[no players] Lurking in the Trenches

[Bobchillingworth]

Can you post some overview pics of the map here?

[spellman]

Overview of the world (in really bad resolution until I do stitching)

Players in Red, AI in Orange.

As I said, Luttien kinda in a bad spot potentially. In hindsight, probably should have swapped with Miriam to spread the players out.

[Bobchillingworth]

Yeah, Sareln may need to expand through Maniac, although it is also possible that they'll form an alliance based on espionage or something. Sareln can found cities anywhere without penalty, so the various islands may see some use. He'd be much better off with any of the other places on his continent though.


Iskender is in a great spot. Two AI to beat up on, and then he should have enough resources to easily wipe out Mardoc. Going to play a lot like SP though.


Maniac is in a good position if Sareln leaves him alone, and potentially a dangerous one if they fight.


Morgan has a very strong starting area, just a whole chain of AI to kill.


Mardoc has a nice central area to raid from, but I don't see how the Pirates could possibly win this game.




Really surprised nobody went with Forman Domai, he's really strong!

[spellman]

Between Maniac and Sareln is also some serious ridge chokes. So, there's a natural border. This was intentional.

[Selrahc]

My preliminary analysis of espionage suggests it is really easy to defend against, particularly if your borders against a player are narrow. It's easy enough to get three probe teams active, which can easily cover an entire flank of your civilization, forcing any potential enemies to go on a much longer and more indirect course if they don't want to get caught. Somebody who put a little spending into espionage can easily get 5 or 6 probe teams, and that will be enough to patrol even quite a large border. The Data Angel's spectres are interesting, because they can be used to spot and potentially sucker punch kill enemy probe defences if the opponent hasn't noticed them. Ultimately, I think any sufficiently vigilant player will not be at all easy to steal from.

On the other hand, if you get a willing crony or AI, it doesn't take all that much expense to loot them dry. Particularly if you're getting +75% on EP spending. Even before taking advantage of all the cost reducers.

[Bobchillingworth]

Lol @ Sareln's ridiculous start. Can he even ever work a third of his tiles? Incredible production land if he can use it, but even with Fundamentalist Aesthetic Virtues I suspect it's going mostly to waste.

[Bobchillingworth]

Btw, why does he have what appears to be a tiny edited-in river near his start? It looks like it only provides fresh water to some Rocky tiles, which you can't irrigate (unless you settle on them & aren't Yang).

[Bobchillingworth]

Apologies for the triple post.



Looking at Sareln's start, I'd move one colony pod 1 NW- grabs a handful of okay resources, and most importantly allows for chain irrigation of most visible non-rocky tiles. Send the other colony pod out east, see if any spot can be found which supports working the two unclaimed mineral bonuses.

[spellman]

Lol @ Sareln's ridiculous start. Can he even ever work a third of his tiles? Incredible production land if he can use it, but even with Fundamentalist Aesthetic Virtues I suspect it's going mostly to waste.

Should have seen it before I extended the landmass to the east. I also added in the DNAs so he has at least some food production. (EDIT: yay, he spotted the nutrient bonus!)

Also, huh, thought I extended the river further. Merp. Chalk this up to me being a noob at map editing and doing this all in a few hours.

But yes, Sareln will have to deal with lots of Arid in his pennisula. You can see on the map around 1/3 to 1/2 of that region is arid. But at least he's got lakes for 2f/2g

[Thoth]

Hmm.

Not sure why Mardoc is fussing about his base placement so much.

There are three very handy letters to keep in mind when planning SMAC/Planetfall bases:

I

C

S.




Water tiles are actually quite decent in PF and the Pirates get boosted Trench/Shelf/Ocean.

Pack 'em in tight.