SGOTM 13 - One Short Straw

[LowtherCastle]

BINGO!!!​

I think it's clear we're settling gold first, especially with immediate seafood. By my calcs, we need the fish nets on T75. That gives that wb plenty of time to do all of that, so mayb ethe best is for the NW wb to go SE first to clear all that mess. The SW wb goes E then SW to search for AIs?

Of course, it's also possible we'll want to net two seafoods at gold, if there are two, but that's a ways down the line.

EDIT: Since no one has responded, I just add to this post.

Our maintenance will start at 2gpt, same any other inner ring site. It will go to 3gpt at pop6 (e.g., Gold p2 + Paris p4, but NOT p1 + p5). But of course at pop2, we also skyrocket to 27cpt! This gold gives us the best of all worlds:
1. Doesn't require a new tech.
EDIT: 2. Only requires 10 wkr-turns plus transportation, freeing the wkr up quickly for the next assignment. In contrast, the furs site requires 26-30wkr-t total. (Prior to the edit I forgot to include the turns for roading the resource tiles.)
3. Gives us +1 = a bonus whip .
4. Almost doubles our research pace.

Now we can seriously consider some tech options.

 

[Rusten]

And the exploration pays off.

 

[Dhoomstriker]

2. Only requires 7 wkr-turns

Just to be pedantic, I count: 1 turn to land, 6 turns to Mine the Gold, 3 turns to Road the Gold, 1 turn to climb back onto the boat

Optionally, you'll spend 1 more turn to move to the GFor square, 3 turns to Chop it, and even further optionally, 6 turns to build a Cottage there.

 

[RRRaskolnikov]

(joining the celebrations for gold!)

a cottage again? I would rather not waste worker turns on this (first one was fine as the worker was unemployed). grassforest is better imo. (unless we NEED the chop for the granary, nvm me then)

edit: I can't see from the pic but we are planning to settle west of the gold tile? (W looks coast but NW looks plain)

 

[LowtherCastle]

Just to be pedantic, I count: 1 turn to land, 6 turns to Mine the Gold, 3 turns to Road the Gold, 1 turn to climb back onto the boat

Optionally, you'll spend 1 more turn to move to the GFor square, 3 turns to Chop it, and even further optionally, 6 turns to build a Cottage there.

Good point. I forgot about roading. And I also forgot to include the 4t(*2) roading the furs. But we're settling on the forest, so it's gonzo, right? I'm seeing a two-tile island. What are you seeing?

------------------------

Here's a new thought for the wb explorers. We want to know whether Gold CIty needs a monument or not, right? That decision might come T69. So our two explorers could defog the entire Gold FC by T69, like this:



Maybe it's worth knowing. Maybe we research writing next. Or do we go for hinduism? No one has it yet.

 

[RRRaskolnikov]

yeah if both western tiles are coasts that's gonzo as u say!

edit: hinduism? (that favors AI monoreligion blocks... not good for a military game. chaos is good imo)

 

[Dhoomstriker]

Okay, so if we choose to settle by the Gold, then I guess we'll do as LC suggests:
WB Explorer #1 (the southern one) goes 1E, to explore that last hidden square to the east of the Marble, then will head SW to circle around the Dye island.

WB Explorer #2 (the northern one) goes 1SE, to reveal those 4 hidden squres, then will head around the southern edge of the Gold island, so that we'll. It will spend a few turns exploring until it is time to return and net the Clam... if that landmass is an island, then the Work Boat should be able to circle around it and end at the Clam, but if the landmass looks too big, then we'll have to be prepared to double-back in order to arrive at the Clam on time.

WB Explorer #3 will occilate back-and-forth for several turns until we randomly decide whether to head north or south around the Desert + Silk island, since no one seems to care now that we've spotted a Gold Resource.

are planning to settle west of the gold tile?

I would imagine that we would settle 1W of the Gold, so that the Clam, Gold, and GFor square are all within our initial 9-square-radius. The only way we probably wouldn't do so is if that square happens to have a Resource on it or if there happens to be a Magical Fish on the southern side of the Gold island (keep dreaming!).

EDIT: Just saw LC's image... hmmm... I guess we'll settle ON the Forest if there isn't land to the west... I guess I'll have to look closely at the saved game just to check for sure on way or the other... or we can patiently wait a few turns and find out via Work Boat exploration.

 

[Dhoomstriker]

Close-up screenshots of the western side of the Gold landmass... which really does look like a 2-square island.

Spoiler :

 

[Dhoomstriker]

So yeah, that's one thing that the Gold island does not have... a Forest to Chop into a Granary. We do have such a Forest on the Fur island (although Chopping that Forest would completely remove any small chance of Forest ever spreading to the 2 Fur Resources).

What's the point of putting a Forest on the Gold island, anyway? Is it DynamicSpirit's way of potentially tricking us into settling on the Gold? Or just an artifact that the map script put there and he didn't bother to change it? Or is it to encourage us to try and settle a nearby island first, in order to Chop the Forest for the Hammers into a different City (which would probably only yield somewhere between 2 and 8 Hammers anyway)?

 

[Dhoomstriker]

So, just as a recap of the current situation:
On Turn 71, we are scheduled to complete Galley 1.

It is currently Turn 68 and the two western Work Boat Explorers have already moved. The eastern one has yet to move.

We need to decide upon a settling location and then figure out how to get a Work Boat to the relevant Seafood Resource in time. Depending upon our settling location choice, this decision movement may or may not be trivial.

After that, but before I play any further, we need to decide where we want to move the Work Boats next. As for the eastern WB Explorer, we've heard people argue for both moving north and south of the island.

We've also had several scenarios proposed for the two western WB Explorers.

Since I have yet to sleep (I waited all this time for feedback and finally got some), you will have plenty of time to discuss and decide upon the next steps.

Thanks and goodnight (12 hours after I should have gone to bed).

 

[shyuhe]

I'm in the gold boat. And I agree that it looks like a two tile island but it's still worth settling. That city can work the gold while building a granary, then lighthouse, then work coastal tiles to build up whip capacity. We can use it to whip boats eventually. The immediate commerce bonus is huge though.

I think we need to start thinking seriously about the Oracle and how we're going to go about it. We can land on the marble and pick up masonry before building the Oracle if we want to, although it'll limit our tech options. We also have copper available for a cheap Colossus. Then again, these islands scream city spam, which puts a premium on cheap courthouses.

Also, I would go the south route for the eastern boat -- it's unlikely that Vicky lives in the frozen tundra.

 

[babybluepants]

Great. I'd suggest we scout as per LC's suggestion, then stop play on T69. We have plenty to discuss now, esp tech options going towards Oracle.

 

[Mitchum]

Agree with LC and bbp. Move WBs near gold next turn to see full BFC and then end turnset. Eastern WB goes south.

 

[mdy]

I'm also in favour of settling the gold next, and that we should explore it's surroundings ASAP. One WB should probably stay in the area near it to net the clams leaving the other one free to head west to see if any one is in that direction.

I am still in favour of sending the eastern WB south.

With a source of gold I think we have to seriously consider whether we can get machinery with the Oracle instead of MC.

 

[shyuhe]

What good would machinery do though? Crossbows are awfully expensive and not particularly effective for offensive fighting - they're really just good for stack defense.

 

[babybluepants]

^ Maces are not bad. And it leads to Astronomy.

I'm not sure we can realistically do it, though. Let's definitely run a test for the possible date.

 

[mdy]

If we went for machinery it's principle benefit would be an earlier astronomy.

 

[shyuhe]

Ah ok, I was concentrating more on short-term economic techs like metal casting (Colossus) and code of laws.

@bbp - don't forget that civil service blocks the astro bulb.

 

[Mitchum]

@LC It looks like you're officially on our roster now. Do you want to be added into the turnset rotation?

Once Dhoomstriker has moved the work boats next turn, I presume that Ras is up. Is that right?

BTW, I'll be on a Family Vacation (Griswold style) this weekend and then on a business trip next week. I should be able to follow along on my phone, but don't expect too much from me... which I guess is the norm anyway.

 

[babybluepants]

First problem I run into is that the worker's done mining and roading gold on about the same turn the galley needs to pick up settler #3.