Well, the game is thickening... at least the barb problem is. As if hearing the cries of his slaughtered comrades at Jackson, another barbarian emerged very close to Farmerville. I can't see any way to prevent him from sacking Farmerville...
First, a summary what I did:
1) got upset by the fact that Jack did not play the turn despite expressly telling me so on Sunday (and being told how long turns now take on average). Even though I have played the turn right after waking up today, we almost crossed our 24 hour frame for this turn (and that was just a "boring" turn with no crucial decisions to take). As mentioned before in the "Who is going..." thread, from now on, I am going to play every turn as soon as the savegame hits my mailbox. Complaints to be emailed to /dev/null.
2) Sent Angus to the unexplored peninsula, leaving the settler alone.
3) started moving MercG to the Farmerville area (that was even before the barbarian emerged there).
4) kept Conan heading SE and Gaul S.
5) continued moving Merciless to NW, Howard back from the peninsula.
Now, the agenda for the next (few) turn(s):
1) How do we handle the Farmerville defense?
Well, we can't really "handle" it, as we have no units there. The closest one is Conan - however gruesome may be what the barb does to Farmervillers, I would not turn Conan back to there. Losing some money, population or shields is something we can sustain. Leaving the SE unexplored is much worse (besides, he would most probably be late to the party anyway...).
Thus, I would move MercG SW-S or directly S on the next turn and then keep moving him S until he locates the barb camp. If he manages to chart the shrouded area in the process, even better.
There is one more thing we could do, though. We might rush the worker currently being built in Farmerville. That should prevent (almost) any pop and shield loss in case the barb sacks Farmerville (barbs cannot raze a city, right?). Plus, we might even use the worker to lure the barb away from Farmerville (by moving him N and then as needed to draw the barb to MercG). If the worker ends up in the core area eventually, building a road to and irrigating the riverbank plains at Panama, it will not be that bad, I guess... what do you think? Forget it, stupid me. We would need one pop point to rush and another one to create the worker.
EDIT: Tibi kindly pointed out to me that I am just plain blind, forgetting the possibility of rushing a warrior in Farmerville. Of course! That will take care of the problem completely, even allowing MercG to explore the shrouded area of the east coast. Thanks, Tibi! **vondrack looks for a quiet place to properly bash himself for this stupidity **
2) Do we pop the hut with Gaul?
I used to think this was a no brainer... well, it no longer seems so to me. If we pop it and get gold, we may very well lose quite a good deal of it to the barbarian sacking Farmerville. We might also get a better tech if we wait for the discovery of Writing... OTOH, fooling five turns around is way too much, IMHO.
I'd go ahead, pop the hut and continue exploring full speed.
3) Where to send Conan?
The map may not be very clear, so I will describe here: the east coast is bending, the hill tile E-SE of Conan has water to N/NE/E/SE. Thus, I would move him S on the next turn and then E.
4) How do we call Panama?
Perhaps a stupid question... I mean, do we agree on that the city founded at the Panama site will be called Panama? We can always change it later, but it would save some confusion if we start using the correct name from the very beginning.
5) Assault on the barbarian camp in the Northern Mountains
I intend to move Merciless NW, onto the hill, rather than N onto the mountain. The reason is to prevent any barbs escaping from the camp to SW. I do not think Merciless actually needs the extra defense bonus of the mountain...
6) Do we finish the settler in Jackson?
I thought this was agreed upon before... but delmar questioned the decision in the discussion about wonder building, so I would like to hear everybody's comments on this. As for me, I would finish the settler. When you are at it, you might also note your preference for the next city site.
First, a summary what I did:
1) got upset by the fact that Jack did not play the turn despite expressly telling me so on Sunday (and being told how long turns now take on average). Even though I have played the turn right after waking up today, we almost crossed our 24 hour frame for this turn (and that was just a "boring" turn with no crucial decisions to take). As mentioned before in the "Who is going..." thread, from now on, I am going to play every turn as soon as the savegame hits my mailbox. Complaints to be emailed to /dev/null.
2) Sent Angus to the unexplored peninsula, leaving the settler alone.
3) started moving MercG to the Farmerville area (that was even before the barbarian emerged there).
4) kept Conan heading SE and Gaul S.
5) continued moving Merciless to NW, Howard back from the peninsula.
Now, the agenda for the next (few) turn(s):
1) How do we handle the Farmerville defense?
Well, we can't really "handle" it, as we have no units there. The closest one is Conan - however gruesome may be what the barb does to Farmervillers, I would not turn Conan back to there. Losing some money, population or shields is something we can sustain. Leaving the SE unexplored is much worse (besides, he would most probably be late to the party anyway...).
Thus, I would move MercG SW-S or directly S on the next turn and then keep moving him S until he locates the barb camp. If he manages to chart the shrouded area in the process, even better.
EDIT: Tibi kindly pointed out to me that I am just plain blind, forgetting the possibility of rushing a warrior in Farmerville. Of course! That will take care of the problem completely, even allowing MercG to explore the shrouded area of the east coast. Thanks, Tibi! **vondrack looks for a quiet place to properly bash himself for this stupidity **
2) Do we pop the hut with Gaul?
I used to think this was a no brainer... well, it no longer seems so to me. If we pop it and get gold, we may very well lose quite a good deal of it to the barbarian sacking Farmerville. We might also get a better tech if we wait for the discovery of Writing... OTOH, fooling five turns around is way too much, IMHO.
I'd go ahead, pop the hut and continue exploring full speed.
3) Where to send Conan?
The map may not be very clear, so I will describe here: the east coast is bending, the hill tile E-SE of Conan has water to N/NE/E/SE. Thus, I would move him S on the next turn and then E.
4) How do we call Panama?
Perhaps a stupid question... I mean, do we agree on that the city founded at the Panama site will be called Panama? We can always change it later, but it would save some confusion if we start using the correct name from the very beginning.
5) Assault on the barbarian camp in the Northern Mountains
I intend to move Merciless NW, onto the hill, rather than N onto the mountain. The reason is to prevent any barbs escaping from the camp to SW. I do not think Merciless actually needs the extra defense bonus of the mountain...
6) Do we finish the settler in Jackson?
I thought this was agreed upon before... but delmar questioned the decision in the discussion about wonder building, so I would like to hear everybody's comments on this. As for me, I would finish the settler. When you are at it, you might also note your preference for the next city site.
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