[SPOILERS] First time RtR

[B4ndit]

So here we start. My biggest concern with this game are the changes that come from RtR. I have only played RtR couple of times on single player games and I do not know/feel what are the "good" moves/strategies/civs/leaders out there. At least the changes are toward balancing the game, so they should mitigate mistakes : I hope that in some cases I will be able to get some advices from you. In an exchange I will try to update this topic as often as time will allow

Stay tuned, Piotrek

[RefSteel]

Here are the choices we rolled for you - when you've decided whether to keep the civ or reroll it, and which (if either) of the leaders you want to keep, post the inforrmation here to let us know.

Options:
Zara (Cre/Org)
Julius Caesar (Imp/Org)
Sumeria

Your start:

The essential form of the BFC may be relied upon, though we might still make superficial changes e.g. to whether the trees are deciduous, conifers, or snowy, and we might imaginably even rotate the whole thing 90 degrees or something since the surrounding terrain is still being finalized. The corner tiles may yet change, and the fog is a fabric of lies, but at least you've got your start!

Also, in case it's not obvious due to the resource icon partly blocking the yield icons, note that your elephants live in a forest.

[B4ndit]

Thanks for organising this I will try out Zara of Sumeria.

Although I'm not a big fan of Vultures and organized/ziggurats are kind of anti-combo as well (double production speed of cheaper building partially negates the benefit). However I wanted to play with CRE and I kind of want to try out how the Ziggurat spam will work out.

[B4ndit]

I have a couple of questions to any lurker reading this and willing to share his RtR experience.

What's the usual strategy regarding chopping forests in the RtR? Is it similar to BtS - almost always chop everything until you get lumber mils? I assume that at least chopping forests from the elephants doesn't make sense, since it would reduce the tile yield.

Secondly, what about whipping the population?

Thirdly, what start building would you suggest? Worker/Warrior/Settler? Worker/Warrior/Worker/Settler? Worker/Warrior/Warrior/Settler?

[Coeurva]

Hi, here's your MapCad-generated sandbox to help you plan your opening. You'll need to have RtR 2.0.8.4 installed. If something doesn't work as it should, let me know.

[B4ndit]

Thanks, it worked.

[RefSteel]

I have a couple of questions to any lurker reading this and willing to share his RtR experience.

Just wanted to say that lurkers are indeed reading, and some of us are happy to share RtR experience - but we've generally done so already in our spoiler threads for games we've played, and browsing those might be the best way to get a feel for things. Nevertheless:

What's the usual strategy regarding chopping forests in the RtR? Is it similar to BtS - almost always chop everything until you get lumber mils? I assume that at least chopping forests from the elephants doesn't make sense, since it would reduce the tile yield.

Similar to base BtS, it depends on how it fits into your overall plans. There isn't a one right answer for when to chop your forests - though as you suggest, at least before lumbermills and outside of resource tiles, it does tend to be a question of when, not if.

Secondly, what about whipping the population?

Whips of 2 or more pop are weaker than in base BtS (BtS gives 30h for a one-pop whip, 60h for two-pop, 90h for three, and so on, and RtR gives 30h for one-pop too, but just 50h for two-pop, 70h for three, 90h for four, etc.) but multipop whips are still used, sometimes just to get something out ASAP, but sometimes just because the happiness cost is still one per whip (not per pop) just like in BtS, so there are multiple costs and benefits to weigh.

Thirdly, what start building would you suggest? Worker/Warrior/Settler? Worker/Warrior/Worker/Settler? Worker/Warrior/Warrior/Settler?

This is completely situational, depending on the needs and plans you identify for your civ, and that can make it really complicated. For instance, in PB37, my team went Worker -> Warrior (to 8h) -> Workboat -> Finish Warrior -> Second Warrior -> Settler, working three different tiles at different times before our first improvement was complete, not because of indecisiveness but intentionally (i.e. planned in advance) to get the most out of our Exp trait given the peculiarities of our starting BFC and the perceived needs of our empire. If you enjoy simming things out in advance and trying multiple different paths to see what works, then hopefully doing so in the sandbox (which you can update with scouting information in Worldbuilder if you wish) will help you figure out the best course to take for your civ!

[B4ndit]

Thanks a lot for the answers Especially this one is helpful for confirming my feelings:

when to chop your forests - though as you suggest, at least before lumbermills and outside of resource tiles, it does tend to be a question of when, not if.

Definitely I will take a look into some other previous games. Could you recommend some RtR thread that's worth reading (like Sulla's PB2)?

[RefSteel]

Could you recommend some RtR thread that's worth reading (like Sulla's PB2)?

I'll see what I can do, but first let's get the game moving, okay?

First things first: This is what you'd see if you were able to log into the game:


As you can see, the BFC is the same as in the screenshot upthread except for the color of the trees, and the only difference on the corner tiles is that one of them has trees now when it used to be bare.

You've got a Scout and a Settler on the center tile there. What shall we do with them? Assuming the Settler builds a city this turn, what should the city build? What tile should it work? What tech would you like to research first?

Please answer the above BEFORE anything else! We don't want to keep 24 other players and teams waiting any longer than we have to while we sort the tech issues out - but once that's out of the way, let's see if we can get you into the game itself! If Coeurva is correct, it should be possible to get a Windows version of Civ4 working on a Mac using WINE, which is free software designed to translate programs' Windows-based actions into equivalent Mac-based actions. ("Actions" is not the correct programming term, but you get the idea.) There are instructions for how to install or "build" WINE for Mac on the software's official site, but the fastest/easiest way to get it working might be to use (also free) third-party software to install WINE and get it set up properly for your game. Some examples I found with a quick search: "Play On Mac" and a Windows-to-Mac "Porting Kit".

Does that help at all?

[B4ndit]

Thanks, I have some experience with setting up Civ 4 on wine/PlayOnLinux so I will give it a try. Instructions for anyone that would like to step in an make the game moving:

1. Build a city where you stand
2. Start producing worker, work on flood plains and switch to wood elephants ASAP.
3. Research Hunting (for pasture) -> and after that switch to Animal Husbandry (for camp) (but please start with Hunting)
4. Move scout North West (to a forest hill, behind the river) and try to circle a starting location clockwise (after closing up the circle I would like to explore the map down the river)
...

for later I plan to:
5. Build pasture on pigs
6. Produce warrior and grow the city to pop 2 (as far as I recall from test game it should time up quite nicely down to a exact turn)

but hopefully I will be online at this point.