Here's the idea: I provide a turn 0 save file. You play around with it. Decide on your best plan for t0-30 (quick speed), and post it here. Then, read other peoples' plans and get feedback on yours! Also, I may do a little bit of "judging", and reserve the right to determine a "winner", but that's not the important part.
Details:
You are Catherine of China!
Chosen for her fast imperialistic ways, her creative ability to not care that the stupid AIs research hinduism and buddhism from t0, and her flexible starting techs.
You are playing in a 5-player PBEM on RB! The map has been randomly rolled. Tech trading and barbs are off, and communication with the other players is not allowed. Game speed is quick. Here's your start:
Our sandbox is eerily accurate.
In a normal game you'd start with a very small sandbox and have to update it while scouting. That seemed like a bad idea here, so the rule is that you are free to look at the entire map, including hidden strategic resources, from the start.
Figure out a plan for the first 31 turns (t0-30). Then post it here. There are no particular requirements for the format of your plan, except that it should include an empire overview shot from t30. But here are some further suggestions:
Describe the reasoning behind your choices.
In addition to your t30 screenshot, include screenshots from t15, t20, and t25.
Provide an ordered list of the techs you research.
Provide an ordered list of what things you build in each of your cities.
Note turns on which you finish builds and on which your cities grow.
Provide a link to a google spreadsheet showing detailed instructions for reproducing your plan.
I suggest not changing the names of your cities so that we all have the same city names.
Once you've played around with the sandbox and made plans, you should be able to better comprehend other players' plans. Take some time to see what other players chose to do. Any comments you have on other players' plans are highly welcome. You are free to look at other players' plans before posting your own; I just think you will get more out of it if you look at it yourself first. If you go back to revise your plan after seeing other players' plans, even better! However, please mention when reporting if you've read some other plans already.
I am planning to read and provide some feedback on every plan that someone posts. I'm not yet sure what schedule to do this on (or even if anyone will take me up on it!), but I was thinking I would give other people a few days to get started before chiming in myself next week.
My thinking is that this would be a really useful exercise for some of our newer members, and would also be a fun diversion for those of us who've done it many times already. I hope you give it a shot!
Q: Should I care about the AIs?
A: Treat it as a sandbox for a game against human players. You should not be interacting with the AIs.
Q: How are the rules for this different from a normal game?
A: You have full map knowledge. You get as many tries as you want. The goal is to come up with a plan from t0 through t30 that would be good in a PBEM where, unlike usual, you know the map.
Q: Should I use spoiler tags for my results?
A: Sure, that seems like a good idea.
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.
Great idea, and something quick to actually try
I was bored, and thus I'll get the ball rolling:
These notes are very rough, I just took them as I played the save--I think the only thing I didn't note was which tiles Beijing grew onto--it's working corn/cottage/banana at size 3, but I'm not sure which it grew onto first. I might tidy up the notes later, and I'll answer questions if anything's unclear.
(note: complete=can do next action)
Best spot seems to be SE (plains hill, food, floodplains, river, but it wastes a turn on quick--try that first
T1: Settle Beijing (work corn), worker first, research BW
T9: Worker 1 completes, farms corn, build Worker 2
T10: BW completes, research Wheel
T12: Farm completes, Worker moves NW and chops
T15: Wheel completes, research Pottery
T16: Worker 2 completes, moves NE-N and chops, build Settler
T17: Worker 1 completes chop, moves SE onto farm and roads 1 turn
T18: Worker 1 moves E, farms Banana for 2 turns
T20: Settler 1 completes, build Settler 2 (with chop overflow) for 1 turn, Settler 1 moves S-S, S-SW, Worker 2 chop completes, moves SW and chops
T21: Pottery completes, research AH, Beijing switches to Granary, Worker 1 moves SW and cottages
T22: Settle Shanghai (work floodplain), build Granary
T23: Beijing switches to Settler (to receive chop)
T24: Worker 2 chop completes, cottages in place
T25: Settler 2 completes, moves N-N, NW-N, Worker 1 moves S, cottages for 1 turn
T26: Worker 1 moves S-SE, mines copper
T27: Settle Guangzhou (work oasis), build Granary, Worker 2 moves NE, cottages for 1 turn
T28: AH completes, research Fishing, move slider to 60%, Worker 2 moves N, pastures sheep
T30: Worker 1 mine completes, roads
Overview:
I like wasting the turn to move onto the good plains hill spot for Beijing, but I'm not sure where Shanghai and especially Guangzhou should go. I like the worker moves in general--maybe I should complete the banana farm, but that delays the floodplains cottage and the copper more than I like.
Wait, are we supposed to use full map knowledge? I'm guessing yes, based on your screenshot.
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.
![[Image: mpc1_1.JPG]](https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1116194/misc%20civpics/mpc1_1.JPG)
