The Spartan Academy

[nbarclay]

If they get south of us before we build #7 (the horse city), then building #7 traps them south of us. With a chop assist (which, by the way, rules out DeepO's road idea), we only delay the building of #3 by four turns, and since #3 is a tile closer, #7 is only stuck using plains tiles for three turns (although the growth delay is the same for three as for four). On that basis, I'm inclined to go for #7 first but without building a road to it in advance. (As long as we force Tim to go southeast and southwest instead of due south, we can still get it in time.)

Nathan

[nbarclay]

By the way, if Vox complains about our being in their way, we can always remind them that Thadeus is in Grog's way to a vastly greater extent. If they want us out of their way, they need to get out of ours.

Nathan

[DeepO]

Nathan, can't we have both, by building a worker in Hurricane? A road towards #7 would be nearly a road towards #3, it has the advantage of getting horses connected, and makes irrigation towards #7 and #3 easier (which we'll need if we want #7 to grow and stay productive).

I agree though, the worst we could do is trap Tim on our South side, so either we go for it all the way and be sure we are there first (before Tim set a foot on our territory, as he will otherwise be in the middle, and could logically still chose if he wants out to the North or to the South (it's just as far)), or we don't do it. Blocking Tim is going to be needed anyway, but most likely it won't be so bad as we predict, it would surprise me if Tim is heading straight South, he will most likely try to follow the terrain.

Oh, and we'll have to delay Will for 1 or 2 turns too, which will be another problem, we might need 2 warriors for that for a turn or 2. We can't hinder him with 1 like we can with Tim.

DeepO

[Harovan]

Originally posted by nbarclay
By the way, if Vox complains about our being in their way, we can always remind them that Thadeus is in Grog's way to a vastly greater extent. If they want us out of their way, they need to get out of ours.

I doubt they will object, but if they do, we could just answer that they can go where the moon doesn't shine. Although it would be wiser to ignore their notes, just like they do with ours.

[nbarclay]

The timing for a worker from Hurricane is right for a chop to help with the third settler, not the second. I'm thinking have #7 build regular warriors (MP duty) or maybe archers (Vox explorer expulsion) and occasional workers until we can get irrigation to it, in which case there would be no serious waste from the lack of irrigation.

[Arrian]

How are we planning on protecting these two settlers that EotS will build? Is Hurricane going to put out 2 warriors before anything else?

-Arrian

[nbarclay]

Originally posted by Sir Ralph


I doubt they will object, but if they do, we could just answer that they can go where the moon doesn't shine. Although it would be wiser to ignore their notes, just like they do with ours.

I like the idea of reminding them of their hypocrisy better. Slowing down an explorer is wrong but blocking him completely isn't? Ridiculous. Of course if they're smart, they'll recognize that and won't complain.

[nbarclay]

Originally posted by Arrian
How are we planning on protecting these two settlers that EotS will build? Is Hurricane going to put out 2 warriors before anything else?

That's the way I did it in my test scenario.

[Harovan]

I think the same. At least, if ever we continue diplomacy, out next note should be very frosty.

[DeepO]

... depending on what we get back as a response.

chopping wood: I thought you were talking about settler #3 (so for site #3). I haven't tested it, though, so I trust your judgement.

As to protection of the settlers: do you mean against barbs, or against Vox? Vox shouldn't be a problem, as our shadow warriors can take care of that. Barbs... hmm, a bit of a risk. Hurricane can indeed build another warrior, and with some reshufling we should be able to protect settler #3 (to site #3). the other one... I don't see how, or we need to take Gronk. And I don't like that.

DeepO

[Randolph]

Speaking of Barbs, when did they first start showing up in your tests? At what point can we safely assume that there are no barbs in this game? I think my sense of timing is off because the game goes so slowly.

[DeepO]

In my first tests, I found them already. But that is no guarantee, of course... in the debug test, I have yet to see the first one appearing, but that one goes very slowly

DeepO

[Dominae]

I had not realised that a city at site 7 does not get the benefit of the Game tile under site 3 comes online. That is really too much wasted time at this point. For what? A couple of Warriors whom we're more afraid of than anything. As I recall, we promised to exchange contact information simultaneously; they honored that part of the bargain, did we? No. In any case, I'm not so worried if their scouts make it down South. If they read the signs they should have figured out that we have not contacted anyone anyway. So what if they see our best city spots? If anything, this will cause them to back off. They cannot exploit this information in any way (that I can think of). If I were Vox and I saw GS plant a city in a mediocre position just to block my path, I would laugh heartily at my (little) victory.

Economy is everything right now. 6 turns of Game or Wheat will have profound effects on our future development. And, if I hear the economists correctly, the '6 turn' figure is off because we plan to build Worker after our first Settler.

I hope I can convince some to "my side" as DeepO has, because I think this could turn out to be our second big mistake (after unecessarily delaying our Granary by 1 turn...no one's fault, I know).


Dominae

[Dominae]

There are no Barbs. There, I've said it. On even the lowest setting we should have seen a Barb on our landmass at this point (this is just from experience). I think Vox has assumed this earlier than we have (or has knowledge that we do not) and is pushing all Warriors our way without fear.


Dominae

[nbarclay]

First home-built settler to site #7, second to site #3, third probably to site #4. Then probably a couple workers to help road to and work our new cities.

Barbs usually show up by now in the tests I've run ("roaming" barbarian level). But then again, I don't have Voxian warriors to help keep the fog of war rolled back.