Tolls could be waiting for a great scientist to bulb Astro without us noticing. I'll check this screen each turn to make sure that doesn't happen.
The two cities that we were wondering about Trolls taking?
Quama will settle next turn and have the clam improved straight away, Rapier the turn after, unfortunately Trolls will see our moves with their caravel. Also I couldn't unload one of the workers onto the jungled banana this turn - how many worker turns will the banana take to improve?
We have five settlers in transit and six being built right now. We have three galleons and three galleys shuttling units right now, it might be worth upgrading another galley, but probably not.
We'll have Philosophy and National Epic in time for our golden age and will also swap into Caste System for scientists and SFL border pops. I've stopped building the Courthouse in Longsword as I hope we can get State Property quicker with bulbs.
On the northern Pirate coast there are a lot of underdefended cities. If we had state property now I'd suggest loading all our remaining zerks and knights on galleons and going after them, as it is if we start attacking it probably just gives cities to M3 and Trolls. But soon...
TEAM protected Shaistakoff from the Troll Zerks, have they got more vulnerable coastal cities? (Don't worry I moved the caravel out of their territory.)
Settling Quama costs us 6 gpt.
The disance maintenance is less than I thought - so we only need a couple of citizens on coast to break even! I think Granary-Trading Post-Harbour is a good order, although we should put forges in somewhere too?
Trolls still don't have Astronomy and we'll settle Rapier next turn.
The northern half of Smoothfoundland is now revealed, and I like all of our proposed city sites, but I think we want to settle Trident before Scimitar. Any thoughts for further inland?
We have enough settlers already moving to allow us to settle all the way around to Woldo.
There are another four settlers in production right now so perhaps we need to settle our side of SFL soon too?
Power
I'm planning to finish Philosophy soon and go on to Paper, our GNP isn't bad, but noone else has tech turned on, so I'm not sure where we really sit.
The main problem with going after Pirates is that it spreads our defenses too thin--if we assume TEAM is dying eventually (no matter how they keep miraculously surviving), then we'll be facing Trolls on three fronts, when we barely could defend them on one--I think a Pirates conquest would be around Rifling, though we might just be attacking Trolls at that time :/
The build order for SFL cities seems good, though I think I might go for the forge before harbor--harbor only gets us about 3-4 commerce at this point, or about one citizen on coast, and these cities seem really hammer poor (and there aren't any forests to accelerate us).
Trident before Scimitar seems fine, since we don't have to fight Trolls for SFL--the only inland cities I really want to settle are the plains hill 2S of the central gems and the plains 2W of the eastern gems (was that gems going to be taken by a coastal city?). I don't know how many floodplains we want in one city though--something like that plains 2S 1W of the lake could be good just for cottages, but there's no production and it would take a large health penalty--maybe something like the plains at the bottom of the picture could be better, and then the super flood plain city would be filler.
I think our side of SFL is better than most of the inland cities (with the exception of maybe the couple of cities I mentioned), mainly because the distance maintenance is less and they still get trade routes, even before you consider other teams stealing SFL. I just don't know how many cities we can settle before our economy crashes :/
Wow, we're first in production? Is that just because we're building infinite settlers/workers and thus are adding our food to that as well?
(May 16th, 2013, 13:01)Cheater Hater Wrote: The main problem with going after Pirates is that it spreads our defenses too thin--if we assume TEAM is dying eventually (no matter how they keep miraculously surviving), then we'll be facing Trolls on three fronts, when we barely could defend them on one--I think a Pirates conquest would be around Rifling, though we might just be attacking Trolls at that time :/
Good point. We need to work out how we're going to win this game at some point don't we? The only reason to go to war would be to gain land, and we have all the land we could possibly need right now. I actually think that we should gift Pirates copies of any luxuries and health resources we don't need to make them harder for M3 and Trolls to devour...
(May 16th, 2013, 13:01)Cheater Hater Wrote: The build order for SFL cities seems good, though I think I might go for the forge before harbor--harbor only gets us about 3-4 commerce at this point, or about one citizen on coast, and these cities seem really hammer poor (and there aren't any forests to accelerate us).
I agree, I think we need a spell of slavery again after the golden age just to get basic infra up on the island. And to get markets and universities on the mainland. We can also use the food surplus on SFL to build workers and get them to build workshops...
(May 16th, 2013, 13:01)Cheater Hater Wrote: Trident before Scimitar seems fine, since we don't have to fight Trolls for SFL--the only inland cities I really want to settle are the plains hill 2S of the central gems and the plains 2W of the eastern gems (was that gems going to be taken by a coastal city?). I don't know how many floodplains we want in one city though--something like that plains 2S 1W of the lake could be good just for cottages, but there's no production and it would take a large health penalty--maybe something like the plains at the bottom of the picture could be better, and then the super flood plain city would be filler.
2S of Gems is a strong city, I can't visualise how it'll all work without putting BFCs on a map though - I'll probably have a go at that this weekend. You lose 0.4 health per flood plain, so six flood plains is only 2.4 (rounded down to 2) I think we've got plenty of health resources, so that shouldn't be a problem. I guess we want to pack cities in as much as possible once we've got the coast covered.
(May 16th, 2013, 13:01)Cheater Hater Wrote: I think our side of SFL is better than most of the inland cities (with the exception of maybe the couple of cities I mentioned), mainly because the distance maintenance is less and they still get trade routes, even before you consider other teams stealing SFL. I just don't know how many cities we can settle before our economy crashes :/
This is our biggest issue for the rest of the game... If we can get enough scientists to bulb our way to State Property then we're laughing, but I've no idea how easy or hard that will be.
(May 16th, 2013, 13:01)Cheater Hater Wrote: Wow, we're first in production? Is that just because we're building infinite settlers/workers and thus are adding our food to that as well?
We were first on food once Trolls went after TEAM, but most cities are now working hammers to get production bonuses for the Settlers and Workers. Unfortunately GNP is our big problem. We've never been top on that graph...
We should be helping TEAM first before Pirates, unless you think they're a lost cause at this point--as long as TEAM is still alive Pirates probably can't be attacked by Trolls though, and I don't think M3 can beat Pirates by themselves (assuming Pirates is alert enough to whip some longbows or something )
How big is SFL compared to the main landmass? I floated earlier that our current region plus all of SFL should put us really close to the domination threshold; how accurate is that idea?
I don't think we should focus that much on the inland cities, except the ones that will pay for themselves almost immediately--I really like the idea of workshopping a lot of those cities, especially since our long-term civics are likely State Property and Caste System--the next workshop upgrade comes at Chemistry right? (that would be another tech we want soon then, to go along with Communism, Economics, and Rifling )
Speaking of Scientists, what's the bulb order? I know Education and Scientific Method are high up there, but Chemistry might be up there (but that requires Gunpowder?)
(May 16th, 2013, 18:58)Cheater Hater Wrote: We should be helping TEAM first before Pirates, unless you think they're a lost cause at this point--as long as TEAM is still alive Pirates probably can't be attacked by Trolls though, and I don't think M3 can beat Pirates by themselves (assuming Pirates is alert enough to whip some longbows or something )
Yeah, I forgot about them... Just logged in and it looks like we have Gold, Whale and Silk that could help them out. With our Hereditary rule we have the spare happy to loan TEAM one of those (so long as we get one more MP into Foil). I can offer that now before Tasunke plays his turn if you want? They have HR too, but happy is always helpful in a war... By the way this is their city list, to help us track when they lose cities we don't know about. Hmmm - where do you think that silver is coming from?
(May 16th, 2013, 18:58)Cheater Hater Wrote: How big is SFL compared to the main landmass? I floated earlier that our current region plus all of SFL should put us really close to the domination threshold; how accurate is that idea?
Right now we have 25% of the pop and need 48% and we have 15.15% of the land and need 68%. The score breakdown tells me we have 183/1300 for land (14.07%?) but in the last 20 turns we gained 4 tiles for Oathkeeper, one for Naginta, four for Pike and five for Quama making 197, 197/1300 = 15.15%.
Rapier's island is 6 tiles *4 = 24 and I think SFL is 271 tiles so 197+24+271 = 404/1300 = 37.8%. No where near I'm afraid.
(May 16th, 2013, 18:58)Cheater Hater Wrote: I don't think we should focus that much on the inland cities, except the ones that will pay for themselves almost immediately--I really like the idea of workshopping a lot of those cities, especially since our long-term civics are likely State Property and Caste System--the next workshop upgrade comes at Chemistry right? (that would be another tech we want soon then, to go along with Communism, Economics, and Rifling )
So we get the food sources improved first, then build workshops?
(May 16th, 2013, 18:58)Cheater Hater Wrote: Speaking of Scientists, what's the bulb order? I know Education and Scientific Method are high up there, but Chemistry might be up there (but that requires Gunpowder?)
A bit more about dot mapping... We have ten settlers in transit or production, which cities do you want to settle first?
I'm going to say 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 13, 12, 9, 8, then we'll need some more to do 7, 10 and 11.
At that point we'll probably be limping towards state property pretty unconvincingly, but once we have that we can start settling the middle of the island.
Just checking in to say I'm still here and you two are doing a great job! That dotmap of SFL looks amazing.
I don't think these games ever go until the actual victory condition is achieved (except maybe spaceship). If we have an obvious majority of land and population, the other teams will most likely concede before we actually break the threshold.
I'm a bit concerned that TEAM have silver - I think that means they've got Astronomy and may be trying to get a foothold overseas too... We'll get Alphabet this turn and will be able to see if they have Astro. If they do I think we need to activate our 10 turn NAP cooldown period. Essentially we don't want them settling on SFL because then Trolls will take the city. We could always ask them not to settle on SFL, but I doubt that would work.
It looks like each new city is going to cost about 10 gpt - with 7 of the cities settled we're getting 30% break-even and rather than 300 beakers per turn its 175 beakers per turn.
On bulbs it looks like our (I hope 3) scientists will get us 1900 beakers towards Education (2574) and Printing Press (2288) and then Scientific Method (3400) leaving us to get 2000 beakers for liberalism, 1400 beakers for Scientific Method and 4000 beakers for Communism.
At 300 beakers per turn those 7400 will take 25 turns, at 175 it's 40 turns. Of course printing press and Education get us research bonii, so we'll have better performance than that, but it could be a worry. I think we want education and PP asap, then save cash until Oxford is built in Occam and turn research back on.
It's been a long time since I've looked at this game, but I just want to say good job getting a head start on colonizing the center.
Merovech's Mapmaking Guidelines:
0. Player Requests: The player's requests take precedence, even if they contradict the following guidelines.
1. Balance: The map must be balanced, both in regards to land quality and availability and in regards to special civilization features. A map may be wonderfully unique and surprising, but, if it is unbalanced, the game will suffer and the player's enjoyment will not be as high as it could be.
2. Identity and Enjoyment: The map should be interesting to play at all levels, from city placement and management to the border-created interactions between civilizations, and should include varied terrain. Flavor should enhance the inherent pleasure resulting from the underlying tile arrangements. The map should not be exceedingly lush, but it is better to err on the lush side than on the poor side when placing terrain.
3. Feel (Avoiding Gimmicks): The map should not be overwhelmed or dominated by the mapmaker's flavor. Embellishment of the map through the use of special improvements, barbarian units, and abnormal terrain can enhance the identity and enjoyment of the map, but should take a backseat to the more normal aspects of the map. The game should usually not revolve around the flavor, but merely be accented by it.
4. Realism: Where possible, the terrain of the map should be realistic. Jungles on desert tiles, or even next to desert tiles, should therefore have a very specific reason for existing. Rivers should run downhill or across level ground into bodies of water. Irrigated terrain should have a higher grassland to plains ratio than dry terrain. Mountain chains should cast rain shadows. Islands, mountains, and peninsulas should follow logical plate tectonics.
This is our biggest issue for the rest of the game... If we can get enough scientists to bulb our way to State Property then we're laughing, but I've no idea how easy or hard that will be.
)
Yeah, I forgot about them... Just logged in and it looks like we have Gold, Whale and Silk that could help them out. With our Hereditary rule we have the spare happy to loan TEAM one of those (so long as we get one more MP into Foil). I can offer that now before Tasunke plays his turn if you want? They have HR too, but happy is always helpful in a war... By the way this is their city list, to help us track when they lose cities we don't know about. Hmmm - where do you think that silver is coming from?
