SGFN-06: Brits in Space

Literature sounds fine as research and should get us philosophy and more.
Well, perhaps we should have stuck with Philosophy after all, because researching Literature is going disappointingly slow.
And I rather would have sent a ship exploring the north of this pangaea, but we're up Map Making now, and building a galley is rather expensive, so also our exploration is slowing down a bit.
 
Hey Guys, have been Busy Lately.

I heard this game is going to be a hard nut. Give me a chance And I will Swat Hiawatha ( I do dislike him ;) )
 
I heard this game is going to be a hard nut. Give me a chance And I will Swat Hiawatha ( I do dislike him ;) )
Go ahead, but hey, things are not that bad here: I noticed we have 7 towns, so do Germany and Rome, Mongols have 8, so only Hiawatha is really outexpanding us. But he only got 1 extra town in during my set, I think he's got no space anymore, while we have.
I also believe there's a decent chance that Hiawatha doesn't have iron, and then things could look quite good.
 
Question about the northern settler: Are we planning to settle in place? I would suggest instead moving to the coast one square to the north. From there we will be able to pick up the whales after building a library, and it puts us on the coast and a bit better distributed. Also, I would suggest the southern settler head down to the dark blue dot from the previous dotmap to claim the horses. I think we should try to control whether or not Hiawatha is able to build his UU, at least for awhile. The next settler can go to light green.

Lit in 10 seems like expected progress. I wish it were faster, of course, but I think we got our money's worth with our gpt deal (which should end in five turns, so we'll probably be able to cut a few turns off the 10). Max run on Republic after Lit, correct?

I assume we will want to hook up the iron as soon as possible, and begin an early library or two, right? We may want to consider pre-building for a library or two as long as we aren't anticipating going to war soon.

Overseer is up next, is that right?
 
Northern settler is indeed not yet in place. Below is a picture with a few more suggested dots.
It would be nice if we could get southern settler to the horses, but we don't know what's happening in the fog there. Both Hiawatha and Julius have come past with a galley, Hiawatha first. We can be optimistic and think the barbs over there have gotten rid of the Iroquois settler pair, but it might be that they've just wounded them.
And then there's probably a Roman settler pair there as well.
We really don't know what's happening in our south, and should take care before sending a settler there. I sort of favor settling the deer forest first. If either an Iroquois or Roman settler has survived, we are likely to be beaten to the horses anyway. Maybe a next settler, better escorted than the present one, can take the chance.
Research: yes, max on Republic, I think.
Maybe building a galley in London next, before a library. We would love to meet civs east of the Iroquois, like the Sumerians.
 
Well, we can always move the settler SW to the mountain, then due S through the plains. If the horses are still open in 3 turns, we can sprint for them. If the AI beat us there, we won't have lost any time getting to the deer. And I would send two warriors with the settler.

I agree that we need a galley to explore the north coast. Perhaps we could build the galley in S-o-T (possibly even chop-aided), rather than in London? An early Library of London will help a lot with future research. I definitely agree that we need a galley one way or another, though.
 
Yes, I see you're right. First 3 steps for southern settler would be similar for both dots.
And Stockton on Tees would produce a galley a bit quicker chop aided.

Maybe Stockton on Tees could produce a library after. Perhaps London would aid science best if it continues to produce workers, being a granery town. Roads before libraries, me thinks.
It's gonna be very interesting to see what will happen in the next set.
 
I can do this after I finish CBob 4. If anyone is in a hurry, I could be skipped. If Rodent becommes available, he could go before me.
 
I don't think we need to be in a hurry and can wait for Overseer to get to the set. I was next in the order in any case, but I suppose we needn't be rigid in this either.

Nice turnset Optional and I like the plans so far as discussed so far. I agree London might not be the best place for a galley as it should still concentrate on settlers until we run out of land. I do agree getting a library there will be useful when we have a chance.

I am a bit concerned about our lack of workers and the number of unconnected towns we have so far. This will hamper our development in both growth and production imo. One solution we might consider is to build at least one worker at our unconnected towns to start tile development and add to our overall workforce. I would rather have a +2 food town reduced in size a bit for a short term rather than growing without having developed and developing tiles being worked by its citizens.

Also consider advancing units into the fog for barb control and planning of city sites rather than just using them as ecsorts. Often a path can revealed where a settler can proceed without escort, but making their safety is a priority if such a path cannot be found. It won't be long until barbs are under control either at our hands or with the help of the ai. The southern island revealed may also be a possibility for expansion before the need for war arises.
 
I agree that producing workers in the middle towns would be a good idea on a one-off basis. We need to get things kick-started. Plains require a big investment in worker-turns to be productive, and we have a lot of them to improve. We also don't have enough luxes to get really big towns without heavy use of the lux slider, so a dip in population won't be especially damaging.

I think we'll be able to leave out a few more pickets once we've developed a few more units and have a few more towns providing sight coverage. Right now we're still catching up a bit, but we should have the barbs basically under control by the end of the next set, I think. We do need to keep an eye out for a barb SoD, though. Someone should be hitting the Middle Ages pretty soon.

The turn order is up to Overseer. I'm cool with whatever. :) I just know it isn't my turn for a bit, which is good, since I'll be out of town this weekend. Good luck to whomever takes the set. :thumbsup:
 
One of the problems with more workers is to keep them safe with that annoying barb camp so close. We've had 6 sackings in my set and 4 attacks on units. 3 of which we lost, even though I always had my warriors on good defense terrain. So I was worried about how to protect them.
I actually built 4 of the 5 selfbuilt workers we have, but I was reluctant to send them ahead of settlers, and I also was reluctant to connect the incense, so close to the barbs.
So we really need some spears and archers, to have at least peace in our own territory.
 
Finished playing, stopped at turn 90, I think we can taper down to 10 turns now per turn-set. Uneventful turn-set, the big news is 2 barb villages destroyed and Literature researched and traded for maximum benefit. I got one demand, which I caved to. I assume thats the strategy until we get lots of Swords and Horses built. Did I mention that our Iron is hooked up, as is our Horses? Anyway, here is the turn-log:
Spoiler :

Pre-Flight: CivAssist 2, Word running. Open the save, look things over.

Civilian units:
Settlers 2
Workers 6

Military units:
Warriors 13
Curragh 1

Support:
Units: 22
Allowed: 24
Support cost: 0 gpt

Contacts7
Iroquois-Peace
Germans-Peace
Romans-Peace
Mongols-Peace

Research
Literature, 10 turns at +2gpt

Sliders
4/4/01, 4 gold, +2gpt

Press Enter=>

IBT: Iroquois send 2 settler pairs in.
Barb horse appears near our settler pair.
Nottingham Spearman=>Archer.
Sumerians finish the Oracle.

Turn 1, 1075 BC: Block the Iroquois off.
Send Spearman off to face barbarians.
Move Settler and 2 Warriors to orange spot.

IBT: Barb horse ignores tasty settler treat, heads inward.

Turn 2, 1050 BC: Newcastle on Tyne settled on orange dot.

IBT: Curragh survives a barb galley.
Hereford Warrior=>Worker.

Turn 3, 1025 BC: Cover workers at Incense with Spear.

IBT: Barb Horse kills warrior guarding Hereford without breaking a sweat.
Iroquois settle Tyendanaga equidistant between Horses, Deer, and Wheat.
Roman settler pair shows also.

Turn 4, 1000 BC: It takes 2 Warriors to kill the damn barb Horse.

IBT: Romans and Iroquois make peace.
Incense hooked up.
London Settler=>Settler.
York Settler=>Settler.
Hastings Barracks=>Archer.
Nottingham Archer=>Archer.

Turn 5, 975 BC: Begin racing Romans for dark blue.

IBT: Barb Horse threatens a worker.

Turn 6, 950 BC: Move a Spear to cover endangered worker.
Make contact with America, they are up Polytheism, Construction and Philosophy and have 9 cities and 237 gold.

IBT: Iroquois demand all 9 of our gold, I give in meekly.
We now have Literature! Using the big picture, I trade it for 180 gold and Philosophy to Mongols.
Trade Literature, Philosophy, and 160 gold to Germany for Construction.
Trade Literature to America for 140 gold.
Trade Literature and 130 gold to Rome for Polytheism.
Trade Literature to the Iroquois for Wines and 20 gold.
Set tech slider to 100%, Republic in 26 at -4gpt.

Turn 7, 925 BC: Liverpool settled near Horses, no Horses for Hiawatha.
Oxford settled SW of York.

IBT: We get the Forbidden Palace notification.
Hereford Worker=>Barracks.
Barb Horses harassing our workers.

Turn 8, 900 BC: Try to cover workers.

IBT: Iron is hooked up.

Turn 9, 875 BC: Nothing to report.

IBT: Goth horse gets 5 gold from empty Oxford.

Turn 10, 850 BC: Nothing to report.

IBT: Barb horse threatens Hereford.
Ravenna settled east of Liverpool.

Turn 11, 825 BC: Warrior doesn’t even scratch Barb horse. Scramble to protect exposed workers.

IBT: Barb horse kills Archer guarding Hereford, taking 1 population during the sack.
Hastings Sword=>Sword.
Mongols Build ToA.
Romans build Great Library.
Byzantines build Great Lighthouse.

Turn 12, 800 BC: Destroy barb village on Incense in our north.
Dover settled between Liverpool and Oxford.

IBT: York Settler=>Settler.
Nottingham Sword=>Sword.
Iroquois build Hanging Gardens.

Turn 13, 775 BC: Republic has been thoroughly traded around, reducing research time.

IBT: Aylesbury, Barracks=>Sword.
Sumerians finish Great Wall.

Turn 14, 750 BC: Destroy Goth village near Aylesbury.
This seems like a good time to stop.

Civilian units:
Settler 1
Workers 8

Military units:
Warriors 12
Archer 1
Spear 1
Swords 2

Support:
Units: 26
Allowed: 48
Support cost: 0 gpt

Contacts7
Iroquois-Peace
Romams-Peace
Germans-Peace
Mongols-Peace
America-Peace
Sumerians-Unmet
Byzantines –Unmet

Research
Republic, 11 turns at -5gpt.

Sliders
10/0/0, 78 gold, -5gpt


The save:
 
What's the Roster looking like?

I always love the smell of war, I will look into the save and get a War-plan set up.
 
Looks like a good set, Overseer. We definitely need to gear up for war at this point. Hiawatha doesn't have horses, but he does have iron, so it won't be a walkover. It would be nice to ally with Rome when we do finally make the push. Also, Hiawatha may well be able to get horses from elsewhere eventually, so we may not want to wait too long.

On the other hand, it's going to take at least a full set to accumulate a respectable attack force. It may be best to switch governments first and attack when our production is better. That's means we'd likely have to wait two sets to make war.

I'm thinking we're still very short of workers, as well. We have lots of needed improvements to make, and not much of a work force to make them. That argues in favor of delaying the war a few extra turns, as well.

The good news is that the barbs should be pretty much under control at this point. Hopefully the AI has taken care of that camp at the tip of the continent (or will soon), but even if not, that's really the last place nearby that we can't see.

I think we're doing OK so far. We aren't out of the woods completely, yet, but we're looking good.
 
Too soon for war, is what I'm thinking.

Why not try and settle the southern island? There's not much space on our peninsula anymore, and the AI won't settle there if we put a few units on strategic places. The block at Nottingham has probably become useless. Only the utmost southern tip of our peninsula, where the barb camp is, could be settled by the AI.

I would prioritize a galley. Oxford could make one soonest, and send off settlers to the other island. I would do that before settling the last nooks and crannies on our own peninsula, because we are in control of those already. No need to rush to them, but I do see a need to beat the AI to the other island.
I would have prioritized a galley chop at Stockton on Tees over connecting the iron. We're not gonna work that iron so soon, and horses would have done for a while.

Yes, I'll second the lack of workers. I have still made more workers than the rest of the team put together.
Every time someone asks in the forums how many workers you need you guys are saying 1.5 per town, and then when it comes to playing a game you're hardly building any? Why is this?
When in Republic, we will want to be working improved tiles, otherwise we will really feel the hurt.
 
I've been a bit busier than usual lately, but will take a closer look at this tomorrow and post a plan and make some comments. I should be able to complete my turn-set by wednesday at the latest.
 
Yes, I'll second the lack of workers. I have still made more workers than the rest of the team put together.
Every time someone asks in the forums how many workers you need you guys are saying 1.5 per town, and then when it comes to playing a game you're hardly building any? Why is this?

Well, in my particular case it is because I was barely able to defend the ones we already had. Now that we have the barbs contained, though, that shouldn't be much of an issue.

Frankly, though, I always have problems with making enough workers. :blush: It is a key weakness in my game, and I think it is one reason why I seldom play demigod.

So, in my case at least, point well-taken.
 
Just a little trick I forgot to mention: in case of approaching AI settler pairs, like at Nottingham, I believe it's best not to put up a permanent block. Instead, it's better to 'keep them dancing'; opening and closing the door for them, so that they continue to hop about, without settling anywhere.
You can't stop the AI from building lots of settlers, but to some extent you can control their movement and deny them space.
 
Well, its Friday now. Need a Skip my lord Prince ?
 
Sorry, I've been a bit busier than I thought and do deserve a bit of a spanking. I have the time to get to it today, though, in time for you to take your turn this weekend. I don't plan any major changes as this turn-set should just see us get republic which I think we should revolt to right away. I'll do what I can to get more workers and make sure no more barbs appear in our area as an uprising could come soon. I'll look to see if we can move some settlements to the southern island as Optional suggested, but don't know if this will happen this turn set. I think we do need to get a settlement near the plains game and wheat in the south near Tyendenaga before it gets a cultural expansion.
 
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