News: COTM41 Pre-Game Discussion

COTM 41: Inca

This month we'll go back to playing one of the civs introduced with Conquests, the Inca. Difficulty level stays at Monarch. Arid and Cool settings will limit the amount of usable land, but there are only 5 AI with a 60% Ocean setting.

Here is the COTM41 game info:

Civilization: Inca
Rivals: 5 pre-selected.
Barbarians: Restless
Difficulty: Monarch
Land Form: Archipelago, 60% ocean, Small map.
Geology:5 billion years old, Arid and Cool.
AI Aggression: Varied




Expansionistic bonus: To compensate for removal of most Goody Huts in the game, all Expansionistic civs (including the Inca) start with 50 Extra Gold and 1 Extra Spearmen and knowledge of BronzeWorking.

Conquest-Class Bonuses:

1. 
   2 Bonus Archers
   Knowledge of Warrior Code
   50 bonus Gold

Predator-Class Obstacles:

1. 
   AI Aggression Raised 2 Levels
   All AI start with 2 Bonus Pikemen
   Loss of Starting Expansionistic Bonus

Arid and cool won't hurt us that much-irrigating desert gives AGRI cives 2 food instead of one. I'm inclined to settle NE as to save the BG. With a sheild-poor start (not many forests or BGs) every shield is important.

If the river down south doesn't go far, I might settle up to 3 cities on the lake. My opening moves will probably be: Spear W, Scout- S, SE, worker west.

Based on the predator handicap of two AI pikes, and the conquest bonus of 2 archer, I'm guessing that an AI is close by. I might kill that AI, and then start a settler rush; maybe there are some FP on the river down south. I think I might try conquest or space.

civ_steve said:

COTM 41: Inca

This month we'll go back to playing one of the civs introduced with Conquests, the Inda. Difficulty level stays at Monarch. Arid and Cool settings will limit the amount of usable land, but there are only 5 AI with a 60% Ocean setting.

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That's fun! I'd really love to try the Inda once!

Anyway, I'd settle NE aswell. But I'm not planning to go play a COTM this month.

1SW for me I suspect. The river heads off into an arid zone, so I expect flood plains down there. 1SW isn't actually on the river, but it is on the lake, so will still get the freshwater bonus. Of course, the scout will get to move to the mountain before all this is finalised.

PaperBeetle said:

1SW for me I suspect. The river heads off into an arid zone, so I expect flood plains down there. 1SW isn't actually on the river, but it is on the lake, so will still get the freshwater bonus. Of course, the scout will get to move to the mountain before all this is finalised.

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I agree.
Question though: Will the scout see farthur from the mountain than the spear? If not then I would be inclined to send the scout N or W to run faster.

Oh and "varied AI aggression" sounds very familiar

sirdanilot said:

That's fun! I'd really love to try the Inda once!

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Clear evidence that the fingers get fatter as the night gets later.

killerkid said:

I'm inclined to settle NE as to save the BG.

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Where from do you know, that there is a BG in the starting position? Is there a hint to see it, because i cannot see it in the picture.

BTW: I cannot find the download files. Aren't they normally posted before starting the pre game discussion, or am i simply too stupid to find them?

Due to cotm38 i love archipelago maps. So i will play this one too. I will pick the open class. Predator would be able to manage too, but i want a smooth game.

The incan UU sucks imho. Perhaps i will try to use it to trigger a GA in perfect time, only. I hope i will stay alone on the island to concentrate on infra and an early naval expansion and domination. Perhaps i'm gonna switch to communism later, as it did right well in cotm 38 and is superior in my opinion, especially on archipelago maps, due to the distance corruption. Finding an early good spot for a great lighthouse city might be a good decision, especially in a monarch game where it is quite easier to get than in higher levels.

I don't prefer settling to SE. I think it is a good idea to have the capital in the green with a lake. This will give additional place for other cities on the southern river, too.

Schalke 04 said:

BTW: I cannot find the download files. Aren't they normally posted before starting the pre game discussion...?

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I think it will be posted on Oct. 1st. After the present COTM closes.

Schalke: They hint of silvery gray in between the settlers legs is the key. The silver means the shield in the BG.

And the saves are posted when the COTM actually comes out: tomorrow. There will be a thread that is something like "COTM 41 save now available," and there will be a link there that takes you to the download page.

Settling SW seems just as good, if not better, if there is actually FP within our workable tiles.
My spear will go to the mountain, and my scout to SW-S to check.

Edit: My bad, crosspost with Red Horse.

After sharpening my eyes, i can see the slight silver gleam, too.

@ Red Horse / Killerkid: Thanks for the info!
I'm in a "must play civ right now" situation, but it seems that i have to enforce me in patience and raise the tension until tomorrow

killerkid said:

Settling SW seems just as good, if not better, if there is actually FP within our workable tiles.
My spear will go to the mountain, and my scout to SW-S to check.

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I see your point. But especially after the confirmation of the BG i think i will settle NE. By doing that, there will be more space on the southern river for slightly corrupt cities. We don't know how much fresh water we can expect on our island, so i want to use it at maximum. On the other side, aqueducts are quite cheap for the incan empire, so the river is not that important as it is for other civs. My decision will be made after downloading the save file and doing primary scouting in the first round. It may be possible, that the flooding south offers a better point for settler/worker-factories. That requires a lot of calculating, i hope i can do the right decision, at a point where i want to go on in the game...

After reading Isions summary of the incas, which can be found here http://www.civfanatics.com/civ3/strategy/civ_incans.php i want to give a further statement to the UU:

The Chasqui-Scout treats hills and mountains as grassland, which is a good advantage. On the other hand, scouting is not that important on a small/middle island with less goody huts, and the shield costs are very high and could be put better in upgradeable warriors / horseman.

Another advantage is that you could use this unit for pillaging and stealing workers from your enemy, if there is one nearby. According to this i have a question: Is it an exploit when i pillage during peace? Will it initiate a war, or is it a "peaceful" obstacle of the enemies expansion, which is declared as an exploit?
This question seems valid for me, to value the UU.

Pillaging a tile in an rival's territory is a declaration of war.

One NE for me, I normally settle in place, but as it has been said. The arid landscape forces the issue of the BG so it is best to take full advantage of them.

Glad to see another Monarch one, just didn't have time to finish last month's in time. The Small map should help with this one. I think I'll settle in place and just see how it plays out, unless the scout spearman reveals something really good from the mountain.

IMO the Expansionist bonus here is a bit high, Bronze Working in particular. Last month I played at Predator for what I felt was a more fair balance, but with Most Aggressive I think I'll stay at open this month.

I'm getting "invalid save file" error when I try to open the save. Anyone else having any problems? I am running Complete.

Overseer- Maybe it isn't the save. Maybe its your computer- In our SG you got the same error message from my save.

Chamnix said:

Pillaging a tile in an rival's territory is a declaration of war.

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I certainly pillage enemy roads connecting thier cities that are outside of thier borders. This works well to slow down development nicely.