[SPOILERS] Rusten prepares to face the music

[Rusten]

Turns out it's nearly imposssible to match crab+rice output in the expansion phase. Think the best path is crab first then copper. Backfilling pigs+silver a little later. Settling copper 3rd doesn't even delay the copper tile as the two settlers are in such short succession. I can then settle more aggressively after these 2 cities. Having IMP makes such settling more feasible I feel. More thorough timeline to come later (possibly tomorrow).

The ridiculous happy cap also lets me 1-pop whip these cities constantly. I can get axes/spears and wb out with no problem.

Kaputt can just stay size 3 working 2 mines and the ivory tile for now (whip a settler 4-3). It doesn't need the food resources until granary. The new cities have independent food later.

Wheel-fishing-hunting (or possibly wheel-fishing-pottery-hunting).

[Rusten]

There's a job opening for being my contradictory voice. I try to question my decisions all the way through, but there's bound to be some blind spots and I'd be happy to hear input. Not entirely sure where vandale went, but he's not logged on to CFC either since the 7th of Feb, so I imagine he's very busy. He didn't sign a contract or anything of course, everyone is free to come and go as they please. I imagine most people are spoiled now though.

As this thread is currently functioning as a monologue I will take on the role as the concerned bystander. Some of this will be repeated information, but it's useful for me to write up the big picture.

Question: Why settle the first two (!) cities so close? Aren't you worried about missing out on land? You're hardly picking up new resources in the short term.

My argument is that settling cities such as this (crab lake into corn-copper) is very strong with the imperialistic trait. When settlers come so cheap it's more of a case of available worker turns and not crashing the economy. I will still have aggressive plants at a suitable time, together with units.

These two cities would be settled at some point anyway so the city count maintenance is not an issue. They have good commerce output and will be a net gain for the foreseeable future. But most importantly they have a resource already improved from T1, thus requiring much less worker turns. Worker turns are extremely valuable at this stage and then decreases in value as the game goes on.

Imagine a scenario where I settle corn+gems early, which is still pretty close. Say I bring 1 worker. Then I need 3-4 turns to reach the corn tile and then 5 turns to farm it (yes I know, tile effectively ready after 4). That's 8-9 worker turns. You know what else could be done with 8 worker turns? I could chop 2 forests for 40 hammers, that's more than half the cost of a new settler.

Now look at the output. Corn city does not have a network (-1) and no riverside tiles (-1). That's already 2 commerce less per turn from the first turn it's settled.
It would also be behind on production. A city with wet corn already improved will grow to size 2 by the time the corn is ready to be worked in the corn+gems city. Now of course this tile is taken away from Kaputt rather than being added to the empire, but that's of little concern until Kaputt wants to grow again, and by that time these cities have their own independent resources. Working a 5F rice for instance is WORSE than working a mine for settler production*. So taking this tile away (temporarily) does not bother Kaputt.

TLDR: Overlap cities get off to a much quicker start. Cities settled close are productive so much sooner that they can contribute to the early settling phase rather than being a burden and requiring protection (whip axe/spear on size 2). They'll also be able to work cottages for Kaputt.

*This is why I was so shocked by naufragar's size 1 settler. He made it while working a food tile, effectively wasting the IMP bonus outside of chops.

[Rusten]

BGN surprisingly grew to size 5.

Settled Sinful, Wind-borne this turn, which will help get me off to a flying start.

The opening track of my favourite Motorpsycho album, Blissard, released in the mid 90s.

Not yet fully decided what to do next. I could elect to whip the settler 4-3 and put the overflow into a worker. Or I could hold on to the pop for now and continue into another settler. Probably better to get the settler, but much like the famous Pringles slogan, "once you chop you can't stop". I need to look at it before I play the next turn, but 3 workers seems excessive.

[Rusten]

Ran some long-term tests/numbers and 3rd worker before 4th city seems superior.
Also very robust in general. No immediate whip though.

[Rusten]

I should get in the habit to post graphs every now and then, although it's still largely uninteresting.

After BGN I put EP on Aretas, but he's dumping it into me beyond graphs (60+ now) so I decided to cut my losses and switch to superdeath. Either Aretas is not paying attention or he has not met anyone else (would be shocking, but he hasn't met any of the guys I know). Or he's simply decided that he doesn't like me and wants city/tech visibility. None of the three are any good for me.

[Rusten]

For sharing and in case a lurker has to play my turn; here's what's next for the Audiophiles:
(Image from previous turn)


Kaputt: Settler -> finish warrior (1t) -> worker -> settler -> settler -> settler (city 2 and 3 can get the military)
City 3 is settled for corn+2x clam+copper.
City 4 is settled for corn+gems+deer in 1st ring (most likely).
Wheel-fishing-hunting-pottery-ah.

Worker A chops 1NW of Kaputt -> chops 1SW of Kaputt -> goes to new city corn+gems to irrigate and mine.
Worker B chops 2E of Kaputt -> roads mine to connect copper city -> improves copper -> goes to pig+gem (new city to the NW)
Worker C (new) roads mine to connect copper city -> improves copper -> goes to corn+gems

This path ended up being very harmonius in terms of growth patterns and worker turns. Going settler before worker would mean having to settle corn+gems without a worker nearby. Furthermore 1 worker would have to move to copper immediately, wasting precious time moving around. It felt awkward -- way too much running around doing almost nothing.
Now I get the most important stuff out of the way for city 1, 2 and 3 which leaves the workers open to leave and go improve city 4, 5 and 6 (fairly quick succession).

[Rusten]

I'm playing with extremists. Naufragar built a settler on size 1 and BGN just grew to size 6 (!) before settling his first city.
Puzzling.

[darrelljs]

Mackoiti said in another thread he learned from you at CFC, and he pretty much sets the bar here, so everyone is probably scared to second guess you .

Darrell

[Rusten]

Bad gateway double post.

[Rusten]

That's nice to hear. It's a long time since I posted SGs and walkthroughs on CFC, so they've clearly made a lasting impression.

Settled Leitmotif this turn. It will build a monument until it grows to size 3. Then it will 1-pop the monument and the overflow is enough to complete an axe the following turn. 1st turn of size 2 will work a fp to speed up growth 1T (and copper is not ready until the turn after).

Leitmotif is an album by Dredg, released around the year 2000. They were my fvourite band from 2000-05, but then they took a direction towards pop (starting with Catch Without Arms) and I stopped listening. Their two early albums, Leitmotif and El Cielo, are still among my favourites though. The former is harder rock while the latter is soothing/calm and melodious. I recommend giving both a listen. El Cielo is probably better overall, but Leitmotif is what got me into them in the first place.

Can't bring myself post a single song as it's a concept album and it's all tied together, so I'll just link the full album.