PB 59 organizing and tech thread

[Rusten]

Having a triple gold/gems start like in this game helps alleviate the problem too. PB88 was barren.

[Commodore]

Huge was a surprise to me (I voted easier difficulty, fwiw). I'll suffer and die in the mud if that's what we like though.

[Miguelito]

The vote for Emperor difficulty certainly means that there is a willingness to have costs higher.

We did not vote on the map size setting though. I think it makes sense to leave that to the mapmaker, who has a grasp on lushness etc., together with the lurker council. naufragar's comment gave me some pause though.
Now say, if the map were set to large, that would lower tech costs siginificantly, but otoh it would also increase distance maintenance, which would moderate the tech speed of large empires during the later game, right? Which I have some sympathy for, as it could hamper runaways and keep underexpanded players teching somewhat at least.
I admit that I have no idea which effect (tech cost reduction / maintenance increase) would be more pronounced.
But I would argue for the lurkers to give it a thought. Also consider that in this game players can't really optimize their pick wrt. staritng techs.

I guess if this will be discussed by the lurkers in earnest, we would have to wait with the second round of picks for a decision, and allow players to reconsider their picks if a change was made. But we have time for that with our intended 1st of March start.

[The Black Sword]

Yeah, I was fine with Emperor difficulty, I was even quite tempted to vote for it myself. I wasn't expecting the Huge world size, which actually has the bigger effect on tech costs.

Monarch multiplies tech costs by 1.15, Emperor only increases that to 1.2.

Standard multiplies tech costs by 1.3, which increases to 1.5 on Huge.

As said, I'll play either way, but I wanted to be sure everyone didn't just sleepwalk into it like I did and that's what we want to play.

[Thoth]

Reported map size affects the rate at which the number of cities maintenance goes up, actual map size determines distance costs.

Large empires that are at or are over the conqueror's plateau will pay the same maintenance costs irrespective of reported map size.

While there has been a bit of discussion among the lurkers about reported mapsize, current mood is: You guys asked for Huge. We can change it if you want but the players will need to come to a
consensus among themselves first.

[Miguelito]

Reported map size affects the rate at which the number of cities maintenance goes up, actual map size determines distance costs.

Large empires that are at or are over the conqueror's plateau will pay the same maintenance costs irrespective of reported map size.

While there has been a bit of discussion among the lurkers about reported mapsize, current mood is:  You guys asked for Huge.  We can change it if you want but the players will need to come to a
consensus among themselves first.

Ok, thanks for educating me.

Just want to point out again that nobody asked for huge, as that setting was not voted on. If the lurkers and especially Lewwyn think it's the best choice that's fine, but there is no mandate from the players.

[Charriu]

I always assumed the mapmaker will decide and I trust the lurkers with that. And huge as a map size for a game with 25 players and 115 tiles per player sounds absolutely reasonably. The map size settings are there for a reason and that reason is called balancing

I voted monarch, but I would argue to keep it at emperor as this is what people decided and some players may already have taken that into account.

[Serdoa]

I would strongly advise to listen to Noble on this one. 

Tech costs might appear high for the starting sims but given the start I have seen and expecting everyone to have something equal this is not an issue and easily playable. 

But having civs tech too fast in the later part of the game will hurt this game. War has much to do with technological advancement. But if the distances between players are greater getting to your opponent takes longer while with a too small size teching will be too cheap. That means there is no way that wars can happen because till you reach your opponent your units are obsolete.

[Amicalola]

I would strongly advise to listen to Noble on this one. 

Tech costs might appear high for the starting sims but given the start I have seen and expecting everyone to have something equal this is not an issue and easily playable. 

But having civs tech too fast in the later part of the game will hurt this game. War has much to do with technological advancement. But if the distances between players are greater getting to your opponent takes longer while with a too small size teching will be too cheap. That means there is no way that wars can happen because till you reach your opponent your units are obsolete.

  Sums up my thoughts very well.

[pindicator]

Let's embrace something different and go with Huge/Emperor