[SPOILERS - PBEM19] Huayna Capac of Ottomans - yuris125 & Maestro

[yuris125]

T3: After staring on the map for some time, I decided to gamble. The hill 1E of the elephants seems to have water both to the east and to the north, and it hugely decreases chances that someone can sneak onto the tile 3NE of the capital unnoticed. So it's very likely that whoever wants to walk into our capital will need at least 3 turns, and we will be able to build an emergency Warrior. And if we don't... well, then we lost the gamble

Moved Till Lindemann NW, unfogged jungle gems and two hill tiles. There is ocean 1W of the northern hill. Also changed the details of our civ



I wonder if we should set up a password for our civ

I'm tempted to move NW-SW before turning back - this will give us much more information than moving SW immegiately, but delay Warrior's return by a few more turns. Maybe we should concentrate Till Lindemann on exploration of the West, and send the 2nd Warrior east?

[yuris125]

Played with the worldbuildered game. The earliest I managed to get the Oracle was on T35, and that was when I founded the 2nd city on the Wine 1S2W of the capital, getting a 3-commerce city tile, and an immediate trade route between two cities. However, this city location is weak, the hill 1W of it is much stronger - but it needs a road for a trade route. With the 2nd city there, Oracle was built on T37. I don't think we can get it earlier than T35 with all the techs we need, I can't find a way to tech faster

Bottom line is - Oracle ETA is between T35 and T40, depending on the placement of our second city. Sounds late

Maestro, what's your best Oracle build?

[Maestro]

Hey yuri. Sorry for the slow response; I've had two weddings in the last two days, so free time has been limited. I'll be more responsive starting tomorrow. I know that my first builds all finished the Oracle somewhere between turns 35 and 37. We probably won't be able to do better than that, but we can plan what to build along the way.

[yuris125]

Two weddings in two days... wow. Hope you had some fun, at least

T4: Moved the Warrior 1NW, revealed a bunch of forest tiles. Nothing exciting, but will post a screen later anyway

Commodore and Ranamar got a tech this turn, I assume it's Agri for both, but will think more in the evening

I ended up setting a password for us, it is Hu1cA2. Not that I think anyone at RB would open our save on purpose, but it might happen accidentally

[yuris125]

Here is how the world looks (the Warrior is on the gems tile)



I will move onto the hill SW next turn, then probably turn around and go in generally eastern direction along the southern coast

[yuris125]

We're at the end of T4, so 5 turns are played. There was no change in power and population demos, so I'm going to assume everyone went Worker first

Score of Commodore and Ranamar increased by 6, so they both discovered a tech this turn. With no power increase, I don't think it can be anything other than Agri

Now, some C&D - this attempt will probably look pathetic for experienced players The facts:

• Expansive bonus in Worker production is not reflected in the demos: if you have 4 hammers and get a 1 hammer bonus, MFG Goods is still 4
  
• I don't think any tile produces 1 food + 3 hammers unimproved - correct me if I'm wrong
  
• Rival worst crop yield is 3, so nobody is working a 0 food tile
  

From all this, I guess Ranamar has a plains hill capital (I wonder if everyone does), and works a 1/2 tile. With the bonus, he produces 5h+1f towards a Worker, and will finish him in 7 turns. Our own will finish in 8 turns, so Ranamar will have a 1t advantage on us. Not that I uncovered anything new with this analysis

[Maestro]

I've been looking at this, and I think turn 36-37 is the best we'll be able to do for the Oracle. The limiting factor here is tech, as we discover Priesthood on turn 35 (going through Polytheism. We could probably get is on turn 34 going through meditation). Using 3 chops + some whip overflow I was able to get 96/100 hammers into Oracle on turn 36. With better overflow we might be able to 1-turn it.

The build order I used was:

1. Worker
   
2. Warrior (Grow to size 2)
   
3. Worker
   
4. Settler (1 chop)
   
5. Revolt to Slavery
   
6. Warrior (Grow to size 3)
   
7. Worker
   
8. Settler (1 chop)
   
9. Granary (Whipped the turn before priesthood popped)
   
10. Oracle (3 chops)
    

Summary: 2 settlers, 3 workers, 3 warriors (2 built, 1 starting), Granary, Oracle. The granary whip was not optimal, as it sill had 2 turns to completion. Subbing in a warrior for better overflow could get us Oracle in 1 turn.

I teched AH -> Mining -> BW -> Myst -> Poly -> Priest.

I think Ranamar is our primary competition for the Oracle. His leader-civ combo just screams Metal Casting slingshot. However, as I mentioned before, tech is the limiting factor for Oracle, and we're financial. The extra commerce from sheep should get us to priesthood a turn faster than him. However, if he goes meditation, we might lose that advantage.

Bottom line: We'll need to consider Meditation vs. Polytheism. If we drop a turn of research, build a warrior instead of granary, and get a better whip overflow, we could land it on 35.

[yuris125]

Looks good, but

I teched AH -> Mining -> BW -> Myst -> Poly -> Priest.

We also need Pottery, as it's required for MC

I also thought about going through Meditation, but it ultimately will depend on whether Buddhism will still be available. If we tech the religion branch, not grabbing a religion would be a waste

I think Ranamar is our primary competition for the Oracle. His leader-civ combo just screams Metal Casting slingshot.

As does ours

I will post my plan in an hour or so

[Maestro]

Yeah, that tech path was a typo. I did get pottery between Bronze Working and Mysticism.

Also, I'm glad you're doing some C&D / demo tracking. I have zero experience with it, and it honestly doesn't sound super exciting to me.

[yuris125]

I also have zero experience, and there is no guarantee my findings are correct But why not try