Wveth's First Ever Posted Game - FORREALTHISTIME Edition!

[Mec AntiKythera]

What exactly is a "bureau cap"? I am totally virginal when it comes to the lingo. lol And why would not moving be better for it?

EDIT: Bureaucracy civic would be more useful because of the extra hammer in the city?

This is actually an important question that didn't get a full answer. When most people refer to a Bureaucracy Capital they are referring to developing the capital to maximize commerce (cottages, preferably on a river) and then running the bureaucracy civic for the bonus. This is a fairly standard way to generate the majority of the commerce for the whole empire, thus leaving other cities free to build/whip units and wealth and wonders and great people. If you have a lot of hills or a lack of food in the capital's Big Fat Cross (BFC) you won't be able to work a lot of cottages and get the most out of it. In this case, being coastal and having a lot of hills limits the potential for a cottaged capital. By moving you would be able to access more flat green tiles for cottages.

 

[dutchfire]

You need to find some good spots for your next cities.

A cow+fish city south of Washington might be possible? NE of the cows gives one overlapped grassland tile with the capital, which could help the capital grow cottages. E of the cow gives a lake tile in the BFC, which will be 3f with a lighthouse.

Best idea might be to play 8 more turns so that you have Bronze Working, then we know if/where the copper is, that should be enough info to decide where to settle.

Don't listen to much to me though, listen to the better players first.

 

[lymond]

Yeah, WTF with 10 leaders?!! did not notice that...why you make these settings after we recommend standard settings

also, huts=bad

 

[Wveth]

Er, is this too many leaders now? Should I not do a Terra map? Gah, it's all news to me @_@

 

[lymond]

Er, is this too many leaders now? Should I not do a Terra map? Gah, it's all news to me @_@

Well, the point really we are try to make, Wveth, is to not change jack with the setttings. Only thing we advised to setup is "no huts" and "no events". Don't take this as offense, just observation, as myself and others have been there too, but I think a lot of new players just look at all the bells and whistles and go "boy, why don't I just add in all this stuff" "huge map..woot!" "lot's more AIs! yahoo!" "marathon! a two month game must be tons more fun!"

Just stick to the advice for now while learning, or there really is no point bothering with this.


As to specifically why more AIs is not advantageous at this point, is that it makes the diplomacy aspect more difficult, and my assumption is your diplomacy is not so hot right now.

cheers

 

[pigswill]

The reason for my comment is that I was thinking that standard size Terra with 10 AIs is basically identical to small pangea with 10 AIs before astronomy. Obvious move is going for early axe rush, wipe out a couple of neighbours then with land advantage its easy to steam-roller the rest.

 

[Wveth]

Well I've been playing for a while... I didn't pick the settings arbitrarily; it's what I like to play with. It feels better because I'm all about the roleplaying and stuff. When I played on Standard size it felt so small, when I played on Normal speed it felt like I was hardly having time to appreciate each era. The number of AIs was just default, I didn't touch it.

The problem is that I've been playing more for the atmosphere and how it feels, rather than what makes strategic sense. I had to train myself out of getting all the techs in one era before advancing to the next, as well, because I'm goofy.

So basically I have to turn my whole thought process around.

 

[lymond]

So basically I have to turn my whole thought process around.

bingo!

(hey...I was pretty much the same way starting out and actually gave up the game pretty quickly as a result. It wasn't until I came back and actually tried to learn the game and improve that I got hooked and addicted. Oh..and I'm still goofy)

 

[Bjarkov]

The start:
Even with the fishies in sight the settle 1W is a sound decision as settling with that forested plain hills in the inner ring is key to accelerate work boats and get a strong city early. The extra spice commerce doesn't exactly harm the early game, either, and plantations will not be around for quite a while

Exploration and settling:
Your beginning warrior shouldn't stray too far, but should instead look for good city sites in the vicinity of your starting location as distant cities cost more gold to maintain. Food sources are the priority for your cities (with the amount of coast at the start, try scouting for some seafood). Luxury ressources become important a little later to raise cap of your cities. Gold and gems can also be important early game because they generate a lot of gold and help your teching rate a lot more than early cottages. Forests are nice too as they can be chopped for a lot of hammers to get the stuff you want earlier
Since we're not playing for a rush, the strategic ressources (copper, horse, iron) are nice to get but not high priority before you have an idea of how much space you will be able to get from your neighbours.

Tech: I almost always go Mining -> Bronze Working. Slavery and forest chopping are the main sources of production early and helps to get workers and settlers out faster. It also reveals Copper which might influence your settling choices.
On the same line, Animal Husbandry is great too because it lets you improve the livestock food sources, unlocks writing later and reveals horses, another factor to influence your settling.
On this map, Sailing could help a lot to effortlessly connect your cities with each other and the foreign nations and allow you to skip roads for a long time. Lighthouses are the other boon of this, and will make your capital much better.
After this, Masonry grants access to Great Lighthouse which looks like it is the best wonder you can get on this map, while The Wheel->Pottery gets you Granary, the best city improvement in the game

I'd go Mining->Bronze Working->Animal Husbandry->Sailing
From here I'd decide if I want the wonder, or the Granaries. For your first learning game, I recommend going after Pottery as wonders can become a crutch that you need in order to play, but cannot be relied on to get at higher difficulties.

(edit) Learning the game on a map with higher opponent count than the recommended settings might force you into an early war, again something that can take focus away from management skills. Roflstomping the AI with an early axe rush on noble is not too hard, but, like wonders, that early rush can be a crutch that you cannot rely on in future games