SGOTM 13 - Gypsy Kings

In one turn the empires will generate 16 on 0%, or 20 on 100%, so 1 is worth 1.25.
1:science: in a city is actually often equal to 1.2:science: for the empire, since for most techs you get a bonus relative to the prerequisites. Until we have libraries, etc, 1:science: will always equal 1:gold: as far as the city production is concerned.
 
Edit: I'd also like to add, that IMO a 4th WB for exploring is non negotiable. Exploration is very important.
Are we exploring a radius around us, to fine new homes, or in long rays away from us, for eventual circnav, and to find other civs? Which has priority for that one boat?

dV
 
Given that for a reasonably long time we don't plan to settle very far away, I think that first boat shuold travel as far away as possible. Cutting no corners to be sure we don't miss any coastal links. It would be great to establish ASAP is we are isolated.
 
I think we can delay an exploratory workboat since the Oracle plan is cutting close to the dates that the AI get the Oracle.

I think we can get a 4th workboat maybe with a 20 turn delay and still do the 3 wonder plan by T151.

And an getting Code of Laws with the Oracle just so can build courthouses isn't a good enough reason to choose it. Because by the time we want/need to build courthouse we could have teched it ourselves. The Oracle---> metal casting --> GE ---> Pyramids & Colossus is just too good to justify choosing Code of Laws to found a religion.

edit: even though lighthouse are cheap, testing seems to show that we can put off the lighthouses in favor of the granaries and still get better results
 
I think we can delay an exploratory workboat since the Oracle plan is cutting close to the dates that the AI get the Oracle.

I think we can get a 4th workboat maybe with a 20 turn delay and still do the 3 wonder plan by T151.

And an getting Code of Laws with the Oracle just so can build courthouses isn't a good enough reason to choose it. Because by the time we want/need to build courthouse we could have teched it ourselves. The Oracle---> metal casting --> GE ---> Pyramids & Colossus is just too good to justify choosing Code of Laws to found a religion.

edit: even though lighthouse are cheap, testing seems to show that we can put off the lighthouses in favor of the granaries and still get better results
I defer to everything you've said, since it seems you guys are all getting good results with your chosen priorities. Just checking we've considered everything, including our trait.
 
@aj, I know we get 1/2 price Lighthouses, but in my testing, an earlier Granary seemed to actually be more beneficial. I have been getting BOTH Pottery and Sailing before going down the Myst>Poly>Priest path because I think Sailing is next most important after Pottery. Because of this I have not been able to get the Oracle before T103. But I will figure out a way! I totally agree about WB#4 for exploring, maybe even 2 WB's for exploring.

And yes spreadsheets work great, but for some reason I really like taking notes on paper! I do fully understand that those hand written notes do not translate very well in bits....so I will endeavor to get them into a spreadsheet if the results warrant it.

Someone asked for my test game results earlier.....

Here is a file,....it did not attach..but when I try to attach it now, it says it is already there, which it clearly is not.

Here is a work around
http://forums.civfanatics.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=283976&d=1298751250
 
Because of this I have not been able to get the Oracle before T103. But I will figure out a way!
Maybe I won't....I don't seem to be able to speed up the Oracle any faster than T104 (Whipped T103) unless I leave Sailing out of the que until AFTER Priesthood, which I think is a bad plan for a number of reasons.

So, how comfortable are we with a completion of the Oracle at T104?

Can we discern any information from the Demographics screen that may give us even more of a clue as to who our opponents may be?

I think we have enough consensus to SIP and put barracks in the que and play the 10 turns to Fishing. Anyone else have different thoughts?

Here is the Demo screen for those that actually know how to interpret it! Adrian :D

EDIT: I got WB#4 exactly 20 turns after my earlier attempt also bc, great call!

EDIT 2:
Just checking we've considered everything, including our trait.
You are very correct, but because we can get Lighthouses in 1-2 turns either from a 2 pop whip of something overflowed or from just investing 1 turn of hammers and a 1 pop whip of the LH itself, what seems to make Pottery more important is being able to get the Granaries in the que sooner. In my best test, I actually produce LH's in both cities before Granaries are built, even though the Grans were started earlier. I will try a game or 2 again with Sailing first and see if I can get any better results.
 
For the record, I'm OK with SIP & 2 cities on the home island. But I went ahead and took another shot at Settling on the FPH. Whipped Oracle on Turn 106, and whipped Colossus on Turn 149. Pyramids built IAFAL on T172 with my build 15 turns from completion, but I had already changed to Caste System and didn't have the opportunity to whip it :blush: QUESTION: I don't see a reason to delay researching Code of Laws until after the 3 Wonders are built, just have to resist the temptation to switch to Caste before the Wonders are built IMO, am I missing something?

Five cities with 24 population at 10 AD. Bad Luck with the GP-RNG, got a GMerchant with less than a 10% chance :eek: Could have used him to bulb Currency, but started a GA since I was still building Pyramids at the time. Also, started research with Fishing>Sailing, since I thought I would need Galleys sooner to get off the Island with Settlers. That might have been a mistake, as it delayed the ability to whip production, Here are my game notes...
Spoiler :
SG13 Test - Settle on FPH!!!!

T1/3975 BC - Settle on FPH, initial build = Worker, initial research = Mining
T13/3675 BC - discovered Mining, start Fishing
T19/3525 BC - Worker complete, building Warrior; Worker starts Corn Farm
T22/3450 BC - discovered Fishing, start Sailing; add Work Boat to top of build queue, 6 hammers invested in Warrior build
T27/3325 BC - Worker start Road on Corn Farm
T29/3275 BC - Elba grows to size 2 on same turn that Worker completes Road; working Corn Farm & Grassland Forest (GF)
T31/3225 BC - Worker starts Mine on Grass Hill 1N
T36/3100 BC - Elba grows to size 3 on same turn Worker completes Mine; working Corn Farm, GF & Mine (+4 Food/6 Hammers)
T37/3075 BC - Worker moving to SE Grass Hill
T38/3050 BC - WB complete, nets Clams 1W; finishing Warrior, working Clam Boat/Mine/GF (would lose hammers otherwise)
T39/3025 BC - Worker start Mine on SE Grass Hill
T41/2974 BC - discovered Sailing, start BW; Warrior completed, building Galley, working Corn Farm, Clam Boat & Mine
T44/2900 BC - Worker completes 2nd Mine
T45/2875 BC - Elba grows to Size 4, working Corn Farm/Clam Boat/2 GH Mines; Worker moves into city
T46/2850 BC - Worker moves to GF tile 1NW
T47/2825 BC - Oops! Forgot Warrior can't chop yet! Moves back into city
T48/2800 BC - Worker moves to Grass tile 1W of Corn Farm & starts Road
T51/2725 BC - Road completed, Worker moves back into city & sleeps
T52/2700 BC - Galley completed, building WB; Galley loads Warrior & Worker, departs for Western Island
T53/2675 BC - Elba @ Size 5 & Unhealthy, working Corn Farm/Clam Boat/2 GH Mines/GF; Galley lands Warrior & Worker on West Island GH
T57/2575 BC - WB2 completed, building Settler
T58/2550 BC - WB2 nets Clams 2W; Elba working 2 Clam Boats/Corn Farm/2 GH Mines
T61/2475 BC - discovered BW, revolt to Slavery, start Mysticism
T65/2375 BC - whip Settler for 2 pop w/42 hammer overflow; Worker completes pre-chop on west island but waits
T66/2350 BC - Elba starts WB for 1T with overflow; Settler board Galley; Worker waits
T67/2325 BC - WB3 completed, Elba building Lighthouse; WB3 sails for West Island Clams; Worker chops 9 hammers into Lighthouse from

West Island (build time 18T to 13T); Settler lands on West Island Grass tile
T68/2300 BC - Wrist founded, building Lighthouse; Worker starts Mine 1N of Wrist; Treasury -2/turn @ 100% Science, going to 0%

Science for 1 turn (Treasury +18/turn)
T69/2275 BC - back to 100% Science; Elba @ Size 4, working 2 Clam Boats/2 GH Mines; WB3 nets Wrist's Clams
T71/2225 BC - discovered Mysticism, start Polytheism (9T @100 % Science); Treasury=14 (-2/Turn) @100% Science, going to 0% Science

for 1 Turn (Treasury +18/Turn @0% Science)
T72/2200 BC - back to 100% Science; Elba completes Lighthouse, starts Warrior
T74/2150 BC - Worker has completed GH Mine 1N of Wrist, moves into city & sleeps; Galley heading to Wrist for pickup (should have kept Galley closer to Wrist!!!!)
T75/2125 BC - Elba completed Warrior, starts Settler
T77/2075 BC - With Galley 1E of Wrist, Worker goes on board
T78/2050 BC - Galley sails to 2W of Elba, Worker disembarks onto GF 1NW of Elba
T79/2025 BC - Galley sails into Elba; Worker starts pre-chop
T80/2000 BC - Galley Loads Warrior in Elba, sails S+SW to await Settler
T81/1975 BC - discovered Polytheism, start Priesthood
T82/1950 BC - Whip Settler in Elba for 2 pop w/43 hammer overflow; Worker has completed pre-chop
T83/1925 BC - Elba @Size 3 starts Monument (1T w/overflow), working 2Clams/Corn; Settler boards Galley; Worker moves to GHMine 1N of Elba
T84/1900 BC - Elba completed Monument, building Warrior, working 2Clams/1GHMine; Worker build Road on GHMine
T85/1875 BC - Thumb founded 4S+1SE of Wrist, near 2 Fish; building Monument & working Plains Hill for zero growth but fastest border pop (both Fish in2nd ring of BFC)
T86/1850 BC - Wrist completed Lighthouse, building Worker, working Clams & GHMine
T87/1825 BC - discovered Priesthood, start Pottery; Elba completed Warrior, building The Oracle; going to 0% Research for 2 turns
T88/1800 BC - Galley picks up Warrior form Elba for transport to eastern lands; Elba @Size 4, working 2Clams/1Corn/1Mine
T91/1725 BC - Worker completes Road on 2nd GHMine near Elba, moves to GF; Galley drops Warrior on Jungle Rice 3E+1NE of Elba, then sails back toward Wrist
T92/1700 BC - Worker chops +30 hammers into The Oracle, build time 40T > 34T
T93/1675 BC - Oops! Back to 100% Science this turn; Worker build Road
T98/1550 BC - Wrist completed Worker, starts Mounment; Worker boards Galley, which sails for Thumb; Elba @Size 6, new citizen working Coastal Tile
T99/1525 BC - Galley arrives in Thumb, Worker disembarks and moves to PH
T100/1500 BC - Thumb completed Monument, building Work Boat; Worker starts Mine on PH 1NE of Thumb; Wrist @Size 3
T103/1425 BC - discovered Masonry, start Writing
T105/1375 BC - Elba @Size 7, new citizen working Coastal tile
T106/1350 BC - Whip The Oracle in Elba for 3 pop w/7 hammer overflow
T107/1325 BC - take Metal Casting as Free Tech; Elba start Forge; Worker starts Workshop 1NW of Elba
T108/1300 BC - Wrist completed Monument, starts Settler
T109/1275 BC - Worker near Thumb has completed PHMine w/Road, building Workshop on Plains 1E of Thumb
T111/1225 BC - discovered Writing, start Iron Working; Thumb completed Work Boat, starts Lighthouse
T115/1125 BC - Borders of Thumb expand, WB nets Fish, +1 Health Empire wide; Thumb working Fish for growth
T117/1075 BC - Elba @Size 6, working 2Clams/Corn/2GHMines/1 Grass Workshop (GWS)
T118/1050 BC - Worker near Thumb completed Plains Workshop (PWS), moves to Grass Hill
T119/1025 BC - Worker near thumb starts GH Mine
T121/975 BC - Elba Whips Forge for 2 pop w/41 hammer overflow
T122/950 BC - Elba starts Granary @Size 4, working 2Clams/2GHMines
T126/850 BC - Thumb completed Lighthouse, starts Work Boat
T127/825 BC - Elba completed Granary, starts The Colossus; Wrist completed Settler, starts Granary
T131/725 BC - Index founded 5E of Elba, near Jungle Rice, building Monument
T133/675 BC - discovered Iron Working, start Animal Husbandry; Iron next to Thumb & near Index
T134/650 BC - Thumb completed WB, starts Forge
T136/600 BC - whip Granary in Wrist for 2 pop w/40 hammer overflow
T137/575 BC - Wrist starts Worker
T139/525 BC - discovered Animal Husbandry, start Code of Laws
T144/440 BC - Wrist completes Worker, starts Warrior
T145/425 BC - Thumb @Size 5, working 2FishBoats/Plains Iron Mine/PHMine/GHMine for 13 hammers; Wrist @Size 3 working Clam Boat/GHMine/GWS for 5 hammers
T148/380 BC - Wrist completed Warrior, Starts Work Boat
T149/365 BC - whip The Colossus in Elba for 4 pop/1 hammer overflow
T150/350 BC - Elba starts Library
T151/225 BC - Elba @Size 6 working 2 Clam Boats/Corn Farm/2 GHMines + 1 Engineer Specialist
T152/320 BC - Thumb @Size 6 working 2 Fish Boats/Iron Mine/PHMine/GHMine + 1 Engineer; Thumb completed Forge, starts The Pyramids
T156/260 BC - Meet Fred/Germany; trade Clams for Fur; trade MC for Hunting/Math/Mono; his WB came from NW of Index
T157/245 BC - Index @Size 3, Working Rice Farm/GWS + 1 Generic Citizen for 3 hammers; GMerchant born in Elba (less than 10% chance), could have bulbed Currency, but start GA since I'm still building Pyramids
T160/200 BC - Elba completed Library, starts Aqueduct
T161/185 BC - Index completed Monument, starts Granary
T162/170 BC - whip Settler in Wrist for 2 pop w/NO overflow
T163/155 BC - Wrist starts Trireme (let's find Fred)
T165/125 BC - discovered COL, start Compass; switch to Caste Sys. & Org. Rel. for free while in GA
T166/110 BC - GA ends; trade COL to Fred for Calendar
T167/95 BC - Wrist @Size 3
T169/65 BC - Middle founded far South near Iron & Fish, building Monument
T170/50 BC - Elba completed Aqueduct, starts Moai Statues; 2 Barb Galley near Middle
T172/20 BC - lose Galley to Barb Galley near Middle; Pyramids built IAFAL, maybe shouldn't have switched to Caste so soon!
T173/5 BC - 445 Failure Gold from Pyramids attempt!
T174/10 AD - Wrist @Size 4; Wrist completed Trireme, starts Courthouse; END OF TEST

So if we name our first three cities Elba, Wrist & Thumb, does that lock us in to Index, Middle, Ring and Pinkie for the next four? :mischief:
 
With a Barracks as the first build (initial build time 75 turns), I completed the 1st WB and never got a waring about losing hammers. So I started a 2nd WB, and completed it without getting a warning. I started a 3rd WB, and on turn 44 I got a warning saying I would lose 1 hammer on the Barracks in 19 turns. On turn 46, the 3rd WB was completed, and the Capitol grew to Size 4, but there were still 17 or 18 turns remaining before I would lose a hammer on the barracks build. So I started a Settler at Size 4, working 3 Clam Boats and the FPH (except for the first turn, where I worked 2 Clam Boats, unimproved Corn & FPH). On T56, I whipped the Settler for 2 pop w/ 42 :hammers: overflow, and started completing the Barracks. City #2 founded on T59 and Barracks completed on T61 without losing any hammers.
Here is the save from this game.
 
So if we name our first three cities Elba, Wrist & Thumb, does that lock us in to Index, Middle, Ring and Pinkie for the next four?
Sorry....I am GREAT with Elba for obvious reasons, but am having a hard time with Wrist & Thumb. :(

As far as the FPH test game goes, settling there forces city #2 off the island, meaning we really do need Sailing and a Galley BEFORE the first settler. IMO, it just slows down C2 so much that it doesn't work very well. I tried a number of test games that way because my initial thought was that FPH had to be the best capitol site, but we have so many good tiles to use, it really takes 2 cities to work them all, all of the time given the amount of whipping we will be doing.
 
Here is the Demo screen for those that actually know how to interpret it! Adrian :D
Ooo, I do enjoy trying to decipher these things.

For whoever is playing the first turnset, is it possible to take demographics screenshots for all of the first 10 turns?

Some things from that screenshot:
Obviously, one player has already settled a city. This is the AI who has been gifted the GLH. They are currently first in pretty much everything I would say. They are working a 2:food:1:hammers:?:commerce: tile, and have 6/9 land tiles, ie, 3 coastal tiles near their capital.

Soldiers: They do NOT start with mining or the wheel.

Approval rating of 83% is due to :)/:)mad:+:)) of 5/6. Ie, they are not Charismatic.

Their Life expectancy is 87, ie, :health:/:)health:+:yuck:) = 7/8. It's hard to tell if they are Expansive, as it could just be high because they are surrounded by forest or next to a river.

Interesting that their GNP is 24. That's relly quite high for only 1 population.
Base case: 8:commerce: from palace + 1 from city tile + 1 bonus = 10:science:. Researching a tier 1 tech that stays at 10, otherwise it could be 12 or 14. Add in 4:espionage: and 2:culture: and you get a minimum GNP of 16,18 or 20.
A creative leader gets an extra +2 to GNP from their extra culture. So 18,20 or 22.

There's only one way to get that high as far as I can tell, and that is they are Financial and working a good :commerce: tile. palace + 4 from tiles + 1 bonus = 13 raw :science: = 13, 15 or 18. There is only one AI that I *think* can get to 24 GNP on turn 1 and that is Willem van Oranje working seafood or something, and teching animal husbandry. He also fits the other criteria in that he doesn't start with mining or the wheel, and isn't charismatic.

edit: FYI http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=328461
 
For whoever is playing the first turnset, is it possible to take demographics screenshots for all of the first 10 turns?
What I would prefer to see, I picked this up from an old Murky Waters thread, save all of your autosaves so we can go back and look at specific turns if we need to!

My plan is to make sub-directories for each turnset I play and fill those directories with those saves. :)
 
There is only one AI that I *think* can get to 24 GNP on turn 1 and that is Willem van Oranje working seafood or something, and teching animal husbandry. He also fits the other criteria in that he doesn't start with mining or the wheel, and isn't charismatic.
Interesting, I would not have guessed WvO, because of the Dutch position on the side OF France in the War. It was noted that there was some artistic license taken, but that seems like a lot of license! Now, if it is WvO, and he has the GLH, we really want to take him out before he gets Astronomy and definitely before he gets Steam Power or he will be very tough in the end game.
 
Interesting that their GNP is 24. That's relly quite high for only 1 population.
Base case: 8 from palace + 1 from city tile + 1 bonus = 10. Researching a tier 1 tech that stays at 10, otherwise it could be 12 or 14. Add in 4 and 2 and you get a minimum GNP of 16,18 or 20.
A creative leader gets an extra +2 to GNP from their extra culture. So 18,20 or 22.

There's only one way to get that high as far as I can tell, and that is they are Financial and working a good tile. palace + 4 from tiles + 1 bonus = 13 raw = 13, 15 or 18. There is only one AI that I *think* can get to 24 GNP on turn 1 and that is Willem van Oranje working seafood or something, and teching animal husbandry. He also fits the other criteria in that he doesn't start with mining or the wheel, and isn't charismatic.

I'm pretty sure this number includes the culture from the GLH so isn't that 6 of the GNP?
 
Soldiers: 14000 is the normal rate for an emperor AI who starts with 2 archers (3000 each), hunting tech (2000) and archery tech (6000). I'm curious about the 11000... has the map maker removed one of their archers??

12666*6 = 76000. Less the best and worst leaves 51000 split between 4 AI. This gets even more confusing as again there are at least two more players who have less that 14000, and no more than two AIs have 11000. *Perhaps* this map isn't actually an original Emperor level game. For example, a monarch start gives the AIs one archer (3000), archery (6000) and either a starting warrior or hunting (2000) for a total of 11000.

Could somebody double check that it is in fact Emperor level on the F8 screen?
 
I'm pretty sure this number includes the culture from the GLH so isn't that 6 of the GNP?
AAAAHhhhhhHH. Of course! I was thinking "does GP give GNP?" when in fact I'd forgotten the culture.

Ok. this changes things. The GLH owner must be pulling in 12 :science: if they are not creative. Only 10 :science: if they are creative. Unfortunately, it's impossible to tell if they are a creative type researching a tier 1 tech, or a non-creative researching tier 2. We do know they aren't researching AH.
 
Okay, here's some comments on things people said over the weekend.

I played out the pyramids game (that I posted a few posts ago) a little ways, beelined astronomy. Things are looking okay.
-Still somewhat behind the AI in tech, but catching up with trades and I believe faster research with the specialists.
-Militarily very weak, depending on drafting stage to catch up with that.
-Vulnerable if we have a close AI in the short term in the real game.

Yep. The 3-wonders approach is predicated on being fairly isolated. That increases our need for fast tech, and gives us some breathing room in which to prioritise it.

I ended up having to build several triremes for barbarian galley protection.

Yep, that's essential in a many-islands scenario. We need to remember that they can't enter ocean in our culture borders, so we can retreat there if needed. Also, they prioritise attacking over pillaging (unless maybe they're already on the pillage-able tile), so you can often run the galley around an island keeping ahead of the barb galley until you can hack it off with a trireme. Or duck in and out of a city likewise. Of course, if we had had work to do with our galley, we might have had to offer (defensive) combat. The earliest barb galley I have seen is T131. Mostly I start seeing them in the 140s.

Great people/research
I switched to pacifism with caste system after a whipping courthouse phase. I popped 2 great scientists 1st GS was from the 2 clam city which got an early library. 2nd GS was from the capital (some risk of Great engineer with the pyramids). I got a great merchant from a side city running merchants (probably could have afforded to run scientists since I was getting some gold from trades with the AI)
I'm not trading Astronomy to the AI, seems like something we want to keep as a military advantage if possible.
I got beat to music and the free Great Artist by 1 turn :(

I got an academy in the capital with 1 GS, and 1 GS partially bulbed Astronomy.
The Great Merchant waits to do a trade mission with the AI.

Another use for random Great People is a Golden Age at the time we switch to Nationalism. Presumably you had that in mind with Music (else wouldn't something else be better?). We might have some vigorous whipping under Police/Vassal/Slavery/whatever/Theocracy before subsiding into our long-term endgame civics.

City management
The happiness and health issues are significant if our real game start is as sparse as Griff's III test game (I should have taken out the huts too, but they only gave me ~50 gold so far, I did take out the fish on the eastern shore for the whole game)
I stopped actively growing most of the cities with pacifism & caste system switch over, other than what they could grow with their good food (mostly seafood) resource tiles. Slowly built up the specialist population you can see in the save.

Possible useful insights for the real game
-With all the AI so far away an early-ish Forbidden palace or Communism might be something to shoot for.
-Balancing trades with the AI so we can catch up to them but don't accelerate them too much will be a delicate dance.
-Whipping early courthouses I think pays off, in reduced maintenance and free espionage
---However espionage will possibly be very expensive unless we more our capital closer (and build the Forbidden palace near original starting location) or gift chain a few cities so get a city close to us with our culture for massive espionage cost discounts.
-We are vulnerable if we switch to Caste system early since we sacrifice a lot of production to maximize the benefit from the pyramids. And workshops aren't that great until we get Chemistry and/or Guilds and/or Communism.

Agreed on all points. The camera flying seems to suggest we'll have more access to forests than in Grifftavian's test game. That's good, because we can still get some hammers during the caste phase. Caste certainly needs all the :hammers: bonuses it can get.

You mentioned building 6 swords to deal with barb cities. Early on, I think there is much to be said for dumping a warrior on a city site any time before the settler arrives. Defogging the site so no city spawns is much better than losing a sword or two to take it. We only need to farm a level-four miltary unit in the late stages of the :science:-push.

I just completed another test run and got a later Oracle but had Granaries and Lighthouses in both cites, 2 settlers and 1 LESS forest chopped. What got sacrificed was WB#4 for exploring.

At this point, I think we need to define our priorities.

How fast do we want to settle city #2 and future cities?
How fast do we really need the Oracle?
How soon do we want WB 4 to explore?

I think the latest evidence is that a fast city #2 is the best approach. Oracles have to be targeted before T100. I've made a few reports of AIs in the range T91-97, but more often they're later.

Is that Oracle in Elba or in Wrist? If we think Elba is eventually the GP farm, then do we want oracle there to concentrate the GPers points, or not there to keep the gene pool clean?

I'm not too fussed about a clean gene pool. A Great Merchant can be saved for a trade mission, or used to bulb Paper, or used for a Golden Age. A Great Engineer will pop our Globe Theatre (this is an elephant in the room - even running post-Guilds Caste with two 1:food:3:hammers: workshops and the two mines, Elba will take more than 30 turns to finish this sucker). A Great Prophet is not much use at all, unless maybe we pop Confu or Tao. However the start-of-the-art tests games build the Oracle in a city that will hopefully never pop a Great Person.

Working on BW>Pottery approaches, as I think we want the early granaries AND the Oracle if we can get it.

I think early pottery solves our "do we sacrifice infrastructure for oracle" question ... if we can still get Oracle.

Yep. My 3-wonders T94 Oracle built only a granary before the Oracle.

T 94 Oracle is better than anything I have achieved. I am doing something wrong with the WB start, as I can't get that Oracle faster than T 105. Maybe do Oracle only in Wrist, no prior building is the key? Or get it (the city founding) earlier, with worker support.

I found Wrist shortly after Pottery, and build only the Granary. An MP, a monumnet and a lighthouse would all be nice, but they do not speed up the Oracle.

Meanwhile I have whipped Elba to the ground to get out a worker fast. Tile improvements are now critical for a fast Oracle with maximal growth. Elba regrows building its granary, planning a galley next to get the off-island mines working, then a forge for a 3-wonder run.

At about this time, Wrist only has corn+nets+PFH as useful tiles to work, so I juggle tiles when Wrist is at size 2 and 3 between the two cities so that Wrist gets to size 4 just as PH is due, maximizing the number of :hammers: on the granary but below 45. Then a 2-pop whip flows up to 44:hammers: onto the Oracle. Extra food at this point is OK.

It is also important to get the northern GHmine up before the PFHmine, because the former is +2:hammers:/turn, the latter +1:hammers:/turn. It doesn't matter how fast we get the lump of 30! Note that the worker should move onto the GH tile the turn before Elba pops the border.

During the Oracle, Wrist again juggles its tiles (mostly working corn+PFH) to grow to size 3 when the Gmine comes up, and to size 4 somewhat before the target date (spreadsheeting will be key - I've been guessing and reloading if I wasn't quite right). Most of the :hammers: go on the Oracle at size 3 working corn+Pmine+Gmine. Of the 225, I get about 35-40 from overflow in, 30 from the chop and 44 from the final 2-whip. The other half come from the 7-8:hammers:/turn we get at size 3. At size 4, I'll work a citizen (or two!) and lose food if that'll get us to the Oracle whip-target (181, IIRC) a turn faster. We have a granary for a reason.

I note that when fishing comes in, it takes 3 turns of working the plains hill to complete the warrior ... has anyone tried that out? Or is there so little need for the warrior that it isn't worth the three turns?

I've never wanted an MP during the Oracle run in Wrist. Once it has its three mines up, a warrior is 2-3 turns then. Much better deal.

Looks like we have a quick path to the Oracle. So if it is Oracle in Wrist, then what, Forge in Elba, GE to bulb mids, and then whip collossus where?

I've been putting the Colossus in Elba, because that's where I have the forge. Wrist is busy building exploring workboats. A forge there is too big for its value under the time pressure we have.

Do we get CoL and then go into ORel for building bonuses on the wonders?

We won't have time to spread it and use it.

My only concern would be that we are behind on expansion and exploration with this plan. I think we might be able to delay the Colossus a bit and instead whip a settler or 2 into it instead of whipping it directly. That might provide the best balance between expansion and research boosting wonders.

Indeed. I have sacrificed on expansion, on the theory that fast expansion can choke us off before we even get to CoL. My uploaded 3-wonders runs also skimped on exploration, which we will need to do properly in the real game. The galley is mildly useful in this regard, and I had a few workboats do a lap of an island before returning to become a net, but there weren't any fire-and-forget workboats.

The devil advocate seems to be missing, so I'll play that role briefly. What could we do by T151 if we didn't build any wonders? Massively expand and whip build cheap courthouses to deal with the maintenance of lots of cities? Find a small continent with a some killer city spots and begin a bureaucracy capital?

Roughly we'd have had 225+750+375 = 1350:hammers: into about 7 settlers with supporting workboats, workers, galleys, triremes. But who thinks we can support about 11-12 cities, even if we can find the sites fast enough? How is that scenario going to tech MC (triremes), CoL (courthouses) and Currency (trade routes)? Perhaps someone can Worldbuilder 11 cities, with the inner half with courthouses and see how fast they can tech Currency.

Also, said bureaucracy capital will take time to move the palace (and will that be central enough?) and time to build and grow the cottages.

Do we need some more test comparisons? The direct build pyramids gets the pyramids slightly later than mabraham's most impressive GE-built route, but it does have a few more cities and those cities have a bit more time to develop.

A game without wonders but courthouse instead might be worth making... I guess I'll give that a go just to be thorough.

Good idea.

So Elba gets forge, makes the GE, bulbs mids (is that with no invested hammers?), and then whips colossus?

Yep, that's what I've been doing.

Seems that Wrist could whip a forge and get started on colossus before Elba makes its mids, if we thought that was useful.

A good idea. I've not been too fussed about the Colossus. It's a nice pick-me-up as we grow and whip before Caste, but since it goes out with Astronomy, it's not what we're running the game around. Colossus in Wrist also makes for a higher chance of an inconvenient Great Prophet.

Alternatively, Wrist could be the source of our expansion teams (ships, settlers, troops).

That's what I've been using it for.

Of course, I see Wrist working the farm and one net so it has good food. Are others doing differently?

I juggle the tiles according to who's regrowing, and who's building something of higher strategic importance. So Wrist gets priority during the Oracle, Elba gets it during the forge.

One advantage to getting the wonders is that we deny them to the AI ... is that worth slower expansion initially?

That's hard to answer definitively, but denying useful wonders to the AI seems to me like it has to be useful for us.

2 cities is still better in my opinion even if copper is there.

Yep - and the copper will improve our Colossus. Not settling on it doesn't gain anything if we've already settled in place - unless that south-east GH is settleable.

SIP is good with me BTW.

OK great.

A couple of things I'd like to reiterate:
Sailing = Lighthouse. We are Organised. Lighthouse is half the price of a granary.

Yep. But a granary returns well over twice the advantage of a lighthouse, which I think is enough to offset the longer time before the advantage accrues. For example, during my fast Oracle runs, Wrist sometimes only works one food tile - that might as well be the corn.

Code of Laws = Courthouses. We are Organised. Courthouse is half price. Surely CoL is more valuable than Currency, and possibly even more vaulable than MC as far as choosnig the Oracle tech? Though, MC->Forge->GE->Mids is still attractive I'll admit.

I've tried to get Maths+Currency out before T150 and don't go close. Maths is nice for the chops onto the Colossus, but that's a bit "meh" really. That aqueduct for Elba is not to be sneezed at, however. We may be in desperate need of :health: (though a harbour is not far off!). For the moment, I agree we should prefer CoL for courthouses and caste access.

Also, you want early MC to get some triremes in many scenarios.

@R1 - go to .ini file and set fullscreen mode to 'no' or 'ask'. Then use a spreadsheet :) Works for me at least, on a reasonably average laptop.

Yep. I use a crappy old laptop on the desk next to me. It can browse forum and run an editor for notes. Perfect. Spreadsheet if desperate.

Edit: I'd also like to add, that IMO a 4th WB for exploring is non negotiable. Exploration is very important.

Yep. However getting it out pre-Oracle delays the Oracle by about 5-6 turns. This will be a tough decision.

Are we exploring a radius around us, to fine new homes, or in long rays away from us, for eventual circnav, and to find other civs? Which has priority for that one boat?

I think the first boat should go long. The galley has a few windows for radial exploration. A second boat can do a circle around us to fill gaps. Then we judge.

I think we can delay an exploratory workboat since the Oracle plan is cutting close to the dates that the AI get the Oracle.

I think we can get a 4th workboat maybe with a 20 turn delay and still do the 3 wonder plan by T151.

And an getting Code of Laws with the Oracle just so can build courthouses isn't a good enough reason to choose it. Because by the time we want/need to build courthouse we could have teched it ourselves. The Oracle---> metal casting --> GE ---> Pyramids & Colossus is just too good to justify choosing Code of Laws to found a religion.

edit: even though lighthouse are cheap, testing seems to show that we can put off the lighthouses in favor of the granaries and still get better results

Agreed on all.
 
Attached is the Demographics Screen from the actual SGOTM 13 game. We know an AI Civ has been pre-settled and given a Lighthouse and the GLH. In theory, all other AI opponents have not yet settled at T0/4000 BC. Does that fact that the GLH owner already has a Lighthouse add anything to the totals. Can we narrow down who the owner of the GLH might be from this?
 
Okay I played out an early wonderless game out to the same date I played out the pyramids game.

quick summary: expansion without early wonders could be competitive
-assuming we can get AI trade routes (big assumption)
-and we have some forests to chop out and aggressively whip courthouses
-take this comparison with a big grain of salt
--pyramid game had huts so AI was bit more advanced and possibly trades were a bit better
--My play is probably about the same quality but who knows
--the map was subtly different


Here are some quick screen shots of those two games
Quick statistics

No early wonders game
11 cities, 57 pop, at 100% research 204 science & -75 gold / at 0% research +75 gold // edit: 17 gpp split 2 cities ///edit#2 : 298 GNP at 100% science, 74 Prod, 166 Crop

Pyramids game
8 cities, 49 pop, at 100% research 234 science & -9 gold / at 0% research +108 gold // edit: 100 gpp split 4 cities ///edit#2 : 367 GNP at 100% science, 42 Prod, 108 Crop

screen shots of builds and research and capital
no early wonders game
Spoiler :
Civ4ScreenShot0042.JPG Civ4ScreenShot0037.JPG Civ4ScreenShot0038.JPG


pyramids game
Spoiler :
Civ4ScreenShot0039.JPG Civ4ScreenShot0040.JPG Civ4ScreenShot0041.JPG


link to earlier post about pyramids game out to 655 AD
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=10256099&postcount=172
 

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@aj, I know we get 1/2 price Lighthouses, but in my testing, an earlier Granary seemed to actually be more beneficial. I have been getting BOTH Pottery and Sailing before going down the Myst>Poly>Priest path because I think Sailing is next most important after Pottery. Because of this I have not been able to get the Oracle before T103. But I will figure out a way! I totally agree about WB#4 for exploring, maybe even 2 WB's for exploring.
Hmm, I was trying to get an earlier start on the Oracle and went for sailing after priest in my tries (admittedly with interrupted worker start) and that got me to 103 Oracle at best.

Didn't mab have a run where he got Oracle at T 94 or so? Doesn't that make the mids and colossus come faster? So isn't that the plan to beat at this time?

So if we name our first three cities Elba, Wrist & Thumb, does that lock us in to Index, Middle, Ring and Pinkie for the next four? :mischief:
Wrist and Thumb were jokes, of course. Maybe the second city should be Ajaccio (or maybe the cap is Ajaccio and the second one is Elba?) Everything else can be appropriately French.

edit: @ mab: tremendous reply post above! :goodjob:

dV
 
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