@lg - I'm sure you can do better than me if you turn up the difficulty a notch and have a go, you seem to have a much better understanding of the game than me.
Many thanks for the compliment
, but youre doing yourself a dis-service IMHO...your understanding of the game is terrific as is evidenced by how much Im still learning (and Im sure others are too) from your series.
Indeed, if HUI 1 & 2 are any guide, then Im convinced that if you can iron out 3 small wrinkles, youll be on immortal in no time: (i) running a few more cottages (or scientists) for early commerce / research (which youre addressing in this very game) (ii) generating sufficient happiness to work more cottages or specialists (addressed by the mids in this game) and (iii) tweaking builds in the coastal cities (more on which below). (NB: Of course, the map also plays a role in how easy or hard it is to actually do (i), (ii) and (iii)). The reason that gamers like kossin are able provide the tips and add the value they have is because they are truly great civvers.
Quick question - what should i pick up from Lib? If we are looking at a Janissary led military expansion, then steel for Cannons i would think ...
Yeah, steel is the obvious choice given how well cannons will dovetail with janissaries. However, I think it might help knowing before you make this choice whether you can beat Pacal (i) by simply drafting janissaries or (ii) by out producing him with jans and cannons. As a result, theres likely value in scouting his land (maybe after settling the eastern fish / gold and maybe the western iron sites as mentioned in my earlier post). If you find he can be taken down simply with jans then nationalism has value for nationhood (for drafting; look to trade for drama and philo) and The Taj. Otherwise, its steel (which is the better choice IMHO) for the cannons as you note.
BTW - I went MC for forges + workshops as i plan to spam farms & workshops but CS first was the right move i will switch.
Yeah, I realised the workshop + caste system rationale literally within about 30secs after I turned off the PC yesterday, d'oh! That said, for the benefit of anyone lurking, the reason that civil service is better than metal casting IMHO is that chain irrigation can provide the farms and food to cities such as Edirne that will enable those workshops to be worked.
I am short of workers since i went for the mids.
Actually, this was the reason I asked about the Moai statues and takes me to a mistake that I think alot of (particularly new) gamers make when it comes to coastal cities. I know Ive made it often enough.
In short, I think alot of gamers see a coastal city and rush to build both a lighthouse and the Moai (especially if they have stone) well before they have any intention of working any coastal tiles. However, as Ive gone up through the levels, I learned that these buildings need to be viewed like any other you build them when you need them, and not before.
In the case of coastal cities, that means I will only build an early lighthouse if the city is working an improved seafood resource or an inland lake, so I get an immediate food bonus. By contrast, if the city has no improved seafood resource or inland lake in its BFC, then it can be a very long time before I build a lighthouse in the city. In the interim, Im quite happy to convert the citys food surplus to production via the whip so that it can provide troops, settlers, workers or other infrastructure (eg. courthouses, libraries etc) that will provide an earlier benefit to the empire. This very use of the whip of course means that the city is prevented from working coastal tiles until such time as I really need the commerce they provide. (For this reason of course, The Colossus can have an impact on the timing of lighthouse builds.)
If anything, Ive learned to view the Moai in the same way...again I only build it in a coastal city when I want the city to work the coastal tiles. If I build it before that point, Im not getting the benefit of the +1
for each coastal tile because Im simply not working them. Until that point is reached, the potential Moai city is therefore once again instead building and / or whipping troops, settlers, workers, or infrastructure that will provide a more immediate benefit to the empire.
Returning to your game therefore Shafi (since the previous explanation is intended primarily for lurking noobs), I note that Edirne (which looks the most appropriate location) has invested 128
into the Moai. I guess therefore the question thats worth asking is whether those hammers couldve been invested into perhaps 2 more workers or a settler for the empire. (IIRC, there was a similar question re: building early lighthouses rather than say courthouses in HUI 2). Now, in all fairness, you may well be planning to work those improved coastal tiles ASAP, (which is just one of many reasons BTW why this point is not at all intended as criticism
), to speed up tech towards civil service (in which case Edirne will also need a lighthouse ASAP as Im sure you know). If not however, then maybe using that citys hammers to produce workers instead, wouldve enabled you to nab the mids and a few more workers or an extra settler for the empire. As mentioned earlier, perhaps therefore considering delaying the building of lighthouses or the Moai in coastal cities until you need them is something worthwhile to bear in mind for the remainder of this and subsequent games. After all, as I mentioned at the beginning of the post, Im convinced that if you can just keep an eye on the build orders in coastal cities along with the other two points I mentioned above that you are clearly addressing in this game then, given the strength of your game, Im convinced it wont be long before were seeing the HUI series played at immortal.
, but he gets there safely, soon to be joined by one of our warriors. Meanwhile our exploring warrior finds the Mayan lands to the south
![[party]](/images/smilies/partytime.gif "Party [party]")
. Scouting a bit might allow you to get only foreign trade routes too...
...and there was me wondering whether futurehermit’s post about grabbing the double gem site was an indication that the faster emperor AI meant that nabbing the two southern sites that I’d dotmapped was impossible. Not only did you manage to settle them both but you finished the ‘mids as well! All I can do is 
....and ask how long before Shafi becomes a deity? 
