[SPOILERS] Bismark of Sumeria (luddite + Atlas1998)

[Cyneheard]

Frankly, your intentional fail-gold plan was exactly why I (am going to) put it into RB Mod (the coding's done, I just haven't posted it because it's such a minor change and I hadn't wanted to deal with it). I wasn't trying to block fail-gold in general, but this specific case where you both build the wonder AND get the fail-gold for falling short. It's about closing off a (rarely used) loophole, rather than trying to re-do the entire system. Also, once a loophole gets found on RB, it's more likely to be used again.

Agreed, this is one of the few situations where a player can double-build a wonder without much risk (runaway tech leader knocks out Statue?). However, if there's a game where there's only one Ind player, I think there'd be a lot more room for double-building abuse.

[luddite]

Yeah, I guess it would have a lot more potential for abuse if I was the only industrious player. Or if I had a monopoly on marble or stone.

[NobleHelium]

How exactly are you changing the fail-gold mechanic in the RB mod?

[Cyneheard]

How exactly are you changing the fail-gold mechanic in the RB mod?

Very simple:

If you finish a wonder, you don't get fail gold if it's half-built in any of your other cities. Otherwise, it's unchanged.

That applies to both National Wonders (which never give gold) and World Wonders (which still give gold if someone else finishes it), although the coding is different, I believe. And the game helpfully tells you that you get a 0g refund.

Stone/Marble monopolies should be fairly rare in RB games, although if we ran more weekly multiplayer games it would be different. Still, it could happen.

[luddite]

An interesting peace offer from Mackoti

I just got a great scientist what you think about this:

-i give you the great scientist
-peace until turn 140
-you give pe the city of peace monger
-i gift the city with ivory and gems
regards,
Mackoti

I'm not going to give him back that city of course. But maybe I can get the scientist from him anyway, after taking the ivory/gems city.

[luddite]

So, my economy SUCKS right now. I'm barely breaking even 0% science, and it's only the pillage gold that's gotten me this far on aesthetics. And I'm still building 2 settlers. But that's ok, this was planned for.


It's time to exploit the best part of of Sumeria: Ziggurats


I'm building 4 right now. My cities are all paying 4 to 5 maintenance right now, so building these is like getting an extra trade route. And as a bonus, I'll have way more espionage than anyone else for a while.

Peacemonger just came out of revolt this turn. What great city I'll have it set up with a ziggurat and a forge very quickly, and then it can start making workers and settlers.


I wrestled for a long time about where to plant my GG. Basically, wherever I put it is where I'll eventually build the heroic epic. The capital would be the best choice right now- it could immediately start pumping out 5XP units! However, Murphy's is the best choice in the long run. I'm going to make the capital a cottage city, but Murphy's is not much good for anything besides production. Unfortunately, I still need to make a temple here, after it puts as many hammers as possible into the colossus. The colossus gold should get me literature, but I want the shrine gold quickly too.


Mackoti has a spear and an archer guarding that southern city. He also has a chariot hidden somewhere, probably hoping I'll forget about it so it can zip back and retake the last city. I'm moving my first units down to stop him chopping out more units, but I'll wait for Debaser (8xp CR2 vulture) to get there, to take the city.

[luddite]

Also, I'd like take a moment to recap just how utterly absurd my strategy has been so far.

Step 1: settle backwards, away from other players, minimizing my land grab. On the northernmost edge of the map, in fact.
Step 2: rush the oracle, and an early religion too (both meditation AND polytheism , plus sailing to spread the religion).
Step 3: continue wonderspamming, with a forge GE for the great library, and the colossus.
Step 4: attempt to settle aggressively with no military. Lose the settling race.
Step 5: Switch gears to ancient era, galley warfare. Crash the economy by building units, and also completely change the attack plan at the last minute. Invade into chariots, with a force of almost pure vultures (which I guess most people think are a bad unit, since they also lose to regular axes).
...? Profit?
I've broken almost every rule of Civ in this game, but it's actually working out pretty well. The forges have been really helpful- not so much in hammers saved, but in allowing me to build up more suddenly than you'd expect, and catch mackoti before he was ready. The extra happiness in my capital was also crucial. I just wish my religion would spread better- plako's has already spread twice as far as mine.

I've got more growth potential than just about anyone- I'd say me, plako, and Lord Parkin have the best positions right now, although it's hard to directly compare since we're all in very different situations. Plako's got the best economy right now, Parkin has the most cities and resources, and I have the most land to expand into, as well as the most secure defensive position. Being isolated might have been annoying early on, but now it'll really help me.

Locke, SleepingMoogle, and Nakor/gaspar are in the middle position- they've all got a good number of cities and tech, but I think it'll be hard for them to get in the lead unless they make a surprise move very soon (and they might surprise me, since I have almost no idea what these guys have been doing). They might try to declare war on someone for more territory, right now. Earlier I was trying to get SleepingMoogle to declare on Mackoti, but now it would actually be better for me if he didn't. Nakor/gaspar have a surprisingly large military, so I was sort of expecting them to try something, but plako has a large military as well.

Mackoti, WarriorKnight, Adlain, and regoarrar are stuck at the bottom. They've all made some pretty serious mistakes in this game, and I think they'll either become someone's permanent ally, or be cannibalized by a larger civ. Mackoti and WarriorKnight lost a war (not WarriorKnight's fault of course, but he still has to deal with the mess), regoarrar/sunrise sacrificed far too much to get the GLH, and Adlain seems to have microed badly while chasing religion.

[Ellimist]

Do you already have the great engineer?

[luddite]

Do you already have the great engineer?

I'll get him in about 5 turns.

[Ilios]

Thanks for the recap, you make some very good points there!

How long do you intend to wage war with Mackoti?