[spoilers] Pindicator Steals the Mapmakers Naming Theme

[Tarkeel]

Well, I'm sorry I took castles now - that naming scheme was clearly already taken!

Real castles and Lego castles are probably sufficiently different to exist. PB74 has Avalon Hill and a totally different board game theme, so I think we can suffer two kinds of castles in a medieval-themed game.

Yeah, Lego castle sets have no meaningful overlap with real-life castles, but it's a nice interaction. I am missing some pics of yours though!
I actually did have a very short conversation with Commodore regarding naming schemes in PB74 and concluded there was no chance for name-stealing.

[pindicator]

013

Met scooter. His scout ran into mine on the outskirts of Commodore's lands. I think it's safe to say he is Commodore's other border, which leaves Thoth for the space between Yuri and scooter.

Revolted to slavery this turn and started a settler in the capital. The expected whip is in 5 turns, and this is the best window for workers: mostly roads coming up next.

[pindicator]

Let's talk about opponents a little. It's always intimidating to do this kind of write up in a game Commodore is also playing (because nobody does it better), but I still want to give my thoughts on what people picked and how that influences my strategy. Since we're looking at pushing north first, let's start with Yuri.

Leader: Gandhi - SPI/PHI
Unique Unit: Cossack - Rifling, Mil Trad
Unique Building: Research Institute - Education

If anyone is disappointed in the map design it has to be Yuri. This is a pairing that wants time to expand and develop their economy, not be crammed up against the Vikings and Mongolias of this world.  They want to unlock their UB with smart bulbs to tech better, and then when they've gotten to Rifling be able to lean on the weight of the cossack UU to secure a victory on the battlefield.

However, there is plenty of play in Gandhi to change the strategy up for a smaller map. PHI and SPI might be considered slow traits in a normal game but with a medieval start they have a lot of snowball potential, lining up quick advantages. I have shown my favor for SPI in getting the snowball growing quickly. The medieval start allows a multitude of great person bulbing options, and PHI makes that so much more accessible.

To wit: I am struggling with finding the right timing to switch into caste and run a bunch of merchants to bulb Civil Service. The struggle is not so much in wanting the tech  (I want to swap into bureaucracy t0 if possible) but in the opportunity cost: it will take me 34 specialist-turns, eating up 34 citizens not producing settlers or other necessary builds for getting an empire started. I also don't want to be in caste for more than necessary: I can't whip like I can in slavery and my workers aren't as efficient as serfdom. My best solution so far is to wait until my capital hits size 9 and then run 7 specialists over 5 turns. But with only 2 citizens in the fields I'm not going to get much for production in those turns.  By comparison: Yuri only needs to run 2 specialists over 4 turns to get that first great person. Instead of waiting until the late 30s like I will be he can get it in the early 20s when he switches into caste to pop borders for his third city.

The catch is its far from clear what the best technology to bulb is. Does he go for Music to get a "free" first great person? (A second great artist bulb would be Theology.) Or in a small map like this does he utilize the battlefield control that a great person gives? Does he try to rush for his UB with a great merchant bulb of Civil Service followed up by great scientists for Paper and Education?

The trap for Yuri is to focus on his civilization UU and UB too much and disregard that this is a small map full of dangerous opponents. If he can focus on short term goals and find the exponential growth curve for his civ with smart bulbs and civic swaps then I think he can make me regret not taking Gandhi myself.

Against him I think the map is pushing me to settle towards him so my goal is to grab the barbarian city between us. Because Thoth is on his other side I think I want to leave him relatively alone: let the Vikings be the focus of his attention. Also, getting into an ongoing war might be just the thing that draws the Vikings in to expanding my direction! So get the barbarian city between us, but then work more towards establishing a favorable border than outright aggression. Then shift my focus towards the more immediate threat to my south...

[pindicator]

015

Scouting out the center:




Center island of goodies that we all fight over.  Classic.  The question is whether or not it's worth circling the island if that costs my work boat to be a turn or two late to hooking up my clams.  Probably not ... I have a good idea of what I see.  It is good to know that there is some space in the middle:  the farther away Thoth is the better.

Swapped La Fontaine to a worker.  We whip both the worker and the settler in 3 turns.  Then swap to Caste to pop borders in the new city.




Early but nice to be on top of demos.

[Mjmd]

BTW yes please to keeping us updated on use of civic swaps. Very curious on how much spiritual can be abused in later time era.

[pindicator]

017

Scooter is running specialists for an early bureaucracy:




Again, PHI is the big winner here. I knew it would be faster than normal but I really should have done the math and seen how much faster. Personally, I'm still waffling between putting out my great person before or after the settler for my 5th city.

Commodore has also switched to slavery. He whipped on his t15 and we got eyes on the settler inside his capital this turn. He appears to be settling his iron with it - a hindu missionary is already camped out on the tile.

So far I'm thinking Comm got way better land than I, but we're still scouting.

[pindicator]

018

I think I like Commodore's land more. Not only does he seem to have more of it, but the bonus resources really make settling it a lot easier for him:




Maybe if this is the farthest west his "section" goes then I could see it being even. But if he has more past his cities then I'm a bit jealous.

You can see him about to settle his 3rd city. I'm not quite sure how he got that settler out so fast unless he chopped it - but I'm not convinced chopping settlers is correct here. There's too much else that needs to be done with the workforce. For instance, you can see Comm is just getting his Ivory improved this turn. That's a 5-yield tile! Don't delay that.

Myself, I whipped my settler and a 3rd worker this turn:




Worker is going to get the Iron hooked up with his friend in the east. Meanwhile, I am chopping for the capital but it's not for a settler. I'm wondering if I could try catching someone unawares...

Anyway, settler moves to the new city in 2 turns, and then we run specialists t21 & t22. Civic swap to Caste:




On t23 we pop borders and revolt back to serfdom.

Somebody built a spear. Thoth or Commodore. I guess it could also be a pair of warriors.

Or a Ger. It's definitely Commodore building a Ger.

[pindicator]

019

I keep going back and forth on my start, trying to talk myself out of the galley. But the thing is you really need the galley to improve the deer, and you really want to settle your 4th city on the island both for the PRO 3c routes, and also for the horse. Still, I started to think maybe I should delay my 4th settler and go into Caste again at size 9, get into Bureau by t33 and then be able to just 3-pop whip out settlers thanks to the Bureau cap +50% (135h for a 3 pop whip). But that feels just too slow for the settler growth curve. Still, with only sharing a deer tile that island spot just wasn't screaming out as being a great spot to settle (... although I could say the same for almost all my area of the map).




And now I'm happy I stuck with it: my work boat uncovered a clam (hidden under the text in the lower left of the screenshot) and suddenly settling that island seems like a great idea. Only question now is whether you settle on the horse or on the stone.

Scooter got his Great Merchant. Commodore settled his 3rd city.

[pindicator]

021

Settled my 3rd city




Then I finished the iron mine, so started swords here and also in La Fontaine. Capital needs to finish it's barracks first. Looking at finalizing the details around when we go in, but I think I can get 6 swords and 2 horse archers for an attack around t35. And then a great merchant.

I like scooter's plan: he's just eating a couple turns of anarchy but for his effort he got a very early bureau capital. (Honestly, Yuri, what are you doing? You should have been there first.) Now that he's revolted into bureaucracy the first thing he did was triple whip a settler. Very smart opening.

For us non-PHI civs, I think I can get into bureaucracy on t40. Going to whip another settler out of the capital for the island, and then grow to size 8 before pushing one out.

[pindicator]

022

Forgive me for nerding out here, but i'm going to talk about worker micro and civic swaps:




This is my last turn in Caste for a while, as Alhambra will pop borders end-of-turn. Next up is serfdom. I've been mostly building roads over the last 10 turns - though a forest chop and an iron mine were also built. But now it's time to get improvements down again. Shouldn't I wait until next turn to do that efficiently? Am i wasting any turns?

Well, no. The worker dropped off on the deer put 1 turn into a camp. A camp is 4 turns to build. Next turn in Serfdom the worker action will count for 1.5. And 1 + 1.5 + 1.5 = 4 so we don't lose anything by starting the camp now, a turn before Serfdom. Similarly I put two worker turns into a farm for La Fontaine. 2 + 1.5 + 1.5 = 5, which is the requirement for a farm. So as long as I cancel worker actions at end of turn and swap to Serfdom next turn, everything stays efficient.

Borders did pop at Alhambra when I ended, thanks to the artist I've hired there:




But I did not grab the horse tile. Shoot, I was really hoping to work that when the city reached size 3.

Also, we need to snag that barb worker.