[Spoilers] Alhambram Comes Back for Moor, playing as Arabic-Moorish Civilization

[rho21]

OK, I'll throw out a bit of a stream of consciousness.

How long until you get another envoy (either through tech or naturally)? I assume it's going to be a while, or you could go for suzerain of both Zanzibar and Hattusa before long anyway.

Looks as though Hattusa is building a campus, right (to its SE)? There's a fair chance it won't get conquered until that's built, but that might be quite soon (does the UI give any indication?).

Jester will surely not let anyone else take the city, with it so close to his capital. It'll give him another boost to the great scientist race if he does take it once it has a campus, on the other hand leaving it alone (and eventually becoming its suzerain) gives him a boost to science now and long-term.

Us becoming suzerain of Hattusa makes it more likely to be conquered: it looks much less tempting for Jester to suzerain if he'll be fighting for the privilege, and more tempting if it takes extra science away from us.

Our science rate is already good, thanks to the early campus. Is it worth holding the envoy in case we find a better option soon. A military city state perhaps? While not as strong overall, the envoy might last a little longer there, and the boost to early military builds could be very helpful, given that we're just about to start a bunch.

On the other hand, Jester is currently ahead in science. Perhaps we should take the opportunity to stop slipping further behind our neighbour (and to get further ahead of our other neighbour so we're ready for any legions that show up). How are we doing on eurekas at the moment? I assume extra science won't force us to start hard-researching technologies.

There's no point putting the envoy into Zanzibar until we are about to complete the holy site.

[Alhambram]

Ok, I am keeping envoy for Hattusa for now, if I don't see better city states, then I shall become suzerain of Hattusa and bear the consequences.

Turn 43:

My warrior in west moved one tile west stumbled upon barb camp and barb horseman.
   
After some thinking I value safety of my warrior and moved warrior SE, so he can climb hill next turn. Also that warrior did participate former barb camp around Cordoba site cleaning, so he already have 50% xp needed to get promotion, 2 attacks from barb then he shall get promotion. 
   
Seem that there is city in west, Japper's city of a city state? I also don't know what is happening west of barb horseman. A battle or no units defending city so barb horseman roams free?

Meanwhile my slinger can't enter Hattusa's borders, also east of Hattusa it seem be a sea. Which mean that path of my slinger to south is likely blocked. There is two ways for my slinger to pass: suzerain Hattusa and I can move my units into its borders. Or I shall have my slinger walk back all the way to western area of Jester;s empire where barb warrior did chase my slinger away. (There is third option: declare Jester war, but I am not doing that now).
   

I finished builder in capital and rearranged tiles: slinger complete in 2 turns and at same time 7 turn growth for Granada. Also I rearranged tiles for Cordoba since it is one turn away from growing to size 3 and grabbing Early Empire eureka, next turn Cordoba again rearrange: zero growth and max production. 
   
I plan to keep Agoge till Political Philosophy is finished to mass produce warriors and slingers for now. After that I shall pick Classical Republic Government which lack a military policy card. I shall use builder for following: 3rd wheat farm at Granada, camp at truffle tile to get one more extra amenity and getting 10% extra yield at size 3 and 4 capital and size 1 and 2 cities right now. Finally last charge is going be used for iron mine. Finished builder in Cordoba shall improve marsh rice tile and 2 quarries for extra production.

Pinidcator's Great Prophet per turn raised from 5 to 6 which indicate that he completed a another shrine. I think that he is going for Choral Musical to grab free culture for every shrine and temple and with two shrines it is 4 extra culture per turn.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

I think waiting until you can send 2 envoys to Hattusa at ~t50 is the right play - you only need to keep it alive for about 8 turns before your total science received from it is the same as if you sent an envoy right now. And everything after that will be pure profit, in terms of science.

If there is sea to the east of Hattusa, that must mean Krill is southwest of Jester? Might be just across the water from us!

[Alhambram]

Turn 44 and it shall be so till after 5 December when Jester fixed his internet connection.

Cordoba grew to size 3 and I got Early Empire. Civic research swap to Political Philosophy, I shall complete it at turn 52. No policy swap since I still want produce a builder and military units, so Agoge and Ilkum are kept.
Also wheel is over 50% now and I swap it to Astrology and shall research it in 6 turns, till now no natural wonder and I decided to not wait for it anymore and toss down holy site sooner than later.
   
Slinger shall be completed next turn and I shall produce two more after that and then warriors as long I have Agoge (till Political Philosophy is completed).

And I received a diplomatic message...
   
Well Krill want some blood and invites me to participate. Unfortunately all I have nearby CFCJesterfool is a wounded slinger, so I can't really contribute right now. Moreover when they are at war, that is less chance for Hattusa to be invaded and me staying out of war would help it. This makes Krill's intentions clear, there won't be peace between him and CFCJesterfool.

At Great Person screen it is clear that Jester completed a project, he took a lead. Meanwhile Krill rose 3 points and at same time GG per turn is 3, with other words Krill completed a encampment.
   
Also note that Pindicator shall grab religion next turn already thanks 2 holy sites, 2 shrines and Divine Spark.

In west Japper blocked path to camp, he shall claim it. So I decided to scout further and found Japper's borders.
   
I highlighted red tile with stone resource, it is at least 4 tiles away from Japper's city, so it mean that there is city over there in north. Another Japper's city or a city state?
And last thing about Japper: he got Political Philosophy past turn and revolted to Oligarchy Government with +5 melee strength.   This indicates that he might go war soon, but against Pindicator or a city state?
Japper got DoF with me till turn 68, so his target must be somewhere else. But I shall pay extra attention: oligarchy powered Legions aren't a joke!

I still intends to go on Classical Republic when I got Political Philosophy, I need to catch up a bit after food poor opening. 
   
I actually have 41 points now, UI didn't update yet.
My score summary:
10 civics
19 empire
12 tech

So rho and Chevalier, till 5 December we can discuss how to continue from now.

[rho21]

I've not forgotten about you: I accidentally bought Civ VI in the recent sale and so have been... conducting my own research into how the game works.

Can we have an overview picture of the land between Cordoba and Japper? I'd like to get an idea of where we can settle a defensible border city without making it look like too much of a pink dot.

[shallow_thought]

I've not forgotten about you: I accidentally bought Civ VI in the recent sale and so have been... conducting my own research into how the game works.

The "One more turn" is strong with this one. I'm sure that the flaws will eventualy wear me down, but having grabbed it in the sale, right now, yeah, it's a time sink.

Enjoying the thread. Too spoiled (and incompetent) to contribute, but will be following along.

[Alhambram]

Finally it is time to play again! So this post is going be sort of summary of things since PBEM 5 has been out for long. Need to lighten myself up.

Turn 45:

First things firstly, I moved/healed my units around and my warrior at west uncovered Japper's city of Fenris (his second city which mean his capital is further west or southwest). 
Also my warrior met with Kumasi which was located north of Fenris (I already suspected that Japper met a cultural city state due his abnormal high culture per turn).
   
Several things to highlight, firstly Japper already got couple of archers which certainly helped him with clearing barb horsemen. I do plan to finish Archery when I finish 2 more slingers.
Secondly with Fenris and Kumasi blocking all tiles to west, I am unable to scout west further without asking for open borders, should I do that? I rather don't Japper know that I met Zanzibar right now if possible. 
Thirdly Japper is already suzerain of Kumasi (likely 1 envoy from meeting, another for fulfilling request and finally a envoy from Mysticism civic). This mean that Japper has full overview of this area (he shares same line of sight as Kumasi) and no sneaking around possible for me. Suzerian power of Kumasi by the way is: trade routes to city states grants +2 and +1 for every district in city state that you are sending trade route towards. At this moment Kumasi lacks any district as I can see, so Japper don't gain from it now but in future he will. Main reason of suzeraining Kumasi is to gain full view of this choke point, heck! all Japper need to do is toss down a encampment one tile east of coffee and this area becomes a tough nut to crack. I would need a navy or make detour over Kumasi to crack this nut.
Fourthly, Kumasi offers me a very easy quest: eureka for masonry, I am doing it after I grabbed political philosophy to make good use of diplomatic league (2 envoy for 1 at first time sending envoy) which I also intents do same with Hattusa (finish a archer, so I shouldn't upgrade slinger to archer till after political philosophy).

And here map between Fenris and Cordoba as rho21 asked!
   
I spend a quite long time thinking and gazing at map. Ultimately I think that I shall settle one tile west of oasis, disadvantage of this is that it is around flat area making it easy target. That is why I intents to nullify this weakness by purchasing 1/3 tile (2 tiles west of planned oasis city), chop that forest and toss down a encampment there. Voila with nearby hills and forests for my eventual archers to hide, I can create a decent choke point over there. Also with settling on that spot, I remove all decent fresh water spots to settle for Japper. I shall need to settle another city north of oasis city, it is a tundra area. But there is river and also I got Dance of Aurora pantheon, that balances out things a bit. I shall send my warrior who is roaming near Fenris to scout that area north of oasis to find a suitable city spot. 

And since we already are watching a settler map, one more. This time in east:
   
I more of less already decided now that I shall settle city one tile east of coffee tile at choke point. That brings valuable horse tile within just one purchase range. Also I shall toss down encampment one tile NE of horse tile to make this difficult to pass choke point for eventual aggression of CFCJesterfool. Anything beyond my planned city spot is basically pink dot in eyes of CFCJesterfool and I should bring a decent military along to defend those spots.

When Political Philosophy is complete, I shall use colonization policy card to produce settlers in both cities. I intends to settle one city at west and one at east. That one at east is going be my planned city spot one tile east of coffee tile. At west however I am not sure, shall I go for oasis spot now or play bit more conservatively and found city closer by Granada? (that spot one tile east of horse resource that I did bring up several times in past). 

Granada did complete a slinger and starts another slinger (3 turns to complete, city grows to size 4 in 5 turns), I need two more slingers now. Cordoba is working on builder now, 5 turns to complete. It might speed up a bit, next turn my builder at Granada shall create truffle camp which gives Cordoba 10% yield boost due happy people from amenities. I am saving up gold for trader and upgrade for 3 slingers. 

Scores:
   
When I saw this, I suddenly realized that Japper lost one point, which indicates that he produced a settler. We shall see whether he pushes in our direction or settle in another direction. Currently everyone is still at 2 cities. My score is by the way constructed this way: 12 civics, 19 empire and 10 techs. Total 41 points. My tech score might look low, but I already finished over 50% of wheel, all I need is mine iron mine. Also I got low population from start which was reflected in low science per turn in beginning, but I am starting to improve now.

Overview:

Science:
Alham 9,5 , 5 tech
Japper 9 , 8 tech
Jester 9,2 , 7 tech
Krill 7,8 , 7 tech
Pindi ? , 6 tech

Culture:
Alham 7 , 6 civic
Japper 10,2 , 7 civic
Jester 5,3 , 5 civic
Krill 5,6 , 5 civic
Pindi ? , 4 civic

Domination (from strongest to weakest):
Pindi ?
Jester 115
Krill 109
Japper 77
Alham 47

My score is bit troublesome, but at this moment I am cramming out slingers and eventual warriors. Score of Jester and Krill combined with their Great General race indicates that those two might go war against each other soon. Pindicator seems to go after city states with his high domination score or maybe a surprise attack against Japper since majority of Japper's army is around Fenris now dealing with barb horsemen.

At gold per turn, Krill's GPT of 14 is remarkably higher than me, this indicates that Krill met with another commercial city state somewhere. CFCJesterfool and Japper GPT are low, 2 and 3 respectively, too many archers and infrastructure can wreck economy this early. In case of CFCJesterfool it is possible that he already got horsemen, he got tech, encampment and resource, that is all that he needed. So I am bit worried about Krill, his GPT don't indicate that he got archers or better to defend against horsemen, hopefully Krill shall manages to produce some hoplites quick, adjacent hoplites have 45 strength against 35 strength horsemen.

Lastly the Great People screenshot.
   
Pindicator grabbed Great Prophet this turn, not religion yet, he likely needed to move him to holy site firstly. Krill (3 points per turn) and CFCJesterfool (1 point per turn) are currently in race for Great General. I and Japper are in race for Great Scienist (both 1 point per turn), I still have 4 turns left of project in Granada to grab roughly 15-20 points quickly.

[Alhambram]

Turn 46:

A barb scout appeared nearby Granada and I moved slinger and warrior as precaution since I plan to move builder with one charge left towards Cordoba.
   
Builder built a camp at truffle tile and it enable me to shuffle tiles around Granada, I can complete slinger in 2 turns and at same time grow Granada to size 4.

Major news this turn is Pindicator founding religion:
   
Well...that was exactly two beliefs that I was planning to pick up. Time to rethink which beliefs I shall pick up now, maybe Jesuit Education. Or go bit crazy experimenting and try out those warrior monks (which was added with latest patch).  By the way since Pindicator got Great Prophet very fast, next Great Prophet is still worth 60 points, not that painful 120 points which I did experience at PBEM 2.

[Alhambram]

Turn 47:

A quiet turn for my empire, nothing happened and barb scout went away. I stay vigilant, next turn slinger completed and I shall produce one more. However whereas my lands are quiet, first war of PBEM 5 has broken out!
   
Krill declared war on CFCJesterfool.
Not really a surprise for me, their encampments, Great General race and rising military score past turns were writing at wall that war between them would break out soon. And oh I did receive request to joint war from Krill too several turns ago.
I think that I am only outsider aware of that fact since both Japper and Pindicator has yet to contact with eastern two players.

My overview is currently limited at CFCJesterfool's lands, however when I suzerain Hattusa, I can slip my slinger through.
   
Note higher defense strength (29) compared with my defense strength (15). This surely indicates that CFCJesterfool got a horsemen and his strength did rise from 115 to 150 (35 points rise, yeah surely a horsemen).
I hope that Krill knows what he does with his declaration of war, Jester overrunning Krill with horsemen and absorbing Krill's lands isn't exactly outcome I want to see here.

[Alhambram]

Turn 48:

Slinger completed in Granada, I produce one more. Also Granada grew to size 4, since not matter which tile assignment slinger was to completed in 2 turns, I decided to go for most gold yield arrange.
   
I shall start producing warriors in both Cordoba and Granada after their builds, also toss down holy site at Granada after 2 turns. When Astrology is completed, I shall finish Archery.

Internationally only news is that CFCJesterfool founded his 3rd city and I don't see it at my revealed map part, likely settled city in direction of Krill. Their war don't seem to happen much aside little decrease of domination score at both sides. First turns of war is mostly moving around units in right positions to strike, after several turns I might get better grasp how war is ongoing.