Classic GOTM 32 Speculation Thread

[Xevious]

Mmmm, yummy, mountains and jungle. I can see it now... Our settler at the edge of a continent with a single settlable spot surrounded by jungle and mountains. Looks like we be hiking at the start.

EDIT: Nevermind me, I'm clueless . Not mountains, plains, so even lower production.

 

[grahamiam]

I liked the cracker pre-discussions better, where we could actually DISCUSS stuff. I leave this thread and others coming be and just grab the save when it comes. This has no purpose.

i agree. this seems to be more like ainwood thinking of a number between 1 and 100 and us trying to guess it. actually, we get the same amount of info. doing either.
imho, we should know the civ and starting location approximately 5 days before the game starts. that way, some of the experts can share stories and strong points about the civ and it's UU. just my USD$0.02. us mere mortals can then gain some good insights to help us score better

edit: i know ainwood's been unusually busy with 2 gotm's this month, but just to back up my point, GOTM-24 speculation thread opened Sept 21st with us knowing the civ to be played. GOTM-25 speculation thread opened Oct 17th with us knowing the civ to be played (the special units were revealed shortly thereafter).
sorry ainwood, but we did get a better discussion going with more info shared and less guessing back then

edit2: sorry, just saw that ainwood stated that we'd be playing the aztec's on 6/11. i was a little harsh but really was trying to prod the excellent staff here to give us some more info so we can swap ideas before we start

 

[grs]

i agree. this seems to be more like ainwood thinking of a number between 1 and 100 and us trying to guess it. actually, we get the same amount of info. doing either.
imho, we should know the civ and starting location approximately 5 days before the game starts. that way, some of the experts can share stories and strong points about the civ and it's UU. just my USD$0.02. us mere mortals can then gain some good insights to help us score better

full ack - discussions would be more interesting than guessing - maybe we get a change next game

 

[Karasu]

Well, it is certainly clear what several players would prefer -I cannot really say more, however...

...other than add the last bit of information:it's Monarch

...

but a 'tricky' monarch whatever that means

 

[HellboundHeathcliff]

So far we have:

Monarch
Aztecs
Standard map
Continents
70% water
Wet
5 Billion
Restless

That leaves warm/temperate/cool unknown. If 'tricky monarch' refers to this, then it could be cool. Although i see no reason to infer any of them.

@Xevious: wet & 5 billion just means few mountains/hills and lots of rivers. The remaining unknown will determine the dominant terrain type.

 

[gozpel]

Ah well, when could I ever leave a thread alone?

I think ainwood was a bit annoyed about people pixel-hunting and maybe give away too much information. Then they weren't always right either. And it could easily be remedied by cropping the picture or just shading the edges, it would take another 2 minutes. I'm sure the staff could handle that.

 

[HellboundHeathcliff]

Any pixel hunters are likely to do it on thier own anyway, so sharing the info is only fair. Some terrain types peeking out from FOW are normal and expected. If i see a water tile peeking i will go see what it is just incase i can build a coastal city with one move.

 

[ainwood]

Thanks to Karasu for drip-feeding the info. Truth be told, I went out of town for the weekend, as sort of a last-minute thing, otherwise you would have had the screenshot a day or two back.

Given that we now have two GOTMs / month, I will try and make the timetable much more standardised, and part of this will be to give you the starting screenshot at a set-time, probably about three or perhaps four days before the game release.

I can't do that this time unfortunately, so I think its only fair to try and give you some info about the starting screenshot..... It is not a complete jungle start! It is a grassland start on a river, with some sort water just visible to the north. I can't quite remember if its the shores of lake Texcoco, or perhaps the gulf of Mexico, or maybe I'm reading too much into it, and its just "some water"...

 

[alamo]

Monarch
Aztecs
Standard map
Continents
70% water
Wet
5 Billion
Restless
Grassland start on a river

I hate that early GA, so I'm not using the UU for anything but explorer/barb patrol.

Question of the day: What civ traits can get a GA from Copernicus's Observatory?

 

[AlanH]

Expansionist. Aztecs are warlike religious fanatics.

 

[Sabre]

Excellant! Looks like I'll be making another try at 5cc conquest. With Monarch difficulty and a militaristic civ I may have an easier time than last month. I'll be using the Jaguar Warrior in the same role as a scout, trading off the goody-hut bonus for the ability to kill barbs. Just have to make sure they never enter a fight against the AI. This means I may have to build spearmen to guard my cities (something I rarely ever do) since an early war is high on my to-do list.

My research path will probably be the Mysticism to Monarchy and with the short anarchy period I'll actually spend some time with that gov before switching to Republic somewhere in the MA. I may make an effort to build the Great Lighthouse this time. Last month the delay in getting across the ocean cut into my pre-Gunpowder time and may have been a factor in my loss. Getting my knights to the other continent fast will be a priority (of course I plan on having my continent cleared by the beginning of the MA )

Of course all this strategizing could be shot out the window once the game starts. Who knows what fiendish things Ainwood and company have done to us to throw a monkey wrench into my plans!

 

[ainwood]

Sorry for the delay: Here's the starting screen shot for all you fog-gazers.

 

[High King J.J.]

Finally a screenshot! [drools on the keyboard]
Now to speculate: the coastline is longer than a small lake could have, so I'm guessing it's some of that 70% of water. I might send a worker to make sure, then move the settler to NW,N or NE. Things to consider are access to river and production. River should be accessible from N too (must verify, sometimes/some maps have tiles on river bends that give no river bonuses) but production is less certain. Could someone more experienced tell if a city can get production boost from a bonus grassland location (or was I just remembering industrious trait? ...I'm getting too old to remember everything). I'll probably settle NW or NE depending on what my worker will reveal. Unless it's a 'tricky' lake designed to confuse over-eager speculators...
[ends message when drooled-over keyboard short-circuits and fries both the computer and several fingers typing thisssss...]

 

[grs]

Could someone more experienced tell if a city can get production boost from a bonus grassland location (or was I just remembering industrious trait? ...I'm getting too old to remember everything).

To found a city on a bg would be a waste - whether industrious or not. As we already know (or at least guess) what is north - I'd probably move the settler south (greatest number of tiles and a forest with dyes(???)) or southwest.

 

[Kuningas]

superb. I found 20k city either NW or NE,E. Plan is to build Temple -> Settler ->wonder. Second city produces, Rax -> Jaqs for early GA and hope for GLs. In hope for getting all AA wonders. This is last moment to achieve 16nd century 20k win which is not possible on C3C.

 

[HellboundHeathcliff]

High King J.J.: The only time i find what looks like a river tile but doesn't work for aqueduct is at the mouth of the river or the source of the river. To make sure, just right click the tile and make sure it already produces 1 gold without a road.

Any civ gets an extra shield at size 7 *IF* the city is founded on a tile that already produces at least 1 shield. I think industrial has to wait for size 13 to get an extra bonus.

Bonus grassland seems scarce, we might get more early benefit from avoiding founding a city on one of them. If that is indeed a coastline to the north, a move due N would allow future use of the hills and include at least 3 BG in the city radius.

 

[Denniz]

My inclination would be to move my settler SE and start the worker mining right there. Reasons: get off the BG and keep hills and forest in city range plus establish capitol inland for more central position.

What am I missing?

 

[klarius]

My inclination would be to move my settler SE and start the worker mining right there. Reasons: get off the BG and keep hills and forest in city range plus establish capitol inland for more central position.

What am I missing?

Maybe cows to the west, sweetwater fish to the north, game to the south.
My first inclination was the same as yours, but you really cannot tell. Maybe one should play conquest class to get some more units to explore.

 

[bigchief]

It may, or may not, be pixel hunting, but the way I see things in the picture, it looks like there is only one unit there. Maybe that is a picture from the predator game, or maybe none of us get a worker.

 

[RowAndLive]

SE or S for me, most likely SE. 3BG, 2 hills and a forest minimum is plenty to start. Leave bonus tiles for additional cities. I also suspect that our continents willed be chained small landmasses, and so will probably keep a tight core.