Naming theme. I need a good naming theme. Can't win without a good naming theme!
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[spoilers] Pindicator Steals the Mapmakers Naming Theme
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February 9th, 2024, 10:37
(This post was last modified: February 18th, 2024, 18:36 by pindicator.)
Castles!!!!
Edit: password is castles
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Let’s talk medieval starts!
I can’t remember where to locate any references on the subject of later-era starts, but there are a number of things which fundamentally change the game. I think I’ll just overview what I’ve found here and perhaps later will go into more detail about how this will influence my thinking and strategy. Starting Units: 2 settlers, 2 archers, and an explorer. Free Buildings in New Cities: Each new city starts with a free Granary and (if its coastal) Lighthouse. Settlers: Something of an odd duck change, settlers cost more. 148h base cost and 12h deduction for either of EXP or ORG, I’m guessing to account for the traits being a little nerfed due to the free buildings. So Mehmed is paying 124h, and anyone with either EXP or ORG is 136h. Technology: Rather simply, we start with all technologies from the Ancient and Classical eras. This sounds rather straight-forward. But starting the game with all worker technologies unlocked really changes how starts are evaluated and played. Wonders: Ancient Era wonders are eliminated from the game as well as some Classical era wonders. A full list: Stonehenge, Great Wall, Oracle, Great Lighthouse, Temple of Artemis, Pyramids, the Parthenon, and Statue of Zeus. Moai cannot be built! Classical era wonders that you can build right away (as long as you have the pre-req building) are: Hanging Gardens, Mausoleum of Maussollos, Colossus, Great Library, Chichen Itza, and Shwedagon Paya. With national wonders, both Epics are available, as is Globe Theatre. Civics: Tied to technology, the list of civics available at the start of the game is Hereditary Rule, Slavery, Serfdom, Caste System, and Organized Religion. Anything I missed?
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Dodo Tier Player (February 13th, 2024, 03:00)Miguelito Wrote: Do ancient/classical religions get founded randomly upon start, and how do you balance for that? Or are they dismissed and you play with just Chritianity and Islam? (Tao is classical right?) That has been discussed a lot in the main tech-thread, but it looks like we might need some Ramk-magic to get that working properly.
I hope you are having fun with this map, Tarkeel. The different tech situation and having there be more improvements available for workers at the start of a game should really open up your options and present some unique situations.
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Is there anything that can be said for great people bulbs in a medieval start?
Here are the bulb priority lists, but with the techs we already know greyed out. I think we'll take these one at a time and add some commentary in after. In general, Great Scientists/Merchants/Artists are going to be able to pop off earlier with Caste, and Priests/Engineers are going to take a little more work and come later. Of course there are ways around this with PHI and civs like America, but this is just general. Great Prophet With all the religions handed out at the beginning of the game, there shouldn't be any need to bulb Theology, and less to push Divine Right. And let's be honest: everyone is going to want to use that first Great Prophet to build a shrine for their religion. And so we can't have these hypotheticals without thinking about the timing of when these come out. How long is building that first temple, getting that great person out, and then getting a second one because we're going to shrine that religion - how long does all that take? For a Great Priest, I don't think there are any attractive bulbs at that timeframe. Perhaps if you really wanted to push for the religious wonders you could try for teching Theology, Civil Service, delaying the shrine and bulbing (most of) Divine Right. That's about the only bulb I can see here ...and I really don't love it. Great Scientist The easy choice here is Astronomy bulb. Tech Philosophy & Optics and during that time try to get 2 Great Scientists out, then bam - Astronomy. Except does the map warrant that? And you don't have a lot of time to figure that out if it's a question going in. Another option would be using a pair of GS bulbs to push for Liberalism and the free tech: Philosophy for the first & Education second, and the path to Liberalism is opened up. I want to find something with Printing Press or Chemistry, but I feel those are more of one-off bulbs of opportunity and less about ones you target for. Great Artist MUSIC! That's about as easy a bulb as it gets. But let's not stop there: tech Theology and then that opens up a Nationalism bulb. How fast can you start drafting? Oh wow, that is actually really exciting to think about: as most players are worrying about mixing in infrastructure and units, I can be doing both with a fast Nationalism as SPI. Except it doesn't work: Divine Right gets in the way. Damn. Great Merchant Another easy one: a fast Civil Service! It's like what I was trying to do with Nationalism and Artists but this time it really works. Getting a fast Bureaucracy would be a great way to get the snowball started. Though Civil Service may be a little too soon: it may be something you can just tech to in the time it would take to run merchant specialists - though PHI would certainly be fast. Though after Civil Service and Paper are off the board, Guilds is the next one up (after teching Machinery & Feudalism). That could be a natural timing for a great person. Great Engineer Machinery & Engineering is a great line, and continues on with Feudalism & Guilds. The tough part is that you need to build a forge (or Hanging Gardens) so this isn't goign to be as fast. If anything you are going to be able sprinkle in a bulb on the way to Guilds - or get Engineering a bit faster. Or lets be honest: we're going to rush a wonder. In the end this is just cursory overview of what is available. The best GP bulb plan will combine elements of different great people and fit within an overall tech plan. SPI and PHI leaders are going to be able to rush out great people faster than others, and timings for plans are all going to feel foreign because it's really going to be tough to figure out how long those first technologies are going to take. Then to balance that out with the desire to shrine your early religion - yikes, there are a lot of choices here.
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