Round 2: 2950 BC to 1675 BC (51 turns)
I started off by changing my immediate tech target. I had initially chosen Animal Husbandry at the end of the next round once I'd finished The Wheel, but as we pretty much agreed, I changed it to Mysticism.
This way New York would be able to build a monument right from the start.
It didn't take long to finish, and very little of import happened in the meantime. My Woodsman II Warrior healed and continued exploring, my workers finished the farm, which sped up the Settler build by 2 turns.
With that accomplished, it was time to found my second city.
For all the (at times deserved) criticism I get for failing to adequately micromanage, especially at the start, I think I managed my sole Worker's assigned duties quite well here. By not roading the corn yet, I had just enough Worker turns to get the road built to New York in advance--in fact, the road through that forest finished on the exact same turn the Settler did. I also had the Settler wait in that forest at the end of its first turn rather than end it motionless out on the copper, where it could potentially get devoured by a panther or wolf before the city could be founded.
As recommended, I pursued Pottery next.
I've been stung by criticism in past games for pursuing a technology like this, ahead of others, and then failing to take full advantage of it. So I prioritized laying a cottage down, and managed to get the first one on one of Washington's flood plains before the next tech finished. It may be farmed over later, but it will help with commerce generation until I have better options.
I then pulled a little trick I like, my in-case-of-barbs trick. I build my first defensive unit to within one turn of completion, then put a barracks ahead of it in the queue.
That way I can pop the unit out if it's needed to fend off barbs, or wait until the barracks are done so it can come out promoted.
I researched Animal Husbandry next...
...and the map generator continues to be kind, with horses nearby in two locations, the main one being right smack-dab where I had planned on putting city #3!
Well, several of you were urging me to move that city site a tile over, and this adds impetus to that. The production from the horses will partially make up for losing two of the hills in the west; plains horses are 1F4H1C, which is one hammer better than a mined riverside grassland hill. And I'm loathe to make a habit of settling on top of good production tiles.
The other horse site is at the southwestern end of the peninsula, 2S of the wheat tile--so we'll have to revisit our dot maps for that area.
I discovered Aztec territory a little further to my west than I expected it to be, and I was very sorely tempted by the following:
Two Workers! So tempting, so very very tempting... But as I said, it's a new level and I'm playing conservatively and cautiously. So I passed. I may need to keep Monty appeased, and a DoW for two Workers could come back to haunt me. I'm hoping to nab workers from Huayna instead. Speaking of which, now that I'd found Monty, I sent my Warrior back across the map toward Incan territory so it could be explored once Writing was finished and Open Borders were available.
Both Washington and New York grew quickly, so I was getting ready to start using the whip... when I suddenly realized I wasn't running Slavery yet. So it was time for the game's first civics change:
The AI probably doesn't care, but this may be a somewhat useful ruse against human opponents in multiplayer games. The switch to Slavery is usually an indication, after all, that you've just finished researching Bronze Working. But switching to it late, like I did here, just when I was actually ready to make use of the civic, could deceive some people into thinking you left BW awfully late. But then again, I haven't played multiplayer, so what do I know?
With Slavery in place after one turn of anarchy, I put the whip to use.
I suppose I should have a granary in place first, but with all that food, Washington should be able to grow back pretty quickly. And I'm anxious to get my axe rush army built. As always in this game, the difficulty is the many choices I have. I also need another work boat in addition to the granary, and more Workers are always useful, but I've decided that an axe rush is the way to go and it takes priority.
Next tech:
This was important because I wanted to scout Huayna's lands and see what sort of opposition and defensive bonuses my axes would be facing. As well, I can now build libraries to get the SE going. Sigh, another choice--books or axes?
Right around this time the first barb incursion into my territory occurred--just after Washington's borders expanded for the second time.
They do show up early on immortal level. But they haven't exactly been overwhelming me with numbers, at least thus far. Perhaps that's a function of the map?
Now, here's a look at the Incan capital:
The bad news is it's a holy city, so its cultural defenses may rise from 40% to 60% before my axes get there. The good news is twofold: first off, it's on a flat tile rather than a hill, and second... gold! With three riverside grassland tiles and the gold mine, it could be a decent commerce city, though I don't know if moving the capital here would be justified. Too mad about that peak in the fat cross--what's up with that?
Normally at this point I would have been researching Alphabet. But with the increased level of barb activity at immortal level, and more barb galleys showing up as a result of the 3.17 patch, I made a detour:
So should I get a Galley out soon to protect my seafood tiles? What about the granary, the library, another work boat, more Axemen...? Decisions, decisions...
Anyway, that's where I ended the round. I started researching Alphabet next--is that the right choice? I think it is, since I can probably obtain Iron Working in trade (and with copper, IW is less of a priority).
Here's a look at the map:
So as I said, I have more room between myself and Montezuma than I first supposed. I think that means I can continue to produce Axemen rather than another Settler for a little while. It also appears that I have room to expand into the north, though I wouldn't be surprised to see Monty get there first. And look--the first barb cities have already appeared!
Hatshepsut is south of Hauyna, while Hammurabi is further east of him. Obviously I'm not sure how much more room Hatty and Hammy have to expand on this snaky continent. The bad news there is that I'm Montezuma's closest target. On the plus side, if I war with him early and take him out, I'll pretty much have that entire portion of the continent--with all that choice grassland beneath the jungle--to myself. But is two axe rushes overly ambitious? I may have to settle for weakening Monty and then finishing him off later.
As for cities, I've agreed that city #3 should move 1E, next to the horses. Now what about a city to the far south? I could leave the wheat-clam-pig-wine city on top of the wine as planned, and then move the deer city to the hill N of the deer. That would mean the spices would have to wait for a later border pop from Washington. Or we could shuffle those cities around, seeing as how there's a good amount of food available--enough for two cities in the wheat-clam-pig-wine area rather than one. I'll be interested to see your dot maps.
As you can see, there's also stone to the east, though I wouldn't be surprised if Hatty gets to it first, so I wouldn't plan on building any stone wonders. I was thinking of going my usual tech route next, through Alphabet, Polythiesm (hopefully from a trade) and Literature to build the Great Library (though I don't see any marble to help yet). But what do the rest of you think? Is the GL without marble too ambitious a goal for my first immortal game? And another question: Alphabet will take about 35 turns. Should I wait until
after it's done to attack Huayna? So I can trade a couple of techs from him? I think that would delay the axe rush too long, but what do the rest of you think?
And the granary in New York--the right choice? On the one hand, Granaries are really vital for optimal whipping; on the other hand, speed is of the essence here. Thoughts?
Anyway, I'm hoping that the main highlight of the next round will be the death of Huayna. He has only two cities, near as I can figure, both of them holy, both of them on flat tiles, and no visible strategic resources. Yes, it's tempting to wait until at least one of those cities has a shrine, but by that point Huayna could be much stronger than me. So the time to strike is now. Hatty's culture will be a pain over there, but I'm hoping the holy cities can fend it off. Do they both get +5 culture even if they're no longer your state religion? And I'll also need a plan to generate a Great Prophet or two before too long. Philosophical should help there.
It looks like a promising map, even if the neighbours are potentially troublesome.