GOTM 35 Pre-Game Discussion

[dmanakho]

Here is my take on situation...
Ainwood is one and the only authority and we should not try to manipulate him...
Let him choose all the game settings, otherwise if he tries to please few people there are always will be others not happy with changes made and Ainwood is going to be blamed...

So.... Just let the person in charge to decide everything on his own.
Good job Ainwood and keep it that way

 

[denyd]

I agree with dmanakho for the Open games. Adding challenges for the predators (tougher AI, reduced traits) is why they choose that level.

I'm sure Ainwood has a map surprise (no resources on the map ) in store for us.

 

[stormbind]

Ainwood is one and the only authority and we should not try to manipulate him...

Right.

I want loads of small sandy islands, and if I don't get my way, I'm going to subscribe Ainwood's IM details to spam merchant mailing lists. Clear?

*sucks thumb, stamps feet, bites thumb*

More seriously, I like an exploration-race that lasts until late in the game. On the other hand, it doesn't matter what I like, and I am very not terribly active in GOTM anyway.

 

[Dynamic]

ehm... I never claimed to be able to see anything under the fog. To me, that all looks the same -uniform, featureless green...

May be I see this because use LCD monitor? Using .jpg format and resizing the picture make the quality worse. But I confidence in S wheat at 90% and E wheat at 70%.

I will move Settler E and worker to the wheet for irrigation first.

If there is wheat on E this position gives us 4-turn settler+warrior from 4,5 to 6,5 city size (if will be automatic moving citizen from irrigated wheat to forest or mined grass).


No, it was mistake, only 4-turn settler.

 

[Sandman2003]

If monarchy is not going to be difficult enough to require research to military tradition, then I guess another victory condition might have to be chosen! Of course the 'interesting' landmass may impose its own demands on this concept.

 

[mabellino]

Yeah make it a compulsory space victory for the predator class.... then you get to play with the Sipahi while researching the required techs.

I'll be wimping out on open class so please don't take away the starting gold!

How do you people see the stuff under the fog???? I can make out terrain type but that's all!

 

[Denniz]

Settle in place:
Pros: Defense, 2Gold, 5BG, Wheat and one turn head start
Cons: need to irrigate G or BG, no forest

Move NE:
Pros: 1 Gold, 5BG, Wheat, Forest
Cons: 1t delay, lose 1G, lose Def Bonus, need to irrigate G or BG

Move E:
Pros: 4BG, Wheat, Forest, can irrigate Wheat directly
Cons: 1t delay, lose 1BG, lose 2Gold, lose Def Bonus

Move SW:
Pros: 2Gold, 4BG, Wheat, Forest with Dyes
Cons: 1t delay, lose 1BG, lose Def Bonus, need to irrigate G or BG

Well, I think I have narrowed it down to Settle in place or move SW. I rechecked and the move SW still has 5BG and obviously doesn't lose def. So all I'm leaning towards that move. The extra Mountain/Hills will make for a powerful production center later in the game. So I figure the worker will move S to BG, Road, irrigate, Move E to Wheat, irrigate, road, move W to irrigated BG, Mine, Move SW BG, Mine, Road, Move S to lux, Road.

Even if there are additional wheat in the fog, I don't know why I would move away from the river when we have a 4-turn factory right there. The first settler can move that way and start another one.

 

[Karasu]

Hmm. I like settling East because of the immediate access to the wheat. If it is true that more wheats lie under the fog, more interesting settler/worker/unit factory possibilites arise.

The main value of the starting position (or SW move) in this regard is the commerce you'd get from the gold, rather than the defense bonus.
But in the early game you won't trade food for gold -I would have to wait at least for the second city to use those mountains, and it may still be too early.

Still, I haven't made any calculation, so I am likely to be missing something as usual.

 

[delmar]

Well, I think I have narrowed it down to Settle in place or move SW. [...] I don't know why I would move away from the river when we have a 4-turn factory right there.

How do you make a 4-turn (settler?) factory? I don't see how population can grow faster than once every three turns given the bonuses that are visible.

 

[Florian K]

Settle in place:
Pros: Defense, 2Gold, 5BG, Wheat and one turn head start
Cons: need to irrigate G or BG, no forest

Move NE:
Pros: 1 Gold, 5BG, Wheat, Forest
Cons: 1t delay, lose 1G, lose Def Bonus, need to irrigate G or BG

Move E:
Pros: 4BG, Wheat, Forest, can irrigate Wheat directly
Cons: 1t delay, lose 1BG, lose 2Gold, lose Def Bonus

Move SW:
Pros: 2Gold, 4BG, Wheat, Forest with Dyes
Cons: 1t delay, lose 1BG, lose Def Bonus, need to irrigate G or BG

Has anyone else considered moving south
Pros 2 Gold, 4 BG, can irrigate wheat directly
Cons 1t delay, lose Def Bonus

 

[Bigfoot]

Moving S puts you on top of a BG, and it is next to at least one plains tile (maybe more). I will probably move E to allow for quick irrigation of the wheat. I don't see how others can see other wheats, etc. under the fog, but if there are other wheats they are likely clustered close together. I like staying on the river and still having all of those BGs and the forest tile nearby.

 

[alamo]

Looks like another great GOTM!

Fog-gazers may see bonuses, but they may disappear before the game gets posted. The difficulty is fine. Most people will enjoy the game on Monarch.

My guess on the catch:

There are at least 2 continents seperated by several ocean squares, and our continent will have weak research due to hapless warmongering.

 

[SirPleb]

We are Ottomans (scientific+industrious, UU=Sipahi), at Monarch level, on an "interesting" landform with 70% water.

I'm guessing that conquest will be an "interesting" goal That's what I'll go for.

I'm going to move the settler east because that will allow irrigating the wheat quickly. To me that's the top priority.

My build sequence will depend on what becomes visible in the early turns. If there are indeed a couple more wheat then I'll want a settler before a granary.

My initial research will depend on whether I'll be building a settler before granary. If so then I'll calculate whether I can learn both Alphabet and Pottery before I want my granary - if that's possible I'll research Alphabet first. If not then I'll research Pottery first. In either case I'll research as fast as I can and will hope for a chance to trade for the other of those two techs.

Although it is reasonable to expect Knights to suffice for a conquest victory at Monarch level, I plan to head for Military Tradition and to use Sipahi. Two reasons: 1) Sipahi are a lot stronger/faster than Knights. They should be able to make up at least some of the lost time, which may be as little as 16 turns. 2) They seem the best way to trigger a Golden Age for Ottomans. To use wonders to trigger a Golden Age before or with Chivalry means the Great Library is necessary, as well as one other wonder. But at Monarch level I don't want to build the Great Library, I'd rather use the shields for something else.

That is just a preliminary plan though! Sipahi are a long way off. If I get Monotheism as a free tech, if there's a strong reason to go to war asap, if a necessary resource is hard to come by, if a rival builds the Great Library early on (unlikely at Monarch) - any of these things could make me reconsider rushing to Sipahi.

 

[dmanakho]

I don't believe Ainwood ever mentioned the size of the landmass...
we rarely play anything but standard maps, although large map COTM is in progress...

With monarch game with standard map size and only 30% of land mass, I expect Sir Pleb and Co will finish this game before Sipahis come to play. Well, if conquest or domination victory is chosen that is.

 

[ainwood]

I don't believe Ainwood ever mentioned the size of the landmass...
we rarely play anything but standard maps, although large map COTM is in progress...

With monarch game with standard map size and only 30% of land mass, I expect Sir Pleb and Co will finish this game before Sipahis come to play. Well, if conquest or domination victory is chosen that is.

Sorry - should have mentioned that. It is standard (it would be a bit much to have two large maps in a month).

Barbs are restless.

 

[smackster]

This sounds good, to give some SGOTM4 training, I'm going to go for a 5CC. With Sipahi on Monarch, I think this one could even be a 5CCC, 5 City Challenge Conquest.

 

[Megalou]

I was considering an attempt at culture 20K, but then tried a deity game as Ottomans (thinking we would have deity this time) and boy I can't believe how difficult it is to get both promotions and leaders as a non-militaristic civ. With a slower tech pace I might still go for it, but I can almost hear myself muttering about the lack of leaders.

Can anyone say if the RNG is actually meaner at higher difficulty levels?

I think this will be some kind of archipelago where we are the only ones isolated from all the other civs, because this is a tantalizing thought and if I were ainwood I wouldn't have been able to resist it any more.

 

[MOTH]

I think this will be some kind of archipelago where we are the only ones isolated from all the other civs, because this is a tantalizing thought and if I were ainwood I wouldn't have been able to resist it any more.

Agreed. And there will be no goodie huts on our island either The easy difficulty level would also point in this direction as it will take us a bit to get off this rock. I'm aiming my research towards map making with either Alpha/Pottery or Pottery/Alpha. Once I know how big the island looks then I will know how tightly I want to build my cities.

 

[denyd]

I'm thinking it's more of a continents game, but were at the tip with Greece (Hoplites) cutting us off from all the other tribes and without iron & horses battle our way out.

 

[Cuivienen]

More likely it's Greece with Carthage behind them. If this were C3C, I'd suspect a Sumeria-Greece-Carthage-Netherlands-France setup for irritating defensive UUs in chronological order.