Continued timeline from post #58
I made a detailed plan for city placement:
The reddish squares mark city places in the 3 and 5 distance rings around the FP. The blueish and greenish squares mark two possible locations for the new capital (after palace jump) and the corresponding city locations in the rings. I chose these two locaitons for their distance from the rings around the FP, the amount of land around them, and the fact that they are next to river (a must for the palace jump, as I will have to beef up the city above pop 6 with workers). No other location meets these requirements.
The blue version has a 3 and a 5 distance ring, the green version has one 4.5 distance ring. The circles around the blue and green squares mark "reasonable" city placements. I used those circles to decide which capital location would be better. The blue version has clearly more city locations (given the two rings), but the number of "reasonable" city locations is about the same and the green version has the advantage of covering more area with less cities, so I decided to go with that. The arrows show two places where city locations on the ring are unacceptable due to being 1 tile away from the sea and being in the middle of the dessert respectively. The green city location in the middle of the dessert is "reasonable" because (due to the less crowded green solution) there are still enough tiles for that city to be useful.
The yellow squares mark special locations that need to be occupied even though they are outside of the high production rings. The horses, the incense, and the nearest points to the Arab island are such. The latter is a special location because I decided that building a city there with a library is the most economical way of contacting the Arabs -- it requires the research of Literature instead of Map Making and the building of a Library instead of a galley, a pure win on both counts. The same city will eventually build a galley (as a matter of fact probably many galleys) but it will help me accrue territory points while doing so.
Speaking of territory, the white squares mark city locations that are advantagous from the territory size point of view. These are low-priority compared to the other city locations, as a matter of fact I hope that the AI will settle on many of them and then I can capture the cities.
You will notice that the iron sources are not marked with yellow. That's because a.) the borders of the city next to the incense and of the dark red one next to the Northern wheat will engulf the Northern iron source, b.) I don't plan to use iron in the near future, and c.) if all else fails I can always grab the Southern source.
The yellow and the green lines show roads that will be necessary for connectivity (as opposed to commerce/income). I will try to build around future city sites to avoid wasting worker turns.
Finally, the numbers on the white background show the next six cities I will build (in the order shown by the numbers). The logic behind choosing the first city locaiton next to the wheat is that I need more food to succesfully expand on this vast continent. The next three cities will be placed so as to grab the horses, the next one will help me contact the arabs, and the last one will be the capital. Currently I have 1 settler, and can build another every 4 turns. The road from the current capital to the new capital takes 5 turns, so the 6th city will be built in about 25 turns. If everything goes well, by then (or shortly after) the FP will be ready and I can jump the palace.
1700BC I spot the first barbarian horseman. I will have to escort every worker near the borders from now on.
1400BC Currency is researched. I trade it to the Carthaginians for Writing and 109 gold, and start researching Literature. It will take 9 turns.
The settler reaches the horses and guess what, it looks like there is a landbridge there. Must explore further!!!
My military is very weak. I lost several regular warriors to barbarians and I barely fended off a barbarian attack against my cities. I have barracks in one city but it can't produce anything except warriors because it has to keep up with the barbarian attacks and the settler factory. Compared to that, I have a warrior having a vacation near the Arab border, hoping for a contact in vain. This cannot continue. I order the warrior back to the capital.
1200BC Literature is researched. Carthage has only Ceremonial Burrial to offer so I pass. I am going to research Philosophy next, following the guidance of the Holy Excel Sheet Oracle.
The cultural influence of the phantom Arab city grows just as I move the aforementioned settler in position to build the city, so they can definitely see me now. I hope they will contact me.
1175BC I have contact with the Arabs. They have Ceremonial Burrial, Horseback Riding, Map Making, contact with the Greeks, and 91 gold. First I get 45 gold and contact with the Greeks for Mathematics. The Greeks have the same techs but they don't want to give me anything reasonable for Mathematics. I don't want to give away Literature yet, as that's my only tech not known to any of my 3 contacts. Instead, I give the Arabs Currency for the Horseback Riding, Mapmaking, World Map, and 46 gold. The Greeks get Mathematics for Ceremonial Burial, 16 gold, and World Map. It turns out the Greeks and Arabs also have Mysticism, which I get from the Greeks for Currency. By the end of the turn I have every tech, 228 gold, and the world map, and I didn't give away my world map and Literature.
Even though now I have contact with the Arabs, I still found the city in the nearest spot. Contrary to the plans, it will build a galley first, not a library, for obvious reasons.
1100BC Forbidden Palace is ready. My military is still very thin: I have 10 warriors and 3 archers to cover 2 settlers, 7 workers, and 10 cities. Plus one of them is exploring the land bridge in the South. So all in all I have 12 military units covering 19 assets. This must be fixed ASAP.
1025BC The New Capital city is founded, slightly behind schedule mainly because the settler was delayed due to lack of road and lack of military escort. The Forbidden City is now the biggest at pop 6, and it has 8 other cities within 8 tiles. That's 8 and 2/3 "palace jump points". In order to make a jump to the correct city, it must have at least 9 points. That could be achieved by 5 pop and 12 units/cities, or 6 pop and 9 units/cities. I can probably do the latter easier as I am creating workers faster than units. As a matter of fact, nobody is building units at the moment because I am waiting for the horses to come online.
1000BC Summary:
Cities: 12
Citizens: 30
Settler: 1
Workers: 7
Military: 10 warriors, 3 archers
Buildings: 2 granaries, 2 barracks, 1 library, 1 FP
Picture:
950BC The Greeks beat me to Code of Laws by one turn. I would have rather had them researching Construction but I guess there is nothing I can do about this now. I give them Philosophy for Code of Laws and 17 gold and get cranking at Republic. 12 turns. I need to hook up the 3rd luxury before I can get there. Fortunately the road is almost there, just a settler is missing.
900BC I meet the Zulu. They don't have any techs. I give them Mathematics for World Map and 77 gold. They have wines and spices on an otherwise uninteresting piece of land. Would be useful to trade with them for the luxuries but I would need to build at least 20 tile worth of road to be able to do so. Or a harbor, if the Zulu are clever enough to do the same. That's a big if.
690BC The palace jump is being delayed due to the fact that the old capital's population is decreasing slowly.
Republic is researched. I don't revolt because I need production to decrease the old capital's population. It will take another 7 turns to reach 1, then I will jump and revolt in the same turn.
630BC Carthage finished the Pyramids.
590BC Polytheism is researched. 1 more turn to finish the last worker in the old capital and then I can proceed with the palace jump. Immediately after that I want to change government and I hope the AI will research Construction while I am in anarrchy so I decide to put science to 0% for now.
550BC Palace jump, trade Polytheism for Construction with Greeks, bonus tech is Engineering for me, Monotheism for the Greeks.
Moving into Middle Ages triggers the usual barbarian uprising. A spearman I accidentally built happens to stand right next to a barbarian camp; I count 18 horsemen there. I can also see another camp under the fog on the NW shoreline, there are probably another 18 barbarian horsemen there. I have a total of 8 horsemen, 10 warriors, 4 archers, and 1 spearman, but many of them far away in the East (making sure the palace jumped to the right place. The good news is that now I can cross rivers without penalty, so the horses will probably make it to the right place in time.
I have 580 gold and the only thing I could spend it on is embassies, so the usual tactic of letting all the barbarians sack a pop 1 city is not going to work. It seems I will have to fight this off and avoid being sacked somehow.
This would be a lousy moment to go to anarchy so I stay in despotism.
Summary:
Cities: 16
Citizens: 52
Settler: 0
Workers: 9
Military: 10 warriors, 4 archers, 1 spearman, 8 horsemen
Buildings: 1 granary, 4 barracks, 5 library, 1 marketplace, 1 FP
I missed this little bon mot by the X-man. Or perhaps bon motte is more appropriate as it calls to mind the "presents" the neighbours dog leaves on my lawn. 
![[ptw]](/images/smilies/ptw.gif "PTW Icon [ptw]")
1.29, scientific all the way
