(0) 2150 - Change GR to settler. Wake warrior from Salamanca to accompany settler(s) south of there (unescorted settlers with barbs around is just asking for a slapdown). MM NF to grow in one turn -- citizen on flood plains instead of on the plains -- better all the way around. Sala changed to build a granary.
(I) Allegheny completes warrior and begins a barracks -- we'll need actual fighting troops before TOO long.
(1) 2110 - Begin roading gold hill. Connecting Allegheny semi-important and speeding troop movement also good. Eventually, this square might be worked, but it's mostly about movement at this point. 2nd worker on mountain also begins a road. Worker on wheat irrigates.
Warrior and both settlers move to that gold hill. One is headed NW to the forest and the other SW to get the two cows. It'd take 12 turns to get to the landbridge and I'm just not that bold. If it worked, it might be a coup (getting the wine in the process). If it failed, it would be a huge waste. Too much risk for too little gain, IMO. We'll capture that area later, if/when we need it.
Scouts scout. Amazingly enough, the eastern scout finds a goodie hut -- inside are the generous Chehalis tribe, who teach us the secrets of horseback riding. Now, if we could only find some of these mythical "horses", we would be in business.
New warrior in Allegheny goes south to get a mountaintop view of the surrounding terrain -- fog-busting barbs before the settler comes along. Safety first....
(I) NF produces worker -- settler ordered -- let's fill our land with as many productive cities as possible as quickly as possible. Zooming shows a citizen on a floodplain -- let's move it to the mined plains, slowing growth some in NF but getting the settler faster. Once the irrigation of the wheat completes, it'll probably even grow before the settler finishes in 8 turns.
(2) 2070 - New worker from NF goes SW to flood plain to begin improving it.
Warrior and one settler go NW (warrior first, of course). The other settler continues SW towards the two cows. The warrior for the second settler stays ahead, moving SW himself.
The workers on the mountain are finished -- that's a road to where the new GR site will be. I move one to the bonus grass SE of their current position as a site to be worked once GR is relocated (I thought this was on the river, but I was apparently wrong). The other joins the worker on the gold hill.
Scouts continue scouting. A barb is spotted in the east, but I have time to run and he's "just" a warrior. I also accidentally intrude on Chinese space, completely missing the blue line in the ground.
Make the rounds and see nothing interesting. Cities are solid. Diplo is as good as can be expected.
(I) Apologize to China and prepare to run from a barbarian warrior.
(3) 2030 - East scout runs NW twice to escape the barb warrior. Other scouts see another horse by China, the south coast, and not a whole lot else of interest.
Worker on bonus grass mines, flood plain irrigates, and gold hill roads. Warriors keep heading for destinations before their settler.
(I) Barb spotted north of NF -- the worker up there will be in danger soon.
(4) 1990 - Warrior/settler teams continue their dance. The SW settler is leaving A, so it needs its escort closer. The warrior heads back that way to provide cover from any possible move 2 troops.
Continue scouting Chinese lands and east scout has a decision -- I like the looks of the ivory SE of where I am, but the barbs scare me, so I head W and N to see what I can see.
A warrior is mobilized in NF. Since I'm not sure whether this will cause unrest or not, I move him south first, check the happiness of the city (see it's OK) and then move him back N and then N to protect the worker. Little tricks like this can save a few gold here and there.
Nothing on the diplo front interesting at all.
(I) Worker on wheat finishes irrigation. Barb moves closer. The Chinese have a settler out, so their fourth city is imminent. Just noting things.
(5) 1950 - Worker on wheat waits. The warrior has to do his thing first. I cross my fingers and attack the barbarian. One hp of damage and no promotion, but success and that's what I was looking for anyway. Now the worker can road in peace and relative safety.
SW settler moves SW and protecting warrior stays one south, to keep more fog busted and to protect from threats from that direction. The NW pair is fog-busting up that way, so I can see threats coming a ways away. That pair moves NW to their final destination, warrior first, of course.
East scout heading back west before going too far north. Other scouts working way east (and south).
Cities OK. Diplo shows nothing new.
(I) Another barb appears N of NF.
(6) 1910 - Warrior north of NF rests a turn to regain his lost hp.
SW settler goes SW again -- one more south and he'll be in position. Other settler pair founds Cattaraugus, working a bonus grassland. Barb camp noted NW of here (should auto-frag, I think) but a warrior is ordered up anyway.
Nothing interesting from scouts.
Time to whip in GR. I'm pretty committed to this, the more I think about it. Whip away one citizen to get the settler complete. Change one citizen to a specialist (doesn't matter which, since he won't work, I believe. I do a taxman to be safest). This is to make exactly even food (deficit means starvation before the settler completes, which gets ugly).
(I) It all works perfectly, GR is abandoned. Russia settles right near our eastern scout, too, but we can deal with that no problem. Gold hill road finished. Flood plain irrigation finished, too.
(7) 1870 - GR settler and warrior move one north, leaving behind a road on a cleared silk.
Both workers move to second gold hill. SW settler moves one south, joining its warrior, who fortifies. Road ordered in the flood plains.
Warrior north of NF fortifies, getting the maximum bonus and daring the barb to attack him. It's our best odds.
East scout leaves Russian territory. West scout continues along coast. Central scout violates Egyptian territory purely by accident. I've been BAD with that on my turns.
Sala grew and has unhappy problems. Lux tax will be increased -- to 10%, I think/hope. NF citizen moved off of plains to irrigated flood plains to grow one turn earlier. If the AI has a brain, the plains will be worked, too. Oh. Allegheny needs happiness, too. I doubt 10% will suffice for them. That could be troublesome. An issue I need to deal with before going on. Oh, Allegheny got GR's whip unhappiness. Hmm...how to deal with that.
Lux tax to 10% solves Salamanca's problems. Allegheny gets told growth will slow as the roaded gold hill will be worked instead (gives more commerce, so one gold goes to lux tax). I guess I maybe should've stayed and mined it. Oh well -- after the road it shouldn't take too long to do so.
(I) Apologize to Cleo for scaring her chickens. Watch our brave warrior be reduced to one hp before rallying for the victory. WHEW!
(8) 1830 - Found GR on the correct spot. Order a warrior. Support warrior fortifies in place. This SHOULD bring silks to the nation. I check. It does. Lux tax must remain unchanged, though, as the silks can't reach Allegheny yet, which needs the lux tax.
Oil Springs founded near the cows. Warrior ordered, to protect the worker that must come soon thereafter.
E scout continues north. Center scout goes east. West scout sees barb hut that appeared right next to him and runs away E, SE.
Worker from wheat goes SW to flood plain there. Both workers on gold hill road.
HEY! The AI put NF's citizen on the right square. No changes needed. Happiness there is a breeze right now. Rest of the cities doing just fine.
Egypt, India, and China have writing. Russia does not. We can buy it from Ghandi (he's in last place) and sell to Russia (who has 43 gold) and not spend too much -- at least that's my theory. Writing from Ghandi for 70 gold. 43 gold from Cathy for writing. Net cost to us, 27 gold. That's pretty sweet for a tech. I change us over to Polytheism and stay on min science. Polytheism is LOW on the AI priority list, generally, so we might get it in 40 turns. Going to zero sci is again a reasonable option.
We now have the option of establishing embassies. After a bit of debate, I decide to do some of this. We are first in land area by F11 and have just established new cities. We won't grow in land area anytime soon and the AI powers might. Our best deal for RoP might be right now. I'm gonna try.
India first (cheapest embassy @ 30 gold):
Stupid AI -- growth in 2 (to size 2!) and a settler due in 2 turns. And a wheat tile unworked. Stupid, stupid. India's lands/start are bad enough they shouldn't be any real trouble, long-term.
Ghandi pays 38 gold for a RoP. He's gotta be dead last in land area. Will it be worth it to try to sell others? I decide 35 gold is my cut-off for embassy-establishing price.
Russia at 31 meets that criteria (31 gold for an embassy):
Moscow is in an awesome position, with a wheat (now shared out to Minsk), cattle, furs, river, horses -- everything one could want. Colossus finishes in 15 turns, but will be less after growth.
Russia, OTOH, is broke -- which I should've noted before establishing the embassy. Cathy's not interested in a straight RoP, let alone paying for one, so that's just a sunk cost. Embassies are eventual needs, but definitely something that could've waited in this instance.
(9) 1790 - West scout continues running and trying to see the coast. Central scout finds some mountains (and some more iron). East scout gets close to Russia but doesn't actually "invade".
Another flood plain worker irrigates. Warrior north of NF goes north to a hill to provide better barb protection (and to hopefully spot the camp).
Settler in NF will complete in one turn regardless of shields, so citizen moved from plains to flood plains (bare but being irrigated) for this turn, to get that bit of jolt in food.
Woohoo! Egypt has a worker for sale. 28 gold brings another slave into the mix. He goes west into the forest by Salamanca -- road towards Cattaraugus and a reasonably good square in its own right.
(I) NF completes settler and begins granary.
(10) 1750 - Forest worker roads. Others wait as I consider a plan of action.
Warrior north of NF sees TWO approaching barbs. He's on a hill and can fortify, which he does, crossing his fingers.
East scout violates St. Petersburg to try to see coast there. C scout in rocky lands. S scout back to coast, with barbs out of view.
Settler and worker by NF both go to plains 2S of NF. A city in this direction isn't exactly my first choice of location, but it's safe and can be reached quickly. A grass shared with GR gives growth potential and there are no known barbs in the area. [As I think about this more, I'm thinking a race to the landbridge/wine might make more sense -- gambity but huge benefits if successful.]
Cities look good. Diplo is boring.
The situation I'm looking at looks VERY positive.
Arathorn
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in that decision. Allegheny needs a lot of things before a regular archer -- like nearly everything.![[pimp]](/images/smilies/pimp.gif "Pimp [pimp]")
NF should be building only three things for the foreseeable future -- worker, settler, granary. Anything else is PROBABLY (always exceptions) just weed.
decide to move warrior back exposing worker,
