Here’s a different question for you guys. I’m asking this for the hypothetical where Cairo does not pick a start next which leaves us with the option to take Start 2 OR know that worst-case Start 3 would be there at pick 7. So he may grab Start 2 at any time and totally invalidate this whole question.
The question: is Start 2 really that much better than Start 3?
In the early turns there seems like very little difference. They’re both riverside PH plants with first ring lake fish (6/0/2 or 6/0/3 pre-Lighthouse). Double forested Deer is straight up better than wet wheat + dry corn, although obviously CS could chain irrigate the corn. They both have the same Stone and Ivory tiles. In the first 50-60 turns it’s not clear to me that Start 2 is actually any better than Start 3. It may be longer than that, because it has far more lighthouse-able lakes, which eventually lose out to cottages, but not for awhile. Start 2 does have 4 riverside cottage tiles to Start 3’s 1, and that’s the big difference between them, and I guess it looks like cities 3-5 might be better by looking at surrounding land. In general I also think capital Moai is going to be really powerful for 3 regardless of whether it’s doubled by a Dike or it’s going through the Bureaucracy bonus, which is something Start 2 doesn’t really have as much.
I guess what I’m getting at here is trying to gauge if you all feel like Start 2 really is at a really big premium over Start 3 should it be there at 4, or if it’s worth considering other options given that there would be at most one start chosen between picks 4 and 7. Do you guys feel the gap between them is small, or am I understating it? It sort of feels like they’re about the same over the first 100 turns, and it’s only in the mid game where Start 2 pulls ahead. And even then, I wonder if the gap is small.
The question: is Start 2 really that much better than Start 3?
In the early turns there seems like very little difference. They’re both riverside PH plants with first ring lake fish (6/0/2 or 6/0/3 pre-Lighthouse). Double forested Deer is straight up better than wet wheat + dry corn, although obviously CS could chain irrigate the corn. They both have the same Stone and Ivory tiles. In the first 50-60 turns it’s not clear to me that Start 2 is actually any better than Start 3. It may be longer than that, because it has far more lighthouse-able lakes, which eventually lose out to cottages, but not for awhile. Start 2 does have 4 riverside cottage tiles to Start 3’s 1, and that’s the big difference between them, and I guess it looks like cities 3-5 might be better by looking at surrounding land. In general I also think capital Moai is going to be really powerful for 3 regardless of whether it’s doubled by a Dike or it’s going through the Bureaucracy bonus, which is something Start 2 doesn’t really have as much.
I guess what I’m getting at here is trying to gauge if you all feel like Start 2 really is at a really big premium over Start 3 should it be there at 4, or if it’s worth considering other options given that there would be at most one start chosen between picks 4 and 7. Do you guys feel the gap between them is small, or am I understating it? It sort of feels like they’re about the same over the first 100 turns, and it’s only in the mid game where Start 2 pulls ahead. And even then, I wonder if the gap is small.