DMI VI - The Mearas

[pawelo]

How does it come that I'm on auto-skip when a new DM game kicks off ???

Lurking anyway.

Good luck with this one! Beware of 'genuinely handcrafted' maps

 

[Ralph_Jackson]

Ok this is my got it will post thoughts tomoroow and play / report tomorrow night.

All enjoy aboard for a fun-filled hand crafted and wild Imhotep ride.

 

[Winth]

I think that there would be a nice position right on that horse tile east of Edoras. It's on a coast, there is a fresh water. We grab another horse with that, cows, and three hills. It will have quite a production down the road. And an unpillagable resource is also a nice thing. I think.

Ah, and it doesn't overlap with the capital.

 

[Cabledawg]

Having many sources of horses can only lead to one course.
Certainly you would endorse such a large force of horses to be used in your armed forces. With copious discourse, I shall divorce the use of horses if it enforces your using said horses.

 

[Ralph_Jackson]

Do we have a talented dotmapper aboard ?

Imhotep

Not sure but here is the work of an untalented one...



I will play tonight so we have a little time for discussing options

Build. Worker will finish soon and I would then go Warrior - Settler - Immortal which should at least see out 20 turns

Research. Finish Wheel then Mining - Bronze Working. In a hand crafted map wouldn't be at all surpised to find no copper about but with Immortals - Oops I mean Rohirrim who needs copper....

Next city site. Two options proposed being red and yellow dots above. personally I have a weakness for Coastal cities & fresh water so slightly prefer red dot.

Views?

Ralph

 

[pholkhero]

rj -- nice turns and nice dot-map. I like yellow dot there. while coastal is nice, more and more, i've been seeing sea tiles as sub-optimal when there's no resource, certainly compared to land ones.

and so, i prefer the yellow dot. 5 plains hills and a grass one, too, plus grass horses and cows will be a nice prod town with some farming. at size four, we can work a 3 of the horses and a mined hill -- will be mighty nice

 

[Meiz]

Good dotmap. Maybe red dot is better if we want to block Victoria's expansion with galleys.

 

[Ralph_Jackson]

Maybe red dot is better if we want to block Victoria's expansion with galleys.

I wouldn't give red dot much more of a plus just for blocking Victoria''s expansion via galleys as by the time she is pressed enough to consider settling beyond our cities Green dot would probably be up and running denying her a coastal route to the south...We are happy for her to have contact with other AI's (via galleys et al) as otherwise she won't be a decent trading partner if she thinks she has a monopoly on a tech.

On balance & with the principle that "hammers are king in the early game" (once I learned this my opening play definitely improved) I am persuaded by Pholkhero towards yellow dot...

Ralph

 

[njorls]

Red Dot: Coastal + fresh water + can build Levee (+6 ), stone

Yellow Dot: More food from Oasis, more hills to work, more tiles overall

I think I like yellow dot better. It only has 1 'wasted' coast tile, which is what I call coastal tiles where you can't build a lighthouse, and a little more food from the oasis. We can get stone with blue dot easily enough.

Do we want to make a run for Pyramids? Since there's no happy resources available, HR may be a required tech for long term growth, and that's gotten easily enough thru research/trade.

 

[Lucky1972]

Yellow dot x Red dot: with red we lose 2 grassland horses and gain one desert stone. We lose 2 plains hills to get some ocean tiles. We lose an oasis (a financial oasis, btw) for more water tiles. We lose 3 forests and gain fresh water.

I prefer yellow dot.

 

[Lucky1972]

crossposted with Njors.

 

[Winth]

I am maybe just addicted to what Sullla said - "building one tile off the coast is a no-no". In fact, I still think, that long-term, the better plan is red dot... We lose what? Plains hill? We get three hammers from that horsie on the left, and one from settling on the horse (I believe). It doesn't overlap. Fresh water is also nice. We want Forge here. If we are up to settle a "filler" city between red/yellow and blue/green dots, red one also wins. After we build Harbors, we can trade some nice net foreign income. Customs House makes the option even more powerful. Red dot grabs Stone! It will be a very nice bonus. BTS is so much upgraded, now AI regards better good wonders (Stonehenge, for example.), AND Stone also gives a major production boost - it is a plains hill with additional 1 food. If I see correctly, we trade two horses for one plains hill if we settle on yellow dot. And see, this horse on the red dot is placed so horsehockey, that if we put a city in Yellow Dot, we can have problem with squeezing production from that tile (and another one!).

However, it is certainly not nice to see horse bigger than palace to walk over the city. It reminds me a giant cat from Monty Python .

I can understand the point of getting more land tiles with yellow dot; coast tiles are unupgradable. However, even if we get place for several more cottages, we can get similar level of commerce with red dot (routes!).

It would be truly interesting to compare both options in separate games...

However, if the team wants it, then so be it. I am still a total virgin there

 

[Ralph_Jackson]

Ok I am playing now and agree that as the argument is finely balanced I will go with yellow Dot that has slightly stronger support....

I will make a start on Masonry post Bronze working as with readily available stone and marble to the south it will come in useful; the lack of happy resources makes me feel Pyramids might be fun. Good luck with whoever has to weave Pyramids into a Rohan based storyline as the best I can come up with is Burial cairns and thats stretching things severely!!

Report later

Ralph

 

[Ralph_Jackson]

Gandalf: Breathe the free air again, my friend.
Theoden: [stands up from the throne] Dark have been my dreams of late.
[looks at his hands]
Gandalf: Your fingers would remember their old strength better... if they grasped your sword



The council convened in the great hall of Edoras

“What are your orders Theoden King?” asked the council.

“The marks of Rohan are ours to own, govern and protect. Once an escort is ready prepare a settling party for the Westmark and bring into our domain the mighty horse herds we discovered” Build Order Warrior, Settler, Immortal

“Meantime set our wise men to the study of delving deep into the hills for I would have them build me a mighty fortress against the evils that surround us” research Wheel, Mining, Bronze Working, Masonry

“And send out riders to the south to see if there is news of Gondor and if they will honour our bonds and treaties of old”

“It will be done Theoden king, but what message for Queen Victoria of the west” asked the council.

“Well if she is fair of face then let our peace be sealed with marriage to Eomer to bring our houses together” replied Theoden.

“Unfortunately sire our explorers bring news that if we mix our bloodlines with hers it will bring a whole new meaning to the phrase ‘horsewomen’ of Rohan” the council advance warily.

“You mean…”

“Yes Lord, she has a face like a Bulldog chewing a wasp” replied the council.

“Umm then perhaps one for Grima Wormtongue to marry…”

Report.

Our exploring scout had a close encounter on his way to the south but survived.

And later beat Victoria to a hut which was nice

And became even nicer with this extremely well themed bit of luck


Build went finish worker, warrior, Settler, Immortal

Don’t you just love river side financial horse pastures- just about as good a tile as the early game gives

Helms Deep was founded on Yellow Dot

Heres where we have got to in southern exploration

Research went Mining, Bronze Working (no copper in sight surprise, surprise) and Masonry with an eye on Pyramids

 

[Trynthlas]

Cool stuff. *subscribed*

 

[·Imhotep·]

I really really love how this game has ticked off. That was great stuff, RJ ! Especially laughed out loud with the wormtounge joke . Let's keep this storytelling line up, I'm proud of you guys. You play this one as I've intended it so far. Good work !

The Roster:

Imhotep >> built the map
Meiz >> started the ride
Ralph "RJ" Jackson >> JUST PLAYED
Lucky >> UP NOW for 20
njorls >> ON DECK for 20
Winth >> his first SG turns ever come soonish
pholkhero >> oversubscribed but always playing

Imhotep

 

[Lucky1972]

Got it. Since tomorrow is a holiday in this lands, I would like to play my turns in 24h, and welcome all advice the team can give until then. Of course, It would take me about a week to write a report as good as the ones we read so far, but I will try to write something decent in 48h or so (good excuse to reread "The Two Towers").

Getting Horseback Riding from a Hut with this map is so good it hurts: Should we research archery soon to capitalize from it? Or should we keep concentrating on Immortals?

 

[Meiz]

Love the story!

I think it would be a crime not to research archery now Suggest we settle blue dot next.

 

[Ralph_Jackson]

[Ramble mode on] Blue dot definitely makes sense if we want to do a run for the Pyramids which is a key decision for the team.

If we decide against Pyramids then Pink dot to seal off our land from Victoria is also a decent option.

One thing we should keep in mind is the need for a PA with a Civ, if we think Victoria is the likely candidate then we need to leave her enough room to be a decent partner, although with her location getting the long term Shared Military struggle to unlock the PA maybe tricky as she has no obvious enemy.

Finding a religion which Victoria and we can then sure is also worth keeping an eye on. It would be ideal if she did somehting like found confucianism which we could then adopt.

[/ramble mode off]

Lucky I would much rather wait an extra day or two for a nice story than have a quick "standard" report.

 

[Meiz]

Have to add, another crime would be ignoring Pyramids when we have stone available!