Sisiutil
All Leader Challenger
Yes indeed--in fact, part of the reason I ended the round where I did was to come back and get input on what to research next.
ALC Game #24: Hammurabi/Babylon
- Thread starter Sisiutil
- Start date
Yes indeed--in fact, part of the reason I ended the round where I did was to come back and get input on what to research next.
whakamole
Artful Dodger
I wonder if you should pursue writing as your next tech (as advocated by Patagonia). It's possible if you beeline to alphabet, that your immediate ax war with Zara and then your future elepult war with Saladin/Ragnar can have benefits through extortion of AI-known techs when suing for peace... allowing you to maintain tech pace with the AI while at war...you can then finish each opponent off after the short break for peace.
You won't need AH until you need to hook up the copper city pigs. (And unless somebody beats you to copper, you won't need horses, either - axemen/spears will be your military). With AI civs surrounding you, you can leave a light warrior defense in your cities until you declare war (no barbarians) - so I'd say you also don't need hunting/archery right away. Pottery's out, too. You won't have cottages up soon and your capital produces food so fast it won't need a granary until further down the line.
This could be a bit risky on Immortal, but if you're committed to the axe rush, I'd say focus on Alphabet and then extort Hunting/Archery/Mysticism, etc from Zara for peace, then produce bowmen in your 10-turn downtime for your city defense as well as protection for your troops in the field... fortify your captured cities... then when time's up, smash his remaining stele into little pieces.
You won't need AH until you need to hook up the copper city pigs. (And unless somebody beats you to copper, you won't need horses, either - axemen/spears will be your military). With AI civs surrounding you, you can leave a light warrior defense in your cities until you declare war (no barbarians) - so I'd say you also don't need hunting/archery right away. Pottery's out, too. You won't have cottages up soon and your capital produces food so fast it won't need a granary until further down the line.
This could be a bit risky on Immortal, but if you're committed to the axe rush, I'd say focus on Alphabet and then extort Hunting/Archery/Mysticism, etc from Zara for peace, then produce bowmen in your 10-turn downtime for your city defense as well as protection for your troops in the field... fortify your captured cities... then when time's up, smash his remaining stele into little pieces.
rupertmonkey
Chieftain
- Joined
- Sep 26, 2007
- Messages
- 35
Need Hunting for spears. Gonna get Hunting may as well pick up Archery soon after for Bowmen. ALC and all....
That was a Spoiler. If One posts quick updates...you KNOW there was some bloodshed. One tends to post more frequently when he has unleashed the dogs of war.
Sisiutil
All Leader Challenger
Round 2: 3100 BC to 2025 BC (43 turns)
So as I said at the end of the last round, I chose Pottery just as a placeholder but thought it didn't make sense as my next tech target. So as I began the round, I changed what I was researching:
Hunting for the ivory and Spearmen, as well as moving towards Archery and the UU. Changing my research target has become such a common move in ALCs that I try to time the ends for rounds for when I know it's going to be a crucial topic for debate. When I don't do so, I often regret it.
My Warrior kept exploring northwards, intending to swing around and explore the west eventually. Along the way, he encountered temptation:
You folks know I love stealing Workers, but on the other hand, diplomacy is crucial at the higher levels. Many of you have been emphasizing that, and the Lincoln game proved it. Zara is the immediate target; if I'd encountered one of his Workers, I probably would have gone for it. Saladin, though, got a bye. For now.
And the first barb military units began to appear:
They do show up fast on Immortal. I was glad I was researching toward the UU. In addition, though, this convinced me that several of you were correct when you warned me that while Hunting might be worthwhile for several reasons, Scouts was not one of them. With barb military units wandering around this early, Scouts just aren't worthwhile; they'd get eaten alive in no time. So I decided to stick with scouting with Warriors for now, who at least have something of a fighting chance versus barb Warriors and Archers.
As recommended, I slipped a Warrior build into the capital, in between the Work Boat and the Settler, to allow the city to grow one size greater.
I finished Hunting...
And next began researching Mysticism, intending to have it available by the time the second city was founded so I could start work on a monument right away. I told myself not to panic regarding the barb military units, that I had time still before they'd start entering by borders and becoming a threat/nuisance.
That additional Warrior came in handy. While my initial Warrior explored the north--which, as you'll see, turned out to be a triangular peninsula--I sent his new partner down south to figure out where Zara had placed his second city and determine if it would be much of a cultural threat to my planned second site. Not really, it turns out:
Based on the cultural pattern, it's located 1NE of that lake--not a bad spot, since it claims an irrigated corn tile and several grasslands. It will make a decent cottage city once I prise it from Zara's cold, dead fingers. The other good news is that it will not pose a threat to my second city's claim on the pig tile.
I got an idea as to my standings in the population race:
Ragnar must be rounding out the list at #9. I can only theorize that his start sucks, or that he's focusing on something other than expansion. The latter would surprise me, though, as that would be unusual for the AI at this stage in the game.
Once the Settler was complete, I continued to follow the group mind advice and began on a Worker in the capital.
As you'll see, I'm gonna need several more--no surprise--but I'm hoping to capture some from Zara, of course.
As usual, the AI seemed to be making Bronze Working a low priority. It took until turn 52 for the first of the neighbours to switch to Slavery:
And Zara apparently still has not researched it. Dare I hope he won't have metals by the time I attack?
Next tech done:
I then began work on Archery. Better safe than sorry, and this is an ALC game, after all, so I'd rather not neglect a UU two games in a row.
And... success! I got the Settler out in time, founded the second city exactly where I wanted, and claimed copper for early defense. Yeah, defense. Shhh... Zara might be listening.
Once one of my Workers finished the road to Akkad, he began chopping that forest south of the city to hurry the monument. When that was done, I began work on a barracks to prepare for the early rush.
I finished Archery for the UU shortly after that.
And then I began researching Animal Husbandry so I'd be able to work the pigs once they became available. And to see where horses are, of course.
Another religion was founded: Christianity.
And on the very next turn... Zara converted! Well, I could not have hoped for a better outcome. As you can see, Islam had spread to Ragnar and he had converted earlier. So now Zara has spent research on religious techs rather than military ones, and he's earned himself "Cautious" diplomatic ratings from the other two AIs. So they will not object or hold it against me when I declare war on him. Too perfect.
I then finished my fourth tech of the round, which is also where I decided to pause.
So where are the horses? Well, remember that empty grassland tile at the west end of Babylon's fat cross?
Ooooh yeah. I'm likin' how this is shaping up.
Now, the only complication here is that Zara has horses as well, which you can see in the map below.
The last time I scouted the area (which admittedly was some time ago), that tile was farmed, so I'm not sure if he's researched Animal Husbandry yet. Perhaps not. After all, he had to research to Monotheism, so that meant he had to research Mysticism, Meditation or Polytheism, and Masonry (he starts with Mining). Unless he popped one of them from a hut. At any rate, better safe than sorry: I'll need to build at least one Spearman to accompany any stack of Axemen.
As you can see I managed to explore the area north and west of Babylon. I don't have a lot of room to expand in that direction, and it's not the greatest quality land. The incense, sugar, and bananas will be nice, but not until Calendar rolls along. Saladin may beat me to some of the potential city sites, but that's okay. Zara's land is better.
Sometimes the AI practically paints a big ol' target on its virtual chest, don't it?
One other thing I should mention is that there appears to be the tip of another land mass just visible NW of the northern tip of my peninsula. Is it another continent, or just an island? I won't know for some time--I have other priorities. It is reachable by early ships, however.
Here's a look at the capital:
Now, what's going on here? Well, I built that Axeman earlier, to within a turn of completion. I usually do that with my first good military unit, so I've got one available in case of barb aggression. Then I left him in the queue while I built (and in this case, chopped) a barracks. So now I'm trying to micromanage the city so he appears, then I build another Axe for 1 turn with minimal hammer input to avoid the empty hammer queue whipping penalty, then grow the city 1 pop past happiness and whip away 2 pop on the following turn. I've probably bungled it--you've all been happily criticizing my micromangement skills, or lack thereof--but I'll bumble through somehow.
Which, er, reminds me--I'm not running Slavery yet. So the first thing I'll have to do at the start of the next round is have myself a little ol' revolution. Hey, those negative slavery random events make me a little gun-shy, okay?
And a little bit of the diplomatic situation. First off, as I said, Zara did not win himself any friends by founding and converting to Christianity.
And he's not running Slavery yet either, so it's safe to say he hasn't researched Bronze Working.
He may be researching it now, however, and a lot of his land is in fog, so it wouldn't pay to underestimate him. I still have to build up and army and I could be facing Axes in opposition by the time it's ready. And I musn't forget that the barb incursion into my land is on its way.
So, the plan for the next round is to build/whip my army and then launch the attack against Zara. Meanwhile, I should research... what? I chose Writing, as several of you were urging me to get it even sooner than this. But should I get Pottery first? If the war against Zara is successful, I'll have cottagable land, and it will decrease the research price of Writing a bit. Since I'm about to start a whipping frenzy, it would be good to have granaries, too. And what after that? Many of you recommended getting Aesthetics as tech trading fodder in the Lincoln game. Mind you, I'll only have Saladin to trade with for some time.
And should I bother with another city or just use the two I have to build my army? Saladin will likely expand into my north, but is that as much of a concern as having Monty expand next to me was in the Lincoln game?
The save is below.
So as I said at the end of the last round, I chose Pottery just as a placeholder but thought it didn't make sense as my next tech target. So as I began the round, I changed what I was researching:
Hunting for the ivory and Spearmen, as well as moving towards Archery and the UU. Changing my research target has become such a common move in ALCs that I try to time the ends for rounds for when I know it's going to be a crucial topic for debate. When I don't do so, I often regret it.
My Warrior kept exploring northwards, intending to swing around and explore the west eventually. Along the way, he encountered temptation:
You folks know I love stealing Workers, but on the other hand, diplomacy is crucial at the higher levels. Many of you have been emphasizing that, and the Lincoln game proved it. Zara is the immediate target; if I'd encountered one of his Workers, I probably would have gone for it. Saladin, though, got a bye. For now.
And the first barb military units began to appear:
They do show up fast on Immortal. I was glad I was researching toward the UU. In addition, though, this convinced me that several of you were correct when you warned me that while Hunting might be worthwhile for several reasons, Scouts was not one of them. With barb military units wandering around this early, Scouts just aren't worthwhile; they'd get eaten alive in no time. So I decided to stick with scouting with Warriors for now, who at least have something of a fighting chance versus barb Warriors and Archers.
As recommended, I slipped a Warrior build into the capital, in between the Work Boat and the Settler, to allow the city to grow one size greater.
I finished Hunting...
And next began researching Mysticism, intending to have it available by the time the second city was founded so I could start work on a monument right away. I told myself not to panic regarding the barb military units, that I had time still before they'd start entering by borders and becoming a threat/nuisance.
That additional Warrior came in handy. While my initial Warrior explored the north--which, as you'll see, turned out to be a triangular peninsula--I sent his new partner down south to figure out where Zara had placed his second city and determine if it would be much of a cultural threat to my planned second site. Not really, it turns out:
Based on the cultural pattern, it's located 1NE of that lake--not a bad spot, since it claims an irrigated corn tile and several grasslands. It will make a decent cottage city once I prise it from Zara's cold, dead fingers. The other good news is that it will not pose a threat to my second city's claim on the pig tile.
I got an idea as to my standings in the population race:
Ragnar must be rounding out the list at #9. I can only theorize that his start sucks, or that he's focusing on something other than expansion. The latter would surprise me, though, as that would be unusual for the AI at this stage in the game.
Once the Settler was complete, I continued to follow the group mind advice and began on a Worker in the capital.
As you'll see, I'm gonna need several more--no surprise--but I'm hoping to capture some from Zara, of course.
As usual, the AI seemed to be making Bronze Working a low priority. It took until turn 52 for the first of the neighbours to switch to Slavery:
And Zara apparently still has not researched it. Dare I hope he won't have metals by the time I attack?
Next tech done:
I then began work on Archery. Better safe than sorry, and this is an ALC game, after all, so I'd rather not neglect a UU two games in a row.
And... success! I got the Settler out in time, founded the second city exactly where I wanted, and claimed copper for early defense. Yeah, defense. Shhh... Zara might be listening.
Once one of my Workers finished the road to Akkad, he began chopping that forest south of the city to hurry the monument. When that was done, I began work on a barracks to prepare for the early rush.
I finished Archery for the UU shortly after that.
And then I began researching Animal Husbandry so I'd be able to work the pigs once they became available. And to see where horses are, of course.
Another religion was founded: Christianity.
And on the very next turn... Zara converted! Well, I could not have hoped for a better outcome. As you can see, Islam had spread to Ragnar and he had converted earlier. So now Zara has spent research on religious techs rather than military ones, and he's earned himself "Cautious" diplomatic ratings from the other two AIs. So they will not object or hold it against me when I declare war on him. Too perfect.
I then finished my fourth tech of the round, which is also where I decided to pause.
So where are the horses? Well, remember that empty grassland tile at the west end of Babylon's fat cross?
Ooooh yeah. I'm likin' how this is shaping up.
Now, the only complication here is that Zara has horses as well, which you can see in the map below.
The last time I scouted the area (which admittedly was some time ago), that tile was farmed, so I'm not sure if he's researched Animal Husbandry yet. Perhaps not. After all, he had to research to Monotheism, so that meant he had to research Mysticism, Meditation or Polytheism, and Masonry (he starts with Mining). Unless he popped one of them from a hut. At any rate, better safe than sorry: I'll need to build at least one Spearman to accompany any stack of Axemen.
As you can see I managed to explore the area north and west of Babylon. I don't have a lot of room to expand in that direction, and it's not the greatest quality land. The incense, sugar, and bananas will be nice, but not until Calendar rolls along. Saladin may beat me to some of the potential city sites, but that's okay. Zara's land is better.
Sometimes the AI practically paints a big ol' target on its virtual chest, don't it?
One other thing I should mention is that there appears to be the tip of another land mass just visible NW of the northern tip of my peninsula. Is it another continent, or just an island? I won't know for some time--I have other priorities. It is reachable by early ships, however.
Here's a look at the capital:
Now, what's going on here? Well, I built that Axeman earlier, to within a turn of completion. I usually do that with my first good military unit, so I've got one available in case of barb aggression. Then I left him in the queue while I built (and in this case, chopped) a barracks. So now I'm trying to micromanage the city so he appears, then I build another Axe for 1 turn with minimal hammer input to avoid the empty hammer queue whipping penalty, then grow the city 1 pop past happiness and whip away 2 pop on the following turn. I've probably bungled it--you've all been happily criticizing my micromangement skills, or lack thereof--but I'll bumble through somehow.
Which, er, reminds me--I'm not running Slavery yet. So the first thing I'll have to do at the start of the next round is have myself a little ol' revolution. Hey, those negative slavery random events make me a little gun-shy, okay?
And a little bit of the diplomatic situation. First off, as I said, Zara did not win himself any friends by founding and converting to Christianity.
And he's not running Slavery yet either, so it's safe to say he hasn't researched Bronze Working.
He may be researching it now, however, and a lot of his land is in fog, so it wouldn't pay to underestimate him. I still have to build up and army and I could be facing Axes in opposition by the time it's ready. And I musn't forget that the barb incursion into my land is on its way.
So, the plan for the next round is to build/whip my army and then launch the attack against Zara. Meanwhile, I should research... what? I chose Writing, as several of you were urging me to get it even sooner than this. But should I get Pottery first? If the war against Zara is successful, I'll have cottagable land, and it will decrease the research price of Writing a bit. Since I'm about to start a whipping frenzy, it would be good to have granaries, too. And what after that? Many of you recommended getting Aesthetics as tech trading fodder in the Lincoln game. Mind you, I'll only have Saladin to trade with for some time.
And should I bother with another city or just use the two I have to build my army? Saladin will likely expand into my north, but is that as much of a concern as having Monty expand next to me was in the Lincoln game?
The save is below.
The NW corner of your peninsula has 3 extra food tiles (2 fish, 1 pig) which IMHO makes it a major city site. Whether you settle it before or after kicking Z's butt is up to you.
Similarly, writing is less of a priority if you don't plan to build a library in your capital for some time.
Similarly, writing is less of a priority if you don't plan to build a library in your capital for some time.
Definately pottery-> writing. That pretty much handles the economy for a bit. HBR-->Masonry-->math-->construction. HBR gives you a boost top the power ratings. Also you can build stables and HA's. Masonry because it is a prerequisite for construction and walls are a no maintaince boost to power rating as well(though a small one). Bowman behind walls with HA's to "flank" the enemy catapults. Warning though Saladin has Ivory as well. So build mucho defensivo spearos is muy importante.
Other options might be the priesthood route. It will open up both monarchy and CoL. And with Zara founding Chritianity, you can spread it to your cities for temples and hopefully Islam will spread as well. HR looks to be a must. There seem to be very few happiness resouces. You get the garden @ construction, but other than that it's just ivory before calender and you only have 1 calender resource so you need HR. especially to really max out Babylon as your GPfarm. Switching the capital to Aksum is probably wise. It is more centally located. If it is a decent commrce city then Bureaucracy. If it is a hammer heavy location then HE and WP. It's also closer to Ragnar and Salidin to cut down on troop travel times.
On setting your citizens for minimal hammer input. Work all water tiles. You will gain the single hammer required from the city center. That way you get maximum commerce.
Other options might be the priesthood route. It will open up both monarchy and CoL. And with Zara founding Chritianity, you can spread it to your cities for temples and hopefully Islam will spread as well. HR looks to be a must. There seem to be very few happiness resouces. You get the garden @ construction, but other than that it's just ivory before calender and you only have 1 calender resource so you need HR. especially to really max out Babylon as your GPfarm. Switching the capital to Aksum is probably wise. It is more centally located. If it is a decent commrce city then Bureaucracy. If it is a hammer heavy location then HE and WP. It's also closer to Ragnar and Salidin to cut down on troop travel times.
On setting your citizens for minimal hammer input. Work all water tiles. You will gain the single hammer required from the city center. That way you get maximum commerce.
Writing is key. He will need it for CoL and 1/2 price courthouses. And to run scientists after the war to help research rates while cottages mature. It also enables open borders. I believe it is also a prerequisite for mathematics. Which he will need for construction to build war elephants, catapults and the UB. And of course the extra 25% research. Getting them built early also means they can hit 1000 years for double culture to help in culture wars
Whiskey_Lord
Deity
- Joined
- Jul 15, 2008
- Messages
- 2,163
Pottery, then Writing. Granaries are just too important. Saladin isn't a problem if you share his religion. Just make sure Zara is dead before 1 AD and things will be all right.
Bandobras Took
Emperor
Saladin is downright chummy if you share a religion, so I would maintain focus on wiping out Zara and worry about Saladin when it comes to it.
What happened to Ragnar?
What happened to Ragnar?
slobberinbear
Ursine Skald
Any food and hammers put into settlers are food and hammers that could be put into axes (and yes, the token spear for stack defense) to wipe out Zara.
Clear cut all the forests except the plains forests and chop and whip your granaries and axes. You know the drill. Heck, you wrote the guide. My guess is that by the time you attack, Zara will have 4-5 total cities poorly defended. How nice of him to settle the south for you.
Since you're organized (and let's face it -- you're Hamma-freaking-rabi -- you INVENTED the Code of Laws), get CoL and use cheap courthouses to ease the maintenance on your conquests while you cottage away. I am frankly shocked that you have this much good cottage land on a tectonics map.
Assuming you can keep Saladin and Ragnar happy with diplomacy, I would try to get CoL quickly by teching Pottery > Writing > Meditation > Code of Laws. Alternatively, you can take the longer path to CoL via Pottery > Writing > Masonry > Mathematics > Currency > Code of Laws, which also gives you easy access to Calendar, Currency, and Construction. All of the "C" technologies will be critical on this map. Hopefully you can also tech up to Priesthood and trade for Alphabet and Monarchy.
Sisiutil
All Leader Challenger
Oh, he's still there, it's just that it will take forever and a day to get him chummy enough to trade techs, in my experience.
You can just use the "Subscribe to this thread" command under "Thread Tools" near the top of the page, but of course, I appreciate any and all input.
Cabledawg
King
All these fine folks suggesting tech paths are missing something.
Gaining land from Zara and building troops is gonna cost you alot.....your research is gonna plummet. That is expected...moreso on Immortal without gold, cottages, gems, or silver. Your capital has enough food that pottery isnt important.....writing is. Once you get to writing, whip a library after your army is of sufficient size.....run specialist to try and get to alphabet before you crash. Alphabet is the savior here and will allow for some really nice catching up trades.....including pottery.
Oh and BTW....I would have snatched that worker in a heartbeat...thats 9 turns you could have spent on a barracks. I dont think this constitutes a spoiler but in my game, I snatched 4 workers from Sally. I had a woodsman 2 warrior who could move double in forest. I parked him on a forrested hill and kept snatching workers.
Gaining land from Zara and building troops is gonna cost you alot.....your research is gonna plummet. That is expected...moreso on Immortal without gold, cottages, gems, or silver. Your capital has enough food that pottery isnt important.....writing is. Once you get to writing, whip a library after your army is of sufficient size.....run specialist to try and get to alphabet before you crash. Alphabet is the savior here and will allow for some really nice catching up trades.....including pottery.
Oh and BTW....I would have snatched that worker in a heartbeat...thats 9 turns you could have spent on a barracks. I dont think this constitutes a spoiler but in my game, I snatched 4 workers from Sally. I had a woodsman 2 warrior who could move double in forest. I parked him on a forrested hill and kept snatching workers.
whakamole
Artful Dodger
I've certainly been impressed with your improved attention to MM for this game! A couple of nitpicks after looking at the save:
1) Your capital worker should be immediately going over to pasture-ize those horses, not building a road on a plains hill (I know you're making the other forests more accessible for chopping, but with your fish/corn to support it, mining the hill would be a better option than roading it). But horse hookup should be immediate - don't wait to finish the road. The horse pasture will be like a forested plains hill with +2
and +1
I don't think you even need to spend time building a road to your pasture once it's done. I'm thinking you won't need chariots right now if Zara is not building axes. The worker can go mine a hill or chop a forest after the pasture is complete.
2) You are poised to grow into unhappiness with the attention to food sources at the capital. Until you're in slavery mode, you should be reassigning tiles to prevent unhappiness growth (although at this point, you'll lose all your commerce). I'm sure you're planning to reassign tiles before this, anyway.
This means it's high time - as you mentioned - to convert to slavery, so you can keep your citizens on the commerce/food tiles to promote your tech discoveries as you whip away!
Tech path:
I think writing first, so you can share OB with Zara and send a unit in to scout his defenses and see if he has copper as you amass your army.
The next tech... I'm actually thinking sailingis the better choice over pottery. With a cheap lighthouse for your capital, it'll be just about as effective as a granary with your seafood resources (add another workboat for that third clam, perhaps)... your workers should be too busy chopping forests and mining hills to build cottages right now, and an organized lighthouse is a faster build than a granary when you need to be whipping military out as fast as possible...
Edit: I accidentally put masonry as the tech. I'm becoming a bit of a compulsive post editor myself, taking after slobberinbear...
1) Your capital worker should be immediately going over to pasture-ize those horses, not building a road on a plains hill (I know you're making the other forests more accessible for chopping, but with your fish/corn to support it, mining the hill would be a better option than roading it). But horse hookup should be immediate - don't wait to finish the road. The horse pasture will be like a forested plains hill with +2
and +1I don't think you even need to spend time building a road to your pasture once it's done. I'm thinking you won't need chariots right now if Zara is not building axes. The worker can go mine a hill or chop a forest after the pasture is complete.
2) You are poised to grow into unhappiness with the attention to food sources at the capital. Until you're in slavery mode, you should be reassigning tiles to prevent unhappiness growth (although at this point, you'll lose all your commerce). I'm sure you're planning to reassign tiles before this, anyway.
This means it's high time - as you mentioned - to convert to slavery, so you can keep your citizens on the commerce/food tiles to promote your tech discoveries as you whip away!
Tech path:
I think writing first, so you can share OB with Zara and send a unit in to scout his defenses and see if he has copper as you amass your army.
The next tech... I'm actually thinking sailingis the better choice over pottery. With a cheap lighthouse for your capital, it'll be just about as effective as a granary with your seafood resources (add another workboat for that third clam, perhaps)... your workers should be too busy chopping forests and mining hills to build cottages right now, and an organized lighthouse is a faster build than a granary when you need to be whipping military out as fast as possible...
Edit: I accidentally put masonry as the tech. I'm becoming a bit of a compulsive post editor myself, taking after slobberinbear...
Congrats on getting the copper. Now the fun can begin. 
A few points:
Since you were so concerned about losing the copper site why didn't you whip to finish the settler? Even with losing a turn to anarchy the settler would have been done a couple of turns earlier. And with the high food tiles it wouldn't have been any problem to regrow the whipped pop.
I don't think you need any other techs for the short term, since your workers/cities have other priorities, so there aren't really any high priority techs. Researching Pottery before Writing makes Writing cheaper, so you'll recover some of the beakers you spend on Pottery. And you're probably going to want granaries (and even cottages) before you'll be able to trade for Pottery, so you're probably going to end up researching it yourself.
You need some more workers to get more land tiles improved. After whipping the axe in a couple of turns Babylon will be at its happy cap, and with the only improved tiles being high food it will grow into unhappiness in no time. After finishing the second axe (from the whip overflow) maybe build a worker (or two) to stagnate growth while you wait for the whip unhappiness to go away.
I would get the hills mined ASAP, ahead of chopping any flatland forests and building the horse pasture, since you need some low food tiles to slow growth following whips and you're better off if they're improved high hammer tiles. You can chop the remaining forests to finish the last couple of axes quickly if you need to.
Since unhappiness seems to be a problem at the moment I would have the worker near Akkad build the ivory camp before the pig pasture.
The fact that you also need some spears makes MMing your 2 pop whips a lot easier. When whip unhappiness is about to run out you can just switch from spear to axe or vice versa for one turn (with less than 7
), whip, then continue with the build that was interrupted. In addition to the spears you'll want to defend your axe stack you'll also want a couple of spears to defend your cities in case Zara sends some chariots your way.
You'll definitely need to do something to get your economy going when you launch the attack. Just building the troops will hurt your economy. Once your army heads out that will add supply costs to the equation. And then any cities you keep will add to city maintenance. You're going to have your work cut out for you to keep the economy from crashing completely. A combination of cottages and libraries/scientists may be needed.
A few points:
Since you were so concerned about losing the copper site why didn't you whip to finish the settler? Even with losing a turn to anarchy the settler would have been done a couple of turns earlier. And with the high food tiles it wouldn't have been any problem to regrow the whipped pop.
I don't think you need any other techs for the short term, since your workers/cities have other priorities, so there aren't really any high priority techs. Researching Pottery before Writing makes Writing cheaper, so you'll recover some of the beakers you spend on Pottery. And you're probably going to want granaries (and even cottages) before you'll be able to trade for Pottery, so you're probably going to end up researching it yourself.
You need some more workers to get more land tiles improved. After whipping the axe in a couple of turns Babylon will be at its happy cap, and with the only improved tiles being high food it will grow into unhappiness in no time. After finishing the second axe (from the whip overflow) maybe build a worker (or two) to stagnate growth while you wait for the whip unhappiness to go away.
I would get the hills mined ASAP, ahead of chopping any flatland forests and building the horse pasture, since you need some low food tiles to slow growth following whips and you're better off if they're improved high hammer tiles. You can chop the remaining forests to finish the last couple of axes quickly if you need to.
Since unhappiness seems to be a problem at the moment I would have the worker near Akkad build the ivory camp before the pig pasture.
The fact that you also need some spears makes MMing your 2 pop whips a lot easier. When whip unhappiness is about to run out you can just switch from spear to axe or vice versa for one turn (with less than 7
), whip, then continue with the build that was interrupted. In addition to the spears you'll want to defend your axe stack you'll also want a couple of spears to defend your cities in case Zara sends some chariots your way.You'll definitely need to do something to get your economy going when you launch the attack. Just building the troops will hurt your economy. Once your army heads out that will add supply costs to the equation. And then any cities you keep will add to city maintenance. You're going to have your work cut out for you to keep the economy from crashing completely. A combination of cottages and libraries/scientists may be needed.
SnowlyWhite
Emperor
ragnar is wheooh yet? I mean, it's -2k, so he should already...
anyway, post sharing religion and hrule, you should be able to trade techs with him ok; pity he still won't be exactly trustworthy
p.s. - and really, build a workboat and explore; axe rush or not; should've done it earlier imho
anyway, post sharing religion and hrule, you should be able to trade techs with him ok; pity he still won't be exactly trustworthy
p.s. - and really, build a workboat and explore; axe rush or not; should've done it earlier imho
I agree the present Axe Rush doesn't look like much of the mad dash I've been taught it should be... But give it to the pro to break his own rules 
Writing seems like the obvious tech to research. Scouting Zara's land could prove very useful. (Of course, having Zara ask you for open borders would be perfect, but let's assume for a moment Zara isn't going to cooperate that much regarding his own doom...)
When I do an Axe Rush I often find I have to do Writing ASAP - if my overexpansion (on Zara's expense in this case) tanks my economy before I have it, I couldn't build a Library to compensate, and that could spell disaster. Anyway, at size 5 or lower, I haven't viewed a Granary in the capital as essential in the short term - the abundant food should make Babylon bounce back after any whipping fast enough. (And during an Axe Rush, short term is all there is)
That you have time to ponder going for Pottery first might mean your rush is a bit more sedate... But then again, I'm not as up to date on the interlocking tech bonuses you get. I guess the discount you get towards Writing by having Potter is bigger than I thought, that's all. 
Writing seems like the obvious tech to research. Scouting Zara's land could prove very useful. (Of course, having Zara ask you for open borders would be perfect, but let's assume for a moment Zara isn't going to cooperate that much regarding his own doom...)
When I do an Axe Rush I often find I have to do Writing ASAP - if my overexpansion (on Zara's expense in this case) tanks my economy before I have it, I couldn't build a Library to compensate, and that could spell disaster. Anyway, at size 5 or lower, I haven't viewed a Granary in the capital as essential in the short term - the abundant food should make Babylon bounce back after any whipping fast enough. (And during an Axe Rush, short term is all there is)
That you have time to ponder going for Pottery first might mean your rush is a bit more sedate...
But then again, I'm not as up to date on the interlocking tech bonuses you get. I guess the discount you get towards Writing by having Potter is bigger than I thought, that's all. SnowlyWhite
Emperor
20% discount; but he should be able to research them both; plus granaries, plus ability to plop cottages case it tanks...
PimpyMicPimp
Regrets His Username.
Graneries will do far more for you right now than Writing.
That's the ways I sees it, at least.
Also, Sis. Riders > Lions. By far. Embarrassingly so.
That's the ways I sees it, at least.
Also, Sis. Riders > Lions. By far. Embarrassingly so.
