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Realms Beyond Forum     Gaming     Civ Game Reporting     Completed Games     Completed Fall From Heaven / EitB     Erebus in the Balance PBEM XXV     [SPOILERS] They're cOMing to taKe mE AWAy! Haha! Hoho.

 
[SPOILERS] They're cOMing to taKe mE AWAy! Haha! Hoho.

#121
March 11th, 2013, 13:54 (This post was last modified: March 11th, 2013, 13:58 by Merovech.)
Merovech Offline
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(March 11th, 2013, 12:57)Qgqqqqq Wrote: Pics?
Anyone go mining first maybe?
@Merovech: don't answer if you consider spoily, but how do you code for a portal?
I thought it needed python...

Check the lurker thread, posts 24 and 25. If you still have questions, ask there.
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.
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#122
March 11th, 2013, 14:22
Qgqqqqq Offline
Quincy Gordon Quell Quimby Quiz Quakemon
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I'm dedlurking frown
Erebus in the Balance - a FFH Modmod based around balancing and polishing FFH for streamlined competitive play.

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#123
March 11th, 2013, 14:48 (This post was last modified: March 11th, 2013, 14:49 by Merovech.)
Merovech Offline
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(March 11th, 2013, 14:22)Qgqqqqq Wrote: I'm dedlurking frown

Oooh. Sorry. Yeah, it's slightly spoilery.
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.
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#124
March 11th, 2013, 16:42
Mardoc Offline
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(March 11th, 2013, 12:57)Qgqqqqq Wrote: Pics?
Not today alright I have taken a bunch, but I haven't found time while I'm at my civ computer to actually get them posted.
Quote:Anyone go mining first maybe?

It's possible, barely. I've just now gotten my second tech, with the Academy, so Mining-first would require someone to start with Crafting. I don't quite remember what each civ starts with. But I'm not really questioning how my foe got a high MFG, I'm questioning why. It's something like 10 to my 4, so that's Palace + center tile, plus 4 forests, plus, oh, a rice farm. At this stage of the game, food seems a lot more important to me. Or commerce, and that's not spiking anywhere but in Balseraph lands (could see going mining first if we'd moved to put the gems in the capital, maybe). The only reason I can think of is to use a multiplier, since they apply to hammers but not food. Which...again, can pretty much only be HK building a settler. Which seems crazy to me, given how far behind I am on improved tiles, and I'm the only one who went 2x worker. I'm mostly trying to figure out if I'm crazy or my foe is.

As for the portal...a guess, if Merovech has uber-planning skillz. I think the default behavior is to put the outlet at (0,0). Maybe if he planned the portal before he started the map, he put the intended destination at (0,0) and built from there.
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#125
March 11th, 2013, 19:04
Merovech Offline
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I refuse to answer any speculation on the portal mischief, but I can tell you that Selrahc, Ellimist, and HK all started with Crafting.
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.
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#126
March 13th, 2013, 10:50
Mardoc Offline
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At the circus, things are humming along. We grew to size 5, finished our 2nd built warrior (3rd total), finished Crafting, and started on a settler. It's tempting to grow to 6 first, but I've only three and a half improved tiles to work, so I figure it's better to let the workers catch up.

Mining and the settler are both due in about 10-12 turns, don't remember exactly without the game in front of me. So after the settler, another worker must be next in queue, assuming barbs aren't yet a problem. We'll have gems to mine, silks to chop and plantation, and likely a bunch of tiles to chop and farm, all ASAP. Plus it'd be nice to finish the road to the furs, build one to the sheep, mine a few hills. A secondary benefit of silks + gems, of course, is another +2 happy, in addition to the commerce. So we're going to need to go from our 3.5 improved tiles to 15, fairly quick-like. Plus prepare for city 3. This is why I don't trust two workers to be enough, especially given the number of tiles that take 8+ worker turns to have fully improved (chop, road, plant or farm or...)

We're still Cha/Cre/Arc, and I'm now banking on staying that way for the next 15 turns or so, enough to get city 2 planted and its borders popped. Looks like about a 63% chance that happens. And..hmm. I only really care about Cre at the moment - odds of swapping to a new package that's also Cre are...looks like 27%, if I swap (chance of non-Cre is 10/11 * 9/10 * 8/9). So a total odds of ~26% of losing Cre before I'm ready to lose it. And a short enough time that a linear approximation is about right, each turn I open to find the same traits, is about 1.7% more likely to keep Cre until city2 borders pop.

City 3 is less dependent on its second ring, and after that I ought to have the chance to pick up Festivals, so I'm less worried about keeping Cre after that. Not that it really matters, it's not under control wink. Although it would hurt not to have the Oasis and gems on schedule, the city would still be worth having for the silks and farms, while I worked on a way to pop its borders

In foreign news, Selrahc gave me directions to meet HK. [paranoia]Or at least that's what he claims they are[/paranoia]. Not that there's any particular reason to doubt him at this point. I kinda want to hide my graphs, but not as much as I want to get a known-civ bonus on the elfy techs. Just because Hunting isn't urgent for me doesn't mean I'm going to ignore it for long smile. But of course I expect HK to get it even sooner.

Here's the picture he gave me, I hope. Can't test the display here where dropbox is banned: [Image: url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fdl.dropbox.com%2Fu%2F...EjJYtmBceg]
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#127
March 23rd, 2013, 08:22
Mardoc Offline
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Q, you're in luck. Today I have both time and energy...and the turn.

So you get pictures today!

First up, scouting reports.
[Image: PBEM25%20King%20Thorgrim.JPG]

I assume King here is about the center of the map. Which means that we've a huge amount of land to claim before we fight! Good thing we're off to such a quick start, comparatively. smile
[Image: PBEM25%20T28%20Midground.JPG]
[Image: PBEM25%20T31%20Scout.JPG]

Next, we've got progress at home: finally have all the tiles improved that we can with current tech. Now the workers will spread out and build a bunch of roads on all the tiles we're unlocking with Mining. First priorities are roads to the city2 hill (to save a turn on settling it) and the silks and sheep. After that, I'll work on roading the tiles that the new city will want as farms. And then the city will be in place, and so will Mining, and we'll be back to not enough worker turns smile
[Image: PBEM25%20T31%20Ringmaster.JPG]

In foreign news - well, I'm confused what people are doing, frankly. I know why I have the GNP edge, and it's pretty much luck. But we've also got a huge edge in Food, and that's something I don't understand. Well...I probably do understand it, actually - given that we're hurting for worker labor, people with only one worker must be hurting worse. Still... jive

Just need to keep pushing that snowball along.
[Image: PBEM25%20T31%20Demos.JPG]

Oh, and in one more bit of foreign news:
Selrahc Wrote:HK's scout died, so he has cancelled his RSVP. Sorry. Damp squib.
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#128
March 23rd, 2013, 08:53
Mardoc Offline
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Err...wait a second. Roading the new city hill won't speed that city, after all, because there's a river in the way. Guess I'll have to settle for roading the hills and forests I intend to improve immediately post-Mining.
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#129
March 28th, 2013, 09:47
Mardoc Offline
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We've had a couple turns since my last update. Boring turns, with nothing newsworthy. The scout keeps finding mediocre land far from home, no techs, no settler, no traits change. Of course, this does mean we're still winning smug.

We've still a GNP lead, although someone found a good chunk more GNP somehow just last turn, so after subtracting culture we're only ahead by 2 bpt anymore. Guessing that's someone figuring out how to work their silks. And we still have a massive Food lead, too.

Settler and Mining are both due in three turns, and I decided to let the scout explore a dungeon now that he's far from home (on the heads I win, tails you lose theory). So the next two turns are going to be especially blah, but then things should start happening again.

I'm still debating the best next tech, though. That's something that needs to be decided fairly soon. Fishing/Sailing would grant us access to island cities and fishy resources; Animal Husbandry would improve the capital, Hunting would get us a bunch of resources too. Then there's Mysticism for Elder Councils, Festivals for all the Balseraph stuff...lots of techs that we want, but it's not clear which is urgent and which isn't.

I guess I lean toward Animal Husbandry, followed by either Hunting or Myst/Festivals. That's the tech whose benefit can be used most quickly. And if I'm going to give the whip a serious showing, I need to start getting smokehouses built.
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#130
March 28th, 2013, 13:11
Qgqqqqq Offline
Quincy Gordon Quell Quimby Quiz Quakemon
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Quote:Q, you're in luck. Today I have both time and energy...and the turn.

Awesome! jive (sorry I didn't notice this before)
What's the other hill giant doing?
He just randomly spawned?

So map wise, it looks like a vague donut shape for areas with hum in the middle?

What are your traits again?

I get the feeling the feeling that animal husbandry isn't particularly necessary (unless there's AH food at the next city sites? Sorry its been a while) as you can mine the sheep for 5 yield as comparedto pasturing it for 5 yield.
Besides your at the happy cap, and slaverys a while a way(?).

I think myst -> festivals would probably be most useful if we're trying to REX atm - with a cap of 8/7 there's no need to open up much more tiles, especially if workers are falling behind.
Erebus in the Balance - a FFH Modmod based around balancing and polishing FFH for streamlined competitive play.

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