GOTM 08 Pre-Game Discussion

[ainwood]

GOTM-08: Pre Game Discussion

This game MUST be played in patch version 1.61. We will NOT accept any games played under any other patch versions.


Game settings:
Civilization: Germany (Leader: Bismark; Traits: Expansive & Industrial)
Rivals: 6 (Random)
Difficulty: Monarch
Map: Archepelago
Mapsize: Standard
Climate: Rocky
Water level: Low
Starting Era: Ancient
Speed: Normal
Victory Conditions: all enabled

Bismark:
Bismark is Industrial and expansive; starting with hunting and mining. Industrial allows 50% on production of wonders, and double production speed of forges. Expansive allows +3 health in each city, as well as double production speed of granaries and harbours.


Unique unit: Panzer:
The Panzer replaces the tank. It has strength of 28 and move of two and costs 180 hammers. Unlike the normal tank, its gets a +50% bonus against other tanks.

The starting screenshot is here:

Adventurer Class bonuses:
To be confirmed. Note that it will be substantial, to help with the increase in difficulty level


Challenger Class Equalisers:
To be confirmed.

 

[armstrong]

Thanks ainwood! What kind of archipelago is it, though? We appear to be on quite a sizable land mass - is this "Snaky Continents," or is it just the effect of the low sea level? I'm thinking we might have to boot another civ off the island...

Hmm... a rocky, low-sea level archipelago? That makes me think that production will not be as big of an issue as it normally is on the island maps.

I think that moving NW onto the plains hills (losing the fish but keeping the pig and picking up two grass hills) or W (getting both foods but losing the hammer from the plains hill & a grass hill) are going to be the two common openings. Both will also let you work a 3FP1C tile from turn 1, and, most importantly, you can't turn down gold.

With gold in sight, the happiness & commerce from that should make this a much easier transition for the Prince players. Industrious is very useful for building the Great Lighthouse, and cheap forges & granaries & harbors are quite lovely for archipelago maps where the is often the main source of production and much commerce comes from Great Lighthouse traderoutes.

On the other hand, the health from Expansive isn't so useful, since most/all cities will be coastal and have harbors.

Since we start with Hunting & Mining, I think going worker first is a good idea, and research AH for the Pigs. I'd move the Scout W/NE to the gold hill to see if it's more appealing to settle NW than W.

 

[Jastrow]

Is it just me, or is this screenshot unusually difficult to read? Can someone make out with confidence the following?

-What type of square is the settler on?
-Is the scout plain forrested or not?
-Is the gold hill grassland?


My off the cuff reaction to the shot is to move 1W, and settle on the grassland, but as I see several options as to how to start, I see some serious test-bedding needed beyond that.

 

[Ribannah]

Funny settling suggestion by the AI, out of range of both gold and fish.

 

[CliftonBazaar]

This will all depend on which races start on our Island, in my first test game I was stuck with 2 others and I was the lowest score for the whole game, never got defeated though

 

[Conquistador 63]

Is it just me, or is this screenshot unusually difficult to read? Can someone make out with confidence the following?

-What type of square is the settler on?
-Is the scout plain forrested or not?
-Is the gold hill grassland?

I assume the screenshot is using Blue Marble graphic mod, which I started to use last week. From what I can see, settler is on a grassland hill, scout on a forrested plain, and gold hill is grassland.

 

[Zaldron]

I haven't really played monarch difficulty before (or archepelago) but I'll probably give this one a shot.

It looks like I'll plan to move 1W and pick up the fish and gold while keeping the pig at the expense of the later dye.

I think I'm going to go warrior/fishing, work boat/AH, worker/BW for my initial start. This way I pick up the fish health, food, and commerce while still growing the capital before starting on the worker. As soon as the worker pops I'll have enough food to mine the gold and keep growing.

 

[Taronas]

This will all depend on which races start on our Island, in my first test game I was stuck with 2 others and I was the lowest score for the whole game, never got defeated though

Yea, never played Monarch before. Everybody was way ahead of me (twice the numbers) and then there was Isabell on my island - Stacks of Catapults and Macemen defeating my Spear- and Axemen in the cities

 

[Taronas]

what about "Landmass type" in the setup? Archipelago?

thanks

 

[VoiceOfUnreason]

I'd be guessing there's enough land to justify a second scout, so I'd expect to begin by settling west, working the spices to chew out a second scout, then switching to growth. Fishing >> Bronzeworking >> Animal Loving >> punt?

 

[godotnut]

Would someone mind creating a practice save with identical settings and visible land features?

 

[Nares]

Yeah, what are the landmass settings? If they're Archipelago, then there might only be something like 15-20 extra tiles to the landmass. Spread out, that means there's room for three solid cities, maybe four or five if one was to try to squeeze them in.

I'm also guessing that this start is situated somewhere in then southern green band, which means Desert to the north.

EDIT: Based on the relative flora, it's just north of the southern dry band. Which is to say, the Plains tiles in the eastern portion of the screenshot indiciate where the dry band actually begins. The Desert is mostly to the east and west, ranging between some 5-15 tiles south, approximately. Jungle should be within 10 tiles to the north. Given the relative size of the landmass, I'm guessing there's going to be at least one nearby civ.

 

[DynamicSpirit]

Yeah, what are the landmass settings? If they're Archipelago, then there might only be something like 15-20 extra tiles to the landmass. Spread out, that means there's room for three solid cities, maybe four or five if one was to try to squeeze them in.

I'm also guessing that this start is situated somewhere in then southern green band, which means Desert to the north.

Perhaps we're intended not to know the landmass type (I wouldn't complain if that was the case - would add to the fun IMO)

 

[grahamiam]

Well, you can choose "Archepelago" twice when selecting your custom settings. Once when selecting "Map" and another time when selecting "Landmass Type"

 

[DynamicSpirit]

This looks an easy early strategy. I'll be moving West, mining that gold and going for a CS slingshot. Fish plus gold plus pigs = high food, high commerce capital.

 

[Nares]

Perhaps we're intended not to know the landmass type (I wouldn't complain if that was the case - would add to the fun IMO)

Heh, I think it just gets overlooked in that, as grahamiam points out, there's a double selection of Archipelago; once as a map type, and again as a landmass type. Most times I've seen a Archipelago map offered, the landmass type was unspecified unless specifically one of the other two choices, which I guess answers my question.

And yeah, that looks like a high food, high commerce spot. Those blue circles make me wonder what the heck is off in the distance. There's definatly going to be something of interest to the west, but moving too much will sacrifice what should be a fairly easy CS slingshot.

 

[Mad Professor]

Those are very interesting AI suggestions. I've never seen them out on the limit of vision before. I agree though that having the fish and gold by moving to the west would be very tempting.

I've just tried by first Monarch game and got beaten to a space race victory by a few turns. I actually found it quite difficult. It seems to me that stepping up from Prince to Monarch is a fairly big step. Anyhow - I'll have a go at this one.

 

[armstrong]

Those are very interesting AI suggestions. I've never seen them out on the limit of vision before. I agree though that having the fish and gold by moving to the west would be very tempting.

I've just tried by first Monarch game and got beaten to a space race victory by a few turns. I actually found it quite difficult. It seems to me that stepping up from Prince to Monarch is a fairly big step. Anyhow - I'll have a go at this one.

The jump from Prince->Monarch really isn't that much harder, I think. The key is recognizing you can't simply walk all over the AI. A little Diplo, smart trading, respecting their armies more, etc., is enough to push you over the limit... or a grassland hill gold

Monarch->Emperor blows my mind, though!

If the landmass is intended to be a mystery, that's fine, but otherwise - it really does matter. I'd love to here something official on this. You will use completely different strategies if you're on snaky continent than an archipelago map.

 

[Taronas]

The jump from Prince->Monarch really isn't that much harder, I think.

I have doubts on this

I'm fine with prince games but I tried a second game now and the AI gets away from me right from the start and I never can catch up

Is there a guide on "how to play on monarch" somewhere?


Oh, and using HOF would be great

thanks

 

[azzaman333]

I just made 20 maps, exact same settings.

14 I wasn't with another AI on the same landmass
2 had me with 1 AI
2 had me with 2 AI's
0 had me with 3 AI's
2 had me with 4 AI's