PH02: Eight Angry Men

[pholkhero]

Okay, I got off work early, today, so . . .

Notice the Raging Barbs ~ nice try, Grey!

And here's the start, before taking ANY movement whatsoever ~

I'll play the first 30 later tonight so we'll have time to discuss and such. I"m thinking that we should move the scout 2 S to see what we can see from that hill. With Philo, I'd like to concentrate on a spec-heavy economy, but don't have much practice at it ~

We start w/Fishing and Hunting, and, though BW first is somewhat overdone, with our UU, we'll need to find Bronze fast. MIning>BW, then?

 

[frankcor]

Whoa, lots of brown there. Methinks food is going to be an issue on this map. But if we farm those floodplains and cottage the plains, you might be sitting on a good starting location.

I concur with Mining>BW

 

[Munterpipe]

I like that start. Gold in sight for happies, and isn't there always a food resource by the start? That stone resource even opens up the opportunity for us building the Sonehenge or the Pyramids. We are philosophical, so those Gpp are quite valuable.
I don't know how doable that will be on emperor, though.
About a specialist economy, it would be nice to get a library up, and run two scientists for a while for a GS and an Acadamy. combine that with some cottages on the floodplains and a goldmine in our second city and we have a nice economy going I think.

At the moment I'm for settling in place, I'm quite sure the game always gives you a food resource in the BFC but I can't be 100 % positive on emperor. Moving the scout SE or N-NE will reveal more tiles around the settler, but 2S might show something great making us want to move the settler.

Agreee with Mining-BW.
Archery, even if we have copper, will be very useful with raging barbs on Emp. Consider researching archery first to get those pointy sticks out fast. Then The Wheel-Pottery-Writing for the science push, and/or mysticism-Masonry for using the available stone for wonders. Agri-AH for worker techs.
We don't have much for a worker to do yet, so building a scout first might be a good idea.

 

[Lobsterboy]

I think that I'd rather see what's to the North. (Is that a coastline up there, or just another bend in the river?) Otherwise, move the Scout S, SE.

 

[ChrTh]

lurker's comment:
That's definitely a bend in the river. If you squint, you can see green on the other side of it.

 

[pholkhero]

Agreee with Mining-BW.
Archery, even if we have copper, will be very useful with raging barbs on Emp. Consider researching archery first to get those pointy sticks out fast. Then The Wheel-Pottery-Writing for the science push, and/or mysticism-Masonry for using the available stone for wonders. Agri-AH for worker techs.
We don't have much for a worker to do yet, so building a scout first might be a good idea.

Good point about the archers; perhaps i'll go Archery>Mining>BW, and buildwise, i think Warrior is the best first build ~ we'll need the defense, and, at Emperor, i think a 2nd scout may just be a waste of shields.

The only thing that concerns me about settling in place is the ocean/lake tile east of us. I think it's most likely just a lake (or a bizarrely shaped coastline). In the end, i'm all for farming everything in site here, esp b/c there's some hills nearby.

 

[Rex Tyrannus]

lurker's comment:

If you squint, you can see green on the other side of it.

You're not young enough to have eyes that good are you ChrTh? Either you're seeing what I'll never see, or I have too much dust on my monitor.

[/delurk]

 

[Lobsterboy]

That's definitely a bend in the river. If you squint, you can see green on the other side of it.
[/delurk]

Thanks. I thought so, but it was a little hard to tell on my monitor at work. There would appear to be a coastline or a lakeshore east of the Stone.

edit: DOH! Not fast enough!

 

[Munterpipe]

I'm pretty much sure that there is a riverbend to the north with a floodplain on the tile N-NW of the settler.
That gives our capital, if we do decide to settle in place 3 flood plains and hopefully a food resource.
If the last is correct, I propose we farm one of the FPs and cottage the two other ones. That will give us enough food to stay flexible at the earl stages of the game, and give us some great commerce as well. What good will the Acadamy that we will most likely get from running a spec-heavy economy do us, if we don't have a commerce heavy city?
We can allways farm over towns, but we can't build towns on farms.

If there's no good food in sight. Let's just go farm crazy. And center our commerce around our golden second city to the SW. There seems to be some flood plains there as well.

 

[GreyFox]

Opps ... I will be the obvious scapegoat when raging barbarians start wreaking havoc ....

Did I hear someone say scout first? :no:, warrior, I say, my fellow virgins. When would brabs start to appear in Emp/RagingBarb?

Not too much info to decide settle on spot or move around.

Mining > BW is okay.

Wonders wise, Stonehedge is easy with stones, but the GProphet may not be useful. Pyramids will be a nice complment to Philo/Spec-based strategy, giving you early +3 beakers per specialists. Plus the GE points is valuable, virtually guranteeing you a GE early in time for either the TGL (obvious benefits), or Hanging Garden (+1 health and +1 pop is nice), or the Parthenon.

--

 

[Talamane]

Would have loved to join this, but will definitely lurk. My emperor cherry got popped in KK-03.

 

[pholkhero]

Me and my grape kool-aid load up the save ~ OH YEAH!!

T00/4000
Okay, went S, S w/the scout because there was no hill SE (sorry Lobster).

Once I saw the pigs, I figured I’d move 1 S to pick them up in the BFC. We ended up losing a second Silk, but that’s fine with me.

Athens is founded and work starts on a warrior. I start Archery “just in case.”

T01/3970
Our Scout then pops that hut that was pictured above and gets….

another scout!! Sweet ~ thanks to Munter for planting that idea in those mindless villagers heads..."Sure, you sons will come back...we just need to...uh...look around a little bit...yeah, that's the ticket" He finds a beaver down south [sorry, I couldn’t resist. I’m not a high-mined man.]

T02/3940 -- T03/3910 -- T04/3880

Exploring ~

T05/3850
Our original scout continues west, and pops a hut near the coast. The villagers give us a map of their happy hunting grounds.

Spice and some fish west…also whales and crabs.

T06/3820
Meet Genghis ~ he’s west of us!

T07/3790
(b/c is so passe)

T08/3760
Survived a wolf attack on the IT. We also meet Bismarck.

Athens pops its borders, as I'm scouring the map for a german unit. Can't find any anywhere, but found this w/the culture display on:

T09/3730


T10/3700
Our gifted scout started at 6:00 in regards to our city, and now it's at 12:00 ~ here, it has ended up next to a Lion ~ what will happen to him . . .

 

[pholkhero]

T11/3670
Not only does he kill the lion,

, but a panther appears and attacks:

and he takes THAT one out, too! Sweet!

I promoted to Wood I and renamed him “Barbslayer.” He’s set to heal. Meanwhile, Archery came in, and i set research for Mining>BW.

T12/3640


T13/3610
NOthing much else, our scouts are healing. I also notice that Bismarck has adopted slavery! I can't tell for sure, but the AI's may NOT have settled their second city at this point. [as i was so eagerly reminded the other day, Emperor AI's get a settler along with their extra archers.] The point: Biz's 2nd city may be a Coppertown ~

T14/3580
Athens finishes training the Warrior, and i start on an Archer. Once the actual barbs start appearing, it'll be a good help, and i'd rather not wait to build a barracks first. Scout Barbslayer lands next to a bear, but he’s on a hill. Will he prevail??

T15/3550
No, sleeping on the job!!

I guess Barbslayer was NOT aptly named! We’re down to one scout.

T16/3520
We lose our OTHER scout to two wolves. Gee…there seem to be an awfully large number of barbs?? Why is that?



T17/3490
Meet Monty ~

Why does he close that one eye?? He's always peering. Could he be so angry b/c he needs glasses like Geordi LaForge? On a whim, i do a quick religoin double-check. NO religions have been founded…intriguing. I’ve also sent our warrior on a quick scouting mission west of the city to see what lies beyond those gold hills. My initial scout missed this due to the goody hut he spied with his map pop.

T18/3460
I found a GREAT spot for a second city, but the pic didn't take. Check the spoiler below!

T19/3430


T20/3400
[dance]

T21/3370
Mining is done, and our wise men wisely pursue BW (due in 20). Our warrior heads back home.

T22/3340
On the way home he clubs a baby bear.

T30/3100
Okay, so that’s it. Looking back, I definitely am convinced that Archery first was a move. We're, now, pushed back about 11 turns on development, and could maybe have had AH done by now AND know where the Copper is ~ not a very auspicious start?? we'll see....

We’ll be able to start a worker or a settler next turn after the archer finishes. I’m thinking that we should build Sparta in the spot indicated before a worker ~ those 3 gold are a LOT of commerce and i'll be angry if Genghis gets it !!

BW is done in 11, and I am positive an immediate swap to Slavery would be in order ~ we’ll probably be halfway done with the settler, so could whip it!

Spoiler larger map for dots :

 

[pholkhero]

1. Pholkhero >> just played
2. Lobsterboy >> UP NOW
3. Munterpipe >> on deck
4. GreyFox >>
5. Frankcor >>


and....ze zave ~

 

[Nares]

Lurker comment

Don't forget that you're on raging barbarians. Wouldn't want to see this game end before 2000BC. You're also on Epic, so Archers take a little longer to produce than you'll like, especially once those Barbarian Warriors start pouring in and you've only got two Warriors and a Worker defending your capital.

And Emperor AI starts with two Scouts, two Archers, one Worker, and one Settler.

 

[Munterpipe]

Is that a city with three gold mines?!?
I'm worried by the amount of flood plains though. We need to find out how unhealthy that city will be, before we settle it.

Edit: I checked out the save, and there's only five floodplains around the city. Less than I thought from the screenie. I believe that means 2 Not to bad so let's go get it before ghenghis.
There are quite some food around for

About builds, I propose, build another archer until the city grows to size four, (9 turns) then whip the Settler for two pop. If building the settler right away and whipping for one point is faster, consider doing that.
I wouldn't normaly whip a settler this early, but it is so important that we get that insane city site, that I think it will be worth it.

 

[Munterpipe]

How to get Sparta's border pop is another thing we need to discuss.
Going for mysticism after BW will let us either build an obelisk in Sparta, build the Stoneheng in Athens OR go for founding a religion (probably in Sparta). If neither hinduism or buddhism is founded by the time we get mysticism, I think it might be worth a shot.

I'll shut up now.

 

[pholkhero]

You're also on Epic, so Archers take a little longer to produce than you'll like, especially once those Barbarian Warriors start pouring in and you've only got two Warriors and a Worker defending your capital.

We have an archer that is done next turn, and it's still early, so i'm not *too* concerned about the barbs. Will we need more units, absolutely, but i'd rather try to run a quick gambit for that 2nd city, and also quickly send out another settler to grab some copper w/city 3.

I haven't played Alex much (maybe 1 other game??), but i was looking at the Phalanx. It is teh same cost, strength and subject to the same promotions as axes, so, again, as much as it's overdone, some early warfare is definitely in order here.

About builds, I propose, build another archer until the city grows to size four, (9 turns) then whip the Settler for two pop. If building the settler right away and whipping for one point is faster, consider doing that.
I wouldn't normaly whip a settler this early, but it is so important that we get that insane city site, that I think it will be worth it.

Good idea on the archer, whip...i like that better than my idea. Also, i think at these higher levels, whipping is more and more important, esp as we'll hit our happy limit sooner.

Going for mysticism after BW will let us either build an obelisk in Sparta, build the Stoneheng in Athens OR go for founding a religion (probably in Sparta). If neither hinduism or buddhism is founded by the time we get mysticism, I think it might be worth a shot.

I like that idea somewhat...the only problem is that it delays worker techs....though, with our plan, our first worker is going to be delayed too!! What an odd game it is so far !!

 

[GreyFox]

Phanax is great, I suspect the AI will be running amok with Horse Archers, so Phanax is a good counter. We still need axe though, cos we need some anti-melee units.

Sparta is outraegously good! I concur with going archer then settler to grab that site. Meanwhile going Mysticsm is doable I think, though I am not hopeful abt a religion as I can't imagine the Emperor AI not geeting them (but then again, we have neither Hatty, Izzy, Gandhi nor Saladin in the game).

 

[pholkhero]

We still need axe though, cos we need some anti-melee units.

[snip]

Meanwhile going Mysticsm is doable I think, though I am not hopeful abt a religion as I can't imagine the Emperor AI not geeting them (but then again, we have neither Hatty, Izzy, Gandhi nor Saladin in the game).

oh yes, i didn't mean to suggest we wouldn't need axes...that would be esp w/Monty the Mad on our continent

also, i *think* Monty's the only one with mysticism so, we very well could grab hindu or even judaism ~ as i said before, this is a very crazy game so far!! heck, if buddhism still isn't founded, i'd say go for that one!!