Espionage

[Irgy]

Perhaps they selected AH first before they knew they were on an island, and stuck to it after they found out because it's not worth switching techs around once you've started. Or maybe they did switch techs around, and that's also why they haven't finished a tech yet.

I'd be very surprised if there was no land based food in any of the starts. The demographics prove they're not identical. I think the fact that we have fish rather than clams or crabs, and two of them, and one coastal even, matches the fact that we have no land-based food resource ourselves. I expect the capital BFC food and the island total food will be about equal, but other teams won't have nearly as many fish as we do.

 

[AlphaShard]

Well if the Amazons at being as efficient as we try to be then I am going to bet they do have pig, cow and or sheep.

 

[Lord Parkin]

My bet is the same as Irgy's: they probably started AH while they didn't know they were on an island, then either switched or kept going on that once they found out that they were on an island. Either that, or they have a similar number of Pigs as we have Fish.

 

[Trystero]

Well, their score went up to 39 on turn 11, indicating they finished researching their first tech. AH seems likely (~10/turn x 10 turns = 100 for AH).

 

[Lord Parkin]

Except AH is worth 149 beakers in this game, and they get a 40% research bonus from having both prerequisites. That should put them at either 13 or 14 beakers per turn (someone should check). If 14, they'd get it in 11 turns.

 

[Trystero]

Aren't we playing at Normal speed? Why does AH cost 149 beakers? Is this information out of date, or am I missing something?

Edit: I forgot about the discount for having Agriculture and Hunting, that makes sense. But I'm still unclear about the base cost.

 

[champinoman]

Monarch difficulty adds beakers to the base. I think there is another multiplier as well but I can't remember it.

 

[Lord Parkin]

There's a map size multiplier as well, though I think we should be on Standard for this one. Maybe the admins tweaked the tech costs as well, who knows. Either way, the values should be the same for everyone, so it should be balanced.

 

[BLubmuz]

There's a map size multiplier as well, though I think we should be on Standard for this one. Maybe the admins tweaked the tech costs as well, who knows. Either way, the values should be the same for everyone, so it should be balanced.

Impossible. To tweak the tech costs you have to modify the XMLs, and we're playing this as a normal game.
I followed the link, but i can't verify the cost of AH on Emperor. We're on Emperor, right?
So we're 3 levels above Noble, which probably is used in that list.

The map is Standard, tweaked or not it remains standard and probably that same list is for Standard/Noble.

 

[azzaman333]

Monarch, I believe.

 

[Lord Parkin]

Merlot went up to 45 points this turn (#15), meaning they got another tech. Their last score increase was on turn 9, so this tech took them 6 turns to research (at least, assuming they weren't switching around like we are ). Any guesses as to what they might have finished? Fishing, maybe?

 

[azzaman333]

How many points did they get?

 

[Lord Parkin]

6 points, same as last time. We all started on 33 then went to 39, now they just went to 45.

 

[azzaman333]

It'd have to be a cheap one then.

 

[Irgy]

I would imagine fishing is a likely candidate. I expect not all civs have double fish but I think most will have at least some seafood.

 

[champinoman]

I would imagine fishing is a likely candidate. I expect not all civs have double fish but I think most will have at least some seafood.

Even if they don't have fish it is VERY highly likely that they are starting on a small island similar to ours meaning they are going to want to get fishing early because they will need sailing soon enough.

 

[Lord Parkin]

Amazons went from 39 points to 45 points this turn (#17), meaning they got a tech. Their last score increase from a tech was on turn 11. This probably means the tech took them 6 turns to research... making it looking likely that they went for Fishing.

 

[Trystero]

And now the Amazons went up to 51 (along with Merlot). Could this be a pop increase to size 2?

 

[Lord Parkin]

Hmm... you're right. Gah, that's annoying... I was assuming that population points would be worth a different amount to techs (because they are on the usual map sizes I play - either Duel or Huge), but apparently pop points are worth the same as techs (i.e. 6 points) on this map. I wasn't checking earlier so I can't be sure who's got which capital. All I can say is that 3 teams have size 2 capitals at the moment, and 3 teams have size 1 capitals. Amazons almost certainly have a size 2 capital (two 6 point increases in a row), while Quatronia almost certainly has a size 1 capital (only one 6 point increase so far). Merlot probably has a size 2 capital, since they went up to 51 points this turn as well. So this means that one out of CDZ and Mavericks have a size 1 capital, while the other has a size 2 capital. Can't deduce any more than that at present. Gah, wish I'd thought to check how many points a pop change counts for on this map size earlier on. Never mind.

 

[azzaman333]

Score change for pop isn't map size dependent, it's map dependent. A subtle difference, but an important one.