[PB16 SPOILERS] SevenSpirits goes off the deep end and finds Krill

[Krill]

Well, it's not the only rule of thumb. For example in PBEM17 Plako gave a start with 3 different food resources that could be claimed by the capital, or two of them whilst settling on a plains hill. In that instance, it definitely makes more sense to rush out a settler and to plant for the overlap, because the turn the new city is founded it can take one of the food tiles and both cities can continue to grow. In that instance using Lizzie (just as slow as Monty to start with) of Egypt the MM worked out better to build 2 settlers following the first worker, rather then get multiple workers.

One of the other things that needs to be considered is if it's worth farming a flood plain to swap between the capital and second city. That would make it more palatable to settle north if it turns out there is literally no food available near the capital.

[SevenSpirits]

I don't see a large benefit of your plan over just building a worker at size 1 and 3, and growing our single city to size 6. It's true that the extra city gives a center tile and a free pop point, and enables twice as many whips and claims more choppable forests, but this doesn't seem as good to me as just growing onto the strong tiles we have and building a settler for a slightly farther site. In particular, as a non-EXP leader, building 2 granaries this early is weaker than settling more resources.

[Krill]

Ah, but you're expecting to settle to overlap that wheat, you've not accounted to settling in a different direction, so the road on the wheat is not likely to be useful for us in this situation. We don't intend to settle a city in that location because it isn't productive, nor does it claim any new resources (which give us an increased yield and hence improve productivity). That means that most of the reasoning you've posted doesn't hold. On top of that you settled in place (so get a slightly faster start) but we've already explained why we prefer settling 1W which invalidates the second city site.

He posted that micro specifically for the situation where we settle the second city there. I think the idea was to compare that plan with a different plan which settles differently, not to critique its validity if we are settling elsewhere.

Well, a critique is what's needed though, because the difference between the two sites isn't defined so much by the micro but as the overarching strategy for this game. By which I mean, even as it would give a faster start, it's not like it's going to be a great help in a 12 player game with these leader traits. Settling in place and rushing out a second city is definitely going to be a faster start than settling 1W and working cottages earlier, but compared to how fast some of the other players can start it's still going to be pretty slow.

Now if Joao were playing this start, yeah, worker at size 1, grow to size 2 and whip out that settler and get that second city rolling. But with Monty of Aztecs?

[SevenSpirits]

Here's a starting point of a micro plan for growing to 3 and building a warrior, building 2nd worker, growing to 6 on 2 warriors, and whipping a settler. Obviously the plan is likely to change - it's not worth finalizing until we can see where we can put the second city.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?...sp=sharing

It's worth noting that the health cap is low. We are unhealthy at size 6 unless we road the wheat. And a single forest chop is -1 health.

[Serdoa]

Cottages only take 4 turns Seven.

[SevenSpirits]

Yeah, 4 ↷ 7 = 5. Everyone knows that.

[SevenSpirits]

Seriously though, flood plains cottages take 5 turns on normal speed.

[Serdoa]

Ah, didn't realise I gave you guys FPs, oversight on my part. You don't have any other food than a plains cow though right? Else we might have to restart.

[SevenSpirits]

Not even a plains cow.

[Krill]

We need a drama smiley.