Deity Isolation Workshop (Stan/Norm/Fractal/NH/NE)

[Rusten]

I'm enjoying this thread too. I didn't play many isolated starts before but I'm really enjoying them. Did not expect that TBH.

May I suggest Toku/Japan for the next "official" game? I have some ideas I'd like to try out with him.

 

[Fippy]

Yep Iso is different, very nice when you get a bit bored of dealing with deity AIs early.

Cathy question @Lain, def looks like Agri-BW-fishing (chop boat or so) and then Archery or pottery depending on needs to me. Imo there's no point in fishing before BW on such starts, starting with mining & many forests.
Worker micro also works better this way, BW should be ready soon after farming & camp..fishing would delay his work, it's not paying back so quickly.

 

[Lain]

Thanks everyone. For contributing and making this thread a lively and rewarding experience for everyone . Glad you are enjoying it aswell, Rusten. Since it's mostly us asking the questions here and benefitting from your advice.

Sure, Toku would be great. Will look into that, maybe find a map one of these days.

"Unofficially" I am still studying the/your Joao game. There is a lot to take away from that. Too bad you already know the Mao map. It's the bane of my existence these days. Still clueless about it. But generally I feel that I have improved quite a bit recently.

Just finished the Hannibal map aswell.

 

[Pedro78]

Exam period finally over. I've played the Hannibal game starting turns a couple of times, not gonna finish it as I've already watched your LPs, @Lain . I'll certainly play the next game though, toku looks good enough

@Rusten I've dug into your Joao saves, which makes me ask a few questions.
- Isn't it gonna hurt when you'll have to whip away all these towns during war prep?
- If the games drags on until the modern era, will you replace most towns with workshops?
- Why did you settle the GS instead of building an Academy, which would yield much more bpt? Does the extra hammer make such a difference?

 

[Rusten]

-I was running 0% slider for almost the entire period between my first and second GS. An academy would have yielded nothing, but the settled GS still got benefit from library (independent of slider). I did not even run scientists at the time as I had just discovered monarchy. Settling the first GS is good in many of the "poor" isolated starts.
-Whether I go for cottages or workshops depends on the land conquered. Sometimes you capture a lot of matured towns so it makes sense to use those civics. State Property is almost always needed though, so the "hammer economy" is more frequent.
-Why would it hurt more to whip away a town compared to anything else? I don't really understand the question. Just because you have matured towns doesn't mean you're forced to work them. But heavy whipping is not always necessary. If running cottages then drafting is especially strong.

 

[Pedro78]

I see, settling the GS makes much more sense now.

-Why would it hurt more to whip away a town compared to anything else? I don't really understand the question. Just because you have matured towns doesn't mean you're forced to work them. But heavy whipping is not always necessary. If running cottages then drafting is especially strong.

I mean, usually you don't whip your capital or cities that yield high commerce too much so you can keep the research going. In this scenario where your beakers are evenly distributed between all of your cities, research will necessarily go down a lot more when whipping trebs/cannons right? Or is it just me not building enough non-capital cottages in my "regular" games?

 

[Rusten]

Yes, the research will drop more, but it will only drop more because it was higher in the first place (running cottages/boosting commerce in more than 1 city), that's not such a bad thing. Lisbon isn't running any less cottages just because I am also running them elsewhere. Or am I not understanding your question?
And Lisbon is going to be a strong capital post Astronomy and will probably not be whipped (perhaps drafted a couple of times).

@Lain: What program are you using to record videos? I'm having some issues getting OBS (which I'd normally use) to work.

 

[Pedro78]

Or am I not understanding your question?

You're understanding correctly. I've just played (won) so many games where I built cottages in the capital and farms everywhere else, my brain needs some time to understand that it's actually a suboptimal strategy...

 

[Lain]

I am using OBS. Took some time to make it work since I am not really an expert on recording, but somehow I set it up (getting help from YouTube-guides and such).

Alright, I will post a Toku start soon. Looking forward to it.

Edit: Cool that you will join us, Pedro . Hope your exams went well.

 

[Lain]

Ok, so literally the first game I rolled. Should be good enough, be interesting to see what you do with this. Our new "official" game.

Leader is Tokugawa, so pretty much the perfect guy for isolation. Since he knows all about that.

Start:

Spoiler :

Enjoy!

I will play aswell, but probably do a classical write-up rather than record. We'll see.

 

[dutchfire]

At least you have river tiles. Could even go pottery first,
Agriculture->Pottery looks reasonable here, to my untrained eyes.

 

[Pedro78]

Wow we've got even more food than we had in the Hannibal game

Agriculture first looks like a no-brainer for sure. Next probably mining, otherwise we won't get any production out of this spot, which will be needed for warriors/archers. Pottery will be needed soon as well. Of course it depends on what the BFC looks like and what the warrior reveals.

 

[Lain]

So SIP you think? Plains hill could be nice but if no fresh water it's a bit iffy.

 

[Pedro78]

Have to move the warrior first but settling on PH loses the pigs so it's a gamble. The capital isn't gonna be great anyways so it's definitely an thing to consider.

 

[Rusten]

Anything but SIP. One 6 resource is enough for the early game so I'd make sure there's room for a good 2nd city taking one of the rivers+corn or pig (shared). SIP limits the placement a lot.
Warrior 1NW and settle 1NW if nothing in particular is found.

 

[Pangaea]

A suspicious lack of BFC desert. Did you not cook it?

Warpigs and corncobs. Chaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarge!!

 

[Olafeson]

Yeah thanks @Lain for this thread. Before you started it i always peaked at the map and if i was isolated i skipped the game. Only played Pangea and continents.
WastingTimes thread is also interesting but i do not think i will ever play Civ4 with Huge maps and marathon speed. It is just so different.

Now i rly enjoy to play isolated maps. I am not sure who is the master here by now but it feels like Rusten is an inch ahead . All Hail the King.

Spoiler :

Congratulations on the Hannibal game win, pretty clever to go for Population instead of Production/Space in the lategame.

Gonna play the joao game next and then the tokugawa.

 

[Pangaea]

What do you mean I look grumpy? I've seen nothing but lions and barbs for 5000 years...!

( Thanks to @lindsay40k for the artwork )

 

[Pangaea]

I've played only 11 turns (Toku), and am already unsure what to tech next

Spoiler :

Moved warrior NW, and decided to chance on settling NW since I knew the coast, and couldn't see any seafood (which might otherwise be ruined). Turns out I 'lost' one green riverside tile, but it's still a fine cottage spot, and got Stone in BFC

Great to see resource nearby. There is also silver up in the tundra. Looks much better than feared. Should probably park the warrior somewhere... :|

Normally I'd tech AH next without thinking, always improving food first. However, the timing won't be great (14 turns currently), so maybe Pottery or Mining instead? Pottery is actually a little tempting, and then get cottages on those two naked green riversides. But that won't be grand for settlers or workers, so maybe Mining is better? Or indeed AH as I would normally do. Doesn't look like commerce will be a huge issue on this map, with double gold plus silver already revealed, even a few floodplains for extra food. With Stone in BFC it might be tempting to go for an early wonder if possible. Stonehenge would be good for barb defence and 'free' border pops. But it tends to go very early on Deity, and it might well be the wrong priority.

Before I play on and do something stupid and need to reload, what would you advice? If anybody has started playing that is, and willing to see the spoilers

 

[lindsay40k]

@Pangaea

Spoiler :

I'd go for Pyramids, food situation looks alright and you're not going to be able to trade for luxuries & likely won't get a religion (SP for FR is a thought, plus it puts you on a tech line where Mids GE might get GLib - though admittedly part of the appeal of Literature line is trading techs which isn't an option).

Stonehenge on Deity? By the time you've got a Worker, got Stone online, and activated Slavery with a diversion on the way for Mysticism, someone's already whipped it. The first expo won't need monument culture, sheep & gold & oasis is a fine early city.