my thinking behind the second scout is the following
- there are 16 teams out there to be met, and a huge map. exploring it will take a long time with a scout and a warrior
- we need to leverage our advantages, just like other teams will be looking to leverage theirs. one of our strengths is that we have the potential to have much better information about the map than other teams - but we need scouts to get it.
- hunting will not be a prioritised tech if everyone's start looks like ours, meaning the other teams will be even SLOWER to meet others
- research times are SLOW. meeting teams that have researched AH, min, BW will help cut our rsch times, so the sooner we meet them the better
- with 16 teams and a possibly crowded map, diplomacy will be HUGELY important. the sooner we meet teams + initiate contact, the more likely we'll get them on our side
let's face it, those 15 hammers after the first warrior are going to go into either a warrior or a scout. that unit will be an explorer. scouts make far better explorers unless we're banking on getting woodie2.
gold will be extremely tight early on and i don't think it would make sense to upgrade a warrior to an axeman except in the direst of circumstances.
our start is slow - we'll only emerge as a contender, if at all, once CoL is rschd. we need to do our best to stay competitive in the meantime and make the most of what we have, and one of the ways to do it is to find other teams quickly. again, most teams won't have a scout out for several dozen turns.
i think it's correct that each civ you meet that's researched a tech gives a 2% discount on that tech? consider Bronze Working (200+ beakers). it's going to take us ~20 turns to land that tech, which is hideously long... is shaving 1 or 2 turns off that by meeting civs that have it worth going for a scout instead of a warrior? i would argue definitely yes since it allows us to start chopping earlier (+ get those 20 hammers/chop into play 1 or 2 turns earlier) as well as showing a strategic resource early on.
another hugely important thing is i'm sure others out there are as worried as i am about the slow early tech pace. we have 2 pretty unpopular techs. they are excellent trade material. we need to get out there and trade them! remember, tech brokering is off but trading is on.
so, i think a second scout makes a lot of sense. i'm going to have another crack at the micro plan, 1st to correct errors, 2nd because i'm sure it can be improved. having said all that, if you guys feel warrior is better, i'm happy to go along with it
- there are 16 teams out there to be met, and a huge map. exploring it will take a long time with a scout and a warrior
- we need to leverage our advantages, just like other teams will be looking to leverage theirs. one of our strengths is that we have the potential to have much better information about the map than other teams - but we need scouts to get it.
- hunting will not be a prioritised tech if everyone's start looks like ours, meaning the other teams will be even SLOWER to meet others
- research times are SLOW. meeting teams that have researched AH, min, BW will help cut our rsch times, so the sooner we meet them the better
- with 16 teams and a possibly crowded map, diplomacy will be HUGELY important. the sooner we meet teams + initiate contact, the more likely we'll get them on our side
let's face it, those 15 hammers after the first warrior are going to go into either a warrior or a scout. that unit will be an explorer. scouts make far better explorers unless we're banking on getting woodie2.
gold will be extremely tight early on and i don't think it would make sense to upgrade a warrior to an axeman except in the direst of circumstances.
our start is slow - we'll only emerge as a contender, if at all, once CoL is rschd. we need to do our best to stay competitive in the meantime and make the most of what we have, and one of the ways to do it is to find other teams quickly. again, most teams won't have a scout out for several dozen turns.
i think it's correct that each civ you meet that's researched a tech gives a 2% discount on that tech? consider Bronze Working (200+ beakers). it's going to take us ~20 turns to land that tech, which is hideously long... is shaving 1 or 2 turns off that by meeting civs that have it worth going for a scout instead of a warrior? i would argue definitely yes since it allows us to start chopping earlier (+ get those 20 hammers/chop into play 1 or 2 turns earlier) as well as showing a strategic resource early on.
another hugely important thing is i'm sure others out there are as worried as i am about the slow early tech pace. we have 2 pretty unpopular techs. they are excellent trade material. we need to get out there and trade them! remember, tech brokering is off but trading is on.
so, i think a second scout makes a lot of sense. i'm going to have another crack at the micro plan, 1st to correct errors, 2nd because i'm sure it can be improved. having said all that, if you guys feel warrior is better, i'm happy to go along with it