Round 2: 3970 BC to 3100 BC
After the last game, I don't want to go too far without getting some good advice. Hence the short rounds thus far.
I started off by founding the Persian capital in the recommended and agreed-upon spot:
Ooo look! Another hut! No more resources, though. Oh well, maybe they're hidden. Keep your fingers crossed.
The first build was a Scout, the first tech to research was Animal Husbandry:
With that accomplished, it was clearly time for the Scout to go a-hut poppin'. I sent him north first:
97 gold. Nice! Some people don't like getting gold from huts, evidently preferring free techs. They're nuts. Gold from a hut = a free tech, possibly more than one,
and of your own choosing, because the gold lets you run the early science slider at 100% for a longer period of time. And it certainly beats the heck out of barbs. But of course, Scouts can't pop barbs from huts, another reason I like them so much.
The Scout then headed south, making a detour into uncharted territory along the way, and turning up something interesting:
Gold, and right beside a river to boot! Very handy. I was keeping my fingers crossed, hoping for horses to appear in the fat cross, or, failing that, near the gold.
I next had the Scout pop the hut that you see to the east in the above screenshot. I could have let the capital's first border pop claim it, but I was heading in that direction anyway and decided not to risk letting a rival appear and claim it before me.
It popped for a map:
Maps are probably my 2nd least favourite hut result, second only to barbs, especially when they reveal a lot of water tiles. However, I try to look on the bright side: it might save my explorers a turn or two of exploration, or reveal defensive tiles where they can head for protection from barbs. Yeah, I'm a glass-is-half-full kinda guy.
The above map does reveal a good location for the gold city: 2 west of the wheat, claiming the gold, crabs, and wheat and is coastal as well. It misses out on the wine and the flood plain, but you can't have everything. Of course, we'll be getting into a dotmap discussion after this round, so we can kick that idea around some more.
The Scout headed east, close to home, to pop that tile SE of the capital and to explore the east coast. The hut contributed more gold to the coffers in Persepolis:
I'm building up quite a nice little nest egg there, thanks to all those generous (and surprisingly wealthy) tribesmen.
And yes, Virginia, there
is seafood on the east coast:
So a later city will likely be founded at some point 1 south of the Scout's position in that screen shot, something that would not have been possible if I'd taken the starting position. Oh, I would have eventually been able to work the crabs, but not feed a city with them, which would have been a shame. Sometimes it pays to move around.
The Scout then did an about-face and headed west. Due west of my position, he found my first victim... er, neighbour:
The Mighty Qin! Well, not really all that mighty if I wipe him out before he gets to Machinery and those nasty Cho-Ko-Nus, which, given his proximity, is his likely fate. All I need is some horses...
So where might the ponies be? My second Scout found them a little ways to the north, along with another wealthy tribal village:
You'll get a better idea as to the horse's exact location and surroundings shortly. No horses in the fat cross nor near the gold, unfortunately. That meant the next tech to research was definitely The Wheel. I was also, at this point, building a Worker in the capital, which had grown to pop 2.
As the Scout continued to the north, he found jungle, including dye and gems, and another rival, this one decidedly more formidable than his Oriental counterpart:
I finished researching the next tech:
Which enables the Immortals, not to mention the means to access their rides. I decided to research Mining next, followed by Bronze Working, I should imagine. I'm hoping now for copper within the capital's rather sparsely-resourced fat cross.
Meanwhile, my western Scout recovered from a lion attack, then, against all probability, found another hut northeast of Beijing:
Validator, evidently the RNG was listening to you. I now have a unit to fog-bust and protect my Worker and Settler on their way to those horses! Usually I'm not enthused about popping a Warrior, but this time it's decidedly convenient, especially given the location.
In addition, the fact that Qin missed this hut, along with the fact that I haven't seen any of his units near my territory, leads me to believe that there's a whole lotta land to his west and/or north and that's where his units have gone exploring. So obviously the Scout will skirt around Beijing and head in that direction next.
That is where I decided to end the round. Here's a look at the capital:
I think the Worker ought to first farm the corn, then build a road heading north to the horses, protected by my hut-popped Warrior.
And, more importantly, here's a look at the map as revealed thus far:
So horses in two locations, one of them out of the question at the moment, since they'll be claimed shortly by Beijing's third border pop. One spot for a horse city is on that desert tile 2 south of the northern horses, the only immediately acceptable source of them. Of course it has problems, not the least of which is the fact that a border pop will be required to claim the horses,
and it has
four peaks in the fat cross--ugh. But it will claim the sheep and silk in addition to the horses and keep Genghis from heading further south.
The other possibility is 1 north of the horses, which would claim the ponies immediately as well as the corn and marble and also choke off Genghis. It only has 2 peaks in the fat cross as opposed to 4. It's further away, however, increasing its maintenance cost, and a little more dangerous to reach what with more tiles outside my cultural borders for a long time. It leaves space for a rather awkward city 1 south of the desert tile to claim both the silk and sheep, I suppose, and the northwest fish would have to somehow be claimed by another city on that still-darkened northwest coast opposite.
Another possibility is for the horse city to go 1 south of the wheat, claiming the corn and the fish, though this has the border-pop problem and is even further away from the capital than the other two possibilities I've mentioned.
I still think a third city 2 west of the southern wheat makes sense to claim the wheat, gold, and crabs. Qin may beat me there, but that's no biggie; I'll just use the hammers for Immortals instead of a Settler and wrest the city from his cold, dead hands. As I mentioned before, a later city on the southeast coast to work the other crab tile is a likely possibility. But of course, I look forward to everyone's dot maps.
). But this doesn't need to happen as soon as whipping/chopping.
