Aabra02: Hammy Builds a House

[Bede]

Colossus is a long time, so I'm not a fan but I wouldn't object to a spear.

Precisely the reason to build the Colussus. The last thing we need is income eating troops or buildings so why not take on a long term project while we scope out the surroundings. And if we get it then we are stronger than before, should we lose it, well then we wasted a few shields but the treasury is in better shape, so we are still stronger than before.

We have to keep in mind that what we got is what we got, and unless we have iron or catapults a rampage against distant neighbors just ain't in the cards (we'd spend eons of worker turns getting cats across those wetlands and jungles towards Arabia, and we don't even know where Brennus is.) So we are a long way off from a military build up unless we turn up the heat on the bunsen burners.

So by all means train a spear then build a temple, then start the Colussus, and if you want a belt and suspenders for happiness buid a colony on the gems.

 

[scoutsout]

Well... if we're gonna build a spear AND a temple before Colossus, I say go with the temple first. Kulcha and stuph. 20k is "Plan B".

Seriously, consider whipping the temple. At 5spt... we can let the temple go for 2 turns, whip the sucker, and start on colossus. We'll have a Gems colony soon enough, which will be enough to offset one unhappy citizen.

Just somethin' to think about.

 

[Beorn-eL-Feared]

I was saying I'm not a fan of the spear (though we don't have anything offensive to build in its stead), not the colossus

If we're still as low as 5 spt, not nearing 8 or 10, whipping is sensible.

 

[Whomp]

The whip will wear off faster if we build the temple first. I'd go temple, spear and colossus. That should do it for awhile.

On fighting the Arabs, I'm thinking more long term (past Colossus and more units) where they make demands. We'll get a push with war happiness and chances are they won't reach us by the time we can make peace and possibly some extras. Just a thought...

 

[Bede]

I was saying I'm not a fan of the spear (though we don't have anything offensive to build in its stead), not the colossus

If we're still as low as 5 spt, not nearing 8 or 10, whipping is sensible.

Sorry, Beorn, but the ablative absolute has always confused me.

And by all means whip in the temple.

 

[gmaharriet]

Aabra02-2550bc-Babs

0) - 2550bc - Preturn - Everything looks fine so hit <enter>

IBT - Barb shows up in jungle N/E of us. Celtic warrior shows up on mountain top S of us.

Granary -> spear.

1) - 2510bc - Move both worker and citizen to the sugar. Bonecrusher sees more jungle, and Skullsplitter continues west.

IBT - Barb near Babylon fortifies. Another barb moves next to Bonecrusher. Celtic warrior east onto forest.

2) - 2470bc - Move Bonecrusher S/W. Skullsplitter climbs hill to west seeing coast and desert.

IBT - Barb near Babylon moves closer. Celtic warrior continues east.

3) - 2430bc - Bonecrusher goes S, right next to another barb. Skullsplitter N, seeing grass, hill and a mountain with a river.

IBT - Babylon grows. A 2nd barb moves next to Bonecrusher. Barb near Babylon forts on hill. Celtic warrior continues east to the sea.

4) - 2390bc - Move lux up to 40%, 85g in treasury at +1. Spear due next turn. New citizen on roaded grass as more shields will not speed the spear and gives 1 more schilling.

Bonecrusher S/E to hill, sees more coast and jungle. Skullsplitter N, sees more grass and hills.

IBT - Barbs move around. Spear -> temple in 5 at 6spt. Celtic warrior moves S out of view.

5) - 2350bc - Move lux to 20% with spear as MP. Bonecrusher S to hill and can see small channel of ocean leading to sea near Babylon and hills on the other side. Skullsplitter climbs mountain, seeing plains forests, desert with river and the farther coast. Abu and Brennus are still unwilling to trade Warrior Code.

IBT - Barb near Babylon forts again.

6) - 2310bc - Bonecrusher S, Skullsplitter W. No sign of Celt borders. They must be south of us. Arabia learns Mysticism.

IBT - Babylon grows to size 6. Barb moves next to workers.

7) - 2270bc - Charlie, the warrior kills the barb threatening our workers, losing 1 hp. Lux moved to 40% to account for new citizen and MP moving to attack. Bonecrusher S, Skullsplitter W onto forest and right next to barb camp...1 barb in the camp and another behind him on a hill.

IBT - Barbs move around.

8) - 2230 - Bonecrusher S/W, Skullsplitter runs E away from the barbs, Charlie goes back to MP. Just realize I should have rushed the temple last turn. Since it's due next turn, I will just let it finish on its own. Celts learn The Wheel.

IBT - Western barb chases Skullsplitter. Temple -> Colossus in 25.

9) - 2190bc - Bonecrusher S/W, Skullsplitter N/E to hill with 1 barb right behind him. Lower lux to 20%.

IBT - Babylon grows to 7. Arabs establish Bagdad.

10) - 2150bc - Bonecrusher S/W, Skullsplitter N/E seeing more grass and hills. Lux raised to 30%, 92g in Treasury at +1gpt. Ironworking due in 13. Colossus in 19.

Afterturn notes:
I really wanted to mine and road that BG N/E of Babylon, but that's where the barb who Charlie killed was hanging out, so I kept the workers away from there. Two of them should be finished mining next turn and could go there, but would need protection as there is a barb camp in the jungle.

I haven't seen any sign of the Celts since their warrior headed south and no movement from the Arabs. The Celts must be south or S/E of us.

Northeast Lands:

Spoiler :

Western Lands:

Spoiler :

Downtown Babylon:

Spoiler :

And the save...

 

[Beorn-eL-Feared]

No biggie on the whipping issue - would've been nice, ain't critical. Good call on leaving the BG alone. Trade opportunities will come ... one day...

2 MM details: we'll want to work 4fpt for faster growth, but we can do 3fpt for 2 turns without slowing down. This means 1 turns not working the plain that's being irrigated. Also, since the workers are being done mining, moving from plain to roaded grass will not lose the shield. Then next turn we can work the plain back, leaving the unimproved BG unworked.

Btw, do we want to get 12 food tiles improved and walk our way to size 12? We could also work the hills soon (slow to improve and slows growth) or keep size lower, pump more workers and mass-join later when hills/mountains are improved (faster but less productive meanwhile). We have 12 good 2+ food tiles, 8 of which we'll use all the way in the game, and 4 high ground tiles that we'll work when we're big.

Sp the question is basically: do we bother improving the grasses E-NE or do we jump to hills right now? Because the workers are waiting for an answer.

 

[Aabraxan]

I'd say improve the grass and shoot for size 12. Food is king at this stage, right? Once we hit size 12, we might be able to reshuffle for 0 surplus food and send citizens to the hills for shields.

BTW, it's really strange for me to see a size 7 city this early in the game.

 

[gmaharriet]

I'm having ISP problems. It's been getting worse all week and Comcast has no ETA on when it will be fixed. Glad I got the game posted last night. It took me 15 minutes of screen refreshing to get this far.

I hope to return soon. Nevermind. They had told me it might be another week. Seems fine now.

 

[gmaharriet]

Roster:

Bede - up
Whomp - on deck
Aabraxan
Beorn-eL-Feared
scoutsout
gmaharriet - just played

 

[scoutsout]

I'd say improve the grass and shoot for size 12. Food is king at this stage, right? Once we hit size 12, we might be able to reshuffle for 0 surplus food and send citizens to the hills for shields.

Let's see what sort of gold and shields per turn we can net. Once we get above 10 spt, we can start working the lake for the shilling, if the shields won't get us to Colossus sooner.

BTW, it's really strange for me to see a size 7 city this early in the game.

Um... yeah, that was sort of the idea with the Granary.

Quiz for Abraxan and Harriet: Now that we're at size 7, how did the Granary save 20 shields in the tactical defense problem?

 

[Bede]

I would start to limit growth when the treasury goes negative, which should be just about the time the hills are mined and roaded but I won't spend any time mining a 1 shield grass field either.

Aabraxan is right "Food is king" until the population starts to outstrip your ability to keep them productive. Without riversides to work we are going to get to that point right around size 10 or so, I think. With the Colussus every field at the capitol will produce gold like a riverside so then the city can grow out to 12 without feeling the pinch.

Anyway here's the got it. Play it out tomorrow.

The plan right now takes two workers from the sugar and the grass and puts them on the bonus grass to the east. When the third worker finishes the irrigation he will head to the closest hill to put in a road so the other two can join him in digging a mine. That should all come out about right for the city growth, I think.

If gma wants to sharpen her spreadsheeting skills proving me wrong, have at it.

 

[scoutsout]

...but I won't spend any time mining a 1 shield grass field either.

The plan right now takes two workers...and puts them on the bonus grass to the east.

T'ain't all about the spreadsheets, Brother Bede.

Afterturn notes:
I really wanted to mine and road that BG N/E of Babylon, but that's where the barb who Charlie killed was hanging out, so I kept the workers away from there. Two of them should be finished mining next turn and could go there, but would need protection as there is a barb camp in the jungle.

Seems to me the Crone has been watchin' the tactical situation, as well as the spreadsheet.

 

[Bede]

T'ain't all about the spreadsheets, Brother Bede.

Seems to me the Crone has been watchin' the tactical situation, as well as the spreadsheet.

No commentary on Harriet's moves intended, just an expression of intent on my part.

 

[scoutsout]

No commentary on Harriet's moves intended, just an expression of intent on my part.

Just make sure you cover the workers, my friend. If there's one thing I'd hate more than plowing 150 shields into a Sphear, it'd hafta be plowing 170 into that worker needed for the gems colony.

 

[Beorn-eL-Feared]

Just roads on our "interim" grass tiles sounds very good.

 

[gmaharriet]

Now that we're at size 7, how did the Granary save 20 shields in the tactical defense problem?

By growing to "city" size, we have the same 50% defense bonus as is given by walls.

If gma wants to sharpen her spreadsheeting skills proving me wrong, have at it.

Not that I have any interest in proving you wrong, but I'm still just trying to understand Beorn's spreadsheet. I haven't added to it during Scout's or my turns, so I'd be at a loss what to do with it.

I found it a very useful exercise to copy Beorn's, because I was working from a sheet already filled in by someone playing from a different game. That meant I had to "know what and why" Beorn was doing things in order to get the same results. It's a baby step in the right direction, but I need a Lesson 2 (and Lessons 3,4,5,6.....) yet.

 

[Aabraxan]

Quiz for Abraxan and Harriet: Now that we're at size 7, how did the Granary save 20 shields in the tactical defense problem?

By growing to "city" size, we have the same 50% defense bonus as is given by walls.

I think this is it.

 

[Bede]

Well, for once Sidmath is working to our advantage. The one citizen added during this set not only paid for herself and gave us a +1gpt boost to the treasury, but also shaved three turns off the Colussus. Didn't do anything for the Iron Working research, though.

So all is looking pretty good.

The mine on the hill will come in just in time for the next birthday in Babylon, but I don't think the new citizen will make much difference to the completion time of the Colussus, have to wait and see, but at least it will be there when the time comes.

One of the three workers should probably peel off the mining gang and climb the mountain for the gems once the hill mine is dug/ The other two can dig a mine on the nearest grass field.

The Arab knows Masonry

and both TatooFace and TowelHead know Warrior Code, but it requires mortaging the economy to pay for it. Not needed I should think, or at least not at those prices. Masonry on the other hand opens up some interesting possibilities, like using the Pyramids as a prebuild for the Great Library. We will have to wait for Iron Working to see if that is a purchasable commodity. Since it is currently Abu's monopoly he may not be willing to give it up. There may be a brokerage opportunity if we can squeeze The Wheel from the Celt, though.

The warrior in the far northwest skirted the barb camp and found Land's End. There were too many yokels either in the camp or in the neighborhood for me to want to risk the boyo for a measly 25g,

especially since we are getting close to the amount of gold in hand where the AI will start demanding tribute. He did win a battle on a mountain top against one of them but got no promotion.

As no one we know seems too interested in the literacy techs, and we should have some cash to work with once the Colossus is done, a rush to Literature and a grab for the GL may be in order.

A scouting expedition to the south may be in order, as three Celts appeared from that direction

It is likely they are barb hunting, so I am not too worried about their appearance at the moment, though I did check the advisors to discover that Dolly the DA and Milly the MA are in a bit of dither about Brennus.

But I should think a pop8 capitol with a spear and two warriors in residence would be enough to deter them for long enough to get them out of sight to the NW.

So to sum up

Iron Working in three
Colussus in six
Growth to pop9 in four
And no real threats for anywhere, yet.

And,

It is all yours, Whomp. You should have some interesting choices to make.

Roster check

Bede - played
Whomp - UP
Aabraxan - on deck
Beorn-eL-Feared
scoutsout
gmaharriet - just played

 

[Beorn-eL-Feared]

To answer the "will growth change a thing" question, we would have needed to mine the hill first and work the hill from the moment of mining to shave an extra turn, which in turn would have costed us about as much in gold as we'd gain having the colossus 1 turn earlier, and in population. Short story: we will overrun ~5-7 shields when there is 1 turn left, so waste is not a serious issue here.

Good set, let's keep our fingers crossed for a camp in the jungle. Not engaging barbs is a wise idea I wouldn't have had