[SPOILERS - PBEM17] novice and spaceman - Suryavarman of India

[spacemanmf]

On the evidence of PBEM13, I'm happy to let you play...

[novice]

Clearly my first sim sucked. This time I got the lighthouse EOT38. I have four workers, settled the third city on T35, and have 24 hammers into another settler in Capital.



The key to getting the lighthouse as fast as possible is to save ALL the forests in Bombay's BFC for that city. So when we chop workers and settlers in Capital, we use the southwestern forests.

[novice]

Turn 3 played. Cows on an island to the north.

[spacemanmf]

Thought you were going to bed... I'm going now so play PBEM13 if it comes in now or in the morning.

Good work on the simming.

[novice]

Played turn 4.



Noone has a coastal capital, but it doesn't look like the starts are completely mirrored, either:

[zakalwe]

That's a lot of forest chopping. Lighthouse + TGL is equivalent to a worker + two settlers in hammer cost, right? Could you instead get 5 cities by T38, and if so, is it worth it? You would also have granaries and cottages on-line sooner if you delay or simply skip TGL.

[novice]

That's a lot of forest chopping. Lighthouse + TGL is equivalent to a worker + two settlers in hammer cost, right? Could you instead get 5 cities by T38, and if so, is it worth it? You would also have granaries and cottages on-line sooner if you delay or simply skip TGL.

We don't have any economic traits so we need a way to fund our expansion. Sure we could probably build 5 cities by T38 but what would that do to our economy? (I don't know, I haven't tested. )

If we get TGL every new city will be a net plus to the economy from T0 for a long time. And with all these islands, we should be able to make 2 commerce from all internal trade routes, so we won't be that dependent on OB with our neighbours.

[spacemanmf]

If we get TGL every new city will be a net plus to the economy from T0 for a long time. And with all these islands, we should be able to make 2 commerce from all internal trade routes, so we won't be that dependent on OB with our neighbours.

Only if we make them all coastal...

[novice]

So what do people think? Should we
a) Build TGL quickly
b) Build TGL sedately
c) Skip TGL

Spaceman? scooter? Zakalwe?

[zakalwe]

I have seen the map so I'm slightly spoiled, but I don't know what the other players are up to. If you can get an extra 4 commerce per coastal city from TGL, then it probably goes without saying that you want it. So the question is how early to go for it. Maybe your C&D department could help you with that.

The main reason I asked was just to play the Devil's advocate. But if you could get away with building 4-5 cities and maybe even teching pottery before you build the lighthouse that would obviously be very nice. Is it feasible to chop it out in a single turn? How many workers would you need for that? If you want to be sure to get it, your T38 plan seems solid.