TheArchduke and the Gentleman Bastards lead the Mongol Horde

[TheArchduke]

Exploration efforts continue. I will do a preliminary dotmap for a 2nd city in 5 turns when I got a bit more info too early atm.

Although the tile where the warrior is, is an awesome city and possible pink dot.

   

   

[TheArchduke]

A lot more information can be gleamed from the score with Rise and Fall.

Especially the era scores are revealing.

I am the 2nd one to grow to size 3, but due to 2 turns spending time for pottery, I am behind in tech for now.
Still only 2 players have met and one natural wonder was found.

I continue exploring and have put up city sites. Nothing stands out apart from the awesome spot in the south which I would love to pink dot.

   

   

And I have earmarked Granada for conquest. Whilst I may like the military bonus for my encampments, a quick conquest early on is too valuable.
And their suzerain bonus is bad. If it was good, like Kabul, the mediocre site in itself would tilt me towards preservation. Alas..

[TheArchduke]

Right.

Not only is Wealthy site the natural expansion of my neighbour, but it is Sumeria as well.

Without forcing contact? I turn around.

   

   

[suboptimal]

Is this map the same size or the next size up from the one we had in PBEM 6? The capitals here are just as close, if not closer, than the capitals in our game (we were 18 hexes apart center to center). I guess the question for the scout becomes is there an opponent that close to the north? That'll complicate things quite a bit if there is.

Does the formative plan become settle Pasture Sea and unleash the hordes?

[suboptimal]

Just came across this thread on CFC: https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/1...ug.628169/

Apparently the Veterancy policy card is bugged and will cause an increase (potentially massive) in the production cost for an Ordu each time the policy is moved around between slots or removed and later put back in.

This might be worth a look in SP as it could mess things up.

[TheArchduke]

Wow, major thanks for the headsup.

Anyway, pasture site is the most probable now as it is covered by my capital from Sumeria.

And map size should be the same, so yes, more cramped.

[suboptimal]

How many city states are in this game? If it's 2 per person that's going to be especially cramped.

Pasture also gets a head start on getting the corner claimed for Mongolia before whomever is in the NW can get started there. I suppose Fertile River then becomes a good spot for an anti-Sumeria choke point if a 3rd or 4th settler gets built before the inevitable war?

[TheArchduke]

Really unsure about my dotmap now. Fertile River is a deathtrap towards Sumeria.

Even more problematic, I want to avoid being scouted by Sumeria as long as I can. Thus my warrior which have not made contact with Sumeria, turns E.

Yeah, I saw him but due to hill sight rules, he did not saw me.

Which is peculiar to say the least.

So my warrior will scout out the area SE of Granada for maybe a Natural Wonder, a CS or a barb camp. Going N risks running into Sumeria.

   

The Slinger will stay close, very close to the capital and good news, my scout in settlervision may have found another CS.

   

[TheArchduke]

Loading up save, I met up my third city state..

What is going on here?

   

Seems CQUI is broken. I exit the save, disable CQUI and reload the save. Will have to see what happens to my save in PBEM 7, I think I started with CQUI there, but for PBEM 8 I disabled it. Now it seems reenabled because it has been updated? Will check.

Anyway. Reload the turn.

First of all, my screenies of the last two turns are not avaiable. I met another military CS to my north as a first and decided to circle around it and head west.

   

And there seems to be a CS hidden in the corner and a natural wonder with it. Not this time Cornflakes. I will scout the other corner now for Natural Wonders and City States.

I have zero interest in meeting Sumeria and Rowain in any way, shape or form earlier then needed. So the warrior will make a wide circle and uncover stuff E and SE of my capital.

   

Also we will hazard even more by going settler next. The slinger will have to cover the builder and the settler. After that we will build chariots. Let´s hope Sumeria does not show up with 2 warcarts out of the blue. Then I am fucked.

   

It also seems that my northern neighbour and Rowain both decided to scout initially into the other direction. Meeting three CS as a first is awesome.

We will take advantage of this by going for settler->builder->chariot->chariot->Encampment

And eat a CS. Although I seem very lucky with the contact and the quests for those CS. I got Irrigation, Bronze Working and The Wheel as eurekas I need and I want all of those.

What do you think suboptimal?

[suboptimal]

Your scout may have come within line of sight of your scout and then left it, but that's enough for the meet to happen.

If I understand this correctly (I'm on vacation and reating on my phone) we've met two military cIity states and an industrial. I like the idea of settler next, probably for lake pasture, as the +4 production for units will get it out that much quicker. I think the build orderived wirks well and that Hong Kong and its natural wonder should be on the menu. Keep the militaristics around for unit production until we know we can hang with Sumeria. Any thoughts about military traditon early for Maneuver for chariots?