[SPOILERS] Novice starts improvising

[novice]

Sandboxes.
Babylon: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1521...dSwordSave
Germany: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1521...dSwordSave

I think the German techs are better - we want to build a worker, then grow on warrior builds. Our worker farms the corn, then pastures the sheep. For this we need Hunting and Agriculture. Our worker then wants to chop a forest, or mine/chop a forest. The chop goes into a settler once we've grown to size 3 or 4. With Germany we will have Bronze Working in time to start chopping after the sheep pasture. With Babylon we won't, we'll have The Wheel but 5 turns to go on Bronze Working.

If we have a third food resource Babylon might be good but if we only have two, Germany seems better.

[plako]

Germany is ok, but what if you just mine and not chop after improving Sheep+Corn. I like the idea of sparing most of the forests for wonders and post maths time.

[novice]

Germany is ok, but what if you just mine and not chop after improving Sheep+Corn. I like the idea of sparing most of the forests for wonders and post maths time.

I think chopping a few forests early on is necessary to speed up the start. With Germany I put one mine-chop into the settler, then after the settler I 2-whipped a worker with overflow into a granary, which could be completed at size 2 with a second chop while the second city borrowed the corn. Revolt to slavery when the settler is on the move.

[plako]

I would had to test things out, but is that 1-2T delay significant enough? Also in case of Flood plains we might want to cottage them instead of chop/mining alongisde with the case of having 3rd food resource available when both starting techs would work equally well.

Growing to 4 with just the resources we've might not be optimal. We don't have good 3rd tile to use for growing visible.

Nevertheless new Germany is definately worth a try so not a bad pick at all.

[novice]

Yes, when we see our full BFC it might turn out that Babylon is better. As is obvious by now I want to try out the new Germany, though.

Since you're OK with that I'll just pick it and let the snake pick continue.

[novice]

Does moving S-SE with the scout sound good?

[plako]

Definately - Settler SW-SW I presume unless scout finds something good.

[zakalwe]

Definately - Settler SW-SW I presume unless scout finds something good.

Yes, looks likely that cities 1 and 2 will go on those two plains hills. If the forested plains hill has another food resource it might be better to settle there first, to get the corn in the first ring.

[darrelljs]

What Scout?

Darrell

[zakalwe]

What Scout?

Darrell

Hm. Good point. Clearly we should archer rush someone instead.