[PB70 Mjmd] STAND AS ONE!

[Mjmd]

Bing chose a Pro leader so I chose Zara. I thought about still going protective. 5 people and market buff certainly makes it more tempting and I do like pro great lighthouse, but if in doubt pick Zara.

[Mjmd]

Stolen from Bings tech thread post, note appreciated.

Charriu: Pericles (PHI-CRE) of Russia
Ginger: Nebuchadnezzar (PHI-IND) of China
Bing: Churchill (CHA-PRO) of Mali
Mjmd: Zara (ORG-CRE) of America
Superdeath: Suleiman (PHI-IMP) of Egypt

PHI - 3
CRE - 2
IND - 1
CHA - 1
PRO - 1
ORG - 1
IMP - 1


Evidently Cornflakes winning PB65 made people want to play philosophic. There is going to be a lot of competition for early wonders this game. The ONLY one I'll be vying for is HG. There is a lack of economic traits. Not everyone can do early game economies with no economic traits like Cornflakes. 

Charriu: Pericles (PHI-CRE) of Russia - was Russia his first choice? Did he just want to prove they were good after mod discussion where some of us were calling for it to be buffed? I mean again the leader just won a game and of the people who picked phil Charriu certainly has the most skill to pull it off, but Russia???

Ginger: Nebuchadnezzar (PHI-IND) of China - the fun combo!!! No clue what is going on with Ginger mentally, but I appreciate the neb pick. China is a good civ in general and is secretly one of the better naval civs. Do Neb and China go together??? Good question. Ginger loves bulbing crossbows with Oracle, but you don't start with a gold at your capital / OP capital every game Ginger!!! My play with Neb would be to go stonehenge to get something out of both traits going early, but we will see what Ginger does.

Sidebar on capitals. Tarkeel said "Currently testrunning the starts to T50;". While it is POSSIBLE Tarkeel built 5 different starts and tested them all, that seems a little much. Tarkeel has done all the same starts in the past as well as limited number of starts (ie 3 starts for 9 people). As well as stone islands I would expect at the very least similar starts.

Bing: Churchill (CHA-PRO) of Mali - The only other person to choose an economic trait (really 1.5 with cha). WITH an economic civ! I have no clue how much Bing is learning from Civac in PB69, but if he has learned how to expand early this combo is actually very solid at pretty much every stage of the game. As the only protective leader he also has the least risky great lighthouse build. Love the pick, hope he executes.

Mjmd: Zara (ORG-CRE) of America - Classic take the good stuff. Is America as fun as Neb? I haven't played Neb, but I'm certainly excited to play America.

Superdeath: Suleiman (PHI-IMP) of Egypt - I don't get phi-imp; I think most combos of phi make more sense..... You need to keep tech rate high to get to stuff you want to do with Phil, so maybe the plan is to use imp to catch up? I mean obviously there is some nice synergy with phi egypt. Get to use the UB of Egypt while also getting a great early UU. So a question I've been wonder is if Cornflakes is ded lurking SD or has there just been a tangent in SDs thread? SDs main weakness is his early game. It isn't an accident his only pitboss win was one where his early game micro was done by someone else. I don't think I've ever seen SD pick phil, but imp doesn't really scream Cornflakes to me. Very curious.

[Mjmd]

T1

Most obvious city spot in the world alert! The one downside is the lack of any forest to chop into a workboat. The cow is not necessary to improve for a while, so I can avoid AH if next city site also doesn't need. Its also a location that particularly due to lack of forest to chop means I can either max whip a worker into a settler after or maybe even go 1 worker. Some day when PB66 doesn't have a turn I'll have to actually do micro. 

[Tarkeel]

What was that you said about island stone?

[Mjmd]

Tarkeel — 10/28/2022 6:58 AM
Side-note on stone; when I'm making maps I consider stone to be one of the basic strategics on the line with copper and horse, because of the benefit on walls
Mjmd — 10/28/2022 6:58 AM
I agree with stone being a resource everyone should have
Tarkeel — 10/28/2022 6:58 AM
as you might have noticed, I've found a love for placing stone on islands to diminsh the effect on stonehenge and pyramids

I have a good memory.

[pindicator]

Stone on the island opens the possibility of settling on the stone at least.

[Mjmd]

I'll have to scout, but I think it will be spot noted. I will say if I wasn't creative on stone would be the correct spot. There is an argument about sooner vs better maoi. Having that extra hill to work to get Maoi active will mean quite a few turn difference. It will probably depend on how the dot map goes.

[Tarkeel]

Found any other obvious city spots?

[Mjmd]

I have to rerun my sim to see if I can move my road to make it more efficient if I can end up with the plan I want (3 cites in vaguely the same direction on 2 workers). I think I'm 1 turn short for workers, but I may just eat the lost trade connection if I have to. I'll post updated screenshot for myself tonight along with some thoughts.

[Mjmd]

T7

Posting as promised (delayed due to Ginger). 



I'm very torn on how to scout. I PROBABLY should go NE then SE next and then continue E probably and leave scouting the few black tiles to my cre border pop. Honestly I'm partly posting to FORCE myself to resist the urge to know stuff sooner (also very likely its just 2 grassland tiles). Obviously if I head back I could scout south of me as well, which I realize my hasty screenshot cut off, but will also be decently scouted by cre 3rd ring pop. Is there a chance there are better city sites down that way; of course. Floodplains are hard to pass up on expansion path though as they essentially act as pre farmed grassland tiles (they are too worker intensive to improve early so this is how I like to think of them early in the game). 

Now as you can see from my signs I was thinking 3rd would be the pig city, but thinking through that micro I'm pretty sure that is stupid as I would have to research AH before hunting and then just research hunting afterwards. Obviously plains deer isn't as good as a pig though, but we will see what scouting brings. If there is more food I will put 1N or where sign is. If there isn't I might just super share the wheat / floodplains. Reason of course is as stated I think I'm doing 4 cities on 2 workers. The two workers come first since starting without wheel I have to kind of wait for that. Reminder to myself to check tech costs against sim, but right now wheel finishes the turn I start roading (I put 1 chop into worker S3 and then 2 chops into settler S4 if memory serves). This gives me T31 settler revolt, T32 settle and then next settler is out T35 with whip to go somewhere. I can perfectly overflow that into another settler with no chops needed, but have to wait to regrow to whip (I stopped sim here so unsure of turn timing). 

T32 settle is going to be slow with this start, but with my starting techs its best I can do unless I want to sacrifice both future speed and trade routes. 

My very bad fog gazing indicates a relatively narrow sea west and east. I am unsure if the south connects to more land or not. There is definitely more land down there.