GOTM-02: Pre-Game discussion

[DuncanIdaho v.1]

I'm thinking that researching hunting and pumping out a few scouts first thing is the way to go. Make a beeline for writing via animal husbandry + pottery, then sailing and agriculture, and go science-heavy the whole way. If I can find marble , then shift to mysticism + polytheism and build Parthenon to boost G'Leaders production +150%.

In theory. If it all doesn't go sideways.

 

[Pazarius]

Hmm, don't like the lack of hills. Maybe it's just me, but I like my capital to produce lots of hammers.

I could move north to get an extra plains hill, but without wasting turns there isn't a way to find out what will be at the top of the city radius beforehand.

 

[lukasbradley]

You know, I will kill myself laughing if that black spot has fish.

Any gamblers daring enough to move up one tile and settle on their first turn?
(sacrificing two river tiles for ice and tundra with forest, but on bright side gaining a hill)

Yes, I will be going one space north. I think it's a decent gamble.

EDIT - Actually, I take that back. Having a village on the river to the south would be great, and that upper left dark tile looks like it might be tundra.

 

[Shillen]

North would be a silly move, IMO. You'd pick up a snow tile + tundra forest + a couple extra coastal squares + 1 plains hill. Meanwhile you're losing plains/grasslands/river tiles. Another reason is the settler placement right where he is is perfect for optimizing tile useage without grabbing the desert tiles to the SW.

Elizabeth is one of my favorite leaders. All the extra commerce and some early scientist leaders for academies makes for a very fast tech pace. I bet we see a 1500AD launch this month. I'll be going for a military victory, myself, because I'm bad at those and I want to be humiliated by my betters. Also because I'm bored of fast tech games with no AI competition. I can use this as an opportunity to improve my warmongering.

I will not go for an early religion. On a map where you meet all the civs early I tend not to, because you'll get some spread to you early enough. Meanwhile, since I'm going for a military victory I can capture a holy city for the income bonus. I will be going to war very early this game. I probably won't build many settlers of my own. One thing I have to be careful of, though, is emphasizing my cities too much for production. Commerce will be necessary as well. I will probably leave London as a science city and maybe one other city that's able to work a lot of cottages.

edited thanks to Smirk

 

[Smirk]

A move south might be a good gamble, ie to the south of that lake. Unless that salt water has a resource its not all that useful to me, when considering any river tile instantly and in the future outcompetes coastal for commerce.
Although I've never played a lakes map yet. And I see already my assumption that all water would be fresh is flawed so I'll have to give one a try before the gotm to see if the lighthouse combination is very useful. That is, can you get salt with fresh lakes enough to make this a useful general strategy and thus then building Colossus can have a big impact?

Although I'm always bored with the space race so am not even looking at that as a goal. So I will most likely settle at the spot or at least with fresh and salt for my capital. I'll send that warrior southwest but if he doesn't see anything then no further thought is needed.

Beyond that I may try for some early religion, and going for hunting for some scouts and village rewards is tempting as well.


Shillen: Catherine is Russia Cre/Fin. This is Elizabeth, she's the more restrained redhead.

 

[ainwood]

Gee, how disappointing. There's no way I'm going to invest many, many hours in another game at Noble level. I like to participate in the GOTM, but it's just not very interesting to play when I know I'm going to be way ahead throughout the whole game.

Oh darn. Its actually prince.

 

[Shillen]

Oh darn. Its actually prince.

That's good news.

 

[Markus5]

No mods, right?

Is there an easy way to tell Civ4 to ignore all mods? Yeah, yeah, it's easy enough to just remove/rename the files, but maybe there is something that will allow you to leave them in place...

Is the save specific to the latest patch level?

 

[ButSam]

Gee, how disappointing. There's no way I'm going to invest many, many hours in another game at Noble level. I like to participate in the GOTM, but it's just not very interesting to play when I know I'm going to be way ahead throughout the whole game.

LOL I was just gunna say...Noble?! This game is still new, right? How about giving the Warlords a chance?

I actually think it would be interesting to run 3 GOTMs, 1 per 9 days (ie, one starts on the 1st, one starts on the 10th, one starts on the 19th..or 20th for nice round numbers). Each GOTM would have 1 month to complete from the start date. Each GOTM would guarantee a semi-standard difficulty level:

1) Settler to Warlord (starting, say, the 1st of every month)
2) Noble to Monarch (starting, say, the 10th of every month)
3) The top 3--Emperor, Immortal, Deity (starting, say, the 20th of every month)

(Forgive me if I botched the names of the difficulty levels...I just got my copy yesterday, and am having fun with a Settler game to get used to all of the new features.)

This would fit several peoples' tastes for GOTMs, and allow some steady progress.

If that is too much, then perhaps 2 GOTMs with the split being Settler-Noble and Monarch-Deity would work...

I love the GOTM concept, but I usually know I will get whooped...I could win about 3/4 of the time on Regent on Civ3, but lost all but one game on Monarch...I know that Noble would kick my royal trash on Civ4 right now! I think the split (if there is >1 GOTM) should be difficulty level-based, and somewhat standard...

I don't mean to overwork our GOTM staff...but if it isn't too much to ask, can it be considered?

Sam

 

[pindicator]

Wow, this spot looks great for either commerce or GP. You could either run cottages along with all the extra food, or run more food for GP. One way would want Writing and on to Code of Laws quickly; the other would want Pottery. I think settling in spot is the best bet; I don't see the warrior revealing anything to change my mind. Financial + Lighthouse = 3f3c freshwater tiles... so much food and with Philo trait I think we'll see a lot of GP this game.

 

[Roland Ehnström]

Its actually prince.

Yay!

-- Roland

 

[Rane Khan]

Oh darn. Its actually prince.

I certainly hope this will be the first Prince game I end up winning...

 

[Jar Jar Binks]

I think I will move into the forest 1E then settle there, it will take until the expasion of london until I have animal hus or farming and a worker anyways so all goodie squares will be in play. I will build a lighthouse asap to get the food bonus on the water. Plan on either a Spaceship or Diplo victory

 

[DaviddesJ]

It still seems like a very easy start, but I'm a whole lot happier at Prince than Noble. Thanks.

One question I'm not sure about---if you settle in place, will the capital get a free river connection to resources along the river? I.e., does the freshwater lake function as an extension of the river?

 

[Shillen]

It still seems like a very easy start, but I'm a whole lot happier at Prince than Noble. Thanks.

One question I'm not sure about---if you settle in place, will the capital get a free river connection to resources along the river? I.e., does the freshwater lake function as an extension of the river?

Almost all starts in civ4 look good. Don't worry, I'm sure we'll have a monarch and an emperor game in the next couple months.

The lake will extend the river. You may need sailing to connect it, though.

 

[MaskedFrog]

I think I am going to try for a Culture victory. I have attempted it on Noble but not on Prince. I plan on settling in place and grabbing 3 city sites quickly. I am still undecided on heading for a religion or going for bronze working first. My priority is going to be getting some defense from Barbarians quickly then to drama and music.

 

[remconius]

I think I will move into the forest 1E then settle there, it will take until the expasion of london until I have animal hus or farming and a worker anyways so all goodie squares will be in play. I will build a lighthouse asap to get the food bonus on the water. Plan on either a Spaceship or Diplo victory

East seems like good shot at getting another resource in the city radius. Problem is you are giving up three forests (2 west and one where you build the city), river plains and one grassland. And you dont know what you'll get. Especially forests could hurt your early production a lot.

Then again it wouldnt be GOTM if there wasnt something that we are just missing by settling on the spot....

 

[DaveMcW]

Forests just outside your radius can be chopped for full shields. So moving east is not a problem, unless you are one of those tree-hugger types that leaves them uncut.

The optimal "explorers gambit" would be:
1. Settler SE, N
1. Warrior NE
2. Warrior NE
2. Settler can build in place, move-and-build, or walk north if the warrior sees fish.

But the start is so good, that I can't justify wasting a turn in hopes of making it just a little bit better.

 

[Methos]

I'll settle in place, as I see no reason to move. Never played a lakes map so need to try one out. The only prince level SP game I've played was on inland sea and techs went pretty quick. I'm guessing this will be similar.

I'll stay away from going for the religions, and just pick one up from someone. Probably work on worker techs first that'll benefit my immediate surroundings. Than head for writing.

Not sure about victory condition yet.

 

[Nichelle]

A quick question...

Which patch are we to use for IVotm 2?

I don't want to download and install the new one if we are to use the old one.

Thanks!