No spoilers at all yet? That's kind of depressing. If no people bother to post spoilers, what are the chances that somebody would get interested in the competition and decide to join in? :/
I moved the settler W toward the "coast" and saw what's really there. Now the first thing that should come in mind is to settle there and have the worker improve the two bonus tiles to set up a 4-turner, but then i figured out something.
This is what i see after the settler move:
By moving the settler again NE i would be able to build 2 cities at RCP 4 on the shores of the lake. I can still have them if i settle where i am now, but they would be at RCP 3, and RCP 3 for some reason just doesn't seem right to me in this map.
However, my previous calculations on how to set up a 4-turner webt astray and i had to start anew, but this new scenario isn't easy at all. My goal is to have the 4-turner set up fast, with no shield loss, and to have it operational without wasting turns, but apparently no initial set of moves seems to allow that.
Eventually i found out the right ouverture, which involves something quite counterintuitive: the worker doesn't move immediately toward one of the bonuses, but starts by mining and roading the BG where it is now. As strange as it may seem, this is exactly what i was looking for. I'm including the initial set of moves to show how this apparent nonsense ends up working perfectly:
4000bc: settler W; mumble mumble mumble.... after lots of mumbles and lots of scribbling, worker mines;
3950bc: settler NE;
3900bc: founded Carthage (Pyramids); max research on Pottery; AT is the BG being mined;
3850bc: worker roads;
3800bc: ...
3750bc: worker NW-W;
3700bc: worker
roads; irrigating first is usually better, but not this time;
3650bc: ...
3600bc: worker irrigates; AT is moo;
3550bc: ...
3500bc: worker SE;
3450bc: worker S; spending 3.7.0;
* 5 spt now, 29 shields produced, 31 missing;
3400bc: Pottery -> Writing (max); worker irrigates; Carthage turns to granary;
* ATs do not change, they are still moo and improved BG;
3350bc: ATs change: now they are moo and wheat;
* 3 spt, 39 shields produced, 21 missing;
* still looking odd, doesn't it? but see what happens in the following turns
3300bc: worker roads;
3250bc: ...
*
5 spt, and not 3, thanks to pop growth in the interturn; 45 shields produced, 15 missing;
* that means, granary produced in 3 turns with
zero shields wasted
* and it's not over yet, a piece of the puzzle still needs to fit in
3200bc: worker NE; spending 0.9.1;
* 5 spt, granary due in 2 turns and growth to size 4 due in 4 turns;
3150bc: worker roads;
3100bc: Carthage granary -> warrior;
* this is the final piece, not immediately a settler but a warrior first
* a settler would be due in 5 turns instead of 4, and this would break the shields/growth pattern
3050bc: worker E;
3000bc: Carthage war -> settler; worker mines; AT4 is SEx2;
* Carthage size 4, 5 fpt, growth in 2;
* Carthage spt will be 6-7-8-9, 30 shields in total, exactly the amount needed for a settler
And here's the final result:
After 20 moves the settler factory is built and operational, with no shields lost and no turns to wait. It took
a lot to solve this riddle, but it was also fun.
The rest of the spoiler will be posted soon.
L
