[LURKERS] Setting Up Tents for a Ren Faire

[GermanJoey]

I think the lake clams on the bridges are an accidental result of Joey's final copy script, as well. The jungled fish is probably my own error, as is the one hill -> flatland change in the initial 7x7.

On all of those seen so far, I don't see any way it can cause a serious problem. I'm pretty sure the floodplains are mirrored, so that's just uniqueness, not imbalance. The lake clams are apparently not perfectly mirrored, but they're not close to home. Each of these is a clear sign of artificial mapmaking, but there's no way they can delude themselves this is a natural map anyway...

I still think we've achieved the main factor for balance: winning should depend 99% on the players: strategy, micro, workers, leader/civ picks, neighbors.

I'm personally surprised that no one has noticed the calendar resource non-mirroring yet.

Yeah, the two missing lake clams are the script's fault and then me not noticing. The problem is that when the 3rd area in each area gets placed, it overlaps a little bit back onto the first area, and my tool prioritizes land over water.

Don't think it's too big of deal though, as, like you say, they're not close to the capitals.

[GermanJoey]

in some of my sims, I really did need that SA whip bonus to keep my cities from falling into the red!

Fair enough, if it results in extra tiles being worked I'm all for it. But libraries or courthouses built for an extra few gpt are too extravagant right now IMO.

So, once you feel caught up on garrisons and sentries, what would you grow on? Barracks and then Knights? Missionaries?

[The Black Sword]

At the end of my sim I felt a long way from being caught up, that's my point. I was expanding really fast and was stretching my units to cover everything. If you do feel safe you can consider the other options, I would hope one of them starts to look more appealing closer to that time.

[pindicator]

Wondering about RMoG - it seems odd for the team to be so invested and to miss the ball by so much. Do you think their issue could be they are focused too much in the very short term (on a fast first settler), while other teams are focused on getting a strong position 20 turns down the line?

Or is there some secret plan that will make us all look foolish in 30 turns?

[Fluffball]

Wondering about RMoG - it seems odd for the team to be so invested and to miss the ball by so much. Do you think their issue could be they are focused too much in the very short term (on a fast first settler), while other teams are focused on getting a strong position 20 turns down the line?

Or is there some secret plan that will make us all look foolish in 30 turns?

Are they really that far off? I haven't been reading any teams micro plans because those are not fun if you're not playing, but I think they have 4-5 workers, a settler, and a bunch of unchopped forests? I read Sulla's review of them and was slightly baffled when he called it an unmitigated disaster or something similar, since I think both teams intended to found their first city on the same turn. If they still have forests left they can quickly chop out a few more settlers and be in solid shape.

And the disclaimer that I haven't been super following the teams micro plans at this point needs to be repeated, I could be making all of this up.

[The Black Sword]

Their choice of second city location is the worst thing IMO. I think they put a lot of thought into their capital location(and I like their choice there) but the second city seemed to be a bit of an afterthought.

Their micro is certainly suspect too. You can see some symptoms of inefficient worker turns in their T201 screenshot; 6 roads built and a plans hill mine that should very rarely be worked also. Sometimes you have to put a turn into a road as your worker is moving but you want to minimise that in the early game.

As for the cause, they're probably just rusty and I don't think micro was ever their strong suit(though RMOG was a bit before my time). There's still plenty of game for them to catch up and their Dutch pick was probably one of the winners in the pick phase.

[GermanJoey]

At the end of my sim I felt a long way from being caught up, that's my point. I was expanding really fast and was stretching my units to cover everything. If you do feel safe you can consider the other options, I would hope one of them starts to look more appealing closer to that time.

Oh, I'm sorry, I just realized that I'm mixed up. I never had time to try a serfdom-first sim for myself and thus my thoughts were are still based on the old sims I had done. There, my empire was worse in terms of pop working improved tiles and the lack of an academy, but was ahead in terms other hammers - IIRC I had several SAs and lots of units. The serfdom-first approach is relatively behind on that other stuff because it is more streamlined. So yeah, in that case I can see that there's no room for infra builds when you're likely barely keeping up with units as it is.

[The Black Sword]

I only just realised this ... doesn't Alhazard need to clear Divine Right before his Great Prophet will bulb Liberalism?

Edit: Oh right, you start with DR. That makes a lot more sense.

[The Black Sword]

I was thinking you could just let the GEs complete at the start of the game so you don't slow down the start. Then use them to rush the AP and Minaret for extra great prophet gpp, which is surely the bottleneck in any Lib plan.

[Zalson]

Are you sure Alhazard has been running Mercantilism all 20 of those turns though?

Are you suggesting a Spiritual civ would choose to run Decentralization over Mercantilism?

Well, it seems less mechanically ignorant than running Citizens. (With Mercantilism, someone who didn't run the calculations might get put off by no foreign trade routes, but Citizens are obviously inferior to working any tile or running any specialist)

Poor Alhazard. Fortunately for the game, RMOG have realized they've made some errors.