ALC Game 22: Arabs/Saladin

[Sisiutil]

Well, Dell and Puralator came through and delivered the new computer today, so I'm hoping by tomorrow I'll be Civving away again. (Before that I gotta install updates, reboot, more updates, reboot, install software, etc., etc... Not to mention installing Civ, BtS, their patches, and so on...) With any luck, I'll be able to start the first round tomorrow.

With the emerging consensus, unless the Warrior spots anything spectacular (gold, gems, silver, maybe ivory), let's assume I'm going to settle in place and discuss how to proceed from there. That means initial techs and builds.

 

[OTAKUjbski]

Is it just me, or do these widescreen ALC screenshots seem ... odd ... after all this time seeing standard 4:3 screenshots in the ALC's?

Or maybe it's the Aqua color ... IDK. I feel so

(Steel @ 64 Opacity FTW!)

Anyhow, back on topic ... what everybody else said ... settle in place.

As for techs, my vote is Agriculture > Animal Husbandry.

 

[Sisiutil]

Is it just me, or do these widescreen ALC screenshots seem ... odd ... after all this time seeing standard 4:3 screenshots in the ALC's?

Or maybe it's the Aqua color ... IDK. I feel so

(Steel @ 64 Opacity FTW!)

Anyhow, back on topic ... what everybody else said ... settle in place.

As for techs, my vote is Agriculture > Animal Husbandry.

I can't wait to see how my new screenshots look. I now have two monitors, one at 1440 x 900 and the other tilted to portrait orientation at 1024 x 1280! Poor OTAKU might be getting dizzy following the ALCs soon...

 

[OTAKUjbski]

1024 x 1280!

O. M. G.

OT Question: Why Portrait?

 

[Nares]

That means initial techs and builds.

Agriculture, Mining, Hunting, Bronze Working, Animal Husbandry, Archery, Meditation, Priesthood, Writing. Probably longer than the turnset will be. Also, please offer improvements.

 

[Bandobras Took]

I would go Pottery Hunting Archery Animal Husbandry. Protective leaders don't have to be in such a hurry to reveal Bronze, and there's no need to be mining the Plains Hills early on, is there? Besides, I've gotten the impression reading these that Sisiutil likes Scouts.

 

[Sisiutil]

O. M. G.

OT Question: Why Portrait?

Uh... 'cause the other one's landscape? Because it can? So I can view the entire page of a document I'm writing? So I can view photos in their correct orientation? All the usual reasons...

I would go Pottery Hunting Archery Animal Husbandry. Protective leaders don't have to be in such a hurry to reveal Bronze, and there's no need to be mining the Plains Hills early on, is there? Besides, I've gotten the impression reading these that Sisiutil likes Scouts.

I like them when I start with Hunting. But you make a good point, since I'm playing as a Protective leader, I should obtain Archery early on and Hunting's on the way there.

BTW, I'd need Agriculture before I can research Pottery. But it's useful for this start too. I'm leaning towards it as the first tech to research, perhaps followed by Hunting and Archery? It would be nice if a campable resource was nearby to further justify Hunting...

Also, please offer improvements.

Sorry, what do you mean by that?

 

[Peachrocks]

Why do I think Sisiutil picked this start because there is little to debate over?

Good start, looks like an ironworks city if the game goes that long. Mine always do, I always try to get technologically ahead and liberlism for steel for cannons and much earlier ironworks . Perhaps my own bad civ habit... addiction to space race

I think Agriculture, pottery, hunting, animal husbandardy, archery isn't too bad for starting techs... but Saladin is a leader ive been looking forward to he's got a lot of hidden potential that's a bit harder to dig out then certain leaders (HC anyone ).

 

[Calder]

Those 4 shown floodplains when cottaged would be sufficient to feed the visible 2 mined plains hills, so I vote settle in place, moving warrior clockwise around capital. Being on tiny Islands I doubt any use for early scouts, so I'd delay Hunting and go Fishing/Pottery/Mining/Hunting/Animal Husbandary/Archery/Sailing. I've never played Tiny Islands but I'm imagining scampering for the seas for valuable resources via Sailing. (Note Pottery requires The Wheel, Agriculture or Fishing. The later is quicker, and required for Sailing.)
Settling on the Coast should be an early priority, especially if sharing this continent with possibly 2 other Civs.
Then again we have a resourceless UU, but would be nice to deny the AI resources by getting there first.

 

[Munch]

Is chasing one of the early religions so unpopular? This city is a great commerce site! Given the number of commerce tiles I would found a religion there ASAP and cottage it up. It'll be an economic powerhouse and make a great late game Wall Street and corporation HQ site.

Sure pottery and animal husbandry etc are the techs you want early, but a 1 tech detour to nab Polytheism/Meditation should be possible while still growing (by working unimproved floodplains).

I take it all back if someone beats you to it!

 

[Mesousa]

Being on tiny Islands

It's a Hemispheres map. Those tiny islands are in addition to two continents. And what we see in screenshot is already too large an area for it to be a tiny island (if you can even start there), Sisiutil is on a continent.

 

[Killroyan]

Definitely try to get an early religion. The madrassa is screaming for it. Getting a buddhist shrine really early will keep you afloat and hopefully you will be able to spread it. It could even be a theme to spread it to 2 AI's and let the third one be the victim of the religious pact.

The starting site is solid. 4 flood plains, riverside cows (love those) and plains hill already in sight. Settling is not much of a question. Tech path in my book would be something like meditation/AH/mining/BW/pottery

 

[Froggie818]

With the emerging consensus, unless the Warrior spots anything spectacular (gold, gems, silver, maybe ivory), let's assume I'm going to settle in place and discuss how to proceed from there. That means initial techs and builds.

Okay, maybe my N00bness is showing, but didn't you discard at least one of the three starts that r_rolo rolled up, because (among other things) it had gems in the BFC, thereby making it too easy for your last Emperor game?

I also believe the warrior should travel 1NW, but it seems to me that, regardless of what he reveals (unless, maybe, there's some more production that you can move to without sacrificing too much commerce), the settler should settle in place.

As a complete aside, in my own little CIV world, where I'm trying to get one of each win before advancing to the next level, I started a new game over the weekend and, totally by conicidence, randomly rolled Saladin. According to the (admittedly rather deranged) rules I've put on myself, I need to get a space victory with him. I decided to go the religious route, as discussed in the pre-game discussion for this ALC. So far, neither option is going well. I'm the lone Buddhist in a world of Hindus and I got stuck in a long protracted war with Sitting Bull that's forced a late start on the Apollo Program. That said, money has never been an issue, so there's still hope...
(Again, this is my own game; totally different start, so no spoilers for this ALC.)

Anyway, all of this to say: I agree. Move the warrior 1 NW and settle in place. I would also vote for a quick detour to pick up an early religion. I'd love to see that done correctly, so I know what I should have done.

 

[Daedal]

Nabbing a super early religion seems unlikely given that there are no good commerce tiles visible in the BFC. Going for Agriculture > Pottery > Polytheism > Monotheism could be a plan, though. BW > AH can come after that.

I'd be tempted to start building a warrior first here for 2 reasons. 1) We want to cottage those FP, not farm them. 2) Working a bare FP will let us grow quicker, giving an edge in research and worker production. So my build suggestion is warrior > worker > warrior > settler > worker.

Oh yeah and settle in place. Move the warrior to the hill.

 

[TM Moot]

Definitely try to get an early religion. The madrassa is screaming for it. Tech path in my book would be something like meditation/AH/mining/BW/pottery

Agree with grabbing an early religion, although I would favour Polytheism.

Warrior 1NW is a given, & most likely settle in place (unless something gamebreaking shows up).

Having played Hemispheres quite a lot lately, Sis is definelty on a continent.

 

[Chrispy]

I would go Pottery Hunting Archery Animal Husbandry. Protective leaders don't have to be in such a hurry to reveal Bronze, and there's no need to be mining the Plains Hills early on, is there? Besides, I've gotten the impression reading these that Sisiutil likes Scouts.

I like this for a few reasons. Agriculture or Pottery are needed to improve the flood plains, so start there. Beelining Archery as protective makes sense and is guaranteed protection from barbs. AH gets you the pasture and opens up Writing, which gets you the Madrassa and some mid-game religions, perhaps lightbulbing Theology in time.

I agree that Bronze Working isn't as big a priority on this map, but I would get mining after AH because of the plains hills and the hammers required for the Madrassa. Plus, with at least 4 flood plains, I don't think you want to chop the forests as early and lose the health bonus, so BW again moves down the list.

 

[r_rolo1]

As for religions I want to remember the settings: Hemispheres , 2 continents..... Early religion will most surely mean a lovefest in the faraway lands... just because of that I would only try to get Mono religion or even Theo one.....

About techs: this starts requires 3 techs : Agri ,AH and Mining .... I would get AH first.

 

[madscientist]

Good Luck!!!!!

First settle in place. With so many floodplains and Sal's poor starting techs I say getting some early cottaging to tech faster in teh BC is the way to go here.

My suggestions here

1) Teching. You are Arabs, dammit. Get a religion, preferably polytheism and sing the praises of Allah with Islam!!! Work one floodplains, then the other and you should get it. Followup with hunting/AH/archery/Pottery. 5 techs then start hitting mining/BW.

2) Build order. Grow the city fast with the floodplains. Delay a worker unless you want to run alot of roads to nowhere. Just spam warriors for defense and exploration.

The main power of Saladin is to get an early religion (IMHO) and spam priests with the UB. You can bulb, settle, or shrine with them. He is very slow to start but can be very formidable once you ar eestablished with a metal resource.

Of all my advice depends on the neighbors!

 

[Bleys]

I'm the lone Buddhist in a world of Hindus . . .

To me, this is the bigger danger of chasing early religions, not the "time wasted on techs that arent going to improve tiles" argument. The AIs are much better than Humans at spreading religion, I am not sure why, probably because we would rather build important buildings and military units than mass-churn missionaries. One reason I like to found Confu (or later) as a first religion is the free missionary. I send him directly to the closest city of my closest AI buddy, and try to convert him quickly once he spreads it around.

Map plays a role as well, if you found Hindu, and the other continent gets Buddhism, then you are going to run into the "Block of AIs" problem. If the other continent gets both, its likely that you will have a nice cushion because they will be busy fighting with each other. If you have another religious civ on your own continent, though, the one-on-each situation could still happen, and then your just out of luck on the holy city unless you plan to take it.

That being said, Saladin is kind of like one of "those" leaders, the gruff "I dont need no friends" kind of guy, like Toku (although much more agreeable when played by the AI), and some others, seem to be, so playing him "in character" makes the game interesting. I have become a pretty big fan of the Priest Economy SE systems recently, the hammers after AW are nice, and if you plan to settle a lot of GP, the Prophet is an excellent choice in my book. Its easy enough to generate GS's to bulb somewhere else, your GLib city for example, and run priests in cities that arent likely to generate a GP ever in their entire game life.

 

[Bandobras Took]

BTW, I'd need Agriculture before I can research Pottery. But it's useful for this start too.

My favorite leaders usually start with Agriculture, so I keep forgetting it's necessary for Pottery.