RBP3 [SPOILERS] Team Nice Shot - Pacal of Carthage

[Shoot the Moon]

By the way, I am also starting to lean towards settling our third city 1N of the horses instead of 1SW. If we are going to make that a production city, that city has 5 hills in its fatcross instead of only three for the SW one. I know it doesn't have the stone, but I suspect we could find a decent city to the SW to snag the stone, and I don't think we are planning any stone wonders in the next 50 turns anyway. The only other downside of going 1N is that it doesn't have the sheep in the BFC, but I think we will probably be getting myst soon enough after we found that city that just having the horses should be fine (and even if we had sheep in the inner-ring, I would still want to pasture the horses before the sheep anyway to get them hooked up).

What are your thoughts on 1N vs. 1SW?

[Mr. Nice Guy]

Essentially, by working the rice now, we lose 4 commerce (two turns of working the lake over the 1 commerce rice). To go the other way and work both lakes now, we either lose 3 commerce per turn by having one less lake worked once the gold mine comes in (so we'd make up the lost commerce in less than two turns), or lose 21 commerce by delaying working the gold mine for 3 turns until we hit size three. Either way is a terrible tradeoff for 4 commerce, so I am almost sure it is better to work the rice.

Considering how clear the math was, I went ahead and ended turn working the rice and the lake. I hope that was alright.

Yes, absolutely. If it hadn't been a busy morning I would have done so myself. My thinking at the time was let's get those techs ASAP!. But as I said, I was tired, and didn't think about how quickly working the rice (growing to size 3) pays for the couple of lost beakers.

And now I am starting to experience first hand why the slow pace of pitboss improves gameplay. I have watched multiplayer games in the form of SG's for years and read players talk about the effect of a slower pace, but it's great to finally see it. Now I just can't wait for next turn to roll to have a 3rd city up and running...

[Mr. Nice Guy]

By the way, I am also starting to lean towards settling our third city 1N of the horses instead of 1SW. If we are going to make that a production city, that city has 5 hills in its fatcross instead of only three for the SW one. I know it doesn't have the stone, but I suspect we could find a decent city to the SW to snag the stone, and I don't think we are planning any stone wonders in the next 50 turns anyway. The only other downside of going 1N is that it doesn't have the sheep in the BFC, but I think we will probably be getting myst soon enough after we found that city that just having the horses should be fine (and even if we had sheep in the inner-ring, I would still want to pasture the horses before the sheep anyway to get them hooked up).

What are your thoughts on 1N vs. 1SW?

In thinking about it, the 1N is almost equally strong in the short term and much stronger in the long term. At size 14 (after civil service, mind you) I count the capacity for 27 base hammers. Add in +25% for a forge and you are looking at basically 2 turn medieval era units, give or take. If 1SW had a couple less peaks, it would eclipse 1N. But it doesn't. And looking closer at the map, there are 2 or three cities in the river valley south of the peaks that could pick up the stone, if we deem that necessary.

That doesn't even consider how well it meshes with Utica. I'd feel comfortable saying that at this point I rate city #3 as 1N of horses>>>1SW of horses>>> anything else.

[Shoot the Moon]

In thinking about it, the 1N is almost equally strong in the short term and much stronger in the long term. At size 14 (after civil service, mind you) I count the capacity for 27 base hammers. Add in +25% for a forge and you are looking at basically 2 turn medieval era units, give or take. If 1SW had a couple less peaks, it would eclipse 1N. But it doesn't. And looking closer at the map, there are 2 or three cities in the river valley south of the peaks that could pick up the stone, if we deem that necessary.

That doesn't even consider how well it meshes with Utica. I'd feel comfortable saying that at this point I rate city #3 as 1N of horses>>>1SW of horses>>> anything else.

We're in agreeance then. 1N it is.

I also like 1N in terms of defense, as it has only flat land around it, so if we cut the forest 1NW of the city it is extremely hard to attack after we get catapults. Obviously, defense is lower down on the list compared to the other benefits, but it is still nice.

[Mr. Nice Guy]

How do you feel about growth/research priorities at Utica this turn? Off the top of my head, rice/gold is wheel in 2/growth in 2/warrior in 2. Rice/lake is wheel in 2/growth in 1/warrior in 5.

I would tend to lean toward rice/gold since the rule of thumb is to work improved tiles above unimproved, but wanted your input before pressing end turn.

[Shoot the Moon]

I'll log in right now and check.

[Shoot the Moon]

I think the rice and the gold. By my math, we loose 1 commerce to gain three hammers, which seems like a pretty good deal to me at this point.

The other question I had was whether we should have Harundetum work the sheep or the furs? I am pretty torn between the two. I guess on further thought I am leaning slightly towards the sheep, as the two commerce doesn't lower the time on the wheel and we don't really need to put more hammers in warriors.

[Mr. Nice Guy]

The other question I had was whether we should have Harundetum work the sheep or the furs? I am pretty torn between the two. I guess on further thought I am leaning slightly towards the sheep, as the two commerce doesn't lower the time on the wheel and we don't really need to put more hammers in warriors.

That was my thought as well, for the same reason as we worked the rice and lake at Utica last turn... those two cities will be so strong so soon, I don't see a compelling reason to slow their growth. That's not to say there couldn't be a compelling reason, but in this case... sheep at H and rice/gold at U just make more sense. Unless there are any objections, I will go ahead and end turn shortly.

I work 7-5 tomorrow so if the new turn is here by about 6am, I will play it. If it is an obvious turn - I expect it will be - I will end before work. If not, I will leave comments and give you an opportunity to do so.

[Shoot the Moon]

That was my thought as well, for the same reason as we worked the rice and lake at Utica last turn... those two cities will be so strong so soon, I don't see a compelling reason to slow their growth. That's not to say there couldn't be a compelling reason, but in this case... sheep at H and rice/gold at U just make more sense. Unless there are any objections, I will go ahead and end turn shortly.

I work 7-5 tomorrow so if the new turn is here by about 6am, I will play it. If it is an obvious turn - I expect it will be - I will end before work. If not, I will leave comments and give you an opportunity to do so.

Sounds good (on both points). I doubt there will be much we need to discuss on the turns, unless there is some strange barb pop-up or something.

Actually, just thought of something...what are you planning to do with the worker by Utica? I was thinking we could chop the forest that is 1W of him right now into a worker. Does that sound right to you?

[Mr. Nice Guy]

Actually, just thought of something...what are you planning to do with the worker by Utica? I was thinking we could chop the forest that is 1W of him right now into a worker. Does that sound right to you?

Either that or as an alternative, use him to pre-chop same forest (save for Maths), and then take care of some roading duties. I have a feeling chopping into a worker makes more sense, though.