[spoilers] novice & moon shoot the world

[novice]

All right, let's do reruns while we're waiting for this game to get exciting. There's not much actual gaming to do right now since I've run this start through that tool of mine to plan out the first 30 turns...

* wavy flashback transition *

So I had really mixed feelings about doing leader previews. I kind of gave my thoughts on most of the leaders during the snake pick, and I've already analyzed this scenario to death in my original 34V thread. So really, what's the point of writing full blown leader/player previews? Someone nudged me and said I really need to write up previews though. I thought this was lame though.

So I decided to get lazy and make other players write my previews for me like I did in PBEM36. I had some free time on chat so I just started chatting with people and asking for them to preview a leader. I first asked SevenSpirits, but he was apparently busy talking to Novice about some incredibly complex micro trick that no human could possibly understand. Strike one. Then I asked Mackoti. I didn't hear from him at first, and then he and Seven simultaneously message'd me and said they could do it. Well, long story short, I ended up in a group chat with them both as they broke down my first opponent. Then Novice joined in just because. I probably should have split them each onto different previews, but the trio from the insane PBEM23 game all joined in to explain the finer points of Pindcator and his choice. Or at least, that's what I thought I was going to get. Below is what actually happened.

(split them into 3 posts for length, so the next 2 previews will come in following posts)

Player: Pindicator
Leader: Zara Yakob
Civ: Maya
Previewer(s): SevenSpirits, Mackoti, and Novice

scooter: thanks guys for doing the preview
Seven no problem
Mackoti: so what do they chose
scooter: hang on, Novice is joining too
novice has joined the conversation
scooter: Ok, it's Pindicator and he chose Zara Yakob of Maya
Mackoti: organzit very strong
Novice: scooter
scooter: huh?
Novice: sorry, habit
Seven Ok Cre/Org with Mining/Mysticism. Holkan UU as resourceless spear replacement, Ball Court UB as Colosseum replacement, made cheap by CRE. Let me make a sandbox.
Novice: already done
scooter: ... wait what? how? I just told you, how do you have a sandbox done? And Seven do you have those memorized or something?
Seven yeah I wrote a flash card program last weekend that would drill me on all the techs, traits, etc.
Novice: I make a lot of sandboxes. I wrote a program to simulate the best possible opening given a leader, civ, and BFC, so I'll have the results shortly.
scooter: I feel like we're speaking different languages right now. Mackoti, thoughts?
Mackoti: Well organizit is very good. If he build Pyramids and mOm then he probably win.
Novice: Ok done. I'll email you his first 35 turns.
scooter: thanks?
Novice: Zakalwe
scooter: maybe I need to ask a specific question. How do you guys think his leader compares to mine?
Seven I suspect you will start slower, but if you can overcome that, your economy has more potential
Mackoti: did you not take organazit?
Novice: your start is slower. ran your start through my program and then did 6-7 more manual sims and got it a little closer via black magic fast worker abuse
Mackoti: do what I do in 41
Mackoti: pretend to have secret plan and tell lurkers to guess
Mackoti: then pick best plan
Novice: uberfish
scooter: I feel like this isn't really previewing anything.
Seven It's very simple. You know the map, Pindicator's CRE will be a pain early, but you have some more long-term potential if you survive the early game.
Seven Plus this guest preview thing is just not a very good gimmick. It was funny the first time, but this is really pushing it.
scooter: Last question. What is Pindicator's chances of victory in comparison to mine.
Mackoti: he will beat you sory
Seven Well you did come in dead last in 34V.
Novice: Stonehenge
scooter: I won't do it again!
Mackoti: LOL. good lukc. i telld you take organizit and you not do it. i will read thread thouhg. bye.
Mackoti has left the conversation
Novice: yeah you have no chance here sorry.
Novice has left the conversation
scooter: well thanks guys. good talk.
Seven has left the conversation

Um, well that was depressing. I edited out a bunch of nerdery that went WAY over my head. Thankfully, next should be a bit more cheery. Oledavy previews AT in the next post!

[novice]

Screenshot from turn 3, played earlier today. In the east we had a jungle growth (boo!) and a forest growth (yay!).



Updated sandbox:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/15215428/pbem47/...dSwordSave

[novice]

I think maybe we should abandon the plan of circling to the bananas. They are jungle-infested and a city by the wet corn seems like a better second city. What do you think about sending the warrior 2SW to check out that desert hill? I'm thinking we could still go for 3 quick cities, but put the third city 1W of the lake, sharing tiles with the second city.

I simmed a bit with the updated sandbox, and our current plan of chopping into the settler makes more sense if we're settling on the bananas than if we're settling by the corn. If we're settling by the corn I think growing to size 6 and 3-whipping the settler might be better.

EDIT: We can micro it so that our capital completes its first warrior as it grows to size 6, with enough overflow that we can overflow from a settler 3-whip to a 1-turn worker. That works out quite nicely. The only downside is we might need to bring the warrior back to the capital to serve as MP when it's growing from size 5 to 6.

[Shoot the Moon]

What does that desert hill actually aid us in choosing that city site though? Unless you're planning to then swing back to the grassforest hill there I don't see the desert hill giving us much immediately useful info.

That's not to say I don't like the idea of settling there. I agree it looks stronger than the bananas. I'm just not sure about th scouting path. SE-SE maybe if we want to scout the wet corn area for vision over that lake although obviously that's wasting a turn of scouting.

[novice]

I'd say the desert hill tells us more about the viability of the third city spot. The spot by the corn is pretty much a lock already, I'd say.

Looking more closely at the screenshot - is that a river starting at that desert hill?

[Shoot the Moon]

West of it? That or an oasis.

[novice]

Save's in and I'm out.

[novice]

Got it. And played t4. I agree that moving SE instead of NW would have been better on t2, but I didn't want to backtrack, so...

[novice]

Got it. And played t5. I think we're closing on the border towards one of our neighbours.

[novice]

Let's try to draw up a scouting path. My current micro plan requires that our warrior moves back into our capital on t17.

Updated sandbox: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/15215428/pbem47/...dSwordSave