SGOTM 11 - tao

[tao]

Roster:

Tone
tao
DBear
Furiey
Htadus (just played)​

How to abandon a city in a settler:

It is easy. The turn you reach 30 shields, you must not have a food surplus. Even a size 1 city can be abandoned in a settler this way!​

Map Making:

Russia gives map making, 21g for polytheism, math.​

 

[Htadus]

Sorry Tone I think Furiey is up next since we switched. Here is the roster.

Furiey (up next. It is 25th)
Tone
tao
DBear
Furiey
Htadus (just played)

 

[Furiey]

Sorry all, things have hit the fan last night and I'll be away another day, not getting back until late until tomorrow. As I've then got to catch up with everything it's best just to skip me this time and go with tao's schedule.

 

[tao]

As I've then got to catch up with everything it's best just to skip me this time ...

That was my thinking. Thank you for agreeing with it.

 

[tao]

Tone: Got it?

 

[Tone]

Sorry, yes!

I'm just finishing off something that I started the other day and then I'll post my thoughts.

 

[Tone]

I agree with the trade proposed by tao and the need for a harbour in Bapedi.

I'm not sure how we can abandon Hoblane at the moment as we need the unit upkeep. Can we place that on hold until we have a few more towns. In the meantime using it to produce workers seems fine IMO.

Town placement: Am I correct with that the settler is heading for the sheep? I've attached a 'shot with some additional sites but I'm really not happy with it. Wherever I place them, they become rather cramped if I place one on the lake and/or I settle on bgs. Can someone come up with a better suggestion?

Apart from producing settlers and warriors, I don't think that we have anything else to do at the moment. Let me know if I've forgotten anything.

I just hope that our two wars do not escalate.

 

[Htadus]

Tone, I was going to settle on the desert tile to NE of where you thought the location was at. Of course that has poor growth potential with out bringing water and the sheep will not be available untill expantion or the next city. I was hoping to use the city as a block and a lure.

 

[Tone]

...in which case can we hold back on this city. We already have one useless city; I see no benefit in creating a second city with poor food. I shall go south with that settler unless I am convinced to do otherwise.

 

[tao]

I'm not sure how we can abandon Hoblane at the moment as we need the unit upkeep. Can we place that on hold until we have a few more towns. In the meantime using it to produce workers seems fine IMO.

We would not abandon it, but "abandon it in a settler" and the settler would within 5(?) turns found a better city. But since we have to have 30 shields for the settler, it would take some time in any case.

 

[Tone]

We also need enough food there.

 

[Htadus]

@ tone. I am OK with that. But the distance from the Cap still matters. Lets not go beyond d=8. Otherwise it become a useless city. Also lets not settle on a BG if possible. There are several grass tiles we can use.

We also need to think about barb uprising and being able to defend our cities from any attckers via the land bridge. so at least be need to leave some one to defend the site. We need to build a road to the choke point to get our swords or archers there fast.

 

[tao]

We also need enough food there.

I always like to quote myself:

How to abandon a city in a settler:
It is easy. The turn you reach 30 shields, you must not have a food surplus. Even a size 1 city can be abandoned in a settler this way!

 

[Tone]

Wow! I just tried it on an old save and it worked (size 2 town). I always thought that it had to reach size 3 so I didn't read that part thoroughly. In that case, I think that we should do it once we get another worker from it, as I would imagine that production will increase once that grass is mined.

Any improved suggestions on the town placement BTW?

 

[tao]

Any improved suggestions on the town placement BTW?

I would go for the southern forrest near the oysters soon, as that solves the southern barb problem.

I would settle the hill S of the northern desert sheep (?), because IMHO once AIs have map making, they will settle on the plains NW of the iron and we don't want that.

Settling at the eastern lake allows growth beyond pop 6 without aqueduct (free upkeep); 2 cities there, I suggest.

PS: Once we need iron the first time, I would just colononize it. With 2 granaries, we can replace the worker fast.

 

[Tone]

I would go for the southern forrest near the oysters soon, as that solves the southern barb problem.

This means that the forest 2S of Isand... will never be used

Settling at the eastern lake allows growth beyond pop 6 without aqueduct (free upkeep); 2 cities there, I suggest.

yes I understand that, but can you give me a concrete suggestion such as a dot map? It is very difficult to do what you suggest without settling on BGs and/or settling one tile away from the coast. Addiionally we need the space for our cities to grow otherwise fresh water is pretty useless. Also we are not building any culture in the near future and so it would be good to be able to use the tiles in our core straight away.

I'd like to see a dot map that we can aim for longer term. Here is my 2nd suggestion. Improvements welcome, or if you are keen for me to play my turns now I'll just do what I think is right.

 

[tao]

What about these locations:

Down south: New5 1 tile NW; additional city 2S of Isandhlawana.

Then southeast: New2 1 tileSW; additional city N of horses.

 

[Htadus]

Down south: New5 1 tile NW; additional city 2S of Isandhlawana.

I would leave New5 the same location if we plan to build a duct. That way we can get it to have 10 usable shields for 7 turn Knights. W/o ducts we should do the 2 cities as you suggested. Building on the tile 1 NW would be distance 7. Hence less corruption.

Then southeast: New2 1 tileSW; additional city N of horses.

New2 will have less corruption as it is. But moving will give us two cities with distance 8. Yes the rank corruption will be increasing.

By the way I am quite certain that a palace jump will occure soon as possible. So we should build at least 1 culture building at a suitable location to cover all those useless tiles.

 

[Tone]

Down south: New5 1 tile NW; additional city 2S of Isandhlawana.

that doesn't give each city much grassland but if you still think that it's a good idea I'll go with it.

Then southeast: New2 1 tileSW; additional city N of horses.

Yes, I like this. If we do this though, we really must think about border expansion to claim the area between the line of three and Ulundi. Temple or wait for the Forbidden Palace? Ulundi seems to be the obvious place and would give the sheep to site 1 when both 1 and 7 are built.

Attached map with tao's suggestions. The settler in the south can go to postion 7 and then new settlers in my turns can head for oysters (5) and iron (6) I guess. Are we all OK with this? I'm ready to play tonight but we did talk before about making important decisions as a team so I can wait until tomorrow if needs be.

 

[DBear]

I don't have too much problem with the map, but I would like NewCity1 to be n of the sheep, why move into the desert? I also approve of developing the SE. Ulundi should get some culture so it can use more BG and develop, Isandhlwana needs to expand so it can get the iron. NewCity5 is fine. Not sure about the north. Probably a city on the n shore of the lake.