SGOTM 15 - Unusual Suspects

Xcalibrator said:

Just in case Toku gets horses hooked up (he's still settling cities) we should build a spear or two.

When may AAA play? Play, AAA, play! (After prudently preparing a PPP and resolving any lingering questions.)

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I can play whenever the team says "go" or "green" or "don't screw up you fool!" or whatever seems appropriate. Right now I'm kinda lurking to get a feel of what everyone thinks the plan should be. Is there an updated test game I should be playing with?

And thank you to whoever makes those test game (Chris or Xcal?). I've tried to use worldbuilder - it is pain to get anything the way you want it.

AAA said:

I can play whenever the team says "go" or "green" or "don't screw up you fool!" or whatever seems appropriate. Right now I'm kinda lurking to get a feel of what everyone thinks the plan should be. Is there an updated test game I should be playing with?

And thank you to whoever makes those test game (Chris or Xcal?). I've tried to use worldbuilder - it is pain to get anything the way you want it.

Click to expand...

I think the test game has gotten left behind. Don't worry... just do like Yamps and whip them to the ground.

Chris made the original test game and I took over updating it. I stopped once my MM plan to get CoL was trashed by events. Also, we're now at the stage where we don't really need to optimize every beaker and hammer. Yeah, it's kind of a pain to get everything (close to) right with WB, but now I have a marketable skill, right?

Let's see, you're in Nova Scotia--were you hoping to play tonight? Not that I'm anxious to get the game moving again, or anything. I don't think we've seen any conflicting advice, and those who've chimed in have pretty much said things are OK. Ah, there was the issue of where to settle next, which hasn't been explicitly addressed by a quorum--we should probably clear that up before you play, or at least before you start moving the future settler. I vote for the hill E of the bananas, using the work boat to fogbust the south (freeing up the scout to go north--but bring him back to be a Warlord in time for the festivities) until the crabs can be netted.

If we can get consensus on the settling--and we need to hear from Trystero on this--then I think you'll have a green light.

I vote for E of banana. Food is good

Xcalibrator said:

If we can get consensus on the settling--and we need to hear from Trystero on this--then I think you'll have a green light.

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Aye, aye, sir!

Hmmm... That hill looks like a fine place for a city. Settlement (1E of the bananas) gets a Green from me.

OK, Hill 1E of bananas is ok.
But I like 2W of marble or 2N of crabs equally well.
any of those spots will be fine

AAA said:

I can play whenever the team says "go" or "green" or "don't screw up you fool!" or whatever seems appropriate. Right now I'm kinda lurking to get a feel of what everyone thinks the plan should be. Is there an updated test game I should be playing with?

And thank you to whoever makes those test game (Chris or Xcal?). I've tried to use worldbuilder - it is pain to get anything the way you want it.

Click to expand...

You screw up....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJnKm6ftPu0

OK, settling on the hill E of the bananas is approved. I think that firms up the plan well enough for AAA to play, but I'd still like to see him post a PPP for final confirmation. It doesn't need to be terribly detailed but should be clear about the goals, general plan for each city, and pause conditions. And list the things you want to check every turn such as corn cultural control, if it's time to revolt from OrgRel to Theoc, whether or not Toku has any horse units (add spears), what Toku is researching, etc.

Nice to see SteelHorse is practicing his Religious victory skills! Congrats!

Xcalibrator said:

Nice to see SteelHorse is practicing his Religious victory skills! Congrats!

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Note, his date stinks pretty bad for a Religious VC (sorry Steelhorse, no offense, it was a well-played game for sure), but he did it in fewer turns than Jesusin's culture VC. That's one reason we are reluctant to give up on the idea...

BTW... I agree with Chris that micro on hammer maximization will no longer not have as big an impact on our finish date. And the settling plan is acceptable to me.

Now... if AAA can just tear himself away from his HOF Challenge games long enough to tell us what he wants to do this set, we can get going again.

Xcalibrator said:

Nice to see SteelHorse is practicing his Religious victory skills! Congrats!

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Thanks. Just trying to keep up with the rest of the team.

OK I have the save.

The PPP would be

Finish the AP
Finish the settler - settle one east of the bananas
For all the other cities - granaries barracks cats (axes if they fit into the whipping schedule)
For the workers - roads and farms, or do we want some cottages

tech Alphabet, but run the tech slider to 0% once we have construction
pause if I run into some one new or get DoWed or other weirdness happens

I assume that this is simply the build phase and that this won't be the thumping

I have relooked at all technical stuff on how to do the section properly. I'm unclear on how to start up or initiate the buffy log . How do you start it up?

Also when do we switch into Theo?

Awaiting guidence

AAA said:

OK I have the save.

The PPP would be

Finish the AP
Finish the settler - settle one east of the bananas
For all the other cities - granaries barracks cats (axes if they fit into the whipping schedule)
For the workers - roads and farms, or do we want some cottages

tech Alphabet, but run the tech slider to 0% once we have construction
pause if I run into some one new or get DoWed or other weirdness happens

I assume that this is simply the build phase and that this won't be the thumping

I have relooked at all technical stuff on how to do the section properly. I'm unclear on how to start up or initiate the buffy log . How do you start it up?

Also when do we switch into Theo?

Awaiting guidence

Click to expand...

Sounds good... you have my green. I think you hit ctrl-alt-O to open the Buffy options, then in the logging tab you check the box and make sure the save path is what you want.

You can switch to Theo as soon as the hammers from your last chop towards the AP are registered.

AAA said:

Finish the AP
Finish the settler - settle one east of the bananas
For all the other cities - granaries barracks cats (axes if they fit into the whipping schedule)
For the workers - roads and farms, or do we want some cottages

tech Alphabet, but run the tech slider to 0% once we have construction
pause if I run into some one new or get DoWed or other weirdness happens

I have relooked at all technical stuff on how to do the section properly. I'm unclear on how to start up or initiate the buffy log . How do you start it up?

Also when do we switch into Theo?

Click to expand...

Bombay won't need a granary until Vijay has whipped itself senseless and gives up the deer because it can't afford to grow anymore. I'm not sure on the timing, but don't "waste" hammers on the granary until it'll do some good. We have barracks in Bolly, Drona, and Delhi--I'm not sure we want to spend the hammers for barracks in other cities right now. What's the collective opinion about this?

Otherwise, yes, cats first priority, then maybe another axe or two. I'd like to have one spear for the north and one for the east just so we don't get caught with our pants completely down if a Toku shows up with horse units. If you see any of those, obviously build more spears. Archers are cheap, so maybe a couple of those if it frees up more axes for the front. I wouldn't mind chopping a couple forests by Bolly to get more cats--we want to hit Toku hard and quickly. Speaking of forests, do we want to chop the deer forest by Holy Cow, or save it for 1hpt since we'll always be working that tile?

Probably not a lot of immediate need for more cottages since we'll be whipping and/or working as many mines as possible. Higher priorities are connecting the bananas city, pasturing the cows for Holy Cow, and chopping. We'll need to marble quarried, but Bananas needs to grow a bit before we need that. But after that, yeah, more cottages for the future won't hurt.

Seriously, write down the things that should be checked every turn: when will we lose the corn, does anybody have horses or new units, how many units in Osaka, what is Toku researching, etc.

Switch into Theoc just before units will be completed. Delay that if possible/sensible by switching to another unit type. But we're probably talking around 3 turns. (Staying in OrgRel helps our cities constructing buildings, particularly the AP--make sure that forest N of Drona is chopped ASAP to get the OrgRel bonus.)

See here for the BUFFY instructions. (Conveniently linked from the Ref post, ahem.) The path will be different for Windows7. Just find out where the Autolog (or Logs) directory lives and then type in the full path. Have the BUFFY log record everything (which I think is the default). After you've played, search for "Gandhi.txt", open the file, copy the contents, and then paste it into your post.

My collective opinion:

I think the hindu cities should get barracks (if they don't have'em already). That allows 2 promos on the cats when in Theo, (a few should get accuracy to increase the rate we can reduce culture defenses... but the suicide cats will probably want CR2 or maybe even barrage... but we won't promote any of them until they are at the battlefront). Cities without hindu can also go without barracks for now, imo.

I think (?) that Bombay is the only Hindu city w/out barracks, and am OK with giving it some, as kcd suggests. I believe there's one forest left to chop there--use it. I also vote to chop the deer forest for Holy Cow to get it going faster. And I forgot that we want to build lots of farms around Bombay so it can grow enough to use all the potential mines there.

Concur with kcd and xc on barracks and granary advice. Make sure to set Buffy logging. Concur on xc check-every-turn list. Plan looks good. Green.

More advice on the BUFFY log business: I'm not a Windows native so there may be an easier way, but what I did to find my way around was start with the "Load Game" menu and look at the directory structure over on the left of the page--find something that looks like "Autolog" or "Logs". Then, to find the full path, quit and use the Windows search function to find that directory name (or a file in it). Then, somehow, depending on which version of Windows you're running, you figure out the full path or ask your teenage daughter how to do it. Then start up Civ again, open the BUFFY controls with control-alt-oh, find the Logging tab/screen, and type in the full path + filename (suggested Gandhi.txt).

Thanks everyone for the guidance.
I've tested out the buffy log system, works fine.
Whip'em when there almost to a 1pop whip.
be aware of changing circumstances.

But how many turns should I go, and should I be gathering the army as well as making it?

Agree with plan. Green.
12 turns or until a good pause spot?

yes, send army to Drona; if Toku attacks, out cats can take him in the field, but we'd rather attack the city. maybe our stack will cause him to delay any DOW