Dave's Not Throwing Away His Shot

[greenline]

Does Aryabhata only give the three random eureka bonuses? That seems pretty weak, not even worth chasing if you ask me

[oledavy]

Does Aryabhata only give the three random eureka bonuses? That seems pretty weak, not even worth chasing if you ask me

Yeah 

I'm debating at the moment whether to pursue him or not. Getting him does still get the the eureka for education, so he's worth essentially 4 eurekas. I feel like I would not be capitalizing on having a wildcard slot early by not running a GP generating card, so even if he's weak, there's a low opportunity cost to me and not much else that would be better to do with that slot - at least for this early in the game. 

I could still change plans and pursue Sun Tzu, but I don't really want to go to war against another player this early in the game. 

I do have about a month to make up my mind on which to pursue though (or to not pursue a GP at all), we'll see what the situation looks like as I uncover more of the map.

[Zero_1627]

Does Aryabhata only give the three random eureka bonuses?

Question: are they random eurekas, or eurekas for random technologies? Eg. can You gain Eureka for technology not normally allowing one? If so, that might have some extra value.

Otherwise - how many relevant technologies You expect NOT to meet eurekas on Your own, or that getting them would be troublesome? If there's relatively many of them, landing 1-2 eurekas You won't get otherwise would be useful if not overwhelming. (plus the one for just getting GS, which You certainly won't get otherwise  )

[oledavy]

Does Aryabhata only give the three random eureka bonuses?

Question: are they random eurekas, or eurekas for random technologies? Eg. can You gain Eureka for technology not normally allowing one? If so, that might have some extra value.

Otherwise - how many relevant technologies You expect NOT to meet eurekas on Your own, or that getting them would be troublesome? If there's relatively many of them, landing 1-2 eurekas You won't get otherwise would be useful if not overwhelming. (plus the one for just getting GS, which You certainly won't get otherwise  )

That's the kicker. There are a number of medieval/classical eurekas that it would be nice to land with him, ones that would be difficult for me to get normally. However, the ones he gives you are random. There might be something to be said for getting him, then holding on to him until I have popped all the classical eurekas I think I can get, then using him to backfill ones that will be more difficult.

[oledavy]

Turn 2



Switched research to animal husbandry, as I decided it was more advantageous for my start. Continued moving warrior northward. No city-state borders in sight yet.

[oledavy]

Hamilton District Plan - Take 1

Plans subject to change based on what I find on the map/where I settle cities in the case of the Industrial District. 



Planting order is noted by numbers. The major change may be in when I build an encampment, based on how the game shakes out. Getting to 10 population for 4 districts (and the inspiration for...I forget the name of the civic) will be a bit of a challenge with this terrain, but not undoable. 2 plantations, a rice farm, and a sheep pasture get me up to 8. Add in a granary and that's 10. I can use Insulae or some combination of policy cards/other factors to get me to 11 for an easy growth to 10. 

That industrial district with 6 mines around it is going to be huge - especially when you factor in the policy card that doubles adjacency bonuses for IDs. I'm a little sad I can't get more that 1 science in adjacency bonuses for my Campus, disincentivizing prioritizing the similar Civic at Recorded History. 

No though, I was looking at the screenshot earlier today, and noticed there is definitely a mountain to the south of the jungle and copper, thus the placement of the campus. Before that, I was tentatively planning on planting it north by the jungle. Putting it next to a mountain will be better long-term though, since most jungles are likely to go.

[oledavy]

Turn 3

Slightly more impactful turn that you might have though. First off, I moved to the edge of the desert with my warrior. 



I may end up shifting my campus there southwest of the mountain for a cool 2 science adjacency bonus, and move my ID to 2 NE of Hamilton. The one thing that sucks about that spot as a campus location is that it is in my third ring.... I need some lucky cultural expands or a lot of gold to get that tile in any sort of timely manner.

The other thing of note is that Woden jumped to the head of the queue on culture. Guessing he found a cultural CS. This was confirmed by the "CS discovery sound" playing when I ended turn. It's not like this information helps me in any major way, but I still wish it wasn't there. 

Here's the big thing though, and why I will not be continuing northward along the river. 



The settler overlay RADAR indicates there's a city-state to my northwest. 

I will definitely make it to this one first. My priority list for what CS I hope is there is: 

1. Culture
2. Science
3. Military
4. Faith
5. Commerce/Industrial (Honestly rate both of these about equally for my desired game plan/in terms of overall strength at this stage in the game). 

I should be able to make contact in the next 1-2 turns, depending on where the CS has sent its units. Here's hoping!

[Zero_1627]

I need some lucky cultural expands or a lot of gold to get that tile in any sort of timely manner.

...Or place another city to the N to NE of that mountain, which may get desired hex into Your borders quicker and/or cheaper? Depends on terrain there I guess (esp. NE of those pair of green tiles on radar...), I don't think it's a priority.

Rooting for that city state! Go find it first

[oledavy]

Turn 4

Well....



I think it's safe to say that any other city-state would have been more beneficial to my early-game than an industrial one. 

On the flip side, I now need feel no conflict over attacking them an integrating them into my empire. 

I will get some benefit from it. I do plan on building a Campus district before I take them out, so I'll get some hammers for that. I will also consider slotting in an earlier monument to take advantage of the +2 hammers per turn (effectively a 12 hammer discount for Hamilton building the monument at 2 pop, less if my domestic hammers are higher). 

Just in case anyone is wondering why I think Industrial city-states are bad in MP, it's because unlike every other single city-state (excepting militaristic), their 1 envoy bonus needs to be leveraged. Moreover, it can only be leveraged by constructing a building, wonder, or district, which is generally not the best ideal to emphasize much in the early game. With that in mind, you get +2 hammers in your capital about 20% of the time. I will say though, they scale pretty well into the rest of the game, given the importance of industrial districts and how much more of your build queues buildings and districts come to occupy. My first industrial district is about 85 turns in the future though, so yeah, this CS is probably going to die. 

On the flip side, I think militaristic city-states are excellent early, since you generally want to cram out a bunch of cheap military units to kill barbs, protect your civilians, and keep on hand for upgrading later. The trade off is that given the general lack of emphasis put on encampments and building more military units vs. upgrading them as the game goes on, militaristic city-states fall off hard. 

Science/Culture would have been much better though, as I plan on building a decent amount of Acropolises and Campuses this game, and their bonus works every turn from the first turn you find them. 

Oh well, c'est la vie. Hopefully my other CS is basically anything but an industrial one.

[Zero_1627]

I suppose it's my lack of knowledge what to look for, but I don't see the city state on the screenshot?