[Spoilers] Pindicator's Nice Thread

[pindicator]

We're all the way up to PB69 now?



Nice.

[T-hawk]

Yeah, I knew jokes with this number would be unavoidable. I was tempted to skip it up to 70 but then didn't when the request in the admin thread specifically called it 69.

[pindicator]

I promise I will do no more juvenile title thread jokes for the next 351 pitbosses

[pindicator]

So Pacal II of Mali... It's like we're playing Vanilla BtS all over again, yay.

I have to admit, when Commodore said the picks were not done correctly I had a sudden burst of hope that I might have a more unique combination. Something like Saladin of Germany or Tokugawa of Khmer. Random rolls shoudl be when you get to explore the traits and civs you rarely use, not get one of the most cookie-cutter combinations in the history of Civ4.

At least there are some changes to the traits. FIN is weaker, now needing 3c on a land tile to get the bonus and a lighthouse to get the usual bonus on water. EXP loses the production boost to workers but instead gets a boost to Aqueducts. Nothing exciting there. Oh wow, it's not even as powerful as Vanilla BTS but just the same themes; just watered down and nerfed.

Mali is the same and we'll probably play as a standard Mali game where we aren't IND: don't rush to Mints, use Skirmishers to take care of your defense up until Knights, and just have a slightly better economy in the later classical era thanks to FIN and Mints. Nothing that hasn't been done 100 times before.

Maybe the map will give us some unexpected wrinkles.

[Mjmd]

That is indeed the top of the map there!

[pindicator]

Thanks Mjmd!

Glad I start with Mining at least

[pindicator]

I wonder if I can get away with a double work boat opening

[pindicator]

Exploring Some Openings...

1. Worker & Bronze Working
I keep forgetting you can build the work boat before Fishing. Originally I was thinking I would have to go double worker if I went this route because Bronze Working doesn't finish until t14 and then Fishing not until t22 (we revolt to Slavery as soon as BW finishes). So you can't work any improved food tile until 21 and then you might as well just build workers. But I can still start the work boat after the first worker. The downside here is that without a plains hill start or bonus tile to work it's going to take 15 turns to get the first worker done. That worker then needs to chop out everything to help speed things along (also because that is all he will be able to do). But the chops help the next 2 work boats comes out relatively quickly (t19 & 24) thanks to the chops, and then we grow to 4 while building a warrior (t32) and then double whip our first settler (t35 with help of a chop, t37 without).

OR, if nobody has found our capital yet with their opening scout by the time the second work boat is out then we chop out a third work boat (t31), use that to hook up the southern crab, and our first city will share that southern crab as its first food source. Won't have a warrior for the first settler so the scout will need to cover the first settler, but we will be working 4 improved tiles at size 4: Fish, 2 Crabs, and a grass hill mine. And city #2 likely will go on the coast south of the capital around t38-39.

2. Double work boat
We reverse the order of builds and tech in this variant: Fishing first (t7), then BW (21). Work boats finish t9 and then t20, as we can only use 1f2h tiles to build them. The upside is that we are growing this whole time and reach size 4 a lot faster (eot 24). This turns into a considerably faster settler, being whipped on t29. Then we follow up with a worker t32. Actually, it is probably better to swap that order: whip out a worker first on t26 and then chop + whip out the settler t31.

This way uses only 1 chop as opposed to 3 and get the first settler whipped out 3 turns earlier. However, it has no tile improvements as opposed to a mine for the worker opening and does not have a netted clam ready for the second city to work if I decide to plant there.


3. Hope the Scout Finds Something Better

I think SW-SW is my opening scout move. Let's hope we find a bonus resource.

[pindicator]

000

Looks like I have a few more openings to go over.




Also, I did not realize I had a 0f3h tile from yesterday's screenshot. So I'll need to redo the settle-in-place options again.

[pindicator]

The sheep is a trap. Not only because it takes 2 techs to research to AH, but also because it just orphans way too many resources to settle on that plains hill. One fish is acceptable; 3 is a trap. So we go work boat first, and I'm still deciding between WB > WB > grow to 4 > Whip Worker > Whip Settler, or WB > Worker > WB > grow to 4 > whip settler.




Internet cookie to the first person to guess my naming scheme.