DaviddesJ
Deity
Would you rather learn AH, or Pottery?
I guess it depends on whether you have horses in your fat cross, or not.
News: GOTM 14 Pre-Game Discussion
- Thread starter ainwood
- Start date
Would you rather learn AH, or Pottery?
I guess it depends on whether you have horses in your fat cross, or not.
In my test game, I got the Oracle 1440 BC, which is not 100% safe. The rest was by AI: SH was 1280 BC, Pyramids 850 BC, Hanging Gardens 325 BC, Great Library 350 BC and Colossus 600 AD. I will try to keep up with the research pace, which means that I will go for the Oracle. This is not very novel, but if you calculate the value of the free tech compared to the cost in hammers, the ratio is too big to ignore IMO.of course
other question: it will take 12 turns or so to research fishing+mining.
So if we start with WB, (WB) and then worker, it will take a while before the gold becomes available. Is there time to research AH before BW? We might get lucky and see some horses nearby.
On another note: I did a random testgame and also got gold+crab in the startlocation. Only wonder I managed was SH. Oracle was built around 1300BC, the others at or before 750BC. The tech pace was mind blowing.
At one point the AI just gave Education to me...
I guess Monarch-strategies won't work on Emperor and I can forget about doing the CoL slingshot for sure.
Potential build queue (depending on map as usual): worker, WB when possible, continue worker, WB, WB, WB(?), settler, oracle. Research queue: Fishing, Mining, Mysticism, Polytheism, Priesthood, Writing, Code of Laws + CS/Phil or BW + Metal Casting.
In my simplified world, this start enables me to go for culture, diplomatic or SS. Highest speed possible in tech, at the cost of expansion/production. I have no experience in such games though, so I don't know if this is wise or not
Caesar of Rome
Chieftain
My ambition would be for Colossus. Maybe having taken only Metal Casting from Oracle. If there are to be a lot of sea squares that we must work, the extra cash will be very useful in keeping in the tech race.
Capt Buttkick
Emperor
After playing a few test games, I'm not too sure about the Colossus. I mean: it can be done, but there's other things you'll need to sacrifice to get it so might not be worth it.
Each game have played out differently, the only thing I stuck to, was first 3 techs: Fishing --> Mining --> BW
and the build order: Warrior, switch to 2 workboats when Fishing came in, followed by growth to size 4 (while finishing warrior) and Worker --> Settler.
In one game I founded Judaism (!) cause the AI was so slow with Buddha and Hindu I took a shot. In another, I built the Oracle and got CoL first.
The game that I'm expecting will turn out to be closest to this GOTM (wild speculation) had me sharing a small 'pelago with Lizzy. She settled like crazy, but didn't get metals until it was too late and I landed axes and swords on her. After invading and finishing her off, I had deficit at 0% sci for some turns before I stabilized my economy. I didn't found any religions and built no wonders, but got religion from Lizzy.
Each game have played out differently, the only thing I stuck to, was first 3 techs: Fishing --> Mining --> BW
and the build order: Warrior, switch to 2 workboats when Fishing came in, followed by growth to size 4 (while finishing warrior) and Worker --> Settler.
In one game I founded Judaism (!) cause the AI was so slow with Buddha and Hindu I took a shot. In another, I built the Oracle and got CoL first.
The game that I'm expecting will turn out to be closest to this GOTM (wild speculation) had me sharing a small 'pelago with Lizzy. She settled like crazy, but didn't get metals until it was too late and I landed axes and swords on her. After invading and finishing her off, I had deficit at 0% sci for some turns before I stabilized my economy. I didn't found any religions and built no wonders, but got religion from Lizzy.
Markus5
Code Monkey
Hmm. I've been playing lots of Terra maps lately. This will be a good change for me, I think. One step up in difficulty from my normal game, but that should be do-able, too. Can't wait.
Markus5
Code Monkey
This could be a triple-whammy map. First, its a step up in difficulty. Second, Napoleon is rather ill-suited to the map. And third, we may be stuck with very little land to work. In my random maps, that is certainly what I found. Most of the other Civs got some sizable land mass to work with. France was stuck with very little land and was resource poor for the first part of the game.
I left map-finder running and tonight I'll see if there are any interesting maps to play.
I left map-finder running and tonight I'll see if there are any interesting maps to play.
Very interesting game. I have only played 3 archipelago maps. In the second one, I had 7 cities and zero luxuries resources. Researching alphabet took me ten centuries. Only when I traded a luxury from another civ, I got some economy going, with which I could come out of the hole. I won a difficult diplomacy victory.
I have no defined plan for this one. I will simply focus on a military victory (I need to learn how to wage naval wars) and I will keep my options open. As usual I don't plan to found religions and I won't I build the Oracle.
I have no defined plan for this one. I will simply focus on a military victory (I need to learn how to wage naval wars) and I will keep my options open. As usual I don't plan to found religions and I won't I build the Oracle.
Markus5
Code Monkey
In my longest-played test game, I did manage to build the Colossus. It certainly isn't a great commerce generator, but it helped a bit. It may have helped generate more Great People. In that game, I was resource poor, and behind in tech because of the slow growth. I think researching to Astronomy with alacrity might be the key. Have some galleys ready to upgrade and settling parties ready to go, then colonize the best lands not easily reached and trade Astronomy to catch up on tech.
Mastiff_of_Ar
In his Element
Markus5
Code Monkey
I've made a bunch of random maps with map-finder that have two or more fishing resources, 1 or more gold, and two or more forests in the fat cross. I was using them to get a general feel for playing maps of this type. But, I had the climate set to temperate rather than tropical. They probably aren't much use to anyone. I'll try to cook something up, but don't hold your breath. I'll probably end up doing something else tonight.
A few thoughts
I played an archipelago map last week-end, and the main difficulty was the lack of ressources (either food or luxury). An islandic city with no food ressources takes ages to grow and is pretty useless before a long time.
No luxury meant that monarchy was a key tech: an happy face per warrior is nice.
I have the feeling that we are up north, so i would beline to sailing and try to grab some better land in the south.
If the colossus is not that usefull, the great lighthouse is definitively needed here. Great merchand points are also good. Last game, i ran a 100% science economy for centuries thx to three great merchands (2 farmed ones and one got through being the first to whatever tech).
What is funny on these maps is that wars can be pretty fast. Find the poorly defended cities and take them at the same time in one turn.
EDIT: an additionnal comment: map intelligence is very important, especially considering the high sea level setting. There are very few good city spots (i played a couple test maps yesterday), and the AIs are grabing them pretty fast. I am wondering whether blockading them could be a good idea (though it would be inconsistent with the Great Lighthouse strategy).
I played an archipelago map last week-end, and the main difficulty was the lack of ressources (either food or luxury). An islandic city with no food ressources takes ages to grow and is pretty useless before a long time.
No luxury meant that monarchy was a key tech: an happy face per warrior is nice.
I have the feeling that we are up north, so i would beline to sailing and try to grab some better land in the south.
If the colossus is not that usefull, the great lighthouse is definitively needed here. Great merchand points are also good. Last game, i ran a 100% science economy for centuries thx to three great merchands (2 farmed ones and one got through being the first to whatever tech).
What is funny on these maps is that wars can be pretty fast. Find the poorly defended cities and take them at the same time in one turn.
EDIT: an additionnal comment: map intelligence is very important, especially considering the high sea level setting. There are very few good city spots (i played a couple test maps yesterday), and the AIs are grabing them pretty fast. I am wondering whether blockading them could be a good idea (though it would be inconsistent with the Great Lighthouse strategy).
I have attached a map that has two crabs and one gold, but it is not identical to the screenshot.
LowtherCastle
Deity
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Next year. That is, Jan 1.
And I'm looking forward to it more than any other recent GOTM. If the map is typical of high-sea archipelago maps then this is going to be a fascinating map to play on. (It is a bit of an 'if' though as we've had two recent GOTMs - WOTM01 and GOTM12 - that weren't typical of their maptypes).
Markus5
Code Monkey
I just hope we aren't isolated in a way that requires astronomy to expand. Expansion and warfare using galleys can be intertaining.
The last gotm A/A map required only galleys to reach all the land masses. Is that circumstance standard for A/A maps? If not, does anyone have a feel for the likelihood of that being the case on this kind of map?
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