Monarch SG, looking for trainers and trainees

[doc mabuse]

What is cropping and how do u do it (sorry, i am pc nitwit)

 

[el_filet]

cropping means you cut out a part of the picture and throw the rest away.
if you're using paint:
-> mark the area you wanna use
-> cut area (press Ctrl-X)
-> open new painting (Ctrl-N, use a small number of pixels, for example 10x10)
-> paste (Ctrl-V)
-> save the new, cropped file

most other graphic programs have an option "crop", you just need to mark the area and choose crop.

 

[scoutsout]

Some things you might want to note with your starts/saves:

Landform: (Continents? Pangea? Archipelago?...Percent land/water?)
Map Size: (Standard? Small? Large? Random?)
Barbarians: (Raging? Random?)

Site #2 has the potential for an early Curraugh... useful for making contacts and working on those tech-trading skills... all that tobacco gives that site serious commercial potential; unfortunately you'd have to move away from the coast to get fresh water (even if there's any nearby).... there is the appearance of coast or something beyond that forest... there could be a chokepoint to the north, or this could be an island start. This one could be interesting...

#3 is a riverside site... with a volcano in the original 9 if you settle on the spot. Moving 1 south could take the volcano out of the original 9... but I don't like volcanos that close to the capitol.

#4 has a cow... unfortunately it's on a plain and not a grass tile... and unless that's fresh water to the east, you might not be able to irrigate it.

#5... If that's fresh water to the NE of the settler's position, this one has some potential...

#6: Ivory! Ancient Cavalry in the hands of Militaristic Rome can be an Ancient Age terror. Move the settler East on the desert next to the fresh water (you get 2 food from the city center regardless of terrain) and have the worker start irrigating the plains immediately...

I don't see 4-turn settler pump potential in any of these. Though the 4-turn settler factory isn't a necessity, it would be nice to see you set one up in a training game.

 

[doc mabuse]

The settings remain the same as stated on page 1 first msg

 

[soul_warrior]

ok mabuse,
i liked your variety of saves.
i like number 5 (due to silks) and number 3 (walk 1 tile west and we get both river and sea).
i dont mind either one. but lets take #3?
i'll be glad to start off, if you dont want the honours.

@ el_fillet - i was aiming at building near water. but youre right. since its salt water, we would need an aqueduct anyway, so we might have plopped down right there anyway. thanx anyway

 

[doc mabuse]

So, the sum it all up, is it just the two of us for now or do filet and scoutsout want in as well?? If not, here comes the save

 

[soul_warrior]

ok doc m.
ill do the start. 20m first turns.
expect a save in 2 hours or so

 

[Jurimax]

Is it OK if I play along, then we'd be able to compare and above all discuss why a worker goes there or there, why a tech path has been chosen etc...

(I wouldn't join because my SG schedule is pretty full, but I'd just shadow your turns (if I have the time))

Greetz Jurimax

PS: If you want me to join, then do expect me to ask a skip from time to time (if necessary)

 

[Zakharov]

I'll sign up if you'll have me.

I'm an emperor level player, but I like to play some monarch too. I don't know if that will qualify me as a trainer, but I wouldn't mind helping out as it wasn't so long ago that I was a chieftain/warlord player myself. This site helped me improve greatly and I would love to put something back.

 

[doc mabuse]

Of course, you are welcome to play along when you like, just ask for a turn instead of a skip, fellow Belgian

EDIT: Zakharov, you are most welcome to join
this is the roster so far
Soul Warrior : playing
Zakharov ; next
Doc Mabuse: on deck (not sure what this means though)

 

[Zakharov]

Thanks.

@ doc, Is this really your first game above chieftain? It's quite a jump from chieftain to monarch.

The main thing to learn at higher difficulty levels is the trading game. At chieftain/warlord you can do all your own research and still get ahead of the AI in techs. If you try this at Monarch you will quickly fall behind.

To succeed in the trading game, you need to check on the AI every turn to see what they have. This initially put me off moving up the levels, but then I found CrpMapStat by Dianthus which does all the work for you. I highly recommend it if you don't use it already.

 

[Jurimax]

Since this is a training game, what about some preturn discussion? (So that lurkers can also learn a thing or two)

Where will the Worker go? And the Settler?

--> CivAssist (by Ainwood) is also a viable alternative

@doc: sign me in (I do have lots of spare time )

 

[doc mabuse]

I did almost win a game on monarch, but with a tiny map and i was lucky as well I think.
Then I tried a game on warlord, large map, and it didn't look good for me at all, i was far behind in tech, the AI build all the wonders, i had a culture flip against me (with a luxury in the city's radius), and i had nearly no def in my cities while the Inca's were brutally invading my space and asking for money, and my cities were not growing rapidly enough,...

 

[doc mabuse]

I would 've liked to have a preturn discussion but Soul Warrior is already playing. So, sorry you didn't get to choose the game either

This is the roster

Soul Warrior playing now
Zakharov
Doc Mabuse
Jurimax

Ok for everyone?

 

[soul_warrior]

glad to have you onboard mates (jurimax & zakharov)
alas i started already, so not discussion now (unless you want me to restart, which would be just like cheating, no?)
log, save, and pic to follow shortly.
discusions will offcourse be welcome for next up.

 

[soul_warrior]

first thing is log
4000 - settler moves 1 W (toward sea + river), worker irrigates on spot.
3950 - build rome. start warrior (in 4). go for writing-philo gambit @ min research.
3900 - zzz
3850 - zzz
3800 - finish irrigating, road same. warrior out, heading SE along river,start building curragh.
3750 - zzz
3700 - zzz
3650 - jackpot! warrior find lake with 2 gorgeous cows grazing right next to it. did someone say settler factory?. worker starts roading woods S of rome (cash + en route to settler town)
3600 - zzz
3550 - zzz
3500 - zzz
3450 - warrior finds gems. stuck smack in middle of mountain range we'll manage i guess) still going south.
3400 - zzz
3350 - zzz
3300 - zzz
3250 - curragh out. start on settler. late a bit, but i have an island feel, so contact is very important to me now.
curragh will go north. warrior reaches south shore of landmass and will turn east. worker irrigates.
3200 - zzz
3150 - pop GH (goodie hut, doc) attcked by barbs, redlined!!! escape to NE.
3100 - zzz
3050 - worker roads south.
3000 - meet INCA. we are up Alphabet, they are up - BW, CB, MAS, WHEEL and POT. they want all of our economy for pottery. will wait abit. were not at a hurry now, are we?

summary so far:
settler out in 6 turns. contacted inca. were behind but will catch up soon.
settler should go south towards cows?
marked 2 possible city sites - 1 red dot is settler factory, 2 dots city 2, note gems deep south - city 3-4 should go that way? colonize?
nuff said.
almost....
joy

 

[SJ Frank]

lurker's comment:
It's still not too late to have a pre-turn discussion. You can start by answering these questions:

- Should the settler move? (Okay, besides the obvious volcano right next to the settler If the volcano wasn't there, should the settler move?) And why?

- If the settler needs to be moved, which tiles could it move to, and why?

- Considering the tiles that the settler could move to, which tile should the worker move to before settling?

- What should the initial research be? What factors influences it in this game?

- What should the initial build order be? How does the map setting affect it? How would your future scouting efforts affect it?

 

[doc mabuse]

I concur with Swarrior that the settler should move to sea and river, if a city can be next to the sea, 'ill always do it, it makes an easy traderoute.
The worker can irrigate so food production is up fast.
We already agreed upon going for the republic slingshot, although i'm not entirely sure how it goes and which research lvl we should take.
Actually, i'm not so sure if we should aim for republic since it will likely be a war heavy gameplay.
If we really did find a settler factory place, then we should build a settler asap and more warriors to scout.
BTW if the city riots, which tiles do you take out? Money, shields or food?

 

[SJ Frank]

Oops, cross posted with the first turn from soul_warrior

4000 - settler moves 1 W (toward sea + river), worker irrigates on spot.

First of all, always move the worker before the settler, you never know what the woker may find.

... but here is the major : irrigating grassland in Despotism! In Despotism, that extra food from irrigation is wasted. The old rule "mine green, irrigate brown" applies here.

A comparatively minor point here: the worker should be improving the bonus grassland first, before the regular grassland. Why? Because the BG tile is better. Rome has 2 BG tiles within its radius, which means that before it grows to size 3, it will not need to use anything but those 2 BG tiles. Any other tiles that are improved right now are wasted! Only improve those tiles that are going to be used.

There is a great article in the War Acadamy by cracker that explains the opening moves and tile values. It explains these things much better than I can.

 

[soul_warrior]

@ sj frank - stoopid rookie mistake. i remmebered just seconds b4 reading your post. i will not let it happen again
and thanx for pointing it out, i might have missed it, and never leart my lesson.
keep on lurking

@ everyone - sorry mates will make it up to you next time