Learning Emperor

[quill18]

I've learned so much by lurking in these forums that I've built up what I think is a pretty solid game at Monarch. Things like the ALC games, or the RB succession games, have taught me a LOT!

I'd like to make the jump to Emperor now, and I want every advantage possible for this. For this reason, I'm going to try playing a game by posting turnsets on the forums here. I'm hoping that this will accomplish two things:

1) Encourage me to slow down and think about all my moves. I tend to "autopilot" too much in an effort to speed things along.

2) Get useful feedback on my moves.

I'm not sure at which pace I'll be making these posts. It depends entirely on how busy I am and how long they take to type.

THE SETUP:

Beyond the Sword
Big and Small map type with all defaults
Epic Speed
Emperor Difficulty

I chose Willem Van Oranje as my leader. I don't know if I've ever played a complete game with him, so that's part of the reason. I also like Creative for a little early game expansion -- I find that it helps certain rushes. The financial trait encourages a Cottage Economy, and that's what I'm best at.

This brings me to my weaknesses:
#1 - I underuse specialists.
#2 - I'm not great at all types of city specialization. This often leaves me without a GP far. See #1.
#3 - I've never made much use of espionage. If you have suggestions here, I'd love to hear it.
#4 - I'm weak at diplomacy. This is probably going to be the biggest hole in my Emperor game. I need to figure out how to make a few really good friends. I also need to improve my tech brokering and resource trading too.

Here's my start:

Well, no shortage of water tiles for this naval-civ! No shortage of food resources either. If I were to move 1SE, I'd have Wheat, 3x Clams, Fish, and a cow in my fat cross!

However, I think this would leave us with far too little production for a capital. As a 2nd or 3rd city designated as a GP factory and/or Moai Statue site, sure. Maybe.

For a capital, I'd be more inclined to settle in place for at least 3 mineable hills plus a decent set of chopable forests. I'd still net at least 4 food resources for great worker/settler production -- with the water ones producing 3C each due to financial as well. The two inland lakes are also going to turn Amsterdam into a commercial powerhouse WITHOUT needing cottages. I haven't done any math yet, but I don't see how we'll need any farms -- so it'll be cottage and/or workshop heaven.

I'd love to see the Colosus here, so I'd like to prioritize Metal Casting pretty early on. Copper, of course, is always a priority.

Now...can anyone see any reason to move the settler? Anything west loses one lake and a clam. North makes us non-coastal, so I think that can be ignored on this particular setup. SE I already think blows due to production, and E (on the wheat) has got to be a loser move too.

EDIT: Just so we're thorough...is there any reason to think about regenerating the map? I mean, I know that something like Gold at the capital helps a lot, and I am a newbie at this difficulty level...but this *seems* like a strong enough start to me. I don't usually regenerate, but I also don't want to start with a completely deficient start.

 

[quill18]

The save.

I play with the HOF mod installed so I can play the GOTM and such, and also because the addons rock my world. I've never actually submitted anything to the HOF though...

Shadow games and reports from them are fine, but don't post BLATANT spoilers please. On the other hand, if someone can check for an isolated start, I wouldn't complain...

The Save

 

[quill18]

(Hey look at me, spamming my own thread...)

Opening build, I'm thinking:
- Research Mining -> BW
- Work Boat(s) until at least Size 2
- Build Worker with the hope to build farm on wheat and then immediately chop/mine forest south of wheat when BW comes in
- Build warrior, Settler (making sure that the Settler gets the chopped hammers)

Ideally 2nd city will claim copper.

 

[Sjaramei]

So tempting to move south to get both cow and fishes

It's a good start, so work boats - BW is the way to go

I do Work boats to size 3, but maybe somebody less lazy than me will prove if thats a good thing or bad thing?

Autopilot is good, just make it do better

I'm not sure i would bother with colossus at this level, it usually is very expensive (unless you LB with engineer from pyramids etc) and the AI's tend to get it too quick

 

[lilnev]

It looks like you're at the very northern edge of the map, yes? Could make life hard....

Agree with settling in place, workboat-workboat-worker, then see. Possibly a settler if you need to claim a key spot quickly, or one or more warriors if you have more time. Work the 3H plains-hill-forest while building the first boat, then the improved Fish while growing to size two, then Fish+3H tile to finish the second boat. Mining-BW also sounds right, to get some mines running. Note that you have a hidden resource one left of the start tile (or else it would be covered in forest; the code is "quirky" that way, I consider it a bug), but you can't know if it's early- or late-game.

Good luck,
lilnev

 

[quill18]

And........that's as patient as I'm going to be today, it seems. Let's make a city!

Turn 0 - 4000 BC:
I start by moving my warrior NE because I see some coast there -- and I'm pretty sure that only an on-the-coast start will be correct here. I don't see any more food resources, but I do spot some gold to the east. There's a lot of desert though, so city placement in that area will need more scouting.

I've convinced myself that settling place is the right move, even if it means not "capitalizing" on the cows (I love them hammers!)

This reveals a little more of the world:

So we have 3x Grassland Hills and 1x Plains Hill. To work all 4 would net 16 hammer at -5F (-3F after the city tile). At size 4, we can work a clam and Plain/Grass/Grass at "Stagnant". If we get a lighthouse, that's all 4 mines with just one clam, at stagnant. That should be excellent production in the happiness-capped early game.

As for commerce, we'll only get more than one-clam-worth while building workers/settler, or during growth periods. Can I get a ? I thought I could...

The city governor is working a 2F1H tile. Since I'm TRYING to slow myself down to allow for replies, let's do some math.

2F1H
Grows to 2 in 17 turns. (with 34/45 hammers done for boat)
Workboat done in under 20 turns regardless of 1H or 2H tile worked.

1F2H
Workboat completes in 15 turns, with 15/33 food banked.
City starts working 4F/3C clam, grows to size 2 at turn 20.

So either way, at turn 20 with have a Size 2 city with a netted clam. In the first scenario, we've banked 3 food towards size 3.

In the second scenario, we've got 5 (4?) turns of clam commerce, for 15 (12?) beakers saved up. We also got 5 (4?) hammers into our next build.

Wow...I would have NEVER done this math if I was playing on my own. It looks like forcing the city to work the 1F2H is a huge win, trading only 3 food for a bunch of hammers and commerce.

...longest...first...turn....EVAR!

Turn 1 - 3975 BC: Start exploring to the east. Snooping around the desert squares might be wasteful, but I want to go clear up the gold area to look for a good city site.

Turn 3 - 3925 BC: Borders pop. I'm in a strange L-bend in a snaky continent...I am playing on a default Big and Small, right? Look - there's more gold to the north!

I think SE of the cows would be an okay spot for a city. It would be very production-weak, but would have fish, cows, and gold (+more seafood?). Maybe not second-city material though.

Turn 9 - 3775BC: Lions attack my warriors from across a river. My men survive...barely. Wow, animals don't waste any time on Emp, huh? I move my warriors onto a forested hill and wait for health...

...and we meet Eliza!

London is just to the east of where my warrior is now. Once he's better, I'll scout around the couple of possible city sites I can see. There's plenty of hills -- if we can get copper right next to London (and beat the English to it), I think an Axe rush will definitely be called for.

 

[lilnev]

Ah, not the north edge of the map. It was hard to tell from the screenshot. In general, working max hammers to get the boat in water is best, so 1F2H > 2F1H, as you figured out. And 3H is better yet, so switch to the plains-hill-forest once borders pop. I assume you've figured out by now that your second picture is still 4000 BC?

 

[quill18]

Turn 12 - 3700 BC: Mining completes and we start Bronze Working (24 Turns). Buddhism is FIDL.

Turn 15 - 3625 BC: Work Boat completes. I'm going to start working a warrior until Amsterdam hits size 2 in 5 turns. BW is due in 17 turns now.

Turn 16 - 3600 BC: Things get more interesting:

Okay, so I think that I'll DEFINITELY want to sniff out his territory quickly. If anyone is going to get Axe rushed, I'd like it to be him. If it works out, I'll get to claim the Buddhist holy city too.

Turn 18 - 3550 BC My healed warrior pops his first goody hut and gets a map. Of the ocean, mostly. Whee....

Turn 20 - 3500 BC Amsterdam grows to size 2 and I queue up a worker.

Any chance this build would have been better with 2x Work Boat THEN Worker? My gut says no, but I don't have numbers.

Right now I'm thinking Warrior/Workboat after the worker and let Amsterdam grow to Size 3 before a settler. Again, I want to chop the grass/hill to coincide with the settler. We'll be able to whip in 12+1 turns too.

I *think* that these decisions are still dummy-proof enough that I'm going to keep playing until I get BW. Then I'm going to stop to get advice on city placement, invasion plans, and techs.

Turn 23 - 3425 BC Ooooooh...there we go.

I had no idea where Monty was -- his earlier unit had snuck by in the inter-turn. I was concerned that he was "behind" me -- north of Amsterdam. To see his scout here, I'm thinking that he's east or north of Elizabeth (there's Tundra to the south, so I'm discounting that possibility.)

This makes me happy because I'm assuming, copper allowing, that I'm settling eastwards, towards the English. I still have to worry about what's north of me, but I seem to have dodged one bullet anyway.

Turn 26 - 3350 BC Hinduism FIDL.

And...I lose my warriors to lions. I was even in the woods! Arg.....so I'm going to be blind for a little bit, it seems.

Turn 32 - 3200 BC We discover Bronze Working!

We discover.....no copper.

A panther to the north indicates jungle (yes?) which is often a good buffer between civs. Even if there is someone up there, we may not feel much pressure from them.

And here's Amsterdam:

The Save

So...crap. I was really hoping that we'd be all set for a good Axe-rush. Now we're not even in a good position to defend ourselves.

So, what now? Still think aggressively and go straight to Iron Working? (Iron SHOULD be more dependable to get than Copper, from what I understand about the patch changes.)

Or do we take a slightly more restrained route and get AH for the cows and to hopefully settle somewhere with horses, then grab Archery for defense and, if we think it wise, Horseback Riding and mount a HA-based assault?

And where do either research path put us on the hopes of building the Colossus (sans-copper!!)? It needs The Wheel -> Pottery -> Metal Casting.

Next turn will be later tonight or tomorrow evening.

 

[quill18]

I'm not sure i would bother with colossus at this level, it usually is very expensive (unless you LB with engineer from pyramids etc) and the AI's tend to get it too quick

Good to know in general. I'm pretty sure it's out this game in specific due to lack of copper.

 

[quill18]

It looks like you're at the very northern edge of the map, yes? Could make life hard....

Middle-to-south, apparently.

Agree with settling in place, workboat-workboat-worker, then see. Possibly a settler if you need to claim a key spot quickly, or one or more warriors if you have more time. Work the 3H plains-hill-forest while building the first boat, then the improved Fish while growing to size two, then Fish+3H tile to finish the second boat. Mining-BW also sounds right, to get some mines running.

My impatience cost me the chance to see this post before completing my first boat and I noobed-things up by not working the 3H tile.

And boat-boat-worker, really? I don't go through any numbers, but it felt stronger to have a worker faster for chops and such, especially since my research was already going Mining-BW. From a growth point of view, I'm looking at an improved Plains-Wheat instead of Coast-Clams, so I'm losing 3C to gain 1H. I didn't feel like I'd be racing for early techs (other than to find copper, and I got BW before improving a second tile anyway.) I felt like the 1H and the that-much-faster chop would work out faster than...letting the town grow more while building a second boat?

Note that you have a hidden resource one left of the start tile (or else it would be covered in forest; the code is "quirky" that way, I consider it a bug), but you can't know if it's early- or late-game.

So, what, all plains tiles within the fat cross on the initial settler have a resource or a forest? What about grassland? Hills? And what can show up on plains? The civilopedia doesn't seem to have that info. What are the odds of Iron/Horse vs. Uranium/Aluminium/Oil?

 

[Zanttu]

On Emperor barbarians start appearing earlier, so i wouldn't gamble on iron. AH first, if no horses nearby then Hunting-Archery. As already pointed out, the investment of hammers to Colossus isn't worth it and the AI tends to build it pretty fast on emperor... Especially if someone takes Metal Casting from the Oracle. You should check if there's any more seafood S of the cows. If not, the best spot there would be 1S of the lake so you get the fresh water bonus. You should also scout more of the land in your north and west before deciding on your 2nd city spot. I'm curious to see the land north of the gold. (But if there's jungle as it seems like, you need to grab iron working also...) The land around you seems pretty weak overall (desert to the east, desert to the west, possibly jungle to the north and water to the south) so this may be a bit challenging. But you need to scout more to know better.

 

[Sjaramei]

And boat-boat-worker, really? I don't go through any numbers, but it felt stronger to have a worker faster for chops and such, especially since my research was already going Mining-BW. From a growth point of view, I'm looking at an improved Plains-Wheat instead of Coast-Clams, so I'm losing 3C to gain 1H. I didn't feel like I'd be racing for early techs (other than to find copper, and I got BW before improving a second tile anyway.) I felt like the 1H and the that-much-faster chop would work out faster than...letting the town grow more while building a second boat?

You could have spent the forests on other things, it's not too bad nor "wrong".. you haven't lost .. yet (but as i mentioned, i do my own work boat build without checking if it's good.. so what do i know? )

If you are planning to work the cows soon for the second city, AH-Archery should be decent enough defense (i wouldn't do HBR) If you are dead set on the rush you should just get iron working. (Though maybe pottery first to get some cottages up to help the teching)

I didn't look to closely on the map, but decide your next tech from the next 1-2 cities you are gonna place. (pottery should be a safe bet anyway, though you might have to research archery just after because of barbs)

On Emperor barbarians start appearing earlier, so i wouldn't gamble on iron.

He is on a "snaky" continent and is creative so i believe barbs won't be as much of a problem, and financial should help him get to IW faster, so it might work.

 

[lilnev]

The worker before the second boat is debatable, but I usually go for the boat. By the time you hit it, you'll be size three, working 2 Clams and a whatever, with option to whip the second half of the worker. Here you'll have the chance to whip the second boat. Boat-boat-worker is more instinct on my part (especially for a Financial leader, Clams keep your research running), not calculation, I'm not sure it's right.

The hidden resources thing -- see my post at the end of Bhruic's unofficial patch thread in the BtS forum. A lot of starts get forest-spammed on every available non-resource tile. So if you're almost buried in forests, but there's one or two tiles that don't have forests but could, it's quite likely that you underwent that forest-spam and the reason those one or two tiles were spared is because they're concealing a resource. So far as I know, Copper/Iron/Horse/Coal/Uranium/Oil are all about equally likely, so you can't count on it being one of the first three. But it's a bad place to put a cottage that you might some day have to tear down.

Dotmapping: East of the Cows is obvious. I would plan to work the food, the Gold, and two scientists here early to get a GS or two, for the Philosophy bulb and perhaps an academy in your capital. I'm looking at the spot SE of the Rice as a production city -- five hills, and later watermills and a levee. I'd actually grab this spot first if you can to block off territory, though it's possible LizaB will beat you to it. You'll want probably two warriors as fog-busters/escorts.

 

[lilnev]

p.s. I wouldn't try to rush with the AI capitals as distant as they are. Just block off some territory and develop. So no hurry on IW, you can likely trade for it later. Get AH when you'll want to pasteurize something, otherwise Wheel-Pottery-Writing-Myst-Poly-Priest-Monarchy is a typical sequence. If you find more happiness resources, you might defer the Monarchy line in favor of either Alphabet for tech trading or Aesthetics leading to the Great Library. But I'm a fan of the Monarchy+Cottages approach.

 

[BurN]

I would've went for boat-boat-worker as well. Just because of the fact you're playing financial and those clams bring in some nice early commerce. More breakers is always nice even if you're not aiming to get any particular tech.

Some critic on your scouting on that gold spot in the east. You didn't reveal the sea tiles south of the cow, there could be a fish resource in the fog. Maybe it's not that important as your next border pop (being crea) should reveal it anyways. Still I prefer thorough scouting over just running as far as you can.

Tough luck on no copper. I wouldn't worry too much about barbs. You're playing a water map and you're crea. It's gonna take a while before they start entering your borders anyways.

I don't think colossus is out of the question. If you really want to get it, I think it can be done quite easily with all those forests around your capital. But I never build it in my games so it might not be too smart to take my word for it.

I don't have much experience with aggressive settling since I don't play bts. (and vanilla ai doesn't give a crap if you somewhat try to block off the land) But SE of the rice seems decent indeed.

Tech path is kinda hard if you're not aiming for anything in peculiar and didn't decide yet where to settle next.
Hunting->Archery->AH->Writing->Alph: AH won't help you much if your 2nd city goes se of the rice but it's the shortest way to writing/alph+you'll need it anyways for the gold city. It would give you an option of going for GL.
I don't see how the wheel+pottery would help you in this spot. You're capital doesn't need cottages yet, since you'll be working those clams+mines for some time. Gold city won't have much room for cottages either and if you would make that rice spot a prod city it doesn't need cottages either.

ps: lilnev I think your proposed tech path has one little problem, which is no military. I don't think defending your cities with warriors is a good idea. Though your tech tree might be good as well with the option of chopping the oracle. But i would forget about the whole pottery thing till later imho. Maybe the wheel if he can hook up horses or gold. What would bother me about going the religious way is the fact that mysticism is pretty much useless for crea.
Then again I usually play sse/no cottages games, where I go for rep through mids. So monarchy is something I postpone a lot. Through the alphabet way he can still get monarchy in trades and backfill on other techs.

 

[quill18]

As an experiment, I have run a test through the build discussed by lilnev.

If I do things *correctly* and switch to the 3H tile as soon as the city expands, I can finish the first boat 2 turns faster. As a result of this, I end up discovering BW one turn sooner, regardless of Boat-Worker or Boat-Boat builds.

However, the Boat-Boat build definitely ends up in a better place overall. The second boat comes in on Turn 30 and leaves us able to hit Size 3 in just three turns of growth. We'd then be able to build a much faster worker while also netting an extra 3C per turn.

So, boat-boat-(3 turns of warrior?)-worker would probably have been much stronger.

 

[Bleys]

I am gaining a lot of respect for the CRE trait. The early border pop is so huge. On higher levels, there just isnt time for Stonehenge if you want any of the other first couple. With CRE, you dont have to worry about making sure a resource is in your first 9 tiles, you know your going to pop quickly, before your worker/archer is even done.

Watching this one. My biggest problems on higher levels are similar to yours, but I also struggle MASSIVELY with barbarians. I am beginning to think its my own bad play too. I think the maps I play are too big, and I end up with too much territory, and its much much harder to REX at Monarch+.

 

[quill18]

Here's round two!

Turn 32 - 3200 BC

I'm already a couple of turns behind where I could be due to my build choice, but there's not much I can do about that now. Amsterdam is 3 turns away from completing its Worker. I'm going to let it do that and only afterward switch to Slavery.

Research is directed to Hunting. While I don't particularly care about it, it'll make researching AH cheaper and is required for Archery. I agree with BurN that we don't need to rush to pottery at this point. My priorities for this round are to build my 2nd city (hopefully SE of the rice) and take a peek to the north.

Since I don't have units to move around, my turns are pretty brief.

Turn 35 - 3125 BC

My worker pops up. I direct Amsterdam to build a workboat, which will be done in 12 turns. My worker farms the whet.

Turn 38 - 3050 BC

We discover Hunting, meet Charlemagne, and have a border expansion.

I can't see any of Charlie's units or his culture on the map, so I'm not sure where he is. He did adopt Slavery this turn though.

Now, I'm not rushing my workboat because I'd like to leverage 2-resource-growth for my whipping. Growing to Size 3 only requires 36 food, which is only 3 more than growing to 2 from 1. So I think that my whips should avoid reducing the city below 2. With the Wheat, should 3 be my min? I'm a little unsure about optimal whipping patterns.

It just occurred to me that avoiding pottery means losing Granary. I think Amsterdam will have sufficient growth that my whips will be mostly happiness-capped, but it'll be important for the other city sites. The cow/gold/fish town, in particular, will be reliant on whipping I think.

Turn 43 - 2925 BC

Wheat is farmed and my worker moves south to chop/mine. My town is instructed to work the 5F1H tile instead of the 3H one and will grow in 3 turns. Work Boat now due in 9.

Turn 45 - 2875 BC

Kublai Khan of the Mongols appears with a scout on my east side. I'm starting to think that there's no one above -- that I'm a sort of peninsula on the west side of a huge continent. An aggressive eastward colonizing will be critical to avoid getting boxed in.

Turn 46 - 2850 BC

Amsterdam grows to size 3 and beings to work the 3H tile again. Work Boat is done in 3, growth will occur in 8 turns (less once the clams are online).

Amsterdam will need a garrison to exceed a happiness cap of 4. I realize that going to AH after Hunting was a terrible move and switch research to Archery. There's no reason to build *warriors* at this point I think.

Turn 49 - 2775 BC

Work Boat completes and moves to the clams (can net them next turn).

Now, ideally I'd like to have an archer escort my settlers. I have to kill 6 turns before the chop happens. I have to kill 4-5 turns before archery comes in. So, I'm going to start a barracks and whip it the turn before archery comes in. I should be able to put one turn into the archer, spend one turn on the settler to catch the chop hammers, then go back to complete the archer. By the time its done, I should be able to whip the settler.

Let's see how that works.

Turn 51 - 2725 BC

I don't know if this is bad or just par for an Emperor game:

I'm 6th in size. Monty, Kublai, and Liz are the top 3.

Turn 53 - 2675 BC

Whip the barracks with 2 people. How much is each person worth? Each person appears to be worth 45H, since I went to 18/75 to 108/75 hammers. I'm on epic. Guess it might be 30H on normal?

I've never considered the hammers of whipping before. I suspect people must use the overflow in creative ways...

Rather than switching to an Archer next, I think it might be good to sink this surplus directly into a Settler. I'm gaining an extra no-growth turn at Size 2, but the 33 hammers should eliminate several no-growth turns later.

I need to keep the whip overflow in mind for the future... Any tips or tricks for maximizing it?

Turn 54 - 2650 BC

Wow...looks like I miscalculated something, because the chop hammers are due this turn! Everything has lined up perfectly for me to queue my Settler. He's got 30H from chopping and 35H from overflow (the 33H from chopping plus the 2H I produced naturally). With everything (including surplus food), he's actually getting 74/149 production in one turn.

Hell, that's enough surplus to build two 1-turn archers. But surely the settler is the better target, so that's what I queue.

Turn 55 - 2625 BC

The hammers are locked in, so now I switch to an archer to let Amsterdam grow again, which will happen in 4 turns. My worker moves to another hill to chop/mine.

Turn 57 - 2575 BC

Judaism FIDL.

Turn 59 - 2525 BC

Amsterdam grows to 3. I'm delaying my growth slightly to finish my archer first since I'm at the happy cap (We fear for our safety.)

Yeah, I went to the 3H tile by reflex while the 1F3H tile was staring me in the face. I *did* catch it before the archer finished, but barely.

Turn 60 - 2500 BC

AH comes in and reveals...no horses. I queue up writing. Amsterdam would passively get a lot more beakers from a Library, and the option to produce GS is important. With 4 known AIs, there should be a good number of trades available too if we go to Alphabet next.

Turn 63 - 2425 BC

Floods wash out routes near an Aztec city.

Turn 64 - 2375 BC

My archer finishes and I put one turn into a 2nd one to allow the city to grow to 4 before I do my settler.

Turn 65 - 2350 BC

At Size 4, my Settler can be whipped with two population. The chop is still two turn away. With two turns of production and a chop, I might be able to just whip one population....but I can't see how that could possibly be a win, especially if I'm racing Liz for the rice spot. I think, instead, I'll let the chop go into a 2nd Settler.....or a 2nd worker maybe?

A second worker could go straight to my new city. My new city could avoid delaying its growth and go straight to building either a barracks or a library. I think it's the better choice, on the off chance that I miss the rice spot and have no use for a 2nd settler until I do more scouting.

In any case, I whip my current settler.

Whip unhappiness will from from 2 to 1 in two turns.

Turn 67 - 2325 BC

The settler reveals a "blue circle" to the north:

I'm guess there's a food resource up there. I really need to get my ass in gear and check that spot out.

Now, since Settlers move faster than archers, I'm actually going to have him scout the coast to the south east-- there's one more square that could contain seafood.

Turn 68 - 2300 BC

As soon as the hammers are locked into a 2nd worker instead of a one-turn archer, I regret it as a barbarian archer appears in the north...

That's very...not good, and will probably cost me a mine.

I don't like being quite THIS hard on the , but I need an archer ASAP. Luckily, I still have a few hammers sitting on a queued archer and am able to whip one out, reducing Amsterdam to Size 1.

Also, note that my settler revealed no addition resources at the cow site.

Turn 69 - 2275 BC

The barbarian actually move out of my sight, so maybe things weren't that urgent. Still, it's good to have some protection. I direct my archer to the north gold-hill-chokepoint and start a 2nd archer.

Turn 72 - 2200 BC

No sight of the barb when I get to the gold hill:

There are pigs, though. I'm going to keep moving forward with my archer.

Turn 74 - 2150 BC

I get caught between a pair(!) of barb archers on my way to the rice spot. Okay...

My settler is able to dodge the ambush, but my archer escort dies. I run my settler back home.

That was ridiculous.

Meanwhile, my northern Combat I Archer is attacked while in a forest and survives with .8 health.

Turn 77 - 2075 BC

My settlers reach Amsterdam... What a waste of turns. Still, a new escort should be ready soon.

A forest grew just outside the fat cross of Amsterdam. More chops!

Turn 80 - 2000 BC

I complete escort #1. Escort #2 will be done next turn, thanks to a chop.

Writing is completed. I direct my research to Alphabet. We'll have a lot of catching up to do, I think. There's nothing we immediately "need" and between Writing, and even Alphabet, we should be able to fill in most of the bottom of the try. Monty, if he's feeling up to trading, should help us get most of what we want from the religious branch on the way to Monarchy.

Despite Buddhism, Hinduism, and Judaism all having been founded, only Monty has a state religion (Buddhism). Either he founded more than one (which I find unlikely), or there's maybe an isolated religion civ somewhere.

In any case, we should be able to take advantage of this by doing any trades we want without having to worry about upsetting anyone. Yet.

**Taking a break, will post more shortly.**

 

[quill18]

Turn 82 - 1950 BC

The Great Wall is built IAFAW.

Turn 85 - 1875 BC

What...the...hell...

An unpromoted 2.6 Str barb archer kills one of my Combat I Archer escorts. I need to press on with my remaining archer and settler. If I get stopped by barbs again, I'm just going to have to call it quits...

Turn 86 - 1850 BC

The same barbarian archer manages to get my remaining escort down to 1.2 Str before dying. What is WITH these guys?

Turn 90 - 1750 BC

Barbarian WARRIOR this time, and I'm able to get off the flatland and defend from a hill finally. My archer survives and has enough XP for another promotion, though I'm going to hold off for now.

Turn 92 - 1700 BC

Amsterdam now has a garrison and a 2nd worker ready. A Library would net at least +3 science, plus give the option for specialists, but I feel that two more archers are more in order. One for my new city and one for fogbusting between the new city and Amsterdam.

Turn 94 - 1650 BC

I had to fight yet another barbarian archer, but Utrecht has finally been founded:

Build options are Barracks, Library, or units. Currently a Library is queued there. Even with being creative, I think the extra culture will help fight English borders. I have a worker marching over from Amsterdam.

And if you were curious about what was north of us:

I think this site will make a great commercial city (though only lightly cottaged). The 5F pig can power the 0F gold and 1F gem, while Windmilled grass hills break even in food. Unfortunately, overall growth will be slow unless we avoid working the gold and/or gems -- and I don't think we want to do that. I'm thinking that settling SE of the pigs is best.

I think the best site for the next city is the east of the cows near Amsterdam, to take up the suggestion of working the three resources and two scientists.

I obviously still need to do some MAJOR scouting. I expect that Amsterdam will need to continue to build archers for the next few turns to providing scouting and fogbusting. We're also at the bottom of the power graph, and I'd like to avoid any opportunistic attacks.

We're also at the bottom of the score meter.

As far as trading goes, we have OB with everyone and no one has Alphabet yet. We'll have Alphabet in 24 turns at our current rate.

Here's Amsterdam:

It will grow to size 5 in four turns, which is how long we need to lose our last point of whipping unhappiness. At that point, we could go Wheat/3xGrassMine/PlainsMine for Stagnant growth and 15 hammers per turn and pop out Archers in just over two turns a piece. It would cripple our research, however.

It may be worth it though, just so that we can avoid greater barbarian headaches and find out where our neighbours are.

Other than Alphabet, I think our next key techs will be wheel/pottery and maybe even Sailing to enable easier trade routes and poke around the islands to our south and north. If we get boxed in to our peninsula, we'll need somewhere to expand to.

EDIT: Our science rate is about to drop to 70%, since we never got any gold from goody huts. This will increase Alphabet's time to 34 turns -- maybe more if we stop working the clams in favour of production. Might we want to consider diverting our research to cheaper techs? These may be techs we could acquire with Alphabet later, of course.

 

[quill18]

And here's The Save

Have a good night folks. Come back tomorrow and watch me get slaughtered...