[pb40 spoiler] Götterdämmerung: Destruction Is The Masses' Entertainment

[OT4E]

Why do you think the starts are exactly the same? The one could have 1/2/1 tile instead of 2/1/1. Or they could even not have sugar. Starting bfcs here are often very well balanced but not always mirror.

Can you post demoscreen next turn. I dont understand how do you make conclusion about someone planting on sugar.

[Coeurva]

You're right, nobody planted on sugar. Rival Best MFG is 4. Land Area is 8,000 for everyone. Rival Worst GNP is 16.

A 1/2/1 first-ring tile makes EXP FIshing/Mining work boat starts viable. BW first, work 2t 1/2, work 5t 2/1, grow, revolt (SPI would be additionally handy), whip, regrow on 4f2c teching food and improving the "inevitable" copper.

All conjecture, but I think everyone has sugar at the start because a) our start was defogged to suggest a choice between sugar/ph plants, and it would be odd to offer such a choice to some players but not others (even or especially if it's a red herring); b) iirc Commodore likes maps where you have to balance natural hammers against the whip more carefully (plains cow being named after him; ties into his oft-expressed preference for natural-looking maps, I didn't need to ask whether the map was cylindrical) and wouldn't give out asymmetric food advantages. Not saying that starts are identical, but I was assuming that first ring tile yields and number of forests would be the same for everyone, maybe for no good reason.

[OT4E]

Makes sense. But I never thought seriously about given option to plant on sugar. I cant imagine that it is good idea for so called ''newbie pitboss' neither that the one who gave such choice also intended to us to have no other 3f tile to make it viable. For me it looked more like "here is your sugar, but dont even think of planting on it to get advantage".

[Coeurva]

The river and lake make me think this is meant to be a borderland; looks barren, but there are possibly resources north-west to go with the second-ring plains forest deer if settling near the fresh water.

63 or 23? Animal era begins eoT4 iirc (five game turns must have elapsed, right) so the hill should still be safe, I'm seeking out hills for vision. There's water south of that plains hill, which interests me, but also no clear path east (jungles/forests will impede). I'd favour 63, looks like we can swing by the water anyway.

[Coeurva]

[Coeurva]

6 of pigs could be city #2, but maybe it should be city #3 because worker labour will be needed at the capital right around T28 when we would finish both Hunting and the settler, as well as chop into the second worker, so overlapping wheat and adding a 5-yield tile (but with a plains hill centre) could well turn out stronger than going for pigs that are far from our other tiles, and without The Wheel. We'll also probably want (and via chops, can get) a fast third settler.

Scout moves 36 next turn, I think, even though that might run into a ribbon of forests. It's more important not to risk the scout since we'll have one warrior at most before the settler moves out (currently I'm favouring T29 with the warrior fogbusting over T28 with the warrior trailing).

[OT4E]

Was anything special revealed by border expansion?

[Coeurva]

Yes, crabs 777 of capital, which could be worked by a wheat-sharing city; would cost 48h total. Desert incense appeared 363 of capital (already visible above). Moved scout 39 instead of 36.


We're also the only ones with 18 land tiles in the BFC, everyone else has 19. superdeath and s_t gained six points for what I think is Mining.

[Coeurva]

The tile 22 of incense is a plains cow, and MSci gained 6 points for Mining (Rival Worst Soldiers is no longer 0). Next scout move 96 onto grass forest hill. We've defogged just about 120 land tiles, but met nobody yet; if everyone is scouting in a counter-clockwise semicircle, then that's no wonder.

If we find no sensible city site to our east, I'll start sandboxing how best to settle the two western dots.

[OT4E]

So far the land is not lushy as expected. Need to review expansion strategy. Anyway planting to the western sheep is not very good move in terms of grabbing territory and further expansion, so I am for seeking for better location and may be delaying settler.