As a French person I feel like it's my duty to explain strikes to you. - AdrienIer

Create an account  

 
Clan 9 From Outer Space

Ah, that's what happened last turn - Bob and I analysed the demographics to try and work out what Dreylin had done:

Irrelevant stuff, but interesting discussion:
Bob: catching up with the Civfanatics EitB discussion...
I assume you are aware of this by now thanks to our naval duel, but Triemes cannot take Longshoreman
me: Haha
Fool!
I have one with Longshoreman
Bob: they are stuck at 2 moves unless you get enough promotions for navigation
eh? what, upgraded?
me: That would be telling!
Haha no
They can't get Longshoreman because they don't have cargo slots
So....
Bob: ah. Hm, that sacrifices a bit of power tho
me: Well sure
Bob: is it really cost effective?
me: But one move versus C1...it's a decision
Bob: I mean a galley costs like half as much, and with C1 is only a little weaker
me: I never said it was a gooddecision
Bob: heh
me: I mostly did it to try it out
It was a hunch I'd had niggling, but never tested
In general, tiremes are a bit of a waste IMO
Bob: they're okay for parking on resources and killing the predictably stupid barb galleys
me: Galleys are faster, about half the cost, and more versatile
Bob: also they can bombard
IIRC
me: Mostly useful against barb galleys on high difficulties, where they come with heaps of promos
/ai
Bob: I guess in a normal game with normal geography I'd mostly use them as a slow-moving pillage force against neighbors and to hold chokes

Back to the game:
me: Uhh
Advice?
I can get two settlers a turn earlier by working a 1/2 tile over 1/1/6
Sent at 6:12 PM on Thursday
me: ...which should I do?
Sent at 6:13 PM on Thursday
Bob: hmm. Guess I'd delay them by a turn
Drama artist would be a Big Deal if you actaully managed to land him
which... you really might
me: Yeah, that was my instinct
Bob: north and kragroth are out of the running, Dreylin too if he's wasting time on vaults
me: It's 18c versus like 6f, 3h, 3c
Bob: instead of research
me: I still do have BAR
But yeah, I'm hoping
Bob: Sanitation will massively improve your food and growth by a much greater factor than a pair of cities one turn more quickly
also, might not even be any delay for settling if the extra turn gives you time to build a couple key roads or something
toward the new cities
me: It would delay settling, but not speed up worker actions
lol
Culture pops in 5t
The exact turn it will defend a settler from needing protection out of borders
Still no new cities or growth
AND top soldiers just went up! Seeing as that's (almost certainly) Dreylin, looks like he's not building a settler
Bob: hmm
did anyone grow?
that would boost soldiers, IIRC
me: No growths, but military increased
*top
So Dreylin (presumably) built some sort of soldier
Sent at 6:25 PM on Thursday
Bob: hmm
how much did it jump by?
me: Its 50000 currently, iIRC
In the thread, iirc, it was 45000
Bob: I'm guessing he made a hunter
not sure how much those are worth tho
or if lodges add anything
me: I presume so too
Bob: man, I can't find Dave V's power listing post
me: I looked at it just yesterday
Look at his threads list
Bob: http://realmsbeyond.net/forums/showthread.php?tid=4056
ah there we go
hmm hunters are 8000
me: jinx.
Bob: lodges are 4,000
so a 5,000 jump can't be either
me: Huh
Bob: if he didn't also grow
me: Rival best was 26
As in, way less
Bob: ah
and now 50,000?
me: Pity I didn't ss it
Bob: wait so how much did it grow over one turn?
me: Wasn't one turn
I'll load in a sec
In the Hybo game I never report
HK just popped a 10/12 Stygian Guard
With march and Stoneskin!
Bob: Pow I just moved Dave's thread to the EitB forum and stickied it
me: I can't wait to watch it eat a bunch of units, promoting up big time as it does
YUS
Bob: feel free to unsticky it, O petty mod
me: Score!
Hehehe
Bob: All Stygian Gaurd have March
me: W/E
Point is, that thing will be able to kill a couple of warriors on attack before he can get out some galleys
Possibly even promoting up enough that galleys/tiremes can't hurt it
Which would be funny
Sent at 6:37 PM on Thursday
me: Yup, 50k
And it was 26k 4 turns ago
Bob: hmm
but what was it 1 turn ago?
or 2 turns
etc
me: I don't know that I care enough to open another save
Bob: it's not like you have to move units
me: He can build what though?
Bob: just type in your stupid password an hit F7 or whatever
me: Hunters, archers, axes
Bob: buildings
me: True.
Bob: I'm signing off soon, if you want my help, hurry up and gimmie more numbers
Sent at 6:45 PM on Thursday
me: Last turn was 42l
k
So definitely axe or hunter
Bob: yeah
gotta be a hunter
axe makes no sense at all
me: Yeah, that's the smart choice
Bronze is like ages away, too
Bob: yeah
hmmm so he built the hunter in like 2 turns?
me: Turn before 34k
Bob: shouldn't be too hard I guess
me: So hunter/axe increase twice over two turns
Which makes it certain to be him, as no one else can get that mfg
Bob: yeah
the hunting lodge adds 4,000
idk how much pop growth adds
1,000 maybe
me: Turn before was also 34k
These are all turns where he was size 5, thankfully
Bob: hmm, so that's two hunters?
me: Turn before that I posted demos, 26k
Bob: or maybe even three
me: So three hunters or axes (hunters)
Bob: 8,000 jumps each time
yeah
three hunters, wow
going kind of all-in there
guess he really wants those animals
me: Yeah, seems OTT
Bob: well, lesson is, watch out for gryphs
me: I've seen like 3 animals
Yeah
Bear, griff (that killed warrior) and whatever killed goblin
Bob: hillariously, you should be safe from spiders
if the chokes are all gaurded by lizardmen
he can't sneak one past
me: WTF?
lol
Training yards are 0 power
Bob: :|
me: Kael Kael Kael
Bob: going by animal power numbers, gryphs are 12,000
so he doesn't have one yet
me: But they won't show up.
HN and all
Bob: ah
me: Unless they come from events or lairs or something
Bob: then you'll have to make sure that none you encounter give you contact with him
me: For ages before that he built nothing, so maybe worker or market?
Yeah
Anyway, you got time to play a save before you go
?
Bob: not really
I'm beat
me: K
Bob: later!
me: cya

Top power is now 51,000, and he's grown another size. Ignoring some stupid unit-kill shenanigans, I'll assume he just got power from pop size, and has thus been building other things - maybe market? Despite what you thought, the fact that we didn't have a larger GNP earlier makes me think he might not have had it.
Erebus in the Balance - a FFH Modmod based around balancing and polishing FFH for streamlined competitive play.

Reply

Ignore both those questions, by the way.

Determined that North probably has top GNP (rocketed up after founding RoK, could be a coincidental Dreylin, but doubtful), Kragroth worst (increased slightly after FoL - not the right amount, but maybe he stopped working incense/known tech modifiers did screwy stuff/he didn't select a tech afterward), which leaves Dreylin as middling but slightly more than me. Largely just concluded that GNP is too nebulous a concept to get a real read from.

I'm reasonably confident I can get Drama (again, not changing anything to do so, and I'll be happy if I don't, but I feel like it's going to happen).

Oh and everyone's been getting their second ring score boosts. Not going to ever pay attention to score again from hereon in, however, because tech + pop + land is starting to get too complicated for me to be bothered with, but enough to confirm that people did found roughly where I talked about them founding.

By the by, in the spirit of getting drama ASAP, I'm going to sacrifice 2 commerce by connecting RR a turn late. That will allow me to only move units towards RR when covered by culture expansion, meaning that I can move two units to cover the settler going for CC, giving me just a bit more certainty that I'm not about to lose to a griffon out of the fog.

Because lurkers are lazy, reposting image from upthread:


Erebus in the Balance - a FFH Modmod based around balancing and polishing FFH for streamlined competitive play.

Reply

How about a shot of the known world? Or barring that, an estimate as to how many cities you think you can fit into your side of the lizardman.
Reply

Sure, I'll do so next time a turn comes in (been slow today frown ). We haven't explored much, of course.

Off the top of my head, maybe 20? Maybe more? Again, I haven't explored vast chunks of my land, but given I've no real motivation to bop the lizards until Ogres (as in, until I'm invading others' land), there's a good chance I choose to simply sail around them for ages instead.
Erebus in the Balance - a FFH Modmod based around balancing and polishing FFH for streamlined competitive play.

Reply

20 is a good goal to shoot for by turn 100. As I believe I told you once or twice in chat, in my SP games I averaged just a little above 20 vs. Deity AI (on Highlands maps) by t100.
Reply

I had what, 15-17 in our duel? Plenty of room for improvement, then. Of course, I did build TGLh, a bunch of low hammer island cities and a ton of wolf riders in that game.

I'll say though that 20 was a conservative estimate. Between islands and the much larger areas of this game, I wouldn't be surprised to get 30 or 40 cities before having to resort to war.
Erebus in the Balance - a FFH Modmod based around balancing and polishing FFH for streamlined competitive play.

Reply

Opened the turn to an event:




cry

That said, I likely wouldn't have accepted it anyway - 3 turns of GNP for an unlikely reward that won't be overpowering and I'm unlikely to redeem in the next 50 turns? No thanks.

After Drama, by the by, I plan on building an event fund of ~100 gold before starting on the next tech (likely Sailing). That opens up all the important GP events - Engineer (75g), Prophet (only available to me, and 50g), and the other one (isn't there one? I've totally forgotten).




Bah, can't quite get a 1-turn 2 workers out here. Still, I might be able to get a 3-turn 4 workers out if I chop the plains hill - or failing that, I'll settle for "just" one worker a turn for the next 4 turns smile




Borders expand end of next turn, so this move is safe. Worker 2 finishes farm next turn and then moves to road to RR.

...ooooor I could move Worker 2 to road, and have one of the newly-built workers build the farm a turn later. That would give me one turn of working a bare forest. What's the yield breakdown, there?

Farm:
4/0/1 plus city tile.

Road:
2/1/3 (TR) plus city tile.

So 2f versus 1h 2c. Food probably still wins - pity I couldn't get out that worker a turn sooner, but eh well.

Demographics:




No one grew.


The world so far:







Yeah, I've explored practically nothing. I took those shots after ending turn, so I couldn't lay city signs. But solely in that area - leaving aside that I probably have that or half that again unexplored, I estimated roughly 17 cities. So yeah, 30-40 seems an accurate figure.
Erebus in the Balance - a FFH Modmod based around balancing and polishing FFH for streamlined competitive play.

Reply

That is a good chunk of real estate you can spread to without hostilities. Works out pretty well for you being able to spam out settlers like mad.

As far as that event, I almost never take it myself. Inevitably it places the chest on the far side of the world, you pay upkeep on it for half the game, and it yields garbage when you finally get around to opening it.
Reply

Planted cities 2 and 3 before any opponent managed 2 toast




Considered going monument in the southern city, but decided against it. Whilst I could get it out in time to shave a turn or two off Drama, it required a lot of commitment, doesn't save me too much time (like, max 2t) and costs forests and worker turns that could go into more useful endeavors. Drama would be incredibly, amazingly awesome. But not *that* much.


I just noticed whilst writing this that Kragroth has burned a turn on anarchy to revolt into FoL bang as if he wasn't behind enough....

Scrolling back makes me certain it happened T23.


I don't know what Dreylin's doing with his production (well, I kinda do, I just don't know why), but I'm happy if he keeps it up:






As a civ that, tbh, gets more, not less, powerful with time, I'm very happy with those demos. I mean, Kragroth and North have (finally) started to grow (size 3 and 4 apiece), but I've beaten them all to two cities - indeed, I missed a turn on reporting, so I've beaten them by two turns - and none of them have chosen to grow vertically (Dreylin could be at least size 8 between vaults and Enchantment Mana, North could've used a cheap SPI temple, and so on). In other words, I'm just beating them handily in all categories, and I don't see them having any real advantage over me.
  • I have more cumulative population, and tied population in the boosted-capital. In addition, I have infrastructure out (warrens) which flat-out beats the maximum production boost of Vaults (which is the best infrastructure any opponent has - any other one I win by not caring about. EC/Market? Comes under GNP, but warrens is still better. PT/Dereptus? I don't want the happy yet. Any military building? I win by not needing to care about military) for everything but buildings, but buildings are sub-optimal in FFH anyways.
  • I'm winning handily in city and worker count, too. No-one else has city 2 out, and whilst they might have more workers (doubt it, I'm up to 6)...I have as many workers as I need.
  • I'm losing in soldiers...but I don't need early defense. Sure, enemies can get advantages this way (particularly Dreylin with SA hunters bringing in Griffons and early happy/culture) via high promos, lair clears and so on. But I think I can handle anything they manage to get to me for the next 50+ turns with minimal trouble, the lairs are well guarded and also cut off most inter-civ meetings, and at the end of the day, no benefit they could get out of the investment they're being forced to make could equal out to the cost of all the hammers they're pouring into it.
  • I'm winning handily and massively in early food and production, and that's just going to increase. Again, I have two more cities, one working a suboptimal tile and the other yet to be connected up - I've got more room than them to grow.
  • GNP. Now this is an interesting one. I would argue that despite losing and having been doing so for the majority of the game I've actually won out here as well, simply because my opponents have made bad investments with theirs. Kragroth and Northstar, investing sub-optimally into religion whilst I go for Drama/Festivals. Dreylin, investing into vaults which essentially converted vast swathes of gold into MFG and happy - despite which I've beaten or kept abreast in hammers most of the time, and he's been spending hammers on military which we haven't had to; and we've been the same size as him for yonks. Meanwhile I'm heading on a very directed path which holds more relevance and bearing on the early game expansion (cheapest source of culture, markets) and which will, quite likely, reward me with Sanitation.

I mean, I'm not saying I won't screw up/be outclassed later on. But thus far? I'd say I've out-and-out won the early game.
Erebus in the Balance - a FFH Modmod based around balancing and polishing FFH for streamlined competitive play.

Reply

By the by, despite founding those cities costing me 6gpt, it's actually improved my bpt rate (by 2), even before connecting the second city up, and saved me a minimum 2 turns on Drama.
Erebus in the Balance - a FFH Modmod based around balancing and polishing FFH for streamlined competitive play.

Reply



Forum Jump: