SMC office

[shade]

After a carefull study of our current situation, I find it my duty as SMC to make sure our little imperium becomes a safe place. My first priority will therefore be the construction of a solid defense, so no larger country could just walk in and take away what is rightfully ours.

There are a lot of things to be done, but only little resources.

I have composed a poll showing some of our options...

First off all, will we be a defensive or offensive power?
Personally I would like to start out building some defences.
There are 4 unit's which we could consider producing
1) Musketmen ADM 3/3/1 (2|1) 30shields
2) Crusaders ADM 5/1/2 (1|1) 40shields
3) Armor ADM 10/5/3 (3|1) 80shields
4) Explorer ADM 0/1/1 (1|1) 30shields

I would prefer to get some Musket men to defend our cities(2 at least/city) and also build some optional Armor(Apolytonia would be best suited for this task, I would also prefer to have 3 Armor for defensive purposes in Apolytonia.
Explorer are from my point of view a wast of resources to build, they die to fast and require 1 shield support.
The best option would also be to build those defenders in a few cities which have barracks, and rehome them.
Barracks should be build in Apolytonia,Cartenna(1 turn away from finishing it), Malaca(also has Baracks under construction) and Panama.

The second issue is the explorer, I suggest we send it into the dark so we find out where the borders of our little imperium could/should be drawn...I think we would not like the surprise of finding a size 20 city full of guns knives to close to our own undefended borders.

The last issue for now would be our capital: Apolytonia...
It is our strongest city, and it is currently constructing a bank. This bank would give us good profits, but then again barracks would give us fast veteran units(tanks could be build there a lot quicker then in other places, and then be transported with the carvel to needed locations)...on the other hand:the bank would give us extra happyness which could induce celebrations and make this city perfect for building settlers for all purposes(new cities, and growing our little ones a little faster.)
Maybe the best buildingqueu would be something like
bank-barracks-settler-defender-settler-defender ...

Plans and images cf next posts

Shade, SMC

[edit]
hmm, those muskmen are actually musketmen...Who needs writing if you can carry a sword ?
The explorer was exploring at near relativistic speeds...this caused the last r to be compressed in the other r. [/edit]

[shade]

Apolytonia

an inside look into the workings of our capital.

[shade]

Exploration

Our brave explorer...trying to find the edge of the world without falling of.

[Bloody Monk]

What's an SMC??

Monk

[shade]

Supreme Millitary Commander

[Bloody Monk]

Thanks, General, sir!!

I wonder when we can build Mills?? We need a strong "Millitary" to ensure your success.

Monk

[cavebear]

Then we could have a "General Mills".

[cavebear]

I think Apolytonia should continue building Caravans and that we should switch production to that now (loss of only 1 turn production. Caravans are our only source of gold and bonus beakers.

While a Bank would produce more gold, I wasn't considering the bonus beakers of the Caravans when I started it.

[Bloody Monk]

Originally posted by cavebear
I think Apolytonia should continue building Caravans and that we should switch production to that now (loss of only 1 turn production. Caravans are our only source of gold and bonus beakers.

While a Bank would produce more gold, I wasn't considering the bonus beakers of the Caravans when I started it.

As you know from my previous ideas, I favor this, too. We desparately need cash. A Barracks is down the list for Apoly', at this time.

I suggested changing the Science slider to 70% for one turn so that War Code could be discovered overnight. (Leaving it at 60% will take 2 turns.)

We will not know until the Beads van is delivered whether another slot will free up. Changing to camel now would waste half the shields if a slot does not turn up. Therefore, I suggested waiting one turn to make the change. By moving off the mine and to ocean, it will only cost two shieds while giving +1 food.

Then, if a slot opens up switch to camel and use some of the Beads cash to incrementally rush the new van. If a slot does not open up, keep building Bank and, if you have selected Metal as the next tech, we can protect Apoly' with a Coastal Fort with a switch. If not Metal (Chem + Explo, eg), then, Muskmen or Horse seem best.

Monk

[cavebear]

I would rather switch to Caravan now in Apolytonia, and if a trade good does not materialize, we can change that to a Settler or garrison unit and deliver that to the colonies. We would have 5 turns to see if a trade good appeared before having to decide on a Settler or Crusader, or we could wait 7 turns and then go to a Tank.

I have often wondered if it might be worth incrementally buying Caravans. So much depends on specifics of goods and destinations. If we had a enough Caravels to transport Caravans as fast as goods were available, it might be well worth it (especially for beakers) in our situation with the rich Celts available.

And I should point out that there is the size 15 Zulu city Intombe only 3 turns away from Apolytonia. 2 Caravels could deliver Apolytonia Caravans every 3 turns if we keep gettig trade goods to send. A size 15 Zulu city 3 turns away should be worth more than a size 20 Celt city 8 turns away. Certainly more than the Egyptian cities 4 turns away. If the passage is safe, of course.

I hope our new Minister of Trade MWIA will consider this idea.

[Bloody Monk]

Shade,

--Have you considered Horses for garrison duty. 3 Horses = 2 Muskmen, in terms of cost; and probably, anything that comes calling will have little trouble with either. Garrison units will come in handy when we move back to Monarchy.

--Given the game date and the map intelligence (the Egyptian city Killdeer) we can assume that the Suefolk are between us and the Egyptians. And from the Powergraph we can surmise that they have a goodly number of cities, at least in terms of the Egyptians and Persians, certainly more than we have. Our Explorer, if sent East will bump into them in short order and the result will be War. It is virtually automatic, this late in the game, with Icy or Hostile AI.

Are you ready to go to War, now??

Monk

[cavebear]

Perhaps if the Explorer went forth being checked each part-move for proximity to an enemy city, the risk of contact would be lessened and our knowledge of the limits of the neighbors increased?

[Bloody Monk]

Originally posted by cavebear
Perhaps if the Explorer went forth being checked each part-move for proximity to an enemy city, the risk of contact would be lessened and our knowledge of the limits of the neighbors increased?

This will show when the Explorer gets closer to an Ai city than one of our own.

It will not show if he is about to bump into an AI unit, the contact with which will result in a War declaration.

It is a very high risk move to send the Explorer East before we are ready to defend ourselves, to say nothing of our being able to attack. Just be careful. That's all I'm saying. We don't need a premature anti-climax.

Monk

[cavebear]

I agree. But I do think we need to know where the nearest AI cities are to our colonies. At worst (meeting an AI unit), I would refuse to accept an emissary and back off if possible. If finding roads/irrigation, we would know approximately where a city was and back off or go around it.

It's a risk we need to take to identify nearby threats (and opportunities).

[Bloody Monk]

Originally posted by cavebear
I agree. But I do think we need to know where the nearest AI cities are to our colonies. At worst (meeting an AI unit), I would refuse to accept an emissary and back off if possible. If finding roads/irrigation, we would know approximately where a city was and back off or go around it.

It's a risk we need to take to identify nearby threats (and opportunities).

I have mentioned this many times now. I think folk either have not much experience or do not remember how the game works after 1750a. Even if you refuse a meeting, you will almost certainly see as the next screen, a declaration of War. The AI hate the human player during this time frame.

I have also presented an alternative. Explore the coast below and to the East of Panama using a boat. Or be patient. Once we have an Army they can advance across a broad front with the Explorer going before.

With respect, I strongly disagree. This is most definitely not a risk we need to take now.

Monk (must sleep now)