Random SG 01 - The Randomness Begins

Sir Bugsy

Sir Bugsy

Civ.D.
Joined
Jun 20, 2003
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Location
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Welcome to our thread for our extreme random SG. We will be playing at Immortal (level 7) with everything random except for size and speed. Those will be standard. When I get home this evening I will roll three starts and post them.

Standard SG rules and etiquette will apply. Civility is required at all times, even when someone makes a :smoke: move.

Initial Line Up

Bugs
Eric the Great
Polus
Optional
Teproc

Looking for a sixth if you are interested.
 
The second option looks like the Aztecs - I think I spy a Jaguar Warrior

Edit - looks like the same pic uploaded twice. My bad!
 
So the first debate begins. I am basing this opinion strictly on the terrain and not the leader. I really like settling on a hill. The extra hammer really pays off in the long run. Moving the Spanish settler off the coast to settle on a hill would be major :smoke: IMHO.

With Indonesia, we could move one west and still be on the coast. It would nullify the deer and still grab two luxes within 2 tiles.

I think the Aztec position may be the strongest with the river, although here we would have to move SW-W to get a hill. That hill is 3 tiles from the spices. I'll have to look up what tech you need to get truffles.

So my initial choice would be the Aztec game, but I can be persuaded with a solid argument for either of the others.
 
I already voted, and I'll stick with it. Seen to many orange trees...

What really shouldn't happen with that Aztec start is to forgo the river, though. The Aztecs have a special improvement, I think it's called Floating Gardens, available with The Wheel (?), which adds 15% food.
The 15% is calculated over the gross food, not the net food, so that's a substantial amount of food.
But you need to be on fresh water to have Floating Gardens.

Hill start or not, I care less about it, but that hill west is not on fresh water (unless it's hidden and not in the picture), so then best go 2 tiles North-East if you really want a hill start. That's an extra settler move, but you keep both luxes, the stone and your fresh water requirement.
I would just settle in place, as I would be quite happy with just the extra hammer from the stone as production bonus from the start, but wherever that settler should go, not away from fresh water as an Aztec settler.
 
Excellent point about the floating gardens. The extra food would be worth forgoing the hill start. I suppose in that case you move 1 NW and then settle on the first turn. So does that change my mind? I suppose I need to now consider the civilizations. Spain has some nice mid game UUs. Indonesia has the Kris Swordman which gives a random promotion after its first victory. I suppose that really fits with the whole randomness theme. I do like having the extra gems.

Optional - So none of the starts have orange trees. So what is your vote?
 
I'm torn between the Aztec and Spain start. On one hand, Spain has 3 luxuries plus 2 food bonus tiles... seems like the slightly superior terrain option. However, the Aztec start seems pretty luscious.

I could honestly go with either. If we get some scouts out and get lucky with natural wonders, Spain could be quite powerful. I'm feeling very non-committal, but I flipped a coin and it came up Spain, but by the slimmest of margins. No bad choice here really.
 
Sir Bugsy said:
Optional - So none of the starts have orange trees. So what is your vote?
Click to expand...
There are 4 types of tile art work in the game, one of them is the American tile set, that's the one with the orange trees.
What it is that makes this tile set appear way more often than the other tile sets I don't know, but both the Spain start and the Indonesia start have this tile set.
I would have voted for the Spain start otherwise, I think that one looks better, but I'm going for Aztecs because they don't have those trees.
 
Turns out I have some time on my hands after all so if it's okay with you, I'd like to join as player 6. Also, I would be last in the play order so when my time to actually play comes there won't be any problems.

For starting locations, I would say Spain and settle right on the spot. That would give us the wheat, pearls and fish, and two wines. And if we get a Shrine built fast we could snag the Desert folklore if that desert turns out to be any good - the Oasis would be one hell of a tile with it. Go for Petra too, and Madrid could become quite the powerhouse.
 
I don't really mind which start wins. I welcome any input from Gurra.

I see Madrid becoming a power house indeed, it's got that ideal mix of both foody and production tiles. I see some 4 hills there, 2 can be farmed, the other 2 mined, due to the foody tiles they can come into use quite soon.
A coastal start can be quite powerful in BNW, you'll want a second town on the coast as well, for shipping back and forth food or hammers.
And the start seems to offer some pantheon possibilities that the Aztec start lacks at first sight. The Aztec start seems a bit bland, but you never know, the wider region could be better.
 
Not everyone has even checked into this thread yet, and the thread is just some 27 hrs old... I'd say wait a little.

The vote isn't very decisive yet either:
Spain 2 votes (Gurra & Polus)
Aztecs 2 votes (Bugsy and Optional)
Indonesia... nothing
Eric the Great and Teproc haven't spoken yet. Bugsy could even decide to weigh in lurkers' votes, that's something I would do.
 
I thought I was subscribed to this thread but I guess that's not working ?

In any case, one aspect of these starts that you guys haven't discussed is that the first two are much more religion-friendly : the Spain one has two sources of Wine and the Indonesia one has two sources of Gems, one of which can be settled on.

Really not a fan of the Aztec start, it seems very average to me. I guess it has a decent mix of everything, but you're going to be stuck working Grassland tiles for a while in the early game.

Spain is a very swingy civ : if you get an interesting NW that's great, if not it's kind of a blank civ, so while I like the start, I'd go with Indonesia here. Yeah it's a jungle start, but I really like the civ... though what's the map type again ? If it's the modified Highlands one, we won't be getting our luxuries...

I guess I'll vote Spain on the assumption that this is a map where the Indonesia UA is useless. If not, I'd prefer Indonesia.
 
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