Turn 31 - 2550 BC

FortyJ

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Joined
Nov 2, 2001
Messages
2,186
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South Florida
Save Received: approx 0200 EST
Save Downloaded: approx 1400 EST
Save Sent: approx 1420 EST
Time Counter Post: Done, approx 1420 EST

Game Summary:
Nothing much to report in this session. Our warrior in the east moved back adjacent to the Balance of Power borders. If fortified in it's current location, he will not be within the city radius of BoP, but can monitor any and all troop movement from Gamecatcher's city to our side of the isthmus.

Near Shen Ling, our warrior reported back that the body of water directly to our north is indeed a lake and there is another source of Incense located along the northern bank! Meanwhile, the worker has completed the road to the game tile near Shen Ling and stand ready to receive new orders at the beginning of next turn.

The warrior scouting to the farthest north reports back that the coastline extends even further to the north than the eye can see rather than curve around to the west as previously feared. He requests permission to continue his travels to the north in hopes of discovering more neighbors in that direction.

Zipped Screenshots: http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads4/fanatikou-2550bc.zip

password: opnamegen
 
Forgot to include the turn chat log with that last upload, so I'm attaching it here.

password: opnamegen
 
We have a few things to decide before the next turn chat:
  1. What shall our original worker (N of Shen Ling) do now?
  2. What shall our new worker (being produced in Zhi Gang) do?
  3. What shall Zhi Gang build next?

1. I'm torn on this one: every road we build in the forest (presuming our laborers will work in the forest thanks to the extra food production from the game tile) will produce an extra commerce which will significantly increase our research rate. On the other hand, I'd also like to see a road heading up to the north for our next city site.

2. I would recommend that we use the southern worker to build a road onto the furs to the east, then over the mountains and onto the gold-laden hills. This will bring a lux into our empire and then begin construction of the southern highway for possible city sites over there.

3. I would suggest Warrior, then Barracks. We should build a warrior to escort our highway-building worker from barbarian attacks or worse. Then the Barracks to start producing veteran units. By the time the barracks is complete, we should be able to build a settler in there to settle along the highway somewhere.
 
I would suggest a settler in Zhi Gang.
 
We may want to start to make roads towards Balance of Power. Remember we have warriors up there that we will wnat to bring back quickly.
 
1. City connectivity (Link current and future cities)
2. Fur and then city connectivity
3. Warrior, Settler, Barracks
 
It will likely be at least 20 turns before we have enough food in Zhi Gang to produce a settler, so keep that in mind.
 
I agree with both points 2 and 3. For your point #1, I would build that road now around the west side of the lake, build a Settler in immediately, and place it SW of the Western Incense. With a city there, you'll catch both Incense, the game and a grassland tile. Plus the city borders will tie in nicely.
 
Originally posted by Gingerbread Man
we must switch Shen Ling to Settler!

Why havent we?

I ask that our capital be building a settler.
An excellent question. I offer my opinions on this:

First, a peaceful gambit in which we max produce settlers as quickly as possible to settle as much territory as possible in the early game, while effective in SP, can be quite disastrous in MP play. All it takes is for an enemy to raze one of our newly established, and weakly defended cities in the early game and we're playing catch up for the remainder of the game.

Second, certain techs are going to be extremely hard to come by in this game as the generous AI is sitting this one out. For example, I doubt any nation will trade Iron Working, Literature, Map Making, or Monarchy in this game. At least, not while that nation is still in the Ancient Era. If we are to keep up in the tech race, or dare we dream it, take the tech lead in this game, we must maximize our research, which requires maximizing our commerce.

Shen Ling is ideally situated (thanks to our lovely river and forest) to become a production and commercial powerhouse, envied by all other nations. As of this moment, without any additional deforestation, and the addition of a few roads in the forest tiles along the river, this city is capable of yielding >10 spt and >10 cpt quite easily. Why, this city alone could become more productive than all of Gamecatcher's cities combined.

Because of the potential commerce in Shen Ling, I believe we should produce only warriors in Shen Ling until the discovery of Iron Working. Doing so should reduce the time needed to discover that tech and allow us to build up our military for the coming war with Gamecatcher.

Zhi Gang, on the other hand, does not have the same commerce potential and should be used to produce settlers until the discovery of Iron Working and beyond. However, we are producing a worker this turn to begin building roads east, and we should produce a warrior to escort those brave lads lest they fall prey to some barbarian hordes or worse. Thereafter, I believe we should build settlers in that city as often as possible.

Thirdly, in my admittedly limited MP experience, I have witnessed a few interesting strategies. However, one has stood decidedly above the rest as a powerful tool for early expansion: tight builds and mucho military. The tight city placement creates overlap between cities, but the production benefits in the early stages of the game are considerable: our workers aren't wasted building long roads between cities, effectively increasing commerce in tiles that won't be worked for eons. I have attached a graphic outlying my suggestions for city sites using a tight build strategy. Keep in mind that there is limited information at this time due to the unexplored areas to our north, and the optimal sites may need to change slightly, but I think this is a good start.

Furthermore, I've seen an MP game in which a player built 15 warriors prior to building his first settler! The result: his warriors were able to raze cities in just about every other nation in the very, very early game. This caused all the other players to slow down their expansion and concentrate on their own borders, while his workers and settlers were able to roam freely. By the Middle Ages, he had amassed almost as much territory as the rest of the players combined.

Lastly, we need to get our military machine going. As the only Militaristic civilization in the game, we need to use that to our advantage, and the best way to do that is to get a leader early on, build the Heroic Epic and start fishing for more and more leaders with which we can rush build wonders before our enemies can build them the hard way.

In closing, I implore everyone to not worry too much about building as many settlers as we can at this time. Let Shen Ling grow to a respectable size so that we can take advantage of the bountiful surrounding terrain. Then, after our military is ready for action, we can resume a more balanced production queue (10+ shields per turn = 1 settler in 3 turns...) in our capitol.

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads4/fanatikou-2550bc-cityplan1.zip
(password: boogenhagen)
 
I understand your concern about the effects of a growing Capital City in a fruitful environment on Commerce, and thus Science. Still I would like to see one more Settler knocked out before we go full bore on Military. Having the second city took a lot of pressure of the Capital, but the thied city will do just as much in that regard, I believe. This third city could also be used for Military purposes, so there's an additional benefit there. After the Settler, I say go for your Warriors only plan.

BTW, I really like your Avatar.
 
Never mind!
 
40J, your comment that our capitol could be the best city ever is a little over the top,and here's why:

In PtW everyone starts out next to a river, or freshwater lake (rare), save a few very rare cases when there isn't enough rivers to go around. Plus, I find it very likely that they have some bonus resources nearby as well.

However, I mostly like your suggested city placement. My only problem is I think that people really underrate building early settlements on gold. The advantage is that we will get the extra commerce, without having to worry about using the low food square. In all my years of playing I always wanted to start my capitol on a gold hill but I don't think I have ever seen that.
 
I agree with you completely 40J, and the populace has already given this plan its support in a past vote. We will win this game, and the way to do it is to follow 40J's plan!
 
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