Further Expansion?

[Sweetacshon]

We are starting to recover economically from the annexation of the former Mongol lands, and we might soon have the resources for new endeavours. Poking around in the cartography office got me thinking about the future - OK, so everyone is a back-seat president at heart . I came up with 3 alternatives, although there is a 4th. (There is no reason that they couldn't be combined.)

1. Fill in the gaps. There are a couple of prospective sites just to the west and south west of our capital, at a glance. This shouldn't cause to many maintenance problems.
2. Head east, young man. Settle the fertile lands east of Toot Uncommon, before the Germans do. This will certainly be more expensive than filling in the gaps. How long since we've scouted out there to see if there's any German activity?
3. Maritime exploration. This may well be the cheapest option, but many think there is nothing out there, and would prefer to stay on land. But who knows what riches may lie beyond the horizon?
4. Military expansion. Enough said.

There may be other options.. I was just interested in what the other citizens thought.

 

[GeorgeOP]

Right now we are losing 10+ gpt while researching at 40%. And several of our best cities are building "research". Although we need to discuss our next phase, I think we need to continue to work on our economy before we switch over.

 

[ice2k4]

Well I like options 1 & 2. I think option 4 would cost way too much. Option 3 could produce new allies (or enemies) but there may not be small islands big enough to settle on.

 

[dutchfire]

Overseas expansion will cost us our economy, just stay on this island and move out ships for diplomatic options.

 

[Oldbus]

I think we're a little way from being able to expand to more cities. However, I would like to see us do a bit more exploring:

• into Russia and Germany to see what they're up to. (Also, Beshbalik is currently trading with Frankfurt and we've no idea where that is and we ought to know. How many other cities have they got and where are they?)
  
• across the sea. I think we're probably quite some way behind at least one other Civ and I think we should make contact, rather than waiting for them to come to us.

 

[Sweetacshon]

Right now we are losing 10+ gpt while researching at 40%. And several of our best cities are building "research". Although we need to discuss our next phase, I think we need to continue to work on our economy before we switch over.

I absolutely agree. We should never be forced into such a (relatively) large deficit budget again. But soon enough we should be able to support a higher research rate without spending our reserves. At that point, filling the gaps will not break the bank, nor will building a few boats, although we may need to direct research toward a more advanced style of open sea vessel. Expanding further towards Germany will take a little more effort, and certainly more defensive troops. The point is that I don't believe this is to far in the future, and should be planned for now, especially from a research standpoint. In fact, I would be interested to hear MOS Dutchfire's view on the research of some form of navigational device to assist sailors far from land.

 

[Rihiter]

In my opinion we should combine option 1 and 3.

Filling the gaps around our capitol might be an easy and cheap way of making our economy more efficent. Like Sweetacshon said there are some good spots near BW.

Sea exploration is also very importand. We don't need much to start the exploration ( one ship able to sail over the deep seas ), and the benefits from it might be realy big.

 

[Sweetacshon]

Okay, a couple of maps of the areas discussed, and a few thoughts (the yellow dots are just alternatives). What do you think?:

West of BW

South of BW

East of Toot, for completeness

 

[dutchfire]

green dot! and possibly red dot.

 

[Fetch]

Why not move the red dot 1N to be able to snag the wheat also?

 

[robboo]

I like moving red dot 1 north.. you gain a desert but also you pick up the plains tile( where red dot is) and a wheat to overcome the desert.

 

[dutchfire]

you lose the fish

 

[Furiey]

Red dot 1 N not only loses the fish but will also give a great deal of overlap with cyan dot that currently has the porkers and the wheat along with a good few hills for production. Red dot is better where it is.

 

[Fetch]

You're right about the red dot. I didn't see the fish out there. Leave it. Not sure that the cyan dot is a great location due to proximity with the red. The green dot also looks good. And how about those Gems near Bismark.. yummy.

 

[Sigma]

Right now we have a settler that will be finished in 2 turns in BW. We need to narrow down the placement choices and vote on which one we're going to settle next. So far I'm going to include the red dot, green dot, and cyan dot locations in the poll. If anyone has any locations they would like to suggest, please do it soon, or you may put your support behind one of the existing locations. I will post the poll tomorrow night.

 

[GeorgeOP]

I would like to suggest an option of no new city, due to our economical problems now.

 

[robboo]

I second that...we are barely scrapping by as it is now.

Yes this new city is close to BW and therefore cost low but not low enough.

Also who authorized the building of the settler..I thought the discussion was for later on in the term not in the first 3 TCs

 

[Fetch]

Also who authorized the building of the settler..I thought the discussion was for later on in the term not in the first 3 TCs

Well, I guess that'd be me. I was trying to:
1. meet the needs of an expanding empire, by building a settler. I had a few production cycles to spare before I needed the market up.
2. Slow the growth of BW, which will reach its max population in 10 turns, while still working the floodplain tiles that have alot of , but also alot of . If things work out the way I think they will, I can use a chop provided by a worker from the jungle (or somewhere) and 2-population whip to speed along the market I need to build.

Also, building the settler will not affect our unit upkeep costs. If I overstepped my bounds, I'm very sorry. If you like, I'll put the market in the build queue ahead of the settler and we can prolong him.

 

[robboo]

All of you reasons are valid for building..also..incense will help the happiness and give you one more pop point..so we need to get that hooked up.

I dont tell you what to do its not my decision. I am not sure how this is or should be handled. In the past( this game) the settlers were pretty much a joint decision and no one polled or anything.

Just a few notes...whipping might not be a good idea we sorta agreed early on that the govenors coudl do it in emergencies. I think you would have to get approval.( again ask the censor for clarification).

How long till the market is built. And could you remove the food( not gold) to slow growth from another location. Even running in starvation mode for a while.

I was just not expecting a setterl to be finihsed and use on TC3 I figured maybe after we had more courhouses and markets. And then we would drop out 2 settlers and finish our area off.

 

[Fetch]

All of you reasons are valid for building..also..incense will help the happiness and give you one more pop point..so we need to get that hooked up.

Yeah. I'll put a post on the GC board for this.

In the past( this game) the settlers were pretty much a joint decision and no one polled or anything.

My bad completely. I didn't know about that precedent. I'll make sure it's done that way in the future.

Just a few notes...whipping might not be a good idea ...

There isn't a grainary in BW, so whipping would be pretty rough.

And could you remove the food( not gold) to slow growth from another location. Even running in starvation mode for a while.

I don't follow.