The Paralysis of Choice

[Buttercup]

Us 'umans are funny creatures. The paralysis of choice is a relatively modern discovery, born most likely from our modern environment which, possibly uniquely in history, offers so much choice on a daily basis. PoC theory suggests that when we are overwhelmed with too much choice of an equal standard of quality, instead of being delighted with so much choice we instead clam-up and freeze like a deer in the headlights, completely unable to act due to being completely unable to decide what to choose.

In the real world this can impact things like employment, marketing and even political theory. In terms of Civilisation 3, it can ruin a game just as much as a game where all we can foresee is our imminent doom. My current game is just such an example, so instead of me staring at the screen for hours on end with no conclusion forthcoming, I thought I'd throw the game open to everyone here, and see if your combined choices can provide the impetus required to kick me back into action.

My starting position in 4000BC looked nice, what with being surrounded by Cows. I couldn't see any fresh water, but at least I knew I could produce Settlers in a timely manner, so I moved one place to avoid settling on a Cow and settled London.

It soon became evident that this was just another classic joke start, in that the Cows were almost the only thing my island seemed to have. However, sometimes it's nice to have a challenge and since I'm playing the English I often play these kind of starts because that fits with the role-playing aspect of enjoyment. I suspected there'd be some nearby islands that would make up for the territorial shortcomings.



And sure enough, there was:



I risked my Curragh to try and make the evident next island across the open sea. Luckily it made it and I found what would be termed a 'proper' island, beings as my Curragh sailed on for quite a while suggesting it was a large island with a whole range of land types suitable for settling.



The larger it got, however, and the more luxuries I saw, the more I thought, hey, wait a minute, there's no way this is an unsettled island. And sure enough, I eventually came across the Carthaginians.



And soon after that I found the Egyptians:



But, as you can see from the necessity to now use the Zoom Function to take the screenshots, it turned out to be less of an island and more of a motherchunkingly massive continent. The fact that it has three luxuries on it also suggests that it could have a third Civ on it, but as I'm only playing with 12 Civs, as oppose to the default 16, I guess one of the missing 4 would have been spawned here under normal default settings.

I've circled on the above maps where the Luxuries are and where there are signs of potentially other islands within easy reach of this mega continent.

Now that I have a good idea of what I could potentially do to secure myself some more land, my first crippling dilemma surfaces, because I haven't yet fully settled my own lands yet:



I still want a Settler to go to the red circle on my main island, and for second island I still haven't decided if I want three Settlers to fully take advantage of all the coastal gold, of if I just want two Settlers to quickly cover the island with as little cost as possible. There are only two bonus food spots, but even then both would need to get to the culture stage to make use of them, which would be a long way down the road.

Also, if I put a third town there, that will increase the Corruption on any Towns I might want to build on the huge continent. However, if I choose not to settle the huge continent then I definitely will be wanting to maximise the gold potential of the island.

And, on top of this dilemma, if I do want to compete for the land on the mega continent, then perhaps I should be concentrating on that rather than settling in any of these more 'dead' places. Both my island and the small island are completely safe from AI invasion for thousands of years. Even a Carthaginian Galley wont reach the second island as it's 5 squares away from the mega continent.

And because of this, I then start to think that maybe not bothering with the mega continent at all is probably the best course of action. Perhaps I should just take advantage of my Great Lighthouse to simply go find less hassle locations to settle. After all, having an isolated start with lots of coastal gold at Regent level is pretty much an assured Diplomatic Victory, with very little hassle and all the fun of settling loads of empty islands.

If I do land on the mega continent then it's gonna be a war game, right? But then probably quite a fun and enjoyable war game, because once one has secured that island, well, I suspect that will make me a clear no.1 for the rest of the game and guarantee me an easy stab at claiming any of the combat based victories.

The only Victory Condition which seems a bit of an albatross at this stage would probably be the Space Race victory. There's no way I'm 4 turns per tech'ing anything for a very long time whatever I do and by the time I've settled and built up that mega continent it would seem like a cop-out to then just amble on to a science victory just for the sake of it.

the 20k and 160k are both not even being considered, even if they are technically possible as I didn't even think about that from that starting position and have done nothing so far to advance those VCs.

In keeping with the Role-Playing aspect, I made sure I got both Colossus and the Great Lighthouse:



Which also combined with a positional necessity for both wonders, the Colossus to replace the fresh water and the Great Lighthouse to fully secure my complete safety and potentially find a means to a Victory Condition.

Because my island is so, soooo, small my ability to produce anything in a spammy way is extremely limited.

If I spam Settlers, I can't very well spam much else. If I spam Galleys, I can't very well spam much else. If I want to concentrate on building libraries I can't very well go on a Settler or Galley splurge.

The large red circles on all the above maps suggest there's plenty of other land I could find, or at least investigate, before I get too obsessed with the mega continent. However, if they all turn out to be dross islands or fully settled AI islands, then I've lost the crucial time needed to directly spam the mega continent.

There's also my tech progress to consider.



The first tech I learned was Bronze Working, to ensure getting the Colossus. This then gave me a Golden Age at the right moment to make sure I was the first to learn Map Making, which coincided with me learning my next tech, Writing. I then traded Pottery for Masonry with the Egyptians, which was a surprisingly good bargain for an AI, which allowed me to pre-build the Great Lighthouse while I learned Map Making and Code of Laws.

I have just finished Code of Laws and I'm told I have 8 turns to wait for Philosophy. However, I'm now in another dilemma. Do I really want The Republic at this stage?

If I'm going to be spamming units to the mega continent then the last thing I want is a Republic, especially if it results in a war as well. However, if I'm just going to hunt for 'spare' islands, then I don't really need any military, I just need techs.

I could learn Philosophy and then take Literature as my freeby. Or I could just ignore Philosophy and go straight to learning Literature. Missing out on the potential Philosophy freeby could be silly though, either way.

Once I have Literature, however and whenever, I could invest in the Great Library, as I've already met two Civs, but this will take out London for even longer with regards to Settlers and Galleys.

The trading options are possible, but not great:



The Carthaginians are too similar to me and only have Warrior Code, and I'm certainly not giving them either of my two techs for it. They are, annoyingly, bee-lining Map Making, of course. Which puts another time limit on exploring the potential islands around the Mega Continent.

The Egyptians have a bit more to offer:



And will trade The Wheel for Alphabet, or, they'll trade both Warrior Code and Ceremonial Burial for Alphabet.

So maybe the Great Library wouldn't be of that much use, as I'll likely be able to trade for most of the techs I need but don't want to bother learning. Or, if I invade the mega continent, I could probably demand them.

But then, do I really want to be helping these two along at all in any way, because it wont be too long before the sheer weight of their size will be enough to have them in a tech advantage or equality with me, rendering trading a potential dead-end quite quickly. If I'm going to be invading them or Settling their surrounding islands, I want them to be busy learning other techs rather than help speed them to Iron Working, Map Making and Horseback Riding.

How would you progress from here?

Cos I can't decide.

 

[tjs282]

I still haven't decided if I want three Settlers to fully take advantage of all the coastal gold, of if I just want two Settlers to quickly cover the island with as little cost as possible.

If I was going to Settle that pile of dry rocks ("Whale Island"?) at all (with the intention of getting all the towns eventually to Pop10-12), then as it is, any towns planted would all be eating an 80–90% seafood-diet until I learnt Steam + Electricity anyway — so why not 4 Settlers instead...?

Though, obviously, I'd start by Settling the western Oasis, and possibly the eastern Gold-Whale spots. Or maybe just Settle the Oasis-town from the mainland, and then (since it will stall at Pop4 anyway, until it has a Harbour + Duct + Culture) use it to build the Settlers to found the other three (and if Hannibal sends a boat before that's done, just let him have his town, and take it from him/burn it down later if I really want/need to!)

the 20k and 160k are both not even being considered, even if they are technically possible as I didn't even think about that from that starting position and have done nothing so far to advance those VCs.

Can you explain this to me (who has never gone for 20K)?

You've already got Colossus and GLight in London, and could easily get both MoM and GLib as well, and possibly also HGard(?), so (I don't really understand) why are you not considering 20K as an option?

Your GA has already put you ahead of Cleo and Hanni (who will likely stalemate if/when they attack each other: 20s War Chariots/Archers vs. 30s NuMercs is about even), and so by extrapolation, likely ahead of most if not all of the other AI-tribes as well. And if this is Regent on a Huge, 80%(?), Cold, Dry, 3 BYO Archi-map with only 12/16 Civs, then the AI-Civs will likely continue Settler-building for some time, rather than Wonder-building (and the tribes who got stuck on the small, easy-to-fill islands probably won't be able to build Wonders faster than London anyway).

But for 20K, sending Settlers all the way to Carthypt doesn't seem necessary, when you could just Cx(x)C your home island — and Whale Island, and any hypothetical island(s) to the south — for gold and/or unit-spammage/-support, while London continued to build pop-points and Culture. Obviously you'd continue sending out Galleys to explore the more distant islands, but more for the Lux-trade and tech-brokerage opportunities than Settlement. For 20K I'd imagine you'd definitely want Republic, though (even if you didn't revolt until Construction/Ducts were in sight), for the fast research, and the gold-income to cash-rush Culture-buildings in between the Wonder-prebuilds?

If you wanted to play a long/war game, then sure you'd need to invade Carthypt (and probably also jump your Palace over there at some point). But in that case, if it were me, I wouldn't bother wasting any Settlers on Whale Island: just let Hanni have it (and again, take it from him later if it really seems necessary to do so). And if Hastings is already on Tundra, terrain-prospects are unlikely to get any better by going further south, either. So sending Settlers directly to Carthypt would definitely be the way to go — maybe 1–2 to the Banana-Corna, and another 1–2 over to the Silk-cluster in the west? With the GLight, you wouldn't even have to worry about your boats sinking on the way — and you can already import those Luxes from Carthypt (or, I suppose, buy them once Hanni and Cleo get round to building Harbours).

And I'd send those Settlers off before building any more for your own island(s!): like you say, that spot under the Mountains is yours pretty much whenever you want it (although I think I'd also rather have another town between York and Hastings first!).

 

[need my speed]

I would strategically seize the luxuries at the very least, as my first move in your proposed scenario. They will do wonders for your happiness, and thereby your science.

 

[CKS]

What would I do?

20k in London, as that is what I like.

Trade Alphabet for Ceremonial Burial and Warrior Code. Build a Temple in London ASAP.
Learn Philosophy, take Republic for free and revolt ASAP, learn Literature, then go for Construction. Buy a library, if possible; build it if not. Build MoM and GLib as time permits, and buy an aquaduct as soon as possible so I can work all my land tiles. Then tech towards culture buildings.

Explore to find more trading partners. Trade techs freely.

After learning Philosophy, give Map Making to anyone I know who is connected to my lands by sea tiles, so I can trade with them.

Build towns on whatever islands I can get to. If space is available on the bigger island when I have settlers to go there I'll put towns there (and build a harbor!) but I'll try to stay out of war. Embassies and trades usually help with this.

 

[Quintillus]

Unfortunately, the center of Carthypt appears to be slightly too wide to build a Suez Canal in the middle of the desert and greatly shorten the time to circumnavigate that continent. If it were slightly narrowed, I would suggest that as the proper roll-playing option for you as the English.

With that not possible, it really depends on if you want a short (20K) game, or a long, more imperialistic one. Skipping Whale Island and settling the northern/western part of Carthypt, with the cows, silk, and tobacco, would likely be what I did if I went that more aggressive route. Send as many Settlers as you can, and either use a MGL to rush the FP, or build the FP on your home island and then palace-jump the capital to the wealthy part of Carthypt (using city-joining Settlers to bump the population if need be).

Going for the wealthy part of Carthypt likely does mean devoting most of your production to Settlers and Galleys for a long time. And with the distance, the Galleys won't be making round trips very quickly. Perhaps a Galley Chain could be set up for at least part of the journey? You could even disband Galleys in newly-settled cities in Carthypt to jump-start production on the new continent, perhaps using that to get a minimal amount of defense set up until the palace jump is completed, or a harbor built to get resources transported between the two landmasses more quickly. Is it an optimal strategy? Probably not, but it sounds like it could be a fun approach to try.

 

[Buttercup]

Some excellent replies here so far.

3/4 of you have said you'd probably settle the Silk part of Carthypt. And I have to agree, this is indeed a very tempting option.

3/4 of you have also said you'd be inclined to still make a go of the 20K, even though that has already succumbed to a very un-optimised start.

2/4 of you have expressed that tech would be your primary concern, but one of those two thinks trading is the way to go while the other implies that wont be needed as long as luxuries are secured.

3/4 of you think that skipping Whale Island is, for now, probably what you'd do in favour of concentrating on settling Carthypt.

1/4 of you wouldn't bother with Carthypt at all.

0/4 of you think that a Diplomatic Victory is of any interest.

1/4 of you think that Role-Playing should dictate the entertainment value of the game, but agree that the map, at this time, isn't wholly suitable for that.

0/4 of you would just lay into the AI Civs without bothering to settle anything first.

1/4 of you would be tempted to look around for other lands that might be of more interest before getting embroiled in Carthypt.

There's quite a lot of inspirational nudges here, which I'm grateful for. I'd love to hear more from other folks.

Some questions tjs282 asked about: No, the Carthaginians wont be taking Whale Island anytime soon, read thousands of years, that's not a concern, as Whale Island is 5 squares away from Carthypt, so even a Carthaginian Galley wont be able to get there, they'd need to get to Astronomy before I saw any sailing Carthaginians anywhere near me. Also, for 20k games it's normal to try and put up a Temple within the first 1000 years, preferably the first 500 years, and then take the 4 Culture Wonders + get to Literacy before Republic, rather than what I've done by taking the 'weaker' Culture Wonders and avoiding Temples and Libraries for too long. A 20k can go without both Colossus and the Great Lighthouse, especially with a limited Shield start. Yes, it's still possible to get the 20k, but if you're going for a peaceful game of isolation, then the Diplomatic would probably be quicker by this point with such a slow Culture start.

 

[CKS]

While for 20k I'd have built a temple sooner, I really want the Colossus for the commerce. At regent, I'd definitely go temple first. At deity I'd go Colossus first, though. Additionally, on a map like this, the GLH is really important, so I'd have gone for it pretty early, too.

I'd almost never take literature before the republic, because getting out of despotism is crucial and if I'm already a republic when I learn literature, I can buy the library. (Usually I disband a warrior and short-rush it via an archer or settler.) The exception would be on a high level where either their is no hope of the slingshot or no hope even of getting to philosophy first.

It might be that diplomatic is faster at this point, but it isn't as fun (for me), and I wouldn't describe how I'd play as peaceful isolation. Peaceful, yes, but not isolation. Trading gives me luxes, cash, and techs. I wouldn't be invading anyone, but I'd settle available lands as I got around to it.

 

[Buttercup]

Oh yes, I completely agree with all of those things, and your description of how you'd proceed earlier is almost exactly what I would do if I was going for the Diplomatic as well, only I'd have less urgency on any Cultural buildings and not rush to trade anything.

What I mean by peaceful isolation would still include trading and the like, the isolation aspect just speeds up the game turns - quicker to me meaning real-world time quicker, not game-turn quicker. I'm aware that game-turn time can be quicker if you trade with abandon with the AI, however, something that really slows the game down in the later parts of the game is sitting and watching the AI sail 500 boats through your territory every turn, so I prefer to keep the AI as backward as possible even if it means a few extra game-world turns, just to keep them out the ocean for as long as humanly possible, and only really start trading for stuff towards the last 100 or so turns, and usually with other islanders rather than the continent dwellers.

It's a bit like the 12-max-size Pollution mechanic play, in that it's a Quality of Life play rather than a game-turn optimization play.

I once tried checking the button for 'Do Not Animate Moves', but this was, again, quite irritating in the long-term as I'd often miss stuff happening generally as a result and was more likely to forget the things I needed to do during that turn. I didn't notice much change in processing time either, meaning that the game turned more into a 'watch the loading screen' kind of game, which is even more boring that watching 500 boats slowly and loudly sail through one's territory.

So, yeah, that's more what I mean by peaceful isolation.

 

[Fergei]

If your home island is separated from Carthypt by sea (rather than attached by coast) does that not mean the luxuries couldn't be sent home until you learnt Astronomy?

If I was in an aggressive mood I'd get at least one city on Carthypt and invest nothing in it, but at least it would be there as a beach-head if I wanted to go down the military route later (although an amphibious conquest of an island with 2x Civs is far easier than just one Civ (as you can get ROP with one Civ, land on their territory and attack the other).

But really with the smaller amount of Civs I'd probably emphasise exploration and colonisation of any areas to the east and north of your starting island.

 

[justanick]

If your home island is separated from Carthypt by sea (rather than attached by coast) does that not mean the luxuries couldn't be sent home until you learnt Astronomy?

This is where the great lighthouse comes in handy. It activates trade over sea.

 

[Fergei]

This is where the great lighthouse comes in handy. It activates trade over sea.

Ah, of course. Sorry if I missed that. I rarely prioritise an ancient era wonder other than Great Library and Statue of Zeus given the cost factor bonus of the AI.

 

[Chicken Pizza]

How would you progress from here?

I'd marry you if you were a woman (not too fat though). I'd recommend you for the Nobel Price if you were a man.

 

[Buttercup]

Well that's awfully kind, thank-you.

Because my other game, my weekend game, is a similar scenario but evolved into a very combat-focused game where I immediately ran to invade the big continent I decided to go with those who were promoting the peaceful exploration options.

I prioritised buildings, Settlers and Galleys and set about seeing what I could grab that wasn't already occupied.

By the time I got myself out of the Ancient Age and entered the Medieval Age it was 70AD, which isn't awful, but it's a long way short of what a good start can provide. Having to wait 14 turns for Monotheism isn't that great either. I'm not entirely sure this start has enough for me to make it near to a VC before the AI get's mobile. But that'll depend on a lot of things I guess.

At my capital I've built a Harbour, so that I can switch between gold and production as needed, a Library, because of course, and I decided to prioritise the Great Library as my means to get the 'other' techs of the Ancient Age rather than engage in any trading of any kind. I also still had time to build the Mausoleum before anyone else, so I did:



This still keeps the 20k on should I need it, but I'm hoping that I wont. I'm still not prioritising culture, but it just so happens that this route provides me with quite a bit anyway.

At my main island I've filled the gap in the north and all the other towns I've allowed to grow tall, building a Settler in between structural buildings as required:



Even without fresh water, the Cows, Whales and Fish mean that I've been able to get a surplus of 4 or 5 food when needed in each of the four southern Towns. This has involved quite a bit of micromanagement though as I've needed to switch between working the land and working the sea and then back to working the land as situations have required.

As per usual with me, I haven't built enough Workers to optimise my growth, always choosing the immediate build preference over the long-term benefit, however, when the core Towns convert to Cities in a few turns time this issue won't be so problematic as my unit allowance will get significantly boosted, especially as I have no need for any military units beyond exploration and potential Barbarian uprisings in new lands.

I settled the small island to my north-west with just two Settlers, hoping to keep Corruption as low as possible for these two potential future power-house Metros:



I managed to settle the island without generating any Barbarians and it only costs two Warriors to watch over the dark areas to prevent any Barbs from spawning. At this moment in time I'm prioritising building one them tall before getting them to work the high production areas while the other prioritises structures.

The northern patch of Sea squares above Carthypt did indeed lead to a nice little clutch of islands that are perfectly safe from AI incursion until Astronomy, so I rushed to settle those as quickly as possible:



The fourth Settler is just coming into view at the bottom of the screen there and is headed for the one available space next to those rocks. I'm not going to bother settling the Desert side of the small island. This small island complex only requires one Spearman to prevent any Barb spawns.

Unfortunately, at this point in time Corruption is still very prominent in these islands and they are all running on one Shield per turn at present and I'm choosing not to sacrifice Tech turns to buy them buildings yet. I'm hoping there's still plenty of time for these to build-up on their own.

So I've managed to increase my Town-scape from 5 to 12 (in a couple of turn's time) by this method which about puts me on par with all the other civs I've found up to this point. You'll also notice that everywhere I go I've found Horses, which is nice, but no Iron, sadly, yet.

The island directly south of Carthypt does have Iron, but it's a pretty rubbishy island, full of rocks and barely much else. I could make one decent Town here, but its so close to the main continent that the AI will be landing there in no time and would cost an awful lot of soldiers to maintain:



Not to mention a lot of Workers and all the other aspects needed to prevent it being overrun in short order. I asses it's more trouble than its worth for the moment and ignore it.

The other patch of Sea from Carthypt, to the west of the landmass, I didn't find any spare land, just another AI Civ, the Iroquois:



Which is good for the Great Library, but not a lot else at this point in time.

To my east was another blocking continent-com-island with, again, two Civs on it, the Americans and the Chinese. Chimerica, both of whom have already pretty much filled up all their available land space. They look like they're either at war or have recently had one.

However, just a bit further to their East is what looks like another spare island that is also potentially secluded from any AI interest at this point in time, which also seems to have quite nice settling land:



It might even be another little cluster. Or it could be close to another AI. Looking good though and the chance of finding Iron round here somewhere is also in my mind. I'm very tempted to start thinking about settling here already, even though it will be a pain to have to circumnavigate Chimerica all the time.

To Chimerica's north-east I think I find another strong contender for settling, but unfortunately it seems to already be settled, the AI Civs just haven't made it to the tip yet:



In fact, I found three Civs marching around down here, so this will soon be a very congested space indeed. Here I found the Zulus, the Japanese and the Scandinavians. Zupanavia. And the Zulus already look like they're at war. So another mega-continent is my first guess. And, once again, the Iron is tantalisingly in an awkward spot.

So I've already found 9 out of the 12 Civs (including myself) and yet I still haven't been given Monarchy yet. How unusual, the AI seems to be avoiding Monarchy during this game for some reason. No-one apart from the Egyptians seem even remotely interested in it, being the only AI with Polytheism at this point.

The current standing are, in order of discovery:

England: 11 cities, 20 Techs, Horses.
Carthage: 12 cities, 10 Techs, best of which is Map Making, Horses, Incense
Egypt: 9 cities, 10 Techs, best of which is Polytheism, Incense
Americans: 13 cities, 13 Techs, best of which is Construction, Iron, the Pyramids
Chinese: 6 cities, 13 Techs, best of which is Map Making, Horses
Japan: 5 cities, 12 Techs, best of which is Philosophy
Zulu: 15 cities, 14 Techs, best of which are Map Making, Code of Laws, Philosophy, Wines
Scandinavia: 10 cities, 14 Techs, best of which are Map Making and Philosophy, Iron, Wines
Iroquois: 8 cities, 12 Techs

And I know the Inca exist as they have the Oracle, though I don't know where yet.

So, so far, so good, although I'm a bit disappointed that I'm so 'boxed in' on either side and that, so far, the Great Lighthouse hasn't provided me with much in the way of long-term hope with regards to nice settling spots and that most of my exploration is jut bumping me into more and more mega-island Civs. Seeing quite so many very aggressive Civs populate the world is also quite worrying for the future. I get the feeling that even with a goo rep and good trade I'm going to need to be investing heavily in military come the advent of global Astronomy and Navigation.

My Palace looks a bit bare bones as well:



So I'm not really convinced this was the best way to go for this map yet.

What say you?

 

[Spoonwood]

I have to wonder if you finished this game Buttercup.

Ignore the palace, or take it with a grain of salt. It doesn't tell you much, and what it tells you is not enough to make a good judgement on how well you are doing in the game.

So I've already found 9 out of the 12 Civs (including myself) and yet I still haven't been given Monarchy yet. How unusual, the AI seems to be avoiding Monarchy during this game for some reason.

This is/was Regent level with AIs isolated on islands. Your creative best of which table to me suggests that they haven't had the time to finish all that much research. About half know Map Making. My read is that the AIs haven't had the time to finish researching Monarchy. I would guess The Zulu were working on it.

You had a tech lead already, and this is Regent. And a substantial one at that. Some capitals might outproduce London at 18 shields, but you were building an aqueduct. If you optimized production in the capital and maxed out it's growth, I think it's 28 shields per turn? Try finding AI cities that can produce 28 shields per turn before a factory. Good luck, you'll need it! 26 shields per turn for an AI city before a factory I would think very difficult to find also. I think even anything above 23 isn't all that common.

In addition to this, the human player gets production first. A wonder race is never lost if it says that the city has 1 turn left and there's no pollution produced or something else that changes production suddenly (if pollution does this, not sure on this). The turn based nature of the game means that the human player, ceteris paribus, would have the advantage.

You had a coastal city The Colossus and early wonders for nice tourist commerce later. And you're the supremely commercial English who on an archipelago map.

It's more like if you didn't get a 20k victory for this game, you didn't understand how to optimize production, screwed up while researching the tech tree *a lot*, or didn't understand how to protect your 20k city.

I might not play the start due to lack of fresh water and a river, and thus wouldn't like it aesthetically for a 20k game. But, this is very, very far from a horrendous start if the object is to win the game and you understand the game well enough, and without even considering using powerful "exploity" diplomacy table tactics. From my perspective it's more like that the game is already over before it starts, because the start and the level favor the human player so substantially in this case.

Oh, and London isn't even the optimal 20k spot in the vicinity, I think. If you settled in place and were willing to use the "Play Last World" button, the optimal spot is in the plains tile in London's fat X. Yea, there's not a lake. There's not a river. But, it can be a production powerhouse once you understand how to optimize a city's production. And it's a 20k game. Optimizing one city's production can be an interesting puzzle. And often even a near optimal setup is more than good enough.

 

[Buttercup]

I can't remember. I know I settled some more islands. I'll have a look around for it on my old computer.

In the meantime, here's the end of a fun Regent isolated tundra, boring ol' Diplomatic Win for your viewing pleasure:



Plenty of fresh water on this island! Oh. Wait haha.

 

[Lanzelot]

A wonder race is never lost if it says that the city has 1 turn left and there's no pollution produced or something else that changes production suddenly (if pollution does this, not sure on this).

Yes, this happened to me several times in 20K games: if pollution hits a high production tile in the interturn, the citizen is taken off that tile before the production phase. In earlier turns, you can rectify this for example by mining an irrigated tile and run deficit food for a few turns while making up for the lost shields. But if it happens on the last turn, you just miss the completion of the wonder.

I investigated this a bit a long time ago, to see whether there was any way to avoid this, but it seems impossible: I cash-rushed a project in a city that is before the wonder city in the move order, so that I could break into the city screen and perhaps change to entertainer into a civil engineer, which would also bring the required shields for the wonder completion, but even that doesn't help: the pollution is generated after the production phase of the previous city, but before the production phase of the next city, so no way to break in between here...

Since then always I try to accumulate a bit of shield overrun in important wonder cities, at least once my city generates pollution. Then the completion of the wonder is safe, even if pollution hails down on my mined and railed coal mountain interturn...