The Spartan Academy

[nbarclay]

The pop point aspect is important early, but once a city gets maxed out in size and has the food to grow again, losing a pop point is essentially irrelevant. Of course you do also lose a shield or two for one turn before the city gets back up to size, and there's probably some wastage since the city won't generate exactly ten shields.

Nathan

[Arrian]

We'll see if we have a use for it once we see more of the map. Good to hear some opinions, though.

-Arrian

[FrustratedPoet]

Yeah, it was the loss of the pop-point that I was thinking was the big disadvantage.
By the time the loss of a pop-point wasn't a big deal I would have thought that the few uses for Outposts would no longer have much relevance.

[Arrian]

I was just thinking about Theseus' desire to get a couple of WCs built ASAP and something occurred to me: to the extent that we do this, and want to use them as barb killers to try and promote them as well as gain cash, we should probably be careful to keep them away from other civs - for 2 reasons:

1) unless they establish an embassy or scout us pretty well, they won't *know* if we have horses unit they see a WC
2) though I doubt any of them are this stupid, somebody could hit one to try and waste our GA (which would be used to kill them, I know. Like I said, I doubt anyone is that dumb, but...)

-Arrian

[Theseus]

1) Other teams will assume horses and WCs are a priority for us.

2) Whether as regarding barbs or other teams, early WCs need end turns on hills / mountains as much as possible.

[Meshelic]

I agree with our General's. Keeping our war chariots private (so they misjudge our military strength) is a very good idea, and making sure they end on hills is a wise choice as well.

(not sure, but I thought WC's couldn't cross mountains??)

[Arrian]

Yeah, hills only unless there is a road.

Theseus, honestly I think it will be some time before we are in a position to start pumping out war chariots. I agree they are VERY important to us, though.

I would like to keep them relatively secret if that doesn't hamper us in any other way. Clearly, if we still have exploring to do by the time we have WCs, they are a 2 move unit and thus provide an advantage in that area. Otherwise, I'd like to keep 'em quiet.

-Arrian

[Dominae]

Sorry to be blunt, but if I were a member of another team trying to guess what Gathering Storm was doing in their early-game, I'd pretty much assume their hoarding War Chariots (whether I see them or not). The key is not that the other teams know we have WCs, it's whether or not they know where we plan to use them (if at all).


Dominae

[Arrian]

Ok, good point. But can the other teams ASSUME we have horses?

-Arrian

[Dominae]

Originally posted by Arrian
Ok, good point. But can the other teams ASSUME we have horses?

Unless they're Expansionsist, I don't think it would be wise for them to assume we don't have Horses. This is really where our reputation for being the favorite comes in: other teams are going to expect the worst.


Dominae

[notyoueither]

Go, stranger, and to Lacedaemon tell
That here, obeying her behests, we fell.

Super bump. Hello?

[Arrian]

I was wondering why you bumped this thread until I read Turn 20.

== RED ALERT!! PERSIANS SIGHTED IN THE NORTH ==

I hate Immortals. I hate 'em.

Ok, at this point I say we ditch any hopes of wonderbuilding, concentrate first and foremost on REXing, then on barracks building and WC construction.

We may, though I'm not sure, need a road through the northern jungle prior to attacking. Something to keep in mind (dunno if the jungle stretches coast to coast). Perhaps getting a town up in the northern jungle is now a priority?

Nathan mentioned that BW is not a priority as spearmen won't do much better than warriors if defending vs. Immortals. This is true. Then again, it's on the way to IW. Perhaps we can trade for it.

So I say: pottery next, then Monarchy beeline. Cities, cities, cities, barracks, barracks, barracks, WC's, WC's, WC's, kill kill kill.

-Arrian

[DeepO]

Originally posted by Arrian
Cities, cities, cities, barracks, barracks, barracks, WC's, WC's, WC's, kill kill kill.

Now this is what I call a detailed plan!

I'm not sure if I agree on the wonderbuilding, though... I think that if we set aside one city for the GL (library that is, lighthouse seemed to have lost its appeal), we can still outproduce Vox. Otherwise, we should aim to get a leader, and this is a bit too risky for me.

DeepO

[Dominae]

So I guess we're not trying for a "diplomatic" solution to our nearest neighbor "problem"? Either way, I'm happy...nah, I prefer warmongering.




Dominae

[DeepO]

Well... we can be diplomatic as long as it suits us. I wouldn't start off on a warring tone, besides we're long from finished building up troops to go and conquer them. Keep them happy, and unsuspecting, I'd say

DeepO