[SPOILER] Yell0w - Rhoanna, Hippus

[Yell0w]

SPOILER

[Kurumi]

Talking head reporting in.

[Yell0w]

Hey, Welcome!

everyone knows Hippus already I think so there is not a lot to say just yet. Basically I plan to build GoN and go wild.
The map should be finished pretty soon though, so it will get interesting in a hurry.

[Mafro]

Just checking in as a dedlurker!

Cheers!

Mafro

[Yell0w]

Picks and Turn Order

HidingKneel - Thessalonica, Elohim (SPI/IND)
Yell0w - Rhoanna, Hippus (EXP/FIN)
Molach - Flauros, Calabim (FIN/CRE)
Suttree - Dain, Amurites (ARC/PHI)
Mardoc - Auric Ulvin, Illians (CHA/ARC/AGN)

Special Rules

AI Diplo, meaning no communication or diplomacy besides directly offering a player eg. Open Borders via the ingame diplomacy screen.

Settings

HidingKneel and Mardoc are both good players. I don't know about Molach and Suttree but I guess they are pretty new and not that scary. If Stasis will be allowed, I wouldn't know what to do vs Mardoc to be honest.

I don't want to get overly aggressive. I basically want to get CoL for aristocracy as fast as possible. Also I want festivals early to get cheap Markets.
It is really difficult for me to say a lot about early techs since I don't know or have the mapscript. We have no starting boni, so depending on the starting tiles the tech speed might be very, very slow for the first 50 turns.

The idea here is to take use of financial for early markets and an early Great Merchant. Get Code of Laws for Aristocracy and eventually Construction and Sanitation for irrigation and +1 food for farms. Pop Currency with the GM, this enables Moneychangers which are also cheap thanks to financial and more importantly Guild of Nine which will enable me to hire Mounted Mercenaries. And another important civic: Consumption giving +1 for Markets and +20% gold in cites. From that point on I will basically run gold boosted by Financial, Consumption, Markets and Moneychangers giving me +70% gold in cities.
Expansive works quite well with this strategy since we want a lot of cities, the only thing we need is fresh water or an irrigation line to make them good cities, cheap Granaries help a lot growing new cities fast, and +3 healthy in every city is not at all negligible. What we need to expand quickly are happiness resources.
Religion is pretty uninteresting, but if I will go for one it will probably be Order. If I land Drama for the GA to pop Sanitation however, that will enable me to build culture and thats all I would really need religion for.

[Yell0w]

Oh yeah, important thing here. NAMING THEME
I thought of two things, first of cause it's pbem XXX we could run a porn movie title for city, and porn actor/actress for units.
Or
I though of murderers in the USA for units and penitentiaries for cities.

If any of you has another suggestion please share =)

[Kurumi]

Porn sounds nasty sweet baby!

[Yell0w]

IT HAS BEGUN...

And after moving doing the two obvious moves with my warriors

So now I still can move the scout and settler.

I like the settle in place option best for now but I'll give me some time to think it over.

Moving 1 tile SW on top of the plains hill tile seems like a bad move to me. We lose two hill tiles to work and lose the corn, we get the extra hammer start though.

I like moving 1 tile NW on top of the forested plains hill tile. We lose the corn and a few grassland river tiles. We get two floodplains and the extra hammer though. Also I couldn't settle this turn. I'd have to wait one turn more and I don't know if thats worth it.

Moving the Settler 1 tile N on top of the plains hill tile is yet another option. I like it better than the SW move, we won't be able to work a 3/0/1 tile for the next few turns though. We get the extra hammer and a floodplains and again: drop the corn.

I still can move my Scout to explore some more. Right now I think I should move him NN so I get more vision of whats behind those hills. Moving him S SW would let me explore the coastline earlier.

Your input is welcome dear lurkers. And concerning the naming theme I like the XXX (porn) theme more and more. Here is a little taste:

Erik Everhard
Dave Cummings
Vince Vouyer
John Silver

Puntang Pi
Forrest Hump
Fantastic Foursome
ASS-HOLE O MIO
She's not a Lesbian, she's a Vagitarian
Wide Open Spaces

In fact there is even a porn star name generator
http://pr0nname.com/names/porn/generate

[Mafro]

Nice to see it starting!

Personally I like the settle-in-place option for the following reasons:

1. Great balance - tons of food, hammers, and commerce (rivers).
   
2. Defensibility - any early barbarians are likely to attack across the river.
   

That said, I'd use your settler's 4 moves to join the warrior to the SW and then move back into position before settling, so as to clear more of the map with your starting settler's massive visibility. A better view of the map may inform where to send the scout.

I usually seek out defensible locations for my early warriors that bust fog and absorb barbarian attacks. It looks like the forested hill NNW of your northern warrior would be ideal for one such position, especially as it looks to have a river just beyond it. You might scout a couple squares beyond it and then retreat back to that position once barbarians get close to spawning.

As for the scout, consider sending it southeast to take advantage of its 2 moves for the next few turns and then circle counter-clockwise around your capital. I'd like to start identifying the best places for our next few cities.

EDIT: LOL...just realized you already played it and sent it on! I'll try to keep closer watch from now on....

[Yell0w]

Nice to see it starting!

Personally I like the settle-in-place option for the following reasons:

1. Great balance - tons of food, hammers, and commerce (rivers).
   
2. Defensibility - any early barbarians are likely to attack across the river.
   

I REALLY like the 2 hammer bonus from setting on plains hill, we are also expansive, which means that this extra hammer will be used quite early. For that reason and that reason only I decided not to settle in place

That said, I'd use your settler's 4 moves to join the warrior to the SW and then move back into position before settling, so as to clear more of the map with your starting settler's massive visibility. A better view of the map may inform where to send the scout.

Unfortunately I've got a 3 move settler which means I can't do that move, I'd have done it otherwise for sure.
I've moved my scout NN to get visibility on the tiles N of the hills. Then decided to move the settler 1 N and settle.

I hope there ain't any copper or iron on this tile, this would make my decision stupid I guess, but you never know.

I usually seek out defensible locations for my early warriors that bust fog and absorb barbarian attacks. It looks like the forested hill NNW of your northern warrior would be ideal for one such position, especially as it looks to have a river just beyond it. You might scout a couple squares beyond it and then retreat back to that position once barbarians get close to spawning.

I usually run circles around my capital to explore as much land as I can. In this case though I'll follow your suggestion at least with one warrior.

As for the scout, consider sending it southeast to take advantage of its 2 moves for the next few turns and then circle counter-clockwise around your capital. I'd like to start identifying the best places for our next few cities.

Well I had to move the scout NN. But I'll probably turn him around and explore the SE like I wanted to, especially the coast line interests me a lot.
Btw. do you have any experience with the Torusland map script?

EDIT: LOL...just realized you already played it and sent it on! I'll try to keep closer watch from now on....

I held the turn for over a day I had to play it eventually. Thanks for your feedback!