Emperor Domination

[lasombra]

yeah freddy sounds good

 

[Galileo44]

Freddy sounds great. Philosophical to keep up early, and Organized to help later along with a UB and UU that help when wrapping up a domination win. Let's see a start.

 

[futurehermit]

OK, here we go!

Playing as Frederick...

Opening...

Save is attached

 

[futurehermit]

My initial thoughts:

Sorta mediocre capital from what is visible. Whale come optics in expanded borders from capital. This is nice since whale is usually in the crappiest of locations.

Scout move SE-SE?

Fishing-anhusb?

Scout or Warrior-Fishboat-Worker? Alternatively worker first to do the mines (assuming settle in place) then fishboat-warrior-settler?

I hope everyone will contribute to the discussion as we go along (in fact I would say that this is pretty much a requirement...)

As stated at the outset everyone will play 10 turns. Is everyone ok if we just use the order in the roster list in the first post? That would mean I would play first, after we have some discussion, then on down the list with everyone playing 10 turns. I hope everyone will post screenshot updates

 

[lilnev]

Oh, boy, my very first SG!!

Scout SE-SE, definitely.

Food + hills, unspectacular but solid. Settling in place is certainly a safe play, and leads to two possible tech/build paths: AH-Fishing-BW with worker-warrior-boat-settler, or Fishing-AH-BW with warrior-boat-worker-settler. (In either case, the warrior might get interrupted to start the boat ASAP). My hunch is that the first path is stronger (Cows are strong, and we could quickly be on three or four improved tiles); but I wish VoU was here to do the math for us.

The gambler's play would be to move the settler SW-SE and see what's what. Advantages: We could probably block the AIs to reserve this spot for a future city. It puts our center closer to the enemy to facilitate an early rush. That desert might harbor floodplains.
Disadvantages: If we see nothing from the hilltop, how long are we expected to wander? Always a chance that someone got an even worse start NE of us, and would slip a settler onto "our" spot (saving us the cost of a settler. Wait a minute, that's a good thing!). The start spot may have hidden resources (a lot of those tiles would support metal, eh?).

peace,
lilnev

 

[Galileo44]

This looks pretty good. I say scout SE-SE. Probably found in place unless scout finds something amazing. Worker-->fishboat-->warrior-->settler would probably be a good start. In that time, research fishing-->BW and look for copper for 2nd city. I think that you should play at least 20 turns to start, as what really happens in the first 10 turns. Better to have one person start a solid foundation. We are in the north, so there is probably some source of resource for hunting to be of use. This may give us luxuries like furs as well. I think that for this situation, we may have very good starting techs.

 

[Galileo44]

Oops, forgot and just saw lilnev's post. Yeah, AH will be good early as the 4F2H cow tile is great. with that we can work the cow and all 3 hills at size 4 (early limit). That is 13 Produciton early! Just calling for a rush with that production! Let's hope for horses or copper.

 

[futurehermit]

limit in capital on emperor is 4 and i don't see an early resource yet...

i like ah-fish-bw and worker-boat-warrior-settler...

does anyone want me to move the scout SE-SE (since agreement on that so far) and then have discussion about settling in place or not?

i agree that moving the settler is risky. snaaty has shown this can be very effective, however. he likes to move inland and save the coastal spot for a later city. however, he also likes to play peacefully... but, as mentioned, this would move us closer to whoever we would attack plus it puts our capital in the middle of our early empire (maintenance)...and closer to the enemies...but the disadvantage is not finding a good place early. the upside of course is that we have a scout and not a warrior to help with exploration...

decisions, decisions...

 

[futurehermit]

Just so everyone knows, I will be on a short vacation from Wed-Fri, so if we can get some agreement on a start I could play the first 10 turns (not much to do really in that time...) and then you guys could continue while I am away. Alternatively, if not everyone chimes in in time, we could skip me. Let me know what you think!

 

[Giaur]

Improved spices produce additional food?

 

[Galileo44]

yes, the one on grassland will be 3F4C with plantation and river bonus, the plains will be 2F1H4C.

 

[johnny_rico]

This is a cool idea. I hadn't come across these before. Currently, I play monarch and win 95+% of the time. My experience on emperor is minimal but I'm ready to make to jump (i.e. shed the bad habits developed from dominating a difficulty level). I've followed the EMCs and understand the changes I need to make in my game with the level jump, the question is implementation.

So I'm volunteering if there is still a slot available.

 

[Godel]

Hey guys, just letting you know will be lurking. Best wishes!
Godel

 

[futurehermit]

Hi Johnny_rico. Ok, you're in!! Welcome aboard.

 

[johnny_rico]

jazzed and looking forward to it

 

[acidsatyr]

That is actually a strong capital, you have food, you have production, and that spice is worth 4 commerce and 3 food.

 

[johnny_rico]

It is definitely a bureaucratic happy capital. From the start point, it also looks like there is land to the NW. It's probably not great in terms of turf (plains, tundra), but it could have another seafood resource, looks like the whale could actually be a worked tile, and wouldn't marble be a boon. Nothing like trading marble to a neighbor you plan to invade.

 

[cabert]

That is actually a strong capital, you have food, you have production, and that spice is worth 4 commerce and 3 food.

agreed! With the cow + seafood, you can work 2 mines while growing into unhappiness for a happy whip.

I'll bet my shirt that there are some fur or silver not too far from where you are (tundra start sucks, but happiness resources should be in not too distant places, and you already have the techs for those).

 

[Giaur]

settle in place. 3S1W to settler is a place for city, which guarantees that two cities will be connected by coastal squares no matter what (additional commerce). Chances are small that this place will be good for a city, but you have scout. Explore the neighborhood.
Animal husbandry first. Worker first. Then Warrior, archer and settler I think.

edit: maybe worker, warrior, workboat, archer, settler.

 

[lasombra]

I think the starting spot is nice. cows, seafood and 3 hills to mine. sounds like a fair deal to me. spices are good, too. let's see what else is around...

ok, I'd say settle in place

build: worker, fishboat, warrior, settler...

tech: AH, fishing, BW...