[SPOILERS] Isabella of Carthage, starring Ellimist, SleepingMoogle, and Nicolae

[Ellimist]

Just found out some interesting stuff about technology mechanics in Civ IV.

The overflow is calculated by the modifiers from the PREVIOUS Technology. Therefore, if you finished researching Writing this turn, and you had all THREE optional requirements, the overflow beakers which applied to your next technology would be equal to however many you had left USING THE MODIFIERS FOR Writing after finishing Writing. So, your Requirements modifier would be 1.6 (1.2 * 3). So, you could conceivable get a significant boost toward your next tech OVER WHAT YOU SHOULD HAVE GOTTEN if you have a lot of overflow.

Apparently once the multipliers are figured out for a tech, they overflow without being divided out again. The catch is that the overflow isn't subject to the multipliers for the new tech.
This actually explains a lot about how we got so much overflow after researching writing. Being aware of how this works could lead to more efficient micro decisions.

[SevenSpirits]

That's an outdated post. Overflow works completely sanely now.

[Ellimist]

Eh. No wonder I hadn't heard this mentioned elsewhere on RB.

[SleepingMoogle]

Hmm, Kuro wants the Stone? I'm guessing he wants to go into Pyramid wonderland then because Rep and Phi powered specialists can be quite scary. Well, I wouldn't want to lend him Stone for that if we can avoid it.. let him invest as many Hammers as possible. It's probably worth the investment in his case, but it'll be a large investment this early that slows down his expansion.

Would it make sense to invest a few hammers into the Gardens once we do have Stone (while regrowing in between whips for example)? Someone is bound to build them eventually so we get some failgold out of it, and if they tarry for too long, we get a good wonder out of it that will really pay for itself by that time through whipping power.

Edit:
Considering it like this:

With Stone, a Forge and OR, we only need 120 hammers to actually build the Gardens. And a whip going into a structure will generate 45 hammers per pop point. So there really is something to be said for chopping it out if we can get our hands on that Stone resource for a few turns.

[Ellimist]

We gave NH the stone as part of our settling deal. There was no way we could get them to give it up, so we promised to trade it to them whenever we happen to control it. In exchange, they are settling a bit further back than they would have otherwise.

[SleepingMoogle]

Heh, I haven't really been keeping track of diplomacy. What are we getting in return for it? Because if it's just them settling where they are now, we are definitely at the short end of that deal.

Very well, we don't have Masonry as of yet right? So let's delay that as much as possible while keeping control of the stone tile. Or if we do, delay the quarry as much as possible.

[Ellimist]

We have masonry. It was a prerequisite for monotheism, which we needed for OR. I have plans to have the stone quarried quite soon. I'm going to use it to get Moai into Sirius in the 1-2 turns before it's traded. I really don't have much problem with them sinking tons of early hammers into stone wonders on a map this fertile.

We indeed didn't get that much out of the deal with NH. Mostly, what we got was a nice stable border with a peaceful neighbor. (I let them talk me into a NAP lol.) However, we got to settle Arcturus where I wanted it, and we won't be at risk of losing more than about 2 tiles to their culture. The food and forests at Arcturus will help us gain control of the center island, which I think will be key. Meanwhile we won't be losing ground to NH on the donut and Kuro has a bunch of jungle in his way.

The center island seems like the best way for us to capitalize on the Colossus. If we put a lighthouse in those coastal cities, we'll have plenty of 2/0/3 coastal tiles to work until the workers can catch up with land based improvements. If we focus first on settling seafood resources, we can have Arcturus produce the workboats and get rapid initial growth.

[Ellimist]

Thanks to another 24+ hour delay from the HRE team, I had the chance to do a bit more map analysis.

First, I did a census of the known land tiles on the map. Keep in mind that there's a good chunk of the map that is still fogged. (This is based on my projections based on the observations.) What I discovered is that there are apparently 9 fewer land tiles than my projection would indicate. I suspect that some of these are 1 tile lakes (such as the one south of Pollux) but I expect to see several lake tiles on the center island, probably in the center. A 3x3 lake in the center of the map is possible.

Code:

Starting Islands: 26 * 4 =
104

Carthage section: 72 + 17 + 50 =
139 (+9 center strip) = 148

Malinese Section: 65 + 21 + 51 =
137 (+9 center strip) = 146

HRE section: 71 + 18 + 51 =
140 (+9 center strip) = 149

Ottoman section: 72 + 19 + 51 =
142 (+9 center strip) = 151

Total Donut: 148 + 146 + 149 + 151
594

Map total excluding center: 594 + 104 =
698

Center island: 778 - 698 =
80

Should be:
(22*4)+1 = 89

Second, I started the initial dotmapping of the center island based on known seafood resources. Obviously this will change as we uncover more land. (Seafood is marked dark blue, Incense is marked pink.)



Most recent full map:

I didn't mark seafood outside the central sea because it isn't particularly relevant at the moment.

[Ellimist]

I apparently miscalculated the Arcturus micro. The wet corn requires 5 worker-turns to farm instead of 4. After putting in the first 2 worker turns this past turn, I diverted a worker from Regulus to make sure the farm is completed next turn. Apparently having a road to Arcturus itself is not needed either, so (for now) I'm planning on skipping 2 of the road sections(the forest 2E of Regulus and the Arcturus horse.)

Right now, my plan is something like:

T85: The three workers finish the corn farm.
T86: Two of the three workers move to the horse and finish a pasture.
T86: The third worker moves onto a forest.
T87: One worker begins chopping a forest.
T87: Two workers move to 1N of Arcturus and build a road.
T88: Two workers move to the stone tile and begin a quarry.
T88: City grows to size 2 at eot.
T89: Stone quarry is completed.
T90: Road on the stone is completed.
T90: Forest chop is completed. (+30 hammers)

Would it still be worthwhile to whip the granary? Or better to wait for a chop? Perhaps having two workers chop the same forest(finishing on T88) would be better?

[Ellimist]

T86 finished. The Kashi Vishwanath(Hindu shrine) was built in Canopus this turn, giving us an extra 3 gpt after Regulus gained Hinduism.

We're currently #3 in city count, but overall I think we're doing quite well. We're currently at 8 workers and 6 cities, but our cities are well developed. For example, 3 of our cities have Hinduism, 4 of them have forges, and 5 have granaries. Libraries are the only major building we currently lack that our opponents have.
We're getting caught up on worker labor rather quickly, we haven't had to work very many unimproved tiles. All cities have a one-unit garrison of an axe or warrior. I can see us producing at least 5 settlers by T91, and probably more soon after that. Personally, I think we'll be able to afford such rapid expansion thanks to currency, the Colossus, and courthouses(if needed).

Currency is currently due at eot90(4 more turns) at 100% science. However we have 107 gold on hand and are losing 30 gpt, so we only have enough for 3.5 more turns at 100%. I'll try to squeeze it in on T90, but it may not come until T91. Luckily for us Jkaen just discovered currency and Kuro already has it, so we're getting some nice multipliers.

Current plan regarding the Arcturus workers:

T86 Francisco and Hernán move onto the forest 1NW of Arcturus.
T87 Lucas puts 1T of road 1N of Arcturus on T87
T87 Francisco and Hernán start chopping the forest. They finish on T88.
T88 Lucas starts building a road on the stone. He finishes on T89.
T89 Francisco finishes the road 1N of Arcturus.
T89 Hernan starts building a quarry on the stone.
T90 All 3 workers finish the stone quarry.

Sirius plan:

T86 Sirius put 2 hammers into a Hindu missionary.
T87 Sirius builds anything other than a missionary or settler.
T88 Missionary is whipped(77/40 hammers). 37 overflow translates to 29 base hammers.
T89 Sirius resumes building the settler that was whipped earlier(132/100). The forge multiplier leads to 46 hammers from 29 overflow and 8 base production. The city surplus of 9 puts settler production at 187/100 at eot. 87 overflow translates to 69 base overflow.
T90 We start on Moai. We get 8 base production from working both mines, and the forest chop is completed for another 30 hammers. 69 overflow plus 38 is 107 base hammers, and we'll have multipliers of +150%. Moai should finish in one turn with 267/250 hammers.

Canopus:

Settler finishes eot87.
Another settler finishes eot91.

Our next great person is a maximum of 39 turns away. (If we don't increase GPP production at Canopus and don't produce another GP somewhere else first.)

I'd actually like to build the Statue of Zeus if possible. With Ivory, it will only require 120 base hammers, and Canopus can produce at least 19 per turn, so it won't be much of a detour.

I'm not sure what to build next in Pollux(lighthouse/library/worker/settler.) It currently has 34 hammers of overflow and 17 turns of whip anger. (It needs 2 turns to grow to size 3 again.)
If we chop the forest 1N of Pollux next turn, we can build a worker in one turn with 42 overflow(28 base overflow.) If we chop and build a settler, we'll be at 85/100 at eot. We could then let the city grow a bit if we postpone finishing the settler until we were ready for it.

Regulus just finished a forge this turn. It currently has 15 turns of whip anger and is currently at size 5. It's working 1 unimproved forest(I'd like to work an engineer specialist until we get enough improved tiles).
I'd like to let it grow to size 6 next turn, then start slow building a settler(which will take 5 turns) We'll also be able to finish 2 chops soon and I'm thinking a library or temple would be good.

Denebola is working the fish/gold now. Lighthouse is the obvious next build so the city can grow onto the coastal tiles, and then a library. Whipping might even be appropriate here. Eventually we should put some farms on the 3 grassland river tiles to the east.

Arcturus will grow to size two eot88, at the same time that it finishes its granary with a chop(8 base overflow). After that it will start on a galley, to be chopped or whipped when it's needed. After the first galley, I expect to build several more boats, most likely a second galley, some workboats, and even triremes.
The city currently has 3 workers present and will be seeing some major terrain upgrades soon.
T90 Stone quarry.
T91 Horse pasture.
T92 Corn farm(dry).


As far as exploration goes, we still have 3 units active and revealing territory. Arctic Dawn located the borders of one of Jkioan's inland cities this turn, and is on its way to get visibility of NH's 2 remaining island cities. Meanwhile we once again have visibility on all(8) of Kuro's cities, and our southwestern scout will proceed northward along the coast next. Our other scout found some more seafood on the eastern side of the central sea, and will head south next.


EDIT: I'll try to get some pictures soon. Lately I haven't had much time for it.