The Next Set
Okay, I think that
everyone on the team has had a sufficient chance to pick up the saved game. Well, no takers? I guess it falls to me to take another set. Now's your last chance to complain that I will be getting too much playing time on one of the largest teams.
The micro details I can plan out myself easily enough, as I'm relatively familiar with them. However, I will not play out a test game until the completion of The Pyramids, so I will be relying on others to tell me if I'm doing something that will get us completely off of the right track. I will plan to play 5 turns, so that there can be a fast turn-around time. I will also aim to keep the test game updated so that if I run out of stamina, someone else on our team can pick the game up again after those 5 turns.
Heck, after I've got a PPP up, if someone wants to volunteer to just follow the PPP and play it out, they're more than welcome to volunteer. For me, the most fun comes into play during the planning stages whereas someone else might get more of a kick out of performing the execution [bad joke alert](insert Axe-wielding Headsman graphic here)[/bad joke alert].
However, there are overall details that I'd like to confirm that people are on-board with or disagree with. I'm stating them now, before posting the PPP, since I believe that these details will have the most contention. If you want to argue about any of them, now is the time:
1. Tech Path
Research path: (AH)-CoL beeline
5. To bulb Philosphy, we need CoL+Math+Alpha. We hope to be first to CoL to found Confucianism for running Pacifism. We hope to get Math+Alpha+IW in trade.
I plan to grab Animal Husbandry first. Unless we end up doing something crazy like whipping 4 Triremes from Paris, such that the Settler for Pig + Magical City would be extremely delayed, we'll need Animal Husbandry in order to make Pig + Magical Fish City viable. So, the tech path will be:
AH-CoL-Alpha-Math
Obviously, if we can get Alpha and/or Math in trade, we will do so.
2. The Pyramids in Paris
If we're running lots of specialists, then Representation gives a huge research boost and we have stone, so we can cost-effectively build the Pyramids.
Maybe it's a foregone conclusion that we'll try to build this Wonder at all and that we'll try to put it in Paris (which risks giving us a Great Engineer). A Great Engineer would likely be used on Machinery, which is on the path to Astronomy, or on Engineering, for Trebuchets. But, if you don't want The Pyramids to go in Paris, speak up now, as (if I recall correctly) we will already start building them within the next 5 turns.
3. Trireme Defence
6. We'll need 2-3 triremes for defense against barb galleys. If we can get the forge in Paris quickly, then Paris can whip a trireme or two with max overflow into the Pyramids without seriously altering our overall Astro beeline (I think).
--------------------------
EDIT: I changed the text in this section between the dashed lines. The original text, which I no longer subscribe tom after having played a bit with the test game, is spoilered below.
We originally had planned to build a Settler before any Triremes in Paris. Every Trireme that we build before Settler 5 delays City 5 by several turns, which, from my understanding of what mdy has been saying, will delay Astronomy by a corresponding number of turns.
So, while I plan to put 1 turn worth of Hammers into a Trireme in Paris, I don't want to build it until after we have completed Settler 5 (unless there is an emergency, in which case we'll be ready to whip the Trireme at a moment's notice).
After Settler 5 is out, we'll definitely build at least 1 Trireme. We'll need to decide whether or not we'll want 2 Triremes before we build Settler 6, but that decision can come later--for now, just starting thinking, at the back of your mind, about whether you'd want 1 or 2 Triremes before completing Settler 6.
--------------------------
If we have an emergency with a Barb Galley, we can also use a Work Boat to lure the Barb Galley around. I have just successfully played a game where, against two AIs that I was at war with, I lured AI boats to chase my circumnavigation-enhanced weaker boats (2 Caravels chased my Galley and a Frigate chased my Galleon) through my shipping lines and the enemy boats complete ignored my Fishing Nets. Since the Barbs are technically "always at war" with us, I am going under the assumption that they will do the same. I don't have the inclination to test out this theory and no one else has done so during this downtime, so if you fear the potential success of using a "Work Boat lure" to keep a Barb Galley at bay, then now's your time to speak up.
If you speak up, I'll give you time to play out a test game and prove or disprove your theory before I play.
Another trireme will hopefully come from Marble, which gets the next wb coming from Paris.
I don't want to build an early Trireme from Marble City. Building a Trireme before building a Granary in Marble City seriously hurts this City, far more than the tiny delay of getting a Work Boat to Marble City's Clam hurt this City. Granary-first is the way to go, in my mind.
In the meantime, "Work Boat lures" or Paris' Triremes will have to suffice (unless you object).
4. Exploration
1. The wb near Willem should try to come home, because we need nets but also triremes asap.
2. The wb at Izzy hopes to find the last AI then meet Ragnar. (We're not concerned with defogging anymore, only meeting these two AIs asap, because of the barb galley danger.)
I have no strong opinions about exploration, at least now that we have agreed not to delay meeting Ragnar. However, our discussion back-and-forth only focused on whether or not we would delay meeting Ragnar until we learned Alphabet: it didn't specify WHEN we would meet Ragnar relative to the other unknown AI.
So, lacking any other feedback, I'll go with what LC suggested, in that we'll aim to meet Bismarck (well, that's who the unmet AI is in the test game--who knows who it will be for real, except that it won't be another French Leader), followed by going to meet Ragnar.
If you'd like to meet Ragnar first, now's the time to say so.
--------------------------
EDIT: Oh yeah, on a very related note: I took a look at the real game.
If we send the Work Boat that is currently near Willem towards home, then it should hopefully be able to meet Ragnar on the way home. So, that fact solves the dilemma about whether or not to meet Ragnar before or after the unknown AI: we will almost certainly meet Ragnar in short order.
That said, I'm not really sure where to find the unknown AI. So, I guess that I will just have our "Seeker" Work Boat explore some of the blackness. Of course, exploring the blackness risks us running into a Barb Galley.
Thus, a valid alternative will be to send BOTH Work Boats home. They are currently close enough to each other that it's not too far of a distance to travel, while one can "scout" for the other... thus, even if a Barb Galley appears to intercept, we should be able to get at least one of these Work Boats home.
Then there's the middle-of-the-road option of just exploring within AIs' Cultural Borders with our Work Boat, mapping out AIs' lands while hoping that the unknown AI is adjacent to one of the other existing AIs and thus will be found in a safe manner.
So, that's a decision that needs to be made. It won't affect the test game (since we're not even actively exploring in the test game), but I'll need to know before I play whether we should:
a) Send both Work Boats home (and thereby hopefully meet Ragnar along the way)
OR
b) Send 1 Work Boat home (still hopefully meeting Ragnar) and send the other Work Boat into the darkness (and potentially to its death)
OR
c) Send 1 Work Boat home (still hopefully meeting Ragnar) and send the other Work Boat into an AI's lands (such as Isabella's, since we currently have Open Borders with her and the Work Boat is pretty close to her area already)
--------------------------
5. Open Borders Agreements
1. We currently have OBs with Vicky and Izzy, enough for +3c trade routes in all 4 cities.
2. We probably don't want OBs with Willem for now, because he is a threat to beat us to CoL.
My thoughts on this issue:
a) We are the only player with Writing. The more Open Borders agreements that we have, the more that additional AIs will benefit.
b) We could benefit from +1 or +2 Diplo modifiers after 25 turns and 50 turns of Opening Borders with other AIs. HOWEVER, when I raised the issue of trying to please Ragnar, no one took the bait: it seemed to be the general consensus that we don't really care (very much) about pleasing the AIs. Therefore, I find it VERY questionable to try and get a +1 Diplo modifier with an AI when we will intentionally avoid getting a very easy +4 Diplo modifier with both Ragnar and the unknown AI.
c) As LC said, we have sufficient Open Borders agreements in order to "fill up" our quota of Trade Routes with 100% Foreign Trade Routes (no "made in France" shipping crates for us!). We will NOT benefit in terms of additional Commerce by further Opening Borders with other AIs.
d) While we might not care TOO much about Pleasing the AIs, we probably don't want to unnecessarily anger any of them, either. The more Open Borders agreements that we initiate, the greater the chance that we'll piss off an AI for trading with their Worst Enemy. Unlike the "only 25 turns" in order to get a +1 Diplo Modifier, the NEGATIVE Diplo modifier of trading with an AI's Worst Enemy lasts for 100 turns or 200 turns (depending upon the AI). Such a -1 Diplo Modifier could easily push us from a Cautious Attitude to an Annoyed Attitude, which gives us a whole host of potential problems: not getting Open Borders when we want them, not getting tech trades (although we won't get any trades from Ragnar at Cautious, most other AIs will give us such trades, with Shaka, Stalin, and Toku being the other AIs that require a Pleased Attitude for trading), not getting valuable Resource trades, becoming an AI's Worst Enemy and thus being declared upon at an inopportune time, etc.
e) Exploration may require Open Borders, but only when there is an exploring unit near said AI's lands. I don't believe in Opening Borders "just in case we *might* send our Work Boat there in 20 turns if it doesn't die to a Barb Galley on the way there."
So, like Tokugawa, I prefer to minimize the Open Borders agreements and thus I do not plan to Open any more Borders unless they become necessary for exploration. In fact, say we were to try and explore Ragnar's lands, then I would consider Opening Borders with him and Closing them with another AI, again to minimize points a) and d) above, while still maintaining point c).
6. Overall Diplomacy
If possible, I'll try and pause play if a request from an AI comes up. However, pausing play doesn't always give everyone a chance to comment, so I figure that if I relay my overall intentions now, you can comment ahead of time in case you disagree with a particular policy:
a) If an AI requests that we cancel trade agreements with another AI, I will tend to refuse. There are always exception cases, but this approach is my default thinking on the matter
b) If an AI proposes an Open Borders agreement, I'll pass. We're the ones to initiate these agreements, and as per above, we don't want any more of them
c) If an AI goes to war with another AI, I think it's a good time to just pause play, before either side starts requesting our aid. Still, I would tend to stay out of wars as a "default" policy; we'd probably only initiate a war when it's on our terms, especially given our planned beeline (a beeline which has us having a weak Military for now)
d) If an AI offers a tech trade, again it's probably a good idea to pause play. However, if we get a chance to get either Alphabet or Math in trade, even if it is a lop-sided trade (Code of Laws for Math), the default policy will be to take either of these techs as soon as possible (since we need them for our Philosophy Lightbulb). Other techs, such as Iron Working, we can safely wait to get until multiple AIs are offering the tech in trade, so that we don't necessarily keep benefitting only the AI tech leaders
e) If an AI offers a Resource trade, I'll again probably pause play, but the default option will be to take it. I doubt that we'll get one (from what I recall, the AIs didn't care for our Fish and Clam Resources), but if I see an opportunity to trade our only source (say, our only Pig) for a Resource that we could use, the default behaviour will be to make the trade
EDIT: f) Resource demands (or tech demands if an AI learns Alphabet early on): I would tend to give in to whatever the AI asks for as my "default" answer (again, pausing for feedback but you might not be one of the people available at the time to give feedback). It's not like we'll have any Strategic Resources that can be demanded, while if someone really wants our Clam/Fish/whatever, we should probably just let them have it. Only "extra" copies of a Resource can be demanded anyway, so it's not like we'd lose our only source of said Resource.
Please note that these trade policies are debateable, but if the corresponding situation arises, you might not have time to be one of the other team members to comment between me pausing play and resuming play. So, if you have a strong opinion on any of those issues but don't plan to be regularly checking this thread, then now's your chance to weigh-in with an opinion.
It's late here, so don't expect a PPP for a few days (if I get it sooner, great, but I don't want to make a promise that I might end up having to break). However, you can consider the save to have been "officially picked up."
0.1 health left 
I've posted the game though so that someone else can pick it up.
