[SPOILERS]Luddite: A Man, A Plan, An Also-Ran

[luddite]

So here's a fun idea- I could build the Great Wall in VentureCompound after Stonehenge is done. That would get me a great person very quickly, so I could pop into a golden age, convert to slavery and buddhism, finish the pyramids (in my capital), and switch to rep at the end of it.

[pindicator]

I love this opening. Just be sure to survive it

[oledavy]

Just wanted to pop in and say that this is possibly the most epic opening I have ever seen in a PBEM. Keep up the good work

[luddite]

I love this opening. Just be sure to survive it

Yeah... that'll be the trick.

[luddite]

Any turn I dont get attacked is a good turn! Also, I finally got AH and discovered horses in a really convenient place.

[luddite]

Just wanted to pop in and say that this is possibly the most epic opening I have ever seen in a PBEM. Keep up the good work

Thanks! I'm hoping that the sheer craziness of my opening will confuse my opponents. It'll be really hard for them to understand what's going on just from seeing my demos!

[Gold Ergo Sum]

Everything about your opening has been awesome, minus the lack of bronze working. If you could slave right now, you would be so far ahead it wouldn't matter. You also need to be able to slave some defenders in a pinch.

In hindsight, you probably should have planted on an oasis, that way you would prevent other civs planting on the opposite stone/marble tile. The faster you can pump culture to the third ring, the better you will be. TGW opposite Henge would help.

I don't like using the Golden Age so early though. I would probably just eat the anarchy. But if it gets you slaving earlier and guarantees Mids, it wouldnt be the worst thing.

[luddite]

New turn in, and I've completed the Henge! I'm thinking about building a barracks here next, but not sure if it's worth it. I'll get gold in about 8 turns, but I'll just have to deal with the unhappiness until then.


Meanwhile I'm finally improving the cows! And a mine! I'm going to give the rice to Brisbyland and focus the capital on production for the 'Mids.

Everything about your opening has been awesome, minus the lack of bronze working. If you could slave right now, you would be so far ahead it wouldn't matter. You also need to be able to slave some defenders in a pinch.

Indeed. If I'd been Mali or China, or even if I'd just skipped pottery, I'd be much better off right now. But I'll have BW after 3 more turns, and I should be OK until then.

In hindsight, you probably should have planted on an oasis, that way you would prevent other civs planting on the opposite stone/marble tile. The faster you can pump culture to the third ring, the better you will be. TGW opposite Henge would help.

Actually you're not allowed to plant cities on top of an oasis. I didn't know that before- I guess it's because planting a city destroys any terrain feature (like an oasis or flood plains) and removing the oasis would also remove fresh water from other tiles. At any rate, I like having the 3 hammer plant and hill defense bonus, and the oasis to block movement. With Stonehenge, my culture will cover the stone tile in 6 turns. If AT plants before then, I'll culture flip his city despite him being creative

You know that TGW only gives +2 culture right? I'm only thinking about building it for the GPP.

I don't like using the Golden Age so early though. I would probably just eat the anarchy. But if it gets you slaving earlier and guarantees Mids, it wouldnt be the worst thing.

Well thinking about it now... I would still have to wait like 20 turns for that great person, and I don't think I can delay slavery that long. I think I should just switch to slavery as soon as I can, and eat the anarchy. But I can still use the golden age later for switching into rep and Buddhism. It would also help me build up defense.

EOT demos:

[luddite]

Alright how's this for a new plan:

Skip the great wall, and just build more archers. Both my workers can chop forests for the capital, to speed up the pyramids, so they'll be done in ~8 turns. I can delay switching to slavery until then, and get slavery and rep at the same time. I'll finish the Oracle at that time also, and then I can begin slaving HAs like crazy. Gonna try to micro it so that the mids and oracle finish on the same turn, but it'll be a bit tricky.

[luddite]

One nice side-benefit of the stonehenge is that it centers the world map. Normally that's pretty useless, but in this case it's actually quite helpful. It shows me how the overall map is laid out. This screenshot is taken in global view, scrolled up as far as possible and centered on the opposite side of the map. Basically it shows that there isn't enough room to have any neighbor on the north, and that what I've explored so far is almost half the horizontal width of the map. So, assuming this map is perfectly symmetrical, I'm pretty sure that there are only 8 total hill/marble/oasis sites, and I've already gotten control of half of them.