aelf
Ashen One
Round 1: 4000BC - 2240BC
In view of the excellence of our starting location, I decided to settle in place:
First build was worker while we researched Agriculture and Animal Husbandry, as recommended. We stood to gain from an early worker to improve the corn and the cows. But this would also cause a few problems, as you will see.
I ignored the hut right next to our capital, since chances were our border would pop it anyway. Our scout found another one a little further away:
Gold's not bad. Better than maps.
And our border did pop the neighbouring hut a little later, giving us more gold:
A few turns later, we met our first neighbour:
Ah, everyone's favourite girl (hi, Sisiutil
). Maybe it's just me, but I don't find her very intimidating. If it was Monty, yes I'd be worried. But Isabella is easy enough to manage until we kill her.
We got more gold from a hut:
Well, we can't really expect techs, can we? Like I said, gold is better than maps.
After the worker was completed, Berlin built two warriors while growing (one would do some fogbusting while another sits in the city as garrison). This gave the city time to grow up to the happiness cap, which was quick thanks to the food specials, before building a settler.
And we met another leader, a rather sour-looking Washington:
Well, we certainly caught him lying.
On the next turn, we met another one:
Can't say I like this guy. He's like Isabella but less predictable. He can pose a serious threat later on and he doesn't seem near enough to be dealt with early.
AH was discovered, but there were no horses that I could see. Better cross our fingers and pray for copper. It seemed natural to research Bronze Working next, but I realised that our worker (who had farmed the corn) was going to finish building the pasture way earlier than we would discover it. He would then be idle for far longer than I can stomach. Hence, I decided to research the Wheel first so that he could at least start building roads. We will need the tech anyway.
As luck would have it, we found a hut near the Spanish border:
It seems the Spanish hadn't been doing a good job exploring. Starting with a scout is proving to be quite a boon to us in this game.
After the Wheel was researched, we went on with BW. But there's another problem. Berlin had built the two warriors and should have proceeded to build a settler. However, since we delayed BW, copper would not be revealed by the time we built the settler. As it would be prudent to settle our second city where copper is revealed, assuming there is a source in vicinity, I decided to start on a barracks first and time the completion of the settler with the discovery of BW. Unfortunately, this had the effect of delaying the settling of a second city to a little later than usual.
Then we met yet another leader:
Him again! I've developed a strong dislike for him, since he's hard to get along with and might pose a very big threat later on, and it seems the RNG insists on putting him on the map in every game. This isn't going to be a stroll in the park, although the presence of so many civs on the continent (a rare fact considering the 3-civ continents of past games) is a big mitigating factor.
The round ended as the first settler was built and BW was discovered. Berlin is about to run into the problem of overpopulation:
Yes, we can switch to Slavery and whip, but the bad news is there is nothing to whip
We might be forced to halt growth for some time, even if we buy time by building a worker in Berlin next. Another downside to building a worker first, I guess? On hindsight, we could have built a scout first before the worker.
Speaking of which, our useful starting scout has met his demise at the hands of a barb archer. This is what he managed to explore:
The dark part at the centre is where Spanish territory is. There's a holy city in there, no doubt, since Isabella founded Buddhism (did I mention she was predictable?). And, yes, we have copper nearby, thankfully. Here's a dotmap of where we could or should settle cities next:
Site A grabs the copper and a gold resource, although both would need a border pop. There would also be lots of flood plains in the city's fat cross. Why the rush to get gold? Commercial interests aside, we have no other happiness resource nearby (another argument for getting early Metal Casting for forges?). Site B would grab the remaining gold resources and wheat, and by settling it we would also put ourselves closer to the Spanish in anticipation of a future invasion. Site C would grab pigs (bottom left corner) and more flood plains. I think these are the sites that we could settle before going to war for more territory. What do you think?
Now, we have to make a difficult decision. In view of the situation, should we still go for the Pyramids gambit? If that is the case, we would build the Oracle in copper city (since with marble it would need fewer chops to complete) and the forge and the GE-rushed Pyramids in our capital. Or do you think that it would be too late? Do you think it's better to use those forests for a horde of axemen to invade the Spanish and take over their holy city? If we decide on the latter, we might as well research Writing next and chop a library in Berlin to make use of the food surplus by running scientists. On the other hand, if we are still going for the Pyramids, we would have to research Masonry, Mysticism, Meditation, Priesthood, Fishing? and Pottery (not necessarily in that order).
Your input, please
In view of the excellence of our starting location, I decided to settle in place:
First build was worker while we researched Agriculture and Animal Husbandry, as recommended. We stood to gain from an early worker to improve the corn and the cows. But this would also cause a few problems, as you will see.
I ignored the hut right next to our capital, since chances were our border would pop it anyway. Our scout found another one a little further away:
Gold's not bad. Better than maps.
And our border did pop the neighbouring hut a little later, giving us more gold:
A few turns later, we met our first neighbour:
Ah, everyone's favourite girl (hi, Sisiutil
). Maybe it's just me, but I don't find her very intimidating. If it was Monty, yes I'd be worried. But Isabella is easy enough to manage until we kill her.We got more gold from a hut:
Well, we can't really expect techs, can we? Like I said, gold is better than maps.
After the worker was completed, Berlin built two warriors while growing (one would do some fogbusting while another sits in the city as garrison). This gave the city time to grow up to the happiness cap, which was quick thanks to the food specials, before building a settler.
And we met another leader, a rather sour-looking Washington:
Well, we certainly caught him lying.
On the next turn, we met another one:
Can't say I like this guy. He's like Isabella but less predictable. He can pose a serious threat later on and he doesn't seem near enough to be dealt with early.
AH was discovered, but there were no horses that I could see. Better cross our fingers and pray for copper. It seemed natural to research Bronze Working next, but I realised that our worker (who had farmed the corn) was going to finish building the pasture way earlier than we would discover it. He would then be idle for far longer than I can stomach. Hence, I decided to research the Wheel first so that he could at least start building roads. We will need the tech anyway.
As luck would have it, we found a hut near the Spanish border:
It seems the Spanish hadn't been doing a good job exploring. Starting with a scout is proving to be quite a boon to us in this game.
After the Wheel was researched, we went on with BW. But there's another problem. Berlin had built the two warriors and should have proceeded to build a settler. However, since we delayed BW, copper would not be revealed by the time we built the settler. As it would be prudent to settle our second city where copper is revealed, assuming there is a source in vicinity, I decided to start on a barracks first and time the completion of the settler with the discovery of BW. Unfortunately, this had the effect of delaying the settling of a second city to a little later than usual.
Then we met yet another leader:
Him again! I've developed a strong dislike for him, since he's hard to get along with and might pose a very big threat later on, and it seems the RNG insists on putting him on the map in every game. This isn't going to be a stroll in the park, although the presence of so many civs on the continent (a rare fact considering the 3-civ continents of past games) is a big mitigating factor.
The round ended as the first settler was built and BW was discovered. Berlin is about to run into the problem of overpopulation:
Yes, we can switch to Slavery and whip, but the bad news is there is nothing to whip
We might be forced to halt growth for some time, even if we buy time by building a worker in Berlin next. Another downside to building a worker first, I guess? On hindsight, we could have built a scout first before the worker.Speaking of which, our useful starting scout has met his demise at the hands of a barb archer. This is what he managed to explore:
The dark part at the centre is where Spanish territory is. There's a holy city in there, no doubt, since Isabella founded Buddhism (did I mention she was predictable?). And, yes, we have copper nearby, thankfully. Here's a dotmap of where we could or should settle cities next:
Site A grabs the copper and a gold resource, although both would need a border pop. There would also be lots of flood plains in the city's fat cross. Why the rush to get gold? Commercial interests aside, we have no other happiness resource nearby (another argument for getting early Metal Casting for forges?). Site B would grab the remaining gold resources and wheat, and by settling it we would also put ourselves closer to the Spanish in anticipation of a future invasion. Site C would grab pigs (bottom left corner) and more flood plains. I think these are the sites that we could settle before going to war for more territory. What do you think?
Now, we have to make a difficult decision. In view of the situation, should we still go for the Pyramids gambit? If that is the case, we would build the Oracle in copper city (since with marble it would need fewer chops to complete) and the forge and the GE-rushed Pyramids in our capital. Or do you think that it would be too late? Do you think it's better to use those forests for a horde of axemen to invade the Spanish and take over their holy city? If we decide on the latter, we might as well research Writing next and chop a library in Berlin to make use of the food surplus by running scientists. On the other hand, if we are still going for the Pyramids, we would have to research Masonry, Mysticism, Meditation, Priesthood, Fishing? and Pottery (not necessarily in that order).
Your input, please
enough to build a second settler = no growth and something to whip 
