Emperor Early Decision Point - Lookin' fer help

[StrategeryBush]

I have Brennus, who I almost never play, in a dry, low-food environment. I have K. Kahn on one side and Alexander TG on the other. It about turn 35 and I just finished a settler last turn and finished researching BW this turn. It is my good fortune to have already mined the Bronze in my BFC, that being because it was the only tile that I could improve after I finished the two Cows. Tech wise I have all the first row of techs except for Ag and Fishing, the only other techs I have are AH and BW. (I popped the wheel from a goody hut.)

I'm playing on a standard size map, Emperor, Tectonics, 70% water, normal wetness, normal game speed. It looks like Kublai Kahn is boxed in by me. Issy (if memory serves) is just at the north edge of the screen shots. Alexander is to my north east. I expect that I'll need to get on the stick and rush the Mongols, then decide whether I'm in a position to take on the Greeks, or just hunker down on my peninsula.

My first decision is where do I put my settler. She's currently sitting on the Marble tile just east of Bibracte. My thought is on the wooded plains hill due south of my capital, one space north of the 'phant. That would be my best production spot for building axes to take out KK; however, if I do that then Alex will likely grab all the good land to my east. I could block Alex with a settler positioned between the banana and the gems, but that is a really weak city and would not be providing much help as I try to rush KK.

I'd appreciate any sort of help, including larger strategic help, as this looks to me like a pretty tough spot as I'm not too good in food short situations.

Hopefully the screen shots and save (bug) will work.

Thanks,
Paul

 

[huerfanista]

I'd block Alex. With BFC copper, your capital should be able to chop/whip enough axes to take out Mongolia. I'd want 2-3 workers - 2 for your cap would be best, 1 for the new city. If you can block Alex, he's screwed with all of the land you'll have.

 

[StrategeryBush]

Thanks, that was a good call. I took KK out relatively easily using axes from my capitol only, with the help of some lucky 25% attacks. Now to salvage the economy and build for an assault on a fairly weak Alexander. I'm now in a spot where I have very little income and really need to get Aesthetics finished so I can catch up on tech via trades.

 

[chopster]

I'd have settled the capital 1NE of where you did to begin with, but I can't be sure what info you had when you decided to settle. In all honesty I don't think I would have played this far with a capital with that much brown and only plains cows for food.

 

[StrategeryBush]

When I saw the gems, which was after I settled, I thought of how nice it would have been to be 1 NE. I think that even more now that I am struggling to keep my treasury above 0. Since my last post I got declared on by Alex. Marching my army back to the frontier from where I was gathering it to take out a barb city almost bankrupted me. My big problem is not lack of food it is lack of commerce.

BTW, the two cows start, in combination with discovering that I had already mined my Bronze didn't make for fast growth, but it sure made for a high speed Axe generator.