learner gamer
King
- Joined
- Sep 4, 2009
- Messages
- 657
See loads of great advice already. 
On the subject of the cows and AH first, remember that the grassland cows 2
will break even with the 20 you get from a (pre-maths) chop in just 10 turns. Moreover, if youre building a worker or settler, when 
greater than 2 on a tile is also converted into , the output from the grassland cow breaks even with chopping a forest (pre-maths) after just five turns. In short, that grassland cow is a really powerful early game tile which means AH first was the way to go here IMHO. Although mining > BW is important too (since it gives you the ability to chop forests after getting the corn and cows improved), its key early importance here IMHO was that mining gave you the early ability to mine that hill. For future reference, remember that you can mine a hill containing stone or marble just like you can mine any other hill. You only really need masonry to put the quarry on it if you are considering building a marble based wonder. (The extra commerce a quarry gives you over a mine is a small bonus by comparison.) To put it another way, you could actually have delayed researching masonry here and invested those beakers in IW instead to get the gems improved even sooner.
Talking of wonders, one of the other possibilities here was also to build The Oracle. The reason I mention it is because, if youd managed to get it, then it gave you an alternative way of getting IW. (Cue howls of derision from the forum.
) I understand that nabbing IW from The Oracle is unusual but on this map with all that jungle, an early IW is huge IMHO. In addition, going polytheism > priesthood after the worker techs also opens up an early aesthetics and literature for other marble based wonders.
Re: city location, Im inclined to agree with Djoums. Whilst that gems site is fab, Id probably have simply placed a warrior there to fogbust the area, but then settled a second city to block off Hammy. Culture wouldve been a problem but thats nothing that building a marble based wonder like The Parthenon there couldnt have fixed in time - and those floodplains woul've provided the very thing your capital lacked, some great early cottage tiles to give you a source of pre-IW commerce. As an alternative / following the block on Hammy, Id have been more inclined to then hook up that copper to your east for city #3 so that you have barb protection (with axes). The gems would then have been city #4, by which time IW is in to clear all that jungle. As Djoums quite rightly notes, now that youre on monarch, it becomes really important to have your second city in a position to contribute something to your empire ASAP after you settle it.
As it stands, Id be looking now to scout around that copper to see if theres a decent site there that can be settled just in case you dont pop iron somewhere in your borders. In addition, you also need to check whether your two cities are connected by a trade route (Im assuming so because their BFCs touch but check just to be sure) and build a road to connect your two cities if there is no trade route between them. In addition, Orleans probably needs a monument (if it hasnt already got one). Depending on where you look to settle city #3, you also want to be roading that city in too. BTW, if you managed to squeeze pottery in the tech path somewhere, you could also build a cottage or two in Paris to speed up teching IW. Lastly, I think Im right in saying that you can still build a camp (and road) on the elephants even though jungle is on that tile it just means that there will only be one on that tile instead of 2 until it's jungle is cleared post IW.
Look forward to seeing how you progress.
On the subject of the cows and AH first, remember that the grassland cows 2 will break even with the 20 you get from a (pre-maths) chop in just 10 turns. Moreover, if youre building a worker or settler, when greater than 2 on a tile is also converted into , the output from the grassland cow breaks even with chopping a forest (pre-maths) after just five turns. In short, that grassland cow is a really powerful early game tile which means AH first was the way to go here IMHO. Although mining > BW is important too (since it gives you the ability to chop forests after getting the corn and cows improved), its key early importance here IMHO was that mining gave you the early ability to mine that hill. For future reference, remember that you can mine a hill containing stone or marble just like you can mine any other hill. You only really need masonry to put the quarry on it if you are considering building a marble based wonder. (The extra commerce a quarry gives you over a mine is a small bonus by comparison.) To put it another way, you could actually have delayed researching masonry here and invested those beakers in IW instead to get the gems improved even sooner.Talking of wonders, one of the other possibilities here was also to build The Oracle. The reason I mention it is because, if youd managed to get it, then it gave you an alternative way of getting IW. (Cue howls of derision from the forum.
) I understand that nabbing IW from The Oracle is unusual but on this map with all that jungle, an early IW is huge IMHO. In addition, going polytheism > priesthood after the worker techs also opens up an early aesthetics and literature for other marble based wonders.Re: city location, Im inclined to agree with Djoums. Whilst that gems site is fab, Id probably have simply placed a warrior there to fogbust the area, but then settled a second city to block off Hammy. Culture wouldve been a problem but thats nothing that building a marble based wonder like The Parthenon there couldnt have fixed in time - and those floodplains woul've provided the very thing your capital lacked, some great early cottage tiles to give you a source of pre-IW commerce. As an alternative / following the block on Hammy, Id have been more inclined to then hook up that copper to your east for city #3 so that you have barb protection (with axes). The gems would then have been city #4, by which time IW is in to clear all that jungle. As Djoums quite rightly notes, now that youre on monarch, it becomes really important to have your second city in a position to contribute something to your empire ASAP after you settle it.
As it stands, Id be looking now to scout around that copper to see if theres a decent site there that can be settled just in case you dont pop iron somewhere in your borders. In addition, you also need to check whether your two cities are connected by a trade route (Im assuming so because their BFCs touch but check just to be sure) and build a road to connect your two cities if there is no trade route between them. In addition, Orleans probably needs a monument (if it hasnt already got one). Depending on where you look to settle city #3, you also want to be roading that city in too. BTW, if you managed to squeeze pottery in the tech path somewhere, you could also build a cottage or two in Paris to speed up teching IW. Lastly, I think Im right in saying that you can still build a camp (and road) on the elephants even though jungle is on that tile it just means that there will only be one
on that tile instead of 2 until it's jungle is cleared post IW.Look forward to seeing how you progress.
In fact I'm not so happy about it but the game is still very winnable. Not sure when to wage war though : I have no horses, French muskets aren't great for offense, and there's a long way to rifles.
