[SPOILERS] Sandover(cre/spi) of Egypt

[Sullla]

On top in both Food and Production is an excellent sign in the early game. Nice work! Of course, in a non-tech trading game, you'll have to get the GNP up and running too, but that can wait until later.

[Sandover]

The Barbarians are Attacking!



Another Warrior appeared out of the fog at Psamathe. I reluctantly retreated my Worker from the Pig tile and even more reluctantly one-pop slaved the Spearman. I could have just moved my Zergling out of the city for protection, but I decided it wasn't worth the gamble risking both him and a Worker on a bad roll. Safety first, even if it may cost me a little in terms of development. The others will face the same problems as well.

I'm starting to think there might actually be a large lake at the centre of the map. More exploration needed.

[Ilios]

That's a really nice second city site...

[Sandover]

Where are you Scooter?

My territory is free from barbarians at the moment so I'm doing an exploration update today. I'm not too far behind Twinkle in the Post Count War despite my being ill few weeks ago, but it looks like I will have to play catch-up for quite some time still. Oh well, lets get to it.



My southern explorer has pretty much confirmed that my fertile lowland valley is a large lake!? Bollox!

Besides the poorly edited ocean tiles and weird river (wonder if my so-called God was hammered when he created the world?) there's not a single food resource for a port city. Don't see myself settling there anytime soon, but I wouldn't be surprised if there's an island in the middle of that lake. Meh, the others can fight over it if there is one. The Pharaoh of Egypt worship sand, not water!

I'm planning to build another city east of Psamathe, but I haven't mapped it out since the exact spot isn't determined yet. Reckon Psamathe will supply the settler/defenders for that one, while Sandoria do the same for the northern Gold city. I'm sending a War Chariot to explore my west and after that southwest, where there should be at least one strong site near the Pig that's visible in the above screen shot.



My Zergling in the east has now discovered a stretch of fertile land. He's on the same longitude as Sandoria so I should run into a neighbour before too long. There's potential for a really strong port city over there, that would also make the perfect border city with that protective mountain pass/lowland killing ground combination right east of it. But I don't think that land will be mine. At least not through peaceful means, anyway.

I want to know where my opponents are so I can start planning their demise. Can I turn into a medieval conqueror or do I need to wait for drafted rifles? Some vassalage/theocracy abuse would be fun now that I'm Spiritual, but then I need to get a religion along the way. I actually haven't decided what to do after Maths yet. Try Judaism? I decided against a Great Library gambit, won't need Construction anytime soon and Currency feels really abundant at this point. It's hard to play on Noble, since I have a feeling I get techs faster than I can use them, which is probably kind of true. I considered Metal Casting earlier, but I should probably just head for Monarchy at this point. I have some nice food bonuses, so I will need the extra Happy. Not to mention that I have Wine at Sandoria. Hm. Maybe even go Archery, now that I can't build cheap Warriors for Military Police anymore.

Guess I'll play it by ear. If someone is closer than I expect I might attack with Longbows/Catapults/War Chariots just for the hell of it. I could surely give a naive wonder-builder some headache provided there's no Catapults on defense. But I'm sure that's just wishful thinking at this point - there should be a lot of distance inbetween civs.

Hm, here's an idea. Lets try Judaism, and if I don't get it I bulb Theology and maybe grab the Apostolic Palace? With Gold for that Paya-whatever wonder I could build a Priest Economy. But if one of the Industrious guys try to challenge me I'll be in trouble. I want Theocracy anyway since I'm Spiritual, so I may just settle for that + Christianity. But it would cost me a delay on the Academy in Sandoria.

Too many variables, I need some more espionage info. Wait, what's my Astronomer doing in the Copper Mine!? What? I did? No I... Oh right, I did! Lame!

Give me some bloody contacts already so I can just ask people what they are doing.

[novice]

Besides the poorly edited ocean tiles and weird river (wonder if my so-called God was hammered when he created the world?) there's not a single food resource for a port city.

BLASPHEMY!

[Sandover]

The Future Egypt in Dot-Mode

The game has been passed around rather slowly as of late. Nevertheless we've now reached turn 40, and it's time for another update. Today I'm focusing on city locations.



The Gold city (yellow) is still a high priority, though slightly less so due to my now having Copper at Sandoria. Even so, this will be my next city. The Fur and Gold will make at an awesome early commerce city, with the added bonus of +1Happy in all cities. As soon as Sandoria is done with the Worker (my 4th total) it will build the settler for this location. I'm not planning on slaving since I want to build two consecutive Workers upon completion of the Settler. Might still change my mind about that, I guess.

I'm also planning a city in my west now that I've explored that area. The blue dot may not seem like much of a city at first glance, but Cow + Sheep gives it a food surplus of 5, and there's 5 grassland tiles to cottage. It's going to be a decent commerce city, but as a backline filler it's not a priority site.

Moving on to the south.



Psamathe will whip a Granary next turn, after which it will spend some time regrowing before building the Settler for the purple spot. White is also an option, but obviously mostly guesswork since I haven't explored fully over there yet. I'm trying to figure out the best way to specialize my cities in this area. Psamathe will be a commerce hybrid that can do a little bit of everything. Purple is probably going to be my Heroic Epic military spammer, while a first glimpse at White makes me think there's potential for a commerce powerhouse down there (in which case I will prioritise it over Purple).

Black is a crappy filler with great defensive potential as it guards that small coastal pass, has awesome visibility range both west and south by virtue of the peaks, and protects my core from naval assaults.

What I want out of my cities is:

1 High Production Wonder/Military Builder that I can use as my National Epic GP-generator. This will probably be Sandoria as it's commerce potential long term isn't what I want out of a commerce capital.
1 High Production Military Spammer with Heroic Epic that will supply the bulk of my army. Purple dot looks like a no-brainer for this role at most.
1 Fast Growing Draft Camp where I can place the Globe Theatre. I don't have my eyes on a particular spot yet as I pretty much never give one of my core cities this property, but I reckon I'll find a decent spot for it sooner or later.
A limitless number of Commerce Hybrids that will handle teching and can assist with military when I decide to mobilize. This will be pretty much every city I found since most cities will have a decent amount of production potential available by default.
As many Pure Commerce Cities as possible. I won't find a lot of good spots for this kind of cities, but White dot looks sort of promising.

I'm also considering whether I want a strong a naval base or not. I'm actually thinking I might want as little as possible to do with that lake in this game as I see no real need for a navy, but haven't made my mind up yet.

[Sandover]

Planned Updates for Later:

- Egyptian Lore; the modified naming theme.
- Tech Path; developing the rapid expansion strategy.
- Creation of a Foreign Policy; the others are out there somewhere.

[Rowain]

Planned Updates for Later:

Looking forward to them

[Sullla]

That's a very nice overview of how things stand, and where you're planning to go in the future. Seems like you're off to a good start in this game so far.

[Sandover]

Tech Path; Developing the rapid expansion strategy

My current techs are:

The Wheel
Agriculture
Hunting
Pottery
Animal Husbandry
Writing
Mining
Bronze Working

With 2 turns left until the discovery of Mathematics. Once that is in I've grabbed all the techs I need to support my rapid expansion strategy. That means I'm now free to decide upon a new path, and here's what I have in mind.

Step 1: The Hanging Gardens
The reason:
- I've pretty much beelined Mathematics already, making it a natural move.
- I need Masonry to build an Aqueduct (req. for the wonder), which is also needed on the way to Monotheism (where Judaism is still available), meaning I can hit two birds with one stone.
- 100% chance at a Great Engineer if I avoid pool contamination, which is basically a free wonder.
- The population boost from the Gardens goes well with my intention of expanding fast (many cities), making the wonder more powerful.
- I've decided to turn Sandoria into a production capital/national epic city.
- I can still manage to get the Settler and a few Workers out of Sandoria before building it, so there's no lost progress at the Gold city.
The risk:
- Moogle is out of the race since he built Stonehenge.
- The Oracle is a much more likely choice for Bob, since he founded Hinduism and need the Great Prophet points.
- Twinkle got the extra +Health from being Expansive, so I figure he prefer other wonders.
- Sandoria alone can currently outproduce any of the other civs, making a lost race unlikely.

Step 2: Judaism
The reason:
- A religion is useful and hard to get from somebody else due to the large map.
- I want Masonry (prereq to Monotheism) anyway, for the Gardens.
- Monotheism is on the way to Monarchy, even though it's the longer route to take.
- It opens up Theology, where Christianity is a viable backup alternative and Theocracy (attractive to me as Spiritual) becomes available.
The risk:
- Someone else may already be on the way there, in which case I can't catch up. Two out of five opponents already have a religion though, and Judaism generally isn't seen as a very attractive claim.

Step 3: Monarchy
The reason:
- Plain and simple. A great tech which will be needed once I stop expanding outwards and want to focus on upwards expansion instead.

Step 4: The Apostolic Palace
This one surely isn't set in stone, but I will aim for Theology if I lose out on Judaism (most likely through a Great Prophet generated from an Obelisk). As Spiritual I have cheap temples, and since I want Sandoria to build some wonders I might as well make those wonders into the religious ones and run a Priest Economy. (Though not Paya as I wrongly suggested in an earlier post.) I'll look into this idea again further down the road.