TedJackson
Cunning old Celt
Thanks for the infolurker's comment: In the city screen purple squares are drawn around the tiles the city will expand to next. Usually several tiles are considered of equal value, sometimes there's just one tile earmarked.
In a box in the upper left corner can be read how many turns til the next expansion.
To buy tiles becomes more expensive with every tile you buy. I would certainly buy that iron tile before Venice gets it, of course, but you wouldn't easily buy a tile that's yours in a few turns anyway.
Hills and especially mountains are more expansive than flat, foody terrain.
Noted.I like barracks!
Yes experience is a bit easier to gather (at early promotion levels at least) in Civ5, but I still think a barracks, at least in the high production cities which are being used as unit factories are a good idea.
My rationale is that in Civ5, units are a bit more precious than in earlier versions you have less of them, they take longer to get to the front lines, they cost more (I guess they dont die as easily as earlier versions, which is a benefit). Essentially, I am much less inclined to sacrifice a unit in Civ5 than in earlier versions. From this perspective, if a barracks gives you a slight edge and keeps a unit or two alive that would otherwise have died, it is worth it.
If you think of it simply in terms of would you prefer the hammers to go into a barracks or another unit, then a barracks only costs as much as a single swordsman.
Picking up on the point re the Heroic Epic yes, that is worthwhile. But, linking back to my point on puppets: you have no control over what a puppet builds. Fortunately (if I recall correctly), the pre-requisite building issue does not apply to puppet cities. Best to build it early (when you only have a few cities) than later, otherwise (as Optional notes), you invest a hell of a lot of hammers building barracks in cities that don't need them.
I would suggest annexing the main French cities, rather than creating puppets.
@Ted: Once we have the hanging gardens and we get some growth, keep an eye on overall happiness. If it starts to cap out (or even before this), we should consider appointing a scientist or two in MBR. The Hanging Gardens will push us towards a Great Artist IIRC. Would be nice if our first GP was a scientist, allowing us to build an academy (this is a space race, after all!). I think we should tech towards Philosophy for the National College soonish, but probably after we have the French lands.
Noted.All of this is logical and makes sense. Building some are fine with me.
I just dislike paying maintenance on them.
Do we not need a Library in every city in order to build National College? If so, the same principle applies to Barracks and Heroic Epic, sooner the better. If we wait until after we take the French Cities and we annex them, then we have to wait until we build Libraries in them. Puppeting them initially would allow us to get the National College built in the capital sooner.
I doubt if I'll get to the point of declaration in my turns but if I do then I'll probably puppet initially allowing future players to decide when the best time to annex.
I'm going to play now and hope to finish my ten in one sitting if possible.
Ted