[Spoilers] Beyond the Sword and Back - Ilios relearns some old tricks

[darrelljs]

For that matter with the mod you can't net the Cow without Hunting, so you'd want that before you could physically move to the Cow.

Keep in mind I'm Lead Boots, but I usually hate spending Worker turns on roads until my resources are improved.

Darrell

[Ilios]

Hut gives Map:



I refuse to do any sort of C&D.

[Azarius]

I have no idea what candy corn is, sounds nasty though.

Candy corn is some horrible confection made of sugar that is really only sold once a year at Halloween. It tastes about as bad as you may imagine.

On a game related topic, my natural inclination would have been to settle east as well. I'm curious why you'd have done it in SP but not here? My guess is that the wasted turn is a bigger deal in MP than SP, and the some of the benefits of settling on the river (extra health and access to a levee) aren't likely to be relevant in the scope of the game, or at least not to offset the turn.

[Ilios]

Candy corn is some horrible confection made of sugar that is really only sold once a year at Halloween. It tastes about as bad as you may imagine.

Doesn't contain Corn I suppose.

On a game related topic, my natural inclination would have been to settle east as well. I'm curious why you'd have done it in SP but not here? My guess is that the wasted turn is a bigger deal in MP than SP, and the some of the benefits of settling on the river (extra health and access to a levee) aren't likely to be relevant in the scope of the game, or at least not to offset the turn.

That's pretty much it. That one turn at this stage of the game means a lot, and the extra health and access to levee doesn't weigh up against delaying the snowball for one turn.

I'm sure the BTS pro's on the forum would be able to explain it a lot better.

I still think cities one tile off a river look untidy though...

[Ilios]

T4 scouting reveals gold!



T4 Demographics:



Whosit popped The Wheel from a hut.

And I'm the only one with a lake in my Big Fat Cross.

Hmm, I was looking forward to working that yummy forested lake, but I need Fishing for that, obviously...

[Ilios]

So, I'm off from work for the holidays, so I might as well give a little update.

As you recall, I had received some bad advice from Darrell early on:

Darrell
You really should go Wheel first, so you can connect your cities.
Ilios
Hmm, are you sure? Because I only have the one for the moment, and it's already connected to itself.
Darrell
Look, I have a lot more competitive BtS games under my belt, you're going to have to trust me on this.
Ilios
You make a good point. Alright, Wheel first it is! I mean, knowing where Copper is isn't that important in this game, right?
Darrell
Excellent...

Luckily, I only put a turn into Wheel, and switched to Mining instead.

Shame on you, Darrell!

Anyway, here is what my Scout has discovered so far:



You can see Whosit's borders in the top left of the screen, and Dhalphir directly to the south of the Scout.

Also...



Fish, wet Wheat, Ivory and Gold all in reach by founding on the ...

Meanwhile, over at my place, I have pretty much decided on my second city spot:



It will share the Wheat, has the grass Cow and hill, and loads of grass river for cottage heaven. Copper would need to appear at a damn good spot for me to change my mind.

Gazglum's Scout has found me, he's seen my city!

Clearly, I need to kill him now.





Working all the indicated tiles will get it up to 10 hammers, which is the magic spot for the new Imperialistic (10 + 60% = 16).

And lastly, Demo's:



My esteemed opponents have been popping techs left and right...

[darrelljs]

The sad thing is I had to go back and check my tech advice to see if you were joking. Its sad because a) its been that long since you've done an update that I've forgotten everything about this game, and b) I accepted the possibility I suggested The Wheel first, which is clearly insane .

Darrell

[Ilios]

The sad thing is I had to go back and check my tech advice to see if you were joking. Its sad because a) its been that long since you've done an update that I've forgotten everything about this game, and b) I accepted the possibility I suggested The Wheel first, which is clearly insane .

Darrell

I'm not posting a lot because at this stage of the game there frankly isn't a lot to talk about, unless it's microplans and demo analysis, which I refuse to do, because from experience I've found that playing the turns then quickly becomes a chore, which I want to avoid.

I am interested in knowing the opinion of people of the following:



This is an old screenshot of T14 (we're at T17 now). I have pretty much decided on founding on the forest plains, because it grabs a grass hill in first ring.

I could found south of the spot, gaining a forest to chop, but losing a river grassland.
Imagine the same situation but there isn't a grass hill, and you don't have the time to chop the forest before founding on it, what would you choose, losing the forest or losing the grass river?

No spoiler I think, since I've already decided to found on the indicated spot, unless Copper is revealed just out of first ring or something.

Anyway, I'd be interested to know your opinion (if there are any people reading, there seem to be a LOT of games going on at the moment).

Back to the game!



I've finished the second Worker and have had to switch to a Settler this turn to avoid losing hammer overflow (the Quechua is at 9/10 hammers). Next turn, I'll start growing Auster, finishing two and a half Quechua's before resuming the Settler build at size three. The plains hill will be mined by then, so the city should be able to finish the Settler in two more turns (T22).

Scouting:



I will clearly be needing Iron Working and Calendar before expanding south.

Top 5 cities:



Dead last - but not growing on unimproved tiles...

[Ilios]

T20 update:



Commodore has placed Copper in a rather unfortunate place, screwing up my dot map and my mind.

I don't want to found on the spot grabbing both the Cows and Copper in first ring, because it doesn't allow me to share the capital's Wheat.

I briefly considered founding one tile south of the original spot, and going for Hinduism. However, this would have set me back economically, as I really cannot afford to delay The Wheel and Pottery for so long.

So I'll found on the spot 1S, but will just have to pop its borders to get the Copper improved.

This carries a risk, as I won't be able to build Axes and Spears till around T35-40 (Terrace finished + 5 turns + improving the tile). It is a calculated risk, because with pasture food unlocked at Hunting, there is less of an incentive of going for Animal Husbandry and the ability to build Chariots. As for an Axe rush, I should be able to get a sentry net up soon so I can see any invasion quickly, and Archery is only a 3 turn tech currently. Lastly, I'm not scared of early barbs thanks to my Quechua's (+100% vs Archers).

So I will be able to connect my cities and improve my commerce, and get Copper hooked, eventually...

[Ilios]

Ok new turn.

Last turn I revolted to Slavery, as did Dhalphir. He founded a new city, as did I:



That was actually pretty fast by Dhalpir. I'm sure he's a Worker behind though.

I've also moved two Quechua's to Scout around. The one you see in the top left corner of the previous screenshot is going to check whether there is any food near the Gold in the north west.

The other one is checking my east, where I have no map intel. I've moved him back because there is a bear on the prowl there.

Auster will finish that Worker and then on to another Settler probably.

Enter Roth:



As previously mentioned, Roth will grow on Auster's Wheat tile. That Cows tile will be improved by the time Roth hits size two. The other Worker will mine the forested grass hill between my two cities, with the chop hammers going to Roth. That will allow me to whip for the Terrace pretty quickly.

Scouting in the south:



I will be racing Dhalphir for that coastal area. The jungle area will be very productive once I get Iron Working and Calendar.
Seeing all those happy resources, I'm thinking I won't be needing a religion soon. I can always pop my borders with Terraces. I'll just spam Settlers and grab as much land as I can.

Demographics: