[BTS] G-Major 173 - Aztecs, Warlord, Cultural - Deadline October 27th 2020

[Pangaea]

Interesting about Oracle. Suppose it's possible to pull off. Need to postpone it for a long while tho, and also postpone CS for 15 turns or however long it would take to tech it normally.

Think de Gaulle was building a worker when I attacked, but there was no way of knowing that beforehand as I didn't have vision of the city centre. I was also concerned about a second warrior popping up, whereupon 4 warriors probably would have failed.

Put a city way, way down south to (eventually) claim copper. Well, I hope so anyway. Then bulbed Theo with the 67-ish percent GProphet, which ended up down there. Nice with SPI, as I could drop out of a religion and quickly pop borders.

Spoiler :

Could have gone for the clam site instead, but it would be pretty lousy, and I need to get out missionaries and temples here too, so went for the second ring double-food one instead. Hope we get the copper in decent time. Not exactly ready to start working on cathedrals yet (and need Music). Have five religions already, which is more than enough really. And will also get Taoism. Probably more than I can use, but no matter. City wasn't as expensive as I thought. Maintenance sure is low on these settings Now I must hope the city doesn't flip, that would suck!

Btw, thought I was lucky with the settler hut pop, and I was, but then I looked up some games in the HoF by reading the logs. One game got 11-12 huts, including 5 workers and 2 settlers. WTF. How is that even possible. Techs too. Totally nuts.

 

[iggymnrr]

One game got 11-12 huts, including 5 workers and 2 settlers. WTF. How is that even possible. Techs too. Totally nuts.

A massive hemisphere has ~25 huts. If there are only 3 AIs, a person can expect 6 huts or more. At warp speed the entire hemisphere can be explored in 30-40 turns. A person doesn't have to go that fast to get ~15-20 huts.

It doesn't look necessary to capture too many AIs if any.

 

[Pangaea]

The amount of huts looked nuts (not sure what kind of map it was tho, or how many opponents), but I meant more the huge amount of workers + settlers.

My game started feeling really bad yesterday, like all the timings were off. The two cities up against AIs were totally gunk because no tiles could be gained, so it felt like having 4 cities instead of 6-7. Got two GProphets before finally a GS for Edu-bulb. Could bulb Theo with one (didn't like the shrine idea), not that I need so many religions, not like I can use 6 anyway. I was just going through the motions, hitting next turn. Got to Lib->Nationalism before 1AD, though, so maybe it will turn out okay after all, if I can actually get up some cathedrals soon. At least those blasted tiles have been won now.

Wish we could use both slavery and caste. Have mostly stayed in Slavery, because I need to get out temples and missionaries. OR too for the same reason. Maybe I can play better if I try another map later, but should play out this one first. Hate those blasted slave revolts tho. Got one in the capital, and soon after another city got it too.

 

[elitetroops]

You can greatly increase the amount of huts you get to pop by not selecting AI that start with hunting. I'm not quite sure about hemispheres, but I have a feeling it should be possible to make it so that all AI with hunting have a high probability of starting in the other hemisphere. Another advantage with this is that it takes longer for AI without hunting to reach archery.

 

[Noble Zarkon]

The amount of huts looked nuts (not sure what kind of map it was tho, or how many opponents), but I meant more the huge amount of workers + settlers.

Play the first 20 turns, if you haven't popped multiple Settlers and Workers throw the game away and try again, the games that you do get them are the ones that end in the Hall of Fame .....

 

[Fippy]

I would prefer huts being banned for gaunlet, challenger etc games..cos as you say it's all about trying new games and waiting for good random results.
Which i consider counterproductive in strategy games.

 

[Noble Zarkon]

I would prefer huts being banned for gaunlet, challenger etc games

Yeah we've got a bit lax about that, it's a fair call.

 

[Pangaea]

Yeah, huts seem really powerful on these low levels due to being able to pop workers and settlers, and get more huts as well (only got three in my game, but 1 of them was a settler).

Seem to recall this issue in the few other culture games I've played, and it's about the 50% academies. Really hard to get them out in decent time, especially in the GP Farm location. Do you take a stint of slavery and 4-5 pop them? Seems so harsh. Just getting up two is a pain, never mind 4-5-6.

The culture from Stonehenge is nice, doubles early, but damn that thing has ruined me so many times in this game. Got 3 GProphets. So far.

 

[Pangaea]

Not sure which game I looked at earlier with 2 settlers + 5 workers, but here is another one with bonkers huts.

Spoiler :

Two settlers, 3 workers, Masonry, Monarchy, Pottery, Iron Working for free.

Edit: Found it. T-hawk apparently.

 

[elitetroops]

What kind of finish date are you aiming for? On warlord I'd go with more than 9 cities to spread out temple production and allow legendary cities to skip some temples if they don't have time to build all.

 

[lymond]

Orleans is gonna produce many GAs for you

Pigs and corn cities in the middle nicely spaced as helper cities.

 

[Pangaea]

What kind of finish date are you aiming for?

If you are asking me, then I don't know. Too little experience to know how fast/slow the ending is. Think I had played a little over 200 turns, and at that point the capital needed 59 turns or something like that, so shouldn't need any GAs there (but that is during a golden age). The others are lagging way behind tho. No 'cathedral' in the GPFarm (Orleans), and one in the second city.

Actually, is it a mistake to try to get up those 50% buildings in the GP Farm, if one has that? Did build Taj there (chops and whips-OF) so it has some base culture, but not a ton.

 

[lymond]

I'd say the cathedrals are most important in the cap..usually the city the gets the natural culture from cottages and Herm. If you are going with a second cottaged L city then I'd build as many as you can there too. The GP farm is really a matter of if you have the time and luxury to build some....bonuses/chops/whips. Otherwise, the GP farm will get the most bombs with maybe some bombs in city 2 to make even things out, so all L cities hit it around the same turn....ideally that is what you want. Cap/Herm city sets the benchmark on victory while the other cities get bombed to catch up.

 

[elitetroops]

With Sistine your GP farm makes 6 base culture/artist. Definitely worth it to get some multipliers up. Taj instead of cathedrals seem like a mistake. Rather move Taj somewhere else, doesn't necessarily have to be in a leggy city.

 

[iggymnrr]

So everyone must be running a few maps in map finder to check if the healing plant event is in the game? Then using the last save as a seed to generate maps to play?

 

[Pangaea]

With Sistine your GP farm makes 6 base culture/artist. Definitely worth it to get some multipliers up. Taj instead of cathedrals seem like a mistake. Rather move Taj somewhere else, doesn't necessarily have to be in a leggy city.

My thinking was that it was nice to get some higher base culture in the GP Farm too, and it wasn't able to build an academy at that point, while the two other cities were busy with an academy and MoM. Something to improve for a later game, if I try again.

So everyone must be running a few maps in map finder to check if the healing plant event is in the game? Then using the last save as a seed to generate maps to play?

That's taking the cheese factory to a new level. I like to set up the game with whatever leaders and settings I need, then run map finder (or just generate a few starts manually). Load a start that looks nice, and play it. I prefer to actually play the game. Unorthodox, but it's what I like. If the game turns out a bit crap, I can try a different map later.

 

[Pangaea]

Well... the capital is absolute miles ahead of the other cities. Had they been able to keep up, it could have been a pretty decent date, around 1100AD, maybe before.

Spoiler :

31-turn Golden Age is about to end. Will do a stint in Slavery then and whip out at least 1 academy in the two other cities (think it has to be done, even if it hurts my feelings). Capital already has 5 and is doing well over 1000 per turn. Money is fine for now, but it may as well just build Wealth.

 

[iggymnrr]

That does look a little skewed. But a good time. The only wonders that seem interesting are Stonehenge/Moai, MoM, Oracle, Zeus, Taj, and National Epic. A full slate of a state religion's building is also good. Their culture doubles and +10 will get added to each one too. That's a good way to raise base culture.

 

[elitetroops]

I'd say the essential are MoM, Parth, Sistine and Taj. Zeus probably also a good one on this low level, higher levels you'd have to build it too early when there are more important things to focus on. I'd be very careful with prophet wonders. On this level a late oracle in some low food city that isn't going to produce any great people seems like a decent plan. Prophet points in cities that will produce GAs is very bad.

@Pangaea why the golden age so early? It's more powerful with more cathedrals and bigger cities. Better save it for later, stay in slavery a bit longer to get your infra up.

 

[Pangaea]

@Pangaea why the golden age so early? It's more powerful with more cathedrals and bigger cities. Better save it for later, stay in slavery a bit longer to get your infra up.

One more point that can be improved upon then. Taj was almost done, and I wanted the increased base culture, plus the extra free turn, so I then launched a GA with one of the many GProphets I got.

On a map type like this, you need a bit of luck with the resources. No rice or ivory in our known world, so I didn't bother with Zeus. We have corn + wheat though, so that helps a lot.