Round 1: 4000 BC to 3175 BC (33 turns)
The ayes have it: I moved the Settler onto the stone.
I moved the Scout north on the next turn, to see if there was a compelling reason to move the Settler somewhere else. I didn't see any.
So, as many of you have been urging, I settled atop the stone.
My first build was a workboat, as several of you recommended. I also started to research sailing as my first technology. The sooner the Vikings get into the water, I figure, the more historically-accurate this game will be. And given the map type, boats are a priority.
My Scout was heading north and I decided to continue in that direction, since he'd only have to double back later. I found a tribal village along the way and popped it for gold.
Meanwhile, Nidaros completed the work boat build. Again as recommended, I began another. Thanks to switching the tiles worked, this one would be completed on the same turn as the capital reached size 3--perfect timing.
I finished researching my first technology, which also enabled Ragnar's unique building:
Once the second work boat was completed in Nidaros, I started to build a Worker. The two clams tiles and the extra hammer from the plains hill all combined to accelerate that build.
Shortly after this, I finished researching my next technology, Mining.
I chose Masonry next, keeping alive our dream of building the Great Lighthouse.
My Scout found some crabs and some furs up north, unfortunately not nearly in the same vicinity (you'll see the map later). Then he headed south, fighting off a couple of voracious wolves along the way--fortunately nothing more threatening--and found another tribal village. More gold for the treasury!
123 gold in the treasury is great. With random events in BtS, I find it's a good idea to carry around a "rainy day" balance to give you more options to deal with some of the curve balls the RNG throws at you.
My third goody hut was not quite so generous, yielding a map. You'll see what it revealed further below.
On the turn that ended the round, my Worker was ready in Nidaros. I scooted him out to build a camp on the capital's sole ivory tile. I chose a ship for the next build:
Take a look at the map and you'll see why I think it's time to hit the waves.
So I'm semi-isolated at least, which is both good and bad. If any other civs can be reached by the early, coast-hugging boats, I think it's a priority to head out and meet them. There's also one more tribal village on that island to my west, and I'd like to take the Scout over there to pop it before any barb military units appear and squat on it.
I think one city will have to go 1N of the wine. It will work all those fish tiles and is a second candidate for the Moai Statues, along with the capital. Could be a GP farm, don't you think? There will probably be a land-locked city NE of Nidaros to work the ivory, rice, and cows. And of course I want to explore that island, which has the only available Calendar-enabled resource thus far visible. The furs are going to be problematic given the lack of food nearby. I may have to plunk down a junk city there just to claim them.
Barbs could potentially be a problem thanks to the northern wastes. Two options are to fortify the chokepoint in the tundra or to just take advantage of the stone and build the Great Wall.
We should also consider the possibility that I'm completely isolated. If that's the case, how do I alter my game plans? I don't want this game to go the same way the Mehmed game did. I think contact with other civs is a huge priority for religion, tech trading, and so on. Therefore Optics is priority number one if the Galley shows me to be isolated. I want to plan, in the next round, to direct my research in that general direction in case it's needed--that will generally meaning avoiding techs that are extraneous to that goal. So no running after the Oracle in this game. But what else does it mean? You tell me!
Why doesn't everybody just take a break from posting here until I put the first round up?
you need machinery to get optics in the first place.
resources so far, all of which are amplified by currency's market, so Happy should be too much of a problem. I would recommend the GW here more to deal with the barbs than anything, although you could settle your first few GS's in your capital to help with EP production, although I'm not sure how that works in isolation. I also count 14 seafood, so Sid's Sushi is a definite thing to think about long-term. otherwise, your proposed cities sound good, So I would scout out more next round, find out if you are truly isolated, and then come back for more advice.
