GOTM 48 - Pre-Game discussion

[ainwood]

GOTM - 48: Korea

Well, I don't think there will be too much to discuss about this particular starting location....





Now the other details:
Civilization: Korea
Difficulty: Regent
Barbarians: None
Map Size: Standard, 80% ocean
Climate: wet, temperate
World Age: 5 billions, archapelago.
Rivals: 11

Conquest Bonuses:

1. 100 gold in the starting treasury.
2. A pikeman for defence.

Predator Obstacles:

1. Start without the alphabet.
2. AI starting units & cost factor increased to monarch level.

 

[EsatP]

Barbarians: None - not good. Barbarians - give elite unit and money for tech.

 

[King Of America]

I'll play Open, but seeing a Pikeman for defence as a Conquest bonus makes we wonder how close we are to the Celts, X-man, Sqeezer, etc. Someone strong and nasty is nearby.

By the way, what kind of map is it--continents, panagea, arch?

 

[denyd]

I don't think the map type matters. At regent the odds are we are either all alone on an island that will require caravels (or the Lighthouse) to cross or we are at the end of a peninsula with either Greece, Zulu or another agressive AI with a AA UU.

 

[Atreides]

Standard, i hope i have time to play this. life is getting too busy, i almost didn't have enough time to play 47 tiny.

At least it should be fairly easy & fast on regent level, huge technology gap, means simply walking through obsolete AI units, i guess it will just come down to who is fastest at mopping up the AI. I wonder if it’d be fun to play a different style for a change.

 

[eldar]

Okay. 80% water, lots of "friends". This will get crowded, quick. Two plains wheat - thanks, essentially two BGs until we get out of Despotism.

Worker S, obviously, to see if there's anything of promise in that direction (i.e. fresh water). Settle in place if there's not.

 

[Jove]

Hmmm, move south? The coast doesn't extend to the north, so the palace probably won't help much that way, and definitely not at first. The only hope for land in range of the capitol is south... unless the island is so small it doesn't matter... Ainwood wouldn't do that, right? In the best case, with lots of land south (and I do see a hint of green there), maybe 4-5 cities would be helped by a closer capitol. Probably worth it. But my civ plate is full! I'll check back in a few days.

 

[Megalou]

The predator obstacle "Start without the alphabet" sounds unusually tough. An expensive tech needed for Map Making. Is it a hint that we are not alone on this reef?

 

[shumble]

I've never played the Koreans. What type of UU do they have? What type of civilization is it (scientific, military?)

This starting position looks pretty bad. Hopefully there is water nearby. There looks to be some grasslands 2 spaces to the south so the worker moves south first to hopefully spot something good.

Is it out of the question to move your settler twice before settling or do you think you'll settle in place. Not many tiles to work around there and without water, not much hope for fast expansion.

 

[Niklas]

I will certainly consider moving at least two tiles. Settling close to the wheats would be nice, but not crucial.

IIRC Korea is Scientific (that I know) and Commercial. Their UU is an upgraded version of the Cannon, won't try to spell the name from memory. Anyway, it has better stats and lethal bombardment.

 

[denyd]

Korea is SCI & COM (starting techs Alphabet & Bronze Working) with a Hwacha for a UU. The Hwacha (8-1-1) is a cannon replacement requiring saltpeter (but not iron) and has lethal land bombardment which can initiate a golden age. With Alpha & BW Korea starts with the two most expensive AA first level techs.

(According to my cheatsheet the Hwacha & Cannon are both 8-1-1, but for some reason I thought it had 10-1-1 stats)

Here is a link to an excellent analysis of Korea http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=102820

 

[Marc Aurel]

Concerning the H'wacha - in the units section of this page the stats for it are : 12-1-1. That sounds more rational, but according to the civpedia it is 8-1-1? Does anybody know exactly what's true?
Only 8-1-1 would make it quite useless (apart from initiating GA), since it comes so short before the Cavalry.

 

[Civlord]

I've never played as Korea before, but hey! THERE ACTUALLY IS someone strong nearby. Only Gotm Staff knows what they are reserving for us, and now, I only recommend sending settlers with escorts.

 

[k-a-bob]

11 rivals? 80% water? I don't think the "no barbs" means much, as we probably wouldn't see any anyways!

I've never played Korea before (I have Mac Vanilla) so this will be fun. I think I'll go builder route on this one and launch into space. I think I might beeline to MM so I can get ahead on contacts, and hopefully use that very much to my tech advantage like I did in the last Persian GoTM.

I'll probably move the settler at least 2-3 spots, as there isn't much of a ring you can do right there

 

[DBear]

This is PTW, so the Hwacha doesn't have lethal bombardment. And we start slightly north of the equator, so there will probably be jungle to the south. Nasty however you look at it.

 

[12Voltman]

In addition to the two expensive techs (alpha and BW), I think that Scientific civs get one free tech at the start of each era...this will help keep pace w/science but allow for stronger military.

 

[shumble]

What does 80% water correlate to? Archipelago?? I want to setup a game that will be similar just for practice.

 

[shumble]

Actually, I can't even figure out how to get the Koreans or to change the number of rivals to 11. Is there an easy way to do this?

 

[denyd]

shumble: You can substitute the Greeks for the Koreans (same traits). The game will play the same then until the late middle ages (unless the Hoplite ends up triggering a GA for you).

 

[ainwood]

Sorry - to confirm, its archapelago.