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I read old threads and played a bunch of SP with the express goal of preparing for this game. I think I have a good sense of how an empire grows in the early/mid game, but obviously there's a lot to learn about actually achieving a victory condition in MP. Playing against an AI was not very educational, but it did teach me about barbs and culture and the importance of picking a focused tech path
The purpose of this game is to give me a chance to plan a strategy, both for myself and for my opponents, and so learn the mod.
As I post my plan, please feel free to critique.
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Hmmm.... this seems like a tough map - nothing is given. I have hills and jungle. Mining! I have fur. Hunting! I have water tiles and resources. Sailing! I don't want to do all of these.
I would like one of the early religions as the cheapest source of happy and culture (even WotE via rushbuilt monuments in God King). Why? Happy is important to a Phil strategy - specialists are an efficient use of land but not of labour - and culture is scarce.
I had a plan to bulb Bowyers via Arete, but that means avoiding BW, and I won't be able to do that if I need to chop jungle. Can someone clarify the mechanics on forest fires? Can I burn jungle, then chop it as forest?
Just thought I'd jot these thoughts down....
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Nice start, really is begging for Calendar. A focused tech path is one the trickiest things in FFH I think, you just have so many options in the mid game.
If you're talking about Bowyers, I take it you're going Firebows over Wizards? The 2 really obvious bulb strategies are Scientists up the Arcane Line, which Dain seems well suited for, and a Carnival Bard at Festivals Bulbing Drama. I'm not sure about a religion bulb, building a Pagan temple, then running a priest for so long, seems a lot of investment in the early game for only 400b bulbed. I need to check the EITB bulb tree again.
I can't say for certain what happens to jungle fires but they take forever IIRC. I think you're right it goes Jungle -> burnt forest though.
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Jungle set alight will have the smoke improvement on the tile for ages. This has a small chance of changing to flames, which, in turn, quickly changes to burnt forest, which can be built on, but otherwise upgrades to normal forest after a while.
Takes ages though.
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Flames can create smoke on adjacent forests or jungles, so a single Blaze spell (or Pyre Zombie) can potentially clear the whole map. Another thing to consider: there's a small but nonzero chance for an event that creates 3 Mistforms on any smoke tile.
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(August 26th, 2013, 14:37)DaveV Wrote: Another thing to consider: there's a small but nonzero chance for an event that creates 3 Mistforms on any smoke tile. 
sooooooo..... no forest fires then
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(August 26th, 2013, 12:50)The Black Sword Wrote: If you're talking about Bowyers, I take it you're going Firebows over Wizards? The 2 really obvious bulb strategies are Scientists up the Arcane Line, which Dain seems well suited for, and a Carnival Bard at Festivals Bulbing Drama. I'm not sure about a religion bulb, building a Pagan temple, then running a priest for so long, seems a lot of investment in the early game for only 400b bulbed. I need to check the EITB bulb tree again.
The basic idea is to pop scientists to bulb up the arcane line, firebows come later I guess. I chose Dain because cheap elder councils, sage guilds, and libraries are the most efficient way to run multiple specialist cities. The problem is to construct a game plan that allows for all those hammers. Also, I assume wizards need supporting troops stronger than bronze warriors.
That's what attracted me to WoftE.
I can generate hammers via mines or via slavery. But philosophy is expensive and it seems a waste given my Arcane focus unless I build the Bone Palace. But I need mines to do that. If I want to stay focused, I can't have both. So mines, then.
WoftE, then, gives happy from Religion, commerce, and SoK's in God King allow me to rush build infrastructure in my library cities. I supplement a pure specialist economy with building research after I get writing.
Tech plan would be:
Agr->Calendar->Myst->Crafting->Mining->WotE->KotE->Edu->Writing
I have a source of food (Agrarianism), Hammers (Mines), Science (Scientists, Hammers), Religion (WotE), and a basic army of hitters (warriors/SoK's in transit) and scouts (KotE).
With this map, I'm puttering with BW->Warfare for Military State, then backfill worker techs and tech towards firebows while bulbing the arcane tree.
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Are you planning on just specialists/bulbs for research, or do you intend to supplement it with cottages/aristo farms?
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I think that depends on my opponents tech rate. aristo farms are awesome, but off-focus for me. i can research writing+ at the same cost. aristofarms don't get me to sorcery any faster, I think, and they steal food I need for specialists and hammers. I can move edu before KotE perhaps?
Note that I picked this leader and plan expressly to learn how to play without aristo farms.
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EOT overview with recon movement:
Warriors need to retreat behind borders t4?
I think Agr->Calendar->Mysticism->Exploration->Crafting->Mining is a given now.
I have two grains, so Deruptus eventually in the capitol and plains-hill riverside gold!
demos:
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