Following the discussion with Jastrow in the BOTM 94 spoilers, I resolved to play this one with an extra-careful focus on constant science, in the hope of improving my space race date.
I started by moving the scout onto the goody-hut – that gave me a map that revealed nothing else exciting, so I opted for a follow-the-blue-circle strategy: Settle in-place, which obviously turned out to be an extremely nice spot.
I met Willem, but couldn't see any point going to war early on, since that would ruin my only chance for any foreign trade routes, and leave me to clear out all the jungle unassisted
So, I expanded – building almost nothing but settlers and workers - while running every cottage I could in the capital. 2nd city NE to grab the gems, 3rd NW for fish and corn – both of these running scientists as soon as I could. 4th city north along the coast – this looked like a good production site. By this time, I had figured that most of my cities were going to be coastal, so the great lighthouse was a good bet.
It didn't work. I kept checking my Great Lighthouse progress every turn. Finally, the city grew to size 6 and I could whip the lighthouse. I duly did so. Only to be greeted the next turn with the 'you can no longer build the great lighthouse' message. Bah Humbug! Maybe I should have gone for a bit earlier than 4th city to build it
But at 1AD it's not too bad. I have 7 cities (36 pop) and two settlers about to settle. This gives me the entire continent apart from 2 Dutch cities in the far north (what's taking the guy so long???). And the best bit – 134 sustainable bpt. civil service, calendar and my academy are in, and monarchy in 2 turns will solve some happiness problems. After that, the plan is a great-scientist-powered beeline to astronomy so I can get some decent trade routes, and then find out who deprived me of my great lighthouse and take it back!
I started by moving the scout onto the goody-hut – that gave me a map that revealed nothing else exciting, so I opted for a follow-the-blue-circle strategy: Settle in-place, which obviously turned out to be an extremely nice spot.
I met Willem, but couldn't see any point going to war early on, since that would ruin my only chance for any foreign trade routes, and leave me to clear out all the jungle unassisted
So, I expanded – building almost nothing but settlers and workers - while running every cottage I could in the capital. 2nd city NE to grab the gems, 3rd NW for fish and corn – both of these running scientists as soon as I could. 4th city north along the coast – this looked like a good production site. By this time, I had figured that most of my cities were going to be coastal, so the great lighthouse was a good bet.
It didn't work. I kept checking my Great Lighthouse progress every turn. Finally, the city grew to size 6 and I could whip the lighthouse. I duly did so. Only to be greeted the next turn with the 'you can no longer build the great lighthouse' message. Bah Humbug! Maybe I should have gone for a bit earlier than 4th city to build it
But at 1AD it's not too bad. I have 7 cities (36 pop) and two settlers about to settle. This gives me the entire continent apart from 2 Dutch cities in the far north (what's taking the guy so long???). And the best bit – 134 sustainable bpt. civil service, calendar and my academy are in, and monarchy in 2 turns will solve some happiness problems. After that, the plan is a great-scientist-powered beeline to astronomy so I can get some decent trade routes, and then find out who deprived me of my great lighthouse and take it back!
