Wow, lots of good discussion...this is a pretty dedicated team
. Nice job on the micro Compromise, phase A complete!
I deleted the Totem Pole from the queue in Mound City so it wouldn't accidentally get built. When the lighthouse there completes, I recommend growing it by working coastal tiles.
I think whip overflow is the best way to build Maoi Statues, so we might want to put this back in the queue eventually (it is a good UB for us). First we should do a Granary and then probably a Library.
Note: I'm pretty sure that in BtS, a forest that's within the borders of two cities will send its chop-hammers to the city that is actively controlling the square. So, when we chop for the Pyramids, make sure that any forest that's shared by Mound City or Cahokia is being controlled by the gem city.
This is definitely true.
At size 4, Poverty Point is unhealthy! Maybe we should trade for a health resource? Maybe not.
Hmm...that is surprising to me. This is Noble, the cap should be pretty high. There are no Floodplains and only one Jungle tile. Oh well...I guess we are going to have major trouble with this later, I agree we should be selective on the forest chops. One thought would be to whip out an Aqueduct and go for Stone accelerated Hanging Gardens in Poverty Point, or maybe in Mound City where we have more forests. That is +1 health in addition to the +1 population, and more importantly yummy GE points. I actually like the though of a GM, since we can use 'em to balance odd food cities and run an extra Scientist specialist, but GEs are still better becauise of our Hammer shortage.
I set Poverty Point on a Library to help push back Joao's borders, but that could be changed. Probably better to switch it to a granary in a couple of turns when Pottery comes in. Then back to the library or troops?
I would suggest Granary, then Library.
After whipping the Settler, Cahokia can either build a granary (might delay whip until after Pottery is in to send overflow to it) or finish its barracks.
I would hold off on the whip, and make sure the overflow goes to the Granary.
Mound City: After lighthouse, start on granary or Moai? Maybe build Moai, then at size 4, whip a granary for max overflow into Moai?
Exactly
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Pottery in a couple turns, then what? Metalcasting for Colossus (presumably in Mound City where it and the required forge will take forever)? Or head toward Aesthetics->Literature to try for the Great Library? I'd let one of the AIs on our continent get to Alphabet first.
Currency can wait, we don't seem to have enough cities yet to take advantage of the tech properly. We need Marble city before starting the GL, and I was always thinking the Colossus would go at Deer dot (we need the forests, without Copper). Mound City will be busy building Maoi Statues for now. I'd say we go for Priesthood for a Temple and some Prophet points. After that, the order for Metalcasting, Literature, and Currency->Code of Laws will hopefully become clearer.
Also, how long will Moai Statues take in Mound City? What about Colossus and Forge built naturally after Moai Statues?
That feels like it would take forever and a day, I would rather chop it out at Deer dot and let Mound City focus on military (after getting the requisite buildings in place.
It looks like the noble AI wonders break down roughly (ones we might want in bold):
~2000BC: Stonehenge
~800-1200BC: Great Wall and Temple of Artemis
~600BC: Oracle
~10AD: Pyramids
~300-600AD: Great Lighthouse
~400-800AD: Hanging Gardens; maybe Mausolleum or Statue of Zeus
~1100AD: Great Library
also: no civ had even started The Colossus in 1000AD.
Fantastic work here, I would not bank on those dates but it certainly can help us prioritize
!
Second, I doubt we'll be able to land the Oracle or ToA. I think those would've required settling the marble instead of Yellow Dot and a deforestation of our capital.
ToA is attractive from the point of the free Priest specialist as well (especially under Representation). However, given your analysis we shouldn't bother trying. I think after the Pyramids that the HG is the next wonder we should focus on, with Colossus at Deer dot nearly in parallel. I think we can get the Great Library in Mound City after Maoi comes in, which will let us delay useless Marble city for a while. We need Libraries before we can start that Wonder, don't forget.
Third, for tech I think I'd prefer to prioritize Ironworking a bit/
Hmm...I think you were right earlier when you said, essentially, screw military for now. Joao does favor military, but he has a peace weight of 6 which is fairly high. His "aggression level" is medium, which is the same as Asoka. Actually, he matches Bismark almost exactly. He is also 100% guaranteed not to declare war at Pleased relations. We are better off getting a Missionary to him than working on units. Wang Kon has a peace weight of 8 but is more aggressive. He doesn't have a military focus though, and again is 100% guaranteed not to declare war at Pleased. So, screw military beyond garrison is my suggestion.
Fifth, I think we should plan our forest chops carefully. Probably a map would help. We need what...6 chops for the Pyramids?
A forest chop map would be
awesome. Mark them for Colossus, Pyramids, Hanging Gardens and the Great Library. I probably won't have time to do one today though, hopefully someone else can take a stab at it
.
I agree that we can detour to IW and then proceed to Metal Casting if Iron is found. When we are done exploring, we should send a warrior to keep constant watch on Jao's military buildup. This will tell us whether we need to research Archery ASAP.
Again, my $0.02 is we have no need for Archery or Iron Working until we've secured all our ancient era wonders. I agree with all the steps you outlined in terms of city build order, though I would like to get a Missionary or two build for Joao and Wang Kon. Getting them to Pleased should be an immediate goal, and we can get +3 for shared religion from both of them.
One other question: what do we want our first GP to be? We could probably grab a priest by detouring to Priesthood, whipping a temple and running a priest; or an Engineer from the Pyramids; or a Scientist by getting a library up quickly and running some scientists. Or a coin flip by getting a specialist up in the GemPyramid city.
I'd say let the chips fall where they may, a Great Merchant is fantastic as it will let our capital work two Scientist specialists. A Great Engineer is fantastic because, well, 3 hammers per turn will speed up the Great Library by quite a bit. A Great Prophet is fantastic for the Shrine, or maybe for the Hammers first and then a Shrine later. A Great Scientist is great for the Academy. We don't have to fear artist pollution.
Edit: Also, for the record, I think Joao like Hereditary Rule and Wang likes Caste System.
Correct, neither of which we will ever run
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Darrell