Deity of Random - Try 1

[Snaaty]

Well, after the second parallel play deity game has produced several victories, we have decided to try now a real Succession Game on Deity...

And the team:

Flo
CellKu
Rusten
Snaaty (me)

...

But we will play after some Rules:

Rule 1:
Round 1 - 4:
All players play round 1, then we discuss the saves and go on with the best 3 saves (worst save and player drop out). We vote for this pretty easy:
Each player has 3 votes, 3,2,1 Point and he can´t vote for his own save
Then 3 players play round 2, all 4 vote again, we go on with the best 2 saves in round 3, vote again, then the player who dropped out first picks the save and plays round 4.
Like this we should make sure, we have the best possible start

Rule 2:
From turnset 5 on we play in true succession style

Rule 3:
No replays, reloads etc. we should have a good start with rule 1, so what´s done is done

Rule 4:
We play in fixed turnsets from turnset 5 on:
24 hrs to take a look at the save and to propose the plan for the turnset
24 hrs for the team to discuss
24 hrs to play
= 3 days
Like this, we make sure we discuss enough and every player knows in advance when he is up

Rule 5:
When you are in the team and you have to drop out of this game after it has started or are unavailable to play a certain turnset, please post a notification here IN TIME, so we can look for a replacement or change the roster

Rule 6:
Domination or defeat... ...a pretty simple rule

...

And our Turnsets:

1: 40 turns
2: 30 turns
3: 20 turns
4: 15 turns
5-end: 10 turns

Good luck to us (we will need it, I already peeked at the start, see next post)

 

[Snaaty]

Equal goes it loose

Our settings:
View attachment 175791
And in English:
shuffle, standard size, medium sealevel, random temperature, random civ

And we are:
View attachment 175792


And we live:
View attachment 175793
??????

...

Some general informations for the first turns

Round 1:
Wednesday/Thursday playing, Friday voting

Round 2:
Saturday playing, Sunday voting

Round 3:
Monday/Tuesday playing, Wednesday voting

Round 4:
Thursday/Friday discussing, Saturday playing

...

From then on we follow the timeline in Rule 4:
Player 1: 11.5-13.5
Player 2: 14.5-16.5
Player 3: 17.5-19.5
Snaaty 4: 20.5. 24.5 (if that is OK)

...

PLEASE NOTE:
I´m on holiday from Thursday next week 08.05 to Friday 23.05. with no access to internet, so we need to stick to the timeline above (and I can´t be the one who plays Round 4)

 

[Snaaty]

Well, not much to say about our start. We are costal... ...besides that, it could be anything from pangea to archipelago... ...SURPRISE... ...for tomorrow (have to go to beed now)

I don´t like our leader... ...actually, never played him before... ...hope we have at least one wonderwhoring neighbour near to rush, to make some use off our traits

The fact that we see forests with snow in the north and lots of grassland indicates (at least I suppose that) that we are

a) very far north and
b) have an extremely warm climate

 

[tycoonist]

lurking with interest. this might be a very tough game

 

[oyzar]

settle on the marble for 3 hammer from city title!

 

[Snaaty]

Oh, something else:

Up to round 4, post EVERYTHING concerning your version of the game in SPOILERS

Until your version of the game is voted out or we reached round 4, you ARE NOT ALLOWED TO LOOK AT THE SPOILERS from the other players off course WHEN YOU HAVEN´T FINISHED YOUR ROUND

 

[daniel smith]

So voting will be done by looking at players ummm... somekinda summary where they state how they feel and what they have up and running ? ?

 

[Snaaty]

So voting will be done by looking at players ummm... somekinda summary where they state how they feel and what they have up and running ? ?

A valid point this is... ...will modify the above mentioned a bit

 

[silverbullet]

Wow... a toku deity game. I always found Toku to be the hardest leader of all to play - it sometimes feels like playing with no traits at all. It will be interesting to see a game with him.

 

[mystyfly]

Definitely going to be very interesting, lurking with with interest :whip:

 

[Rusten]

Initial thoughts after about 10-15 turns of exploring.

Spoiler :

This start is so horrible. We're going to have to come up with some solid play to come out on top. For starters our island is tiny, and secondly the majority of it is covered in desert and tundra..............

To top it off we drew a leader with no economic traits

Screenshot for the lurkers.

Spoiler :

 

[Snaaty]

@ Rusten:

Just played my turns... ...can only second your opinion. Everything that COULD turn out bad... ...well, it DID turn out bad... ...maybe even worse

...

Maybe even the most impressive start and leader I have ever drawn...

...

IF we win THIS, we can definitely consider us true deity players from then on

Spoiler :

Starting my turnset, I already had a difficult choice to make:

1.Like suggested by Oysar, to move on top of the marble

2.To move inland = on the other side of the river, to get more landtiles/forests/hills in the BFC (I think there is at least another plains hill&#8230

A tough choice… …moving on the marble would be a strong boost in production VERY early (2 hammers), but would leave us with a very low production capital (only 1 grassland hill in BFC) and now fresh water. This would mean to find at lest one other good and highly productive spot early…

Moving inland (on the other side of the river) would give us another plains hill, some more ??? landtiles and fresh water…

…

I think I stared about 2 minutes on the screen… …then I decided to move inland, because I have only one shot at it and it would make the capital more versatile (=good food and production), and therefore would be the “safer” solution

…

And about 5 turns later I was really happy about my move, because we are stuck on an extremely crappy island with only one other mediocre city site left to settle…

Well, desperate situation also need solutions… …and since the only solution that came to my mind for such an incredible crappy start on such an incredible crappy island was the Great Lighthouse I decided to beeline for it right from the start. At least I could settle then some of the surrounding islands (which hopefully are better then our initial island) and get a decent economy running. Maybe we could even make contact with another AI via workboat (WB) and boost our trade routes some more…

If I fail on the GL, then it’s time for goodbye for my game… …and I can only hope for another genius plan from one of the other players… …or a consensus for a re-roll

…

But then it turned out, that the fate of the almost glorious, almost mighty and almost big Japanese Nation should be put to test already on turn 40:

An incredible huge horde of barbarians was approaching and threatening the entire mighty Japanese army and therefore the entire glorious Japanese Nation (= 1 barb archer against 1 Japanese warrior). Good only, that the mighty Japanese Army was fortified on a forested hill… …and therefore the fighting odds were about 75% in favour of Japan.

…

So I decided to play 41 turns… …a short prayer in turn 40… …hit enter… …and… …VICTORY… …the almost glorious, almost mighty and almost big Japanese Nation survived the first critical test of time…

Our land:
View attachment 175845
Cruel, cruel RMG… …let’s only hope, the start of the other civ’s are similar crappy… …after the GL is chopped, I plan to settle the GREEN city and to scout the islands with a WB(BLUE). The read area of our island also isn’t scouted, but on a first glimpse, I only saw desert, tundra and high mountains, so feel no REAL urge to go there right now…

Our capital:
View attachment 175846
Once the second hill is mined, I plan to start on chopping the GL immediately

Our research so far:
View attachment 175847
One turn left for masonry, then I plan to beeline Literature for the GreatLib (Pottery, Writing, Aest, Poly, Lit)

 

[Rusten]

My turns.

Spoiler :

- Settled 1 south for more inland tiles.

- work boat while growing to size 2 -> worker -> a new wb

Same plan as Snaaty, and the same research, except I'm two turns away from sailing instead of masonry (wanted to quarry the marble for commerce).

Eta 3 on the second worker for more and faster chops. Given the map most capitals will probably be coastal, so it's important to speed up the GL more than otherwise.

- currently got a work boat scouting westwards in hope of meeting some civs for trade routes and luxury resources.

My game also revolves around getting the GL. If I fail at that there's no way I can keep up. I'll probably research Polytheism next as we have marble. Reason being a possible run for the ToA and the fact that it's a required tech for literature anyway.

The only other gambit I can see here is going for the Oracle and pick metal casting for the Colossus, but getting the Oracle on deity without starting with mysticism is very hard and unlikely to succeed. Even if one succeeds I rate the Colossus very low, this kind of crappy map is the only time it's of any use (or with financial)

Current empire.

I'm not planning to settle like Snaaty. I feel it's better to settle the first city 1 south of the green and then another one on the plains hill for sheep and seafood.

I also played an extra turn, but not because of barbarians, I simply forgot to stop.

 

[CellKu]

@Snaaty: No problem about the schedule. I got a working internet connection here, so I am able to participate. I hope it stays that way (it is "a bit" unstable) and I have enough time to play on (well, I hope I didn't screw the first round completely, I didn't want to follow that advice of yours to closely. )

 

[CellKu]

What a draw!?! So much for randomness... With this map and Toku (and his characteristics), I am not sure where this is heading...

Spoiler :

City location - Kyoto:
I wanted to stay close to the river and the city selecting process indicated that I should move 1S. So I settled there. (Well, when I arrived there, it advised me to go even further south. Since I wasn't sure about the end of this "trip" to the south, I stopped it right there and settled close to the river.)

Techs: Mining -> Masonry -> BW -> Sailing (2 turns to go)
Tech speed: 15

Kyoto built: Boat -> Worker -> Boat -> Worker (partly chopped) -> Barracks (2 turns to go)
Kyoto's size: 3 (growth gained momentum a few turns ago, after clam and crab started to pay out...)

Hooked up clam, crab, marble

Got promotions from the hut. Since I had to defend myself against Lions in the vicinity, I chose strength and woodsman.

 

[Flo7]

Round 1

Spoiler :

Capital: In the hope of one (food resource) I moved one south for the capital.

Research: Mining > BW > mediation (partially)
Build. Work boat (2x) > worker (second one is completed next turn, need the two for chopping)
Apparently the map is some archipelio-type with little food (except for sea food) on it. (Or maybe it is just our island which is so crappy.)

No priority to expand (no neighbours to block, no good spots)
Most of cities will be costal
How to levere costal cities?

Great lighthouse is an obvious choice here
But in the beginning of the game trade routes are not that strong (1 commerce for a long time), and due to limited spots we will not have many cities soon.
Perhaps we are so isolated that we get in contact to the other AIs only with Optics and then trade routs will pay of with astronomy only.
That will also be the time of mercantilism...

The second option would be building the colossus (never did that before)
Advantages over the GL:
If all cities will work at least two water tiles, which is likely since land tiles are mostly worthless the colossus will be economically equal to the GL. And we we would not depend on the no. of cities or any neighbours (we need at least 3 cities to utilise the GL fully, after currency 4, and so on).

A colossus rush (does it exist ?) would look like the following (after researching priesthood)
1. Build the oracle (will be close, since we did not start with mysticism but capitol is strong in production and access to marble)
2. Pick metall casting (probably no AI will have it yet)
3. Whip a forge
4. relax and build the colossus

Another advantage would be to pick up metall casting on the way. An expensive tech which enables forges, a rare source for Great Engineer Points in the early game.

The colossus rush could fail, but if it does we will have 3 other games and dont have to continue that one

View attachment SG-Deity BC-2400.CivBeyondSwordSave

 

[Rusten]

@Flo7

Spoiler :

But in the beginning of the game trade routes are not that strong (1 commerce for a long time)

If one meets an AI (that's why I sent out a work boat in my game) they're incredibly strong imo, so I'm going to have to politely disagree there. The trade routes will be overseas, so that's 3 raw commerce. With the Great Lighthouse one will get 9 raw commerce in every city from trade routes alone, and that's just the early game.

Happy to see someone doing my other idea for the map, hopefully it will work out.

 

[Snaaty]

@ Team:

We can "unspoiler" now the first round...

@ Flo:

Cool to see another approach... ...but some corrections on the GLH:

Once you have one city on another landmass, you immediately get 2 commerce per trade route en EVERY city

We have some islands arround, so we should be able to get up the needed 3 colonies quite early, which would make the first 4 cities pay for themselves with this alone (6 trade per city and about 6 upkeep on average for each of the 4 cities)

And foreign trade would even be better, as Rusten pointed out, granting 3 gold/traderoute

...

@ All:

Concering city placement:

I think meanwhile, that the GREEN spot I marked will be a VERY good city (keep in mind this awfull map):

fish, sheep, 2 floodplains (you have to look twice to see the second one), only 1 desert and 4 hills... ...not bad if you ask me. Given the fact, that I think we have drawn a archipelago map with small islands and hot climate, there wont be too many islands with comparable spots and the city would be at least a decent early second settler/worker pump...(what I expect from this map is... ...mainly desert... ...and a desert here and there)

...

Will download now your saves and give my voting + some reasoning. Would be nice if you also could reason your votes a little

 

[CellKu]

How do we vote? Per PM or in spoilers here?

 

[Rusten]

No reason to add spoilers for it, just put it here. Personally I'll stick to what I/Flo7 said earlier and claim it's way too soon. You can't tell whether things done were a good or a bad move yet.