[PB90] naufragar's Ottomen don't have a leg to stand on.

[naufragar]

This game:



Edit: Password is

otto

[naufragar]

Well, shucks. I might have already screwed up. I was planning something fun, but now I have to wonder about our rule set:

Here's the result of my first move:



I could not see a rule that restricted the settler to its starting tile, so I move my warrior to the hill, saw that there was coast to my south, and then moved my settler North so that I could fit an extra city down there. But then I discovered that I was on this little island and became afraid: had Rob spent so much time on the map with the expectation that each player would found on his starting tile? Have I already screwed up his balance? Other players that settle in place will only fit one city onto their island (assuming everyone is on a similar island), while players that move can fit two.  Hope I didn't screw the map up. If I did, I'll just eat the turn hit.

More substantive analysis to come once I know that I can actually play the turn.

[Krill]

Is that a forested wheat?

[naufragar]

Is that a forested wheat?

God, I'm so excited. Gotta write up thoughts on the map, thoughts on crazy micro plans, try to read German to compile opponent analyses. I expected this game to be insane, and nothing has changed my mind yet.

As a teaser...

[Charriu]

It's a small world after all :P

[Krill]

So two or three city island?

[naufragar]

It's a small world after all :P

With me and 17 of my new best friends.

So two or three city island?

I think just two. If it were greener, I would consider three, but I would have to delay founding the capital by a turn, and for a very long time any other cities on this island will just cannibalize tiles from the capital. (If I orphan sea food, I'll be sad, but that's the gamble.) I guess this is a good time for ~*~map thoughts~*~.

A player in the tech thread noticed that none of the civs in this game start with Fishing (which also means no Dutch, Portuguese, or Vikings). When asked about strategic resources, Rob (the map maker) said that players weren't guaranteed the resources for their unique units but they could compete for them. From these two posts, I assume that every player starts on a similarly sized island and will need to expand onto another continent. This could be one giant continent or a bunch of archipelagos or anything in between.

This map took months to make. Rob and maybe Ziankali too tested out every start and tried to balance it so that the Pacal player is not way better off than the Charlemagne player, for example. They said that they think they've balanced everything out to turns 50 or 60. This is a mixed blessing. On the one hand, it means I need to play as well as the testers in order to keep up with a theoretical normal opponent. On the other hand, if I can find something unorthodox, maybe I can generate an advantage.

Therefore, my gut's telling me that I need to get off my island as soon as possible.

I'm Suleiman (Phi/Imp) rather than the better Ottoman leader Mehmed (Exp/Org), presumably because Mehmed would be absolutely dominant on this map. My Imp trait seems pretty dead. I can't really use it effectively in the early game because I'm stuck on my island, and later it will be too expensive to spam out cities. The Philosophical trait, however, looks like it will be great. It's not the +150% Great People Points of RtR or CtH, but it should be enough. It's too early to come up with long term plans, but in a perfect world I'm attacking with Janissaries off of Galleons into an opponent with Galleys and Knights or Maces.

[naufragar]

The micro puzzle is "How do you get off the island?"

Because I have an unhealthy addiction to the bizarre, I tried out a line in which I went for Sailing before Mining:



This plan puts a lot of faith in the fog holding something valuable, either Agriculture resources or Seafood. It also has the unquantifiable benefit of several turns of galley exploration.

Unfortunately, it seems like the standard Bronze rush is just better:


From here we do something like whip a Settler and a Galley simultaneously and send them on their merry way.

Neither plan is particularly optimized yet. How much do I value getting to another land mass as soon as possible?

[Amicalola]

Are the early worked cottages in the BW plan because it's deity, or would you do that in a Monarch/Emperor game as well?

[Krill]

A galley and a settler is one thing, but if you have no idea where to send them it is worthless.

What is the scouting plan? Given this means land and sea I am interested how the players figure out what to do.