Alexis the Monarch - Trying BtS For The First Time

[LexiSilva]

Let's name this one:
No Scouting Lexi

T38 - We start Archery from Hunting. A scout is whipped since the city grows in a turn.

T39 - Let the scouting commence!



The south is a coast. No copper.



We found Sumeria at least!



Hi Willem! Creative AGAIN! But Financial... HELP! With this terrain, I am gone for!
I'm gonna stop for some advice.



Here's the map.

[GermanJoey]

How many workers do you have and what are they doing?

[LexiSilva]

2: one is cottaging in london and one is mining in York to wait for AH

[Bobchillingworth]

Okay, here you go:






Red dots are sites I would definitely settle. Yellow are places where I would probably settle, but would readjust depending on what resources are in the fog.


Priority of sites is interesting. In MP, I would try to claim the major food resources quickly, because those cities will grow the most quickly and therefore pay for themselves and contribute to further expansion to take some of the pressure off my capital. But in SP, I think I might prioritize settling toward Gilgamesh, even cities which have only a few decent tiles or no visible food. In SP you can get away with boxing in an AI like that, and most of your best city sites are in land almost certainly safe from AI poaching. Gilgamesh is creative and protective and likes to build troops, so any cities he founds in land you want are going to be a real pain to deal with, until you either have a large military or are half a generation ahead in military tech. This sort of dilemma is why you can't rely too heavily on SP experience to carry you through MP games; strategies that work in the former sometimes don't transfer over well to the latter. I suppose playing as though the match was MP is the best move if you're going to consider this training for a future PBEM.

[GermanJoey]

Okay, here you go:






Red dots are sites I would definitely settle. Yellow are places where I would probably settle, but would readjust depending on what resources are in the fog.


Priority of sites is interesting. In MP, I would try to claim the major food resources quickly, because those cities will grow the most quickly and therefore pay for themselves and contribute to further expansion to take some of the pressure off my capital. But in SP, I think I might prioritize settling toward Gilgamesh, even cities which have only a few decent tiles or no visible food. In SP you can get away with boxing in an AI like that, and most of your best city sites are in land almost certainly safe from AI poaching. Gilgamesh is creative and protective and likes to build troops, so any cities he founds in land you want are going to be a real pain to deal with, until you either have a large military or are half a generation ahead in military tech. This sort of dilemma is why you can't rely too heavily on SP experience to carry you through MP games; strategies that work in the former sometimes don't transfer over well to the latter. I suppose playing as though the match was MP is the best move if you're going to consider this training for a future PBEM.

I think this dotmap is a little unusual. The only red dot that looks reasonable to me is the northern one, which is good because it has a 6f tile, can work cottages for the capital early, and acts as a food-bridge for the stone. The two western red dots are extraordinarily weak sites. The one closer to the capital gives you nothing - no forests, no food, no hammers. All it can do is slowly a couple cottages for your capital, which is a fine goal but there's already two other better spots for this. (the northern pig and the fish)

The furthest west red dot gets you nothing strategically and is an extremely weak site. Wet rice isn't bad, especially without fresh water at the capital, but there's not really anything else in its BFC at all worth working... there's what, 10 dead tiles + plains? And why try to box Gilgamesh away from the desert anyways? If he wants to waste his time on it, then by all means, let him! A site like that just drains your entire empire, of GNP (maintenance), hammers (you'll need a larger standing army to defend such a far-flung location), and worker turns roading out to it through the desert.

The western fish site is one you'll want to have eventually, even relatively soonish, but there's no hurry to settle it I think. The earliest that fish tile will be workable is about 13 turns after the settle date... better to get the more easily available land food first I think. It's a good site though, because it can accellerate infrastructure by stealing the cow while still growing big and working cottages for the capital. Very solid Moai site as well, especially with early stone.

IMHO, the northern pigs spot should be the next one you want, followed either by a spot 1NW (if you want the pyramids) or 1W (no pyramids) of the corn, then either 1NE of the stone (pyramids) or the fish spot. Planning out anything further in advance than that doesn't do you too much good...

[TheSunIsDark]

1NW of the furthest west city spot is better, but still pretty . Just 3 green tiles, 2 food resources. On the dot, it is two green tiles. Unless you want the stone for wonderwhoring? But 2E1N of the stone would be better for that. And one of the red dots (the oasis one) has absolutely no BFC resources and just 3 unshared green flatlands. It's even worse.

[LexiSilva]

Yeah, I figured westernmost red was weedy, even with my crappy Civving skills. I do like that red dot with the pigs, OR one 1NW of the corn.
What about a whipping city 1E of the south-westernmost yellow dot?

[TheSunIsDark]

What about a whipping city 1E of the south-westernmost yellow dot?

Probably better, so it can share the corn with the other city. Doesn't really lose anything over the spot marked. Maybe 1N of that, though, so it can share the wines but loses coastal access.

[Bobchillingworth]

Two points:


* Monarch

* Single Player


The furthest western red dot is a weak city, but it can pay for itself regardless and actually pump out workers and ancient age troops reasonably well. It also gets stone, in case you wanted something like the Pyramids or Hanging Gardens. Most importantly, it secures an easy front to invade Gilgamesh later, so you don't have to spend several turns wading through his culture in order to reach his core cities. Some of the other sites are filler- obviously you shouldn't settle those before locations that have more food and/or claim more tiles. But they need to be settled regardless eventually, or that land is wasted. This is not a game against human players. It is easy (at least on Monarch) to prevent the AI from punishing you from settling in its face. If you can found a city which gives you a significant tactical advantage against an opponent while remaining profitable (however marginally), then you must build it! Never concede an advantage out of hubris- and land is the greatest advantage of all.

[LexiSilva]

But Bob, it'll be a waste in post-Ancient eras or when I kill Gilgamesh!