[SPOILERS]Luddite: A Man, A Plan, An Also-Ran

[luddite]

Yeah I'm pretty sure now that SE of the corn is better for #3. I'll have to see where copper and horse pop up first, though.

[pindicator]

(I went with an incredibly nerdy "Venture Brothers" theme, mostly so I could send out scouts named Henchman 21 and Henchman 24. "They have that perfect henchman combination of expendable, yet invulnerable.")

You have no idea how much my interest in this thread just went up. I was just lazily skimming along until I saw that line

[luddite]

So this map is.... weird, to say the least. Here's what I've explored so far:


Judging from the demos, everyone had identical starts, and so far everything looks very symmetric. We're walled in by mountains in a V shape, which seems to extend upward into the fog as far as I have visibility. To make everything symmetric there's basically two options like that:

/\/\ or \//\\//\
V V
(hopefully that makes sense.)

The thing that worries me is the map size. There's 884 tiles on this map, which is 221 per player. I've explored about 15 tiles north-south and 12 east-west, so If I'm in a box like that first option, that's 180 tiles total and I've already explored nearly all the land I can expect to get. Which is room for like, 6 cities, because so much of it is desert or peaks.

If the land is in the second option, there should be more land to the north that I can explore and settle without competition (because less of the map will get taken up by peaks). On the other hand, that land is also really far away, and it means there will only be a narrow gap in the mountains where I border someone else. I guess I should check for a gap like that, if I don't meet someone else soon.

[Gold Ergo Sum]

My guess is marble and stone are setup in a way to be fought over. With IND, sucks they are there at all.

[luddite]

My guess is marble and stone are setup in a way to be fought over. With IND, sucks they are there at all.

You might be right. Here's what Henchman 21 discovered this turn:


That's an insanely good city site. With 2 lake fish and 4 plains oasis, it'll have 18 food surplus, enough for 9 scientists. If we have to fight for that site (and what i assume is an identical one for the marble) whoever gets them will have a massive advantage. Even if there's sites like that for each player, getting the pyramids on this map will be a gamebreaker.

I'm glad I didn't pick expansive- that bonus would be almost useless on this map. It'll be all about settlers and wonders. And maybe chariot rushes. I kinda suspect that there are strategic resources buried under the jungle there. Should have picked Mali after all...

I've got 3 more turns before my settler is done. I'll move my warrior up north. If I don't find an identical site on the other side, I think I have to consider sending my settler directly for that stone/fish/oasis site (and getting archers to defend it).

[luddite]

Yeah, preeetty sure now that there's just those two marble/stone sites and I have to fight my northern neighbor for them. If that's scooter, and he has horses easily available, I'm probably screwed. Otherwise I have a chance to grab at least one and fortify it with archers. I'm just considering whether it's better to build a "safe" city first, or just go there directly and hope my settler doesn't get intercepted by his scoutin warrior.

[luddite]

Hey ironstar (and others) I have a question for you. Given what we know of the map so far, do you think mist put horses near our capital?

[luddite]

Alright, rethinking everything.

First of- I'm behind. Need to abandon all my stupid long-term plans and just focus purely on rushing. I'm in a terrible position right now, because I still don't know Animal Husbandry or Bronze Working or who my neighbor is. The only advantage I have is that I'll probably get out a settler before anyone else does.

So, I gotta make a hard choice with this settler. If I send it north to the stone site, I risk losing it to a chariot rush, especially if my northern neighbor is Scooter. If I settle it "safely", I risk losing the stone/marble sites forever, especially if it turns out we don't have horses available.

After some consideration, I've decided that I do NOT want to try and claim both sites right away. Doing that would split my defense in half, since they're too far apart to defend both at once. I might even have to split in thirds, since it's possible to send a stack up the center without it being visible from those city sites.

So, do i want to try my own chariot rush? Either up the center, or towards the stone/marble site? Problem is, I can't count on getting horses, and even if I do there's a large chance they'll get slaughtered by War Chariots or spears.

I think my best chance is to rush my settler towards the stone site while teching archery. I'll start building archers there immediately to save it from chariots, tech BW for production/spears, and then tech HBR (which luckily won't take too long on this map), so that I can attack and defend at the same time. With stone and industrious I'll also have the easiest time building the pyramids, so IF i can get those up without dying and IF noone else gets both resource sites I'll be in a great position.

I might also try and build Stonehenge in the stone site, just for culture control.

[luddite]

Also, now that I'm in "duel mode", what should I do with Henchman 21? I could send him north, to scout my neighbor and mess with his worker micro. I could position him to ambush a settler, if my neighbors send it out unescorted like I'm planning to do. Or I could just keep it close to guard the hill.

[ironstar]

What a weird map. Regarding possible map setup, have you considered the possibility that the caps could be closely placed in the centre of the map, protected by the peaks which then point outwards? Don't know if it is even possible, just a thought. Re the henchman, I would suggest slowly exploring around the juicy site and keeping an eye out for a free settler. Even if you can't wack it, you can harass enough to delay a settling. No idea about horses. I guess Mist has an agenda behind the map design but if this includes discouraging chariot rushes by restricting horses, I dunno. Guess we'll just have to research AH and see for ourselves.