[PB56] Amicalola and Tarkeel are Feeling Spicy

[Tarkeel]

I saw that the turn had rolled, and had to log in and see...



Hinduism has been founded in Basil! That should seal off those borders pretty well. Our capital borders have expanded, and I learned a new thing: You can't claim tiles on another continent with culture, so we don't get to see the far side of the island. SoLong has also grown to size two, so the second disaster scenario is off the books.

[Cornflakes]

Our capital borders have expanded, and I learned a new thing: You can't claim tiles on another continent with culture, so we don't get to see the far side of the island.

Actually, the rule is that you can only claim tiles within 2 tiles of the continent upon which your city is founded. If there is just a 1-tile gap to the island then you would be able to claim one land tile on the island across the water.

[Tarkeel]

Our capital borders have expanded, and I learned a new thing: You can't claim tiles on another continent with culture, so we don't get to see the far side of the island.

Actually, the rule is that you can only claim tiles within 2 tiles of the continent upon which your city is founded. If there is just a 1-tile gap to the island then you would be able to claim one land tile on the island across the water.

Thanks! It's one of those things that don't come up that often.

its t50! ( or past it now... ) If you guys could, please tell me any/all good/bad things about the map and how i could improve in your eyes on future mapmaking. All feedback appreciated!

This is a very minor point so I didn't bring it up in the overview. You want atleast one foodresource in the inner ring, but having all three there makes it hard to share them with other cities.

[Amicalola]

Turn 51 (1960 BC)

So, in news, a LOT happened this turn. First of all, Noble took Stonehenge:


So I guess we are fighting Noble now instead.




Also, as Tarkeel mentioned, we founded Hinduism! This gets us some desperately needed culture. I would have rather it landed at Anise (much better commerce potential, safer from attack, claims more land), this is still very good, MUCH better than not getting it at all. It provides a better border for our upcoming conflict. 

While Tarkeel has already done a great overview, here is one shot of our capital right now, which displays why we are 100% screwed if this attack fails, and still in trouble even if it succeeds:


We've actually managed to 2-whip five times between T20 and T51!   That's what a low production, high food empire gets you, I guess. For anyone curious, the whips were:
- 2-whip Settler (Anise)
- 2-whip Granary
- 2-whip Settler (Basil) 
- 2-whip Axeman (overflow into 1-turn axeman)
- 2-whip Spearman (this turn; overflow into 1-turn axeman)


Note that we cannot see past our island, which is weird because it looks like it's only 1 tile away.  

Finally, Tarkeel also did a great job on map discussion. My notes, trying not to rehash too much, are as follows. I've tried to make them as unbiased as possible, and I hope they are useful next time you make a map, which I hope you will keep doing.  

Primarily, the food disparity between us and our neighbours is just brutal. Here are screenshots of our east and west (the north is not much better, with just that 1 pig resource):





The West is the worst, with us having NOTHING between us and Vanrober, and him having that absurd river valley and the fish site (which he has apparently already settled?). The best we can do is a filler site 3 tiles away from the capital that shares the corn.
The East is not much better. The corn is at the mid-point, and our spot is a Pink Dot, not an obviously 'ours' city. We have that dry corn that is also equidistant from us and Noble, and that's it. There are also no additional early luxuries here, in contrast to the furs. 
The North is actually our best direction, by virtue of having one food resource that is obviously ours (the pigs).

I am going to contrast this with two of Noble's early city-sites:




Both of these resource clusters are unquestionably Noble's, and there are plenty of other sites that are objectively his as well. But just these two sites alone might legitimately have more resources than we do in our entire 'territory.' I know it is hard and boring to balance non-capital resources, but a discrepancy this big probably should have been noticed, in my opinion.

Next up, on the strategic resources thing: this is much more of a nitpick than a serious issue, but I do think it is worth mentioning. Our copper and horse were in opposite directions, which is totally fine in a vacuum. I actually like the choice that it creates, as these games are built on hard choices. However, what I do not think is fine is that many other players did not have to make this choice (see, for example, Noble's absurd second city pictured earlier). While either separated or combined early strat-resources are fine in my opinion (I probably prefer forcing the choice, but eh), it should be consistent across players, not a choice for a select few.  

Finally: Just Fuck This River.

 Considering we were basically forced east, I think this one river tile has delayed our entire civ/game by something like 3-4 turns. I would probably rather have no fresh water. And even without it we would have had fresh water!   This is definitely a nitpick though, don't take it too seriously.  


I also don't want to be that person that only complains, and there are things I like about the map design:

- The capital having double seafood and also a wet corn forced a really interesting choice between Work Boat and Worker. I'm still not 100% convinced I made the right choice, but I loved that I had to make it at all. Really great design.
- I am a big fan of donut maps in general, and this one was done faithfully from what I can tell. I can't begrudge that the starts weren't exactly equidistant, considering the 11 players thing.

[Tarkeel]

It can't be understated how bad it is for us that Noble took the Stonehenge city, so I guess Operation: Pearl Harbor is still on the block, only against a more dangerous opponent. I'm seriously considering just burning the city, especially if Hinduism has spread to Anise by then. I think we just have to let Noble take and keep the capital though.

I really wonder why Noble felt the need for an early war against AT with all that great land available to him. I guess he believes that land will still be there after this war, since Gira and Lazteuq are busy fighting?

[Amicalola]

I really wonder why Noble felt the need for an early war against AT with all that great land available to him. I guess he believes that land will still be there after this war, since Gira and Lazteuq are busy fighting?

Ok, but is he wrong though?

[Lewwyn]

[Tarkeel]

Hey, we've entertained a lurker! Going from what little we know of the world, this seems like one interesting game to lurk. The Ruff-Vanrober conflict seem pretty hot at least.

[Charriu]

Finally: Just Fuck This River.

 Considering we were basically forced east, I think this one river tile has delayed our entire civ/game by something like 3-4 turns. I would probably rather have no fresh water. And even without it we would have had fresh water!   This is definitely a nitpick though, don't take it too seriously.  

And there I thought I cannot remove that river for you, when I beautified the rivers.  

Just to be clear I did not remove it because you had that river in your initial screenshot and it would have been a lost commerce on that grassland hill.

[Cornflakes]

Note that we cannot see past our island, which is weird because it looks like it's only 1 tile away.

Hmm ... I would have expected the plains hill 2SW of your capital to be covered by your 3rd ring border pop since it is only 2 tiles from your continent. The plains tile 3W1S is covered by your culture as expected, but I thought that the rule was 2 tiles including the diagonal.