PHs: AW SG: Rise of the Queen Mother!

[pholkhero]

Turn 16 (3360 BC)
London begins: Worker

Turn 17 (3320 BC)
Doin' the Curly Shuffle (right past france . . .no war)

Hey moe, hey moe! Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk!

Turn 18 (3280 BC)

Turn 19 (3240 BC)
I've also found Mongolia! let's see if my scout makes his hide shadows roll . . .

Turn 20 (3200 BC)
Contact made: Mongolian Empire d'oh! WAR!! I guess the river hid the border on that northern bit...dang it all...

He doesn't
Tech learned: Bronze Working

Turn 21 (3160 BC)
Research begun: The Wheel
And heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeere's Copper!

And future English cities:

 

[pholkhero]

Turn 22 - 28 (3120 BC)I noticed there were no scouting units for these civs...odd...
also, Genhis has copper:

Turn 29 (2840 BC)
Scout defeats (0.83/1): Barbarian Lion Huzzah!

Turn 30 (2800 BC)
User comment: And that's that. I went wheel first for no real reason over agr. Following these will be screen shots that will be useful to you for discussion. Also, in London, we should use the chop exploit to build warriors inbtwn settler and workers, which i think we should build 2 of each.

The Eastern Empire (sorry for the lack of signs on this; Mongolia is to the SW of our scout, in that little stalagmite of fog that looks like someone giving us the finger. *ahem* KHAAAAAAAAAANNNNNN!):

And the Western (and here, france is to the east, in that first shadown there, that looks just like the outline of a fat cross):

 

[pholkhero]

Roster:
1 Pholkhero >> just played
2 Qwack >> UP NOW, 25 turns
3 Timon of Athens >> on deck, 20 turns
4 Rex Tyranus >> (readying for 15 turns)
5 Omni Paul >> (readying for 10 turns)
6 Talaman >> (readying for 10 turns)

I expect Paris to be ours be the end of this turnset ~ let's go friends!

~ and 10 turns from then on..depending on the war situation that is...it may drop some...

Oh, oh, oh...and the save:

 

[omni_paul]

Holy Crap! That southern peninsula really is no help at all

No matter. I'm trying to work out if we could possibly fit a city down there. It'd be pretty junky, but could be worth it as a fishing town. What a dump of a city though.

Nice turns I might try a dotmap for discussion.

 

[omni_paul]

OK, that was actually quite hard

Pink dot is clearly the junk town we might just not settle. Gives us our only fish resource though, and would be quite easy to defend (from land attack).

Copper town is hands down our first settlement. Unless we want to get crazy and defend ourselves with 'phants

So I'd go coppertown, black dot, maybe then blue dot depending on where the enemy is... yellow dot is a nice spot, but no resources

Pinky might even be preferable to yellow. Or not. Growth the obvious problem with pinky, and that it needs sailing to be viable.

 

[·Imhotep·]

Okay, first of all we know now that moving London to the plains was the right move. Our capital will be a good city throughout this ride. Unfortunately we will gain access to copper only by planting a city up there, which will cost us time. Researching the Wheel is a good move then, since we will have to connect both cities and the copper mine.

I have to say some words on researching Animal Husbandry though. Usually Horses are a great strategic resource, and it is not true that mounted units won't help defensively against barbs and other stuff. With raging barbs on it is very likely that you can get to Level IV quick. That's 3 promotions - and a Combat II + shock promoted Chariot can easily handle Axemen, not to mention those warriors and archers barbs will first come with (I haver never seen a barb spearman !). Horse Units are very good at fog busting and intruder alert (2 movement points !) - with some Horse Units around you can see anything coming a long way before it reaches your cities and can react to it. This is especially valuable with the longer building times on Epic speed.

We will have to research it anyway, because there are some cows up at Ghengis' location and we need to know whether Ghengis will have horses and be able to build those damn Kheshiks.

As for our Civics: I would recommend the swap to Slavery as soon as it fits in. Not so much for reason of civic upkeep but more for using the . If we have our corn online and some farms on those tiles nearby London may be a good candidate...

omni_pauls dotmap looks good. Copper Town should of course be our first settlement - we need to get those Axes quickly. I would then go for black dot, then blue, yellow, pink. We will need the production of black dot and thus some more military before we can fill the gaps...

As for the playing order: Depending on how fast Qwack will play and report it might be I'm up on this very weekend - on the first possible occasion it could happen . I could then only play on Sunday and report at the latest on Monday. If this is fine with you all I'll take my turns, if not, then it is the turn for our valiant alternates .

I'm really looking forward to the course of the game - looks interesting with Nappy and Khan right on our doorstep...

LT

 

[pholkhero]

i agree about coppertown and the black dot, copper first...

realistically, i'd like paris to be our 4th city...w/three built quickly and half-a-dozen whipped or chopped axes, down goes nap...one down, 7 to go...(build some spears, maybe swords, a city or two, go after khan . )

I didn't switch to slavery yet to save the anarchy for when we HAVE to do it...we're gonna be chopping (i think) some workers and settlers for a bit here so perhaps revolt AFTER we've done that and London will be growing...just a thought...

I agree on AH -- i just didn't think we should go there before archery if copper wasn't nearby...I think the HA's will be tops for scouting runs and pillaging across the map a la Confederate Cavalry, US Civil War, just didn't think we should go there before archery if we had no metal

Also, re: the roster...i'd rather no subs on this, our first, round...here's a re-arranged roster:
1 Pholkhero >> just played
2 Qwack >> UP NOW, 25 turns
3 Omni Paul>> on deck, 20 turns
4 Rex Tyranus >> (readying for 15 turns)
5 Timon of Athens >> (readying for 10 turns)
6 Talaman >> (readying for 10 turns)

 

[Qwack]

Nice turnset pholkero. I agree we can go after Paris with some chopped axeman. Ill have the report/turns played in a few hours.
'
The penninsula having no land down south was a tough break unfortunately, but pink dot is not that bad. Dont need much to defend it, and financial + coast + fishing + slavery is always nice. It will work marginal terrian but will provide pretty good research once we get a lighthouse over there. Its definately far down our list though, I agree with copper city first, than production town. Lets try to take out Napoleon soon, then hopefully go after genghis.

Are we still going after Oracle though? Just so I dont screw up our research .

 

[pholkhero]

hmm...at this point, i would say no...no marble nearby and can we afford to divert prod to a wonder? (@ least right now??)

 

[·Imhotep·]

If I'd known that Qwack will report today I could have played and reported tomorrow with ease . But be it as it may, I'll take things as they come . I wish paul a pleasant turnset .

Qwack, now that we have copper nearby I strongly recommend trying the Oracle path. Maybe we could even pick up a religion without having to build it, depending on what our opponents concentrate on. Skip in Animal Husbandry when it fits in .

LT

 

[pholkhero]

anybody elese have thoughts re: the oracle and religion??

to me, I'm thinking early and constant warfare, keeping mostly capitals (so CoL may be a priority for us ~ or take it w/oracle, depending on what we choose) and so, with that in mind, the oracle just doesn't make sense to me

 

[·Imhotep·]

@pholkhero:

I've not seen many happiness resources down the road so far. If it isn't altered when turning on Always War then War Weariness will kick in heavy some time. A religion may give us some well needed relief on that + some free border expansions and some shrine cash. We can go without if we finish our opponents off quick. But I don't see this happen - we still have the barbs to deal with and two Civs on our doorstep...

It's a tough decision - those hammers invested in the oracle are worth some soldiers and could be used and needed this way too.

LT

 

[pholkhero]

you're right about the WW, but, too, this is what makes it a tough call:

those hammers invested in the oracle are worth some soldiers and could be used and needed this way too.

 

[Qwack]

Oracle = 4 axeman or so. I think we want to take out napoleon really quickly, we arent at war with him yet, and it would be amazing if we can keep away from making contact until we have a army together. We should chop a worker and settler and get some axeman out ASAP. This is a important decision so ill wait for 1 more person to post thier opinion before I start playing. The biggest thing we can possibly do is take out napoleon before he gets his second culture advance(minimize our axeman losses), but that may be pushing it .

 

[·Imhotep·]

@pholkhero:

I said it would be one. But now we are only talking about research, and not of building it. I think we should leave the door open on getting the Oracle by reasearching the Code of Laws prereq techs. If we are fortunate we may have killed off one opponent and got some good military going so that we can afford to build the wonder. We can postpone the actual decision of building it when we have researched Priesthood, Pottery and Writing. It will not cost us much by doing so, I hope.

LT

Edit: I'd suggest then going Mysticism after the Wheel. Depending on what has occured meanwhile we maybe could pick up Polytheism or Monotheism, founding the appropriate religion with it. If they are FIDL before, then I'd suggest going Mysticism => Pottery (getting some cottages up) => Agriculture => Polytheism => Animal Husbandry (will be a cheap one due to research modifiers) => Priesthood => Writing. Thus we leave the door open on the Oracle and get the worker techs... may be ambitious though.

 

[Atlas]

Lurkers Comment

Hey guys, since your copper town is going to be on what will likely be your border for a long time, might I recommen building your copper city actually on the copper this will really help with it not getting disconnected (I know it is not ideal, but consider it), which on a pangea will spell the end of your game, unless London has iron.

Anyway sorry for the unsolicitied 2 cents

@Qwack- remember what happend last night in MP once chriseay's metal got disconnected. Good game by the way, I greatly enjoyed it.

 

[pholkhero]

Lurkers Comment

Hey guys, since your copper town is going to be on what will likely be your border for a long time, might I recommen building your copper city actually on the copper this will really help with it not getting disconnected (I know it is not ideal, but consider it), which on a pangea will spell the end of your game, unless London has iron.

Anyway sorry for the unsolicitied 2 cents

@Qwack- remember what happend last night in MP once chriseay's metal got disconnected. Good game by the way, I greatly enjoyed it.

I thought of that, but having two cities one tile off the coast...it seems so...wrong...

I read that write-up this morning, and, as I said, was BLOWN away by that move...sheesh...

 

[omni_paul]

If Nappy founds a religion that makes our decision REALLY easy. Conquer Paris and claim that we came up with it ourselves

Regardless, I think making Paris our fourth city is a great idea. I think we should leave the Oracle option available by researching the techs. That won't hinder us militarily, and at least gives us the chance to found our own religion somewhere along the line, whether by Oracle or not.

@Timon: As it happens with the timezones, if Qwack posts today, I can do my turns tonight and post tomorrow, which means that it'll work its way to you pretty quickly anyway

Righto then, stiff upper lip chaps and all that. For the Queen!

 

[Rex Tyrannus]

Guys, are we even remotely close to being ready for defending against two civs and going on the offensive? It might be a tad optimistic to think about capturing Paris.

Don't let me burst any bubbles, though. It'd sure be fun trying, but please consider homeland defense as well. This isn't like being at war with just one civ. In standard game, you can take the fight to the other guy and he turtles his forces.

Here, we take the fight to Nappy, and Kahn marches right down our throat. Even if we can keep Kahn at bay, let's be prepared to meet a third or forth civ too.

We need garrisoned archers in the homeland and quick strike pillage busters to keep us from starving.

Re: Coppertown. Yeah, it's on the border, but how many hammers and commerce do we lose by building on it. I'd not do it.

 

[pholkhero]

i was kidding (mostly) about taking Paris this first roster set, but I do think that Paris should be city4 for our empire...

also, if you are NOT at war w/a civ yet, do they still act like it's a normal game or are they all in 'war' mode already and are just waiting to find us...e.g., Nap doesn't know we're here, but is he building military jsut the same??