[SPOILERS] Northstar of the Svartalfar v Bob the Great of the Malakim

[Aurorarcher]

I'd love to, as they say, "sim this out"- to get better Micro information. LURKERS how do I do that, exactly?

It's pretty simple in short: you start a new game and go into WB-mode (worldbuilder) and make the starting area look precisely like the one in your PBEM game. It can be tricky to get rivers go to right direction though (I find this pretty hard) - but in general you should be able to re-build the map of your PBEM game. You can ignore the land outside of your borders (unless you want to sim even further).

It takes a little bit of time and effort - but now you have your own playground where you basically can try different starts/approaches/microplans whatever you want to call it, say for 20-30 early turns. This way you can simply analyze the pros and cons of different microplans for example.

[Mardoc]

Interestingly, my calculations say I should fall precisely 1 hammer short at the end of 6 turns (13 * 6 = 78, not 79). So I'm guessing the game actually gives me a free hammer somewhere along the line for some reason- or else the prediction of 6 turns wouldn't be correct...

145-76 = 69

[Northstar1989]

145-76 = 69

Whoops! Math-fail! I *knew* I was playing Fall From Heaven too late at night...

I guess that means I'll be churning out at least 2 Warriors, rather than just one, so as to allow my capital the chance to grow again before I begin work on my next Settler...


Regards,
Northstar

[Ellimist]

It's pretty simple in short: you start a new game and go into WB-mode (worldbuilder) and make the starting area look precisely like the one in your PBEM game. It can be tricky to get rivers go to right direction though (I find this pretty hard) - but in general you should be able to re-build the map of your PBEM game. You can ignore the land outside of your borders (unless you want to sim even further).

It takes a little bit of time and effort - but now you have your own playground where you basically can try different starts/approaches/microplans whatever you want to call it, say for 20-30 early turns. This way you can simply analyze the pros and cons of different microplans for example.

Also, don't forget to enable the setting for "new random seed on reload." That will let you avoid any random events that might interfere with your sim, as well as allow you to use it for combat sims.


EDIT: To clarify, it doesn't prevent random events but instead allows you to avoid getting the same event again when you reload from an earlier turn. Turning off events in FFH isn't doable because it breaks a lot of features, but if you're doing a sim you probably don't want random noise introduced that distorts the results.

[Northstar1989]

It's pretty simple in short: you start a new game and go into WB-mode (worldbuilder) and make the starting area look precisely like the one in your PBEM game. It can be tricky to get rivers go to right direction though (I find this pretty hard) - but in general you should be able to re-build the map of your PBEM game. You can ignore the land outside of your borders (unless you want to sim even further).

It takes a little bit of time and effort - but now you have your own playground where you basically can try different starts/approaches/microplans whatever you want to call it, say for 20-30 early turns. This way you can simply analyze the pros and cons of different microplans for example.

Also, don't forget to enable the setting for "new random seed on reload." That will let you avoid any random events that might interfere with your sim, as well as allow you to use it for combat sims.


EDIT: To clarify, it doesn't prevent random events but instead allows you to avoid getting the same event again when you reload from an earlier turn. Turning off events in FFH isn't doable because it breaks a lot of features, but if you're doing a sim you probably don't want random noise introduced that distorts the results.

Good stuff Aurorarcher, Ellmist. Thanks guys!


Regards,
Northstar

[Northstar1989]

OK, so my Workers have begun carrying out my micro-plan as explained above and visually on the map:



And I haven't seen any change from Bob recently, either in Top 5 Cities or in score- which makes me all the more sure he is also building Workers or Settlers (hey, at least it means he's not piling up military units to try and conquer me just yet!)


And here are the after-turn Demographics:



Haven't found time to analyze or compare them yet, but nothing's changed from before, so...


Regards,
Northstar

[Northstar1989]

My Workers continue to farm the Forest Plains to the west of my capital:



Meanwhile my Warrior has moved north to the next tile to receive improvement- as even if a Barbarian (or Malakim) unit capable of attacking my Workers were to have shown up at my borders at the edge of my line-of-sight at the end of my turn, it wouldn't have had time to reach my workers before they complete the Farm and scrammed...

Luckily, no such Barbarian unit did show up- and I doubt Bob's 3 Warriors and a Scout (if I am reading the Soldier-counts correctly in Demographics) are on their way over to my capital just yet (although if they were, it would only be a credible threat because of the unlucky loss of my 3 Scouts earlier in the game... 3 Sinister Scouts and a Warrior with Combat I are more than a match for the 2 Warriors and a Scout he could possibly spare...)


Also, here are the Demographics again...




An here's a zoomed-out view of my map, just for perspective...




Regards,
Northstar

[Northstar1989]

Awesome- a tiny bit of good luck this turn!

See if you can't spot what's different about the map this turn...



Did you see it?

I've got a new forest to the southwest of the "Future City" site on the Hills Plain to the west!


Occasionally forests grow outside your borders (in fact, it seems to happen at least as often as inside your borders, perhaps more so). IF you've got a sharp eye, sometimes you can catch it happening like I did...

It doesn't do a lot to comfort my growing anxiety about the outcome of this duel, which has been present ever since the "Tiger Incident", but at least it's something...

Also, here there the Demographics:



I wonder what I could figure out if I took an equally-sharp eye to these...


Regards,
Northstar

[Qgqqqqq]

in fact, it seems to happen at least as often as inside your borders, perhaps more so

Unaffected (in fact, will normally be greater, though not by definition).

[Northstar1989]

in fact, it seems to happen at least as often as inside your borders, perhaps more so

Unaffected (in fact, will normally be greater, though not by definition).

It will normally be greater *inside* or outside your borders?


Regards,
Northstar