Irrigate the Northern Game tile!

[FortyJ]

Here I go again!

I've worked the numbers here and I think I've got a way to pump out a settler every 5 turns from Shen Ling, while sustaining an average of 9 commerce per turn. Think about that for a second and let it soak in.

Here are the numbers:

[b][u]Size	Food	Prod	Comm	Tile	Improvs Needed	Growth In[/u][/b]
  0	 2/0	 1	 3	City			N/A
  1	 6/4	 1	 4	S			 3 turns
  2	 8/4	 3	 6	N			 3 turns
  3	10/4	 5	 7	S-SE			 3 turns
  4	12/4	 7	 8	SE-SE 	Mine & Road	 3 turns
  5	13/3	 9	10	NW			 4 turns
  6	14/2	11	12	NE	Road		 5 turns
  7	15/1	13	14	W	Road		30 turns
  8	16/0	15	16	NW-NW	Road		-- turns


[b][u]Size	Food	Prod	Comm	Tile	Improvs Needed	Growth In[/u][/b]
  0	 2/0	 1	 3	City			N/A
  1	 6/4	 1	 4	S			 3 turns
  2	10/6	 1	 6	N	Irrigate	 2 turns
  3	12/6	 3	 7	S-SE			 2 turns
  4	14/6	 5	 8	SE-SE 	Mine & Road	 2 turns
  5	15/5	 7	10	NW			 2 turns
  6	16/4	 9	12	NE	Road		 3 turns
  7	17/3	11	14	W	Road		10 turns
  8	18/2	13	16	NW-NW	Road		10 turns

The top set of numbers are as the city exists now, with the addition of the improvements listed on the right. The bottom set of numbers are as the city would be after cutting down the forest north of Shen Ling and irrigating that tile too.

As long as my numbers are correct, then we can produce a settler at size 6, and again in the same time it will take us to grow from size 4 back to size 6 again - an endless loop.

This could certainly be an advantage that I feel we should exploit.

 

[Hygro]

Hm, I like it!

Another thing we can do is cut it done and mine it, thus giving us that 5 food surplus as long as we work only grasslands.

Either way, we get the most out of the game if doesn't get its 25% defensive bonus in the forest

 

[Killer A's]

I like it. We're going to need those settlers soon.

 

[Zukatah]

Very good work indeed... I like the idea of the endless loop of settlers.

 

[Gingerbread Man]

I like it, but we will need some swordsman factories soon - I have a feeling that war is on the horizon.

So, with the new cities that we are building, I think their queues will be something like - speaman, spearman, swordsman, swordsman, swordsman...

And we will have one city to be a worker factory, to churn out a worker every 5 - 10 turns.

We also need the swordsmen factories to grow large, to help support our large army.

Settler factories are always good. In games against the computer, I often have 3 or 4 going at once, but since this is against humans, we should only have one.

 

[FortyJ]

This city could just as easily produce swordsmen at the same rate, or faster if you let the city grow.

Choosing not to irrigate the tile essentially means that the city cannot grow beyond size 8 under Despotism, but it also means that it will take longer to recoup the population loss from recruiting a settler.

I hate to say it, especially considering my previous position, but I think that any military campaign we undertake during the next 30-40 turns will likely be defensive in nature. The reason being is that due to the empty space surrounding our lands, we should probably try to grow into that space, preferably in a tight build, as quickly as possible.

The tech trades have already taken place and we're the poor step-child left out in the rain, people. Whatever techs, we had available to offer in trade, have already been traded around and we're getting nothing back in return. This means that we really need to maximize our commerce to maximize our research as well as raise some money (which will still have value in Monarchies (for rush jobs, etc...).

I think we can do this best by increasing our cities and by building them in opportunistic locations.

 

[Hygro]

I still think even going the war route the republic is better than monarchy.

FortyJ, though your assessment of our situation is a bit pessimistic in nature, I think you are correct that we are being left out of the tech trade loop, and that we are on the defensive.

 

[FortyJ]

Originally posted by Hygro
though your assessment of our situation is a bit pessimistic in nature, I think you are correct that we are being left out of the tech trade loop, and that we are on the defensive.

Yeah... you're probably right.

I tend to get that way when I realize that two of our neighbors are trading techs, one of them already has Alphabet and will have Iron Working in 1 turn, and another neighbor is moving troops our way in what seems to be the precursor for war. Not that that happens that often.

But, you are probably correct. It's not likely as bad as my sleep-deprived mind is making it out, but I still believe that we need to begin producing massive numbers of settlers to outgrow our rivals and we are perfectly primed to do so at this time.

Note: I do not think we should produce settlers at the expense of military units. We must have a strong military at all times, especially with Gamecatcher's suspicious behavior.

 

[Hygro]

FortyJ, I'm renaming you Fanatikus with all your deep thinking of how to preserve our great nation

 

[Zukatah]

It all comes down to aggressive expansion without sacrificing our defences... so we should step back from a near offensive war to expand and build our defences? Is that what you're suggesting?

 

[FortyJ]

Defensive forces are good for protecting your cities while your enemy pillages your lands. We need to build a healthy number of swordsmen that can be used to punish any greedy neighboring troops.

Specifically, what I'm suggesting is to build a few settlers mixed in with some spears to produce some new military centers. Then, we can toy with the idea of letting Shen Ling grow a bit so that we can max out production (and commerce) to recruit swordsmen every 2-3 turns.

Respectfully Yours,
Fanatikus