But don't we need more units for defense?
Immediately, no. Later, probably, and Broberg can handle itself with its production capability. The one unit by Broberg is likely a pillaging unit which is why I think moving the pike to the Iron is the prudent move. If they wanted to attack the city, you would have seen the catapult come along too. Besides with all of the bonuses I've pointed out I don't see the AI suiciding the city.
We already lost a longbow by Delhi. He took a cat and Lbow with him, but Gandhi will just build more.
I know. And I'm banking that he continues to build units to 1) shoot his economy down and 2) prevent him from building worthwhile infrastructure.
Our lone Lbow 2E of Dehli can't stop a settling party heading for the ivory region.
True, but he won't send out a settler even with an escort since the unit nearby would threaten the settler. It sounds stupid, but I've never seen the AI move a settler even with an escort to a tile adjacent to one of my own units.
And Bombay will eventually build enough Lbows to kill ours, even if fortified on forest hills.
Yea, probably. But that's what St. Pete is for, to replenish the longbows and pikes when he does crash them into us.
I'd feel a lot better if we had St Pete continue with the mace and had Moscow build a Lbow (3 turns) and then a mace (4 turns, maybe 3 once the workshops are set up). The Lbow can go to St Pete to garrison for happiness.
Here's the one thing we obviously differ on and I'd like your perspective on it. Why Maces? To me, they are useful for one of two things: 1) Promote up the city raider line, which we don't (and will likely never) need, or 2) Promote up the shock line for anti-melee units, which since Gandhi is metal-less is useless too. They're more expensive then their pikeman counterpart but the strength boost they get still wouldn't be enough to attack longbows, especially in forests where they'd first show up. It's kind of ironic really, before I was arguing for the more expensive unit, now it's you that wants it
No point in finishing the galley if it's just going to sit there so I'd do the land units first. If the barb galley heads straight for our south side Seaside seafood (
) it'll take 8 turns to get there and pillage. A caravel from Moscow could make it in 4 once built (3 turns); we can watch where the barb goes and build the caravel only if/when necessary. (I'd also build a caravel instead of a trireme--same odds vs galley, stronger base strength, and better movement.)
I'd finish the galley for two reasons: 1) We'll need it soon enough and 2) hammer depreciation over time. Caravel over trireme I can agree with. The barb galley isn't heading for our seafood. From what I recall, they have a 7 tile line of sight with regards to pillagable seafood tiles, and nothing we have falls into that LoS. Therefore, I think it's safe to say that right now it's not headed for any of our seafood tiles.
Are you sure Gandhi won't attack Broburg if he can pick on a pike on the iron? A ceasefire is a sure thing but rather drastic, so I guess you're right. We might get lucky with the pike. But if we lose, we won't have much time before he attacks Broberg, hence the need for more units ASAP. OK, building culture to save 1 turn on the border pop is probably worth it.
No, I'm not certain he attacks the pike over the city, but I'm giving the AI a better 'option' that he may go for. Besides, once the city is at pop 3 and working another grassland hill it'll have the hammer to pop longbows out in 3 - 4 turns depending on overflow. Broberg can take care of itself long-term.
I know it sux. But we've already sacrificed to box in Gandhi. We have to make that bet pay off, and we can by building just a couple more units before going for settler spam. I'm not sure the horses site should be our next city, but we need more time to take care of the barb galley to get to the silver island (since we need to spend some turns building more land units), so I guess that makes sense.
I really think Moscow has to get a move on with settler production. Land is power, and our workers are just about out of things to do. We've already set him back with the extra military he's made and still we have yet to actually capitalize on it. Plus the sooner we get the furs hooked up in the south the better for all of our cities. Here's what I propose to solve our difference in what Moscow should do. It ain't ideal, but I suppose it's a compromise.
Moscow: Finish Galley -> Caravel -> Settler (should be a pop 9 at this point, if not a longbow would be alright to get to that pop number) -> settler...settler...settler....
St. Pete: Longbows/Pikes. Probably longbows since they're cheaper.
Broberg: Culture -> Barracks -> units (*gasp* no workboats?) Yea, let seaside take care of itself.
Seaside: Workboat -> Library -> Workboat(s) depending on pop, happy cap, and available tiles to work. Library before the second workboat for the culture pop. Save the Engineer to rush a National Wonder to catch up on the slower growth since it won't be getting help from Broberg.
Horse City: Obviously a ways off, but here's my initial thoughts. Have a worker(s) mine one of the desert hills. Once settled, build culture to pop borders, then 2 workboats to get some food rolling. By this point the workers should have some cottages up and running that the pop can work as it grows. Bring back all of the workers outside our borders to set this up, including Slave01 which is asleep at this present time. Once the hill and 2 - 3 cottages are up (good for a pop 6 city), send one or two workers over to silver island to start road construction of the Iron and Silver. Unless there's any other resources that reveal themselves, I see no reason to go overboard here.
So we have the pros of Moscow continuing settler production and having both St. Pete and Broberg build military units. Those from Broberg would take care of Delhi and those from St. Pete take care of Bombay. The major con being our tech city doesn't get running as fast, which is really restricted anyway on happy cap and hammer potential to build the national wonders.
Some more micro: Send warrior 7 (on horses) to St. Pete, then swing the pike to the cows resource outside of Bombay.
This tile needs a unit. Bombay has got to be close to popping a settler at this point. This is usually around the time in my tests when he got one. Question: You haven't by any chance noticed when/how the garrison in Bombay has increased have you?
We can put 2 or 3 good cities out there--what are the implications for not having them hooked up to our capital other than lack of trade routes and no non-local resources?
That's it, and it's a fairly big issue too since happy caps are affected with the gold and ivory hook-ups. I'm not certain, but I think maintenance higher too since they aren't hooked up to the capital. At 40% though they should be hooked up though and it'll be at 40% long before we're out to settle that land. The cities themselves aren't going to be anything special. Any would lack any large food surplus and the land itself isn't too spiffy but I'll concede that I'd rather have it than Gandhi.
As for the barb unit, I looked up in the civilopedia if explorers count as melee units. They don't, in fact they have their own designation, so fortifying him on a forest or hill (same odds either way) and forcing the axe to attack us is a better move then wasting three turns to get the Knight out there then another 3 to bring him back. Send the Knight now back to the South of Bombay where he can lurk in case a settler escapes. Let the explorer handle the ax. In fact, stick him on the hill 2S of his location. Between Gandhi's borders and barb spawn rules it'll drastically reduce the number of tiles where barbs can spawn (to about 3 or 4 total) and only use one unit.
@Niklas - Every time I see you post I get all excited thinking you're going to post something insightful/helpful/useful. Then I read what you actually wrote and get all sadface. Stop doing that!
Alrighty then, here's my plan. 
.) I'd build maybe 3 trebs and 1 mace in St Pete/Moscow, and 1 treb in Broburg. Our WoodsII pike should probably move from NE of Delhi to 2N1W to head off any threat to Broburg. We could consider upgrading a warrior to a mace if desperate--we may not have enough units to head off a settler moving toward the coastal desert hill/ivory area. I'd keep sending the knight out west to take care of the barb axe--we'll need a strong unit down there to head off settlers in that direction, at least until we start besieging Gandhi's cities.
at Gandhi with the artist. With that in mind, I'm in agreement about rushing Sistine in St. Pete if it's still around. Fingers crossed on that I guess.
about Sistine Chapel. I lean toward settling the Eng but won't play beyond the turn we get him. Will probably play this afternoon or night.
