LK153 - Australia

[Elephantium]

2550-Canberra: Settler > Worker. Lux to 20%.
2510-
2470-Canberra: Worker > Settler
2430-Melbourne built on NP's spot. Building Warrior.
2390-lux to 30%.
2350-Ugh, I goofed up the factory by not reassigning the worker last turn
2310-Canberra produces a Settler; Sydney produces a Curragh.
2270-
2230-
2190-Canberra: Settler > Worker (might want to build a Warrior or Curragh first to boost population before going back into factory mode)
2150-Indonesia now has The Wheel to trade. We're about to get Writing.

 

[Greebley]

Ok, I got it then.

 

[Greebley]

Preturn:
2110 BC: Get Bronze working and the Wheel for 207 gold and Writing.
Put the research on Literature. This will give it to us right around the time we got it last game at 40 turns.
I spot Horses.
IBT: Pyramids completed by Egypt.
2070 BC:
Built the Worker->Warrior in capitol.
Built Warrior->Temple Prebuild?/Granary/Barracks in Melborne.
2030 BC: Spot China and pick up Warrior code and Masonry. Spot Indian borders.
Change my mind and switch to Settler in capitol. Not enough improved squares yet for Melborne and Capitol.
1990 BC: India will give us Ceremonial Burial Warrior Code and 128 gold for Writing.
Accidentally give China CB and they are polite.
Get 217 gold (i.e. our gold + 10) back from Indonesia.
Spot Xerxes but he only has 9 gold for writing which I pass on.
Decide we can go for palace right away. We can get a border expansion by building at the spot I marked on the map. Also marked another good town spot.



If it turns out to be too soon to start, we can decide on the temple before we get 60 turns.
1910 BC: Have another settler to send south.
1790 BC: Go for the upper red circle. It can share irrigated land; the spot south needs workers and a temple to be useful.
1750 BC: Settler built. Decide on another worker so we can start irrigating the large plains south of our lands.
Notes:
I was thinking Adalaide could finish the warrior and then build a worker. A temple right away would work well too.
Sydney is on an extra Settler. I don't see a huge need for Barracks right away (my other choice) and we have enough curragh for now and a settler would be better. We don't want indonesia claiming our lands. A curragh to explore the ways the other curragh didn't go could be built next.
I tried to send the boats in the right directions. One has branched off to get to the Japan.
Oh I forgot to check if any new deals are around.

 

[Elephantium]

We'll need two more boats to cross the Arctic circle, one eastward and one westward. Do we want curraghs or galleys for that?

 

[Greebley]

I think I like the Settler first. We already have 3 out there. Also we are close to meeting someone with map making which would be faster than building 2 more curragh. (With galley going faster it seems better to wait).

 

[LKendter]

Glad to see at least some token warriors.
They aren’t inside our borders yet, but we at least have horses.
It sounds like we have started to get more contacts, but still have a long way to go.

ROSTER:

LKendter (on deck)
Elephantium
Greebley
Northern Pike (up)
Arathorn (waiting confirm)

 

[Northern Pike]

View attachment LK153-1500BC.SAV, end of turn

 

[Northern Pike]

1750 (0): Good thinking getting Melbourne an artificial expansion without our having to build a temple there.

I check the tech position as suggested by Greebley--nothing new.

I switch the capital to a warrior, and may then build another, so that it can grow a little. We'll pull in more commerce if Canberra is producing settlers and workers from a base of size five rather than size three.


1725 (1): Canberra warrior --> warrior, Adelaide warrior --> worker.


1700 (2): Canberra warrior (in one turn with shields on growth) --> worker.


1675 (3): Sydney settler --> barracks, Hobart warrior --> worker.


1650 (4): Canberra worker --> settler.


1625 (5): The Chinese have come up with Iron Working, so we trade Writing to them for it. Mao is completely broke, so no gold changes hands.

We have iron on Canberra's mountain, not hooked up yet.


1600 (6): Canberra settler (speeded up by forest chop) --> worker, Adelaide worker --> barracks.


1575 (7): We found Alice Springs on the southern river site taking in two cows.

We found Perth, filling in the southeastern corner of the continent between Sydney and Alice Springs and claiming two BG. Putting this town on the same river as Sydney and Hobart would have been too cramped, unfortunately.

We contact the Mongols along the south Chinese coast--good luck, since they can be tricky to find by sea early in the game. However, they're very backward, and all we can do is sell them Alphabet for 70 gold.


1550 (8): Canberra curragh --> settler. We weren't planning to build any more curraghs, but the idea is to block Indonesia's only sea route to our continent; see below.

Hobart worker --> barracks.


1525 (9): We merge a worker into Adelaide, which is a little too far behind on the palace pre-build relative to our forty-turn drive to Literature.


1500 (10): Brisbane temple --> barracks (once we hit Enter).

 

[Northern Pike]

Prospects:

 

[Northern Pike]

Our curragh near Canberra should just fortify at A on the first screenshot. I'm not completely certain how the AI moves Bangkas, but there's a good chance that with the only all-coastal route to our continent blocked, the Indonesians will never try to land on our shores.

Mysticism and Horseback Riding are in circulation and we could arrange a twofer, but I don't want to spend our nest egg before we meet more civs--Egypt, Babylon, and the Zulus should all appear soon--and we have a better sense of the opportunities. When we expect to build the Great Library, there's less pressure to grab techs immediately.

The next player should be able to get our drive to Literature and the palace pre-build in Melbourne perfectly synchronized. It's not essential that we mine and road Melbourne's second hill now, but it has to be done by the time that we discover Literature. At that point we'll also need enough workers in Melbourne's immediate vicinity to merge it up to at least size nine.

Our settler currently on the central plains can found at 1 on the second screenshot. After that we have a lot of uninspiring, waterless choices, but 2 on the third screenshot is a possibility.

There's no great rush to hook up Canberra's iron--we can do it when we have some barracks built.

Please note the irrigated but roadless tile next to Melbourne. The stack of three workers can road it next turn.

When Canberra reaches size six this interturn we'll need to adjust its MM, to maintain +5 food, and raise the lux rate (for Melbourne's sake as well).

Our more advanced curragh can head down the American coast (not that this will happen in the next round) eventually, while the one trailing it (currently off the Philippines) can turn west and cross the top of Siberia.

Our curragh heading towards Africa didn't make any contacts this turn, but it shouldn't be long now.

 

[LKendter]

LKendter (up)
Elephantium (on deck)
Greebley
Northern Pike
Arathorn (waiting confirm)

 

[LKendter]

The save

 

[LKendter]

1500 BC (0)
Our number one issue is lack of workers. If we merge several into Melbourne to get the Great Library, we will have 1 per 2 cities. This early in the game we need more than one per city.
(IT) The Egyptians have built the Oracle.


1325 BC (7)
Broome is founded.

Cairns is founded in a spot without a dot. 3N of Brisbane includes 3 forests, so we can avoid jungle burn for a while. This locks the spice area. I don't plan to connect it to the main road network for now.

Sailing up the Persian Gulf finally pays off, as we have contact with Babylon. No trades are possible, and they look good for military with iron and horses.

Perth is unhappy, so we put a floating scientist there.


1200 BC (12)
Our settler factory is such a pain. One lousy turn I forget to zoom in, and the growth cycle gets screwed up.


1100 BC (16)
Freemantle is formed at the double oasis site.


1075 BC (17)
(IT) Egypt is building the Great Wall. We are really falling behind in tech.


1000 BC (19)
(IT) 40 turn research begins on Philosophy. The odds of first are low, but it is a 3rd level tech.
The ivory is in the Americas, as they complete Statue of Zeus.

 

[LKendter]

Summary:
The Great Library shows due in 8 turns. The last hill gets a mine next turn, and the city can be merged to size 9.

Our luck with contacts has been horrid, as I only got Babylon in this round. The African ship heading south should find the Zulu soon.


The next proposed city down south is green dot. Post monarchy with harbor the fish and whale are nice, It also claims some dead grassland.
Grey dot grabs 5 unused plains including the important horse site.
The block of "?" is tough to call. We can grab 2 oasis that are good short term, or split them to claim all of the desert that is good post rails. How long of a game do these cities want to play?

 

[LKendter]

Red dot gets us an okay site with 2 plains and fish after border expansion. More important is after a temple built it helps to secure the second iron.
Blue dot is when we are ready to start burning jungle.

 

[LKendter]

White dot also requires are least one cleared jungle. This spot will be nice post temple / harbor / monarchy. Plus it is the best staging zone for our inevitable war with Indonesia. IMO Indonesia must be cleared before we try and land in Asia.



ROSTER:

LKendter
Elephantium (up)
Greebley (on deck)
Northern Pike
Arathorn (waiting confirm)

 

[Northern Pike]

LK, I can't load the save right now, but I notice that the date is wrong--1500 BC, which is when you began, not when you ended. You might want to check whether it's the right save with the wrong date, or really wrong.

It sounds as though we're in a safe position to claim the Great Library.

 

[LKendter]

Let us try again:

 

[Elephantium]

Our settler factory is such a pain. One lousy turn I forget to zoom in, and the growth cycle gets screwed up.

Right?! I did the SAME THING on my turn. So frustrating!

 

[Elephantium]

Preturn-MM cities a bit
* Broome's citizen gets reassigned to a riverside grassland instead of the "normal" grassland
950-Join the last Worker to Melbourne; GLib due in 6.
We meet the Zulu! They have Mysticism and HBR but lack Alphabet. I go ahead and sell them Alpha for Mysticism and 58 gold.
925-
900-Darwin founded on LK's red spot
875-
850-Wonder cascade...I get several messages about civs starting to build the GLib.
825-
800-We have built The Great Library! Melbourne switches to Temple.
In comes Maths, CoL, Map Making, Polytheism, and HBR
775-Derby settled on the green dot.
750-Handoff time.

* I'm grooming Adelaide and Alice Springs as worker pumps; forest chops will get them set with Granaries.
* The Workers near Darwin are roading south; that will help defend against landings once we have our southern coast built up. They can be reassigned if more pressing duties require them to the east (but they'll burn a turn or two just moving).
* Sydney and Perth are building our first Galleys. Additionally, we have a Curragh near there that can be upgraded at our first Harbor.
* Should we start considering colonizing New Zealand and Tasmania? I also see that New Guinea is still untouched...for now...