[SPOILERS] The Reverend Suryavarman II of Babylon

[The Reverend Doctor]

Thanks T-Hawk. I should probably notice obvious things like that.... Hopefully even building a worker first that barb city should grow with that grass sheep before I'm ready to attack it.

An aside to T-Hawk: I actually played Zelda 2 for the first time in at least 15 years about a month ago and actually perked up when I realized where you got your avatar. God I hate fighting dark link after that!

Another question for a lurker who may know: I ran a couple tests and the barb city always had an archer in it pretty quickly. Is this simply by virtue of it being Monarch difficulty or is it the fact that in a test game all the AIs would automatically have archery and the barbs get the tech that way?
I believe (and hope) the latter is true.

[T-hawk]

I love Zelda 2, it's my favorite NES game and terribly underrated. I always thought the blue bird was way cool and Shadow Link was kind of anticlimactic. Modern source material calls him Thunderbird, but my game guide back in the day said Thunderhawk and that stuck. I had the handle back in BBS days long before I ever heard of T.Hawk from Street Fighter.

Another question for a lurker who may know: I ran a couple tests and the barb city always had an archer in it pretty quickly. Is this simply by virtue of it being Monarch difficulty or is it the fact that in a test game all the AIs would automatically have archery and the barbs get the tech that way?
I believe (and hope) the latter is true.

As I understand it, barbarians get a tech when N-1 civilizations know it. So I think it is the latter in a PBEM since humans don't start with Archery, only AIs. I don't think barbarians get Archery for free on Monarch, but I don't know for 100% sure.

You could test it yourself - set up a map with barb cities, start a hotseat game on Monarch with N human players, and see how the barbs behave.

[The Reverend Doctor]

I set up a test and indeed the barbs techs seem solely dependent on the CIVs having them. I was fighting exclusively barb warriors on Monarch through turn 130 when nobody researched archery or bronze working. Hopefully at least 2 others don't tech Archery immediately.

Another turn!

Now with resources!

A bit of an A-HA moment. It looks as though I can already see the end of my starting landmass. For a few turns I would've bet that the barb city blocked access to some untold riches or at least contact with other civs. This will teach me to guess about the map based on absolutely no evidence.

Looks like Sailing will be even more important than I thought.

[The Reverend Doctor]

Two very eventful turns to report on!



A landmass reachable by galley over that way too. Can't rule out it being the same one that's to the SE of my capital.

The next turn greeted me with the hunting splash screen

Archery next!


And a picture to prove it.

I think I should be able to keep my worker busy going to archery before AH. He'll have to resources to camp and roads to build.

I hope you didn't believe that bit about those turns being exciting.

[Cyneheard]

As I understand it, barbarians get a tech when N-1 civilizations know it. So I think it is the latter in a PBEM since humans don't start with Archery, only AIs. I don't think barbarians get Archery for free on Monarch, but I don't know for 100% sure.

That's not quite how it works. Although how many teams know a tech does make a difference.

From CFC (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=324961):

The barb team (in other words we) gain

floor((c * floor ( ( 3*nw ) / na))/ 100)

c = cost of tech
nw = number of teams with tech
na = number teams alive (not counting us) [i.e., the barbarian team: I believe this was from the Life of Brian RB SGs]

beakers per turn on every tech.

That means when na=7
1% if 3 teams have the tech
2% if 5 teams have the tech
3% if 7 teams have the tech

[The Reverend Doctor]

Basically all I've done is hit enter the last few turns. Surely not worth reporting when there's not even land to scout at the moment.

I delayed the worker to work the oasis and finish archery at the same time (next turn). I don't know if this is advantageous in the long run... but it does prevent me using two turns building something that I don't need or might not even be finished by the time hammer decay sets in.

Question for anyone:
Anybody out there ever have luck installing CIV IV on a linux machine? I just downloaded playonlinux and hopefully it works... but I thought I'd see if anyone had any experience.

If it doesn't work I may be back imploring someone to help me out by pushing enter a couple times this weekend.

[The Reverend Doctor]

Update: Installation of CIV IV vanilla is going well enough.

Let's find out how low the graphics settings go!

Also: I wish I could install the games simply without any sound. It seems like half the installation is of mp3s!

[The Reverend Doctor]

Nevermind.

Using linux when you have no idea how to is incredibly frustrating.

[The Reverend Doctor]

Turn 13 complete. Time to write down some plans, both for myself and because PB graciously offered to play a couple turns for me this weekend.



My immediate plan for the worker is to camp the deer. Then move to camp the furs then road it.

The city is working the oasis until the deer is connected since right now it's my best food and commerce tile. Once they're connected it's over to the deer.... pretty much going to push max growth at the moment.

I'm planning to build 2 bowmen consecutively. Hopefully the defenders in that barb city stay warriors and my dual bowman army can clean it up.

Tech path for the beginning (now that hunting and archery are in) will most likely be AH>Fishing>Sailing>Mining>BW

[pocketbeetle]

I think I may just be able to cope with that.

If a barb warrior comes a wandering, do you want the warrior to stand his ground, retreat to the forest 1E and defend there, or retreat to the city?
What if it's two warriors? (Unlikely I know)