RBP3 - [SPOILERS] - Team DIM (Mehmed of HRE)

[meatbalz]

looks like the starting area is pretty strong. there are few high food tiles, but it's pretty useful terrain nevertheless. i'm still praying for that pig/gold city

thoughts on next scout move? maybe NW-NW to keep him safe & avoid doubling back / moving only 1 tile

[Ilios]

I'm getting really attached to Hernan, so I'd rather move him SW, so he'd be protected by the river from 3 sides.

Dazed, your thoughts?

[meatbalz]

guys, a decision we'll need to make somewhat soonish is the tech path we intend to take. as i see it our options are

1) standard
AH->min->BW->TW->pottery
pro: we see strategic resources early
pro: slavery fairly early
con: we're EXP so might want earlier granaries
con: cottages come in very late


2) max growth
AH->TW->pottery->min->BW
pro: maximises growth
pro: gets EXP granaries at a fairly early date
pro: shows horse relatively early for some military > warriors
pro: pro: no lost worker turns + save turns later, we road every hill in sight
con: low production
con: no slavery until fairly late
con: no chopping until fairly late
con: if we don't have horse, weak defence


3) max gold
TW->pottery->AH->min->BW
pro: strongest option for research
pro: gets us granaries asap
pro: no lost worker turns + save turns later, we road every hill in sight
con: doesn't make good use of terrain (cow, hills unimproved a while)
con: no slavery until fairly late
con: no chopping until fairly late
con: if we don't have horse, weak defence

4) max hammers
min->BW->AH->TW->pottery
pro: slavery asap
pro: strongest option from military standpoint
pro: early visibility on strategic resources
con: slowest growth
con: slowest research
con: we're EXP so might want earlier granaries


what have i missed in terms of pros/cons, and what have i missed in terms of alternative strategies?

which way are you guys leaning in terms of preference?

[Ilios]

My initial preference was option 4 (straight to BW), but I know you want to work that sheep tile, so if you prefer, I'm good with going AH, and then Min and BW.

Re Pottery, the granaries are very useful once we start slaving, and we aquire more happiness resources.

Like I said before, I'd rather have three cities once we discover pottery, and lots of worker to start those cottages, then 1-2 cities and 1 worker because we went Pottery first.

[meatbalz]

ilios, not saying you're wrong, anything but. slavery + chopping are compelling reasons to beeline BW.

here's the thing. BW+mining are 304 beakers. we can pull in at best 12-13 beakers at the start, 9 from capital, 2 from pasture, and 1 or 2 from a mine or grassland river. 304 beakers at 12-13/turn is about 25 turns we delay pottery by.

let's say you get pottery on turn 0, on turn 4 you start working a cottage, and another on turn 8. maybe you can even get one up in a second city on turn 12, but let's ignore that for now.

working 2 cottages for 22 & 18 turns is 60 additional beakers, or 5 turns of research saved. you save another turn by getting a cottage up in city 2... on the other hand, chopping/whipping means we could conceivably be out to 4 cities, 3 workers, 5 warriors, 1 scout by turn 60... or 3 cities, 4 workers, 6 warriors... you get the idea.

the good thing is we have a bit of time - i'm working through some rough plans + will post as soon as i'm happy with them

[meatbalz]

just a heads-up that team DIM is now fully operational thanks to the good people at sony. i called them friday, a courier picked up my laptop on monday, and it was returned to me today good as new. all for free.

sony credit where it's due.

i'm world-buildering a start similar to ours to try some things out.

[Ilios]

Oh yeah, meat has got access to Civ!

Gonna go to bed now, I'll see you guys tomorrow

[meatbalz]

good stuff. dazed, you have the deciding vote for the scout move. ilios prefers SW for safety, i'd prefer NW-NW to get closer to our neighbours. you choose.

[dazedroyalty]

Tie breaker! I'll decide tonight when I get home and then do it and post a picture. I'm not too worried about bears quite yet. They usually don't show up for a few more turns. But this is emperor.... What will I decide? Will the wait be too much for everyone to bear? (haha, get it?)

[dazedroyalty]

I'm a daredevil, what can I say? Actually, I think that given how it's only turn 4, the odds of running into a bear are actually extraordinarily low if not downright zilch. I'm pretty sure that the game doesn't start spawning animals for a few turns, though perhaps a lurker can clarify if that is true.

I see some more flood plains over there. I was hoping for a hill to get more sight but it's still nice land. I love me some rivers.