Hhhmmm, Mad-bax, all good points to discuss.
Incidentally, pondering too much on the first 20-40 turns is the reason why I was so late in my last two-three GOTMs (combined with a similar working schedule as yours -I had two major design reviews more or less at the same time...).
Also incidentally, welcome Space! Looks like I was being the only one so uneducated not to greet you immediately. Please, accept my most humble apologies
(and thanks for using my "SSS" Trademark!).
See, I started writing this post, then I was stopped by a colleague and we spent half an hour talking -guess what- about hiking! But let me get back on topic.
Cities:
In fact, being able to use the Palace as a prebuild in only one city makes it less of a problem to have the Capital as one of the two culture cities.
This solution would still be less flexible, in that:
- we could only use the Palace prebuild in the second city.
- And, of course, we will not be able to use the free Palace jump.
The final game plan really depends on the territory; at any rate, city #2 is almost surely one of the two culture cities.
So, we can start aiming at getting city#2 (or, rather, the second settler) out as soon as possible, and then decide whether to use city #1 or #3 as the other culture city.
I'll throw down a couple of points that came to my mind: they may be pretty obvious, or plainly wrong -they are here just for the discussion:
- If the culture cities are 1 and 2, I would expect a slower growth / expansion (later workers - settlers, or Granaries in the first two cities). With 2 and 3, we would have 1 building right from the start; on the other hand, 3 may be operational well into the game.
- There may be a larger gap between 1 and 2, in terms of pop - production - starting turn of the first wonder than between 2 and 3.
We could try and predict which approach is better once we have explored the surroundings. As I said, I think the aim should be at getting the second settler out as early as possible. It would be interesting to compare results... (don't take it too seriously, though -It's just an idea that passed unchecked
).
Timing:
Yes, but I don't think we will want to spend a lot of time calculating production etc. (it's not really my idea of 'fun', you know...).
I think we could start with a rough estimate of the number of turns required, then try to adjust the shields output as the building goes on. Also, I hope it's ok if they complete wonders within a few turns of each other...
We do need to have an idea of when the two cities will reach 20k, but I think we can start distributing improvements and wonders more or less equally, and then try to refine our predicted end date later in the game (might even try something on an Excel spreadsheet if I have time...).
Tech Path:
I don't think that MapMaking is so essential. For one thing, the AI almost always go for it once they have Writing. Then, Lighthouse only gives 2 culture points. Unless we are so good that we grab ALL Ancient Age wonders...
I think starting with Pottery is ok, then I don't know. I suspect we should choose it based on what wonders we are aiming at (hey, I never did this...).
Following the path to Monarchy could be good (open to discussion, as everything I say).
There are two wonders there, plus if we stay in Monarchy we can:
- spend the whole game at war with someone
- speed up tech in the Ancient Era with trade.
Of course, this means trading to Writing (or even Literature), with an ever more delicate prebuild for the Great Library.
Ideas?
(if you let me in, that is)
in fact, I still have to finish GOTM21 too... I think I can make it, though.
I thought I was past all that aggravation.
