[SPOILER ALERT] Grimace hopes this one doesn't BSOD.

[Grimace]

Yeah, with non-random maps SIP is virtually certain to be best.

[Grimace]

Turns 2 - 4

Not a lot to report and scouting moves one by one are boring, so expect to only see updates every few turns until good stuff starts happening.

Here's what I've found so far:


Actually, some pretty good territory. I can see a couple of good city spots already. In particular I think 1N of the crabs/1SE of the sheep is going to be a good city spot, as well as the plains hill 1E of the cows. Probably a city across the channel as well to get the stone and the elephants.

[Grimace]

Turns 5 - 7

Still just exploring. Very good land around, though. Found marble and furs, so looks like happiness shouldn't be a huge issue.

[Grimace]

Turns 8 - 9

Got Meditation this round and discovered Buddhism. I know the general rule is to focus on certain techs first (Agr/Hun/AH/Mining/BW) before doing the religious thing, but in every game I've been in so far, including PB23 where I'm getting my butt kicked in a two-front war, it actually didn't seem to matter a huge amount. Maybe it makes a few hammers difference in the long run, but frankly that level of micro bores me. Maybe that means I'll never win a game, and that's ok. I still have fun.

And as of this turn, everyone has discovered a tech (Commodore/dtay were first on Turn 6 or 7 with, I suspect, Hunting). HitAnyKey's scout has also found my territory, and I've discovered some more resources. If everyone's start is like mine, this will be a very interesting game.




I highlighted HAK's scout, so it seems like he's to my north; the question is, how far away?

[TheWannabe]

What about settling north of the cows, rather than east? If you don't mind having a slightly crammed dotmap, it would let that city share resources with the cap (which has 3 foods) to grow faster, and open up another lighthouse lake tile.
That said, I hate crammed dotmaps, and like building towards opponents early, so I'd be hoping for some good terrain around where HAK's scout is for my second city.

[Grimace]

Turns 9 - 13

Nothing really exciting happening here. Got my first worker who went to start pasturing the sheep. Agriculture will come in at the same time the pasture is complete allowing me to switch from the oasis to the sheep without slowing down that research. Then the worker will go farm the corn.

Here's what I've discovered so far:


Lots of juicy resources around.

Also, demos so far:


I'm 1st in GNP for 3 more turns! Of course my production isn't great, but trade-offs!

Also, I was chatting with Cal and he was curious why I went for Meditation and the early religion to begin with, and I realized I didn't really put my thoughts down here.

So my plan is to leverage spiritual and an early religion to pop borders quickly and allow me to build big cities. Fast temples give me a boost to culture and +1 happiness. Especially with all of the resources that are around, it won't be hard to hit the happy cap right now. I chose Meditation instead of Polytheism primarily for speed of research. I was able to get Meditation and will get Agriculture so my worker doesn't have to wait before farming the corn. Polytheism would have left me with one worker-turn where I couldn't do anything.

[Grimace]

What about settling north of the cows, rather than east? If you don't mind having a slightly crammed dotmap, it would let that city share resources with the cap (which has 3 foods) to grow faster, and open up another lighthouse lake tile.
That said, I hate crammed dotmaps, and like building towards opponents early, so I'd be hoping for some good terrain around where HAK's scout is for my second city.

Hey Wannabe, thanks for posting! Sorry I missed your post -- you came in as I was typing up my report (which I did right before I went to bed), which meant it didn't flag the thread as having a new post (since mine was more recent) and I didn't see it until today!

Depends on the situation. I don't mind a little crowding, and I didn't think about the lake tiles and the benefits of a lighthouse, so I appreciate that. It definitely makes it the plains hill spot less obviously good. And that would give that city plenty of food to survive even without the resources from the capital...that might not be a bad idea. I'll definitely play with that spot when I start my dot-mapping. It would certainly be a shame not to get those lake tiles the benefit of a lighthouse.

I also agree with settling towards my opponents, but I'm 99% sure I have opponents to my N, NW, and SW. So any direction is towards my opponents. However, being Industrious, I really want to get the stone and marble online as quickly as possible to take advantage of the extra bonus on certain wonders, so those are high priority city sites. Especially the marble, which has a couple of fantastic possibilities.

[Grimace]

Turns 14 - 15

Found Commodore/dtay:


Straight shot to my NW...capital is 12 or 13 tiles away, so we are definitely close together. Going to be a violent map. Units, units, units!

[Grimace]

Turns 16 - 17

Agriculture came down this turn, which is the same turn the worker arrived on the corn, so he will start farming it next turn. Mining is the next research target, and I'll get it in 6 turns.

The scout is still exploring, but nothing of note found so I'll post a screenshot next report when I've had a couple more turns. It'll be time to start dotmapping soon, as my first settler should arrive about T27 +/- 1 turn.

[Grimace]

Turns 18 - 20

Started dotmapping a little bit based on what I've explored so far.


I was originally going to settle south first, but when I saw the gems I think I changed my mind. The gems would be more valuable to me right now than the stone, especially since I won't be able to get it online for a little while yet. Thoughts?

Obviously red would be the first city, yellow the second, blue the third. White dots are possible city locations for the future. What do you guys think? For the NW white dots, I think it's going to depend on how much I'm willing to rely on border expansions. A gives the corn right away, while B means waiting for a border pop to get it. But the first also spreads out quite a bit...not necessarily a bad thing in general, but I think things are going to be cramped.