[SPOILERS] Balseraphs: A Guide to Mis-Management (by Kyan and TT)

[Bobchillingworth]

Heh, well early Godking worked pretty well for PBEM V Quicker settlers / workers are a significant advantage, and the elder council beakers + scientist help make up for some of the commerce loss compared to an aristocracy beeline.



But Dave is right, with the land that has been revealed so far an immediate rush to aristofarms and a farmer's gambit looks very attractive. But there are risks. Building settlers with 3-food grassland farms as your main source of production is going to be slow, as will be producing their escorts, so if you have neighbors close by you might be hard-pressed to win a settling race. You'll be even more vulnerable to attack. You might be putting off Festivals for markets to balance the expansion costs. You'll have to delay getting an early academy or KotE bulb. But the extra commerce from early aristo farms will be significant, and if you're left alone to develop in peace there's a strong case for it being ultimately the superior option.

[Kyan]

Hmm, the more i think about this, the more right Dave becomes. Worrying this is.

However, you really don't think the diversion to God King would be worth it? Let's not forget that it gives more than just a hammer bonus, +50% gold also which could help us get to aristocracy faster?

Getting to aristocracy could be very painful if we have no production to build warriors, no whip to get units out via food and no idea where either copper or horses are...

[Kyan]

Two huts up there! Fingers crossed. Also spotted a dungeon...

Next turn is gonna be interesting

[DaveV]

However, you really don't think the diversion to God King would be worth it? Let's not forget that it gives more than just a hammer bonus, +50% gold also which could help us get to aristocracy faster?

Mysticism beaker cost = exactly 1/3 of education + code of laws. I think you're better off with the beeline. And +50% gold won't mean much unless you're running a very low science slider, at which point you should probably be getting out of God King anyway.

Getting to aristocracy could be very painful if we have no production to build warriors, no whip to get units out via food and no idea where either copper or horses are...

More painful than limping along with slow science and low commerce? It's very easy to overbuild and crash your economy. If you emphasize hammers, there's not much to build other than warriors, workers, and settlers. At some point, you won't be able to afford any more of those, and won't be able to research your way out of the problem.

Edit: a lot depends on difficulty level. Can you post a screenie of the F8-settings page?

[Twinkletoes89]

Looks like we're off and we have a cracking 'support network' of Dave & Bob to help.

Right now its crazy with uni exams coming up plus my many PBEMs and SGs which rely upon me, so you may not see very much of me for a few weeks yet - but I will keep checking in when I can!

For a naming theme - seen as we are playing this for fun, how about some prank call names?

e.g - Hugh Jarse, Alpha Kenny Wun, Al Killeu, Connie Lingus, Drew Peacock?

Can work for cities or units, though would be great to read the diplo between nations if they have to refer to these city names!

[Bobchillingworth]

Next turn is gonna be interesting

Are you going to explore the dungeon? I personally probably would not, but the odds of getting something really deadly are fairly low (maybe 20%- Dave would know better). And you could build at least one emergency defense warrior if you really had to, possibly enough to withstand some of the weaker Big Bad spawns (like a fawn or spectre). And if you don't, someone else could always grab it instead... :P

Mysticism beaker cost = exactly 1/3 of education + code of laws. I think you're better off with the beeline. And +50% gold won't mean much unless you're running a very low science slider, at which point you should probably be getting out of God King anyway.

Surely the idea if one is going to go for Godking is to at least pick up Festivals as well before heading toward Aristocracy, yes? A market + merchant provides quite a bit of gold in Godking, if built in the capital. Elder councils + elder council scientists provide much of the research power- marginal in the long run, but sufficient for a small empire just starting to develop.

For a naming theme - seen as we are playing this for fun, how about some prank call names?

e.g - Hugh Jarse, Alpha Kenny Wun, Al Killeu, Connie Lingus, Drew Peacock?

Can work for cities or units, though would be great to read the diplo between nations if they have to refer to these city names!

The naming scheme works even better if you're losing cities- "You can try to seize my Hugh Jarse, but it's gonna cost you!" Or "I'll soon liberate Mai Kok from your greedy clutches!"

[Twinkletoes89]

The naming scheme works even better if you're losing cities- "You can try to seize my Hugh Jarse, but it's gonna cost you!" Or "I'll soon liberate Mai Kok from your greedy clutches!"

I like the thought, but we aren't going to lose cities in this game... just look at mine and Kyan's other RB threads and you'll see just how good we are at keeping our cities...

Or maybe just look at Ky's and forget mine ever existed. Perhaps my sig should be 'I don't lose cities, I simply gift them away'

[Kyan]

We got a hut from the map. Or something like that. It shows us more juicy floodplains and the Mirror of Heaven. As i understand, the tile gives great vision and provides a sun mana (though i dont know how to hook this up. just road it?)

Also, if this is an epic lair, we have to decide what to do about it as a neighbour could turn up any...

[Kyan]

time...

[Kyan]

now...



Oh hai there super scary rushing civ. So, we have problems. Big problems. I have an idea of how to try deal with this. Diplomatically.

I've added Rawkking on gmail chat but he's unavailable to talk until tomoro. He has promised not to pop that dungeon next turn at least (although i dont think he can).

My basic proposal will involve serious meta-gaming about my trustworthiness and about how well rushes have gone in other games. I will make it abundantly clear, and it's the truth, that i have no intention of playing thru the game stunted one way or another so we either make friends with a long term NAP to suit *or* we both get left in the dust. I'll point to the 6mfg and our super defensible capital. I'll point to my record in other games at war (this may be twisted slightly. Technically, i've never had an unsuccessful war. I've never lost a city. I've razed 9 cities and have only ever 'lost' one skirmish in which i still came out on top in hammers in all of my games combined. Although this has all been in one game... a greens game ).

I'm willing to offer them mana deals and other favourable deals down the line. It is completely true that two civs working together *will* pull out ahead of the others. Two that war early and it's not completely decisive, will be pulled back. My goal is to make this clear.