After a last minute bit of micro-replanning we whip the settler this turn (second to whip after SPI Xenu whipped a worker) - we'll join Cairo and Naufragger in the two-city club on turn 31. Meanwhile the scout has a choice next turn - hang around here to help the warrior protect the settling party for our third city or head south to find out where our neighbours are (possible route shown in red).
To give some food for the lurkers (And to increase our lead in thread views! What on earth is happening in Dark Savant's thread, he seems to be posting all the time?!) I will try to give some insight to our micro plan.
First of all, here is picture from our current micro plan on t39.
Our first settler will go to north and be settled directly on copper. That 3 hammer spot was just too good to pass, and as it requires minimal worker support our workers can split to chop stuff in capital and to develope our third city. Copper city will first make a WB and then start producing settlers and workers for the empire. In long term planning it will be decent commercial city that grows some cottages for capital, but the fast start was the real seling point for us.
The third city will be settled east of gems two turns after the second. This was probably the most discussed city location in our chat, see FT's micro challenge from the previous page for details. The main purpose of this city is to produce the commerce we need to get early tech fast, but it will also be a good production city with all the green hills in later game.
Our fourth city will go to the ph south of the warrior, it will get the second sheep to work when cap pops borders. It will represent the start of our push to the contested land between us and a presumed neighbour in East. And it is a fine foodhammer city on its own.
Overall we have tried to make most of our leader that we did not need, but that we deserved by rerolling the maximal number of times. So we try to leverage IMP to get really fast opening, and prioritize foodhammers over commerce everywhere except in the gems city. In later stages of the game we can tech to MC early and build forges everywhere. We might also make a play for some wonder, quite early henge is in cards, for example. But all those later plans are still in discussion stages.
We finish fishing and start the wheel. And our wolfy friend shows up again. So, for any lurkers wondering why we'd waste time with revolting and whipping before the first settler was out this is the answer. Settler #2 will be ready to move out on turn 31 and we're planning on using IMP to be first to three cities on turn 33. Hopefully.
More detailed thoughts on scouting: William's scout was facing west when we met him (see screenshot from turn 21 below), implying he'd come from the east. However he'd also just fought a beast, and units turn to face whatever they're fighting. So he could have come from the south and fought a beast to the west. However if he'd come from the south he'd have seen a beast when he stepped on the marble tile, then moved to the grass hill forest where he'd be safe. So he must have come from the east. Unless he was running away from a bear to the south that could attack the ghf. Anyway, I'm going to say that William is in the east and that our best chance of meeting someone new is to head south. So our scout heads south and sees nothing much this turn.
We're four turns from getting graphs on William by the way, but with the rival best soldiers only a shade ahead of ours I'm not worried about a rush or a choke. Demos.
Our warrior survived the (str 1) wolf in the north so our opening continues in line with the plan and next turn we will settle on copper. The incoming chop will finish our next settler.
In the south our scout revealed silver, which makes the southern expansion that much more attractive. SE next?
Early turn demos below. Let's see how many people will found their 2nd cities this turn. (naufragar, Cairo, mackoti, plako, Commodore and Dreylin have so far)
Let's start with the big news.. We found a neighbor, and quite a close neighbour indeed:
Not totally sure, but based on the color I think it's OT4E and Chumchu. Assuming my eyes are not mistaken that's not really good news.. IND/PRO of Carthage. That's already a 2nd PRO civ met and Numids can be a trouble. And of course OT4E definitely does not meet the criteria of an easy conquest nor is he a peacefully-natured easy-to-read opponent. Well, who would want this to be easy anyways!
Our scout has multiple options next turn:
Take a look into the capital and go S-SE
Potentially make contact by going S and then move E (or NE) and disappear without leaving a sign
Avoid making contact and go E or SE
I did not count the exact distance yet, but it's something like 13/14 tiles between our capitals so our south is definitely contested and I think this plays into the decision. I'm kinda leaning towards not announcing our existence at the moment.
***
In domestic matters we settled Alpha Centauri (or did I screw up the name?)
We have a decision to make here as well. What should our currently 1.7/2 health warrior do?
We are currently at 11 players with 2 cities so barbs will start appearing very soon. (dtay and gavagai settled last turn. Us, elkad and TBS so far this turn). I'm leaning towards moving him immediately (before the turn rolls) to the tile NW-NW of our new city for a bit more efficient fog-busting. IIRC barbs can't appear within 2 tiles of a unit regardless of vision. Every tile blocked will decrease the probability that we will be harrassed by the barbs and increase the probability of someone else getting barb trouble..
I guess I should also note that due to our new city I put our slider to 80 %. With our 15 commerce produced that's still efficient as no rounding takes place and wheel does not get a pre-req bonus that would impact the decision. Btw, I've been doing some homework re how to squeeze out a beaker or too in the early game through not going typical 0/100 research all the time, but let's get back to that when it actually makes a difference.. (If a beaker ever makes a real difference)
Our new city makes our demos a bit more reasonable:
Some quick C&D notes on OT4E:
- Started with Fishing/Mining
- Has (I think) researched Agriculture, Bronze Working and this turn either Hunting (to improve pigs?) or Wheel.
- Size 4 capital, no second city yet.
Other thoughts - I've played OT4E in PB30 and 31 - he and 2metraninja thoroughly wrecked my game in 30 with an early amphibious chariot attack that happened before I'd even met them. Unfortunately for them Gavagai took most of the spoils and won the game. In PB31 I used a (fortuitous) great artist to steal some great territory from him and locked down a secure border which allowed me to ignore him the rest of the game.
He's an experienced player who won't be a tasty morsel, especially with PRO.
For anyone who doesn't know, Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri (and it's equally excellent expansion, Alien Crossfire) are an offshoot of the Civilization series, fitting between II and III. They differ from other Civ games in being set on - you guessed it - Alpha Centauri in the near future rather than beginning on Earth in the distant past, and in having "factions" based on different ideologies rather than historical civilizations. Otherwise the overall gameplay is very similar.
The distinctive feature of Alpha Centauri is that, freed from historical constraints, the designers were able to indulge in story-telling and world building in a way that the mainstream Civ games just don't allow. And they did an excellent job. The way that the story unfolds throughout the game as you discover more about the nature of the planet you are colonising is fascinating. The names and descriptions of the technologies, buildings and wonders are exotic but make sense rather than coming across as technobabble. In particular, the "quotes" from the various faction leaders extend their in-game personalities in a fun way. The faction system really works, with distinct, thematic advantages and disadvantages making for both interesting gameplay choices and fun storytelling. SFDebris made rather a good video about this, which is linked from this RB thread.
This aspect of the game is pretty unique in the series. Firaxis have made civilizations more distinct as time goes on (back in Civ II they differed only in starting techs), and some leaders have quite distinct personalities (Monty, Cathy and Izzy from Civ IV stand out) but the official games have never again had as rich a blend of story, lore and gameplay. For that, you can look at a rather good dark fantasy mod of Civ IV, but that's a tale for another day.
This is the game that got me into Civ - the first step on the path to Realms Beyond. A housemate had a free CD with the 100-turn demo, which barely ran on my old 486. It still blew me away. I got a new job which came with a new computer for working from home which could actually run the full product, and it was my first game purchase in years. I still have warm memories of playing over and over. These are a bit fuzzy now but I do think I managed to beat this - once - on the highest difficulty. The game does have its quirks, flaws and balance issues (and obviously is not as graphically advanced as modern games). If you want to see someone who knows what they're doing completely break the AI into tiny pieces, T-Hawk, as so often, provides.
It may have looked easy, but that is because it was done correctly - Brian Moore
Do you know of any modern recapture of the SMAC majesty shallow_thought?
I tried playing SMAC but it is way to archaic for me to really get into (I'm too spoiled graphics and interface wise, grew up playing Age of Empires and Empire Earth), even though I love it's concepts. I've tried several so-called "spiritual succesors", but none of them really clicked for me. Pandora: First Contact is needlessly overcomplex in some ways (the micromanagement OMG) and extremely shallow in others (the entire game is a pure conquest rush with the occasional nod to SMAC with a quest). Beyond Earth is just an insult to the original, even I can see that and I've barely even played the original!
(March 14th, 2018, 15:10)Japper007 Wrote: Do you know of any modern recapture of the SMAC majesty shallow_thought?
I tried playing SMAC but it is way to archaic for me to really get into (I'm too spoiled graphics and interface wise, grew up playing Age of Empires and Empire Earth), even though I love it's concepts. I've tried several so-called "spiritual succesors", but none of them really clicked for me. Pandora: First Contact is needlessly overcomplex in some ways (the micromanagement OMG) and extremely shallow in others (the entire game is a pure conquest rush with the occasional nod to SMAC with a quest). Beyond Earth is just an insult to the original, even I can see that and I've barely even played the original!
While it's fantasy rather than SF, personally the game that most gave me the Alpha Centauri feel (as hinted in the review) was Fall from Heaven (and it's wealth of modmod improvements). The edges are even rougher, if anything, but the core engine is Civ IV, with all the goodness that brings. I don't want to say much more, as we will probably get up to city "F" quite soon (love that IMP), although there's plenty of competition in that alphabetic slot. I've never come across an SF strategy game that felt the same. I've never played Beyond Earth, and nothing I've read makes me regret that.
These reviews are likely to accentuate the positive. I re-bought AC from GoG last year, inspired by the SFDebris review, and I played it exactly once. Graphics I can cope with, but there are parts of the gameplay that it's hard to go back to after Civ IV (no hard borders, that "collateral damage" in stacks...). So, yes, I guess you had to be there .
EDIT: I was going to suggest maybe looking at Endless Space 2 (I've barely started that game) but I see you're already over there in the thread I was going to link.
It may have looked easy, but that is because it was done correctly - Brian Moore
IND/PRO of Carthage. That's already a 2nd PRO civ met and Numids can be a trouble. And of course OT4E definitely does not meet the criteria of an easy conquest nor is he a peacefully-natured easy-to-read opponent. Well, who would want this to be easy anyways! 
.