I made a very strong plan for Oracle in PBEM29g (together with slowcheetah), I'd be up for trying that again. It might require a delay of Pottery and it would set back our early expansion a bit. On the flip side, landing Oracle and grabbing Metal Casting would give us a strong naval presence, give us access to forges and all but guarantee us the Colossus.
Yeah, when we built it we researched Pottery the turn before completing it. We might want to do that differently this time with half cost granaries, will need to look into it more closely. Gut feel tells me it's still best to wait if we only care about completion date.
Do you know how to set up a simulation? If we're serious about landing Oracle we will need to optimize every single move, otherwise we will lose several turns. Also, Mysticism is not really a factor. Grabbing MC is by far the strongest option, so any technology you need for MC helps you along the path. Which means starting with Mining and Wheel helps an Oracle plan just as much as Mysticism and Agriculture. But yeah, IND players will be gunning for it. And with IND unrestricted, we'll probably see two IND players.
IMP, PHI, IND and CHA will be the most popular unrestricted picks, AGG and PRO will not be used. Maybe AGG if someone wants to mess about.
Among the restricted picks, I think SPI and CRE will be more popular than ORG. ORG isn't bad, but I don't think anyone will pick it if it means passing up SPI and CRE. That allows for the following 8 combinations with which to choose 5 leaders.
SPI - IMP/PHI/IND/CHA
CRE - IMP/PHI/IND/CHA
1st pick: Either SPI/IND or CRE/IND, to discourage other players from picking it.
2nd pick: SPI/PHI has great synergy. If someone picks this, we should watch out for them trying to grab the Oracle and using a great engineer from a forge to rush Pyramids.
3rd pick: CRE/IMP might be decent for early expansion.
4th pick: CRE/PHI also a good choice for Pyramids, able to rush cheap libraries everywhere
5th pick: CRE/IND would be in part a denial pick, not wanting the other IND player to run away with too many wonders
Catwalk Wrote:As mentioned above, I think early religion would be a waste of beakers. I would prefer waiting until Code of Laws or Philosophy, unless we decide to make a play for Oracle (in which case we need Priesthood and can pick up Monotheism while we're at it).
I think this is very good advice; you're practically creative.
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.
Catwalk Wrote:Why thank you, I do try to be practical
Will you be joining the newbie fest Merovech? Always room for more!
You know, I should have thought of this beforehand; I'd have loved to join. I've seen the map idea, however (although not anything like resource placement). So I think I'll probably stop by often and I won't read anyone else's threads, but my advice and comments will be pretty guarded until ya'll figure out the map design.
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.
thestick Wrote:Oh yeah, Pyramids and Great Lighthouse are banned. Also, no Change Civics/Religion for Spies, no Nukes, no Corporations, no cheese AP wins, and no War Elephants.
so sian has picked vikings - hunting/fishing - clearly hoping for a coastal start with deer haha
