Gotm18-Celts - Pregame Discussion

This month we are again going to try the concept of releasing the game announcement and set up instructions to all the players a few days in advance of when the starting save game will be available for you to play.

It is not possible for you to begin play at this time but you can strategize together about what you think you would do in the game.

This process should allow all the players to look over the setup instructions for the game and discuss what they think these instructions mean without the risk of any real spoiler information. Since none of the players will be able to start the game, essentially all you will have available to support your discussion will be past GOTM results and strategy articles.

The rules for participation in this discussion thread are simple:

1) read the game announcement and get yourself set up to play the game when the save game is released to you.

2) there are some features in the game announcement that relate to barbarian surprises that many players will not what to have revealed to them here. Respect your peers and minimize the discussion of any of the barbarian information that is revealed to you after the initial information section on the barbarian annoucement page. Do not post screen shots of the new barbarian features in this thread, but you can say "Yee Haw" or "Man the Ramparts" etc.

3) Once you download the starting save game file and open it to begin play you may no longer participate in this discussion thread.

I plan to leave this thread open to support pregame discussion for any players who have not yet opened the starting save game file but if we have any players who violate this rule the discussion will be closed.

There is a great deal going on inside and around this month's game, but at the core of the process the game is simple and fun. Read the instructions and you will have a good time.

Be warned also that the first spoiler discussion will not open until on April 5th.

The first spoiler discussion will require you to have contact with all 10 rivals in this game (or their remains). You will also need full map visibility of the ALL REGIONS OF THE WORLD MAP controlled by these 10 civilizations. The first spoiler thread may also include some specific blackout areas that you will not be allowed to discuss under penalty of "a week of latrine duty". Hopefully we will have no players who pretend that they do not understand what this means.

Here is your link to the

Game Announcement Page for Gotm18-Celts

Good luck to you in your quest for heads, glory, power and enlightenment.

I can't believe how quickly a month goes by! I only submitted GOTM 17 yesterday and now we're in the pre-game discussion for next month!

I'm not experienced enough to fully understand what cramming a large map into a standard size will mean for the game, but I'm looking forward to it anyway.

Looks like it's move the worker onto the hill & see if the grass is really greener on the other side or do I settle on the choke point to the SW to stop rampaging barbarians overrunning my fledgling civilisation?

Thanks to Cracker and the team for all the hard work.

regards

Ted

I should just emphasize how this works to reassure you and all the other players.

The maps have a number of factors that are normally associated with the landmass sizes. In this case, the map is setup to be just like what you would normally see on a large sized map with 63% water. We just took out more of the water and made the box size smaller so that the game will load faster and it will be easier to email and download the resulting game files.

The civ to civ spacings, city corruption levels, and technology research rates will correspond to a Large sized map. The available landmass corresponds to a large size map. The number of civs in the game corresponds to a large sized map.

Just the outline of the map is held down to the smaller size.

I think I will move my settler NW and build my first city there. If the water to the left is from a lake, no aquaduct will be required and I also get the benefit to the two hills. Of course, if I really want to try something new, I would move my worker to the hill first then decide what I'm going to do with my settler. Anyway, since I like the view of the lake and I love to watch sunset over the lake, I will definitely go with my first instinct and build my palace at the NW square.

The prospect that the SW square is an isthmus means I'll probably settle there and hope for an advantageous canal.

Originally posted by cracker
The civ to civ spacings, city corruption levels, and technology research rates will correspond to a Large sized map.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the clarification Cracker. As a newbie player I wasn't aware that the corruption levels and research rates varied according to the map size. I'll have to look up the details later.

Moonsinger, OnCider

I think Moonsinger is right about it being a lake to the West. The South could be either.




Ted

Originally posted by Moonsinger
I think I will move my settler NW and build my first city there. If the water to the left is from a lake, no aquaduct will be required and I also get the benefit to the two hills.

Click to expand...

What advantage do you see in moving your settler? The starting position has access to the same fresh water, (does it not?), and will also have access to both hills when the borders expand. I would move the worker to the bonus grass between the two bodies of water, and then see what is on the other side.

For access to water, does the tile have to have an edge in contact or is a corner sufficient as in the start position?

I'm really looking forward to this GOTM! Thanks once again to cracker for his work. I'm not up to par with the veterans, but Ill put my $0.02 in anyway. I'll start my first city in the original location or one move sw. I have not decided yet. The Celts should be fun. Militaristic and Religious are my two favorite characteristics. The Aztecs are my favorie, Japanese are a close second. I have never played with the Celts.

Originally posted by Vici
For access to water, does the tile have to have an edge in contact or is a corner sufficient as in the start position?

Click to expand...

The start position is OK for access to water.

Ted

Nice

I took the liberty to resize and splash some colors on the start pic.



1. Red cirkle. Seems like two legs sticking down from the FOW. Cattle or deer?

2. Blue cirkle. Plains.

3. Yellow cirkle. More hard to see, but might be the top of a bundle of wheat. Not that important since any move besides going SW excludes it from the first city.

4. You can plainly see three bonusgrass marked with + here. The question is if the start position also has a bonus shields. I would favour that there actually is a bonus shield there, something that would warrant a move to NW.

With all this knowledge I would start with sending my worker N to either start mining the bonusgrass there, or proceede if there is cattle/game in the red cirkle. And ultimately settle NW of start pos.

I agree with Singularity on this one. I won't think twice about moving my settler if it's on a bonus grassland. If it's not, let's see what news the worker shouts back from the north.

If the starting square in fact turns out to be bonus grass, I'll move my settler first and start working the bonus grass if there are no "legs" where the red circle on Sing's map is. If the holy cow reveals itself, the worker goes there instead.

I'll just say one thing - in this one instance I *love* that upgrades are disabled. 2-move gallic swords are so nice that I hate when the game makes me upgrade to 1-move med inf.

Another thing: wonder if that mention of the Celts going to war for 'resources' means we might be a little short of something critical ...

Renata, speed freak

Having no iron means looking for horses to get iron

I think the square marked in Red is the key here:



Does it hold a resource or luxury? If it does then moving the settler NW would make sense as that square would come into play on the first cultural expansion.

What do you think?

I'm definitely sending the worker NE. Then I'll be able to make an informed decision

Ted

I definitely agree that the worker moving north would reveal the most useful information while minimizing any waste in moving the worker to a less powerful tile.

EDIT Ted@ cross posted. Will moving NE actually reveal your red circle? I know hill normally gives you a better view but there's a hill right behind it. Plus the worker won't be working the hill.

About the SW tile being used as a canal city:
Unfortunately this tile is a BG that would be wasted if the capital is founded on it. The tile SW past that BG is also a potential canal site. While I wouldn't waste two settler moves to get there, it may be advantagous to move away from this tile to allow a later city to be founded there if the canal is a necessity.

Depending on the contents of the forest, I might even consider moving onto the hill for defence. Lose the fresh water but gain some food and a defensive bonus. Besides I usually end up with extra shields in my capital that could be used for an Aquaduct if need be.

The tech rate and optimal city numbers are set exactly as the would be set for this map in the large format.

Click to expand...

Not to question the excellent work of the GOTM staff, but I hope they remembered that the distance corruption also varies with map size.

It's easy enough to make a standard-size map with large map distance corruption, but it's different than simply adjusting tech rate and optimal city numbers.

The test savegame works, so I am ready to play. I'm glad the turn lag in gotm18 is less than it was in gotm17 (much less I hope).

I am thinking of moving my settler to the NW too or perhaps at the start position. Near the lake, I don't have to build aqueduct, and I don't lose food by being near the ocean (without harbor.) It depends if the square to the S-SW is ocean or not. I guess my worker could go SW and find out. It will still build road there anyway, so I will start moving it to the SW.

What I didn't think of was that there is a possibility of specials to the north and west. It couldn't hurt to build the city to the NW, so I think I will do that. (nice reasoning huh? )

Thanks everybody that has been working on this game.

Originally posted by Vici
What advantage do you see in moving your settler? The starting position has access to the same fresh water, (does it not?), and will also have access to both hills when the borders expand. I would move the worker to the bonus grass between the two bodies of water, and then see what is on the other side.

For access to water, does the tile have to have an edge in contact or is a corner sufficient as in the start position?

Click to expand...

You are absolutely right about that! There is no extra advantage (not that I can see of at the moment) by moving the settler away from the starting position. It was late and I was sleepy; therefore, I change my mind and will start my palace at the starting location. Thanks for pointing that out.

Originally posted by ControlFreak
EDIT Ted@ cross posted. Will moving NE actually reveal your red circle? I know hill normally gives you a better view but there's a hill right behind it. Plus the worker won't be working the hill.

Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure that NE will reveal the circle - obviously I'll do a mock-up to be certain

I agree that I'll lose 1 worker turn by not endiing on the BG but I'll have a better idea of the surrounding area - six of one, half a dozen of the other

I can't wait to get started and fiind out!

Ted