Optimal settling spots in this location?

[ridjack]

So I've nabbed what appears to be a pretty strong start:

A LOT of resources right there and I can't decide the best settling strategy.

Info:

Tectonics map type, Standard size and speed with +2 AI because tectonic is larger than vanilla maps, King difficulty, events off, human vassalage allowed(? I don't know why), no brokering and transparent diplomacy.

I'm attempting to force myself to play the non-Domination victory types, because I excel at Domination and suck at everything else. I've had some good games with Arabia that fall off towards the end, so I'm switching over to Korea. I went with Tradition (obviously) and chose Goddess of Nature for my pantheon. (Tons of mountains, plus Mt. Kilimanjaro right to next to Green Square. A religion should be more or less on lock unless something goes screwy.

My map settings tend to create a pangaea-ish environment with lots of small to large inland seas or a couple of continents usually only divided by shallow sea. To my mind, this allows me to prevent far-off runaways while still letting civs with naval biases be relevant.

I settled Busan immediately to block off access from the southwest and (hopefully) yoink Egypt's Whales monopoly out from under his nose. I blew all my gold on buying the two tiles next to my Pathfinder to prevent Egypt getting that forest and allow me to GG another copy of whales later on, and then Egypt helpfully stacked his worker and Settler on top of each other, unguarded, right next to my Pathfinder was waiting for exactly that sort of opportunity. I couldn't say no to that!

My first instinct was t settle Red Square next and claim a juicy chunk of resources; I'm relatively confident there's a close-ish Civ a little further down that peninsula, most likely Brazil. I don't believe Assyria or Songhai are super close; of those two, only Songhai looks to be working towards military at the moment.

Probably one of the two Blue after that; I like the left Blue for a reasonably defensible city in Egypt's face, the ability to potentially GG the top left copy of Whales, and giving me a coastal city on my northern ocean; while the right hand one is safer, gets the Sheep + two more mountains and can work more of Seoul's tiles.

Then grab the Green for Kilimanjaro + Marble, and probably at least one more city (possibly two and maybe-but-not-likely three) to fill in gaps/secure monopolies or strategics.

Thoughts?

 

[tu_79]

That mountain chain on your right is a huge defensive bonus. Either you settle south or north of it, you can stop any army coming this way. The north-eastern is bigger, has a wonder, but has not fresh water. And those spots near the two lakes are full of pastures, which may be good for your strategy (fealty) or not.

You said you don't want this game to be a domination one, but you should consider conquering Egypt. It seems that there's a small peninsula that way, so you could limit your navy to sea of Busan, having a few coastal cities in that sea, you'll control whales without expending citadels, and you'll be able to make use of that long river. Spreading your power towards the west and using the mountain chain as a cover to your right could work.

Then, you focus on meeting other civs and min-maxing your yields.

 

[pernas]

My first instinct was t settle Red Square next and claim a juicy chunk of resources;

The Red Square has already been settled by Russia.

 

[ridjack]

It went sideways. I intentionally over-expanded, figuring an area that resource-rich could support several cities even with Tradition. Which wasn't wrong, but Assyria ended up being my closest neighbor and not remotely friendly. The first couple DoWs were fended off with no problems, but I got greedy when Brazil (my only friend thus far and #2 on the leaderboard) asked for a mutual DoW on Egypt. I decided to try taking your advice, @tu_79, and conquer Egypt, even though I knew I wasn't in a great position at that moment. His peninsula ended up being more defensive than I thought, and Assyria (with Knights against my War Elephants) DoW'd along with Songhai. War was going badly on all fronts, unhappiness from my overexpansion started kicking in right then, I was behind in techs from that same overexpansion and recovery didn't look likely.

Someday, I'll get the hang of something other than Domination.. Someday.

 

[Stalker0]

Just curious, why wasn't the recommended spot to the east not considered? Good base yields, fish for food, close access to horses, and maintains a coastal prescence on that side of the map. Looks pretty good to me.

 

[ridjack]

Just curious, why wasn't the recommended spot to the east not considered? Good base yields, fish for food, close access to horses, and maintains a coastal prescence on that side of the map. Looks pretty good to me.

It was a spot to consider if I opted not to settle the Red Square; I didn't want their borders that close in a Tradition game, otherwise.

 

[tu_79]

It went sideways. I intentionally over-expanded, figuring an area that resource-rich could support several cities even with Tradition. Which wasn't wrong, but Assyria ended up being my closest neighbor and not remotely friendly. The first couple DoWs were fended off with no problems, but I got greedy when Brazil (my only friend thus far and #2 on the leaderboard) asked for a mutual DoW on Egypt. I decided to try taking your advice, @tu_79, and conquer Egypt, even though I knew I wasn't in a great position at that moment. His peninsula ended up being more defensive than I thought, and Assyria (with Knights against my War Elephants) DoW'd along with Songhai. War was going badly on all fronts, unhappiness from my overexpansion started kicking in right then, I was behind in techs from that same overexpansion and recovery didn't look likely.

Someday, I'll get the hang of something other than Domination.. Someday.

It seems that your worst movement was overexpanding. Had you kept yourself to 3-4 cities in very defensible locations, settling south (or north, depending where your neighbours are) of your eastern mountain chain, then built a fleet to capture Thebes (I see how a land invasion may not work), things could have gone differently.

But before any movement, you need to take a look at politics. From your screenshot we cannot know that Assyria is knocking at your doors.

 

[Rekk]

Is this amount of bonus resources the new standard? In Pangaea or Continents, I generally have to settle for 4 total resources within a 3 tile radius in most locations.

I probably would've settled on Red and Blue. Alternatively, you could let Egypt settle blue and then puppet the city later. I don't think Kilimanjaro is worth over extending eastward.

 

[ridjack]

It seems that your worst movement was overexpanding.

Agreed. I actually have a save of the game at the point the screenshot was taken; I'm planning to go back in and try it in different ways.

From your screenshot we cannot know that Assyria is knocking at your doors.

Neither did I at the time it was taken. The tight quarters and lack of civs in those areas meant too many barbs to easily explore much beyond that. I found Assyria just slightly offscreen after I settled on Red.

Is this amount of bonus resources the new standard? In Pangaea or Continents, I generally have to settle for 4 total resources within a 3 tile radius in most locations.

Not at all. Tectonics is a little more resource-rich than vanilla maps, but even for Tectonics this is bonkers.