Enders Game 1: The Training Game Competition - Team 1

[Speaker]

Current Order by the way:

Grimjack => In the hole
ControlFreak
Orbit => Now playing
SHard => On Deck
Speaker => Just played, but out of order

I should have posted this after I played, so we'll give Orbit a little more time in case he didn't know he was up. 24/48 starts now.

 

[Xion]

Nice quiz speaker

 

[Speaker]

Thanks Xion. I wanted to take everything we learned in the first age and put it all in one easily accessible place, so lurkers (and our players) would easily be able to read and learn and not have to search for nuggets of information.

 

[Orbit]

I have to drop out of this game. My monitor died last week, and I've been using a 3 year old one off my old computer. Well, if the old monitor runs a resolution higher than 800x600, it turns off with a "frequency over-range" message. I looked around, and apparently there is no way to get Civ 3 to run in 800x600. I don't know when I can get a new monitor, it could be a week, or it could be a month. So, unless I can find a way to run Civ 3 in 800x600, I can't play. I won't look at the other thread, in case I can get back in the rotation.

 

[ControlFreak]

Orbit@ You probably already tried this but do you know you can edit the ptw.ini file adding the line:

KeepRes=1;

That prevent Civ from changing your resolution. Don't know if Civ will run at 800x600 but its worth a try.

 

[Speaker]

You beat me to it ControlFreak. We should probably move on while Orbit sorts out his computer problems, and if he reports back favorably we can slot him in as soon as he is ready. If he cannot fix his computer, it's going to be awfully lonely here when Grimjack leaves too...

Grimjack => On deck
ControlFreak => In the hole
Orbit => Hopefully fixing his computer
SHard => Up now
Speaker => Just played, but out of order

 

[Speaker]

Sorry double post.

 

[Grimjack]

It is five days still. HOpefully I can find some cybercafee or something so I at least can read once in a while

Grimjack

 

[Speaker]

I'm not sure what is wrong with the forum (if anything) but it doesn't seem to be registering that the last few posts in this thread have updated it. In case you haven't yet noticed that you are now up, SHard, your 24/48 starts now . Hopefully that should be enough time to let you finish, but if not, keep us updated.

 

[SHard]

I will probably be able to play this tomorrow evening. So this is a 'got it' post.

 

[SHard]

Well in complete contradiction to the previous post I went and played my turns anyway. Rather scant report, mainly because there was very little to report (only monarchy was a tech we did not have that was available during these turns). The report:

Given how Speaker finished his turns, I'm expecting a fairly nice builders turn. Believe it or not I've never had this game in a state of war yet I'm also expecting to hand this game over in Anarchy, with republic due in 7 turns.

Pre-Turn: Quick look round, get back into the game. Change the entertainer in Chengdu to a taxman to squeeze out another gold until that little guy is content again.

330BC: Moscow Worker->Worker. Kiev Marketplace->Horseman(Seemed like the best option). Move elite swords in towards Hareid for leader fishing when our peace treaty expires.

310BC: Odessa Marketplace->Aqueduct. Tblisi Library->Marketplace. There are loads of settler pairs out there, not sure we will get a great site with our remaining one.

290BC: Moscow Worker->Library - My weakness I'm afraid, choosing improvements over workers. Moscow gaining a library and then marketplace, plus the additional growth from not building workers, would make it a very powerful city for our economic ambitions. Furs and Gems come online so mess around with taxs. Drop luxuries to 0%, and then run at -2 gpt to get us republic that 1 turn quicker (now due in 3).

270BC: Found Maikop near game and cattle in North. Sword defends it and order up library. Drop sci. to 80%.

250BC: Kiev Horseman->Horseman. St Pete's Marketplace->Harbor.

IT: We revolt and thus begins a period of anarchy amongst the Russian folk.

230BC: Ah, Anarchy. Two small cities have gone into revolt, sort them out with taxmen. I put theology in the research bar but of course in anarchy we get no science so it doesn't matter. When we get into republic lets assess our research power and decide what to research and at what speed. Riga bags itself a taxman as well.

210BC: Galley reaches southern peninsula of Greek island, I would love to suicide it but reckon this probably isn't wise.

IT: Celts declare war on us?! Furthermore, their regular archer (the only troop they had near Maikop) attacks and defeats our fortified-veteran-standinginatown-swordsman. They move a settler pair threateningly close to undefended Chengdu...

190BC: The Russian Anarchy Machine gets into action. Not. Peace Treaty with scandinavia has run out, but I decide the celts will need our elite swordsmen's attention.

IT: Chengdu is sacced. Celts show surprisingly little military movement - 1 settler pair moves boldly in the direction of our elite swords.

170BC: Send swords near Oslo down towards Eboracum. Swords near Hareid come inwards towards where Maikop used to stand. Use a horseman to try and force settler pair towards elite swords. Moscow needs entertainer to stay orderly.

150BC: We become a republic. Lots of choices open for research, which we can discuss. Given we like a slow tech pace I opt for 40-turn run on theology. Luxes up to 10%. Swords next to Eboracum.

Generally, a poor turn. We lost two cities and erm.. that's about it. We are at least a republic now, and you will notice a few mines have been irrigated if they were built on non-bonus grasslands. Brennus has certainly been struck off the Christmas Card list.

The save: http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads4/EG1-Team1-150BC.zip

Enjoy Grimjack!

 

[Speaker]

I'm sorry, but I just couldn't get to this tonight. I'll definitely comment tomorrow though. Slowing down won't be a bad thing, however, since we will be down to 2 players starting Sunday?

 

[Grimjack]

AI seems to like undefended cities. Have been like a red flag in my games.
Great that you managed to draw such a short Anarchy.
Been a while since I played, but is it realistic to aim for driving Celts back to their peninsula, or should we hunker down in fear of their Gallic Swordsman ?

Grimjack who may be able to play tonight with a little guidance.

 

[Speaker]

Having briefly looked at the save, I think a realistic goal would be to take the two Celtic cities that are near our borders, then keep our offensive units around our northern cities to protect against any invasion and leader fish. We should get out of the war as soon as possible and swallow our pride. Brennus surely is on "the list" now. Definitely change Moscow back to producing workers and keep them coming. Moscow should not grow past size 7 for a long time. We don't need it to be a powerhouse city. We need it to produce workers to clear the huge amount of jungle that dominates our landscape.

I'm also not sure a 40-turn run on Theology is our best bet here. You usually want to use a 40-turn run to a) get a very expensive tech like Republic or Nationalism or b) get a tech at monopoly like Polytheism.

I will give further comments to SHard when I get home after work, but Grimjack can feel free to play whenever he wants.

EDIT- Added some sentences so read again.

 

[Grimjack]

Got IT.

Will start tonight, but likely not finish until tomorrow evening.

Grimjack

 

[Speaker]

@SHard: Sorry I made you wait.

The Good
Nice job getting us a short anarchy.
Troop movement had good plans. Its too bad the Celts had to get all uppity and ruin them. Let us learn to not leave cities undefended. You and I can share responsibility for this one. My for taking the city, you for not rushing a warrior there.
Nice reconfiguration of the core. Those cities can grow like weeds...if we want them to.

The Bad
Why is Moscow not building workers? We need them desperately.
Why hasn't Novgorod rushed its courthouse? It's not going to build itself....
Kiev builds a Horseman because you can't think of anything better? How about a granary?? How about some workers? How about something we can use...
Not sure Theology at MinSci is the right move here. A better move might be to get Theology faster via max sci or turning off research and then buying, and then Max Sci on Printing Press. See Sp5 for the power of mixing in max science runs on non-prioritized techs.

The Ugly
The huge amount of jungle we will have to clear--over 100 tiles worth. I pity our workforce of 22 workers and 12 slaves...Seriously, what were you thinking turning Moscow off of worker production?

@All: We need a ton of workers. Look at all that jungle! Just look at it! We might even think about taking the extra turns of anarchy to switch into Democracy. Double speed workers sound awfully good right about now. I'm not sure what we are going to do now. Grimjack is playing and then leaving us, and with Orbit gone, we are left with just me, SHard, and ControlFreak. I don't think I could keep up with such a frantic pace that would undoubtedly occur.

PS- It's probably too late, but turning research off and hiring a scientist in Vladivostok increases our income by 16gpt.

 

[Sullla]

We might even think about taking the extra turns of anarchy to switch into Democracy. Double speed workers sound awfully good right about now.

Workers work 50% faster under Democracy, not 100% faster. Due to bug in the way the game is coded, non-native (foreign) workers do not work any faster at all under Democracy until after the discovery of Replaceable Parts (this is due to a rounding error). Just keep these facts in mind when pondering a swap to Democracy.

 

[Grimjack]

Plans are being made, and turns will soon start rolling.

I will try to mine two more hills around Kiev, so we can get a wonder city rolling. WOuld want Leos, but there are still lots of infra missing. I will rush a couple of libraries where it is not too expensive, and start rolling out workers again.
Use said workers to start clearing jungles in our closest cities.

Get the Celtish blight from the city closest to us, and get a settler there somehow to prevent Vikings to poach it. Peace soon afterwards.

Look for brokerage opportunities, while building horsemen and infra.

Grimjack

 

[SHard]

Ok thanks for the comments Speaker I'll just and drill a huge sign saying "WORKERS" into the top of monitor for future reference

Sorry about forgetting to rush Novgorod's courthouse, however we won't lose any turns on it if Grimjack rushes it now as we are still in our first turn of Republic. Likewise with research.

Good luck Grimjack!

 

[Speaker]

Thanks Sullla. That's what I get for posting after a long day of work. We can reassess the situation when we get to Democracy but it will probably still be a good move. Your plan looks solid Grimjack.

@SHard: Worker management is tough! It took a long time for me to be able to realize that its okay to use the capital to produce workers and settlers for a long time and not have it be your powerhouse city. I had this solo game recently where Washington built nothing but settlers and workers all game (after initially building a couple scouts, a warrior for mp and a granary that is, but you get the idea). Now that is a powerhouse city of a different sort.