This is a Spoiler thread, therefore I recommend only lurkers lurk here, that is, if any of you wish to be a dedicated lurker, please let me know, and also ... if you are a global lurker, you are also free to lurk here.
If you are in the Dueling Tournament, but are not in the FFA, then I *suppose* you can lurk here :P .... even be a dedicated lurker if you want to be
( well, especially if I'm not facing you in any of the 6 :D )
So balseraph have 4 culture and I have 2 ... assuming Balseraph is 2nd highest GNP, he has 10 science while I have 14 science
However if it is one of the others ... then they have either 12 science (Sheaim/Amurites) or 10/11 science (Clan of Embers*)
*due to barbarian trait
So science is about even, just a bit of an increase. Meanwhile I have a 50% hammer advantage and a 20% food advantage. However that food advantage is really not an advantage at all because I'm feeding 3 people while the rest are only feeding one. Therefore they have 4+3 'foodhammers' while I have 6 foodhammers, which means that in fact, it is possible that someone ELSE has a 17% production advantage when it comes to building workers and settlers.
Then of course comes the culture pop, where I get access to two more lovely floodplains ... my commerce drops of course, but now I have 11 food and 2 hammers, instead of 6 food and 6 hammers. Ironically this only gives me a +1 foodhammer increase, bringing me on par with my rivals. Or, should I say, my theoretical 'top rival.' (Ellimist??)
My 'average' rival is making only 4 food and 2 hammers, which means 4 food hammers, which means my 7 foodhammers, and my 'top rival's 7 foodhammers are significantly dwarfing the other 3 players. ---> Its either 1 rival has 7 foodhammers and the other three have 4 foodhammers, or the four rivals have 6,5,4,4 respectively. Meanwhile I have 6 turning on 7.
For comparison, a size '0' starting city would have 2 food, 2 hammers, and 9 commerce.
So my theoretical foodhammer rival is working a tile of 3 food and 2 hammers(?), while my science rival, assuming not also my foodhammer rival, is working a tile of 2 food and 3 commerce. I'm not certain if there are any 3 food/2 hammer tiles early game, so it might not be the same person leading in both demographics, however ... 2 food 3 commerce is EASILY possible. Therefore we have 2 options, either no one else is working a tile with more than 1 commerce, or Ellimist/Sauromon has a 2 food/3 commerce tile.
In my mind the most likely scenarios are ... 2 food,2 hammer,1 commerce tile , 3 food + 1 commerce tile, and 2 food + 3 commerce tile. The 'minimum' is 2 food 1 commerce. But then, assuming Balseraphs have 12 GNP, that's 9+4 = 13.
Balseraphs have 9 commerce + 4 culture or 13 minimum. The rest have 9 commerce + 2 culture for an 11 minimum. Meanwhile rival worst *food* is 4, which tells me that everyone is working a tile with at least 2 food, 3 max, and everyone is working a tile with 1 commerce. Rivers? One lucky guy is working a tile with 3 food and 1 commerce (floodplains), while someone else is working a tile with 2 food, 1 commerce, and 2 hammers!! (what sort of tile, I have no idea)
Question Below is based upon previous tile yield theories connected to the demos, before realizing that Northstar *had* to be the person with 14 GNP.
2 hammer, 3 food, 3 commerce tile ... would be if all leading rival demos were from the same person. Does such a tile exist?** Additionally, what sort of tile has 2 food, 1 commerce, 2 hammers ??
**Question for the Lurkers
Demographics
Capital
So in the end, I trade 4 hammers and 2 commerce for an additional 5 food. This nets me 1 more foodhammer bringing my theoretical foodhammer race from 6 vs 6 to 7 vs 6.
(Or bringing to par 7v7 from 6v7 ... assuming someone has a 3 food/ 2 hammer tile)
So in reality I just traded 2 commerce for 1 extra foodhammer.
!!! Upon further examination, if I had only settled upon the plains hill south of Yggdrassil, I would have had 8 foodhammers (going on 8) at this point. C'est la vie.
10 food - 6 food = 4 food-foodhammers, 6 hammers = 10. Ok, holy shit. Ygg city would have had TEN!!! foodhammers
However, the thing about such a city is that it would plateau quickly. Not many improvements I could make early on. I would need mining, animal husbandry, and construction (in addition to agri+cal) to maximize it.
Meanwhile, the city I *DID* pick, while having a couple less foodhammers starting out, DOES maximize VERY quickly, with only Calendar and Mining needed. ** If I 'had' gone Yggdrassil city first, for the TEN foodhammers ... perhaps I could have gone SETTLER first!? or Settler/Warrior/Worker ... and then maybe settle near the gold with the Settler. But then I'd be missing a 2nd ring in 'gold city' and might not be able to work all 3 commerce tiles effectively. I guess its just in the past now though.
Turn 4 update. ITS ONLY TURN 4!!! What could possibly happen!!! Nothing, Right!???? RIGHT???!?!???!!????
well, yall'd be deadz wrong ... cause all KINDZA crazy shi-ite happened in this bi-atch
Yay a goody hut!
Oh fuck ... fishing ... yay ... . Idk, I mean, fishing is *useful* I guess ... but I currently have no coastal tiles, and idk, I guess it'll help out if I settle my former starting location ... with its 'clams' of joy. ... but to be honest if I was going to pop a tech I'd rather it have been, idk ... maybe crafting? Since I'm already almost done with agriculture. Or even ancient chants. Hmm. Well, actually either Cartography or HUNTING would have been amazing ... even though I'm not certain Open Borders/ Map Trade is going to come in handy in THIS particular game ..
As will be soon apparent, my closest rival is Kragroth of the Orcs. Now, his typical play is to never accept map trades, but instead to agree to Open Borders but ONLY if it includes a promise of NO UNITS entering the borders. This would be primarily for trading purposes. Now, its not bad in of itself, but I only hope I have another rival nearby that WILL allow my units through their borders. Why? B/c I'd like to meet everyone. And the reason for this is the aforementioned *tech bonus* that I think people get based on number of contacts established.
Still though, as far as free-techs go, Fishing is still pretty good. I mean, even in my previous PBEM I was tempted to get water techs ... and getting it for free means I wont have to research it, and the chance of my researching it ANY TIME SOON was ... slim. And it gives me immediate access to ALL water tiles and workboats ... which may come in handy long before I would have researched the dang tech myself. So ... yay?
Why hello there friend ... how are you today?
Thus far I count 3 lairs within striking distance of my nation!!! 1 LIZARD RUINS just NORTH OF CAPITAL ... sucky sucky sucky sucky sucky sucky SUCK
then a barrow near where the goody hut was (aka City3 hopeful zone)
And FINALLY ... a freakin SECOND RUINS near my bestest buddy KRAG-KRAG ... oooh,,,,, oh happy day, ode to joy indeed ... this game is going to be [sarcasm] SO INCREDIBLY AWESOME WITH RAINBOWS AND SPRINKLES!!!![/sarcasm]
realistically though, I feel as though I shouldn't move closer to the Orcs and 'reveal' myself. While establishing connections might give a small boost to tech research(??) .. I heard that techs are slightly cheaper based on how many civs you know, but I am not 100% certain on this. So while it might do that ... I basically want to delay this whole situation for as long as I can. I mean, diplomatically speaking, I would prefer if he stay on his side of the river, so to speak, and go warring against OTHER peoples ... but we are so close ... its hard to predict what Kragroth will do in this situation. My instinct tells me that he might just try for a rush ... but I really hope that he just takes a step back, expands in the other direction, and waits for when his nation's strengths are reaching their peak before doing anything rash. Honestly, I would rather not fight him in a Rush war, because it would bring both of us down and allow the other 3 to out tech and out expand us. So ... here is hoping that Diplomacy works
As far as expanding is concerned tho ... I really hope he doesn't make any plants directly on top of me, b/c such things are practically acts of war in their own right. There is a difference between rashness and stupidity, and if he tries to city-rush me and corner my civ, im gonna bash his fucking face in xD
Techs are slightly cheaper based on how many other civs you know who also know the tech you're researching. IIRC it's a maximum 30% bonus to beakers if you have contact with everyone, and they all have the tech that you're working on. So knowing Kragroth would give you ~6% bonus beakers when researching something he already knows.
2) I have popped an adventurer! Yay ... however, finding a way home for our fair wanderer may prove difficult.
Now, I have a few options with regards to what I use my scout for. I might attempt to continue popping lairs, as suicidal as that may be, however I cannot afford to be choked by lizardmen, particularly if I will not scout choke Kragroth myself.
Now, I *want* things to be relatively peaceful between Kragroth and I ... that is what I want. What Kragroth will actually do tho .. its hard to say. I am VERY tempted to start the scout choke now. Because I have a 2 move 3 str unit, Sir Strongbad. Sir Strongbad is a scout that has gained Fire Resistance, Strong, and Withered. The later of which means -10% strength and -20% healing. Now, will I have to wait for PRIESTHOOD to get withered removed? Currently he gets 10% odds while attacking a lizardman, but next turn I get to promote him to combat 1, so it is my sincere hope that he will be able to help me get rid of my Lizard problem.
The same goes for my Adventurer. It is my sincere hope that my adventurer could A) survive, and B) could help me with my Lizard situation in the north. It was my initial hope to go Worker->Worker->Warrior ... however it looks like I'll have to go Worker-> Warrior -> Warrior. I can rest easy knowing that none of my opponents have the raider trait. And while it is true that individual units, such as Rantine, might take the commando promotion, my adventurer could well do the same.
I would hope to go for Combat 5 + Heroic Attack 1 to get 4 attack vs a lizardman ... but to be honest, I think all I will need is regular combat 3 to defeat them. If I have a heroic warrior and a strong scout working together ... the lizard menace just might be quelled before it was ever a real issue to begin with. I can only hope that the lizards will pause their spawning long enough for me to A) survive, and B) for me to improve some tiles. I wonder if I should attempt to build a road network towards the approaching Adventurer ....
Anyways, best case scenario imho, is that I fog bust with Sir Strongbad, and I get back to the capital with the Amazing Athiest. Atheist goes up the melee line, to make an excellent Warrior or Moroi. If things go well, maybe upgrade him into a HorseArcher, or a Chariot. If things go better, perhaps upgrade him into a Vampire. I wouldn't mind having a Heroic Commando Horsearcher though .... Having a Heroic Aeron's Chosen (assassin) was also a tempting pick ... but these Lizardmen are far too great of an immediate threat. Choosing heroic scout, with base strength of 2, especially when I already have Sir Strongbad, would be a grave strategic error on my part. Therefore I can have dreams only of Heroic Horse Archers or Heroic Vampires.
TBH ... if I get March while a warrior, Flanking 2 while a Horse Archer, and maybe even get mobility 1+2 ... wow .... a March/Commando/Flanking2 heroic HorseArcher could probably kill a civ on its own.
... my commerce drops of course, but now I have 11 food and 2 hammers, instead of 6 food and 6 hammers. Ironically this only gives me a +1 foodhammer increase, bringing me on par with my rivals. Or, should I say, my theoretical 'top rival.' (Ellimist??)
. Idk, I mean, fishing is *useful* I guess ... but I currently have no coastal tiles, and idk, I guess it'll help out if I settle my former starting location ... with its 'clams' of joy. ... but to be honest if I was going to pop a tech I'd rather it have been, idk ... maybe crafting? Since I'm already almost done with agriculture. Or even ancient chants. Hmm. Well, actually either Cartography or HUNTING would have been amazing 
