The Spartan Academy

[nbarclay]

What's to be sorry about? You used what was, for all intents and purposes, our current official city placement plan. I really need to run some projections on how our old plan, Aeson's variant, and maybe another possibility orr two stack up against each other, but I'm too tired to tackle that tonight.

If you want to talk about military stuff, why not talk about it instead of just talking about talking about it?

[notyoueither]

Originally posted by Theseus
Uhmm, would anybody mind talking about military stuff?

I agree that a couple of Gallies on both coasts could be invaluable. Land 2 Spear and 2 Horse behind the lines once and freeze the deer in the head-lights.

[Theseus]

Hey, I AM talking military.

(smacks Nathan with a trout)

(when do I get to play with mixed-unit armies?)

Seriously:

I like nye's suggestion... especially given what we've seen of Vox. Can we say "paralyzed"? Can we say "Buh-bye"?

I had something more simple in mind, but maybe both can be done together; when the time comes, I'd very much like to cut their roads, preferably on a mountain / hill tile.

[Aeson]

Here is a general rundown.

Cities: (general order of founding can vary)

1. Looking at it again, I would actually swap 5 and 1 in the city build order. This site would be settled by Settler2 from Cyclone.

2. I agree with DeepO, that this should be moved 7. This would be a good canidate for a cultural improvement to grab the Whale and Furs. Opening up another tile to use will overcome the initial -1 commerce by this move. Settler1 from Cyclone.

3. This is a consolidated desert setup, which I think is more in our interest. The northern desert city as previously planned would make defending the Spinebreaker area more costly, requiring us to hold 2 mountain tiles instead of just one (marked X). The fewer cities in this area should help our eventual cities up in the Jungle are be more productive without sacrificing the use of valuable tiles. WC's from X can cover the approach to this city site.

F. This would be a fortress type city, and facilitates a quick temporary passage E-W until the road at X is eventually put in place. Eventually we would probably move this city, but in the meantime it can help with the worker load and opens up more Grassland to be used by 6 initially. Settler2 from EotC.

5. As noted above, this should be swapped with 1. This will delay the city being built 1 turn, but the extra food from the start will more than overcome that. Settler1 from EotC

6. Moving this city back away from the Mountains makes it much more defendable. We don't have to have the Iron, but a Temple is in order here to allow the use of the Whale. This, along with the consolidation in the Desert, should cut the number of Spears we need for the same relative safety. WC's from X (F until the road is built) would be able to attack any unit moving down into the flat next to the city, and still have movement left to fall back after the attack.

7. This city was as far north as I figured on for now. The city planned north would be better suited in the Forest between the mountains, but that would only be available after our treaty with Vox is over with. Just where to found cities past this point would rely heavily on how our relations with Vox are at the time. This is a prime canidate for a Temple. We should ask Vox for possession of the Mountain 8,8.

8 and 9. Both these cities could wait to be founded until after the Jungle was Settled if it comes to that. Both will have access to a Plains tile, but 8's would be irrigated first. A Temple in Tempest can claim the Incence in the meantime. A Temple there is a good idea anyways as it will likely turn out to be our Middle Age wonder city.

[Aeson]

Roads:

This is a fairly simple setup that would allow us to have a focused defense that would be able to respond to any threat in our territory from X using WC's. Moving the cities away from Mountains (or denying mountain landings) is key as our WC's are ineffective otherwise.

Any threat along the northern border can be hit with WC's from X on the same turn that they show up once the roads are in place (not a terribly high priority to get X roaded).

A: Should be modified to include the Wheat obviously. I think completion of this road should superceed further improvement of the wheat tile city 5 would be using.

B: (not labeled, road to 2) We should be able to have this road up by the time the first Settler is produced in Cyclone, along with the at least one improved tile.

C: Our worker at Hurricane should have this as it's next project. The road cuts one turn off in founding 3, and Hurricane won't require the improved tile for a bit anyways.

D: The worker from Tempest can improve the FP adjacent, and then get this Road built. Allows F to be founded 2 turns after Settler2 is produced in EotC.

E: Construction of this road can continue as already planned.

F: Worker1 from Tempest can continue along to build this.

G: Worker1 from 3 should be able to build this before it's needed.

H: No rush here.

I: Complete before Tempest expands it's borders or city 9 is founded.

[nbarclay]

Originally posted by Aeson

7. This city was as far north as I figured on for now. The city planned north would be better suited in the Forest between the mountains, but that would only be available after our treaty with Vox is over with.

Moving that city to the forest would not give it access to any extra tiles that Vox's cities in the area won't already have access to. That being the case, I think we're better off going ahead and building it where the treaty map has it.

Why build in your #5 site before your #1 site? The #1 site is only two thirds as far from EotS, and so should have lower corruption. Granted, #5 does have access to an extra grassland with shield (not counting ones Cyclone would claim during that time period), but that won't come into play until size 4.

I'll have to do the analysis on some of the other changes later. From a strictly military perspective, they generally make sense, but I don't view an attack from Vox as likely enough to justify juggling cities around to less economically useful locations over, so I need to see how the changes would affect our economy.

[Aeson]

I just got confused on where that Wheat was. I had it right initially but 'lost' it under that brown dot and thought it was under the city tag instead. 1 and 5 are listed as they should be. The A road is right as drawn as well, and doesn't need to be extended beyond the wheat for a while.

[DeepO]

Well... I missed that F was also a city. So, you don't actually lose a city, you just move the desert cities so one less desert tile is settled, and a hill is lost instead. Economically a loss, but probably minor enough to keep our defenses efficient.

I agree with Nathan on the most Northern city, as long as the border city is active, that place was reserved for us, so why not claim it. We need two jungle clearings to make it well defendable, but even if it's corrupted, it's on nice terrain.

only comments to the desert cities: if we're fearing any invasion from galleys, these would be best fastly settled, to avoid any beach head claiming our luxuries. In chieftain, luxs aren't that important, but it would be silly to lose them.

DeepO

[Aeson]

Regarding the lost hill, Tempest doesn't need it to be fully productive, and there are enough hills to go around for 6, 8, and 9 without cascading to the one F would be built on. The 'lost' food we'd get from using a mountain instead of a hill in the desert cities (as originally proposed) is gained by building on the hill. Like you alluded to, the defensive position is a significant benifit if we want to extend Vox's lifespan. It also is our best bet for adding another 'free aquaduct' as all other options require covering up FP's.

8 and 9 aren't high priority as 6 and Tempest can claim all but one of the incense, and if one of the other teams wants to build up a desert city for us all the better. (GS Diplomat: "Thank you for offering to build us a city with your Settler that has reached our shores, but perhaps you would wish to sail on and have it add to the magnificence of your own empire?") Cities 8 and 9 could be security risks as well until we get our road network up to speed, as they would have the least amount of warning in relation to reaction time from F or X when taking the Lighthouse crossing into account.

I have nothing against building the northern city if we are going to still have the same borders by the time it comes to build it.