52 shades of Sid - a story of deities (closed)

[Pedro78]

Couldn't find any motivation/concentration to play last week (being sick didn't help). I've picked the game up today and currently playing T148 (760AD), 22 cities, 20 workers, 12 settlers on the way. Just reached Communism. I'll play to 1000 AD and update later, hopefully tomorrow. Really want to wrap this game up and move on to the next one, but settling the New World and going for Space takes SO much time...

@Lain
Very clean and uncontested victory. Much less of a hassle than the New World stuff .. I like the Elephants into Cuirs thing, gotta practice that.

 

[Pedro78]

Okay time for the long overdue 1000 AD update.

Spoiler Write-up to turn 160 (1000 AD) :

T138 –

Spoiler T138 diverse thoughts :

- I make a settler plan to settle the new world ASAP : SP coming soon and I’ll need A LOT of Settlers/Workers in the new world. Barb cities are not worth taking right now. I’ll take (and probably raze them) when I get better units

o Some delay is needed, though, because most of my cities are building research to get lib in time…

- Tech plan : Lib (SM) – Communism – [Banking-Economics (if still available), will trade for Guilds with Justinian as he’s bound to get it soon] – Gunpowder – Chemistry (trade for Engineering) – RP or SP?

- Tech trading looks bleak to say the least : Only Justinian is friendly. I cannot trade with Bismark (WFYABTA + he is Boudica’s WE), no way to get him to friendly either.

- Isabella hates me. Can’t do anything about that.

- I am Asoka’s WE – should change soon enough (see below)

- Boudica is the tricky (and interesting one) :

o She’s at Pleased (+4) right now, but I’ve only got +3 trade relations and still have -1 because I traded with her WE. So this will actually be +6 soon enough. I’ll get the +1 “you shared your technological discoveries with us” fairly soon (7 techs trades required total), which is +7 total. I have +1 military struggle bonus atm, but she is plotting (not on me as she cannot plot at pleased). This can become +5 eventually (+6 during war time), as I will declare on her target (likely Bismark or Isabella, unlikely to be Justin because of power ratio). So I can eventually get her to friendly even with -3 different religion penalty. Bismark and Isabella will hate me, but I don’t care.

o Which means I’ll also share a war with Asoka, so I won’t be his WE anymore (still have to be careful when trading with him cos Justy hates him)

- I also need Music ASAP to build culture in new world cities, but I can’t get it right now (I can get litt from Bismark but this would net me a diplo hit with Boudica)

- I need to connect the city of Mediolanum to my trade network. Hopefully this is not an inner sea (these are very rare on terra maps as the New World is a snaky continent (or 2)). Have to explore, doesen’t cost me anything.

After exploration it appears that it isn't an inner sea, so my city is connected. Awesome.

T139 –

Spoiler :

- World map for 140g to Boudi – maps are very valuable at this point of the game

- Education to Isabella for Feuda + Drama + Litt. Might steal Music from Justinian. Boudica has Guilds. This gives me WFYABTA with Bismark.

T140 –

Spoiler :

- Lib SM

- Bismark not WFYABTA anymore

- Boudica declares war on Isabella. So do I.

- Justinian is going for Banking – (Economics?). I decide to skip Banking-Economics as it’s a free GM but it’s also 3500 beakers that I don’t need.

- See, my world map is worth 170 gold at this point :


I accept the deal so my new world cities can pop borders.

T145 –

Spoiler :

I give Astro + Lib to Justinian (he was 1T away from lib, remember?) for Banking + Engi. Bismarck and Isabella already have Astro anyways.

T146 –

Spoiler :

- 1700 gold from trade mission

- Have to make peace with Isabella due to AP resolution…

- On the same turn I get Economics for PP+World Map + some gold

- World map trades are really great to keep research going. Probably close to 1000 gold total.

T148 –

Spoiler :

- Communism. Revolt to SP immediately (only 1T of anarchy and saves me close to 100gpt – 22 cities atm)

- Research set to Replaceable parts. Hope to get Gunpowder in trade. Maybe even chemistry. Physics is not worth it even with the free GS as I’ll get it for free later and don’t need it for trade bait. Now the priority is Assembly Line for factories + power.

T149 –

Spoiler :

- Before/After SP maintenance:


Pretty astonishing...

- I trade away SM to Justinian for Nationalism + 225 gold. Grab the gold while it’s there and I don’t really care about him becoming too advanced now. After the New world cities start contributing research will skyrocket. Plus it makes him likely to go for Physics next, which means we won’t be researching the same thing (I’m going through the Steam Power branch). Hopefully trade RP+Communism for Physics at some point. I’d also much rather have him tech Physics than Democracy… Right now he’s going Constitution, which is perfect.

- I now know the whole map except for its northern part. I disband most explorers/caravels as they’re now useless.

- Quickly settling the new world. I’d like to claim the whole landmass before Assembly Line so my core cities can start building Factories + Coal Plants ASAP, AIs can have the islands I don’t care. New cities build culture to pop borders while chopping granary.

- I’m settling a marble city on the next turn, and have several new world spots with 10 BFC forests so I might take a shot at the Taj (only Justinian has Nationalism)

T150 –

Spoiler :

- Boudica starts plotting. Can’t be on me as she’s pleased. Hopefully (probably) Isabella

- Barb situation is ok in the new world: Praets can deal with Axemen easily if fortified on forest hills. Warriors and Archers are almost a non-issue.

T151 –

Spoiler :

- Justinian steals my Ivory (the one I originally settled to attack him lol)

- Asoka begs me Music. I refuse – my friend’s enemy is my enemy.

- Boudica declares on Bismark. 15 vs 7 cities but he is close to rifling and she doesn’t have gunpowder yet. I also declare on him – he’ll still be cautious afterwards (pleased now) and will never be friendly.

T152 –

Spoiler :

- Freshly shipped maces doing some cleaneup

I razed this one. It's settled on a grass hill iron, and the spot 2E of it is my future IW city.

T155 –

Spoiler :

- I give Rep parts + Gunpowder for Constitution + some gold to Justin as he might get these techs from Bismarck and I need to get Corporation from him next turn (the extra trade route per city matters a lot with 30+ cities)
- CR3 Praets get "decent" odds against non-promoted non-fortified non-hilled barb longbows

T156 –

Spoiler :

- The AP pushes me out of war against Bismark… again… I can’t defy as my capital (Oxford city) has the AP religion (Judaism)

- I trade Communism for Corporation + some gold to Justinian. Instant +80bpt. (~850 atm)

- Boudica is now Justinian’s WE. Plus she is a whole era behind me in tech. Hmmm… So much for the plan of getting her to friendly and trading with her eh?

T157 –

Spoiler :

- Chemistry. Research set to Steam Power (5). Probably won’t have enough gold to finish it. Doing 800-900 bpt at 100% but only ~250gpt @0%

T158 – Boudica starts plotting again

@T160 : 37 cities (will be 51 in ~10-15 turns then I'll stop "expanding"). ~900bpt, Oxford city only doing 295 lol, building OU was really dumb. Overall very strong position but it could have been much better with better planning/less mistakes/without OU (new world settled quicker, earlier AL etc.). Not sure what my space date will be as I've never played this kind of game before. Right now Steam Power in 3 turns but no(t enough) gold for research.

I probably forgot some things in the write-up, was more focused on playing. Most details aren't that interesting anyway. I was able to maintain 100% slider the whole time thanks to GM trade mission + world maps + selling techs carelessly. Now I'm bleeding 350+ gpt and won't be able to hold for long anymore. Too bad as I need Assembly Line ASAP now. Need to think.

Oh and about the Taj :

Spoiler :

See that huge sabotage production cost? Can't be the SoL as he just got Democracy, so it must be the Taj. Marble not online yet so no Taj for me.

No overview as 37 cities is a lot of irrelevant screenshots. Feel free to dig into the save though.

 

[Pedro78]

A little peek at 1100 AD. Things are finally coming together.

Spoiler :

 

[Lain]

Hey, looking good . It's nice to see such ambition and planning. Can be very rewarding when it all comes together, but there is also a lot of potential for frustration (like the Oxford-incident).

Personally, I am not so idealistic anymore. Rather, I am like a cynical football coach, who wants to win every game 1-0. I don't care how conventional it is, I just choose the most pragmatic approach. Just winning is rewarding enough for me and lots of fun.

I very much enjoy your detailed reports, enthusiasm and detail of gameplay (also digging a bit into your saves). I just hope that it isn't too exhausting for you, because I very much look forward to playing more games. This is "only" the first out of 52, right ? It shouldn't feel like "work", just in case it does.

Of course, making a perfect game plan work can be really fun aswell and gains more appreciation.

 

[Pedro78]

Thanks

Surprisingly enough I'm really enjoying this game, doesn't really feel like work. The biggest problem is the time factor - I expected to finish it in 20 hours but it'll end up being ~50.. I'm not even micro-managing that much anymore (when it comes to workers/city builds), it only took a lot of planning to settle the new world asap. But with 50+ cities even with minimal micro it takes me 20-30min per turn or I miss out on something big. Diplo is also a big headache because you want to get as much gold as possible while avoiding WE trades. Oh and no "perfect game plans" here, it's completely new and experimental for me, even though I'm fairly satisfied with the results considering the whole OU mess lol

Oh and yeah this is the first out of 52, and following games will be shorter

Not sure what kind of map I'll play next. Definitely not Terra/B&S kind of stuff, too much land, even though I'd like to try the "sushi" kind of game at least once.

 

[Pedro78]

Just one screenshot to keep the thing alive, will write-up when my empire is completely set and have a better view of things. Still experimenting

Spoiler :

Building no wealth nor research here. Will be much better in 10 turns. That game is such a mess lol, but a lot of fun and I'm learning a lot.

 

[Pedro78]

Update to turn 188 (1280 AD)

Spoiler brief write-up, many thoughts :

Basically I teched Steam Power - Assembly Line - Biology - Industrialism. Tech trades were great with Justinian (Physics, Electricity, Steel). Other AIs are useless, except for a few hundred gold here and there (gave Communism to Bismark for 150 gold or so on this turn lol).

Boudica DoWs Bismark and Isabella several times, I don't follow her anymore as she's now useless, being Justinian's worst ennemy. Would have been great to have another friendly AI for more tech trades but I'll have to do with Justinian only. He was teching faster than me until last turn, now things are gonna change

Now a few things about space races in general and Terra map more specifically:

New world forests are good to chop granaries. Then it’s better to improve tiles (wm/ws/farm, no cottages ofc). It’s usually sub-optimal to whip new world cities as long as you have improved tiles to work (improved tiles are very powerful at this stage of the game)

On T170 (1100 AD) it's time to set each city’s target size. Important to know for every city as it tells you if you need MP and what health/happiness buildings are needed (factory + coal plant give +7 unhealthiness, an additional +2 if you have oil hooked up). That’s why I won’t build a factory in my Oxford city for a long time (will explain that later).

Link to emancipation anger formula (the thread it’s from is golden) : https://forums.civfanatics.com/thre...in-game-mechanics.464503/page-3#post-11931638

Let’s be pessimistic: the AIs get 15 more cities total, which means 73 AI cities and 125 in the world (I have 52). All AIs running emancipation. Then %CivicAnger=233,6. So the emancipation anger per city will be [233,6*CityPop/1000]. This means my 27pop Capital will get 6 emancipation anger. Need 33 happiness. Pretty straightforward eh?

More generally, for each city, unhappiness = CityPop + [CityPop*0,2336]. Add CityPop/3 if the city doesn't have MP.

How to get happiness?
Base = 4
Religion = 1
Palace = 1
Happy resources = 12
Forge = 3
AP temple = 1
Representation = 3
Theatre = 1
Market (forum) = 4
Hit singles/movies/musicals = 3

Of course you can rarely get everything in one city

What about health?
Base = 2
Fresh water = 2
Resources = 11
Granary = 3
Harbor = 3
Grocer = 4
Aqueduct = 2
Hospital = 3
Public transportation = 1
Not including the Supermarket because I probably won't get Refrigeration (not needed for a Space race). Might still get it if Justy decides to tech it.

Strong of all this information, I calculate every city's final size, worked tiles and specialists ran. Would have been a few hours well invested had I made an improvements plan, but I kinda messed up the worker stuff. Nothing new, but on a Terra map you need A LOT of workers (2 per inland new world city, 1 per coastal city). I had less than that and ended up working a lot of unimproved tiles for a while.

After some calculations, I already have enough units to MP in all my cities, can even disband some. Barbs won’t be an issue as they stop spawning when the game’s average era reaches Renaissance. And as we live in the perfect world, I already have 11 military units in the new world for the 11 cities that will need MP. So all the unnecessary MP in the Old World can be disbanded on this turn. I also disband one Galleon, as I won’t need them too much anymore (I’ll only keep the 7-movement ones so they can ferry all the old world workers to the new world once all my tiles are rightly improved)
Oh and on T171 I disband my SuperMedic (scout) as he's useless. Should have done that ages ago

Right now Boudica is at war with both Isabella and Bismark. They both have Rifling and she isn't even close to it. But it's fine as she has a huge army. I have to make sure that no one vassals her but it's not an immediate threat.

On T188 I finally launch a GA to switch to Rep+CS+Paci. Waited for my cities to grow a little and for my GP farms to be ready for heavy spec-running. Now doing 3k bpt, Industrialism next turn. Trade for Railroad. Then tech Fission and trade for combustion (not that many more beakers). Then plastics, trade for Radio and Computers-Superconductors. Backfill what I can, selftech the rest. Should be doing 5k+ bpt eventually. Not sure about the launch date.

Spoiler about spaceship build planning :

Will detail that more later, but for now I plan to launch 2T after tech complete. It's probably possible to launch 1T after tech complete, but I don't want to spend 5+ more hours figuring out how. Not playing this for glory anyway, just experimenting with space victories.

A note about dear JC -
Probably the best non FIN or PHI leader for this particular map. Org was extremely useful for war recovery and for 40+ half cost factories. IMP was invaluable to settle the new world faster.

A screenshot of the demographics for those who don't feel like diving into the save

Spoiler :

Edit: Something really dumb that I had completely forgotten

Spoiler :

Industrialism obsoletes Ivory, Combustion obsoletes Whale, Plastics obsolete fur
Not planning for that is gonna hurt me a little...

 

[BornInCantaloup]

^ You're looking pretty, there
Sure, the Market happiness is irrelevant in the endgame, don't worry about that. You'll have time to adjust your tiles before the miscalc matters.
It's a very remarkable amount of effort you're putting into this game. I'm sure it will pan out into each and every later game you play

You know... 3000bpt at 1300 AD... that's a neat feat in itself. Some things may be improved, yes ? Maybe ? Probably ? Sure ? Who cares ?
It's a great game you're having ! Have fun and make the experience matter !


It seems to me you'd have benefitted from farming some more in the New World, versus workshopping, but, since it's a matter of available workforce, it's hard to judge.
The decision to go relatively light on infrastructure seems sound, focusing on hammer multipliers only.

 

[Pedro78]

Thanks for looking at the save!

the Market happiness is irrelevant in the endgame, don't worry about that

Yup I just thought that I could trade for the resources, but apparently not. Too bad. Usually by the time I reach Industrialism and stuff I can trade for all the Hit stuff but here it's not the case. Oh well...

You know... 3000bpt at 1300 AD... that's a neat feat in itself

It all depends on the map. Given the luck I had with Peter having no access to iron, I don't think my current situation is that great. The most important thing is I'm learning a lot about empire management.

It seems to me you'd have benefitted from farming some more in the New World, versus workshopping, but, since it's a matter of available workforce, it's hard to judge

I began settling the new world around 500 AD and reached Biology only in ~1200 AD. Communism 760 AD. So for a long time farms were just inferior to watermills in all aspects. Where I couldn't build watermills I started on workshops, should probably have built the intended farms quicker. The thing is I just didn't bring quite enough workers. Unlike in the early turns, when settling the new world every worker pays for itself, even if building more workers delays your AL date a little I think it's worth it.

The decision to go relatively light on infrastructure seems sound, focusing on hammer multipliers only.

Hmmm... In most cities that's right, but I still should have built Libraries+Universities+Observatories earlier in the New World riverlands as these cities have a lot of commerce, and these buildings would pay for themselves very quickly (10-20 turns). I went light on the AP temples but that was calculated. They need 40 turns to pay back (120h invested missonary + temple, gives 4h after multipliers) and in most cities it makes you store unnecessary overflow which is even more waste money (cities that are ready to buil missionaries are doing more than 80hpt at this point)

Anyways, that's an exhausting game but I'm really enjoying it. Shouldn't be too far away from wrapping it up and rolling on to the next one now

Edit: Now T194, research going up much faster than I expected, 4200 bpt now and keeps going up (5000 bpt on T195). Have to re-think the timing if I want to build the space parts in time.

 

[Pedro78]

Okay, now it's T200 and some re-thinking has been done

Spoiler :

Since last update I've teched Industrialism-Fission-Plastics-Radio-Computers (traded for Combustion). Justinian is useless now, he's teching too slow for me. Will get Rifling and hopefully Medicine from him. Maybe Refrigeration but I don't need it at all.

Tech pace is now more readable, here's the final plan:

- T201 Superconductors
- T202 Artillery
- T204 Rocketry
- T206 Satellites
- T207 Golden Age
- T208 Composites
- T210 Fiber Optics
- T212 Fusion
- T214 Genetics
- T215 Ecology
Bpt varies between 4000 and 5000 depending on the various builds. In a golden age and when all the cities are grown it will be 6000+. Was really late growing my cities though. Bringing a lot of workers and using farms as a transitional improvement is very important, your comment opened my eyes, BornInCantaloup
That's a rough estimation but I think it's pretty accurate, especially with the golden age coming in.

Now about the spaceship build (the tricky part) :

I want to launch 2T after tech complete, which means...

• IW city builds 3T Stasis Chamber. That's the easy one. No need to workshop the pigs even. Levee + GA will do wonders. Just have to make sure the food bin is full enough at T214
• Need 2 Engines in 5T. One will be in Moscow (Oxford city, capital). I already pre-workshopped everything and am pre-mining stuff. Will need OF from the laboratory but is easy enough. Second one is in Caesaraugusta, a new world city with good production potential and has one forest available to chop. Will also involve workshops and starvation. My 50ish workers are now concentrating around my key space cities lol
• Apollo is planned on T209. Will have to halt IW city's growth for 5 turns, but will still be in time for Genetics.
• This leaves 8T for the Docking Bay. Only need a Laboratory and 80 base hammers, fairly easy as I'll be in a golden age for the most part
• Need 10 cities to build Thrusters/Casings + 1 to build Cockpit. No trouble at all finding them.

The hardest part might be maintaining the tech pace, but I have a golden age + 1 GS to bulb 1/3 of Fiber Optics + 1 GM (2500 gold) incoming. Shouldn't be too hard either.

If all goes well it will translate in a T217 (1535 AD) launch

Final update will have more screenshots and stuff, I promise ^^

 

[Pedro78]

Change in plans. Miscalculated the tech rate again, but thankfully OF from lab allows to finish Apollo 1T earlier, so I don't have to recalculate everything

Spoiler screenshot :

Oh and for those who were wondering, Laboratory doesn't speed up the build of Apollo. I just learned that 10 minutes ago (didn't bank on it though).

 

[Pedro78]

Turn 225 (1575 AD) Space victory -

Spoiler write-up :

It appeared that I had underestimated my tech pace (again) and had to change plans. Starved out my last GM to launch the golden age on T205. The idea was to finish researching on T213 and launch on T215 (had an incoming GS to bulb Fusion). Easier said than done as I had everything already planned for a T217 launch. My army of workers helped me finish Apollo in 3 turns :

Spoiler :

Would not have been possible without a golden age. Now almost everything can be done according to the previous plan, except I have to strech out the research and starve down some cities to reach Ecology on T213

Research goes up fast during Golden Age and peaks at around 7.000 bpt. That's higher than what I expected.
On T207 I finish workshoping/mining my Oxford city. Half of the cottages were still villages... Eeeeek... The end of a painful story, a lesson was learned here

Spoiler :

On turn 209 I realize that my GS will bulb Laser and not Fusion... That's really dumb, should have starved him out to bulb Fiber Optics. It didn't matter eventually because I had the horsepower to tech Fusion in one turn but still... a rookie's mistake

Spoiler :

I settled him (that's 30+ bpt with Oxford and stuff). Oh and don't forget that the higher your population, the stronger your bulbs (beakers from bulb = 1500 + 3*pop)

At this point I'm not too worried about Justinian winning the game so I grab every last bit of gold I can get. I also gift him composites, wanna see how fast he can kill Boudica with Modern Armor (she doesn't have rifles yet). Justy hasn't declared yet, he declared on the turn after launch iirc.

Spoiler :

Oh and I almost forgot to mention, but my "ivory city" has flipped to Justinian around T200. Not a big loss, but that's why I now have 51 cities and not 52.

The T213 (tech complete) save I attached shows that with the right planning I could have launched 1 turn earlier. Oh well...

A couple of end-game pictures:

Spoiler :

Stupid Justinian never got Mass Media, so much for my plan of getting alll the "hit stuff" from him uh?






A pitiful score. Didn't expect it to be that low. Didn't really try anything in that direction though, literally automated everything and pressed "end turn" 10 times after launch.

Didn't build or control a single wonder in that game, maybe another display that wonderwhoring usually does you no good

Sooo... That was a loooong and fairly painful game but I've learned so much from it. Hope some people have learned stuff from my writeups/saves or were simply entertained by the whole thing
This game was a little slow but the following ones should be quicker.

Anyways that was my first ever space win, and the first Civ4 game I finish since March. Was far from perfect, but turned out to be better than what I expected it to be. So I'm satisfied and will keep this thread going, 51 leaders to go


I'll post the next map either tomorrow or the day after. I'm open to suggestions, no matter if you're playing or not

 

[Lain]

Congrats on an amazing game . Definitely entertaining and a lot to be learned. I will probably dig into the saves little by little. Didn't quite have the time for deeper analysis in the recent weeks and a quick glance doesn't do it justice. Surprised about the early launch, too. Good to see what can be possible. Very nice. Deserved a much higher score for sure.

Looking forward to the next one.

 

[petersc]

Looking forward to the next one.

Ditto. Great game Pedro!

 

[Pedro78]

Okay so it's time for the next game

Our second leader is Saladin, and here's our start :

Spoiler start :

Spoiler Turn 0 demographics :

Map is Continents, everything standard. Wanted to play a "normal" game after the previous one, and more casual settings might attract more people to play.

Why Saladin? Well I've always hated this guy, mostly because his starting techs are horrible and I tend to only get crap land with him. But I felt like playing something a little harder this time, and I haven't played with a Spiritual leader in quite some time, and it's one of the most interesting traits to play with. A lot of "advanced" stuff you can do with it

I generated quite a few starts until I found one that shows Saladin in his most despicable form

Edit - thoughts on the start

Spoiler :

Who doesn't love BFC PH marble to settle on? Well not this time
I think the best play here is to move Warrior 1SE and settle 1W if nothing amazing is found. Who cares about fresh water in this kind of situation?
Early game teching is definitely going to be an issue thanks to our awesome starting techs, but that's part of the fun and it's what makes this start so interesting
AH, no AH, watcha think? I think I would skip AH here, but have to think a little.

It appears that we are in the northern part of the map, not sure what to do with that information yet. Little to learn from the T0 demographics except no Mansa in the game.

Shadows are very welcome as always (I'm not thinking of anyone in particular ). I haven't played a turn yet, will start the game this weekend. For now you can drop some thoughts about the start



Re-edit - Oh and I almost forgot...

Spoiler :

In case you were wondering, here's the actual start

Not as pretty but there's always a lot to learn from playing this kind of start.

 

[BornInCantaloup]

^ Ouch ! Talk about a letdown

I can't see the appeal of settling 1W (?).
What use is a faster start if you've got yourself a guaranteed class Z capital ?
I don't know, this is about as depressing a start as can be, especially appended to that first screenshot of yours.
I'd think about moving inland and settling on turn 2-3.

There can be some benefits to staying coastal (starting with a galley) but, at the very least, I'd consider moving south.

 

[Rusten]

#ICantBelieveItsNotTectonics

With BIC on this one. Get the hell out of there! Settle on turn 10 if you have to.

 

[Pedro78]

@BornInCantaloup @Rusten

Well the capital will suck anyway. Settling the PH and going Ag-mining allows to get a reasonably fast settler out and will give me some time for scouting. Not sure though.

I have little experience with moving the settler in the dark... I might not find anything, or an even slower start. The PH 3S of the settler might be a decent spot... or not. If there isn't anything more down there I don't see a reason for moving. On a Pangaea/Terra I would definitely move inland because I don't want to be boxed in with that crappy spot but continents usually give a fair amount of land. Plus in all those plains I probably won't find corn/pigs, maybe river wheat at best... hard to justify the turns spent moving IMO
If you were playing this and the goal was a 100% guaranteed victory, would you move the settler out in the wild?

Oh and the Tectonics script would give the same start without the FP

Edit - Or do you know any technique that would maximize the chances of finding food when moving the settler in the fog?

 

[BornInCantaloup]

Yes, I'd move south, even having survival in mind.
Having survival++ in mind, I might SIP (you're farming the fp first anyway). This is Continents, pretty chances you've got your own island. Expansion rate might not matter.
Having survival+ in mind, I'd find 1S of the sheep somewhat attractive. Then again, it keeps the capital coastal for a galley/water wonder.
Just playing for the kicks of it, I'd certainly lose the initial settler to a wandering barb archer, that's what I'd do

There's no trick for exploring the fog.
You're right that there's no guarantee anywhere. If you're ready to bite the bullet and play the longer game, then I suppose SIP is alright. I still don't see the appeal of the plains hills 1W.
If this is a "to each their own island" type of Continents map, it won't matter much whether your start is slow or not.


ps : well done @ the Julius map.
You were right that he's one of the better leaders to settle the New World but I would not have thought your decision to go for an early Astronomy would pay off that nicely.
I'd have played the map like a regular Pangaea and getting to the 50 cities mark would have come much more costly.

 

[Pedro78]

Hmmmm...

Just playing for the kicks of it, I'd certainly lose the initial settler to a wandering barb archer, that's what I'd do

That's what I'd do in most "offline" games, but here it would be a shame if my game was suddenly over before T10 lol

If this is a "to each their own island" type of Continents map, it won't matter much whether your start is slow or not

That's an interesting point. These maps are quite rare, though. But I have to disagree with the "it won't matter much whether your start is slow or not" part. Assuming that you're not giving up on the long term benefits, a faster start is always better. So I'm still convinced that if you're not gonna move then the PH is better. Barbs are on and can be a pain on continents, the PH helps getting those early warriors aswell, I see only benefits to it compared to SIP.

Now I really hope that the warrior reveals something nice so I can move to the PH 3S of starting position

ps : well done @ the Julius map.
You were right that he's one of the better leaders to settle the New World but I would not have thought your decision to go for an early Astronomy would pay off that nicely.
I'd have played the map like a regular Pangaea and getting to the 50 cities mark would have come much more costly.

Thanks. What else would you go for if not early Astro? It allows you to settle the new world and it's a prereq for SciMeth, which allows you to skip Chemistry in your beeline for SP.
I don't think it's optimal to play any Terra map like a regular Pangaea when going for space as the land in the new world is so good. However if I had to replay the game I would go for Printing Press before Astro, as getting Astro that early didn't do me much good, and PP is useful. Settling the new world before SP is extremely costly (3 small cities were costing me close to 100gpt I think). When you get SP everything needs to be in place to settle the new world ASAP though. In some cities I didn't have the time to build Factory+Coal Plant because I settled them too late/didn't have enough workers.
Now of course if you're going for conquest there's no point in getting Astro at all