[SPOILERS] Team EggHeads: DMOC and TeddyKGB (Now Lurker-Friendly!)

[DMOC]

Scenario 1: Settle in Place, Start with Fishing and a Work Boat

The first set of simulations will assume that we settle in place and start with fishing, so that we can go max hammers at the start to build a quick work boat. The following civilizations start with Fishing:

1. America (Fishing/Agriculture)
   
2. Carthage (Fishing/Mining)
   
3. Dutch (Fishing/Agriculture)
   
4. English (Fishing/Mining)
   
5. Greece (Fishing/Hunting)
   
6. Japan (Fishing/The Wheel)
   
7. Native America (Fishing/Agriculture)
   
8. Portuguese (Fishing/Mining)
   
9. Rome (Fishing/Mining)
   
10. Spain (Fishing/Mysticism)
    
11. Viking (Fishing/Hunting)
    

Wow, that's a pretty lackluster civilizations list. If we really want to start with Fishing, there's a high chance we'll pick a civ that starts with Mining, so I decided to run a simulation assuming we pick England as our civ. I wanted to test the worst case scenario, so I assumed we were Tokugawa (Agg/Pro), who has two traits that we're certainly not going to want with our leader. Here is the starting position according to the given image:



I used a Donut map to create the simulation, and put in nine other civilizations so that it aligned with the 10 civs we have for this game. I cut off contact from us to other teams to again assume the worst case (no tech bonus).



There are a couple of options I can see. Option 1 results in a settler 3 turns after Option 2, but Option 1 counters that with an extra worker ready to road...

Option 1: Double Workers

Summary: This is a bit of a dangerous route, since we create 2 workers, 1 settler, but only have 1 warrior (and hopefully our scout) at this time. We may need to keep the scout back for fogbusting.
Technology: Start with Fishing and Mining, go Hunting -> Animal Husbandry -> Bronze Working -> The Wheel
Capital: Work Boat -> Worker -> Warrior (grow to size 2) -> Worker -> Warrior (grow to size 3 and finish via chop) -> Settler -> Warrior (grow to size 4).

Details are in the spoiler:

Turn 0: Settle in place, work plains hill forest
Turn 1: Research Hunting (64 beakers on Monarch)
Turn 7: Finish Hunting, start Animal Husbandry (min 6 beakers of overflow). Keep capital working the 3H forest hill, but we could move it to the unimproved deer to get a head start on AH (extra beaker but loses on overflow).
Turn 8: Finish WB, put it on the fish, start Worker, and work the improved fish. Worker due in 10 turns with 8H overflow to start.
Turn 18: Finish Worker, start Warrior. Unfortunately AH will be at 159/161 beakers, so we waste a worker turn sitting in the capital. If we get lucky and meet another civ with Hunting, we might be able to get those extra 2 beakers...or alternatively, if we're financial, we're guaranteed that this works.
Turn 19: Finish AH, start Bronze Working (193 beakers), and have Worker start on the pasture for the pigs.
Turn 22: Pasture finishes, but have capital continue working fish since we grow to size 2 anyway.
Turn 23: Capital at size 2, start immediately on a worker (due in 6 turns). Worker moves to deer, and will improve next turn. Capital obviously works the improved pigs and fish.
Turn 24: Worker starts on camp for deer.
Turn 27: Worker finishes camp, but capital stays with the pigs and fish.
Turn 28: Worker moves to grassland hill 4-4 of capital
Turn 29: Worker 1 mines the hill he's now on; new worker in capital (Call him Worker 2 and the older worker "Worker 1") will move to the same tile as Worker 1 (a bit of a waste but not much he can do). Capital now continues the warrior, but will stay with working the pigs and fish.
Turn 30: Worker 2 helps with mining.
Turn 31: Mine is finished; one worker will be free. Without loss of generality, let worker 2 be free. He goes on the forested plains hill, preparing to chop. Capital switches from pigs to the mine just formed, because we still grow to size 3 next turn.
Turn 32: Finish Bronze Working, start The Wheel (96 beakers) due in 9 turns. Capital at size 3, 1 turn left on the warrior. Worker 2 chops, worker 1 goes 9-9 on grassland forest. Capital now works plains hill forest, grass hill mine, and the deer for max production.
Turn 33: Warrior finishes, he goes to the ideal second city site. Worker 2 continues chopping, worker 1 starts chopping. Capital switches to settler (due in 8 turns) and works pigs, fish, and the deer, causing The Wheel to be sped up.
Turn 34: Worker 2 finishes chop and starts a mine on that same tile.
Turn 35: Worker 1 finishes chop into settler.
Turn 36: Worker 1 goes 8 onto another grass forest.
Turn 37: Worker 1 starts chop.
Turn 38: Settler done in capital, which continues onto a warrior due in 2 turns. Worker 2 finishes plains hill mine. Worker 1 is 2/3 turns done with his chop. The Wheel is due in 2 turns.

Thus, by this time (2480 BC), we'll have a warrior already out to the second city spot, with the settler ready to follow him. The scout will hopefully be alive and fog-busting. The capital will finish another warrior quickly for defense and happiness, and upon growing to size 4, can work the mines to get a fast warrior (about a 3 turn warrior if working the 4H mine, 1H deer, and the free +1 H from the city center). This would also be the time to switch to Slavery.

With this approach, we can settle a second city by turn 40 (2400 BC) and have 2 workers ready to improve it and get a road network set up. For comparison purposes, my team in RB Pitboss 2 founded the second city at turn 47, while the winning team of Speaker/Sullla founded theirs on turn 35. (Most teams get their first city somewhere in the 30s or 40s, but I really think we want to aim for the mid 30s.) We'll have also researched both Animal Husbandry and Bronze Working, so this will tell us if we have a strategic resource nearby. At no point does the capital ever work an unimproved tile apart from the 3H plains hill forest.

The downside is that we use up the forests quickly from chopping, and other civs may steal our workers due to just 1 warrior for defense. But then again, everyone starts with a scout...

Option 2: Single Worker & Fast Settler

Summary: One worker before the settler. This will probably be useful if we see an awesome early second city spot, preferably one with a 5 or 6 food resource tile in the first ring and a strategic resource.
Technology: Start with Fishing and Mining, go Hunting -> Animal Husbandry -> Bronze Working -> The Wheel
Capital: Work Boat -> Worker -> Warrior -> Settler (at size 3) -> Worker -> Warrior

Details are in the spoiler:

Turn 0: Settle in place, work plains hill forest
Turn 1: Research Hunting (64 beakers on Monarch)
Turn 7: Finish Hunting, start Animal Husbandry (min 6 beakers of overflow). Keep capital working the 3H forest hill, but we could move it to the unimproved deer to get a head start on AH (extra beaker but loses on overflow).
Turn 8: Finish WB, put it on the fish, start Worker, and work the improved fish. Worker due in 10 turns with 8H overflow to start.
Turn 18: Finish Worker, start Warrior.
Turn 19: Finish AH, start Bronze Working (193 beakers), and have Worker start on the pasture for the pigs.
Turn 22: Pasture finishes, but have capital continue working fish since we grow to size 2 anyway.
Turn 23: Capital at size 2, CONTINUE warrior (different from previous plan). Worker moves to deer, and will improve next turn. Capital obviously works the improved pigs and fish.
Turn 24: Worker starts on camp for deer.
Turn 25: Capital switches from pigs to the 3H forest; we still grow to size 3 next turn, but this time we have 0 food overflow, and the production goes to a warrior anyway.
Turn 26: Capital grows to size 3, works the unimproved deer (but continues ignoring the pig).
Turn 27: Worker finishes camp, capital finishes warrior (who goes to the proposed city site) and capital starts on a settler and works the pigs, deer, and the fish. The settler is due in 8 turns.
Turn 28: Worker moves to grassland hill 4-4 of capital
Turn 29: Worker mines hill he's on now.
Turn 32: Finish Bronze Working, start The Wheel (96 beakers) due in 9 turns. Worker finishes his mine.
Turn 33: Worker moves 6 on plains hill forest.
Turn 34: Worker chops tile he's on.
Turn 35: Capital finishes settler, and starts on a worker (can be warrior if safety is needed)
Turn 36: Worker finishes chop into worker
Turn 37: Worker mines tile

So by turn 37 (2520 BC), we may have our settler already in position to found a close second city, with a worker shortly coming. The Wheel will also be done soon, allowing for road connections to occur. We do need to decide when to switch to slavery...

Finally, one little thing I'd like to add; if we end up getting a strategic resource in the capital (horses, iron, or copper), then the proposed move to settle 8-8 of the capital will not lose it. One thing we need to be careful, though, is if there's going to be land east of the capital that can use the fish. In plako's screenshot, there's a strip of land that will allow us to make use of the fish; if that's not there in the real game, we may have no choice but to settle in place, which isn't a bad option. Otherwise, if the fish causes us to be too slow, we can save it for a Moai city east of the capital.




Scenario 2: Settle in Place, Don't Start with Fishing

This case assumes we choose a civilization that doesn't start with Fishing, so we couldn't start with a workboat even if we wanted to. Here are a couple of options.

Option 1: Single Worker & Fast Settler with civ starting with Agriculture and The Wheel; Ignore Fish

Summary: One worker before the settler. The Ottoman and Egypt civilizations start with these technologies, so I chose the Ottomans for this simulation. The leader is again Tokugawa, but keep in mind that our workers will be faster if we use an expansive leader, since we have a 3H tile to work.
Technology: Start with Agriculture and The Wheel, and research Hunting -> Animal Husbandry -> Mining -> Bronze Working
Capital: Worker -> Warrior -> Warrior (partial, grow to size 3) -> Settler.

Details are in the spoiler:

Turn 0: Settle in place, start worker, research Hunting, work the unimproved deer (if Expansive, work the plains hill)
Turn 6: Hunting finished, start Animal Husbandry. We have Agriculture, so this means we get both prerequisites.
Turn 15: Worker finishes (if expansive, we finish on turn 13), capital starts warrior (work 3f pigs to grow) and worker starts on the deer.
Turn 17: Finish Animal Husbandry, start research on Mining. This is debatable -- do we want Fishing instead? I figure it's easier to chop the workboat than to slow-build it, so I like getting Bronze Working before Fishing in this case.
Turn 18: Worker finishes deer. Capital works the deer.
Turn 20: Worker starts improving the pig.
Turn 22: Capital grows to size 2, works the unimproved pigs instead of finishing the warrior next turn.
Turn 23: Pasture finishes
Turn 24: Warrior finishes, so capital starts on another warrior. Worker moves 1.
Turn 25: Mining comes in, set research to Bronze Working. Worker mines his tile. Capital grows to size 3 and switches production to a settler (due in 10 turns) and works the three highest yield tiles.
Turn 28: Mine finished, switch capital to work on this tile
Turn 29: Worker roads tile
Turn 31: With road finished last turn, worker now starts roading pigs tile.
Turn 33: Worker moves to mine other open grassland hill OR can build road towards city site
Turn 34: Settler finishes

So this way only nets us a settler 1 turn faster, than Option 2 under Scenario 1 (and with the same amount of military and workers), but lags behind on Bronze Working and Fishing. The benefit is that we have a quicker trade route connection. I'm not sure how much to add here, but it's looking more and more like we need a civ that starts with fishing in order to get a fast start. This start has the downside that we'll need to switch to Slavery after founding the second city.

Option 2: Research Fishing early, and get fish set up

Summary: Again, I chose the Ottomans for this simulation.
Technology: Start with Agriculture and The Wheel, and research Fishing -> Hunting -> Animal Husbandry -> Mining -> Bronze Working
Capital: Worker (partial) -> Workboat -> Worker (finish) -> Warrior -> Settler -> Warrior

Details are in the spoiler:

Turn 0: Settle in place, start worker, research Fishing, and work the deer tile for the added commerce. I'm not sure if this should change if we're expansive...
Turn 6: Fishing done, switch production to workboat and work 3H tile. Hunting is now due in 7.
Turn 13: Hunting done, research is now onto Animal Husbandry.
Turn 14: Capital finishes workboat and production resumes on the worker, with the capital obviously working the fish.
Turn 20: Worker finishes, camps deer, capital resumes warrior production.
Turn 23: AH done, research onto Mining.
Turn 24: Move worker over to the pigs.
Turn 25: Capital is now size 2 and works the improved deer.
Turn 28: Capital grows to size 3 and the worker finishes pasturing the pigs. Capital will work the 3H tile, though, to get maximum overflow to upcoming settler.
Turn 29: Capital finishes warrior and starts on a settler due in 8 turns (and switches production to the improved pig). The worker moves 1 and will mine the following turn. Mining is also done on this turn, and research is onto Bronze Working (13 turns).
Turn 33: Worker finishes mine, move to another mine the following turn.
Turn 37: Settler finishes, capital starts warrior. The warrior previously produced will ideally be at the site of the second city already.

Unfortunately, we don't have Bronze Working at this stage, and the settler isn't produced notably faster. The lack of commerce besides the deer and the fish is worrying me, since our rivers are very short. If we see rivers when our scout moves, we should seriously consider moving westward and saving the fish for another city.

Some final thoughts: if we start with fishing, then we can get a workboat out on the fish and the first worker done by turn 18. If we don't start with fishing but research it immediately, we can get a workboat out on the fish and the first worker done by turn 20. Is a two-turn improvement worth it to take a possibly inferior civilization over one of the powerful ones? My gut says no, but we'll see what happens to the teams above us in the snake pick.