Desert Nomad: Settling in place lets you start researching right away... towards an early religion!
Hill Hiker: Kind of a flakey idea to research two techs off of the beaten path just to score a religion right away, since delaying Bronze Working means that you won't have a lot of production for a while. If you really want a Holy City for your capital, research Bronze Working first, then, if a religion is not yet gone, beeline towards it.
Desert Nomad: But, you'll still miss out on one turn of research by moving to the Plains Hills square!
Hill Hiker: Dude, you're not going to get that religion anyway. I just gave you the impression that you *might* in order to make you feel better about letting it go. Far better to settle on the Plains Hills square. You'll get DOUBLE PRODUCTION in the short term and that extra hammer will last the ENTIRE GAME!
Desert Nomad: Okay, fine, but I can get FIVE TIMES PRODUCTION by mining that Plains Hills square! Nyah nyah nah boo boo!
Hill Hiker: Production now is better than production later! Plus, your silly Worker is going to have to sit around like Robinson Crusoe did, waiting for centuries for a boat to show up!
Desert Nomad: But isn't Robinson Crusoe the name of the game? Huh? Huh? It's not called "GOTM 53: Settle on the Plains Hills square," is it? Anyway, I can also build a Road on that Plains Hills square just to keep my Worker busy!
Hill Hiker: What, and delay getting Sailing and your precious boat by detouring to The Wheel?
Desert Nomad: Hmm, good point. Well, well... I'll at least have a unit to explore with as soon as we land! It seems that the Map Maker forgot to give us any kind of exploring unit.
Hill Hiker: Sure, you go ahead and pop a Hut with that good old Worker of yours. Watch out for the Black Ninjas, though! Once you pop them, your Worker is a dead man!
Desert Nomad: Arrrggghhh! Well, that Worker will be useful... some day. Hey, I have an idea... instead of building a Worker at the start, I can build one WITHOUT overflow, once whipping Work Boats has raised the anger levels. You know, to help cool off the populace for a few turns and see if we can't get another person happy again.
Hill Hiker: Alright, I'll give you that one. But, you can't argue the point that the SAME TECHNIQUE would work if you swapped that Worker for a Settler. Then you could be just as risky/not-risky with your Hut Hunting by using/not using an unprotected unit, but would also have the option expand to a second city that will undoubtedly have more production!
Desert Nomad: You'll still need a Worker to go with your first Settler.
Hill Hiker: True, true. But the longer that you delay getting out that Settler, the greater chances that the good spots will be taken up by Barbs or enemy Civs!
Desert Nomad: It's all a matter of a few turns, either way. Let's tackle a more important, but related argument. Back to that whipping anger: all you'll have to work for squares are water-based Resources! Me, I'll have a 0 Food-per-turn Plains Hills square, which still TRIPLES production without a Worker!
Hill Hiker: Oh, so you fell for my don't build a Worker line. I guess you do have a point that you'll still have more raw production even without mining the Plains Hills square. Still, why work a square for 2 Hammers when you can work one for 2, 4, 5, or 6 Food plus some Commerce? That food quickly becomes Hammers, you know!
Desert Nomad: Yes, that Food can be translated into Hammers, but as we agreed, there will come a point when whipping anger is so great that growing is not an attractive option but we'll still want a square with some good production.
Hill Hiker: I think that you're planning too far in advance, anyway. You don't need 8 Work Boats before building a Settler! Somewhere between one and five Work Boats aught to do it early on, don't you think? Besides... would you rather work a Clam with 2 Food and 2 Commerce or a 2 Hammer Plains Hills square without a Mine when building a Settler? Or, put another way, a Work-boated Clam for 4 Food and 2 Commerce or a Mined 4 Hammer Plains Hills square when building a Settler? Both produce the same amount of Hammers for the Settler, but the Clam nets you 2 extra Commerce! So, I would argue that you will only use the Plains Hills square every once and a while. With my way, we'll get the benefit every single turn (except for Turn 0) by settling in the Hills!
Desert Nomad: I only need to work that Plains Hills square more than once every few turns on average to net more raw Hammers than you will!
Hill Hiker: Few? Where are we, English class? Be specific with your Math, man! Every 4 turns, I will get 8 Hammers. You will have to work that Plains Hills square once every 4 turns just to get as many Hammers as I will. Do your Math!!! You will find that I am right!
Desert Nomad: Mumble, mumble, 1 plus 1 plus 1 plus 5, mumble, mumble, darn! Well, well... have you considered the following? What if there is IRON on that square? Do that Math, sucker!
Hill Hiker: Okay, I will! Assuming that we learn Iron Working on the same turn...
Desert Nomad: I'll learn it one turn faster! I can start research on Turn 0!
Hill Hiker: Perhaps... but how many turns did we say you had to work a Plains Hills square just to equal me? Once every 4 turns? That's once every 4 turns that you aren't growing as fast as I am....
Desert Nomad: Which is supposed to be a good thing, due to unhappiness levels....
Hill Hiker: Okay, but that's one in four turns (or more than that, if you want to get more production than I will get) where you aren't working a square for 2 extra Commerce. Surely, over time, the 10 Commerce (8 from Palace, two from a seafood Resource) that I miss on Turn 0 will be made up for over time... or maybe more so...
Desert Nomad: Okay, okay, let's ignore the difference. Assume that we learn Iron Working on the same turn.
Hill Hiker: Thank you. Settling on the Iron will net me 3 Hammers per turn. Mining the Iron will net you 6 Hammers per turn. Agreed?
Desert Nomad: Sounds about right...
Hill Hiker: Okay then. Every 3 turns I will get 9 Hammers. In that time you will have to work the Plains Hills Iron square once just to get as many! That's even worse than before!
Desert Nomad: What? Wait a minute! That can't be right! 1 plus 1 plus 7... mumble, mumble... that's... 9! Oh, darn, your Math beat me again! But still, how can having Iron be more in your favour?
Hill Hiker: One out of every four turns without the Iron multiplied by 3 equals 3/12. One out of every three turns with Iron multiplied by 4 equals 4/12. The numerator is the number of times that you have to WASTE working the Plains Hills (sometimes with Iron) square just to equal the production that I output by just working seafood. Clearly, having to spend 4 turns instead of 3 turns just to match my production level makes things worse for you in the case where the Iron, or Copper, I might add, is present.
Desert Nomad: Grrr... well, well, what if there isn't Iron or Copper or anything else Resource wise, did you think of that? Me working that Plains Hills mined square (yup, I'm back to the Worker plan) over time may just POP Iron or Copper or even, Gold for me! You won't get to pop anything!
Hill Hiker: Touché. Still, getting Gold isn't all that great... you'd lose a production! Haha!
Desert Nomad: Sure it is! Then I can justify working that square over working a seafood square, since I'll be netting Hammers and a lot of Commerce to boot!
Hill Hiker: It's still a bit of a long-shot. Don't tell me that you're the kind of player who builds an entire strategy around a lottery winning? Haha!
Desert Nomad: Fine, we won't take it into consideration. I'll still be crossing my fingers, though! Anyway, have you considered Organized Religion? How about a Forge?
Hill Hiker: What of them?
Desert Nomad: Ha! And I thought that you were the Math Wizard! With you settling on the Plains Hills square, heck, I'll even GIVE you Iron for free, you will only make 2 to 3 Hammers per turn. You need 4 Hammers per turn in order to get a bonus! Me, I'll get my bonus Hammer from working a Plains Hills square, regardless of whether or not it has Iron! Even if I get one less Hammer from POPPING GOLD...
Hill Hiker: Quit dreaming...
Desert Nomad: I'm just making a point. Even in that case, I will still get my bonus Hammer from Organized Religion and I'll still get my bonus Hammer from a Forge.
Hill Hiker: I can always run an Engineer Specialist. That'll net me enough Hammers.
Desert Nomad: If you can count in Specialists, then so can I! Without Iron or any other bonuses, I'll make 5 Hammers per turn working that Plains Hills square. All I'll need is 1 Engineer and 1 Priest and I'll make yet ANOTHER bonus Hammer for Organized Religion and ANOTHER one for the Forge bonus, since I'll have 8 raw Hammers' worth of output. With Iron there, I'll just need 1 Engineer Specialist to get TWO bonus Hammers for each of Organized Religion and the Forge compared to your ONE bonus with the same 1 Engineer Specialist! So there!
Hill Hiker: Well, I can run an additional Specialist in place of your Plains Hills square.
Desert Nomad: Haha! Good luck! By the time that you can build enough buildings which allow you to even run a Specialist, such as a Library, a Forge, Temples, etc, using your miserable production levels, the game will be almost over or else you'll have whipped so much that you won't have any happy people remaining to become Specialists!
Hill Hiker: There's always Caste System...
Desert Nomad: I can run it, too. There's nothing that says I HAVE to work that Plains Hills square for the duration of being in the Caste System Civic, anyway, so I can have just as many Specialists as you can! Plus, you can't disrupt an entire Slavery Empire just to satisfy the needs of one city...
Hill Hiker: That city IS Rome after all...
Desert Nomad: Yes, but what's in a name? You can call it something else at the start and the next city can be called Rome! Besides, I'll at least still have some production under Caste System. You'll have, what... 2 Hammers plus the odd Hammer from Specialists? That situation is not nearly as versatile as being able to work a Plains Hills square whenever I want!
Hill Hiker: Well, you've certainly given me a lot to think about. Pardon me while I go climb my Plains Hills square to consider these findings. I think that I'll just bring along this man, woman, and two kids for a little tour of my Hills while you think about things down here on the beach. Sound good?
Desert Nomad: Wait a minute! Those people are staying right here!
Hill Hiker: What, are you some kind of a Desert Dictator now? Let's ask the people and see what they want to do. Well, people, where do YOU want to go?
