Ank07 - Plain Deity

[Bede]

Originally posted by pindicator

How serious of a run should we make on the iron? It seems very unlikely that the Vikings or Chinese will ignore it for too long, especially since it has two furs near it. The river is as good a spot as any to settle, and we probably won't get to this during my course of turns. However, to our south is a horse, and considering our UU, we may want to claim the horse for certain, maybe even before we win/lose the iron push.

I like the hill settle location and will aim for that. I don't think there is too much else that needs to be said, so I'll wait a bit for discussion and then play. [/B]

The Ansar doesn't come until Chivalry, IIRC, and we will probably need offense stronger than horsemen and archers before then.

You should have a settler out of Mecca by your fourth or fifth turn, so I would send the archer at the new town along the river when the warrior gets there about that time.

The iron is on a hill on the river just outside the picture and I would drop the town right there. China has thier own iron to the north I think and IIRC Ragnar has some in his eastern reaches. The archer and warrior activity is strictly for barbarian hunting. I never once saw a settling team.

 

[pindicator]

Originally posted by Bede
You should have a settler out of Mecca by your fourth or fifth turn, so I would send the archer at the new town along the river when the warrior gets there about that time.

The iron is on a hill on the river just outside the picture and I would drop the town right there. China has thier own iron to the north I think and IIRC Ragnar has some in his eastern reaches. The archer and warrior activity is strictly for barbarian hunting. I never once saw a settling team.

Are you saying I should use the current settler to claim the iron, and then use the next settler built to fill in?

 

[Bede]

Originally posted by pindicator
Are you saying I should use the current settler to claim the iron, and then use the next settler built to fill in?

That's high risk but might work.

My thought was build on rectangle, when warrior is produced at Mecca send warrior to new town and shuffle archer to the iron hill to waltz with any interlopers, then send new settler chasing after archer, unescorted as the Chinese and Viking barb hunters have probably done theri work really well.

But now that I think on it...

 

[pindicator]

The settler we have right now can move to claim the iron in 8 turns. If I was greedy, I'd go for the iron and furs location (which it could get to in 10, but would be too much of a gamble IMO). Take 7 turns for the warrior / settler combo out of Mecca and then 4 more to move them into the hill settle location. Otherwise it's 3 turns to move the current settler and the 7 + 9 for the iron. So it's iron in 8 or iron in 16. This makes me think that the gamble is not taking it right now.

Contacting my ambassadors, it makes me want to claim it even quicker. Neither AI has iron connected; China has horses and that's it.

 

[Ankka]

Nice turns, Bede even though the granary was lost when it had only a few shields left...

I'd suggest settling the iron ASAP: we get a "border" of cities and the AI won't get to the Western area so fast (even though it's small), and we get the iron almost surely... And the gap will be filled quite fast anyway, huh?

 

[pindicator]

Batting third on my first Diety game. Well, the first one I'm going to win, that is.

2550BC, Inherited Turn
Everything looks in order here. After discussion, I'm going for the iron. Hopefully we'll have claimed it by the end of my turns.
IBT - Vikings and Chinese, being the good neighbors that they are, take care of the barbarian ruffians to our NW.

2510BC, Turn 1
Americans have learned Mysticism
Archer will escort settler until a suitable warrior can be found... which may be a while.
Spain has a worker available, and I decide to buy it for 115g instead of going for Mysticism. Tell me if this is a move or not. My reasoning is that with the slave we now have the 6-turn worker/settler factory online for this settler.
IBT - Mecca: Warrior -> Settler.

2470BC, Turn 2
With the extra MP, slider to 8.1.1, gpt up to +3.
The grey-blue borders that (probably) belong to Spain show up in the east.
MM Mecca to get another shield and still grow next turn.
Everyone else but China knows Mysticism now.

2430BC, Turn 3
Madrid is the city in the east. Scout in the north sees a coast, so maybe China doesn't have as much room as advertised.
Mecca grows, slider to 7.1.2 to prevent rioting.
Ah, I miscalced! There goes my biggest justification for buying that slave... I forgot on the IBT with growth that Mecca got the extra shield from the new worker, giving it 7-9-7-7 without improvement and the 6 turn factory.
Trade Mysticism to Spain for 3gt + 28g. Begin 40-turn gambit on Polytheism. This empties us out, but I thought it better to do a 40-turn gambit on Poly then a 50-turn one. Also, Lodbrok will trade good value for Myst, so he probably is researching something else.
IBT - Vikings settle by the furs, but not by the iron. Maybe they are using their psychic AI abilities to locate some saltpeter or oil.
Medina: Warrior -> Worker.

2390BC, Turn 4
Decide to scope out a bit of the Vikings' lands with the warrior at Medina.
IBT - NO!!!!!! :saiyan: Wow, the Vikings move fast. Consider the iron lost (for now).

2350BC, Turn 5
Settler moves back a square so that when we found the city it will not be in a culture war with Scandinavia. The town will be on the wrong side of the rive, but a viking stack is on that tile.
Sell China Alphabet for 75g. I think this was a good price, and probably cause I think someone else would have sold it to them for that price, but I'm not the best broker.
IBT - Mecca: Settler -> Warrior

2310BC, Turn 6
Damascus founded. Set to warrior.
Minnesota wins game 4 Now my turns should go a little quicker.
Settler pair moves to claim the horse (hopefully).
Trade Scandinavia Myst + 43g for HBR.
America buys HBR for 221g. I feel better about our monetar situation.
Spain doesn't have enough money to satiate my greed.

2270BC, Turn 7
Settler pair reveals a Game bonus on a forest tile.
Ah, first assessment was a bit off. Lots of open territory up north.
IBT - Mecca: Warrior -> Settler.

2230BC, Turn 8
Slider to 8.1.1

2190BC, Turn 9
Mecca grows; slider to 7.1.2
Contact Egypt. They are broke (0g) and stupid (down HBR & IW). But probably not for long. They also have 5 cities.

2150BC, Turn 10
Can now see America's cities far in the northeast.
Found Baghdad in position on the southern tip. Set to temple. Hope this was a good spot, as we now have an unworked square, but it also does not conflict culturally with the Vikings.


We are at tech parity with the world, and up IW and HBR to Egypt.
Settler is due in Mecca; right now that town is set up for a 6 turn factory.
Baghdad is producing a temple to get the horse resource on the culture growth. If it is more important to chop the forest and promote growth, by all means change this (to warrior + worker perhaps).

 

[pindicator]

Here is a view of Egypt to the north of China:

The eastern lands:

Our empire, circa 2150BC:

I would like to settle the filled-in red dot, as it gives access to sea and fills in best. But it also conflicts with the Vikings' culture, so maybe the empty red dot is best.

Maybe I should post the save link, too...

 

[Ankka]

I don't like the Vikings so close... Well, we'll get to do some sometime in the near future...

 

[Ankka]

Bede
pindicator - just played
conehead234 - UP!
Rik Meleet - on deck
Ankka

REMEMBER: 24h to post a got it, 48 total to complete the turns.

 

[Bede]

Remember that Scandanavia will put a high priority on archers before swords as archers upgrade to their Berserker.

Have we got a town that can be forcefed population and improvements to 10spt for archers and horsemen in 2, preserving Mecca for settlers, workers and such?

Nice trading, pin, if we can stay even, and take money away from the AI we are doing great at this stage.

One small quibble, I would have been tempted to move Baghdad one to the NE, still on the coast, keeping the game in range and picking up the horses and bonus grass without a temple. IMHO culture risk is small against the Vikes.

 

[Ankka]

Seems like we'll have quite a small sized land in the beginning... until we Ragnar.

 

[Bede]

Ah, but mghty oaks...

 

[Ankka]

What was that supposed to mean?

 

[conehead234]

I got it.

 

[conehead234]

Can I have a skip. I won't be able to play until tomorrow.

 

[pindicator]

honestly conehead, unless you want to be skipped I don't see the need -- and I know Ankka's in charge on how strict we are going to be on the 24/48 rule, so it's his call not mine -- because the next person will probably take another day to "got it" and play it anyway.

Then again, I'm half asleep, so what do I know?
You gotta love the graveyard shift! (Seriously, though, with all the drunk college girls that come in, you gotta love it )

 

[Rik Meleet]

Please take it cone, tomorrow. If you can't I'll be playing in 36 hours. No need to skip you.

 

[conehead234]

Ok. I will play tomorrow. I would have played tonight but Space 2 tired me out. Go and check out the Siege of Coneheadgrad HERE. It is spread out throught 2 pages, pretty exicting. I hope we never have to face any like that in this game.

 

[Ankka]

Go ahead and play, cone.

 

[conehead234]

Preturn- Looks good
IT-Damascus warrior->warrior.
1-Movements
IT- Mecca settler->granery.
2-movements.
IT-everyone has writing, and math
3-movements move settler into postion to settle.
IT-nada
4-settle Najran, west of Mecca. Attack a barb horse and lose. Najran will be pillaged next turn. Buy math from Spain for 178 Gold. Trade Math and 19 gold to china for writing.
IT-17 gold is stolen.
5-Lux to 30. MM Mecca so the granery will be done 1 turn before the city grows.
IT-Barb horse moves outside Mecca.
6-kill the barb with a warrior. Lux to 40.
IT- Vikings demand 22 gold, I cave.
7-Warrior back to Mecca. Lux back down to 30.
IT-nada
8-scout spots wounded American spear coming from Ottoman land. They might be at war with each other.
IT-13 gold is pillaged from Nagran. Mecca granery->settler.
9-movements.
IT-another warrior is built.
10-nada.

I believe Mecca is a 3 turn settler factory. The other cities should continue to pump out warriors and expand as fast as we can.