority. And even you have Worker turns to spare, it's better to spend them on forest chops

As for cities, ultimately we need to decide how we're going to specialise them. Beijing is not a production city, and not a GP farm, so it will be the commerce city. The best GP farm spot I see is where the Archer is, N of the rice. So we need a production spot to find. And the city site you proposed is not a production spot, 3 hills + a horse is not enough

[Zero_1627]

2 players increased population - I'd risk saying that remaining one is Serdoa. So probably noone went for 2 workers first. Also, Beijing citizens now work pastured cows! Robert Tye fount a row of hills behind a river - next turn he'll climb one of them.

ETA to next Worker and the Wheel: 3T including this one (2T at EoT).