Shadow Game for an Old Dude

[lymond]

Well, that is odd, but not totally unusual that AI changes their plan. They usually settle on those "blue circles" you see when your settler is selected. I'm suspecting he might just settle on the copper. That would give him copper in that city but without road, Dam won't have access. (he has no road there yet, as I move scout 1SE). If he moves a tile away from copper he would need road and mine before access - that copper is not on a river.

I would move N warrior eastward for possible choke position near copper - stand on forest(if he does not settle on it) Scout can move a bit W for busting in his place.

Yes, move move move that army toward Dam. Move stack 2E, then attack the turn after moving 1NE + 1NE to be next to city.

By the way, do you turn off workers working tiles automatically?

I assume you are referring to Citizens. Cities default with City Automation ON (button just below and right of Whip button in city screen). I usually don't change that since I hard select tiles in a city - often microing that as well. I did notice you were not working the silk tile in that last iteration and meant to comment, but that was not changed at all in this iteration. New citizens from growth will be managed by Governor based on like you mention what the city thinks it needs, but usually best tile available. I always manage the city at each growth point anyway.

So the point is, you can turn off Citizen Automation, but either way I would manage the citizens yourself regardless. (Honestly, I manage cities and citizens every turn, especially early game. Governors can do some odd things at times) But myself, I still keep the Citizen Automation ON, or rather I just ignore it.

post edited some due to stupid typos

edit: I meant to explain that "hard select" a citizen on a tile should not ever be changed by the governor unless you later toggle the buttons for whatever reason.

ugh..getting late for me..i'm like typo every other word

 

[OldDude]

Yes I meant Citizens. I did make that change to work the silk tile but the ole Gov changed away from it apparently. Note to self, check this every turn!

OK, I took out Dam. Willie had 2 archers in there so I lost 2 axes. I chose to keep the city and for a lack of knowing the best choice, started a build for a monument. Please advise on that.

Willie was building a road to the copper so we got to him just in time. I think he only has 2 warriors in that new city but I need to get up there before he gets that copper mined, correct?

The settler build in the capital finished so I started the Library...right choice? This turn isn't over yet so I haven't moved that settler yet. Furs to the SW? That would give me Horses. I should revolt to slavery when he's on the move?

What about my second city...keep building axes or go for Granary and/or Library? Workers? In capital should I start on cottages? I need to connect Dam to my cap too, is that a priority?

Whew! I'll hold for further advise, and thanks again!

Spoiler Amsterdam is Mine :

 

[lymond]

1) slavery immediately..ha forgot you still were not in it. two cities benefit now from the no anarchy..fur city and Dam (it is in revolt anywa)

2) Don't like Willie's copper spot. In past test when he settled sheep I ceasefired with him and then attack when sheep city grew to size 2 (so not auto raze)

3) Utrecht or whatever it is we can raze, so next turn move 4 axes - more than enough - up road toward that city until it is dead (he probably started archer immediately but can't whip it..I don't think it will finish either) So kill that city in two turns

4) His worker will try start improving that copper but it is in no way a factor cause you will scare him off anyway. Imperative that you catch the worker. Hopefully it just moves into city but it may move west.

5) Keep warrior right where it is for now..scares worker from moving to those tiles. Move scout 1SE for now..he is 2 moves, so he can move 1t in and back to get a bit of view of W side of city (thinking here is tracking where that worker moves to..we want free worker)

idea here is ultimately that worker ends up in the city when you capture it

6) Not quite time for Lib. We need another worker in Pers. Lots of overflow in Pers right now (check production bar). 3t worker that I would just slow build

7) CUrrent Pers worker moves to horses to improve for faster Monument in new city (Susa?)

8) Look at all that conquer gold...always helpful to keep teching....Maths>Fish>Sailing>Masonry (I have an eye on that nice stone tile up N eventually)

9) Warrior S of Dam can move 2S (unfog coast) then back 1N and stay

10) Parg - Granary after axe (so many axes! ha)........improving deer now was good

11) Axe 1SW of DAm can just move in next turn on stay there

12) Axe E of Pers can probably just start heading N to bust allowing Scout to move up some to discover stuff

And OH Yeah..DAm is a fantastic city. too bad no free granary...Mon is fine first I guess since big food on 2nd tier, but could go gran>library>monument. Hopefully have capture worker to chop there. Yep, lets do Mon there.

Well, I'm out. I'm a right coaster. I would not play much further....maybe until Willie is dead, but up to you.

edit: Library can be 3 popped whipped with 1t of build after new worker finishes. LIbrary OF can go into new Settler, that new worker helps finish with chop 1W of city. But Pers will run 2 scientists as soon as it can. It will be size 3 at first, so run 1, take OF into settler for a turn, then grow to 4 for a bit on Granary placeholder, run 2nd scientist. Back to settler >chop> finish. This settler for other fish spot.

PArg starts settler at size two..worker I think has another forest to chop near Parg (make sure Parg "owns" forest tile ...chop goes to city that "owns" the tile currently, when cities share overlapped tiles (little something good to note)

 

[OldDude]

OK, followed all of that. Destroyed that other city and got the worker in the process. My worker in my cap finished so I started to build another one.

Just so I know, could you describe why it was/is too early for a Library?

Now that Willie is out of the way, is time to expand some more?

Thanks.

Spoiler Willie is no more :

 

[lymond]

Ok last second iphone peak before crashing. I or someone will go into stuff tomorrow. But I will say that it is not too early for Lib in any timing sense. Just more important for new quick worker.

As I mentioned above you can start Lib now and 3pop next turn into settler. See my plan again


Nights

Edit: yes...and more expansion is in the cards. No more 4 cities games for you


Edit 2: reminder to start mapping out some cities tomorrow

 

[OldDude]

Ok last second iphone peak before crashing. I or someone will go into stuff tomorrow. But I will say that it is not too early for Lib in any timing sense. Just more important for new quick worker.

As I mentioned above you can start Lib now and 3pop next turn into settler. See my plan again


Nights

Edit: yes...and more expansion is in the cards. No more 4 cities games for you


Edit 2: reminder to start mapping out some cities tomorrow

Lib timing, got it. Thanks.

OK, Mon and Granary built in Amsterdam, I 2 pop whipped the Granary. Building Lib now and should probably chop that? Should I finish road to Pers for trade route now or should it wait?

Settler 1t away in Pers after chop. Thought I'd build a couple of cottages along river with other worker.

Horses hooked up.

Math is in, 1t for Fishing since I'll be needing that soon. Next?

Charles just built a city on my Dam border.

I mapped out a few new city locations, so please let me know what you think.

Holding for now...

Spoiler Expansion? :

 

[krikav]

The sheepcity is ok, the fishcity north of capital is also ok.
Allthough I would probably place the fish-city 1S of your marking, can you figure out why I would want to do this?

The plains hill east of your current coppercity is awful, it doesn't have any food. That spot can be settled 1500AD if ever.
The city north of amsterdam, I would rather like settling it so that it could share the corn with amsterdam. NW of the lake I like alot since it gains two floodplains and will also eventually be able to work the banana.

Can you elaborate alot on why you specify the PH close to the fur and silk as a possible city spot? I think this can be a good oppertunity to learn, because if you settle alot of cities that look anything like it, I think we have found a major clue to your poor results previously.

 

[lymond]

Allthough I would probably place the fish-city 1S of your marking, can you figure out why I would want to do this?

very good question

Yep, city marked on that PH near fur is of no consequence. I think there are whales below the furs and who knows if something else in the fog, but maybe at some point a city on the furs is warranted, but not a priority by any means.

NW of lake near copper looks good.

Amsterdam is almost a better cap than Pers, although Pers has silk and wine eventually. Amsterdam probably the best potential GP farm city present.

Love settling on that Stone soon for Mids. Good spot...gems and sugar eventually. Basically a resource town, but will have food potential as well.

Move warrior N of that sheep 1S and then back 1N to stay. Idea is to remove fog for any possible resource and to open the coast up for trade routes.

Settle priority:

1-Fish
2-Sheep
3-Copper
4-Stone

Move axe up N toward Stone to stand..maybe just E of there, and start pushing Scout out now. Kinda odd that more AIs have not been met yet...given you are on South side of the world (tundra at bottom), more AIs gotta be N and E somewhere.

OH...and Pers should switch from Silk to that completed cottaged so it can grow. Cottages only grow while worked by a citizen.

Susa can take the silk tile now + horse, and start a WB next turn after FISH arrives. Worker N of Susa can move to start chop next to Susa for WB.

I think road from Dam is unnecessary. You will have Sailing soon, so pretty sure Dam will be linked up via river to sea. Worker should be chopping around Dam. Continue growth on Lib in Dam but use chops for a new settler there. (might as well complete road on tile worker is on so he can move freely afterwards to forest inside borders to start chopping)

Note: Not sure if you are aware, but Maths boosts chops. You now get 30H from chops instead of 20.

After cottage finishes, Pers worker can improve Pigs now then go back to cottaging.

 

[OldDude]

Thanks for the feedback krikay!

Allthough I would probably place the fish-city 1S of your marking, can you figure out why I would want to do this?

OK, let me see if I get this right. One reason might be that settling there would give me 2 forest tiles instead of 1. Another reason might be that I'd only have 1 non-workable mountain tile instead of 2. Another reason might be that this city could work the capital cottages as well. That last point I've read a little bit about but don't yet understand the concept of how that is a benefit.

The plains hill east of your current coppercity is awful, it doesn't have any food. That spot can be settled 1500AD if ever.
The city north of amsterdam, I would rather like settling it so that it could share the corn with amsterdam. NW of the lake I like alot since it gains two floodplains and will also eventually be able to work the banana.

Got it. That sharing concept, like mentioned above, is something I need to understand.

Can you elaborate alot on why you specify the PH close to the fur and silk as a possible city spot? I think this can be a good oppertunity to learn, because if you settle alot of cities that look anything like it, I think we have found a major clue to your poor results previously.

My thinking there is that it's a PH, with access to extra silk and furs. I was thinking those could be good for trading. But you're right, no food. And yes, I have settled those types of cities MANY times in my history, LOL.

In lieu of that spot, should there be a city somewhere in between DAM and Pers? There's a lot of open tiles there but absolutely no specials or food.

Thanks again.

 

[lymond]

Another reason might be that this city could work the capital cottages as well. That last point I've read a little bit about but don't yet understand the concept of how that is a benefit.

And this, my friend, is the sole reason and I"m sure the reason krikav was referring to. That fish city primary resource is Fish, a tile that will take some time to get up (border pop, WB from Susa eventually). Regardless of that, there is no point settling further N, when Fish city is what we call a "helper city". It can help grow cottages for the capital. Cottage need to always be worked to continue there advancement to better commerce (hamlet, village, town). The more you can keep those cottages worked the better off you will be financially. And in the case of the Capital, you are growing cottages for the power of BUreaucracy after Civil Service. It's very helpful early too when the Cap may still be tied up with other things like builds, growth and happy cap.

This concept will revolutionize your game. And like the other city krikav mention NW of Dam, a bit of tile sharing initial can help that city grow some before eventually getting bananas, which are still quite a ways away with need of IW and Calendar. Dam will ultimately make use of the corn in the long run, but short term this tile sharing is helpful for overlapped cities to share strong tiles as needed.

I believe I've already explained how to switch tiles, or actually you may have already known that.

My thinking there is that it's a PH, with access to extra silk and furs. I was thinking those could be good for trading. But you're right, no food. And yes, I have settled those types of cities MANY times in my history, LOL.

Problem is without food that spot is not in any way a priority or will ever be settled. Maybe on the furs later. But think about what a city brings to the table. Again, food is always the most important thing or strat resources. However, I would mention that sometimes you settle a city that I call a "resource city", i.e., something that grabs a lot of useful resources at once in lieu of food. Stone city is kinda of one, although it will eventually be a pretty solid city overall. A better example is those maps where you have like 5 furs and a couple of silver sitting up above or below you in very tundra spot. Again, those cities usually are not a priority but may eventually be settled for the sole purpose of those resources. (So ..yeah...your logic on resources themselves is not entirely wrong - like for trade or internal happiness, but first priority is setting strong city that benefit your empire immediately.

In lieu of that spot, should there be a city somewhere in between DAM and Pers? There's a lot of open tiles there but absolutely no specials or food.

I had my eye on that. Quite a bit of open land and river and grass. Might settle there eventually. The area should be locked in so there is no urgency. Certainly not a bad idea, but certainly not a priority. Sheep, Stone, and Copper/banana cities should lock in your empire.

edit: and it should be noted that the silk E of Pers is already in your borders

 

[krikav]

Well done reasoning around the fishcity OldDude!
Yes the primary reason is the capacity to help work cottages, this is very important.
In the early game the capital can work just a few cottages, but once you reach civil service you will have much higher happy-cap and you will want to work many more tiles. If you by then only have 3-4 cottages that have matured, you are missing out alot of benefit.
I do like that you bring up the minor points of saving a forest though, allthough not significant, that also is a small factor, if you settle a forest before chopping it, you could lose a few hammers.
Also, given a choice, it's allways better to settle on worse tiles. And that means settling deserts before plains, plains before grassland and grassland before floodplains... etc.
A minor point is also that closer the capital, the less maintenence you pay, here the difference is just one tile so allmost neglectable.

A city site between the capital and Amsterdam... I think I would start looking at the spots where such a city could reach the capitals wheat, 2E of wheat looks ok.
But such "holes" in my culture I seldom pay much attention to. I call them "filler cities" such that you can settle when all contested area and all sites of higher priority are done.
And IF some hapless AI does decide to settle such places, they most often end up gifting the city to you because of culture pressure.

 

[OldDude]

very good question

Yep, city marked on that PH near fur is of no consequence. I think there are whales below the furs and who knows if something else in the fog, but maybe at some point a city on the furs is warranted, but not a priority by any means.

NW of lake near copper looks good.

Amsterdam is almost a better cap than Pers, although Pers has silk and wine eventually. Amsterdam probably the best potential GP farm city present.

Love settling on that Stone soon for Mids. Good spot...gems and sugar eventually. Basically a resource town, but will have food potential as well.

Move warrior N of that sheep 1S and then back 1N to stay. Idea is to remove fog for any possible resource and to open the coast up for trade routes.

Settle priority:

1-Fish
2-Sheep
3-Copper
4-Stone

Move axe up N toward Stone to stand..maybe just E of there, and start pushing Scout out now. Kinda odd that more AIs have not been met yet...given you are on South side of the world (tundra at bottom), more AIs gotta be N and E somewhere.

OH...and Pers should switch from Silk to that completed cottaged so it can grow. Cottages only grow while worked by a citizen.

Susa can take the silk tile now + horse, and start a WB next turn after FISH arrives. Worker N of Susa can move to start chop next to Susa for WB.

Awesome stuff lymond. I'll do this when I can get back to it.

I think road from Dam is unnecessary. You will have Sailing soon, so pretty sure Dam will be linked up via river to sea. Worker should be chopping around Dam. Continue growth on Lib in Dam but use chops for a new settler there. (might as well complete road on tile worker is on so he can move freely afterwards to forest inside borders to start chopping)

I didn't realize you could get a trade route that way.

Note: Not sure if you are aware, but Maths boosts chops. You now get 30H from chops instead of 20.

Nope, did not know that either!

After cottage finishes, Pers worker can improve Pigs now then go back to cottaging.

OK, so are you saying build the pasture on the pigs, over the mine now?

Should I go to Sailing after Fishing is done?

What is Mids?

Are you suggesting (once I get there) to settle ON the stone? If so, why?

Thanks!

 

[lymond]

I didn't realize you could get a trade route that way.

Yep..Dam links to river via road already placed and river goes out to sea.

OK, so are you saying build the pasture on the pigs, over the mine now?

Well, finish the cottage that I think worker is doing now. The 2nd worker will move on road to chop forest near Susa for WB

Should I go to Sailing after Fishing is done?

Yep..FISH>Sailing>Masonry...then we'll decide afterwards, but probably Alpha>Currency (a very important tech)

What is Mids?

Pyramids...a powerful early wonder, albeit expensive. Stone will make it cheaper. On this level you should have time to build it somewhere.

Are you suggesting (once I get there) to settle ON the stone? If so, why?

Well, first off, plains hill stone is a great tile to settle on. It is base 3H tile, so when you settle on it you get +2H in center tile. Ofc, I would still survey the surrounding land for where best to settle, but in this case settling on stone works well. It will give you instant access to stone (once Masonry is in). The city will be moderately productive anyway due to settling on the the stone. Eventually good land and resources around it.

Amsterdam...after that worker completes road, move to forest on road 1NW of DAm and put 1t into a chop. Then worker should sweep up to the forest 1SW of copper and chop it. The worker completes road 1S of copper (for later city connection there). Then moves to finish chop next to city.

Dam will continue to grow on Library, but each chop will go into a new settler...so switch to settler take a chop, back to Lib to grow

Oh..ha..and open borders with Chuck. We forgot to discuss that after Writing finished.

 

[OldDude]

Yep..Dam links to river via road already placed and river goes out to sea.



Well, finish the cottage that I think worker is doing now. The 2nd worker will move on road to chop forest near Susa for WB



Yep..FISH>Sailing>Masonry...then we'll decide afterwards, but probably Alpha>Currency (a very important tech)



Pyramids...a powerful early wonder, albeit expensive. Stone will make it cheaper. On this level you should have time to build it somewhere.



Well, first off, plains hill stone is a great tile to settle on. It is base 3H tile, so when you settle on it you get +2H in center tile. Ofc, I would still survey the surrounding land for where best to settle, but in this case settling on stone works well. It will give you instant access to stone (once Masonry is in). The city will be moderately productive anyway due to settling on the the stone. Eventually good land and resources around it.

Amsterdam...after that worker completes road, move to forest on road 1NW of DAm and put 1t into a chop. Then worker should sweep up to the forest 1SW of copper and chop it. The worker completes road 1S of copper (for later city connection there). Then moves to finish chop next to city.

Dam will continue to grow on Library, but each chop will go into a new settler...so switch to settler take a chop, back to Lib to grow

Oh..ha..and open borders with Chuck. We forgot to discuss that after Writing finished.

OK here is my current position. I've got all of those cities with the exception of the stone city founded. However a settler is on his way to the stone tile. I've got a worker for every city.

Pers, Pars, and DAM I've got building Immortals. Granaries and Libs are all built in those cities so there's nothing left to build except barracks but I'm learning those aren't really worth it, although I used to build them in every city, right after granary!

Susa has already built 2 WB with one on it's way to the N fish city. Worker is chopping Lib.

Stone city will have dye, sugar, and gems as well.

I was teching Alpha but switched to Masonry after seeing your latest post.

Yes, open borders. I meant to ask you about that. I will usually say no at first because I heard at some point that the AI will use that to scout your cities to get your military strength and use that to plan attacks. True? What are your thoughts on open borders?

Let me know if I've gone too far and/or made some mistakes I should roll back. Otherwise I'll hold here until further advice.

Thanks!

Spoiler Current :

 

[OldDude]

Well done reasoning around the fishcity OldDude!
Yes the primary reason is the capacity to help work cottages, this is very important.
In the early game the capital can work just a few cottages, but once you reach civil service you will have much higher happy-cap and you will want to work many more tiles. If you by then only have 3-4 cottages that have matured, you are missing out alot of benefit.
I do like that you bring up the minor points of saving a forest though, allthough not significant, that also is a small factor, if you settle a forest before chopping it, you could lose a few hammers.
Also, given a choice, it's allways better to settle on worse tiles. And that means settling deserts before plains, plains before grassland and grassland before floodplains... etc.
A minor point is also that closer the capital, the less maintenence you pay, here the difference is just one tile so allmost neglectable.

A city site between the capital and Amsterdam... I think I would start looking at the spots where such a city could reach the capitals wheat, 2E of wheat looks ok.
But such "holes" in my culture I seldom pay much attention to. I call them "filler cities" such that you can settle when all contested area and all sites of higher priority are done.
And IF some hapless AI does decide to settle such places, they most often end up gifting the city to you because of culture pressure.

Thanks kirkay!

I do get that concept now so that is very helpful. Good info on the point about "settle on worse tiles." Never really considered that either. So much info!

 

[lymond]

Hey OD - We'll there really is a lot wrong right now...not that you have not made good progress so far.

It's late though so I have to off to bed. But I will leave you with a couple of thoughts, actions:

1) Yes, for now, always open borders as soon as you get Writing. You still have not done so. This plays a bit to what I'm about to say next, but OB right now with Chuck and Hammy and tell me what happens (hint: look at beakers and look at cities - before and after OB)

2) In addition, given I can't analyze things due to bedtime, I'd ask you to take the time right now to analyze the game yourself. Critique it yourself, and list for me all the things that you think could be wrong including Immortals and what happened to Persopolis (size and scientists)

I would do this for now and not continue. Probably better to repeat turnset.

On a positive note, Ectabana is doing exactly what it should be doing right now.

And really, it's not like we can plan out every little move for you, so you have had to make many decisions on your own, and still learning a lot. All this just reinforces what you have learned. Shortening turnsets would be beneficial.

 

[krikav]

Yes, looking at the save I see alot of progress, but also a few extreme blunders.
Someone mentioned a checklist for you to follow, and in that checklist you had "cycle through your cities", do that and see if you can spot some errors.

Lymond might have other things in mind, but I see at least 3 things that stand out.
Do try to spot them yourself first, before you look in this spoiler:

Spoiler :

1. Susa is not working the fish!! This is probably a consequence of citizen automation turned of. Best is allways to check all cities every single turn and see if the govenor is doing something crazy, but the safest approach is to keep the automation on most of the time and only turn it off if you have some reason. That way mistakes are at least less costly.
But really, you should pay attention to the checklist and cycle through cities for maximum learning experience.

2. Amsterdam is unhappy and is growing into even more unhappiness, while Gordium is almost stagnant. Swing that corn over to Gordium, this corn sharing was a major idea of settling that spot.
3pop whip a settler in amsterdam to deal with the overpopulation.

3. Tarsus is building a monument, it doesn't need one (or it could be good with a monument eventually, to protect that floodplain from culture pressure from vienna, but really a granary should take priority.

4. Persepolis seem to have been whipped, the timing was probably off since persepolis is just 5 turns from producing a great scientist. Now half a bar of great-people-points (GPP) is sitting stagnant.

5. You are paying unit supply because you have too many units outside of your cultural borders. Alot of units are standing just outside the cultural borders for no apparant reason. Move at least one of them inside and gain a gold per turn.

And really, you are doing great, keep up the good work!

 

[OldDude]

Hey OD - We'll there really is a lot wrong right now...not that you have not made good progress so far.

LOL. I thought there might be.

It's late though so I have to off to bed. But I will leave you with a couple of thoughts, actions:

1) Yes, for now, always open borders as soon as you get Writing. You still have not done so. This plays a bit to what I'm about to say next, but OB right now with Chuck and Hammy and tell me what happens (hint: look at beakers and look at cities - before and after OB)

2) In addition, given I can't analyze things due to bedtime, I'd ask you to take the time right now to analyze the game yourself. Critique it yourself, and list for me all the things that you think could be wrong including Immortals and what happened to Persopolis (size and scientists)

I would do this for now and not continue. Probably better to repeat turnset.

On a positive note, Ectabana is doing exactly what it should be doing right now.

And really, it's not like we can plan out every little move for you, so you have had to make many decisions on your own, and still learning a lot. All this just reinforces what you have learned. Shortening turnsets would be beneficial.

OK, looking everything over...

-I probably shouldn't be building monuments in those 2 new cities - old habit to get border pops going. Granaries instead?
-In Pers, it looks like I lost my scientists to the whip and didn't put them back afterwards. Gotta keep looking at my cities every turn!
-Maybe I should be building more settlers instead of immortals? I thought of that but then what about costs? I have very few cottages and I didn't think my economy could handle more cities right now.
-So OB gives you foreign trade routes, correct? I went a couple more turns to see the effect and honestly I didn't see any difference. Maybe I looked in the wrong places.

I'm going to roll the game back to the last save.

Thanks!

 

[Fippy]

Foreign trade route, notice it's the color of Charlie and not blue (yours) anymore

Spoiler :

Financial stuff

Spoiler :

I kept my mouse on "unit supply", you are paying 1g/turn for some standing outside your cultural borders.
And another gold for total units amount, # of free ones increases with population (all your cities combined).

So overall, not much..Noble is generous
Making +17g at 0% means you could still afford a couple cities, even with not many cottages.
Mainly mentioning that so you can lose some "fear" of the slider and gold in general.

Slider example for currency, 7 turns at 100%

Spoiler :

 

[lymond]

Great stuff from krikav and My.

krikav touched on a few major points, you did touch on a couple, but I'll add my thoughts:

1) I don't think I or anyone had yet explain this, but your cap - Persepolis - very early is responsible for at least the first couple of settlers and workers. So the cap will be whipped a bit initially. Then its responsibility is to build that Library and get up a couple of scientists to produce that first GS, which is generally used for an academy in your cap. An academy significantly increases your research and pays off all game. (cap is usually where you place it because ideally the cap will be suitable for and setup up for Bureaucracy, which greatly boosts the commerce from all the growing cottages)

-So, to point, the cap is generally the major producer of beakers for much of the game. At some point like around the time of your last save, it is time for the cap to focus on growth and let the other cities in your empire take the brunt of any whipping needs. I mean that is a major benefit of having the nicely growing empire you do have now, and still growing.

2) Again, you need a bit more focus on city micro - checking what tiles are worked and making sure cities are working best tiles. You will even get more nuanced at this as you gain experience like timing whips and adjusting tiles to max overflow. So, to point, cities like Susa and Parg are working bad tiles. Susa not working fish all this time was really bad. Parg is working two grass tiles when silk was available.

Now Parg, is an interesting example of a relatively low food/high production site. Great city for settler production, and I'd probably have it doing that and maybe more workers. With deer, copper, silk and that mined PH, and IMP trait, you have setup for pretty fast settlers.

3) Yeah - Dam grew into unhappiness, so that is another thing to be mindful of. Now growing into unhappy is not necessarily bad if you plan on actually using that citizen for a good whipping...unhappy citizen is still the same 30H whipped. On the other hand you can manage unhappy by either adjusting tiles are queuing up a worker or settler to stall growth. Right now, krikav's idea of whipping a settler is good, although you likely will replay this turnset anyway.

4) Dam is probably a good place to chop out Pyramids once stone is settled.

5) Lastly, open borders allows for those juicy foreign trade routes. My did a great job of pointing this out above. Trade routes are very important. Think of them like cottage inside your cities bringing you extra commerce. Internal trade routes are important, ofc, and what you have until you get foreign trade routes connected, which are essentially double the commerce. Trade routes commerce will grow as well as cities grow, and overseas trade routes - cities on other land masses or islands - are even more lucrative.

We have not touched on diplomacy much yet. For one, up to this point you had not met many AI and..well..one we knew would be toast. Generally rule for now is to open borders with everyone the second you get Writing. Not only does this open potential for foreign trade routes (connection from a road or coastal via Sailing) but OB over time gives a diplo boost. Otherwise, diplo is a bit of a complex concept that takes time to learn, so I'll not overwhelm you yet with that discussion. I will say that there are times that you may be judicious about who you OB with, but that is about the relations between AI and AI. (it has nothing to do with this whole scouting your empire thing)

Lastly, I do want to explain an important concept that is often confusing for players. The icon on maps represents commerce. You get commerce from cottages, trade routes and special resources like gold, gems,and most calendar type resources. Commerce is not gold . That first and foremost is often a major point of confusion especially, I guess, since the commerce icon looks like a gold coin. Commerce is what directly feeds your sliders. The sliders are all about the commerce you earn. Commerce can be turned into beakers, gold, culture and espionage via the sliders. Gold is obviously earned by lowering the research slider. The more you lower the more gold you earn.

Ideally, your goal is to always be at 100% research. Obviously, you are not always in a state to do so. We've already discuss quite a bit about the whole 0% or 100% research thing so that you max gold until you can then fund a tech. So, to point, as long as you are earning gold (or rather gold per turn GPT) at 0% research you are in fine shape. As cottage grow and more worked, as trade routes or boosted, all this gets better and better - i.e., your ability to a) generate gold b) research faster. But, again, keep in mind that you always want to be running 100% research when you are able to do so.

Currency, a tech you will get in the near future, is a very important tech that does a few things that really boosts your research and gold generating power. First, it doubles your the amount of trade routes in each city - 2 trade routes instead of one. With foreign trade routes, which you will generally have before Currency is teched, this is huge. Second, it allows you to trade extra copies of resources for GPT with the AI if the gpt available. Next, it also allows you to trade old useless techs to the AI for chunks of gold - which in turn allows you to keep your slider high. Lastly, it opens the ability to build wealth in cities to turn hammers into gold, which can be really useful when cities may not have anything better to do. (Note: Alpha allows building research turning hammers into beakers)

edit: And a point on units that folks have touched on. Yeah, you can probably bring in some units inside borders. That warrior up N is good for MP in some city. You still want a couple of units hanging up N and NW to prevent barbs, since that area is unkown, but you barbs are certainly not much of an issue now. I don't even recall seeing one all game.

And building more units right now is really unnecessary unless you have plans to use them. And more units adds to unit maintenance. You don't have Alpha and Currency yet so can't build wealth or research. Some cities are still focused on Settlers or worker builds anyway. Persepolis needs to grow and has nothing really to build, other than I think the one settler it as finishing up early. Nothing wrong with starting a Barracks there as a placeholder so that it grows for now, after that settler.

And at least 1 Immortal unit might be fine to build somewhere. You can send him out scouting E into Chuck's lands, but otherwise you really don't need units right now.

With a couple of axes up there busting and protecting stone city, Scout can probably move on and actually do scouting. Move up into Hammy's land and follow his roads to scout out the map and meet the remaining unmet AIs.