Round One: 4000 BC to 2260 BC
As stated in the first post, I moved the Settler one square south and founded there.
My first task was to build an additional Scout to help with exploration, and my first tech to research was Bronze Working.
The initial Scout bagged me quite a bit of gold from a couple of huts he found... and with the two huts that my border pop uncovered, I had 246 gold in my treasury. Nice to have that to allow my research to churn along at 100 percent for quite some time.
My city grew to size two just as my Scout was finished, which allowed me to work two tiles for my Worker.
I figured working the unimproved Stone was fine... I'm not looking to get a lot of growth out of Moscow just yet. My plan is to use the Worker to chop forests for my initial Warrior, with the overflow finishing a second Warrior, then I'll chop two forest squares for the first three Settlers I build. In between, I'll improve the Corn.
And as far as who my neighbors are on this land I have, it's becoming deja vu.
Yep, Monty and Alex are both here. Now I'll definitely need to watch my play carefully.
My second Scout met an untimely demise, as he walked straight into a Barbarian Warrior... and one who apparently had taken out somebody else's unit, as it was promoted to City Raider I. Needless to say, my second Scout didn't get to do much exploration.
Fortunately, my initial Scout never got attacked as he was able to avoid animals and that barbie.
Bronze Working was then discovered, but alas, no Copper to be found. I've said before that Fractal maps tend to be like this, with Copper not being easy to find. Nonetheless, I have forest to chop, so all was not lost. I enabled Slavery and went with Agriculture as my next tech so I can farm the Corn.
And then I learned I have a third neighbor as well, but unlike my first attempt at this challenge, it isn't Toku.
Napoleon shouldn't be too hard to deal with early on... he becomes a bigger threat by midgame, though.
Worker was finished and the Warriors came next. Agriculture was discovered, I went with Animal Husbandry next so I can locate Horses.
Monty then founded Buddhism. It would certainly help if that spread to my lands, as it would make it easier to decide who to make my friend initially.
With AH discovered, I decided to go for Masonry so I can at least improve the Stone square. Once the forest is all chopped, I can use the extra hammers
As for Horses, guess where they showed up.
Yep... had I not moved the Settler, they would have been in my fat cross. Oh well... another border pop will come and then I can get the Horses at least in my territory.
Settler was completed in 2260 BC, and that brings us to this point.
Here's the map as I know it.
And a dot map in which I've plotted out three initial cities.
City No. 1 is definitely next... I get Cows and Rice along with forested hills in the initial square, and a border pop will add some grassland along the river. Could work as a production city initially, then become a commerce city with a border pop to the BFC.
Cities No. 2 and No. 3 are not definite in that order. City No. 2 would claim two Ivory squares but not much else. It would have to be a production city for sure, with the Grassland river squares getting farmed.
City No. 3 gets an Oasis and Gold in its initial square and Cows with a border pop. And when I get Calendar, there will be Bananas to work. Desert and Peaks are an issue, but with Iron Working, the jungle can be cleared and perhaps cottaged up for a commerce city.
I don't have any other city locations marked yet, but there are some possible sites. To the north is a lot of jungle territory, but there's Bananas, Gems and Sugar to be had. Uncovering some of the coastline will help, but it looks like just north of Moscow is a definite candidate for a commerce city, and further east where all that Sugar is would be an ideal GP Farm.
There's a filler city spot to the south of Moscow, which would claim Corn, Sheep and Fish. That can wait until later, though.
It would be tempting to chase that spot south of City No. 2 which would give me Marble, Horses and Sheep, but that can probably wait as well.
Looks like I'll have to see if Buddhism spreads to my lands once I get Open Borders signed with Monty... if that happens, he'll be the one to make my friend. Alex would then most likely be my first target.
Any thoughts about Wonders to pursue? I'm tempted to go for the Pyramids, given that I have Stone. Keeping it away from the others would prevent, for example, Monty switching to Police State and becoming a real problem early on, even if Buddhism spreads to my lands.
Finally, there comes the matter of techs. The choices that could come into play:
* The Wheel, so I can build roads, and also to research Pottery and build Granaries in the cities in which we plan to whip out units.
* Writing, so as to get Open Borders signed early. I know where Alex and Nappy have their lands, just need to find Monty.
* Mysticism, to get border pops via Obelisks.
* Iron Working, so we can clear jungle where potential city sites await.
I'm debating between Writing, Iron Working and The Wheel to research next. Iron Working would be useful to know where Iron is (given the lack of copper), we definitely need Wheel for roads to hook up the Horses (although the border pop will take a while), and Writing would get Open Borders going. Pottery, while fitting into playing to Peter's strengths, probably isn't as important at this time. Mysticism could wait a while... City No. 1, at least, will be fine without a border pop, and City No. 2, assuming I go that route, will have Grassland squares along the river that can be farmed and one Ivory square to be camped.
Saved game is attached.
Combining all those hills with the multiple Sugar squares, Bananas and grassland along river will be great for production.
No doubt he wants those Horses nearby, but I figured he'd try to go further to the north. Looks like target No. 1 is now known.
