"Ocho" - The Lovebug City of Crazy Eights

[cav scout]

I think we should build two cities since it seems we are going to be boxed in. We should also consider cities to the west of the mountains (like the barb city Zhou).

 

[Kaleb]

We are building a settler, and we'll whip it as soon as we can.

Are we going to vote on this then?

 

[Indiansmoke]

we have a few turns to decide...I agree about getting a galley with some units to the barb city though.

 

[damnrunner]

wasn't Zhou a team cav city? If not capturing it would be great.

 

[Sommerswerd]

There are only six of us participating at this point, so I think an in-thread vote is appropriate.

We need to decide on whether there will be one city or two In our western land (East of the mountains). So far...

Cavscout, Sommers = 2 cities
Smoke = 1 city

Anyone else care to weigh in on this issue? If not, we need to decide where the first of the two cities will be settled.

 

[damnrunner]

I lean towards 2 cities. Building a single city could eventually have bigger production. But in the short to medium term 2 smaller cities will have larger production and commerce potential.

 

[Indiansmoke]

I lean towards 2 cities. Building a single city could eventually have bigger production. But in the short to medium term 2 smaller cities will have larger production and commerce potential.

There is only one food resource in the area, instead of a good city we will end up with a mediocre and a bad one.

 

[cav scout]

Oh I was wrong btw, Zhou was captured by CAV. The remaining barb city is "Yayoi."

The more I look at the map the more it looks like cities west of the mountains settled by ship would be crowded out by CAV. If we settle west of the mountains it has to be up in the northern area near Yayoi and the sheep. This is dangerous territory to found an outpost city right now (while fighting SANCTA). I think our best bet is to expand North and East into SANCTA lands- by force with redcoats.

 

[damnrunner]

There is only one food resource in the area, instead of a good city we will end up with a mediocre and a bad one.

One works corn, grassland farms, and hills - will be a mostly military city. The other will work a grassland farms, the gold, and many sea tiles. Will have low production but a decent amount of commerce.

In the short term the production focused city will put out just as much production as if we only built 1 city. Long term it will not be able to grow as large though.

 

[Sommerswerd]

We still have not built Moais IIRC... We could always give the whale/gold city the Moais if we want.

Smoke is right that the cities would not be optimal, but I think our choices are greatly limited by the bottleneck situation. We have to keep building cities don't we?

 

[cav scout]

Atyrau should still get Moai.

We should decide now whether we build 2 cities in our western land or just 1. This will then let us choose specifically where to build and determine whether we need another settler or not. I think the majority right now are for 2 more cities quickly.

 

[Sommerswerd]

The count so far is:

1 city = Smoke

2 cities = Damnrunner, Sommers, Cavscout

, and the Don have not decided IIRC.

There is a possible tie a'brewin' here, so we need to decide how to address that BEFORE the tie happens, otherwise it will just be sour grapes...

I suggested before to give the tiebreaker vote, but I don't remember if that idea was accepted or not... I think it was during the warring factions poll debates. Ah memories

 

[donsig]

There is only one food resource in the area, instead of a good city we will end up with a mediocre and a bad one.

Does any one have data showing whether we're better off with one or two cities in that area? Does squeezing in two mean our established cities lose tiles to work?

 

[cav scout]

Here is my proposal for the next 2 cities. The colored dots indicate which city gets to work shared tiles.

City 8 Production City (max pop 15)

1 corn farm
2 grassland farms
2 plains farms
4 grass grass hill mines
1 plains hill windmill
after bio
5 additional plains hill windmills

This will be a solid production city- a great place to make units. We start by working the grass farms and whipping heavily. When we transition away from the whip we work the grass hill mines as the population grow, followed later by the windmills.

City 9 Coastal Commerce City (max pop 10)

1 gold mine
1 whale ocean tile
1 grassland farm
4 coastal tiles
1 ocean tile (probably won't ever actually work this one)
1 grass hill mine
1 plains hill windmill
after bio
convert plains hill windmill into plains hill mine

This city gets us the whale resource and pays for it's own maintenance with the gold mine. Start by working the farm, whale and goldmine. Get lighthouse as fast as possible (chops). Work coastals as the pop slowly grows. Finally max out at pop 9 working the grass and plains hill improvements.

 

[Indiansmoke]

I still do not agree. We need one city that will be a production powerhouse that in the future will be able to pump out tanks in 1 turn and build spaship parts in 2 turns. That area has the potential for such a city. Lets not spoil it to get the whale resource and another gold!

 

[Kaleb]

I still do not agree. We need one city that will be a production powerhouse that in the future will be able to pump out tanks in 1 turn and build spaship parts in 2 turns. That area has the potential for such a city. Lets not spoil it to get the whale resource and another gold!

But comparing your spot (ie where the warrior is) with cav scouts city 8 spot isn't much different:

City 8
1 corn
2 grassland
2 plains
4 grass hills
6 plains hills

City 8
1 corn
3 grassland
3 plains
3 grass hill
4 plains hill
2 tundra hills (1 with fur)

So the 2nd option here only has one grassland tile more than the first option - and that's the only negative thing I can see about it. The first option is also slightly closer and requires one less farm to be built to irrigate the corn.

 

[donsig]

I still do not agree. We need one city that will be a production powerhouse that in the future will be able to pump out tanks in 1 turn and build spaship parts in 2 turns. That area has the potential for such a city. Lets not spoil it to get the whale resource and another gold!

Would we still be able to do this with cav scout's red city? I'm worried about the two cities crowding each other but if we actually get to the point of being able to make tanks could we not starve the blue city down in order to grow the red city if need be?

I'm leaning towards two cites at this point. Would like to know if Indiansmoke has anything more to say on the matter.

 

[Indiansmoke]

Yea I guess Cav scouts suggestion is only slightly worst long term and the benefit of a second city will propably outweight that. However I think that id we go for 2 cities second should be on the gold to max out water tiles. the benefit of commerce from 3 extra water tiles will outweight the gold and we will agin +1 hammer in city tile.

 

[damnrunner]

Yea I guess Cav scouts suggestion is only slightly worst long term and the benefit of a second city will propably outweight that. However I think that id we go for 2 cities second should be on the gold to max out water tiles. the benefit of commerce from 3 extra water tiles will outweight the gold and we will agin +1 hammer in city tile.

That is a very interesting idea. It would also give us more grassland hill tiles in the 2nd city which will be good with windmills. While a gold mine is great - working the mine will greatly slow population growth.

 

[cav scout]

Working the gold mine gives a sizeable amount of cash, not something to turn away from lightly (especially since this is going to be a commerce oriented coastal city). The city will still grow with a +2 surplus when working the grassland farm and whale w/ lighthouse.

And if we decide we want to grow the city faster (at a +4 surplus) we just stop working the gold mine for a while! It's nice to be able to turn the cash from the mine on and off whenever we want to.