[SPOILERS] New setting, same RNG. yuris125, Civ6 PBEM26

[yuris125]

T60

MilTrad is in, started on Games and Recreation (may take a shot at Coliseum). Settlers are on the way, and commercial hubs under construction




Switched to these policies




Once again, I may have been premature in adopting one of the policies, in this case bonus to builders - I may get another switch before building any. I'm only planning to get two more pre-Serfdom builders (still need 5 more farms for Feudalism eureka)

[yuris125]

Era rolls over, and I immediately get 4 score in the new era for my unique great general




He's probably going to do some scouting for now, not a lot for him to do otherwise

Picked Monumentality dedication, which is the most common pick in classical era (at least for me). I will be getting a commercial hub in every city, and ideally a government plaza in the capital before the next wave of settlers

[yuris125]

City 4 settled




Not a great city, but happy to work the 4 food tile for now, will slot in Land Surveyors again once Games and Recreation is done and buy the 2f/2h tiles. Also definitely thinking about liberating that Hattusa builder

Also not a priority for now, but if I get a chance, will try to build the whats-its-name wonder in this city, the one that gives +1 hammer to flood plains

[yuris125]

Some random musings, as I'm trying to figure out where to get the 5 farms I need for Feudalism eureka, while also thinking about district placement




The land around Bogota is so full of resources that I'm struggling to figure out the districts. I assumed two of the farms I need would go on the wheat, but now I'm coming to conclusion that the wheat tiles are prime candidates for districts. I don't want to spend money on extra tiles here, and there's just no other options at present. I'm not too happy to overwrite resources, especially if I'm taking Liang's promotions to add +1 food (already taken) and +1 production (next in line) to resource tiles. But the city will have 8 resource tiles even without the wheat, and I assume governor bonuses will become less and less relevant as the game progresses

At the moment I'm thinking that the northern wheat will become an industrial zone (no rush to decide on this, but it is one of the few tiles where I can get 2 mines for adjacency bonus), and the government plaza will go on the southern wheat. It is a pretty bad government plaza tile, but don't see how I get a better one without spending money

This means that the capital is not getting any farms. Instead, I think two farms will go down at Cuenca, on the rice and NE of rice

Merely a side note for now, but also pictured, potential Coliseum plans. Although not sure how likely I am to get it, it is usually a very contested wonder, and with me focusing on Liang promotions for the moment (which I think is justified given the land around Bogota), I will only get Magnus with the title from Recorded History - which is 30 turns away at the current pace




The other three farms will just go to Caracas, on the two resource tiles and the other flood plains tile next to the city. This does mean I will need to wait for another flood plains tile to build Etemenanki on, if I want it. Or just overwrite the farm once I get the Feudalism eureka - it is an expensive enough civic that wasting a builder charge for the eureka feels worthwhile

I am now thinking I will want to buy 3 tiles at Caracas (another reason I don't want to spend money on tiles elsewhere), the cattle tile along with the two 2f/2h tiles, because a cattle pasture can get some culture into the city. Althouh maybe I can get away with only buying the cattle and one of the 2f/2h tiles, and claim the other 2f/2h naturally? Will see how the tile picker behaves - tbh it probably will prioritise the sugar over 2/2 tiles

I only need 5 farms, and will get 8 builder charges (4-charge builders thanks to Liang), so there are 3 charges to spare - I think they will go into the castle pasture at Caracas and two chops into Etemenanki. Unfortunately the Hattusa builder I was eyeing was gone after chopping the jungle

Also pictured: Pindicator's city garrison strength did go up. Think he got a spearman. I did finish HBR myself, and need to get a horseman somewhere, but struggling to find place in the queue for now, and money remains very very tight - looking forward to it improving as commercial hubs finish

For my own research, I am on BW now, so that I have the option to overwrite jungle with districts, and will also want to have access to Masonry for walls. However I'm thinking of putting beakers into these techs, but not finishing them, to avoid increasing district costs. Just have them a turn from completion for when I need them

After these two, I will set on the long road to Apprenticeship

Culture-wise, it's Games and Recreation -> Defensive Tactics for governor title and Liang's promotion (not boosted, I don't expect anyone to declare war on me, unless Pindicator decides I'm being unreasonable with landgrab) -> Drama and Poetry (hopefully boosted with Etemenanki) -> Recorded History (not boosted, don't see myself finding room for even one campus in my queues, and it needs two) -> Feudalism. That's still quite some distance to Feudalism tbh - this is where the evidence of my slow start is apparent, in test games I usually was getting Feudalism before T100, don't know if it will happen in this game

[yuris125]

Aztec territory spotted




So Archduke is indeed the one attacking Japper - in fact, this may be Japper's second city he captured, it's all Russian names of geographical landmarks. Also, could be a natural wonder here as well - these tile yields are not natural. But won't look just yet, not sure I want to make contact with Archduke and make my military strength visible to him - of course, could be out of my hands with where my scout ended turn

[yuris125]

City 5 settled




Going to work the marsh to get it to size 2, then switch to 2f/2h tiles

Policy changes after completing Games and Recreation




One policy choice I hesitated on for a while is Urban Planning vs Ilkum. Urban Planning is kind of a low power "generally useful" policy. But it is useful for freshly planted cities where that extra hammer doubles their early production. Any kind of dedicated production bonus is better - but you have to actually take advantage of that bonus. And I think I can wait on Builders until the next switch - not like they would build anything immediately useful; they're needed to build farms for Feudalism eureka, but I'm not planning to work those farms. That said, this may well result in me not getting chops into Etemenanki in time for it to boost Drama and Poetry. So I may end up getthing one builder out without the policy

Pindicator's power is growing at alarming rate, so I really need at least one horseman out asap to increase city strength. Hence slotting in the policy to boost their production, and could see myself building two or even three while it's in place

Only bought one tile at Caracas for now. I want to keep the gold on hand to have the option of buying a trader once Bogota finishes the market - this may be more important than buying more tiles. Also I decided to finish BW. I locked in the costs of all districts I'm currently planning to build; I will need a commercial hub in city 6, but that settler won't get in position before Defensive Tactics is finished, and Defensive Tactics will push the district costs anyway. And I do need to complete BW sooner rather than later to be able to chop jungle. Knowing where iron is would be good too - and I want gold for the option to buy iron tiles while Land Surveyors is slotted in. So all in all, there are plenty of things I can spend gold on, but I need a little more info to decide on the best way to spend it

In addition to the above, I think Pindicator's power growth has been from building spearmen. I think they're defensive, to ensure he can defend against Archduke now that he's finished in Russia. But if he does decide to attack me (which he might do, if he find my newest city unreasonable), horsemen may not be very efficient. Getting access to my own spears is another reason to finish BW

Finally, sent an envoy to Mogadishu for a little extra income

[yuris125]

Iron




I have two sources, although neither is immediately accessible - one is in the 3rd ring for both Bogota and Cuenca (and of course it's not the tile the picker is taking next - although maybe it will update next turn, it's usually not awful to prioritising resources), and the other at the spot I marked for a future filler

That said, I also don't really have immediate need for iron. So just knowing that I have access to it is fine. For the moment, I will proceed with the plan of buying tiles for Caracas. Even though for now I switched off 2f/2h back to 2f/2g tile in Caracass. I will need 340g before the next policy switch in 6 turns, 220 for a trader and 120 for tiles, and believe I'll be just a bit short without the gold from the maize tile

The big thought I'm currently thinking is whether I will want to offer DoF to Pindicator after settling the 6th city. Fact is, if I successfully settle it, I will have room to expand to 17 cities

3 cities in the SW (I switched the pins for future cities to circles to distinguist from the 6th city pin, the settler for which is on the way)




3 cities in the NW - the square pin is one I haven't been certain about, land to the east of Mogadishu is not great and very low on food, but this spot is legal and does give access to some good, otherwise unclaimed tiles, while having the option of stealing food tiles from Caracas to feed itself




5 cities in the east




And I'm still thinking about capturing Hattusa to make it 18, even if I hate how it's settled one off fresh water

Some of these are a little fillery, and I may yet rework the dotmap a bit for fewer, higher quality cities. But the fact is, at the moment I would much rather develop peacefully than get involved in a military campaign. I'm fairly safe from Archduke, or at least would get decent advance warning if he goes my way, with Kongo and Geneva acting as buffer. I want to sit back, settle cities, get to Feudalism for better Builders, get to Medievel Faires to unlock my Haciendas, think how to keep 18 cities happy with only 4 luxuries (well, 5 once I claim whales), and not worry about going to war

I don't want to do it just yet, as I want to have the option of attacking his settling party if he makes a move to deny my planned city 6. But once it's settled, I expect to have enough loyalty pressure to stop him from sneaking into the land I consider my own. Then, I will want the attention of his military to be turned towards Archduke, not towards me

There are a few downsides. Firstly, if Archduke does attack, and Pindicator starts to fall, I won't be able to vulture. Secondly, Pindicator does have a resource I completely ignored in faith, so if Archduke doesn't attack him, and e.g. goes for Greenline (we don't know where he is, but based on the score he isn't doing very well), letting him develop peacefully could be dangerous. However, I do think I can commit to at least 30 turns of peace

Nothing's decided yet, the settler still has half a dozen turns to go to the 6th city spot, but I am leaning towards at least offering DoF after settling it

[Japper007]

I don't find the Feudalism boost worth it all that often. All those farms are kind of a waste of Builder Charges since, like you said, they aren't worth working anyway. That's one of my key observations from watching a lot of CPL MP: the players there barely improve land at all before Feudalism. Sure it saves you some culture on a key civic, but it's really bad to delay it to get the boost. I can sometimes see a case for it if you have wheat or rice as your starting resources and you already have like 4 farms up "naturally".

[yuris125]

Yeah that's a fair point. Feudalism is 22 turns at the current rate, so saving 40% of that is nice, but is it worth the builder charges? Especially if I need to get extra builders for it and increase the cost of future ones, and the improved tiles aren't going to be worked? I'm not even working the 4f rice farm in Cuenca, pure food tiles are not that valuable in Civ6, at least not until much later

Could be another case of online MP being different due to faster game speed

[yuris125]

Sent friendship offer to Pindicator. City 6 is not settled yet, but settler is on the spot, and there's no settling party in the area. I think he may have seen the second horseman I just finished (his scout is in vicinity of Quito), so just want to reassure him

Don't quite understand why my culture and gold income fluctuate turn to turn. Not going to make 120g I need to buy the tiles I want in time for DefTactics to finish, have to delay it by a turn

Finally realised going Commercial Hub first in new ciites was a mistake, should've locked in the district cost and immediately switched to monuments