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

[Ilios]

T26:

Whosit revolted to Slavery, so I expect a second city from him soon.

Last turn, my scouting Quechua discovered a fed bear:



Somebody lost a unit, hopefully Whosit, I already have one opponent who got vision on my capital. The Quechua also discovered some yummy Pigs!

Now where to put a city... West of the Sheep foregoes the Pig, but is the safest and closest spot. On the Desert hill is close to ideal, micro wise, but puts it uncomfortably close to Whosit lands. So, even if it doesn't grab any first ring resources, I believe founding on the Wines is the way to go. It is safely behind the river, still has a floodplains from the start, and grabs all the stuff. But should it be the next city spot?

While we mull this over, let's take a look at the east:



That is a great spot near the Rice... Iron Working has just moved up another notch on the technology wish list!
That city and the two southern ones will form the commercial backbone of my empire.

But again, I will need IW first, so I will be expanding west and north at first.

So, I really want the Pigs spot, but is too much of a reach at the moment. You first want to found around your capital, and ideally your three first cities form a right-angled triangle for maximum safety, resource overlap and worker turn optimization.

Instead, I will first grab the city spot to Auster's north, near the grass Cow and the dry Wheat:



That city will be very easy to set up, with two food resources, two hills and a grass river in immediate range. Once it has a Terrace and has hit size four, it will be able to replace the capital as Settler/Worker pump from time to time.

That means I risk losing the Pigs spot to Whosit, but such is life. It would be quite the reach spot for him in any case, and I'm leaving the Quechua fortified on the desert hill to keep an eye on the area.

Ideally, the Pigs spot is founded at around the same time as the middle spot, which will become my military pump, as there isn't much else there is to do with the spot. By that time I will be pretty close to Iron Working, so I can continue my expansion south and east.

Demo's:



I'll talk more about tech choices and mid to long term plans in my next update.

[Ilios]

Behold my awesome microplan!

[NobleHelium]

I'm not so sure BW before Wheel was the right move. Off the top of my head I would have tried Hunting > Wheel > Pottery first. Although Slavery is nerfed some...

[darrelljs]

I thought you said you would do your micro on the fly?

Darrell

[Ilios]

I'm not so sure BW before Wheel was the right move. Off the top of my head I would have tried Hunting > Wheel > Pottery first. Although Slavery is nerfed some...

I blame Darrell.

But seriously, I don't think so. Maybe if I didn't decide to place a second city that shares the capital's main food tile, so I could grow my cities a lot quicker. And indeed, Slavery is nerfed, so multi-pop whips should be executed carefully and sparingly. It is one of the reasons I took a CHA leader, which will allow me to one-pop whip the same city multiple times without waiting for the whip anger to disappear (remember, RBMod CHA gives all my cities two extra happy faces). And finally, I would have founded a city three tiles from Copper, which would have forced me to plant a city in that fetid southern jungle if I wanted to build Axes/Spears.

I thought you said you would do your micro on the fly?

Darrell

Correct. No spreadsheets were used to produce above microplan. I just made a visual representation of what is already in my head.

Speaking of which, it might not be entirely clear from the micro plan, but I intend to found the 'Military Pump' site before I try to grab the Pigs/Gold. With some planning, I should be able to grow the city to size 2 using the plains Sheep, then have it stagnate for a bit on two grass mines while building Workers and Settlers. This will allow the pigs/gold city to use the Sheep from the start and grow quickly so I can whip its Terrace sooner rather than later.

Rough ETA's: T41 for military pump and T45 for pigs/gold.

[darrelljs]

Just because you used the smug smiley doesn't mean the reply was smug.

Darrell

[Ilios]

Just because you used the smug smiley doesn't mean the reply was smug.

Darrell

Bah, you're just jealous.

<Insert smug picture here>

[NobleHelium]

Your micro plan is very ambiguous...

[Ilios]

Your micro plan is very ambiguous...

Thanks!

[Ilios]

T33 Update

Chabon is founded:



Cows tile will be improved next turn, Wheat will be improved by the time Chabon hits size two.

Overview shot:



I will whip both Roth and Auster next turn.

Roth's whip anger hasn't worn of yet, but who cares when you're CHA. That way I get to improve the Copper tile a turn sooner, just about when the city hits size three.

Foreign Relations:

Hinduism has been founded a couple of turns ago, and just when I met Yuri and got vision on his second city, he founded Buddhism in it.



He and Gaz are pretty close to each other. Also Gold and wet Corn in that Buddhist holy city...


Dayum!

Demo's:



My GNP figures are inflated due to creative accounting known tech bonus while I research Writing.