Turn 64 - 1480 BC

[Kloreep]

The situation.

AB is 6 turns from a settler.

[Kloreep]

All units, including workers, will need moves.

The military units depend a lot on what Sarantium does.

Rush is going to chop now, I believe. I'd suggest the forest 7, since that's already roaded and will save a turn of movement.

I'd say the other worker should complete the AB-FS road. Even if hostilities ensue with Sarantium, it'll still be good to have them connected, bringing the gold to AB and allowing it another happy citizen. I'd say move the worker 1 to complete the last road; the road on the stone should serve fine as a starting point for an eventual road to the city site in the east, and by pulling the road back we make this part of the AB-FS road less vulnerable to attackers from the east.

Also, I think we should move the FS citizen on the grass forest to the plains forest. Another hammer that way, although at the cost of a food.

[Kloreep]

Save is here: Sarantium settler/archer stack moved away. Not sure where it went, but considering our axe/spear cleared most of the fog, it could only have gone 9 6 or 3

[Kloreep]

Situation at start.

[Kloreep]

Main question this turn seems to be: Do we continue to move toward the horde? If so, Axe/spear 1. If we're still worried about sarantium, however, we may want to keep them where they are.

We also have the question of what to do with the axe in the SW.

Axe in the east should probably continue on to take up the FoW position we were formerly covering (and watch for Sarantium...)

[polarnomad]

I would say, now that Sarantium has backed off with its settler, move axe (from axe/spear combo) 1 and spear 4 and hold until our settler is ready to resettle Foxtrot. SW axe should move 3 and continue its southern movement to perhaps intercept Horde units. Eastern axe should take up FoW duty 3 as before. Rush should chop as suggested previously (though I would see more benefit to chopping tile 3 since we could set up a farm there later, plus he could begin roading the tile to facilitate troup movement between FS and Foxtrot immediately thereafter) and the other worker should road 1. Axe 1 of FS should move back to FS.

Also, I don't think switching the grass/forest citizen in FS to plains/forest gains us much. We will still get barracks in 2 turns.

[Kloreep]

I agree with proceeding south with the one axe, we should at least get something going toward the Horde.

On the spear/axe combo: I see downsides to either of the general moves we can make (either keeping it in the area till Foxtrot is resettled, or pursuing the Horde at the expense of not having usable force in the horse's area, and relying on Sarantium's goodwill to not settle where we don't want them). Keeping them around is probably the safest option... but loses us time. I could go with either general course of action, it's hard to know what to choose.

Good point on chopping the forest 3 of rush, but I don't think it's needed just yet. I don't think FS has enough happiness to take advantage of a farm's +1 food (whether for increased population or for producing citizens for poprushing, either of which requires happy). And a road wouldn't help military movement between FS and Foxtrot until Engineering (I think that's when roads can cross rivers?). So we might as well go for the roaded forest and get the chop a turn sooner.

Re: switch, it doesn't speed up the barracks, but it will create 2 more hammers overflow that will be applied to the build after it. Somewhere down the line the hammers may help out, whereas FS can only tolerate either one more population point or a single poprush - and that's only if we can guarantee it a garrison unit; ungarrisoned as it is right now, any citizen generated by growth would be unhappy.

[polarnomad]

I would be loathe to send spear/axe too much further south. The territory is vital. We've driven the Horde back, now let's fortify the 2 jungle/hills immediately south. It gives us 10 tiles we can attack, a buffer for units coming from the south and keeps an eye out for Sarantium units. The eastern lone axe can intercept diagonally southwestwards.

Didn't think about the river that's in the way of troup movement. I guess chopping the roaded forest tile is best then.

[UnOrthOdOx]

I propose continuing the march south. We need to threaten to and/or inflict some damage. At the least we should send the 2 axes, leaving the spear. This allows us to have a force to hinder Horde buildup, prevent/pillage them connecting horse/copper, etc.

The Axe would need to move 1, we want to avoid being pushed by Sarantiums borders when they settle. This also makes it easier for the axes to meet up.

bickering over which forest to chop....
/me shudders.

Speaking of the chop, I believe that means we'll have the barracks in 2, and another axe in 4 (if we chop the roaded forest, 5 if not) which should take care of the garrison situation in FS.

And chopping the forest at 3 then farming COULD be used to help foxtrot grow. But, then, it'll have the corn a mere 5 turns after settling. But, theoretically, working horse, corn, farmed grass, mined hill, would make it a wonderfull place for a secondary troop center over the short term.

I support the tile switch for 2 more hammers. Preciousssss hammerssssss

[UnOrthOdOx]

Oh, whoever ends up playing, can I get you to zoom out and turn resources on. Iron should show up after we hit end turn but the game won't let you scroll around. This way we can take a picture after turn end and know where Iron is pretty much everywhere.

I'll check back in the morning and play if no one else has gotten to it by then.

[polarnomad]

Originally posted by UnOrthOdOx
I propose continuing the march south. We need to threaten to and/or inflict some damage. At the least we should send the 2 axes, leaving the spear. This allows us to have a force to hinder Horde buildup, prevent/pillage them connecting horse/copper, etc.

The Axe would need to move 1, we want to avoid being pushed by Sarantiums borders when they settle. This also makes it easier for the axes to meet up.

Ok, so then spear moves 4 and axe moves 1.

Originally posted by UnOrthOdOx
bickering over which forest to chop....
* UnOrthOdOx shudders.

Originally posted by UnOrthOdOx
Speaking of the chop, I believe that means we'll have the barracks in 2, and another axe in 4 (if we chop the roaded forest, 5 if not) which should take care of the garrison situation in FS.

FS can be garrisoned immediately if we move the axe that is hidden under Rush in the screenshot 8.

Originally posted by UnOrthOdOx
And chopping the forest at 3 then farming COULD be used to help foxtrot grow. But, then, it'll have the corn a mere 5 turns after settling. But, theoretically, working horse, corn, farmed grass, mined hill, would make it a wonderfull place for a secondary troop center over the short term.

Good point too. I was thinking last night that it would be nice to keep the 2 plains forests in FS for sawmills later as well. Glad you could join the forest chop bickering!

Originally posted by UnOrthOdOx
I support the tile switch for 2 more hammers. Preciousssss hammerssssss

Ok.

[polarnomad]

Playing the turn.

[Kloreep]

Given that Sarantium has said the border agreement is "fine by us" I feel a lot better about continuing the march against the Horde.

I also think that any stack harrassing the Horde should have a spear in it. If they get ponies hooked up before we have a chance to take them off-line, which seems very very possible since they've surely rushed their settler back down there and would just need to produce a worker, Chariots are uncomfortably close to even with Axes if they can catch them in open ground (though they at least aren't the axeman counter that they are in Warlords). If they get HBR and horsemen, their ponies become even stronger. A spear to shield the axes from horse attack becomes quite important in such a situation.

So, I support moving both axes and the spear on towards the Horde. That may mean delay in sending any reinforcements after them due to the need to secure our own lands, but at least we can feel fairly confident in the capabilities of that initial stack, rather than finding that Horde units are able to tie up a mere 1 or 2 axes as we had hoped to tie up them.

[polarnomad]

Ok, need to reload though, but since no information has been divulged then it should be fine.

I would have rather left the spear behind.

[polarnomad]

Originally posted by UnOrthOdOx
Oh, whoever ends up playing, can I get you to zoom out and turn resources on. Iron should show up after we hit end turn but the game won't let you scroll around. This way we can take a picture after turn end and know where Iron is pretty much everywhere.

I'll check back in the morning and play if no one else has gotten to it by then.

By the way, after hitting end turn, when the option menu pops up just hit cancel and you can scroll around to your hearts delight.