Are we sure we want Hunting before Code of Laws. Exploration I can understand, due to the need to build roads, but Hunting? It is a very expensive tech, and we don't get the 'sever soul' tech until after Knowledge of the Ether.
I'd rather, imho, wait until after Code of Laws to pick up things like ...
Quite possibly. My thoughts for hunting is that it's a worker tech that I definitely want at some point, I am scared of relying on warriors alone for so long, supplies means I can instantly start making hunters, and Aristocracy does decrease food counts and replaces god king, so it isn't a magic bullet at first.
I'll have to figure things out more as the game progresses though. There is definitely a good argument for going CoL first.
Yes, I agree that it will largely depend on the terrain, and various events in-game.
I can certainly see the argument for going Hunting at that time, especially since it takes advantage of your godking turns (ie, faster Hunters under Godking, and get more use out of a civic that you would otherwise pass briefly through)
It is of course, always possible to go Mysticism first (or third, as the case may be) purely for the buildings, without going that civic. Now, under these circumstances, the 1 turn of anarchy probably isn't as important as the lost beakers/gold under Godking. Especially considering that we well might turn our hero into a Shade.
Also, to clarify Godking gives +50% hammers and +50% gold in the capital.
Everyone starts with the same non-heroic scout. And it's not our discussions that caused this - Mardoc is the one who brought it up and he wouldn't have been reading this thread anyway.
You can see a revealed area on the minimap - that's a treasure chest sitting on a one tile lake. It's also on an island, so there's really no rush to grab that. So this is my first idea for where to settle my cities, starting with black dot (settler is a super settler, so T0 settle):
The benefit here as I see it is that I get two city locations right around here, and I can delay mining for quite a bit because I have a lot of farm, calender, and animal husbandry resources. The water tile in the bottom middle is a lake tile, so all of those unforested grasslands are farmable. Overall I like this start right now, and it probably means I should go Agriculture->Calender->Animal Husbandry/Mysticism, and then turn towards mining if these trees keep showing up.
I'll probably end up expanding to the north, because the south looks fairly empty, the west is ocean, and the east is jungle. Anyway, I'll leave this up for a bit and if no one disagrees I'll go settle the south.
Okay, so I settled the Capitol 2S1E, going with my original plan. I moved the scouts north and south, so in a few turns I should hopefully know what's around me. I also revolted into Nationhood to get out of Pacifism.
City Location:
Demographics:
My GNP is 0 because of the anarchy. Anyway, I guess someone is settled on a plains and is working a forest or hill tile, or someone has a production resource to work. 3/4 people only have two production, which means their worked tile is 0 production like me.
A lot of people seem to have 5 food, so some 3 food tile is being worked by most people. The highest GNP is probably perpentach's creative trait. I can't remember exactly how GNP is calculated, or I would probably work out exactly what it is. I thought it was commerce + beakers + gold + culture, but that doesn't seem to be the case (since everyone should theoretically have 8 commerce from palace, 1 commerce from land, and then 9 beakers from that commerce, with 2 culture from palace for 20 gnp. That's clearly not the correct formula.) Maybe it's 50% commerce or something.
Anyway, a rather short turn. Not much to say - I picked a decent city spot and luckily got to make a very informed choice because of the hill tower.
Quick edit: I learned that you can look around after ending turn, and it shows me my non-anarchy stats. I had a GNP of 13, so one lower than highest. Someone is working a commerce tile, just like someone else is working a production tile. Also, my treasure chest went away I might send Merovech a message to see how intentional that is if it doesn't show up again next turn. It's not a huge deal, considering it would take a long time to reach it anyway.
Edit 2: Oh and everyone settled on T0, with one person settling fully inland and everyone else having at least one water tile. Selrahc has an extra worker tech, otherwise the scores would be even.
Moar edits: I also noticed something kind of big: I have the exploration tech. Everyone else has the same score, so everyone must have gotten a bonus tech. Perpentach probably got exploration as well, but I have no idea what the others got since they all already start with exploration. Illians are starting with three techs, which must be pretty nice. They might just rush straight for priests and skip worker techs.
Techs were mentioned in the start, before you get here: Everyone gets exploration; if they already have exploration, they get crafting instead. The Illians also got Agriculture to compensate for not using Stasis.
I am pretty sure than GNP is beakers + gold + culture.
Why did you revolt now instead of after you get your first worker out? Workers do not take the pacifism penalty or gain the nationhood bonus.
Also, about the treasure chest; I have no idea. I was having some weird errors with them while making the map-they would sometimes appear and sometimes disappear, with seemingly no rhyme or reason.
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.
I might send Merovech a message to see how intentional that is if it doesn't show up again next turn. It's not a huge deal, considering it would take a long time to reach it anyway.