[Spoilers] TheWannabe takes all the help he can get

[TheWannabe]

Moving can be pretty difficult. I once took advantage of disadvantageously overlapping leases to spend a full two months moving apartments one box or loaded-shopping-cart at a time.
Moving is especially rough two months after showing up in a new city, in a new country too boot. Luckily, before doing just that a few months ago, I put out my best comical plea to my new colleagues and classmates. Four guys offered their arms, and we made incredibly quick work of my large storage locker. I'm not clear on how I've accumulated so much stuff by this point in my life, but we had it on and off a truck in what felt like no-time. Sometimes all it takes is a little help.
Hopefully this game will go as well as my current living situation. I took advantage of the extra help to get everything in place quickly and early, and life is easier for it.

I almost regret that I haven't been wiped off the PB27 map yet, if only to be able to read about my mistakes in the other threads, rather than repeat them here. Still, I'm optimistic and excited for this game. Here's hoping I don't bungle it too bad.


Team Wannabe is still accepting applications for experienced dedlurkers/nooby teammates! See form in post #2

[TheWannabe]

Team Wannabe Application Form

1. Have you played Civ 4?

Thank you for your interest in Team Wannabe. Our HR staff will contact you shortly.

[Commodore]

TheWannabe
Hammurabi Persian
Elizabeth Arabian
Lincoln Ethiopia

[TheWannabe]

Thanks Commodore!

That's a bunch of potentially profitable financial coastline if I were to pick Liz. That would come with philosophical, which is a powerful trait that I think I could learn to use... but haven't done so yet. The bigger catch would be starting with Myst/Wheel. Hard to make anything special of a myst start when I need to grab at least one worker tech first, plus I clearly need BW to take advantage of all those forests. The madrasa is an interesting one; from a culture standpoint, it'd make 3rd ring borders happen fast enough that I could probably get away with only putting culture buildings in half my cities and still do fine grabbing land, but the real synergy here is with Phi. Four specialists from one building is a lot.
Lacking fishing, but with dry corn as my only landed food, this would not make for the snappiest start. Fishing is, however, only 40 beakers, and I have a 2h cap+forested marble to get a boat or two out while subsequently researching mining->BW.

Hammurabi of the Persians would give me an agri/hunting start, though with coastal fish, it occurs to me that I shouldn't have any trouble getting my first worker tech or two by the time I need them. Anti-archery chariots that can also defend sound pretty appealing. I'm not convinced I have the chops to pull of any sort of rush against the more skilled players around here, but if the quality of our stats has been used as part of the handicap, then I should probably aim to make moves early before that advantage evaporates. Hammurabi would help with that, being both aggressive for a military advantage, and organized to help expansion from crashing my economy. If I pick this combo, I need to seek out an early war without hesitation.

Charismatic Philosophical Lincoln demands growing tall cities, and starving out Great People as needed to get to Oromos as quickly as possible. Hunting/Mining means I could probably do an agri>BW start, then double back for fishing to chop out some workboats. I think I can rule this one out for just not seeming as fun as the others.

Choosing between those first two would be best done after some sandboxing, but I don't think I can spare the time for that until next week. Unless someone with a strong preference shows up looking to play as my teammate, I might just flip a coin.

[GermanJoey]

Your sim:

http://media.rhizzone.net/civ/pb30.thewa...wordWBSave

Notes:

1.) Your starting BFC is cut out of the full save as if using a cookie-cutter.
2.) Strategic resources that are hidden from T0 (e.g. copper, iron, etc) are stripped out of this save file.
3.) The map dimensions in the sim are the same as the live game.
4.) Game settings in the sim reflect the game settings for the live game. If a setting is incorrect in the sim, please report it in the tech thread.
5.) The easiest way to change a civ to go into the worldbuilder on T0 and give yourself different starting techs. Changing a leader requires editing the save itself but is actually very simple; please ask if you don't know how to do this.

[Commodore]

So want us to flip that coin?

[taotao]

Hello!
How's it going?
You picked Liz in the end didn't you?
Did you settle in place or try something crazy (like settle on marble) ?
Has your scout found anything interesting (like a second city site) ?
What's your current thinking regarding tech path?

[Commodore]

So, what's up in Wannaland?

[Sareln]

Notes from when I popped into the game to check my PB settings on both Desktop & Laptop.

0. Under-armed, under-navied for this map & stage of game.
1. Last turn of a golden-age, opportunity for civics swap
2. #2 place in score, not at war, #1 and #3 appear to be eating neighbors
3. Thin landmasses, with lots of canals and coastal cities, vulnerable by sea
4. A lot of espionage-based vision
5. Current Tech levels of #1 - Frigates/Galleons + Rifles, no cannon sighted yet.
6. Decent, unmolested core, didn't get a chance to check infrastructure.
7. On demographics, ahead in Prod (due to golden age), #2 GNP (bad sign, since we're in GA and looking cottage-based).

Strategic decisions to make:

How to best arm, aim for strikes/gains at the current tech level or gamble/race for the next tech level of *stuff*.
Army/Navy split.
How's infrastructure, where are my production centers, commerce centers, etc. does everyone have the buildings they need?
Is anyone building anything that they don't need?
How's city-tile distribution
Map analysis, where are the choke points, what areas need to be kept under surveillance, where are the strike points on the other players, where are the strike points on me?
Current terrain analysis, am I using the land I have best, are there easy places to pick up which will help quickly? What's my worker-force like, etc.
Diplomacy-AI, will I be trying to pick up pieces from the players being eaten, do I have the tools to do that? Do I open borders with those being eaten/behind, and aim to use the time that #1/#3 are using to eat those smaller players to prep, then strike before those conquests pay off?

[Sareln]

Current Civics:
1. Hereditary Rule - Up to +4 happiness making the difference in various cities.
2. Free Speech - Cottage Count: 21
3. Caste System - Workshop Count: 5
4. Decentralization
5. Free Religion - Cities w/ Non-state Religions: 0

I have nothing other than hereditary rule unlocked, so it stays.
Free speech is going to Nationalism, for defense and its value isn't super-high
Caste System stays for unlimited specialists, philosophical leader, need more GP's for bulbs & more GAs
Decentralization goes to Free Market for now, since he's signed open borders with a bunch of civs
Free religion goes to Pacifism, for more GPP, not really using its happy with hereditary rule covering that, and the +10%'s impact can be sacrificed for a bit.

In GA with original civics my 100% science rate is +1304 spt / -387 gpt, and my 0% rate is +49 spt / +654 gpt

Wonders (National & Active Global)
Diwali - Hindu Shrine +31 GPT, missing grocer, bank, wall-street.
Thanksgiving - Temple of Artimus, ~4 ish cpt from trade routes
Easter - Moai Statues

No other wonders or national wonders.

Big missing items -> Heroic Epic, National Epic, Oxford, Globe Theater. Lacking tech for Heroic, National, and Globe, also lacking the level'd unit.

So techs needed for those wonders: Aesthetics, Literature, Drama
Biggest development tech: Representation
Biggest military tech available: Steel (for cannon, drydocks, ironclads for some of these choke points).

With an end of GA civics swap, I have 5 turns to get Representation before I'll be ready to swap again, so there's some space for Aesthetics, Lit, Drama as I bank Cash for Rep maybe? Then where does steel fit here? I'll be in Nationalism so I can pull up military buildup that way, can I afford to delay steel that much?