Let me clarify: Cow is a good tile but I was talking in terms of getting the wonders. For an EE GW is an absolute must! I think farming a floodplain + working 2 forsted grassland hills and chopping is faster than working cow+ivory. AH->Mas->BW I think is close (i'm not one to calculate it) but no way AH->Hun->Mas->BW is faster.
I do think that your way is faster. However, after the GW is built, we have a total of 1 improved tile in the capital, and that is a lousy farmed FP.
With my proposal, we will get the Great Wall +/- 2000BC, give or take a few 100 years, which is safe enough IMO. But more importantly, our capital will be
far more developped after building the great wall.
I fear you lose SH and a small chance of losing GW going with the improved tiles approach rather than chopping - but I never! go for these wonders so maybe I'm being paranoid
I admit that with my approach we won't get both SH and GW. If we want both we need to chop. We probably need to chop SH first, or we risk losing it. That means we only have 1/3 chance for a great spy, and a great spy is VERY important for our variant. Let me explain:
By the time we get our first GP (50 turns after GW, less if we run a zig spy, which we should), we will have researched all techs allowed. We are forced to put the EP-slider up as high as possible (or collect gold). This means, every point of commerce will be converted to 1EP. Those EP will eventually become our research, as we steal techs with 'em. That means, that having a Great Spy create scotland yard, is the same in our variant as GETTING OXFORD FOR FREE!
I don't see how free monuments being more important than that.
The cow tile is not twice as valuable as a farmed floodplain. Cow is worth 48 vs 44 for the floodplain (10-6-4 rule)
That might be true later in the game, but early in the game, when building workers and settlers, tile yield is all that matters. A cow contributes 4 shields, a farmed FP 2.
This still holds up for wonders, although somewhat less. Food and (a little bit less) hammers are now split towards different goals, but still a cow contributes 4 yield (1 to growing, 3 to building wonder), a farmed FP only 2.
This difference gets even bigger if you count setup time, (which we should). In the less time 2 FP's are farmed, 3
recourse tiles can be improved! And we
will be size 3 to work them.
As for the
, you wont need that untill pop 7
Which we will reach soon enough. I assume we will not whip (much) in such a low food capital.
Ok, this is a mistake. Granaries are the best building in the game and should always be either first or second build in any new city. Otherwise it takes a long time for the city to work enough tiles to contribute to the empire
IMO, It takes too long to setup so early in the game
I am aware of how great granaries are. If you have like 4-5-6 cities already, it usually is best to do the standard monument-granary-specialization build order.
Granaries have quite a long setup time though (grow to size 4 --> whip or High-hammer tile it out or some combination building half of it and then whip@size 2) Early in the game though, workers and warriors/military are often needed much more. Do you always build monument-granary first in your 2nd city???
I play immortal, I know how it works but have never actually tried running an EE
The same for me. Please note I'm not attacking you personally, I find it very interesting how our views differ so much and am enjoying this discussion
maybe thats also why I consider expansive the best trait
