Launched


NEWB1: Initial Expansion
NEWB2: Population
NEWB3: Chainsaws


Planned


5x5x5
Cat's Cradle
Defense
Culture War
Norwegian Wood
Home Improvement
A Horse Is A Horse
Up the Academy
Cottageton Pie


For advanced players - part of the game is trying to guess what these titles might represent (actually, I may need to play that game as well - my notes for some of these are pretty thin).

But this is also the thread for kicking around lesson designs, arguing about what sorts of things work or do not work, improving the presentation, and so forth.

My feeling is that lessons should take no longer to play than the first 100 or so turns at normal speed, but I think we should be open to starting from interesting positions, as long as they aren't too complicated, and running out "about" the same number of turns.

norvegian wood = tundra archer rush?

Just played Newb1 - nice langorous - small, relaxing....

...BUT :D

.. I did find myself doing artificial plays that only made sense in the exercise, and would not be made in a real game (like, settle the good food spot last, it will catch up to pop4 quicker).

Oh, my entry into the compo....

Population - destroy everyone elses ?
5x5x5 - build 4 bombers, relocate them together as an example of formation flying.
Cat's Cradle - expand without killing any lions or pumas
Defense - See population.
Culture War - See population
Norwegian Wood - Chop out 2 galleys, go raid and settle someone elses land, Then pass yourself off as a world peacemaker at the UN.
Home Improvement - Relapse back into buildaholism 101.
A Horse Is A Horse - except when its an elephant
Up the Academy - win without beelining education ?
Cottageton Pie - I think I'll prefer the spam...

Some guesses:

* Population - Can be anything. Whore UN votes? Grow cities/manage caps? Sufficient expansion/conquest?

* 5x5x5 - Settle outward in an expanding arc, or, similar to your 4x4 thing

* Cat's Cradle - Use enough siege.

* Defense - Use enough archers and defensive units to repel an early attack, like from shaka.

* Culture War - CRE tile border fight, or possibly going for culture wins.

* Norwegian Wood - Rough tundra start, or the use of certain wooded areas in the tundra that would otherwise be useless for national park.

* Home Improvement - Work improved tiles. Only improved tiles.

* A Horse Is A Horse - of course of course. Probably a chariot or HA rush.

* Up the Academy - Build academies with great scientists?

* Cottageton Pie - Probably the easiest one, but we should ask DaveMCW just to be sure.

Population: how to grow population; pop caps, and how to bypass them

5x5x5: 5 cities at size 5 by 500 BC

Cat's Cradle: Cats, obviously

Defense: learn how to use defensive modifiers to your advantage

Culture War: push back a culturally strong Civ's borders

Norwegian Wood: all about the chopping

Home Improvement: all about buildings

A Horse is a Horse: strategic resources

Up the Academy: reaching up the tech tree

Cottagegon Pie: all about the specialist economy. No, wait; sorry, trade economy. My bad.

If you do a "rush guide" I suggest the following.

1. Set up the rush in WB your own way, presumably with a suitable victim next door.
2. Make the victim Isabella.
3. WB a gold mine or riverside dye patch that she will work while reseraching a religion (she always does yes ?).

So Izzy will get a holy city - Now when the newb rushes her he also learns the best way to get a shrine location. (ie, take it not build it) - one less bad habit for our student to get rid of....

Would it be possible to use WB to set up some games from challenging positions?

One that I would like to personally see is a few cities placed in areas of land that don't particularly scream science/commerce/production etc and see how people handle them regarding improvements and buildings.

One that I would like to personally see is a few cities placed in areas of land that don't particularly scream science/commerce/production etc and see how people handle them regarding improvements and buildings.

Sounds sorta interesting - but one of the reasons I watch the games of better players is to see how they do things well. If I want to see how things are done badly I can load up my own saves :D

Population - How to quickly get a high enough population to make a city productive. And when to whip/etc.
5x5x5 - 5 cities with 5 improvements at size 5.
Cat's Cradle - How to use catapults.
Defense - How to effectively stack defense bonuses(walls/castles/etc.)
Culture War - How to overpower another civ's culture.
Norwegian Wood - Tundra cities?
Home Improvement - How to improve a city.
A Horse Is A Horse - How to use horses effectively.
Up the Academy - Getting to education quickly.
Cottageton Pie

Cat's Cradle
Cat -> Egypt -> Pyramids -> SE

Norwegian Wood
Norway -> Vikings -> Minneapolis -> Twin cities
Basically build two cities very fast

A Horse Is A Horse
A Horse is not a Unicorn
Unicorn -> Harry Potter -> Lord of the Rings -> Elfs and Drarwes

Basically build elves and dwarves ..... umm need a mod I guess

Up the acadamy -> Strong SE game with lots of bulbing to keep a big tech lead.

A horse is a horse -> Only horse units allowed. Genghis propably.

Norwegian wood -> Very sexy dragonder boats with Ragnar :p

Population
5x5x5
Cat's Cradle
Defense
Culture War
Norwegian Wood
Home Improvement
A Horse Is A Horse
Up the Academy
Cottageton Pie
Population:
About how population is pretty much the most important thing since it allows for more tiles to work and for voting power and such. Also about food.

5x5x5:
Possibly about the rate you will need to expand in. Maybe it can be about the area a city can work because the city covers an area of 5x5 (without the corners) and you will want 5 cities at the very least, more on standard.

Cat's Cradle:
This has to do with the cat-and-mouse show that we all love: Tom and Jerry!

Defense:
A lesson in coocking pot-roast. What else could it be?

Culture War:
See defense. This time we are making thai sweet chicken.

Norwegian Wood:
About chopping.

Home Improvement:
Getting enough workers and where to place the improvements.

A Horse Is A Horse:
Grabbing strategic resources and win a free plasma-tv!

Up the Academy:
Probably about modifiers and managing GPP.

Cottageton Pie:
How to get the most of cottages. :goodjob:

Cat's Cradle: Research Ice9, freeze all the oceans, and march your armies overseas before astro. :p

i'm not that advanced player, still
Population: about getting UN victory?
5x5x5: getting 5 20-sized cities?
Cat's Cradle: must be something about all water turning to ice and everyone falling dead :)
Defence: preparing for early DoW from some shakazumastalinkhan.
culture war: maybe something about assymetrically culturally linking landmasses?
Norwegian wood: should be about choppig, but they seem all to be about chopping. well, this must be about chop-rushing Glib using the forests outside BFC!
Home Improvement: something special about improving tiles?)
A Horse Is A Horse: never knew that!
Up the Academy: getting the Academy up :P
Cottageton Pie: cottaging to fuel expansion?

Fantastic idea, VoU. Subscribed. I'll look at the first one properly once my french exam is done.

Up the acadamy -> Strong SE game with lots of bulbing to keep a big tech lead.

Unlikely; the idea here is ~100 turn exercises/challenges, not full games.

My guess is it's going to be more about setting up an early GPF than establishing a full-blown SE.