Hey KF
Congrats on the successful axe rush. Honestly, what I usually like to emphasis for newer players in these shadow games is basics like worker management, economy and expansion. However, sometimes an early rush is simply the best thing. Toku was so close and an easy target. The other option though considering the land layout was simply boxing him in.
I think at a minimum you learned a bit about how to execute an early rush. Many times early rushes are just not feasible especially on higher levels..really depends on the layout and proximity, and your access to strategic resources, of course
My one comment, as I was not able to follow much earlier, is that I would have settled the Copper city 1E of current location, which makes it a good helper city for cottages in Kyoto. Overlapping cities is actually a good thing.
I will address your questions next, and then expand on some other key points.
I think that is indeed best for the moment. Odd on Pangaea that you had only met two AIs up to this point. In most cases on Pangaea, you'd likely have met everyone by now. I think it is the strange layout of a) being on this sorta peninsula at the bottom and b) a jungle barrier to the north of you as jungle can really hindered AI scouting.
I think on this level that Alpha would be the best next tech, although with stone just W over there you might pick up masonry for the Pyramids and maybe fail golding wonders. I see no food over there but settling for the stone may be worth it.
no..not at all...generally just use the +4 ep you get from palace and focus it on a strong techer by putting the weight to 1 in the EP advisor screen. Ofc, you really haven't met anyone other than toku(dead) and Rome. Usually a FIN or IMP leader is good to focus on..think Mansa, Willie or Pacal for example. We can go over this more another time as it really is not relevant for you now.
granary in those capture cities are good
Utica monument unnecessary really but I guess okay. I'd probably build another worker there next..maybe take that chop just E from that worker (note: without BUG/BULL you have to cancel worker actions to keep them from finishing chops so you put the chop into the right thing. Also, a city needs to "own" the tile to receive the chop..you can do that in the city view screen by clicking the the tile so it goes for dark to light)
Settler is very fine in Carthage. Question is where to settle. extended scouting is a bit of a problem at the moment. Stone is an option but I'd like more info on fogged tiles over there to see if food. If no food in sea, then might just settle on the stone itself. At least city can get some farms around the lake (and green tiles later) and the lake with LH. It is the stone that is important
I would build library next in Carthage with plans to 3 pop whip immediately it at size 6 (make sure less than 30H of production into Library when whipping..so be careful with the forest chops). Then Kyoto can grow into 2 scientists to work toward that Great Scientists (GS) for an academy in Carthage.
Does not need to be big at all right now. You've got a few axes for barb protect and spawnbusting
Well, the first question is where do you settle. As long as you have good or important spots to settle then I would keep expanding. The jungle to the N and E is a bit of a problem at present so my focus would be on cities that can be useful now. Stone provides stone though not food resources visible at present. There is some dry plains sheep down south, but that city could share corn with Carthage. However, the coast all in the South needs to be scouted better to see if any seafood present. I'd like to know what is over E by those horses. I'm going to address scouting in a moment though.
It is not a concern. Definitely don't go for early religions. I'm sure you've already been instructed not to do that. Ais will usually spread to you anyway or via trade routes. You might end up founding one later yourself with a later tech like Code of laws or Pacifism. Religion has some nice benefits but founding them yourself is generally of no import.
Not at the moment. You are building an Empire at the moment. i assume you will likely go with other a conquest or dom victory here with is easy and fun on pangaea or maybe space.
Okay other notes:
1) You need to scout and spawnbust better. I realize though that your attention and resources were focused on ending Japan early. But now you need to explore more around the immediate area. First, that warrior is not needed in Utica. Send him SW to explore coast around stone and then send him along the southern coast to spot for seafood. Those 3 axes in Osaka can all head N, NE and E to scout and spawnbust those areas, getting more information and kiliing/preventing barbs.
Also, considering the meeting Ai problem, one simple solution is first prioritizing a work boat in Kyoto. In fact, i would put 1turn into a workboat there and then 1pop whip it. Then send it out exploring to the NW along the coast to meet AI, since you are clearly at the bottom of the map. WB scout also opens coastal trade routes later which is nice. Not always needed often on a Pangaea like map, but can be a nice option on other types of maps.
2) After whipping wb in Kyoto, go with Monument next (getting a little hammer OF from wb whip) there so city can access that seafood later. Worker can chop forest on a PH next to city to finish monument quickly, then go granary. (Kyoto maybe be good place to build Pyramids with forest chops once you have access to stone)
3) I think I would go ahead with Masonry now for stone access, and then Alpha and probably Maths
4) It is very important to manage your cities wisely and micro each turn if you are willing (How Cities auto-assign new citizens or adjust them is often poor). Carthage has two cottages that are currently not being worked. Cottages do not grow unless worked nor do you receive the commerce from them. So make sure they are worked over the unimproved tiles. Make sure your cities are working improved tiles if at all possible unless they are presently running scientists or specialists.
Also, always prioritize Flood plains and green river tiles over plains tiles for cottages. Since Carthage will be a Bureaucracy capital I would probably eventually cottage riverside plains, it is by far not a priority over that flood plains cottage or the green river tiles (you do have one) If Utica was one E of its current location it could help Carthage grow its cottages - note this.
5) Lastly, there's is an important concept here to learn early with respect to the sliders and teching. Right now, you have some city capture gold from Japan so you have a good bank at the moment to run 100% research. But here is the concept I want you to get use to. Either run 100% research or 0% research to bank gold. You don't need to do so at the moment cause you have gold, but generally the point here is that once you settle that first city you start deficit research. This is the point you start banking gold at 0% until you have enough to fund that next tech-simply do the math. Then immediately raise slider to 100% and complete the tech. Maintenance costs are lower on Noble and techs relatively cheaper so you don't fully realize the effect I'm talking about here, but you will the more you play and as you advance difficulty as maintenance costs increase substantially. This is called binary research. For one, there is a rounding issue in the game that is eliminated by running 0% research (or 100% research), or as we say "maxing out gold".
As an example, try it out now on this turn. Lower slider to 0%. (assume you have switched Carthage to its cottages) You should see the gold at the top at +18 per turn and beakers at 0 per turn from commerce. (note: you do always get 1bpt even at 0%..that is the binary)
Now raise slider to 10%. You now make 15gpt so 10% cost you 3 gpt. But wait, you are only getting 2bpt. Something got lost their..ha. So that is why you max gold at 0% and then run 100%..not in between. This problem gets eliminated later once you get beaker multipliers in place and start running scientists and other stuff. I will show that again later. Plus, you will have ways to get quick chunks of gold to keep slider at 100%. But for now get used to 0% or 100%..not in between.
(Another little educational tip on the slider just in case you are not aware. A lot of new players fail to grasp this concept initially..I know I did. So you may be aware that commerce is a feature of this game represented by those gold coins on the map like from cottages and next to river tiles. Little confusing as commerce
is actually not gold
. Commerce is directly manipulate by those sliders we have been discussing. Essentially commerce feeds those sliders and the sliders allow you to convert commerce into beakers and gold - as well as culture and espionage. So be aware that when you are adjusting sliders you are directly effecting the way your commerce is used.
Commerce comes from cottages, of course, and rivers tiles which are usually cottaged. Also, some resources like gold, gems, sliver and most calendar resources. Coastal and sea tiles have commerce. And lastly but certainly not least important, trade routes are major providers of commerce. Commerce is the main driver of your economy in this game - less specialist usage.
