The Random Rangers Ride Again

[Sir Bugsy]

My thoughts.
1. Normally I go mining, but we don't have any trees to chop. Agree with pottery.
2. I would go scout first. Then monument. I would switch over monument to shrine as soon as pottery comes in. Then finish monument. Follow on builds may be landmass dependent. If this is a pangaea, then we need at least two more scouts. Continent, maybe one.
3. As for SP, I think liberty may be in order with a low production capitol. I agree that this call will be landmass dependent.
4. Another variable will be the proximity of other civs.


For whomever plays first, don't be afraid to stop and get a team decision. Also remember, the more pictures, the better.

 

[Mighty Dwaarf]

I can play first, as we seem to have the build and research order in hand, I will move the settler to the GH and warrior SE,SW as discussed and post the findings. We can then call on where to settle.

 

[wloff]

Why not simply move the warrior on the hill instead? I don't really see the point of wasting a turn before settling just to look up north, and I can't imagine anything at all down south that would persuade us to move our settler in that direction.

 

[vadalaz]

That works too. Both options are fine by me. You're right that it's unlikely we'll be settling south, away from our luxuries.

 

[Sir Bugsy]

I agree with Wloff. Move the warrior to the hil.

Here's a line up with no particular rhyme or reason other than MD volunteered to go first:

Mighty Dwarf <= Up
Wloff <= On deck
Vadalaz
Bugs

 

[Mighty Dwaarf]

Moved the Warrior and he didn't reveal anything that would deter me from settling on site.

I don't seem to be able to figure out how to upload a screenshot, anybody any tips??

I have attached the save file instead for you to look at.

View attachment Ahmad al-Mansur_0000 BC-4000.Civ5Save

 

[Optional]

I don't seem to be able to figure out how to upload a screenshot, anybody any tips??

Lurker's comment: Probably this will still be of help: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=434358.
Good luck with the game, guys.

 

[vadalaz]

If you're using Steam, the default button to take a screenshot is F12. When you close the game, it'll give you an option to upload the screenshot or open the folder that contains it. I just move mine to my Dropbox folder.

 

[Mighty Dwaarf]

Think we have a result??

 

[vadalaz]

Yeah I'd settle in place and hope there's a decent coastal spot for an expo somewhere. That capital will really need a cargo ship.

 

[Sir Bugsy]

Settle in place.

 

[Mighty Dwaarf]

Played 10 then realised we never discussed what to research after Pottery.

After investigating the nearby ruins we discovered some advanced weaponary well, some sharp metal to put at the end of our sticks.



We would later find some random people who we haul back to Marrakech.



And later some writings teaching us how to dig stuff out of the ground.



We met a city state, Mallaca (Whale and Porcelain), to the SW. Apart from them we appear to be alone for now.

Around nearby there is some wheat within ring 3 of Marrakech. To the NW there is some furs and to the south some citrus. There are a number of Truffles also nearby. If there are other civs nearby then we should not be short of luxuries.

It seems probable to me that we are on the corner of a sort of peninsula with the coast spreading to the west then north and round back to the east towards the fish, wheat spot to our ENE.

To me there are 3 possible city areas at the moment, to the NW on the coast near the sheep to grab the furs, to the south between the 2 rivers for the citrus, and to the ENE on the coast near wheat and fish.



I think what we research next could depend on what SP we are going to choose, if Tradition then we could move towards Maths for HG. If we going Liberty then should go another path?

I will attach the save not sure if you want me to play more after tech decision?

View attachment Ahmad al-Mansur_0010 BC-3600.Civ5Save

 

[wloff]

Not exactly filling me with joy, this land... only a couple of unique luxuries and none that would be actually nice to work, apart from the marble. The oranges in the south should be a decent area to settle, but the furs in the northwest will make an awful town if we want to settle it. At least there's a couple more desert hills in Marrakech, which will be nice if we do get Petra.

I'm still kinda torn about the social policy choices. It's not a great setup for Tradition, but unless we find more unique luxes or something it'll be tough to support happiness for a wide empire either. I suggest we explore more until we commit to anything.

The techs we need to get our luxes online are Masonry and Trapping, so those are the ones we should go for I think.

I suggest going Animal Husbandry first (for the offchance there's some horsies on those plain tiles northwest of our capital; then up to Masonry to get the marble online ASAP - it'll be our best tile to work for quite some time, and even if we do want to rush some wonders we'll probably want the marble up first.

I also suggest working a hill to get the shrine, monument etc. up a bit faster. Our production is abysmal with no hammers being worked.

 

[Mighty Dwaarf]

Don't forget we have mercantile CS on our doorstep which will give 11 more happiness when allied. We will hopefully be able to trade off excess truffles for luxes too.
Whilst the furs town is not ideal it could be the only coastal site pretty Compass to be in range of capital.
I agree with using hill to reduce shrine build to 7 turns from 10.
If we prioritising worker techs when do we plan on obtaining first worker I would be reluctant to steal from Merc CS to avoid diplo penalty with them. Do we self build after shrine or monument? With our lack of hammers could take a while?

 

[vadalaz]

Not sure I like the sound of going Liberty here, especially with a delayed monument and no culture ruin. We have only 4 unique luxuries and no trading partners in sight yet. If we're isolated we'll run into gold and happiness problems very quickly if we choose to go wide.

Another problem is that our luxuries require a lot of techs: Calendar, Bronze Working, Trapping and Masonry. But if we want Petra, we need to get to Currency quickly... Normally I'd be willing to give up Petra and go for a 4-city Tradition start here, but that takes a lot of fun out of this start and civ.

A 2-city Tradition build might work. The furs spot is terrible and it seems like there's noone to contest it anyway, so I'd settle one of the other two first. The hill SE of the 3-food wheat looks very nice.

I think this start is bad enough to justify stealing a CS worker.

 

[wloff]

I look at Malacca and all I see is a big "Free Workers Here" sign

I get what Dwaarf is saying about a potential mercantile friend, but I simply don't think we can afford not to get all the early advantage we can. Our capital is awful and won't be getting any better until we start improving the terrain, and we need to get started on that as soon as possible.

The hill between the wheat and bananas looks very nice indeed - if only we could move our capital over there! It's really touch-and-go with the proximity to Marrakech and Malacca though; we need to scout that area and make sure we don't block ourselves out of another potential awesome city spot.

I kind of agree that Liberty doesn't feel right with the lack of luxes around us. But at the same time, Tradition doesn't feel quite right because our capital isn't really huge powerhouse potential, at least unless we manage to grab Petra (and/or HG). It's pretty tough.

 

[Sir Bugsy]

Agree with free workers. Once we declare war, don't make peace for a while so that we might get two.

I'm thinking liberty at the moment.

I would like to see what is east of us.

I'd go archery next.

 

[Mighty Dwaarf]

Ok so Mallaca's workers are fair game, any one got an idea on if CS are likely to build them first/start with them on this level?

Not sure waiting around for the second would be good use of unit and worker would tend to run away back to the city if a unit came near.

Techwise I'm not sure I see the logic in archery, although is on path to Currency not sure it helps much in short term.
I can see merit in BW (possible Iron in hills), Masonry (for marble and pyramids if go liberty) or AH (possible horses, needed for trapping) to go towards worker tech required or find resources.

Build order stick with shrine, finish monument

 

[Sir Bugsy]

I am all about military. I always try to get archery and a few archers up early.

 

[vadalaz]

I think CSs get workers around T30 on Immortal, give or take 5 turns. So we should probably have Masonry by T35.

Getting an archer sounds good to me. We could use the archer for the worker steal, that would allow our spearman and scout to keep exploring for now. The archer will be useful for barb control later.

There's enough time to fit in Animal Husbandry before Archery though, since we still need to finish our shrine and monument.