(May 11th, 2013, 17:50)Qgqqqqq Wrote: Pop the graveyard first as its an instant, then come back IMO.
That was my first thought as well. But I was taking a second look at it just now and realized that the graveyard is on a bit of a peninsula, so any barb spawns will cut off any chance of escape for the scout. 40% chance of that happening according to Dave's excellent post here. If I do the dungeon first there's a higher chance of a "bad" result, but should be lower chance of the scout not escaping (cage, death, 2-move barbs). Not sure though; during testing it seemed that disappearing forever was by far the most common result.
Quiet turns, just following the micro plan. Got an event for 30 gold, so that's something.
Scout found a goblin fort on the landbridge to the south; garrisoned by an archer and a goblin so no way to safely pass by. He diverted up north, finding all sorts of fun things to try popping.
Demos dump:
I was really surprised that no one grew in this time period, meaning everyone must have gone worker first. I had been expecting the rival best crop yield of 5 to be growing...why work the oasis over the deer if you're building a worker? Guessing it must be whoever went for the GE nevermind, this can't be right. On T3, rival best production was 9 (must be GE) and rival best crop yield was still 5. So someone else is emphasizing beakers; worker finishes same time regardless.
Everyone except TBS finished what must be agriculture (he started with it) and moved onto a tech with prereq bonus. I'm gonna guess that's calendar in most cases, although HK or WK could be going for mining (takes longer to get there, and no food bonus, but the gems is strictly a better tile, chopping, mines, etc).
In chat, TBS mentioned seeing his first barb on T7, also saying he seriously underestimated our distance from each other. Still no contacts for me either.
So the dilemma of what to pop first resolved itself nicely with the appearance of a wolf N-NE of my scout. I'm a sucker for free experience and just couldn't resist. Didn't take too much damage; will take C1 and heal while popping the dungeon. Another benefit is that the scout is now lvl 2 and so can't just disappear into the dungeon. C'mon great person!
Notice too the coast to the NW of scout's current position. Deer is not fresh water, so I think I've just passed through one of those E-W chokepoints I theorized about earlier and am officially in someone else's territory. Choke point is 13 tiles from my capital, which seems a bit far for midway between two civs. 1432 land tiles, so we've each got ~240 tiles = 20*12 rectangle. We might not be exactly centered within chokepoints then (and no guarantees that all sides have them).
Demos
-Score: Yell0w's capital has grown, indicated by his 4 point increase. This makes sense, since his industrious bonus got his worker out in the same amount of time as my RoB powered start did (FH: 8,8,8,9,9 = 50). Growth should be in 4 turns (3 turns oasis, 1 turn farmed corn) after worker, so we might see some people growing in a couple turns. Will be interesting to see if HK (other ind leader) also grows this turn (I'll see it next turn). This also explains the power numbers...
-Power: Yell0w also finishes a warrior this turn. He gets 4 hammers during max growth right now, so that works out perfectly.
-GNP: looks like everyone is going for a tech with a prereq. Rival best should be Yell0w, working corn and oasis to match my GNP. Sian must still be working the deer, or his would be higher. Double worker opening like mine...? Someone is because...
-Crop yield: low is still 3, which means center tile plus one more from the deer. Only makes sense to do that while making a worker, right? High is Yell0w. We'll see who's going 2x workers first (or worker-settler..? nah!) next turn; should be whoever doesn't grow in the next couple of turns (next turn in HK's case)
-production: as mentioned before, someone with a GS is still configured for max hammers.
I've made an adjustment to the micro plan, inserting one more warrior before the settler. Costs one turn on the settler and 6 beakers, so both mining and settler will finish EOT 24; 2nd city settled turn 25. The thing is, my preferred first city site (C1) needs two forests outside my culture to be preroaded. I'm much more comfortable doing that with 3 warriors covering that with only 2. C2 would be easier to found, but just isn't quite as good. Pre-border pops it only has 4 farmable tiles and 2 mines; C1 can work 7 farms and 3 mines. Hrm, happy cap will only be 7 with all 3 visible happy resources. If I do original micro plan, C2 would be founded T25 with no roading outside borders required. Hrrrmmm. Q, any thoughts? Decision needs to be made before next turn.
On the home front our second worker was born. Stacked the 2 of them and put a turn each into farming the cow and a riverside grassland, so in position to start planting the incense next turn.
Turns out I was wrong about decisions needing to be made; nothing will change until after our anarchy (agrianism + religion) next turn. After messing a bit though, I've decided C2 should actually be the first city. It has fewer good tiles first ring and is 2F short of C1 at size 6, but it's much faster starting. C1 doesn't match C2's food surplus until size three, and even founding a turn later, C2 would hit size 3 faster. Part of this is I want to mine the gems ASAP, so it'll be more convenient for the worker force. Plus, C2 can work the gems, letting the Paradigm grab more food hammers for the next settler.
I've also done even more messing with the micro plan. By farming the gems and going commerce heavy, I'm able to get mining done EOT 23. C2 will be settled T26, and should only have 2 turns of working the corn unimproved.
Scout eagerly awaits my next great person!
Notice anything unexpected about those screenshots? Hint: ya'll are dropping the ball on helping this newbie out with game mechanics.
Demos:
Lots of interesting stuff going on here:
Score: as expected, HK grew on T9 (same as Yell0w); ind giving them a leg up on everyone. WK followed suit, growing on T10 (I see it T11 b/c he's after me in turn order). If Sian's growing, I should have seen it this turn (he should be 2 turns behind Yell0w, 1 turn getting worker, 1 turn longer to build farm due to that worker being a lazy elf). He did get a tech T10, which is 6 turns after agriculture; he's getting 15-17 beakers/turn, oasis first turn, so 92-102b, plus a couple overflow from agriculture = must be AC. Not enough for anything else (barring beaker events, gah!). Oh, and TBS finally got his first tech: has to be calendar, right? Interesting that WK hasn't grown yet, worker-worker?
Crop yield: Rival worst CY went from 3 to 8 on Turn 11, so that means both WK and Sian have finished their corn farms and are working them.
Power: People are losing scouts now. Yell0w lost his, and someone other than Sian lost one as well (best drops to 7, worst to 3).
What, is he not healing? I actually didn't know that. I'll make sure to note it for the future...
Merovech's Mapmaking Guidelines:
0. Player Requests: The player's requests take precedence, even if they contradict the following guidelines.
1. Balance: The map must be balanced, both in regards to land quality and availability and in regards to special civilization features. A map may be wonderfully unique and surprising, but, if it is unbalanced, the game will suffer and the player's enjoyment will not be as high as it could be.
2. Identity and Enjoyment: The map should be interesting to play at all levels, from city placement and management to the border-created interactions between civilizations, and should include varied terrain. Flavor should enhance the inherent pleasure resulting from the underlying tile arrangements. The map should not be exceedingly lush, but it is better to err on the lush side than on the poor side when placing terrain.
3. Feel (Avoiding Gimmicks): The map should not be overwhelmed or dominated by the mapmaker's flavor. Embellishment of the map through the use of special improvements, barbarian units, and abnormal terrain can enhance the identity and enjoyment of the map, but should take a backseat to the more normal aspects of the map. The game should usually not revolve around the flavor, but merely be accented by it.
4. Realism: Where possible, the terrain of the map should be realistic. Jungles on desert tiles, or even next to desert tiles, should therefore have a very specific reason for existing. Rivers should run downhill or across level ground into bodies of water. Irrigated terrain should have a higher grassland to plains ratio than dry terrain. Mountain chains should cast rain shadows. Islands, mountains, and peninsulas should follow logical plate tectonics.
(May 17th, 2013, 06:23)Qgqqqqq Wrote: Maybe you have to set the scout to heal first, and then cast the spell?
Or some other obscure mechanic...
It turns out to be a moot point.
Still no contacts, and it's looking to be quite awhile before I find people. Might not be until moroi and I dare send more explorers out (not going hunting anytime soon).
![[Image: Civ4_Screen_Shot0002.jpg]](http://s8.postimage.org/4vzd592id/Civ4_Screen_Shot0002.jpg)
