Turn 4: 3850 B.C.

[Octavian X]

That's right, the next turn! Everything is in the log and picutres in this zip file. The password is clink.

Now, let's brainstorm. What does the worker do next? Where does the warrior go? What does Sacred Forest build next? Please, post your thoughts on these questions.

 

[WildFire]

I say road on the next game. Warrior goes north since we are pretty far south. And another warrior is probably a good idea.

 

[Goonie]

Road next game. Send worker north west. How many turns for another warrior? How many turns for a settleR?

 

[donsig]

I think we'd be better off letting the worker road one of the bonus grasslands. I think our second city will be to the east or southeast. I'd rather send the warrior in that direction so we can see what's there.
We're going to be size 1 for 7 turns. During that time we will produce 21 shields (though 2 are wasted if we build the warrior next turn). What should we make with those shields? It will then take 10 turns to get to size 3. We'll be making 5 shields per turn for that period giving us 50 more shields. Should we try to time our first settler for when we hit size 3? Or should we try the Pyramid Gambit? If we switch now (and forgo the warrior we can build the pyramids in 34 turns.
Assuming we build our first warrior and forgo the Gambit, and also assuming we want a settler as fast as possible, we have 40 shields to play with. We can build these combinations:

4 warriors
3 warriors and walls
2 warriors and an archer
2 warriors and barracks
1 warrior and barracks and walls
1 warrior and 1 archer and walls
2 archers
1 archer and barracks

Remember this is in addition to the warrior being built next turn. If we build a worker it would delay our first settler. So, do we want our first settler ready in 17 turns or not? If we do, then which of the above combinations should we build before the settler?

 

[Goonie]

I say go for 4 warriors. Increases our chances at getting goody huts, and who knows, we might come across an undefended city or two.

edit - Great info Donsig!

 

[Cyc]

I say two warriors and a barracks. That's three warriors. Two to roam and one to garrison, plus a barracks. Then a Settler.

The city location kind of reminds me of Fox Nest.

I also think sending the warrior SSE to scout and protect the worker (who should road the bonus grasslands), then get up on the mountains.

 

[Ehecatl Atzin]

While I can see the benefits of having a barracks, I don't like the idea of paying upkeeps so early in the game, one coin is one coin too many this early in the game. I'd go for 4 warriors, send 4 to scout and 1 to garrison the city. As soon as we reach size 3 we should start building a settler and by the time it's built, hopefully our scouts (warriors) would have found a decent spot for city #2. They could also find goody huts, resourses, a good seafaring site... the more eyes we have in the field, the better.

EA

 

[WildFire]

How bout we make this warrior, and see what happens when we make him? There could be so many possibilities that could affect what we do with him and what we do with Sacred Forest. If we meet someone else, make maybe 2/3 warriors and barracks. Or if we meet no one, 4 warriors to scout and defend.

 

[donsig]

No problem with that WildFire444. I'm not suggesting we make a plan we can't change. EA, won't making a total of 5 warriors cost us as much in expense as the barracks? Don't we only get a limited # of free units?

EA suggests starting a settler when we get to size 3. If we start building the settler when we are size three then we'll have another 30 shields to build other stuff. We can build one of the combos in my earlier post and then start a settler which would be done when we reach size 3 (putting us right back to size one).

Which is the better time to build settler #1?

One more thing. Octavian, why don't you name the warrior when it is built. In PTW we can name all the units. Call it 1st Warrior or something like that. Might make it easier to talk about things when we have 3 or 4 running around.

 

[WildFire]

Good idea about the naming....

Definitely build settler 1 soon, but lets see if we can pop a free one We should make at least another warrior after the one we're making now so we can have at least two exploring, and one defending/garrissoned

Question though, what are the barbs on? Roaming, restless...?

 

[Gingerbread Man]

May I suggest building the settler while we are still at pop 2? Say, when we have 6 turns until we get to size three? Because at size 2, it will take us 6 turns to build a settler. If we start when we have 5-6 turns left to reach size 3, we will only have to wait 1 or 0 turns until we get our settler.

If we aim to get our first settler the turn we reach size 3, that would be very good optimisation.

 

[Cyc]

GBM, I believe donsig's calculations have already taken that into consideration. We HAVE to build something while we wait for our "window" to start the Settler. By doing the two Warriors, we will have the two exploring units and a garrison that you spoke of. By building the Barracks, we would have the means of building vet units when we are knocked down to size one by the creation of a Settler. What are we going to build when we go down to size 1? Answer - not very much, as we have to wait for the next window to start our second Settler. So we'll build units, and with the Barracks that we've completed to fill time for the first Settler, these new units will be vets. If you HAVE to build something, you might as well make it something you'll benefit from in the future. IMHO.

BTW WildFire444, nice sig.

 

[Plux]

Under despotism we can have 4 units per town without needing financial support for them. I'd say we build only warriors until the settler window opens. Then after the settler we can build barracks and vet units if we want to, but maybe we'd be having more techs and production opportunities then already. I'm all for early exploration..

 

[Cheetah]

I support the 4 warriors. Can we not build the barracks after the first settler?

 

[donsig]

It looks like we want at least two more warriors after the first. We should queue those to up and wait to see what the first ones find. I think the barbs are random. We can decide if we want more warriors or a barracks (or even a wall) when warrior #3 is being built. I do think we should start the settler when we are size 2 and the combos I listed above are geared for that. Remember that soon after we build our settler we'll have bronze working and might want to recruit spearmen then. If we decide we want an early barracks we should build it before we start making spearmen.

EDIT: After our settler is built and we're back to size one we'll have another 14 turns and a total of 50 more shields to play with before we start settler #2. Here are the costs:

10 shields: walls, warriors and workers
20 shields: archers, barracks and spearmen

Remember that building a worker would set us back ten turns on our settler timetable. Sacred Forest can make a settler every 20 turns if we time it so the settler is finished when Sacred Forest reaches size 3. Between settlers we'd have 50 shields to build stuff.

If we time our first settler to build when Sacred Forest reached size 4 and then build them every 20 turns we'd have 120 shields before the first settler is built and 90 shields to play with between settlers.

If we time the first settler for size 5 then we'd have 210 shileds prior to the first settler and 130 shields between settlers.