[Realism Invictus] Breaking into Emperor

[Nitrah]

Managed to close the browser window when I was just about done with the writeup. /flipdesk

Let's try this again

On turn 26, I got archery and selected metal lore next. Because my warrior scout that was S is very near the borders, I turn off research to upgrade him. I'll turn him into the garrison for my second city.

On turn 30, my scout is built. I send him off to the West. I start on a settler, which will take 34 turns. I promote my warrior to an archer, and turn research back on. Checking espionage, Mansa and Tokugawa are devoting almost all of their points on each other, only spending one each on me.

On turn 34, my warrior on Mansa's peninsula who had taken some nibbles from animals is healed up, and I find out that Mansa is boxed in. While I had hoped to leave him alive because he's such an amiable fellow with the open borders (and Tokugawa is _SO_ not), I'll probably have to kill him off before he decides to clear me out for Lebensraum.

Spoiler :

On turn 38, I find Alfonso X of Spain to the West with my scout. How Tokugawa missed him, I don't know. He's close, but not scary close. His territory between us does look ok. Hopefully, he'll start expansion in another direction first. I'm not sure whether he's generally friendly, etc. Haven't played against him very often. From looking at tile yields, it appears he has gold in his BFC and he's working it.

Spoiler :

On turn 42, I finish metal working.

Spoiler :

Copper is very near to my S/SW. As expected, Spain has gold. My woodsman warrior has finished exploring Mansa's peninsula so I turn off research to promote him as he rolls back through my borders.

On turn 46, I turn my research back on, and promote the woodsman warrior to an archer. Not sure if I should do another 4 turns to promote Athens' garrison. My power ratios are bad.

On turn 50, I stop. Mansa has moved a settler up, and is likely going to settle on the plains hill we were originally discussing.

Spoiler :

In the screenshot above, I have highlighted in blue the new site for my second city which will have copper and corn in the BFC. My plan is to settle it, and then work towards taking Mansa's second city from him. The white dotmaps are for potential future cities.

I'm not positive whether I should work on getting writing first (for OB and tech transfer) or just go straight for weaponsmithing.

Production plans are:

Athens - finish settler, then start on worker.
Second city (Sparta, I think) - storytelling circle, archer, archer, archer.

Thoughts?

 

[Noddahrassa]

I don't know whether you're still playing this game. Found this thread two weeks too late, it appears.

I think that the main problem you have is that by turn 50, you still have not built a worker and do not have a single improved tile. This is also why Mansa beat you to that wonderful dream city site in the east with the elephants and the corn.

My strategy in the beginning would have been:

Move the warrior 1 NE to show whether there is anything to gain by settling on the plains tile 1 N of the starting plot. As I wouldn't have seen anything, settling in place.

Since the capital has two animal resources, first step now is building a worker and researching Animal Husbandry. Never mind metal lore, just get some early tile improvements quickly. Meanwhile, the warrior roams about and checks the surroundings. In the beginning, there are only wild animals around and no barbs, so you can leave your city undefended. You should time the worker to be finished by the time your boundaries expand - if this takes longer than the worker, you can spend some turns on a second warrior before or after.

Improve the cows first (gives more hammers), the pigs after that if no metal resource pops up.

Next techs to research: Metal Lore and Woodworking. Build a mine if any metal is found in the BFC. Next is Archery, or maybe Stonecutting if the barbs are not too pressing. The first wave of primitives and savages can be held off with warriors, doubly so since ours start with 3 EPs. So probably Stonecutting first.

Meanwhile, the build order is two warriors after the worker and then a settler as soon as Athens is size 2. It should be out quickly with the cow and the pig (or possible metal) tiles improved. Found a second city in the place where your archers are standing in the last pic.

Next is building archers and researching the wheel to connect the cities. If stone pops up somewhere, even the Pyramids are possible. Else, founding third city near the copper in the south. Next tech after the Wheel is Storytelling.