PH17: pholkhero and the Holy Grail

[Talamane]

I vote for the one due north of us. We should be able to snag the sheep from KK's captured barb city, and there is some wood to chop a monument straightaway. Only one tile needs to be roaded, and it consolidates our position on the ivory.

KK has iron working, so if he builds a few swords at this point, it's adios ph17. We shouldn't antagonize him. He will want (and probably get) a city on the flood plains to consolidate his position with the barb city. If he does, then barbs will only be problem from the east and south of our little empire.

Diplomacy may hinge on religion now--who can send us some missionaries. We sure could use another happy face in our cities with slavery. Except for the ivory (of course), all we have around us are calendar luxuries.

Isabella is usually is slow on writing, so OB with her can take some time. We need to check on the relations between KK and Izzy and HC. Once CoL comes in, the religious positions of the various AI should be established on this size map.

 

[mc-red]

nice turns except for the starting pun
KK is a difficult neighbour in my experience but that is a good site will we risk being by him to deny him that spot

 

[nocho]

Seem to be solid turns, I guess PH was fearing the fox whip! Well, that whip may lash at something anyway, dunno, haven't looked at the save yet...

I would vote to settle the NW flood plains. It blocks off KK and looks to be potentially defendable on a hill and partly behind a river... I don't think it makes us a juicier target for KK than we already are, so might as well try to take that site.

 

[Talamane]

I don't agree with the NW choice, but i am not a very good player.

 

[GreyFox]

Apologize for being such a non-contributing member the past week and this week as well. Wwas called back to the starfleet academy for r(re-)training, too tired to do anything when I go back home (and still have to attend to office matters)

Skip me for now .. by the time the roster turn one round, I should be out of the military and more available.

 

[nocho]

Okay, if GreyFox is busy fighting the klingons on the starboard bow in a funny-coloured suit, I'll post a got it for somewhere before Friday ends, hopefully.

I don't agree with the NW choice, but i am not a very good player.

So far I'm not awfully close to beating deity consistently yet either, so more opinions will be appreciated.

 

[Ozbenno]

I'm back in operating territory.

We need a library whipped in the capital and 2 scientists employed to get an academy up and running.

The barb city would be a nice addition. A city where the c is marked would be OK.

 

[nocho]

@Ozbenno: do you want to take it now for your 1st set? And which "c" do you mean, I see 2 of them.

 

[Ozbenno]

Happy to start my first set if pholkerina is fine with it.

I meant the c in the last screenshot.

 

[nocho]

Okay, I'll take it after you then.

In that last screenshot there are 2 "c"-s... pholk doesn't go a, b, c or even c1, c2. Just c, c, c.

 

[Ozbenno]

Ah, I see the second c now! I've just returned from a victorious indoor cricket semi final and we celebrated pretty hard so my eyesight is inhibited.

The floodplains c, the other interferes with the barb city and our city too much.

 

[pholkhero]

first, though, KK doesn't have the barb city north of us ~ so there's no fear of losing the sheep right now. I do think that NW city with it's cultural pressure on KK might get us the ol' knife in the back, but what's life without a little adventure, right? it is only immortal after all

what i mean is, he might attack before we're ready. However, i still think it's a better site for commerce in the short term, and more defensible as nocho says.

and what's wrong with all "c"s ~ can't you just say "the c in the red sign" ?? force of habit from SP. at least in PH18 i mixed in an 'x'.

edit: re: relations: there's nothign much going on yet, no worst enemies, etc. Qin likes us (pleased) and no one else does (all cautious)

@ Fox ~ is military retraining like office retraining, i.e., you spend days meeting about 1 tiny change, like all the buttons on your computer are going to flash yellow instead of red? or is it just the usual, "make sure everyone's in good shape" kind of training??

@ Oz ~ indoor cricket? to keep the nasty 15 C chill off your knees??

and, so, to confuse us more:
pholkhero >> just played
fox >> Training sir! "What kind of training?" Haaaaaaaaarmy Training Sir!!
nocho >> swapped to be on deck
ozbenno >> swapped and UP NOW
mc red >> playing soon i think...i cna't figure out this roster
talamane >> seeing the future if Khan DOES take that barb city

 

[Ozbenno]

OK its mine.

As for indoor cricket, ouch luckily the kids had been sprung by then

 

[mc-red]

Nice job on the cricket oz
City near kk .... I've got a baaad feeling about this...

 

[Talamane]

Sorry, i thought that barb city had been captured by KK. What was I thinking? Brown, black?
NW looks better (and more dangerous). But with walls (masonry should be cheap to research soon), it would be unassailable until catapults.

 

[Talamane]

Totally off-topic, but i can't help myself. I've been enjoying playing the culture aspect of Civ4. I haven't done that since Civ3. One thing about Civ4 culture is that it can be chosen as a victory path rather late in the game. In Civ3, you had to plan in the BC ages for it.

Here are some shots of what happens with culture in Civ4:

Ur is rioting and then falls in about 8 turns. This is about 10 turns before victory and it's not even near one of the legendary cities, just near Thebes which has about 18000 culture.

Shuruppak falls about 5 turns before victory--it's unfortunate proximity to a legendary city doomed it. And my neighbor is creative! Shuruppak didn't even have a library. These are core cities, very near his capital.

I had a bit of a bother in the 17th century when Shaka attacked me with a huge stack of antique soldiers. I busted the stack up pretty good with the only 3 cannons i had nearby, killed the defenders with my cavalry and then sent this guy in to whack the last one. He then proceeded to kill 12 trebuchets with the flanking maneuver. I was flabbergasted. Wow!

 

[Ozbenno]

I loaded up the save to play and noticed that we are only cash positive at 0% science.

We've had Pottery for ages it seems but there wasn't a single cottage to be found. We have no libraries so we can't even hire scientists.

Not sure how we bring this back from the brink. We can probably get back to 20% science by deleting some military but we are absolutely no show of executing any kind of war for a really long time.

Anyone got any other ideas on what to do here?

 

[nocho]

We can get to 20% just by doing some micro on the tiles we work. I'm not a big fan of deleting units, but maybe we can delete 1 or 2 warriors if we must.

And yeah, try to whip libraries in Moscow and St Petersburg and try to get some cottages there. If you manage to settle the fp site, well, same recipe there, as surely then we'll really tank the economy.

 

[Talamane]

Fogbusters cost money (units out of borders) IIRC, so it may help to move them inside if possible.

 

[Ozbenno]

Hey all, I'm going to be incredibly lame and excuse myself from this one, I just can't seem to get the time to play and that is going to get worse before it gets better. Sorry.