[Spoilers] Lazteuq and RefSteel's PB51 Adventure

[RefSteel]

The warrior kindly cooperated by suiciding himself into our warrior. Now the path is open to settle city 3 next turn.

Great news! The next Workers will also be delayed a bit by the follow-on effects of emergency measures we had to take, but that could certainly have gone a lot worse after the barb's initial wolf-assisted good fortune!

We will be able to start the cow pasture next turn.

Note that if we want to connect a strategic resource to our empire ASAP (either copper or horses) it might be worth delaying the cow pasture until we get that done. (Depends on how much risk we're willing to take and how quickly we want to be able to go after the barb city.) In that case, it might be better to just road that forest now instead of moving to the pasture. Along the same lines, the Worker now on the incense could "waste" a worker turn moving directly into Enchilada, allowing it to then move 2W to the flat grassland the following turn and start a road.

Quesadilla's wet corn farms are done, giving it a fantastic food surplus of 10.
Quesadilla and Enchilada are both growing to size3 next turn, working on warriors until we can 2pop whip workers as planned.

I think Quesadilla will be unhappy next turn due to lack of military police (and one "cruel oppression" angry face from slavery) - another effect of needing to move nearly all our warriors west. It's probably best to just finish the warrior and accept the -2f, then grow to size 4 (where it'll again be unhappy, but that's less important when building a Worker) on either another Warrior ... or a Library.

After that, I wonder if it will be time to get a library started in Enchilada.

It might be better to get the library in Quesadilla, with its monster food surplus, slightly lower happy cap (since it lacks the palace) and fewer improved and/or strong tiles, but that's just a late-night thought before I go to bed; I haven't really thought through how best to use what we've got. (Having granaries means wanting to get Workers and Settlers by chops and/or whips as much as possible. With Quesadilla's food surplus and granary, it might even be worth growing past the happy cap e.g. to triple-whip a Settler later on. Again, just a crazy late night thought though!)

[Lazteuq]

T50: In honor of the plentiful beef nearby, Carne Asada has been founded. Starting on a granary.

I like the idea of library in Quesadilla first, I think it is the kind of city which could be running 2 scientists very early. Only after a healthy dose of whipping though.

Here is my attempt at writing a moderately aggressive worker plan:
T50: Worker1 puts 1 turn into the pasture, Worker2 moves into Enchilada.
T51: Worker1 moves to the hill 1E of copper, worker2 moves to the plains forest 2E of CarneAsada(wasted workerturn)
T52: Worker2 works on the pasture
T53: Worker1 is done roading that hill, moves on to the copper.
T54: Worker1 starts roading the copper,
T55: Carne Asada's borders expand. Worker2 is done with the pasture, moves 1E into plains forest
T56: Worker1 starts mining the copper,
T59: Worker2 finishes chopping the plainsforest,starts roading
T60: Copper is connected to Carne Asada at least. worker1 goes to road the pasture.
I think by T63 all cities will have copper.
I'm thinking of building axes in Carne Asada as soon as the granary is done. If they have nothing else to kill, maybe we could take that barb city with 2 or 3 axes. I wonder when the barbs start defending with archers instead of warriors? Probably right now...Thankfully, it's not on a hill. Or maybe it would be better to have a barracks first... In any case I'm thinking of Carne Asada as a high-production city in the future.

I wasn't sure what to research next, so I left the slider on 0% this turn.
-I think math is always a good option, but it can wait. I tend to instinctively research math really early in singleplayer,
-Hunting is only valuable for archery, which we will certainly need eventually, but not necessarily right now.
-Fishing->sailing will be helpful later, but we don't have much incentive to work water tiles yet anyway. We definitely want fishing before founding by that western fish, but I don't expect to have a city there for at least 20turns. A few cities have lakes which are pretty good tiles, but I don't think those lakes alone are worth it.
-Mysticism will be necessary for Hereditary Rule eventually, but I think it can wait.
-Aesthetics leads to some spicy wonders, I'm especially thinking of Great Library. That would require a lot of commitment though, probably having to found city4 at the marble. Not sure about that.
-Masonry only makes sense if we go for some crazy late pyramids strat after taking stone from the barbs. Considering that we aren't even IND, I think that's not an option.
-I see little need for iron working, metal casting, horseback riding, alphabet.

I wonder how soon we should try to get that gold hooked up? I don't anticipate founding a city that can work it for another 20 or 30 turns because that land is already definitively ours.

Also, we're on top of the scoreboard! I think that's really just because we have very few water tiles.

Edit: I realized your plan of roading the grassland next turn leads to less wasted workerturns, but it also delays the pasture. hmmm, not sure which is the lesser evil.

[RefSteel]

I like the idea of library in Quesadilla first, I think it is the kind of city which could be running 2 scientists very early. Only after a healthy dose of whipping though.

That makes sense, but bear in mind that it's limited by happiness: If memory serves, until we come up with a way to increase it (like our gold or ivory) its happy cap will be 4: Enough to work both corn tiles and two scientists, but only when its whip anger has worn off entirely. This is going to be a problem empire-wide until we start generating happiness though. That's the reason I was inclined to plant yellow dot relatively early (though not necessarily as city 4) even though it's a back-line city, to connect ivory and eventually work the gold.

I don't think it's safe at all to wait until T63 before we can build units better than warriors. Fortunately, we'll be whipping those workers out of Enchilada and Quesadilla, and at least the one from Enchilada (and both if necessary) should be able to help connect copper (or horses) sooner. Depending on what tiles we worked (and which we work going forward) we should be able to double whip the Worker from Enchilada either T54 or T55.

The plan you described is also off by a turn (it would take Worker1 one turn longer to road the hill and be able to move again than you listed) and the plan I described will be off by two workeer turns since (I assume) Worker1 has already started the pasture. So here are some alternatives:

[EDIT: You don't need to read all the way through all these microplans unless you're curious about how they're done; if you look at the summary of what each does, you can just check the one that does what you think is most important.]

Option 1: It is possible to connect horses for chariots sooner than we could hook copper. That would look like this:

T51: Worker1 moves 1NW to a grass forest. Worker2 moves 2W-1SW to the plains forest near CarneAsada. CarneAsada works the Cow.

T52: Both Workers begin roads. CarneAsada works the plains forest tile (1f/2h).

T53: Both Workers complete roads. (If Enchilada is size 4, it starts a Worker)

T54: Worker1 moves 1NW to the horse and begins a road. Worker2 moves 1W to the cow and begins a road. (If Enchilada has already started a Worker, it WHIPS the Worker, going down to size 2; otherwise, it should be at size 4 and so should start a Worker now.) (If CarneAsada has 12 food in the bin already, it works a grass forest (2f/1h). If it only has 11 food in the bin, it keeps working the Cow.)

T55: Both roads complete. If there's a new Worker in Enchilada, it moves 2W to the bare grassland and starts a Road; otherwise, Enchilada WHIPS its Worker, going down to size 2. CarneAsada pops borders to 2nd ring and works the 2nd ring river cow.

T56: Worker1, on the horse, starts a pasture. Worker2 moves 2NW to the horse and helps with the pasture. (The Worker from Enchilada either completes a road or moves 2W to the bare grassland and starts a road, depending on when it was produced.)

T57: Horse pasture completes; if not completed last turn already, road connection completes. CarneAsada works the Horse.

More to follow...

[RefSteel]

Option 2: Trying to hook Copper up as quickly as we reasonably can:

T51: Worker1 moves W-NW to a bare grass hill (this might be better than the hill directly E of the copper because it will let us connect horses a little faster). Worker2 moves 2W-1SW to the plains forest near CarneAsada. CarneAsada works the Cow.

T52: Both Workers begin roads.

T53: Both Workers complete roads. (If Enchilada is size 4, it starts a Worker)

T54: Worker1 moves 1SW to the copper. Worker2 moves 1W to the cow and begins a road. (If Enchilada has already started a Worker, it WHIPS the Worker, going down to size 2; otherwise, it should be at size 4 and so should start a Worker now.) (If CarneAsada has 12 food in the bin, it works a plains forest (1f/2h). If it only has 11 food in the bin, it instead works a grass forest (2f/1h).

T55: Worker1 begins a road; Worker2 completes a road. If there's a new Worker in Enchilada, it moves 2W to the bare grassland and starts a Road; otherwise, Enchilada WHIPS its Worker, going down to size 2. CarneAsada pops borders to 2nd ring and works the 2nd ring river cow.

T56: Worker1 completes a road. Worker2 moves W-NW-SW to the copper and begins a mine. (The Worker from Enchilada either completes a road or moves 2W to the bare grassland and starts a road, depending on when it was produced.)

T57: Worker1 contributes to the copper mine; if not completed last turn already, the road connection to CarneAsada completes.

T58: The copper mine is complete. CarneAsada is now size 2.

Third option and tech discussion to follow....

[RefSteel]

Option 3: Maximizing high-yield tiles while still connecting copper ASAP, at the cost of several worker turns:

T51: Worker1 resumes the cow pasture. Worker2 moves 1W to the cow and helps with the pasture. (If CarneAsada has 3 food in the bin, it keeps working the cow; otherwise, it works a plains forest (1f/2h).) I believe Quesadilla should now be size 4 (and unhappy) with its Warrior complete. The Warrior remains in place for now and Quesadilla begins a Worker, assuming I'm right.)

T52: Worker1 moves W-NW to a bare grass hill. Worker2 completes the cow pasture. CarneAsada works the cow pasture. Quesadilla WHIPS its Worker, going down to 2 pop, if I was correct about last turn.

T53: Worker1 and Worker2 both begin roads. The new Worker from Quesadilla (now called Worker3) moves 1S to a river grassland, starts a Cottage, and CANCELS orders! (If Enchilada is size 4, it starts a Worker.)

T54: Both roads complete. Worker3 moves 3SW to Enchilada, "wasting" a Worker turn. (If Enchilada has already started a Worker, it WHIPS the Worker, going down to size 2; otherwise, it should be at size 4 and so should start a Worker now.)

T55: CarneAsada pops borders to 2nd ring. Worker1 moves 1SW to the copper; Worker2 moves W-NW-SW to the copper. Worker3 moves 2W-SW to the plains forest near CarneAsada. (If there's a new Worker in Enchilada, now called Worker4, it moves 2W to a bare grassland and begins a road; otherwise, Enchilada WHIPS its Worker, going down to size 2.)

T56: Worker1 and Worker2 begin a Mine. Worker3 begins a Road. (Worker4 either completes a road or - if still in Enchilada - moves 2W to a bare grassland and begins a road, depending on when it was produced.) (If CarneAsada has reached size 2, it works cow pasture + plains forest (1f/2h) - otherwise, it just keeps working the pastured cow.)

T57: Worker1 and Worker2 complete to the copper mine; CarneAsada works pastured cow + mined copper. Worker3 completes a road. (Worker4 completes a road, connecting CarneAsada to the trade network, if it hasn't yet done so.)

T58: Worker1 and Worker2 build a road on the copper.

And just for good measure...

Option 4: Maximizing use of worker turns and improving the cow first, but delaying tile yields relative to option 3 and delaying copper connection slightly relative to previous plans:

T51: Worker1 resumes the cow pasture. Worker2 begins a road. (If CarneAsada already has at least 2 food in the bin, it works the plains forest (1f/2h) - otherwise, it works a grass forest (2f/1h).) I believe Quesadilla should now be size 4 (and unhappy) with its Warrior complete. The Warrior remains in place for now and Quesadilla begins a Worker, assuming I'm right.)

T52: Worker1 contiues the cow pasture but then CANCELS orders! Worker2 completes a road. (If CarneAsada has only 3f in the bin, it works the cow; otherwise it works a grass forest (2f/1h) with intent to chop. Quesadilla WHIPS its Worker, going down to 2 pop, if I was correct about last turn.

T53: Worker1 moves W-NW to a grassland hill near both copper and horses. Worker2 moves 1W to the cow and completes the pasture. CarneAsada works the pastured cow.

T54: Worker1 begins a road. Worker2 begins a road but then CANCELS orders! (If Enchilada has already started a Worker, it WHIPS the Worker, going down to size 2; otherwise, it should be at size 4 and so should start a Worker now.)

T55: CarneAsada pops borders to 2nd ring. Worker2 WAITS while Worker1 completes a road; THEN Worker2 moves W-NW-SW to the copper. (If there's a new Worker in Enchilada, now called Worker4, it moves 2W to a bare grassland and begins a road; otherwise, Enchilada WHIPS its Worker, going down to size 2.)

T56: Worker1 moves SE-E to the cow pasture and completes ther road. Worker2 begin a road. (Worker4 either completes a road or - if still in Enchilada - moves 2W to a bare grassland and begins a road, depending on when it was produced.)

T57: Worker1 WAITS while Worker2 completes a road; THEN Worker1 moves W-NW-SW to the copper and begins a mine. CarneAsada is now size 2 and works pastured cow + plains forest (1f/2h). (Worker4 completes a road, connecting CarneAsada to the trade network if it hasn't yet done so.)

T58: Worker1 and Worker2 continue to mine the copper.

T59: Copper mine complete.

Option 5: Like option 4, but hooking Horses first instead of copper (and thereby getting them connected a turn sooner).

T51: Worker1 resumes the cow pasture. Worker2 begins a road. (If CarneAsada already has at least 2 food in the bin, it works the plains forest (1f/2h) - otherwise, it works a grass forest (2f/1h).) I believe Quesadilla should now be size 4 (and unhappy) with its Warrior complete. The Warrior remains in place for now and Quesadilla begins a Worker, assuming I'm right.)

T52: Worker2 completes a road. (If CarneAsada has only 3f in the bin, it works the cow; otherwise it works a grass forest (2f/1h) with intent to chop. Quesadilla WHIPS its Worker, going down to 2 pop, if I was correct about last turn.

T53: Worker1 completes the pasture. Worker2 moves W-NW to a grass forest en route to horses. CarneAsada works the pastured cow.

T54: Worker1 and Worker2 begin roads. (If Enchilada has already started a Worker, it WHIPS the Worker, going down to size 2; otherwise, it should be at size 4 and so should start a Worker now.)

T55: CarneAsada pops borders to 2nd ring. Worker1 and Worker2 each complete a road. (If there's a new Worker in Enchilada, now called Worker4, it moves 2W to a bare grassland and begins a road; otherwise, Enchilada WHIPS its Worker, going down to size 2.)

T56: Worker1 moves 2NW to the horse and begins a pasture. Worker2 moves 1NW to the horse and helps with the pasture. (Worker4 either completes a road or - if still in Enchilada - moves 2W to a bare grassland and begins a road, depending on when it was produced.)

T57: Worker1 and Worker2 complete a pasture. CarneAsada is now size 2 and works pastured cow + pastured horse. (Worker4 completes a road, connecting CarneAsada to the trade network if it hasn't yet done so.)

T58: Worker1 and Worker2 build a road on the horses, connecting them to the empire.

On tech:

-I think math is always a good option, but it can wait.

Will definitely help: With our Workers so far behind, it might help us catch up some by enabling better chops from all the forests we've barely started cutting down.

-Hunting is only valuable for archery, which we will certainly need eventually, but not necessarily right now.

It also enables spears once we hook copper, which could be important if Persia starts looking for trouble (or if superdeath's random aggression spinner comes up "chariot rush my weak northern neighbor.") It will also let us connect ivory whenever we place yellow dot.

-Fishing->sailing will be helpful later, but we don't have much incentive to work water tiles yet anyway.

Agreed. We need more happiness before fishing will help us.

-Mysticism will be necessary for Hereditary Rule eventually, but I think it can wait.

Unless we want to make a run at a religion (for the happiness), I agree.

-Aesthetics leads to some spicy wonders, I'm especially thinking of Great Library. That would require a lot of commitment though, probably having to found city4 at the marble. Not sure about that.

I don't think we can afford this route right now, but if we can get our demographics into competitive territory and connect our key strategic resources, it could well be worth looking at this again!

-Masonry only makes sense if we go for some crazy late pyramids strat after taking stone from the barbs. Considering that we aren't even IND, I think that's not an option.
-I see little need for iron working, metal casting, horseback riding, alphabet.

Sounds right to me. It sounds to me then like our next two techs should probably be Mathematics and Hunting. I think we may want to get Hunting by the time we connect copper, but saving gold on Math until we can sprint there at 100% (and preferably get a cheap library or two) is probably the best place to start for now.

[EDIT: Barb cities will have warriors, not archers. Barb axes might start spawning soon in the wild though! That's one of the reasons we'll want (units busting fog and/or) better units than warriors ASAP!

As for hooking the gold, I would say, "As soon as we can spare Workers from more urgent duties" - just to improve our happy caps! But I don't know when that will be.]

I hope this is helpful!

[Lazteuq]

T51: Yes this is very helpful! My plan was totally neglecting the soon-to-be-whipped workers. Even more importantly, I wasn't considering the horses!
Workerplans: I'm not sure, but I think I like Plan 5 the most, except I'm confused: Why road the forest SE of horses instead of the grass hill S of horses? In any case, currently following plan5.
Also, I think worker 2 is one turn behind where you expected, he is still in Enchilada at the start of T51, so moving to the plains forest means he can't start the road until next turn.

Quesadilla has grown and will be able to whip worker3 next turn.
Enchilada will be size4 in 2 turns, so it's working on a warrior until then.

About tech: Your thoughts make sense. I had been forgetting about the value of hunting for ivory, and the overall value of the ivory+gold city. I think we'll get hunting T55 by saving gold this turn.

Foreign affairs: We accidentally met Superdeath because his borders expanded. That was inevitable. I'll start scouting farther south now because there is nothing to hide anymore.

[RefSteel]

Good catch and good question! In Option 5, we road the grass forest en route to the horses instead of the hill because it lets workers that start on the cow (once it gets roaded) move to the horse and start improving it right away, without wasting a worker turn, even when the horse itself doesn't yet have a road. This is necessary in order to connect the horse on time - which we can still do in spite of Worker2 being one turn behind where I thought it was. It just takes a little more precision and help from the new Worker from Enchilada. The following plans assume that Worker2 moved into the plains forest on T51 and began a road T52.

Updated Plan - i.e. a corrected version Option 5:

T53: Worker1 completes the pasture. Worker2 completes a road. CarneAsada works the pastured cow. Enchilada is size 4 (and unhappy unless it has or can get an MP warrior) and starts a Worker, working all its improved tiles (and a floodplain if not unhappy). Quesadilla will have a lot of overflow, which it can put into a Worker, a Settler, or a Library. (The Worker from Quesadilla, which I'll call Worker3, has a few options: If we want to get chopping ASAP, it might start by moving S-SE to a riverside grass forest. If we want to start roading toward the gold for the happiness, it can move 1S and start a cottage but then CANCEL orders! If we want to chop just one forest to speed up the library and/or next Settler or Worker, and then work on connecting the gold, it can move S-SW-NW to the grass forest hill nearest the gold.)

T54: Worker1 moves 1NW to the grass forest. Worker2 moves 1NE to a bare grassland and begins a road, but then CANCELS orders! Enchilada WHIPS the Worker, going down to size 2. (If Worker3 is on a forest, it probably starts to Chop. If it's on the roaded river grassland, it moves 2SW to the part-roaded floodplain near Enchilada and resumes the road there.)

T55: CarneAsada pops borders to 2nd ring. Worker1 begins a road. Worker2 WAITS while the new Worker from Enchilada, now called Worker4, moves 2W to its bare grassland and completes the road; THEN Worker2 moves SW-W to the cow, begins a road, and again CANCELS orders!

T56: Worker2 WAITS while Worker1 completes a road AND Worker4 moves SW-W to the cow and completes a road. ONLY THEN does Worker2 move 2NW to the horse and begin a pasture.

T57: Worker1 moves 1NW to the horse and continues the pasture. Worker2 continues to pasture. Worker4 moves 2NW to the horse and completes the pasture. CarneAsada is now size 2 and works pastured cow + pastured horse.

T58: Worker1 and Worker2 build a road on the horses, connecting them to the empire. Worker4 moves SW-S to the Copper.

T59: Worker1 moves SE-SW to the grass hill next to the copper. Worker2 move 1SE to the roaded forest and begins a Chop. Worker4 begins a road.

T60: Worker1 begins a road. Worker4 completes a road.

T61: Worker1 completes a road. Worker2 completes a chop. (All of the following assumes we still feel safe without copper for three more turns, thanks to our horses. If not, we can instead mine the copper starting now and finish it next turn!) Worker4 moves 1S to a grassland, begins a road, and then CANCELS orders!

T62: CarneAsala's granary is complete. It turns Avoid Growth ON and continues to work the Horse and Cow pastures. Worker1 WAITS while Worker2 moves 2SW to the grassland and completes the road; THEN Worker1 moves SW-SE to the river cow and begins a pasture. Worker4 moves 1SE to the river cow and contributes to the pasture.

T63: CarneAsala turns Avoid Growth OFF! Worker1 and Worker4 complete the pasture, and CarneAsala works both Cows, making doubly sure that Avoid Growth is definitely off! Worker2 moves 1N to the copper and starts a mine.

T64: CarneAsala is now size 3 and works all three pastures. Worker1 and Worker4 move NW-N to the copper and complete the mine along with Worker2.

Alternate Plan - i.e. an updated version of Option 4, delaying the horses until we improve the copper and both cows:

T53: Worker1 completes the pasture. Worker2 completes a road. CarneAsada works the pastured cow. Enchilada is size 4 (and unhappy unless it has an MP warrior) and starts a Worker, working all its improved tiles (and a floodplain if not unhappy). Quesadilla will have a lot of overflow, which it can put into a Worker, a Settler, or a Library. (The Worker from Quesadilla, which I'll call Worker3, has a few options: If we want to get chopping ASAP, it might start by moving S-SE to a riverside grass forest. If we want to start roading toward the gold for the happiness, it can move 1S and start a cottage but then CANCEL orders! If we want to chop just one forest to speed up the library and/or next Settler or Worker, and then work on connecting the gold, it can move S-SW-NW to the grass forest hill nearest the gold.)

T54: Worker1 moves W-NW to a bare grass hill near both copper and horses. Worker2 moves 1NE to a bare grassland and begins a road, but then CANCELS orders! Enchilada WHIPS the Worker, going down to size 2. (If Worker3 is on a forest, it probably starts to Chop. If it's on the roaded river grassland, it moves 2SW to the part-roaded floodplain near Enchilada and resumes the road there.)

T55: CarneAsada pops borders to 2nd ring. Worker1 begins a road. Worker2 WAITS while the new Worker from Enchilada, now called Worker4, moves 2W to its bare grassland and completes the road; THEN Worker2 moves SW-W to the cow, begins a road, and again CANCELS orders!

T56: Worker2 WAITS while Worker1 completes a road; THEN Worker2 moves W-NW-SW to the copper. Worker4 moves SW-W-SW to a lakeside grass forest.

T57: Worker1 moves SE-E to the cow and completes a road. Worker2 begins a road. Worker4 begins a road. CarneAsada is now size 2 and works both cows.

T58: Worker1 WAITS while Worker2 completes a road; THEN Worker1 moves W-NW-SW to the copper and begins a mine. Worker4 completes a road.

T59: Worker1 and Worker2 continue the mine. Worker4 moves N-NW-SW to the copper and completes the mine. CarneAsala works pastured cow + copper.

T60: Worker1 and Worker2 and Worker4 EACH move NE-SE-S to the roaded grass forest and chop.

T61: CarneAsala's granary is complete, and it works both cows. Worker1 and Worker2 each move 1SW to the river cow and begin a pasture. Worker4 moves N-NW to the roaded grass hill and starts a mine, but then CANCELS orders!

T62: Worker1 and Worker2 complete a pasture. Worker4 moves 1N to the horse and begins a pasture.

T63: CarneAsala is now size 3 and works copper + both cows...

I think we'll get hunting T55 by saving gold this turn.

I think I'd save gold for longer, since you were right that we can't do much with hunting right away: We won't have a city by the ivory, nor copper connected, by T55, so we might as well keep our options open and try to maximize the number of beakers we put through libraries when we complete those.

Foreign affairs: We accidentally met Superdeath because his borders expanded. That was inevitable. I'll start scouting farther south now because there is nothing to hide anymore.

Definitely makes sense to me.

I think I'd recommend putting the overflow from Quesadilla (on T53) into a Settler or another Worker, even if we swap off of it to grow on a library (or warrior) the following turn. In either case, we should figure out where our fourth city will go. If yellow dot (for cow, ivory, and working the gold at size 3) we might want Quesadilla's new Worker to start roading and/or chopping in that direction. If pale green dot (between horses and Quesadilla's lake corn) the worker might head to the southern forest by the lake, to chop that prior to roading the corn. Something toward superdeath (somewhere east of the barb city, e.g. for sheep, double spices, and more copper) would probably mean the new Worker should be preparing to do lots of chopping and/or roading or chopping toward the gold, as suggested in the plans above.

The general idea though is just to decide the most important strategic city spot (e.g. for happiness, to claim territory in someone's direction, etc.) and then to lay the groundwork for getting the city connected and up to speed quickly!

(Of course we'll be hoping to get the barb city too, but that's by no means guaranteed with our late stategic resources connection, and in any case, our existing workers can be pretty well positioned to handle that once we get units out to take it.)

[Lazteuq]

T53: Back to gold saving. Thanks for the updated plans. Now I'm not even sure what I want because both plans look good, I'll stick with plan 5 for now. I'm super slow at visualizing these plans, so I'm not able to judge very well.
My opinion changed about city4 placement, I do want to take yellow dot for happiness and commerce, and security because it requires no military support.
After whipping next turn, I think Enchilada will finish off a warrior(maybe our last) and work on a library while it grows back to size 4. It does already have a MP warrior by the way. Then probably whip a settler.
Quesadilla will still be up against the happiness cap for 2 or 3 more turns, so I decided to put all that overflow into another worker which should take 3 turns.
I sent Quesadilla's new worker moving toward the gold(S-SW-NW)
Here is my idea for connecting gold and city4 with 2 workers from Quesadilla:

T55: Finish roading grass hill
T56: Move to gold tile
T57: Start roading gold, another worker is done in Quesadilla and moves to grassland 1NE of gold.
T58: Other worker starts roading flat grass road(this also helps connect yellow dot)
T60: Gold road and flat grass road are both done, so both workers start mining gold. I think since there is a road on it, the arriving worker can start immediately.
T63 or 64?: Gold mine done and connected to trade network
I think settler for city4 from Enchilada could be arriving by the time this is done, so then the workers could stick around and improve the cow and ivory. I think that is more important than chopping for Quesadilla.

A barb warrior is 5E2S of Enchilada, not a big concern yet.
Espionage Point Spending: I would like to see Superdeath's demographics ASAP, so I put all 4 EP into him. Hopefully thats not too much of a "provocation"

For picking a resource to connect first, I like horses over copper for this situation because chariots are able to reposition defensively faster and should be adequate for taking the barb city, while also being cheaper in hammers.

[RefSteel]

I'm super slow at visualizing these plans, so I'm not able to judge very well.

I definitely get that; I'd like to provide a more visual version of the plan, which would make it clearer, but working with graphics always takes me longer than I expect (and generally too long)!

My opinion changed about city4 placement, I do want to take yellow dot for happiness and commerce, and security because it requires no military support.

Makes sense, especially if we're still hoping to send our early post-warrior military after that barb city.

After whipping next turn, I think Enchilada will finish off a warrior(maybe our last) and work on a library while it grows back to size 4. It does already have a MP warrior by the way. Then probably whip a settler.

I believe we'll be getting 25h overflow from the Worker, plus 4h from tiles worked, and there are (8ish, I think?) hammers already in the warrior at Enchilada, so we'd be wasting several hammers if we overflow directly into the warrior (everything after the 30th hammer is lost since it can't overflow more than the cost of the warrior itself). I would suggest overflowing into a Settler instead (which should allow us to whip the Settler one turn sooner later on, thanks to the overflow hammers, and make most-efficient use of our food) and then resuming the Warrior, completing it as we grow to size 3 and start a Library or Chariot as we grow to 4. Overflowing into the Library directly would also work though.

I sent Quesadilla's new worker moving toward the gold(S-SW-NW)
Here is my idea for connecting gold and city4 with 2 workers from Quesadilla:

All of this sounds great to me! (In fact, the gold mine takes only 5 worker turns once the road is built, so we'll finish it T61!) There's just one thing I'd suggest as a small improvement in efficiency: Instead of moving directly to the grassland, the new Worker from Quesadilla (Worker5) could move to the roaded forest hill, put one turn into a chop, and then CANCEL orders, getting that action for free since it can still move to the target grassland and start the road the following turn. Since I'm assuming we committed to "option 5" last turn, I've incorporated this suggestion and the one above into an expanded...

Updated Plan:

T55: CarneAsada pops borders to 2nd ring. Worker1 (on the grass forest) begins a road. Worker2 (on the bare grassland) WAITS while the new Worker from Enchilada, now called Worker4, moves 2W to its bare grassland and completes the road; THEN Worker2 moves SW-W to the cow, begins a road, and again CANCELS orders! Worker3 (on the grass forest hill) completes a road. Enchilada begins a Settler to collect overflow, with its Warrior still on hold.

T56: Enchilada resumes building a Warrior. Worker2 (on the cow) WAITS while Worker1 (on the grass forest) completes a road AND Worker4 (on the bare grassland) moves SW-W to the cow and completes a road. ONLY THEN does Worker2 move 2NW to the horse and begin a pasture. Worker3 (on the grass forest hill) moves 2W to the gold. Quesadilla completes a Worker and begins a Library. The new Worker (Worker5) moves S-SW-NW to the roaded grass forest hill and begins a chop, but then CANCELS orders!

T57: Worker1 (on the grass forest) moves 1NW to the horse and continues the pasture. Worker2 (on the horse) continues to pasture. Worker4 (on the cow) moves 2NW to the horse and completes the pasture. CarneAsada is now size 2 and works pastured cow + pastured horse. Worker3 (on the gold) begins a road. Worker5 (on the roaded grass forest hill) moves 1NW to a bare grassland and begins a road.

T58: Quesadilla is size 3 by now and begins a Worker or Settler (with the Library on hold) since it would be unhappy at size 4; it works corn + corn + floodplain. Worker1 and Worker2 (both on the horse) build a road. Worker4 (also on the horse) moves SW-S to the Copper. Enchilada is now size 3, and can now start a Library or a Chariot (once the horse road is complete) while it grows on max food tiles. Worker5 (on a bare grassland) completes a road.

T59: Enchilada is now size 4 and resumes its Settler, working all three improved tiles + floodplain. Worker1 (on the horse) moves SE-SW to the grass hill next to the copper. Worker2 (on the horse) move 1SE to the roaded forest and begins a chop. Worker4 (on the copper) begins a road. Worker5 (on a roaded grassland) WAITS while Worker3 (on the gold) completes a road; THEN Worker5 moves 1SW to the gold and begins a mine.

T60: Quesadilla resumes its Library (or starts a Chariot). Worker1 (on the grass hill) begins a road. Worker4 (on the copper) completes a road. Worker3 (on the gold) contributes to the mine.

T61: Worker1 (on the grass hill) completes a road. Worker2 (on the grass forest) completes a chop. Worker3 and Worker5 (both on the gold) complete a mine. (All of the following assumes we still feel safe without copper for three more turns, thanks to our horses. If not, we can instead mine the copper starting now and finish it next turn! It also refers only to the CarneAsada region. The rest can be expanded later on....) Worker4 moves 1S to a grassland, begins a road, and then CANCELS orders!

T62: CarneAsada's granary is complete. It turns Avoid Growth ON and continues to work the Horse and Cow pastures. Worker1 WAITS while Worker2 moves 2SW to the grassland and completes the road; THEN Worker1 moves SW-SE to the river cow and begins a pasture. Worker4 moves 1SE to the river cow and contributes to the pasture.

T63: CarneAsada turns Avoid Growth OFF! Worker1 and Worker4 complete the pasture, and CarneAsada works both Cows, making doubly sure that Avoid Growth is definitely off! Worker2 moves 1N to the copper and starts a mine.

T64: CarneAsada is now size 3 and works all three pastures. Worker1 and Worker4 move NW-N to the copper and complete the mine along with Worker2.

A barb warrior is 5E2S of Enchilada, not a big concern yet.

Could become one pretty quickly if it goes after our pasture though. Let's hope it keeps wandering the wilds long enough for us to get (a) unit(s) into position to deal with it.

[Lazteuq]

T55+56: Not much to report, everything according to plan. Thanks for combining the plans. I wasn't trying to suggest visuals of plans, that would be unreasonably tedious. I'll just have to 'git gud' at thinking faster.
Barb warrior vanished into the fog, so there are no clear and present dangers.
Enchilada put its oveflow into settler, warrior will finish next turn. Enchilada keeps being exactly 1food short of growth-that's an annoying pattern.
I'm planning to send the scout down the outer coast past Superdeath to see what's going on down there. No new intel on what Giraflorens is doing except there is a city 10E of Quesadilla.
We'll have demographics on Superdeath in about 5 turns. Nothing very interesting on Giraflorens' graphs, they are constantly above us in GNP, but we lead in food.
Overall demographics screen:

The GNP and production are probably so low because we're on 0% research and the cities are whipped down heavily right now.
I'm really surprised by how low the #1 in soldiers is, and how close it is to the average. Makes me think nobody is doing a full-effort military buildup.
At least we're #1 in something...