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Okay, so here we return, in 3440BC with a level 1 capital that's two turns away from producing its first unit, a work boat. If I would have waited a little longer and taken Voice's advice, I would be farther along, but, alas, here we are, and I'll make the best of it.
My immediate tech path is going to look like this:
... and if horses are revealed by AH, I'll probably go Wheel ---> Pottery after that, but as of now, the most immediate needs are revealing strategic resources so that I can plan my second city for rushing Shaka.
I continue to circle around with my scout, revealing the coastal tiles of the peninsula to our east, and then crossing through our capital's BFC and around again to reveal another circular layer of the map. Hopefully, if timed right, I should land around Shaka again with my scout by the time I have finished BW, and I can then see if he has copper for Impi('?)s, which is important to know in order to gauge his strength so that we know how sizable of a force will be needed for rushing.
My wb is done, and I improve a clam, work it, and my worker will be finished in 8 turns in this way. That's 5 yield for the worker, 1 from the production from the tile that I settled on, and 4 from the clam. I'll need to improve that corn ASAP, and sadly there's a good 3 turns of building that farm after BW has been researched which could be used for chopping as early as possible.
With my worker finally finished, I ask the following question: do I want a warrior, or do I want another wb for higher food yield and whipping? I think a warrior is a better option for the time being, for a little bit of barb protection. I might follow that up with another wb, but if good strategic resources present themselves, going for an escort and then a settler might be a better plan.
Upon researching BW, I decide not to adopt slavery yet, while immediate growth is so crucial. (Please inform me if this is a bad idea.) I will definitely need it later, and probably very soon.
After I farm the corn, I move my worker 1N to chop the riverside plains. (I was unsure whether or not I should spend another worker turn and chop the grass forest to the east of the capital, but then decided that time was too important, and I would end up using that plains tile because it was riverside.)
We also run into Qin, who lies relatively far to our northwest and apparently has some floodplains in his capital, which may not be good, because that's a really high yield for production of settlers, and if he goes for land that we want, the competition is going to be fierce.
Also, upon researching BW a few turns back, copper
is revealed, though not in the best of places. I'll have to go for this general area if either we don't have access to horses upon researching AH, or if Shaka himself has copper. If I had to settle for getting the copper, I could settle on the forested plains hill 1E of the wine (I had meant to edit this in but forgot before I uploaded to Photobucket) and get access to that rice, or, if it's worth the risk, settle in the desert 2N of that spot and grab that grass cow for extra food to work the various hills. Either way, the copper is immediately accessible without a border pop, but I am uncertain which option is better, given that we need to settle there for one or both of the aforementioned reasons.
We're informed now at 2800BC that Shaka has adopted Slavery, which means that he does in fact have BW, and if he also has copper, that means he's certainly building impi's.
We finish our warrior (and chopping that forest) and begin building another, which will be done in 1 turn. I'm going to chop a grass forest 1N of the capital, possibly going towards a settler. I send the finished warrior northwest towards the copper, to fogbust in case I need to settle there.
Horses are revealed, but in a fairly hard to access spot, and in a food poor region that AFAIK doesn't have access to any food bonuses. If Shaka doesn't have copper, immortals are going to be better than axemen, so I'll need to find a place to settle there, though I'm very much unsure as to where that should be. Your thoughts here would be appreciated.
Once our second warrior is done (which I leave in the city so I don't lose happiness), I switch to a wb (with the chopping of the aforesaid grass forest hill (should I be providing screenshots for stuff like this?), combined by the fact that I'm growing in one turn, I micro it so that the boat will be finished by 1 turn after the forest is chopped. Once I'm level 4, and that boat is done, I'll be working the improved corn and 2 clams, and then I'll send my worker to chop and mine those two grass hills to our east (which upon growing to level 5, our happy cap, we should have a strong yield base to get our settler and next worker out quickly.
That warrior that we sent northeast is surrounded by barb animals. Two lions and one panther effectively block off us from moving, but fortunately we are on a forested hill, and I fortify the warrior there. Barbs typically attack even if they are likely to lose, at least in my experience. Should I have gotten out fogbusters sooner (could I have realistically)?
Shaka does
not have copper! Nor is he close to it (unless it's in the tundra to the north, which I doubt he'd expand into anyway. This is good news, and it means that going for the horses is going to be our best option (IMHO), however, I'm still entirely unsure about where to drop the city for this. Regardless, it is absolutely time to get the second city out. The seafood start always slows down starting work on the settler, but since I'm going to rush, I can't afford to wait longer.
It also looks like he's settled his second city, one tile to the north of the site that I initially vouched for.
An interesting, challenging and altogether thought provoking game so far!
Here is the known world in 2560BC:
And, despite not having copper, he still is building units for sure, as evidenced by the power demographic. (It also appears that he has relatively higher food and hammer yield, and I'm not sure if that has to do with him getting good bonuses, or my having a seafood start.)
