Emergency City Plan

[Jon Shafer]

The picture that follows outlines my plan for how we must plan our cities in order to protect the lands near our capital.

The tiles outlined in blue, green and yellow are the 'gateway' city locations... if we can get cities in those 3 locations, then any potential future cities, marked in red, will be secured.

I suggest we first build a city in the blue tile, then the green, then the yellow to allow for the greatest benefit... our biggest threats are GoW encroaching from the north-west, and then NDE from the direct west. It's iffy at best, but if we can get those three cities, then we'll be in an excellent position...

[BigFurryMonster]

Keep in mind that:

* the blue square will not have access to the cattle before a temple is built;

* there is a civ coming from the south, too;

* cities that far from our capitol are likely to have very little production.

I think we are overstretching ourselves with the yellow square.

Let's go for what you call the green square first, it is nicely defended on that hill bordering the river (that is the original plan). I =think= we need a closer 3rd city after that (to avoid major corruption), but we can choose later.

[Jon Shafer]

What if GoW encroaches too much on our border? If we don't build a city in the blue tile soon, then GoW will build a city in that area, and that entire area will belong to them. I think the green city is the one that would be least beneficial, at least from a strategic standpoint. NDE still seems somewhat as though they're willing to abide by the agreement that they won't build a city in the area of the green tile, but they probably feel they DO have an open hand to build a city in the yellow tile.

[BigFurryMonster]

That is the risk. If we build blue AND green now, we'll have too much corruption for fast expansion. Both GoW and ND can then walk past those cities with a settler and grab the lands behind.

[Jon Shafer]

Yes, you're correct, it is a risk.

However, it's one I feel that it is worth taking. We could slightly alter the placement to allow the usage of the cattle tiles from the start, giving us a strong food advantage. That could be quite beneficial.

[BigFurryMonster]

Let's build Green first and see where it is going.

[Jon Shafer]

I disagree.
I think if we shift the blue and the green tiles up one then we'll get the benefit of the bonus food resource nearby each location, and we'll have the opportunity to box the other teams out of the area.

But I've already stated my opinion. What does everyone else think? We must come to a decision within the next ~3 turns.