[Spoilers] Defining the phrase "€˜Hung Like a Horse"€™: Pb & the Kuriotates

[pocketbeetle]

Turn 74:

T74 started with an event.
For the Illians it would have meant a Golden Age, for everyone else it’s an annoyance.
Note the before and after tundra effect:

There’s also a ‘summer’ equivalent (Bhall) that turns unimproved tiles to desert, typically around your capital.
The effect is only temporary, and those tiles should return to normal after a number of turns.


Over at Caledor everything went smoothly, with Avelorn founded at Cyan dot.
Given that I’m still unsure if the Priests have engaged yet, I figured not annoying Selrahc was more important.



Beefy then used Legends to blow the borders, catching the bear, who should remain frozen in that location until I choose to kill him.
That’ll probably be done by a Hill Giant, with a warrior to soften it up.



Note the 4 mana nodes.
Not a bad number considering the size of the land.

Nothing too complicated from then on.
Bob the worker moved NW to complete roading that tile, the thane skipped over it to end up 1NW of Avelorn.
The Savant and Fluff also started returning to Avelorn along with Beefy. (Avelorn has a higher likelihood of being attacked by a barb unit.)
Boggy B is no longer needed on his hill and will be the new garrison at Caledor.

Meanwhile Vanilla Ice moved to the forest South of Caledor, then split off the GC who walked another couple of tiles.
The GC should reach Kwythellar within two more turns, whereupon he’ll create a Command Post.
That should negate the production penalty from Pacifism while building a couple of fishing boats and start the switch from capital to HE port.



Clicking end turn completed Fishing and brought up Festivals (3).

Avelorn is working the oasis for 3f/3c.
Bob the worker will move S and put one turn into roading, then move S again to improve the rice.
I’m not going to connect Avelorn up just yet. That way I can found AV in it, and not have to worry about an AV religion spread to Kwythellar.
Trade route to capital = +1 commerce, AV Holy City = +2 beakers (+ 3 culture).


Demographics:

My land area trebled with Legends, and with Fishing completed I’m now #1 in score.
Not where I wanted to be, let’s hope Selrahc regains his top spot soon.

Even so, the Kurios are about to hit their stride now.
#1 GNP has allowed me to reach the essential techs, once Festivals and cheap Financial markets are down my economy should be rock solid.
Meanwhile Kwythellar is going to spit out a couple more workers, then complete the Heron Throne and Pact of the Nilhorn for security.
Caledor is going to grow to size 7 asap and produce a few support buildings like a RoK temple and Deruptus Brewery, while Avelorn will be on worker/settler support.

So long as Selrahc stays occupied in the East, things are looking good.

[Dantski]

One question about city management.

Since your plot radius is 3, how are you able to micro which tiles are worked when you can't select them in the city screen? Is there anyway to zoom out?

Just asking as I found this annoying after building 1000 slums

[pocketbeetle]

One question about city management.
Since your plot radius is 3, how are you able to micro which tiles are worked when you can't select them in the city screen? Is there anyway to zoom out?
Just asking as I found this annoying after building 1000 slums

I've got a good solution to this, but I'm curious how well known it is.

So for half a cookie, can anyone answer Dantski's question?

[darrelljs]

With my screen resolution I see all the tiles .

Darrell

[pocketbeetle]

Turn 75:

Fishing tech splashscreen greeted me on loading the save.
Other than that, an uneventful turn, with all units moving as planned.

Bobbo completes the glh mine, will move W next turn, while the new worker Bob-A-Long moved onto the ph to start mining that.



Bobbin finished chopping the forest, granary completes in Caledor in a couple of turns, will grow to size 3 at the end of the turn.



Near Avelorn, Bob moved 1S and put in a roading shift, will move S onto the rice next turn.


Demographics:

Cull gained pop points for his second city growing to size 3.
Obviously that makes no sense seeing as I said his city grew to size 2 only 2 turns ago.
Going back, it looks like I mixed up his capital and second city growing, so it should be second city (Halowell) growing T72, capital T73, now Halowell T75.
Whatever, either way, size 6 capital, size 3 second city, probably located close to the capital and splitting off a food resource.

Bob gained a tech.

Bob:
Last turn that he researched a tech: T62 -> Assigned Anc Chants.
Next turn he researched a tech: T74
Therefore gap = 12 turns
GNP during period: 21-33 ie research 19-31
Decided to take my time on this one, make sure.

GNP:
T63: 19 / T64: 19 / T65: 18 / T66: 17 / T67: 16 / T68: 21 / T69: 20 / T70: 21 / T71: 21 / T72: 19 / T73: 29 / T74: 31
= 251b

Problem is, 251b is in no-man’s land: it’s too much for Myst at 215b, Philo/Archery at 323b are not available to him yet, leaving Education (the likely candidate) at 301b, ie 50b short.

The reason why this is happening is second city maintenance costs are starting to bite.
If I want to keep following other player’s techs, I’m going to have to start estimating their maintenance costs.
Expect a lot of tech estimates to start falling short on beakers.

With Bob: everything he’s said and done indicates he’s going for Agristocracy, and Education is the most likely tech at this point.
To make the 50b shortfall, I have to assume his average maintenance costs while researching this tech are around -4gp/t (12 * 4 = 46), which based on Caledor and Avelorn’s numbers, is entirely reasonable.
The corollary to this however, is that Bob settled Nubia on T69, ie halfway through researching this tech, so his maintenance costs are almost certainly higher.

Assuming I’m correct, the next tech on his list should be Code of Laws.
CoL costs 345b, so at his current rate of 35b (31 + 4) it should take him 10 turns; depending on how many huts he popped and how much gold in his treasury, maybe a little longer.
If I don’t see him getting a third tier tech (22 points) within that sort of timeframe (and then revolting to Aristocracy), I’ll return and review this.

Bob really should be an easy one to follow at this stage, it’s only going to get more complicated from now on.

[pocketbeetle]

Diplo:

Sent: Wed, 25 Aug 2010 01:19:39 -0700
Subject: RE: Cartography

Selrahc doesn't have cartography, They're priests of winter and headed
my way. Joy.

-Sareln-

Hi Sareln,

You've got my genuine sympathy.

Remember to check their promotions carefully.

If you think the situation is hopeless, consider evacuating.
Better to be an alive last than a dead first.

Regards,
Pb, Polite Boy-King.

Judging from the power graphs, Sareln has no chance militarily.
I’m second highest power and I think my military is pathetic.

Sareln produced a settler pretty fast last time (beating both EXP civs), so clearly he’s got decent production at his capital.
If I were in his place, I might consider trying to hold off the Priests long enough to produce another settler, then escaping via the Southern jungle belt using the elf movement bonus.
If he keeps all his workers and tech, he wouldn’t be that far behind.

But judging from Selrahc’s message, that’s not going to happen.

Sent: Wednesday, August 25, 2010 12:31:30 PM
Subject: Developments

Congratulations on getting the third city up and the legend beacons burning. The west is suddenly looking very pink.

On my end the priests are directly outside Sarelns borders, and there'll probably be a city taken in the next turn.

Selrahc

Hi Selrahc,

Thanks for the congrats and for keeping me updated on business in the East.
Good luck over there.

Regarding Legends, I meant to drop you a note saying I'd fired it off, but I guess it was pretty obvious.
Hopefully that'll keep the barb spawns away and bothering certain other players down South.

Lastly, I'd love to get trade routes going at some point.
I'm on 3 cities, and you will probably have four soon, so getting an extra 1-2 commerce in each city could give us a nice leg-up on the competition.
If you're interested, I'd suggest we build our road via the mana node West of your capital, and the plains tile 1W of that node. That plains tile is situated between two peaks and makes a natural roadway.
Unless you can come up with a better name I'd suggest Stelvio Pass (http://www.pegasusracing.com.au/site/cms...o_pass.jpg).
I won't be able to get a worker roading to there straight away, need to build a couple of farms first, but within the next 10-15 turns should be doable.
Thoughts?

Kind Regards,
Pb, Tearing down Paradise Boy-King.

[pocketbeetle]

With my screen resolution I see all the tiles .
Darrell

Welcome back Darrell.

I run FFH2 with a decent sized monitor and resolution, but I still occasionally have a problem with viewing all the tiles.

The way I deal with it, is to simultaneously click and hold both mouse buttons while in the city screen.
Doing so changes the pointer to a hand, changes the view angle, and allows you to drag the BFC screen around.
Example:

[The Reverend Doctor]

Hey that's a pretty handy tip.

I think that problem has frustrated me in the past... enough so I even resorted to turning on the governors and hoping one would pick the tile I wanted so I could rearrange from there.

[darrelljs]

That is a neat trick, I never thought that would work!

Darrell

[sunrise089]

Nice trick!

Darrell, is the zoomed in-city view really resolution dependent? My field of view is exactly what PB shows....plenty for even the Kuriotites except half of the top row is cut off. Is your field of view different?