SGOTM 15 - Maple Sporks

[sturick]

I think this stage of the game is where testing will play a large role.

In my solo games, I almost always try to grow to the next size when close before starting a worker or settler. Our analysis shows that growing first delays the settler by 2-3 turns. My suggestion of going war>war>settler was proven a bad idea rather easily.

Question: What kind of economy are we going to run? Basically, I am asking are we going to cottage? With stone (for mids), spiritual and philo it seems to make alot of sense to run a spec economy. Just trying to clear up the big picture a bit.

 

[sturick]

To cover the settler and worker we can place a warrior on the hill 2W of gold and another warrior on the hill 2S of sheep.

Our warrior currently by deer can head east and curl back to the hill for protection.
The second warrior can scout to the forested hill on the coast and back to 2W of gold for settler protection.

This method provides ample protection at the cost of some scouting turns.

Alternatively, we can place a warrior on the hill 1SW of gold and possibly escort the settler with only one warrior. This would leave the warrior by deer free to find Original Toku and scout far to the east.

 

[sturick]

On an unrelated note...

Can we name our cities something original when we found cities? Or capture them...

For one, its more fun to have the non-standard names for cities.
Secondly, it helps to visualize the map when I don't have access to the save.

Pigswill offered up Golden Fleece for our next city. I for one would love our next city to be Golden Fleece and Tusks! I hope that isn't asking too much!

Jeweled Swine for our gems/pigs site...you get the idea!

 

[pigswill]

Pearls before Swine.

 

[DwarfSleepy]

Without being able to test it myseld, I would say that a 2-3 turn earlier settler is worth it considering the closeness of realtoku. It also gets our 2nd city up and running 2 turns earlier. PD's game in the previous game was also partly based on very ealry cities...

I love the city name suggestions! Pearls before Swine translates perfectly into the Dutch variant of the saying... Is that also true for Spanish or Czech?

 

[Ororo]

It is in Czech

The fast settler sounds fine to me.

To answer you question, sturick I'd simply like to refer to our map: it's not rich enough to run a pure specialist economy. Sure, we can run those scientists in a couple of cities. Stone/Marble is no excuse to farm instead of cottaging unless you're obsolete If we put those cottages down early enough, we are going to get some fast towns (early ADs) and those not only pay for themselves but can also feed themselves (at least the grassland ones) unlike specialists, which are simpply limited by the food you have. Plus the Towns synergize very well with US and US is absolutely vital when going for Conquest/Domination as we've learned in the previous game. And lastly: we'll need something to run our economy before Mids/Caste.

 

[Norvin_Green]

Spoiler :

Eastern warrior will head SW to yellow dot then try to stay in forest and on hills were possible heading to the northern side of TokuReal.

Next warrior will provide safe passage for settler and worker. Not sure where to "sentry" him. If at white 1 then black 1 is trouble for a 2-move barb. White 2 and there are 2 trouble spots for barbs.

AH will arrive when settler is only 2S1E (1st purple dot) so I will be passing the set over then.

I pencilled Toku in where I approximately think his capital might be. In the test game as in the live game we met his scout at the exact same spot.

Will play this set tomorrow so long as it's okay with team.

 

[pigswill]

I´d rather lose a few turns scouting (by keeping east warrior on gold/yellow) than risk an unprotected settler.

 

[nocho]

We have 11 turns before the settler is produced. IMO the most effective use of the warriors while safeguarding the settler/worker is the following:

Warrior that is produced next turn will be parked on the white two. The turn settler ends up W of him he moves to the same tile for protection. Meanwhile the eastern warrior has about 12 turns to scout the area (6 to the east, back 6 to the west in a zigzag pattern) ending up on the city spot moving SW when settler gets there. Next turn after settler's half move it settles. So both turns in the wide open there's warrior protection. Btw, new warrior should have time to look a bit more at the coast before parking on white two.

In any case, you'll play till AH, right? Then settler is still in our territory, but the warriors should be about in place then... The 1 turn you have after settler and before AH I'd build another warrior.

 

[sturick]

If Norvins guesstimate of realtokus capital is correct then the warrior should have enough time to find his cultural borders and still return to protect the settler. I'll try to create a visual later.

 

[sturick]

The red path takes 13 turns assuming that the warrior has a move this turn.

The green path only takes 9 turns but scouts what we need. It also helps barb spawn along the path we are looking to take. I'd hate to run into a bear. Even with defensive protection I don't like those odds when a settler is on the line.

 

[Norvin_Green]

Stopped early as our eastern warrior was ambushed by a lion at the RIP marking to our east. Wanted to see what everyone thought about slipping a warrior into queue ahead of settler or hoping for the best.

East:

Spoiler :

West:

Spoiler :

 

[nocho]

No, an extra warrior now delays settler by at least two turns, while we always have the option of moving the settler safely through the hills with protection of just the one warrior, which would take just one turn longer than the path we had set out.

So I'd just stick to the build plan, keeping the warrior where he is right now.

 

[DwarfSleepy]

agree with continuing on the quick next city path. On the place of our next city:
1EofGold gives a great blocker, but a few unknown tiles in the BFC
1NofGold gives nice access to 3 resources

As to the map: it seems that the mountains are forcing us in a certain direction, maybe to even take on these 2 AI first before we can move on... Maybe scouting with a spy will help us further (we don't really care for the negmods if they get caught: they hate us anyway). Let's hope AH reveals horses or the subsequent BW will reveal bronze in a convenient location.

 

[sturick]

Unfortunate about the lost warrior...but there isn't really anything you could have done about that.

Can the warrior still scout out the coast?

I think there is a good choke point 1W of the northern deer if we ever have to defend against Hammutoku.

Fingers crossed for a well placed horse tile!

Good luck Norvin!

 

[Sengir]

I'd continue with the settler as well.

 

[Ororo]

No need to repeat nocho's post so I just say I agree.

 

[Norvin_Green]

Spoiler :

There are 7 turns until settler finishes so warrior will continue to coast and then wait there (purple dot)

Should western warrior keep scouting further west or take up a good spawn-busting spot?

 

[nocho]

Warrior can go to coast and walk the circle, but I would end up where he is now, so that we keep an eye on our prospective settling spot all the time.

Western warrior can continue scouting, it would be nice to know where Hammuragawa's home turf is. Also good to know more about that curious mountain chain. After we finish settler I'd squeeze out at least 2 warriors for fogbusting.

BTW, please play on until AH is in so we know about horses. You can move the settler S,SE from the cap. That won't compromise the path, whether we take the initial one around the hill the warrior stands on now, or a path straight through the hills.

 

[DwarfSleepy]

So did we decide to settle 1NofGold? I don't recall. If undecided we might want to let the warrior scout NE-E-SE and back, to see what we will get. If definitely 1E, this isn't needed, since we will see with our settled city.

And after AH you can start on BW, especially if we don't have horses!