Intersite Game - Turn Discussion Thread

[novice]

It isn't worth trying to hide a lib run if Apolyton has research vis on us. (Sulla says they do)

The point of my suggestions isn't hiding our Lib run, it's building up enough overflow that we're not stuck with a useless half-researched Lib in the case where we lose the race. Also, if we do the Edu+Lib in 1 turn plan, we'll know that double-bulbing Edu won't be in vain.

[Fintourist]

I definitely agree with novice here. Utilizing the overflow from different techs and 1-turning Edu+Lib is not only a cool play, it serves our purpose by maximizing the research flexibility.

[Sullla]

Guys, Liberalism is not useless in this game because it's a mandatory tech needed to research Communism. I'm not a huge fan of jumping through micro hoops to avoid investing beakers into a tech that we're going to be giving a heavy research priority down the road no matter what.

We also have two markets completing in our highest commerce cities (Adventure One and Mansa's Muse) in three turns. I believe that it's more efficient to run max science now, and then go to max gold when the markets complete. We can of course still do this without finishing any techs if desired, researching them to 99% status or whatever.

Instead of throwing out theoretical stuff all the time, it sure would be awesome if someone else were willing to download the sandbox saves and test this stuff in practice. Someone other than me having to do nearly everything gameplay related.

[novice]

Points taken, Sullla. I figure this is the correct time to theorycraft, though, when we're at the start of a new planning period. I enjoy it and hopefully it's not all spam.

My macro level input is simply that we should try to avoid getting stuck with a half-researched Liberalism - even if we want it down the road, we want other stuff like e.g. Metal Casting first. If that doesn't work out when it comes down to the micro details, so be it.

[Ubercannon]

Well I still don't think that switching into nationalism is a good plan, but other than that it sounds like a good plan. Definitely, do whatever it takes to win liberalism. A side comment though- I'm pretty sure that if you just tech alphabet (edit: and compass) while avoiding machinery, you'll be able to bulb liberalism.

[Sullla]

Don't get me wrong, the suggestions are certainly helpful. It would just be nice to have a little more help here and there. But I guess virtually everyone else here has committed themselves to a bunch of Pitboss/PBEM games of their own, unfortunately.

I did a fast test of overflowing beakers in our sandbox, very rough stuff, just hitting next turn without microing cities or workers to get a sense of where we stood in terms of commerce. We actually are even further ahead than I expected; I was able to finish Liberalism at eot 130 with a double lightbulb, and do it in one turn by overflowing from nearly completed Philosophy/Paper/Archery techs as suggested. With one lightbulb, it would likely be more like eot 132 or eot 133, I'll have to test further. Again, this is with no micromanagement and no use of building Research/Wealth. It definitely feels like setting up one of those research overflow chains would be a good option here, very nice suggestions everyone.

I don't think Apolyton has much of a shot to beat us in this race. They need to come up with about 6000 beakers in the next nine turns... and it looks like it will take them 6 turns to finish Paper (1080 beakers). Hopefully we can save one of our two Great Scientists for Printing Press lightbulb or an Academy. The double lightbulb plus triple research overflow move is VERY slick though, and it may even be worthwhile to do so that we can get an early start on Taj. I'm expecting that we won't have marble for its construction, and that means it will take roughly 20 turns to build. Getting to Nationalism a dozen turns faster than everyone else might even be worthwhile as a result.

[novice]

That sounds like a very competitive Liberalism date.

That of course begs the question, should we aim to grab a more expensive tech with Liberalism? But I guess getting Nationalism sooner so we can get started on Taj is more valuable. Especially since we'll have to hand-research Nationalism if we Liberalise a more expensive tech.

[Ceiliazul]

Remembering that Apolyton has a G.Sci possibly waiting, and seem likely to finish paper in the next 1-2 turns, it seems unlikely we can postpone lib for something better.

It's a credit to the other teams that this game is so competitive, and a credit to Sulla and others that we *might* land liberalism at all.

[Bigger]

That sounds like a very competitive Liberalism date.

That of course begs the question, should we aim to grab a more expensive tech with Liberalism? But I guess getting Nationalism sooner so we can get started on Taj is more valuable. Especially since we'll have to hand-research Nationalism if we Liberalise a more expensive tech.

I don't know about targetting another tech, but squeezing in metal casting before the paper-ed-lib combo seems preferrable. getting the forge in place before we start building the taj seems like a good idea.

[Boldly Going Nowhere]

A few questions: What is our best guess for when CivFr would be able to tech Nationalism? Since they have MoM, the free GA from Music, access to marble, and are perceived to be our most serious competition, they're the ones I least want to get Taj. Our lack of access to marble is critical, so if we could find any way to pin CFC down on when we can get our 10 turn window for marble (am I imagining this, or was this part of the NAP/free gift of stone + spices?), that would go a long way to securing Taj. Also, have Apolotyn built any marble wonders/have access to marble? If they would have to build it without marble, the 20t build sounds ok with CivFr so behind on the top of the tech tree.

One last question: when was Apolotyn's last GP? They're PHI and bulbed Philosophy, so it wouldn't be hard for them to swap to Pacifism/Caste and birth several scientists themselves.