Imperial Trash A+

[Giaur]

Spoiler :

@Pigswill:
Stonehenge is not that great as the Oracle, but will support empire with Great Prophet one day. He can be used to lightbulb Teology and grant empire with religion. But no stone is improved, I guess rexing is the way to go and beelining to optics. City placement - I was not looking intently, but second city looks nice.
btw. build one more worker

@Stuge:
Build more military next time (or pray to your gods more often) ...

@Remconius:
Looks like a strong position, but where the hell are those forests? It's difficult to compare your save and mine f.e. but taking into consider Pyramids progress I would say - we are equal. You have more hammers, I have more trees. But you are the only person who has 3 cities, and both strategic resources improved.

@Mine:
I am the only one who moved the settler. I have not looked very good, but I think I did fine. I did not lose neither cows, neither copper, and capital's culture allowed me to improve stone without settling on rough terrain.

 

[pigswill]

Thoughts on other people's games:

Spoiler :

Giaur. You've got a lot of flexibility in your game. Capturing stone in the capital was a good move and enabled you to avoid having to site another city to capture the stone. Hopefully your warrior will survive to protect your settler but even in the worst case your settler would have time to retreat. Warriors only seems a bit of a risk but you've got an archer building and copper will be conected soon so you should be ok.

Remconius: Looks like you're pretty solidly committed to SE and making good progress towards it. Why polytheism? Why building a spear? I'd guess if I was playing your game I'd want pyramids asap even at the cost of deforestation.

Stuge: the poop hit the fan very early. I don't think anyone (even the deity level players) would have built three warriors and left them in the city in case of this event.

Choice of two games (sorry stuge). Haven't yet decided on my vote.

Thoughts on my game:

Spoiler :

Obviously losing Pasegardae is a major setback. On the other hand I was lucky to pop fishing and archery and managed to pick up Stonehenge.
I think that Susa (horse city) will specialise in building/whipping immortals. The clams should be safe from pillaging until the barbs settle down and build a galley. If I don't improve the land tiles there'll be nothing to pillage.
I'd like to head for CoL. Can't decide if I should settle a coastal city west of capital to run a couple of scientists or else run two scientists in Persepolis at Pop 5. I think I'll avoid fogbusting, let the barbs settle their cities and then go on a conquest once CoL is done and I've got some immortals and axes together. One thing I've found with isolated starts is that if you fogbust completely you don't get your Lvl4 unit to enable Heroic Epic.

 

[remconius]

Spoiler :

@Stuge: That is the worst event I ever seen, and what bad timing!

@Pigswill: Good start, too bad about losing the city, too much risk and too far away IMHO. When I saw there were no enemies, the priority for getting horses was reduced greatly. Axemen will do fine against barbs. On emperor I prefer to keep my cities as close together as possible for low maintenance and easier logistics.

@Giaur: BW a little late in the chain I feel. This means no chopping, and no axemen which I find risky. Good science development and with the cash science is looking good! You get my vote.

@Mine: I did some large scale lumberjacking to get 3 cities and 4 workers out there. They will support my game in building loads cottages, mines, roads and a few more chops Pyramids will come in soon. Polytheism is needed on the road to literature to build the great library... Firstly, however, I plan to change science to MC and build a forge in the capital to hire an engineer for a fast great engineer. He will then build the great library in the to be founded city in the far south-west corner with sheep, whale, deer to act as great scientist farm. Another city is planned on the horse and one near the gems. The spearman was changed when warrior was no longer an option, not planend .

 

[cabert]

poor guys!
well cam mentionned the teams risked being "unbalanced" (in numbers), and it seems he was right.
Pigswill, do you want to make an executive decision to move a player from team A to team A+ ?(strange name by the way)

Off topic : England's Rugby team seems better than it's soccer team .

 

[pigswill]

Cabert: I'll advertise for volunteers in A thread.

Everyone: Shall we debate victory condition in A thread?

 

[cabert]

seems the sole volunteer is bringing you a cottage spam game:

the save

I copied the summary for my game, if you didn't read it in the A team thread.

played up to 1480BC.

Spoiler :

summary :
2 cities,
7 population total (capital is size 5, second city is size 2)
income +2gpt at 80%, 20 beakers/turn
expenses = 3
techs = AH, the wheel, pottery, writing (popped from a hut), mining, BW, mathematics in 10 turns.I got sailing too, which is THE tech making fishing villages paying for themselves for a financial leader.
units : 1 axe, 2 warriors, 1 worker (second worker in 3)
civics : slavery
nothing special (no gamble, no great person generated...)
short term plans : a library in the capital
medium term plans : cottages + HR (very likely through pyramids if I get a third city on the stone I just saw).

what happened?
I settled in place (hesitated a bit), send the scout scouting (duh!) while building a worker and teching to AH. I was expecting to find a neighbour and really wanted horses. After the worker was done, I started a warrior to supress "safety" unhappiness. My worker was really busy cottaging when a random event removed the cow pasture .
My scout was eaten by a lion while fleeing from a bear . Not much scouting done, no happy resource in sight and no neighbour found.
On the bright side, my defensive moving of a warrior in front of my settler was successful. Second city with horses, crabs and deer, lacking a worker because of the random event.

I think we vote for the best game, here in the thread?
Since there is no trash round, I see no reason for secret votes.

 

[remconius]

Hi cabert, welcome to team A+!

Commenting on your game, I like the science rate you developed. Too bad you had some bad luck on the cows and the worker. What I am missing is an extra workers to have more cottages at this stage. And personally I dont understand why you built the second city so far away. Immortals are great for a rush, but being isolated axemen will do fine against barbs.

My vote remains with Giaur.

 

[Giaur]

@pigswill: Are we voting for one save? Or perhaps we stay with old proven voting system (1st - 3 points, 2nd - 2 points, 3rd - 1 point; 3 votes altogether)

 

[Giaur]

Spoiler :

@Cabert:
- I am not sure if building granaries so early is a good idea. I do not start one before I have 5 cities.
- I am more in favor of pigswill's city placement (more grasslands to work)
+ I am impressed that you have 3 cottages already
+ I am also impressed that you improved all this land with only one worker

btw. Are you sure that Pasargadae will survive barbarian invasion?

 

[pigswill]

Let's go for old fashioned 3pts for best, 2pts for second, 1pt for third best.

We'll include cabert's game as he's gallantly switched over (probably to continue his long running feud with Cam_H ). That gives us cabert, Giaur, pigswill, remconius. New rule: you can't vote for a defeat (sorry stuge ). You can't vote for your own game, so everyone's guaranteed points this round (even me) .

Cabert:

Spoiler :

Your game is looking kind of similar to mine before I whipped out my replacement settler. I'm not so sure about Pasegarde, not only short of tiles to work long term but also leaves horses vulnerable to pillaging in the short term.

 

[Giaur]

There's some time before voting, so some advice how to proceed with my save ...

Spoiler :

Mine and Remco's save's are similar (I think Remco's is slightly better). So - going for Pyramids. I was building Great Wall, perhaps I should start working on Mids earlier. Before that my idea was to whip worker in capital. It's a shame for me that capitol has to work 2-3 unimproved floodplains. With 3 workers, my idea was to start great lumberjack work. Second city should produce settlers. Third city - it would be nice to have free worker, but Mids are a higher priority.
I am saying this, cause we were saying about that in previous Trash Game.
Now I am gonna look at the A Team (like movie name) ...

 

[cabert]

Do we need all those spoiler tags???
@giaur, 1 worker for 1 size 5 city is a lot . This is normal speed so workers work faster than epic. This may be a source of confusion.
I still lack 3 more, for the second city and a third one.
About pasargardae, no, I'm not sure this city would withstand a barb invasion at all. That's why I didn't send my lone worker there yet.
Now that I have an axeman, it's different .
About granaries, that's the whipper in me . At size 4, all cities working non cottage tiles get whipped. More so if I plan to run HR.

 

[Cam_H]

We'll include cabert's game as he's gallantly switched over (probably to continue his long running feud with Cam_H ).

Which particular feud this time??

 

[cabert]

Which particular feud this time??

feud?
that's a tech you can research after monarchy, it's a branch I mostly neglect .

It's however true that I like comparing my game to Cam's, it gives me a sense of pride .

 

[cabert]

my thoughts on the games :
- giaur :
*why is there a settler in the west? The whales cannot be improved for a long time, doesn't seem a good city spot.
I think moving the initial settler was a good move, although I don't agree with you choice of improvements. I think cottages on rivers shouldn't be postponed. This excepted having 2 cities on rivers is clearly a strong point.
+ you're perfecly fit for quick pyramids (I'm pretty sure you can have them in 10/15 turns).

* Remconius :
fast rexing = good fogbusting.
However I don't understand you city locations.
IMHO in BtS more than in warlords, settling on rivers is really a power move.
I didn't open the save, but you seem in good shape for pyramids too.
With 4 workers, you're going to explode in growth terms.

* Pigswill :
Settling on the horses is dubious IMHO.
We're not going to rush anyone, so losing a good tile is wrong + being 2 tiles away from all the food tiles certainly hurt your early growth. This excepted, your game is really similar to mine (except I already have sailing and thus already have a connection between my 2 cities).


I voted accordingly, but can already tell you I'm playing "home" (ie I stick with my game for the next round)

 

[Cam_H]

It's however true that I like comparing my game to Cam's, it gives me a sense of pride .

Cam considers writing a War Academy article ... Ways into Trading Away your Tech' Advantage.

 

[pigswill]

Cabert: As I've picked up stonehenge I'm only waiting 10 turns for the food tiles which I need to build the workboat anyway. I'm sure that in the long term settling on horses or 1SW is unlikely to be game-breaking.

I'm also continuing my game even though its trash. May swop next round, we'll wait and see.

 

[cabert]

Cabert: As I've picked up stonehenge I'm only waiting 10 turns for the food tiles which I need to build the workboat anyway. I'm sure that in the long term settling on horses or 1SW is unlikely to be game-breaking.

I'm also continuing my game even though its trash. May swop next round, we'll wait and see.

agreed
and missed the stonehenge part .
seems like a + for your game in comparison to mine.

Cam considers writing a War Academy article ... Ways into Trading Away your Tech' Advantage.

I'll read it, since it's something I rarely manage .
just a point : none of my articles are in the war academy.
It certainly means something...

 

[stuge]

Well, I've cast my votes. I'll be continuing from the best save. Best in terms of being voted the best.

Giaur: Like cabert said, you have all you need for getting the 'Mids. And yes, my animal sacrifices to the Random Number Gods should be more frequent. Or maybe they just lack style. Perhaps I should try fluffy kittens instead of calves.

Remconius: A solid start and I like your idea of going GL via GE. Pasargadae's placement seems sub-optimal but the 'Mids should compensate for that.

Cabert: Looking... conservative. Even though a plethora of forests+stone screams "Pyramids" to me, you can hardly go wrong with cottages when you're financial. Poppping writing from a hut was just rotten lucky.

Pigswill: Losing your first city like that is rough. You're going to have a slow start so I suggest forgetting about any more wonders. REXing up the island and filling it with cottages as per cabert is probably the best move here.

 

[remconius]

IMHO in BtS more than in warlords, settling on rivers is really a power move.

Havent played BtS that much, what has become so powerful about rivers in Warlords and BtS?