I use the Blue Marble mod, by the way, if the screens and maps look a little different. It has zero effect on gameplay.
Turn 46: Moved settler and warrior north along road, to area for production city.
Turn 47: barb warrior and bear showed up. Moved scouting Warrior 1NW to keep looking around and hopefully lead barbs away. Cautiously advanced settler and warrior northwards.
Turn 48: barb warrior gives chase, bear dissapears in fog of war. Scouting Warrior continues west, to the north of the sheep tile. Escorting warrior moves (alone) to rivers' edge, looking for bear. No bear, settler joins up with escort.
Turn 49: Scouting warrior finds west coast near sheep. Not a bad city location there: sheep, hills, coastal, on a (short river). What to do with settler and warrior?
Mice's original intended location seems good to me, though it misses horses. It has 7 grassland squares (after chopping), 4 of which are riverside. It also has 4 hills, 1 peak, one coastal, and the rest are plains or plains/forest. This location also is within OCP, as it is exactly 5 squares north of Istanbul.
The other location (6 tiles north of Istanbul), gets the horses and also has 7 grassland squares (after chopping), 5 of which are riverside. It gets just 3 hills, 1 peak, no coastal, and the rest is plains or plains/forest, plus a mystery square that is still undiscovered.
I am also hesitant to settle because I want to make sure we don't miss seafood, if any. There are some bits of coast in the fog that will take me a turn or two to uncover by scouting.
I decide to scout just a little more before settling.
Turn 50: Worker finishes second cottage on Istanbul floodplain. Set him to work the final floodplain for another cottage. Scouting reveals no new bonus tiles, rivers, etc. The two city sites previously discussed are the best options.
Turn 51: Bear shows up again. Settler and escort move away, towards original city location. Scouting warrior moving up northwest coast.
Turn 52: Warrior finishes in Instanbul; I fortify him there as the city is demanding a garrison. Start building another warrior for southern scouting. Moving escort to Mice's original city spot, barb warrior reappears. Settler moves away; nail-biting battle coming up.
Victorious! Now we must settle Mice's spot and drive the bear away with our new city's culture.
Turn 53: Edirne founded! Bear avoided! Warrior healing inside, started on Monument for border pop. Scouting warrior heading northeast; western area scouted, perfect size for one city.
Turn 54: Scouting warrior attacked by wolves. Promoted to Woodsman I. Decide to name him Achmed, since he has a promotion. Scouting continues.
Turn 55: Instanbul hits size 5. Gotta love rice+pigs. Who needs a granary?
Warrior will finish there before growth to size 6, planning on starting another settler to stagnate growth prior to unhappiness.
Turn 56: Achmed headed to area due north of Edirne. Coastal area approaching? Fish! We want fish!
Turn 57: Achmed reaches what looks like north shore of continent. And what do we have? Crabs! The eating kind, not the bad kind!
Early premonition to settle Edirne to the south pays off, as crabs and northern horse can make a good city locale!
Turn 58: Worker finishes last floodplain cottage. As we have 5 tiles worked for Instanbul, worker moved to build road connecting Istanbul with Edirne. Achmed scouts eastward.
Turn 59: Warrior finishes in Istanbul. Building Settler to (a) settle and (b) avoid growing over happy cap. Settler should probably be whipped to completion when possible to eliminate population. Leaving 2nd Warrior in Istanbul to escort settler. Achmed, intrepid northern explorer, presses on.
Turn 60: Achmed uncovers more territory that reveals northern horse/crab city also has pigs! "We have a winnah!" Achmed throws out his prayer rug, bows to the south, and marks the city location with a big green sign.
Maybe I'm just used to BTS maps.
So you did. I guess they're in the fog of war to the southeast of our warrior.
