ALC Game #24: Hammurabi/Babylon

For the last time Sisiutil: please move the worker/scout before asking us what to do. It makes your games quicker.

This time, I'll play a shadow game, but I won't post any spoilers or even read any of the contents until I've finished mine. The way I'll do it is to look at the first page, and see up to which year you've played to, and then I'll play up to that point also.

I want to see just how difficult playing immortal without philosophical or financial really is.
 
Settle in place, research fishing - mining - bronze working
Build worker - fishing boat
 
I also agree with Whiskey....by going worker first and Mining-->Bronze-->, then fishing.....the worker can chop out the boats. When he is done farming, the worker can road the forested hills till fishing comes in or chop out some warriors. Any AI that has a capital within 8 spaces is viable for a warrior rush. How many warriors does it take to defeat 2 archers not on a hill?....8?
 
My experience with bowmen on a tectonics map (Monarchists game 3) is that G2 is a great promo for them. They totally pwn barbs until swords show up (never lost one to an axe), and with lots of hills they become virtual 2 movement units.
 
The Tectonics maps are interesting, but probably their biggest problem is lack of cottageable/farmable land. This means smaller cities and makes it harder to find the uber-GP farm or cottage city. Hammers will be easier to come by than either food or gold.

So where's the gold going to come from, if not from cottages or lots of specialists? Wonders, religion, trade routes, and conquest. Keeping maintenance down will also be big, so courthouses, changing palaces/building the FP will help too.

I would build a worker first to get him out of the way and start on the corn, then build some workboats and start whipping with all of your food. That dictates a techpath of Fishing > Mining > Bronze Working. Fishing is so cheap and the worker won't be done with the corn until after BW is almost done anyway -- plus the worker can build a road or two, so he won't lack for anything to do. Fishing first also lets you start on the workboat right after the worker finishes. After that, I would say Hunting, Archery, and Sailing have to figure in, probably in that order.

I think the first AI you run into that has founded a religion is your first target. You need his shrine.
 
Never played a tectonics map, so nothing on that.

Worker first is obvious because you have irrigated corn and the worker isn't going to run out of things to do with wheel and mining (which should be researched first). Warrior after worker, and after that things start to depend on what you know, but probably second warrior -> settler.

Mining -> BW is obvious techpath. After that probably Fishing, and then depends on what you know - Hunting -> Archery may be necessary.
 
Warrior + Fishing then Workboat x2
Hunting + Archery with archers x2
Mining + BW with worker
whip settlers (2) and archers (2+)
Pottery + Sailing
one more worker then Moai while your other 2 cities become established and take over military and expansion duties.

You have enough food and commerce initially from the 2 seafood tiles. Forested Plains Hills are decent production without wasting worker turns chopping and mining that could be used chopping grassland forests to make room for cottages and get out some early units.

Alternatively (depending on the map/priorities) consider keeping as many forests around as possible and chop yourself the Moai Statues. You will be working 2 lake tiles and 2 seafood tiles most of the game and the other 4 water tiles are all coastal. Cottage the 5 grassland, 1 plains and 1 grassland-hill tile and mine the 3 plain-hill tiles later. Super commerce city with good production that can also run a few specialists (engineers/priests/merchants depending). Add Wall Street later and settle any gold producing GP in this city.

For world wonders you will need to decide between the GLH and Colossus and Temple of Artemis but getting at least one of those in your capital will super-power you economy and add some early gold (merchant/priest) GPP as well.
 
Forested Plains Hills are decent production without wasting worker turns chopping and mining that could be used chopping grassland forests to make room for cottages and get out some early units.
Actually, with this many forested plains hills available it makes sense to chop and then mine each (rather than mining from the off), since you get the hammers from the forest quicker and won't lose out on overall production as you've got others to work.

This gets you the hammers from chopping, plus the extra hammers from mines, all in a timely fashion.
 
I'd move the warrior one SE personally but E is practically the same thing.
And yay I'm around when I a new ALC game starts :D.
I will shadow play this one, even though I play prince still, this will be a nice experience, to compare with sisiutils play :D.


EDIT:

I get a runtime error when I try to run the save, any id4eas what can be causing this ?
Edit, nvm, I was being a noob, unpatched game...
 
I'd settle in place.

Moving the Warrior 1E would show you another hill and another forest. I'd vote for moving the warrior 1 NW.

sylvanllewelyn said:
For the last time Sisiutil: please move the worker/scout before asking us what to do. It makes your games quicker.

The last time? Really? Promise? :)
 
Just a contrarian thought. Are there ever games where settling in place is sufficiently obvious, and moving the warrior so unlikely to reveal anything useful, that you just settle first and then move? I do this on rare occasions and this would be one I think. Maybe founding the city will reveal a hut or a clue which way to send the warrior. Maybe it even reveals an enemy.

Of course, I am a dedicated worker-stealer, so I value my warrior movements a bit higher than someone who just sees it as a glorified scout with no real job other than to look around a bit and then come home and fortify.
 
I'm all for settling in place, but I don't think metal is going to be terribly close by. Could someone critique my reading on the terrain?

Due to the number of forests already in view, I wouldn't be holding my breath on any metal popping in the BFC except possibly in two of the three still-covered tiles to the NW (the grassland 2 tiles WNW is possible, the one 2 tiles NNW looks forested, so no metal, and the other is unknown). Maybe something in the desert/hills to the north? But that area can't be worked until the second or third border pop. There's a grassland 2 tiles SE (outside the borders until the 2nd border pop), what appears to be an unforested (grassland?) hill 3 tiles ESE, and a forested (plains?) hill 3 tiles ENE on the north shore of the water. My best guess is that the water to the east is a lake (no sparklies like the ocean, but that may just be the screenshot catching it between anims because I also do not see waves on the ocean shore), so we're probably not sitting on a choke point between two larger land areas. Oh, and what's probably mountains 3 tiles NNE of the Warrior. I'm not seeing anything else of importance in the screenie.
 
Snovvdog: Please, no spoilers in this thread, even in a spoiler tag. Start a separate, parallel thread if you wish to discuss your shadow game.
 
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