Bez, I really wish you would just give turning research off a try. I promise we can go all the way through the tech tree in the next game if you like, and I won’t say a word about it.
Many of the decisions I made on my turns were based on the assumption that we would be turning research off at some point. In other words, these decisions were good ones if we will be turning off research, but they are bad ones if we don’t. Gator’s earlier post made it sound like we would be “playing it by ear” as to when we would be turning research off, but I didn't think not turning it off
ever was even under consideration. I did not see Bez’s comments before I played my turns. (This is one of the reasons why I am always talking about how it is so important to set a plan and stick to it, by the way
).
A few of the more notable decisions that are good if tuning off research but bad if we don’t include the following:
1) Choosing not to build the colossus. If we head straight to astronomy after lit, then the colossus would go obsolete in around 20 turns, so no reason to build it. If we go with Bez's longer tech path, then building the colossus would have been a good idea.
2) Building mines on the river hills around Cori and not windmills. Without replaceable parts, windmills are pretty lousy (grass/river/hills yield 2f, 1h, 3c). We are quickly reaching the point in the game where commerce will become less valuable and our island is very short on hills, so we need hammers desperately for boats and military units. And we need them soon. The only two cities we have that can generate a lot of hammers are Cori and Huamanga (our new horse city).
3) I did not found Huamanga on the horse, because the only way founding a city on the horse will ever generate more shields than a city founded 1W of the horse is with biology. (Ie, even if everything is irrigated, a city founded on the horse can only work 6 mines before biology). I think the tile 1W is a better location because it allows the city to work the horse tile (2f, 3h, 1c) which will give it good production while not slowing growth.
My Notes:
150bc Switch Cuzco from settler to Missionary for a turn and MM to work pig so it will grow this turn.
Machu could whip a courthouse right now (3 pop for 120 hammers), but I think I would rather wait and use that cities whip for a forge. Speaking of forges, I MM a few cities for commerce so that we will get Metal Casting next turn rather than in 2 turns. It seems a good idea since Tiwan and Machu could both start building forges next turn.
125 Tiwan gets Aqueduct and starts a forge with that yummy 32 hammer overflow that Lief left me. Also abandons a cottage to start running a priest. We now have 1 million people in the empire. Cuzco switches back to building a settler and citizens return to working cottages. Machu takes his pig back and switches from Courthouse to Forge (the courthouse can wait because expenses in that city are currently only 2gpt). A worker near Cori jumps onto a jungle hill: he must have been on goto orders. I would rather him have mined a river/hill or cleared the other dye tile before beginning such a long term project.
100 Barb ax dies attacking our ax in the jungle. Promotes us. I would like to switch Olly to the Great Lighthouse as Bez suggested, but it just got built by China.
50 Cori gets Courthouse starts library. Temporarily switch Cuzco to Parthenon in order to get the hammers from the forest being chopped.
25 Whip the forge in Machu (2 pop for 90 hammers)
1ad Machu gets Forge, start worker. Interrupt worker chopping forest N of Tiwan. Forge will be done next turn, so might as well come back to finish the chop after that.
25ad Settler complete in Cuzco, start Missionary and give it back the pig so it can grow to size 10 in 3 turns. Tiwan finishes forge, starts Courthouse. I considered starting the HG or Colossus but dismissed them both for now. I decided to wait until after the courthouse to build the HG because I didn’t want to mix too many Engineer points in with our Priest points and miss our chance for an early shrine. Whip Library in Cori (1 pop for 60 hammers).
50 Machu gets worker, starts Courthouse. Cori gets Library, starts Forge. Chop another forest into the Parthenon. Whip Library in Olly (1 pop, 60 hammers)
75 Olly gets library starts worker. Cuzco will grow to the happy limit next turn so Machu gets his pig back. Found Huamanga.
100 Holy smokes: the Indians just got destroyed!
Optics due in 3 turns. Contact with AIs due shortly thereafter! The river cottages around Cuzco are done. It is now making 96bpt at 80% (although it can do 120bpt if we go to 100% science).
For anyone who might be interested, founding Huamanga increased out total expenses from 37 to 52, so the city is currently costing us 15gpt.
Autolog notes:
Notes for the next player:
I would recommend keeping our units out of the fog to the north. We actually want barbs appearing in order to promote our axmen. I left the axman’s promotion for a later date. It would be nice to get City Raider I if we can, but if a barb ax appears you may want to go ahead and promote with Shock.
Work 3 (by Cuzco) was going to help develop Huamanga. The worker stacked with him was going to keep cottaging around Cuzco, starting with the grass tile that Olly shares with Cuzco (Olly would work the tile until it becomes a hamlet, then Cuzco would take it)
Work 4 is sitting on top of a forest that will chop in 1 turn (it was prechopped).
I was going to go ahead and build the HG in Tiwanaku and the Parthenon in our capitol.
I wouldn’t trade for HR or Archery with the AIs because they are useless techs for us. I also wouldn’t trade for Meditation.
The Save
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