Turn 23

[Randolph]

Agreed.

I say continue north, to not do so would just be asking them to take atvantage of us. .

[Arrian]

North with the northernmost two at least, not sure about our third guy (slash? I don't have access to the screenshot right now). He could either shadow the incoming Voxians (by hanging out on our mountains) or charge north as well.

-Arrian

[Randolph]

Originally posted by DeepO
I was wondering one thing, but it was too late to comment on the proposal sent to Vox: so far they were going West, not South. We might have given them the impression that West as little, and we are South. This could also signify they are rather East, and not North.

DeepO

Good insight DeepO; we should move both East and North.

[nbarclay]

Dominae, how experienced are you with settler pumps? In a pattern ranging from size five to size six (building a settler when it would hit size seven), EotS can churn out a settler every five turns given sufficient good tiles. In a pattern ranging from size two to size four, it would take significantly longer. Take even one turn longer per settler and every two turns, you lose back the time required to build a worker. And the kind of pattern you're talking about would almost certainly take at least two extra turns per settler.

In full settler/worker pump mode, the ratio for workers vs. settlers in EotS is two and a half workers per settler, since at size 5, workers can build in two turns while settlers take five turns. So the real question is whether a settler is worth more or less than the two and a half workers would be.

Getting #3 going as a settler pump as quickly as possible requires at least one worker, and probably the part-time attention of a second to chop and either irrigate or mne the game tile. Beyond that, some testing would be worthwhile. I'd be interested to see what your best effort playing out the test scenario without the extra workers is and compare it with what I can do with the extra workers. (And keep in mind that we're not just concerned with finishing REXing quickly but also with production.) I do know that in SP, I try to keep my number of workers high enough that I don't work many unimproved tiles.

Nathan

[nbarclay]

Moving Hack 4-4 would let him see if either Voxian warrior tries to come south into our territory, and he could still withdraw to EotS in time to aid its defense (and we can have a second warrior in Hurricane by the time the Voxians get there). Moving Slash and Grog north to turn up the pressure a little on Vox would probably be a good idea.

Nathan

[nbarclay]

By the way, I don't agree with blocking the isthmus. We're better off proceeding into Vox's territory and finding out more about it (and making contact with whoever might be beyond, if anyone). They already have exploring units south of the chokepoint, so blocking it now would be closing the barn door after the horses got out.

Nathan

[DeepO]

Okay, something else. If we start with a warrior in Hurricane, it should be finished in 5 turns. This will not be enough for Will the wanderer to reach Hurricane. So, it is safe to move Ouch now, and give our 3 other exploring warriors some support.

If so, move Ouch to the Spinebreaker mountains, right in the middle. from the tile NW of the first SG, we can see all incoming traffic, and intercept it if needed.

DeepO

[Harovan]

Nathan, did you keep in mind, that the foodbox is emptied everytime the city grows? If we work on 2 irrigated fps, we make 4 surplus. This means we need 2x3=6 turns to get the growth for a settler. To be faster, we must work on 3 irrigated floodplains.

- Size 5: 3 irrigated floodplains, 2 irrigated fur plains: 5 surplus, 5 shields: 2 turn worker pump.

- Size 5-6: 3 irrigated floodplains, first 2, later 3 irrigated fur plains: 5 surplus, 2x5 + 3x7: 5 turn settler pump, after which the foodbox is half filled again.

[alva]

Originally posted by Sir Ralph
Their diplomatic response was confusing. I don't think they will care about our wish. What to do with our warriors? If you ask me, we proceed north. I don't want them to make us look like fools.

To be fair, they did play their turn, before we got the message trough IRC..

Keep going north, if we can see on of their real city borders, this could give us an idea on have time we have for:
1. How/if/..when then could attack us
2. how/if/when/... we can expand/settle/...

[DeepO]

Better yet, move Ouch to where Nathan wants Hack (4-4). This should leave Grog for Northern or Eastern exploration, and still give Hack and Slash to block the isthmus (Name please! I hate typing that word ) They should be able to block or hinder any extra force, so we can, if it needs to be, deal with the Voxian warriors that are in our territory.

DeepO

[Harovan]

Hurricane: No shielded grassland or irrigated plains available. If we build warrior, it's there in 4 turns (3 forest with furs, 1 unshielded river grassland for 1 more food).

[DeepO]

Hmm... did they read our message before sending their turn, not replying until after sending their turn? This would be a big difference. Otherwise me might want to halt our exploration one turn, to see what they are doing.

But move Slash onto the mountains anyhow, technically speaking, he is not our Northernmost guy (which, btw, can also be said from Tim: he is not Vox' Southernmost guy.)

DeepO

[Edit: unclear sentence corrected]

[DeepO]

Hurricane: still largely on time, I'd say. Perhaps there is some better building path to follow, but we should think about our military needs as well, and right now, we can use an extra warrior (even if we got 5 of them already)

DeepO

[DeepO]

Oh, if you would move Ouch, and set Hurricane to the normal (not forested) grassland, we don't lose anything, and can still undo the situation next turn. It won't make any difference by undoing it then, whereas not moving now can cost us a turn.

DeepO

[Harovan]

Btw I don't agree with Nathan, blocking the isthmus makes sense. If they want to attack us prior to mapmaking, they have to declare war earlier and give us more time to prepare. At least we should leave one warrior there to monitor the isthmus and to report large troop movements.

I'd say, we proceed N with Grog, leave Slash at the isthmus hill and shadow with Hack and Ouch the 2 Voxians. Hurricane has a new defender in 4 turns.

Name proposal for the isthmus: Wasp Waist (sounds weird), or Bee Waist.