Nobles' Club 385: Wang Kon of Korea

[AcaMetis]

The Nobles' Club series started out as a way for Noble-level (and below) players to improve their game. Most of the original participants now play at much higher levels, so this has become a way for advanced players to help others learn to play better. You can play your own game at any level and with any mod, but it would be nice to comment on the games of other players and give them advice.

Our next leader is Wang Kon of Korea, whom we last played in NC 333. The Koreans start with Mysticism and Mining.

• Traits: Wang Kon is Financial and Protective. Financial adds +1 to any tile that already produces at least 2. Protective gives all Archery and Gunpowder units a free City Garrison I (+20% City Defence) and Drill I (+1 First Strike chance) promotion, as well as a +100% bonus to Walls and Castles.
• The UB: The Seowon, a University with +35% instead of +25%. A minor and marginal increase to an expensive building, but place it in a city with a solid (FIN-boosted) commerce generation and watch the beaker output shoot through the roof.
• The UU: The Hwacha, a Catapult with +50% vs. Melee units. An early siege unit that's noticeably better against the most powerful defensive units that they (and the rest of their army, whatever that is composed of) is likely to face off against.

And the start:

Spoiler map details :

Fractal, Temperate climate, Medium sealevel.

Spoiler edits :

Moved some seafood and did some strategic resource swaps.

Spoiler isolated? :

Not isolated.

The WB-saves are attached (zipped; they are bigger than standard saves). To play, simply download and unzip it into your BTS/Saves/WorldBuilder folder. Start the game, and load your favorite MOD (if you use one, if not, check out the BUG MOD), select "Play Scenario", and look for "NC 385 Wang Kon Noble" (or Monarch, etc., for higher levels). You can play with your favorite MOD at the Level and Speed of your choice. From Quick-Warlord to Marathon-Deity, all are welcome! We stuck with the name "Nobles Club" because it has a cool ring to it.

Spoiler what's up with specific difficulties :

In each scenario file you can select your level of difficulty, but that doesn't give the AI the right bonus techs by itself. Use the Noble save for all levels at and below Prince. The Monarch save gives all the AI Archery. Emperor adds Hunting; Immortal adds Agriculture; Deity adds The Wheel.

Spoiler what is demigod :

The difference between Immortal and Deity difficulty is akin to the difference between Noble and Immortal. Players eventually reached a point where Immortal was too easy, but Deity was still out of reach, and so neither difficulty provided a fun experience. "Demigod" is an otherwise standard Deity game where the AIs are only given their Immortal level starting units, in an attempt to bridge the gap.

Spoiler for players on Monarch or above :

You should add archery as a tech for the barbarians (if you don't, the AI will capture their cities very early). This cannot be done in the WB save file and must be done in Worldbuilder as follows:

Spoiler how to add techs to the barbarians :

1. Zoom in all the way so you can't see the rest of the map.
2. Use the CTRL-W key (or the menu) to enter the worldbuilder. Avoid looking at the mini-map in the lower right corner.
3. By default you're in "player" mode (look in the box in the upper right; the icon that looks like a person should be selected). You'll get a drop down menu labeled with your leader's name. Barbarians are at the bottom, so cover the rest of the list with your hand if you don't want to see who else is on the map. Select "Barbarians".
4. Select the "Technologies" tab in the box on the left.
5. Find Archery (the arrow head icon; 8th row, 3rd column from the right) and click it.
6. Exit the worldbuilder.
7. Zoom out again after the map fades, and start playing.

If you're playing at higher level than Monarch, consider also giving them Hunting at Emperor, Agriculture at Immortal, and The Wheel at Deity.

Spoiler huts and events :

Note: The standard saves have no huts and have events turned off. If you want tribal villages and random events, choose the saves with "Huts" in their names. If you want huts but no events, select the Huts saves and use Custom Scenario to turn on the option that suppresses events.

 

[AcaMetis]

Okay, yay for lots of rivers, but only a Plains Cow in the starting area - with a civ that has neither Agriculture or Hunting as a starting tech, for that matter - is a little bit Not Ideal(TM). That said I'm not sure how to move here. SIP doesn't seem great, but where else is there to go? Warrior 1W to scout the north, if nothing great there move settler 1S and pray for salvation in the fogged tiles?

What do the experts think about how to play this start?

 

[Thrasybulos]

The experts would say 3E as that's the only PH in sight.
Unless 2E1S is also a PH (and that would be a much better site imho).

2W and 2W1N look like FP, so the Cows are not the only food source for SIP, although none is of the "power food" type.

That said, I don't like SIP (I know it's a newbie thing, but with all those rivers, foregoing the potential for a Levee is just too cringy).
1N1W would allow for a turn 1 settle, and keep the good tiles we know about. It would cost a good cottage tile, though, lose some river tiles and forests in the south, while the northern land gained seems unappealing.
Moving on the hill 1W for a turn 2 settle would be a decent compromise: it also keeps the known good tiles, while staying more southerly. Two issues with that: apart from the Cows, that hill is our best apparent natural production tile, and maybe we'd want to keep it available (I know, with chops and slaves, who cares about natural production ? Well, noobs do.) ; also, I believe the forests will prevent line-of-sight to extend to the south, no it gains no information.
That's why I might take a gamble and move 1W1S, to reveal more of the southern land. It loses a turn if nothing interesting is revealed and we need to go back to the hill plan, though.
1E1S would allow to check out the 2E1S hill, but it would move away from the FPs, so seems a bit iffy?

The tile 3E2N looks like a Desert Hill ?
If it's not, and it's a FP instead, a northern option could be considered, and our warrior can help there.
Looks like coast 2N1E of the warrior, I'd send it 1N1E to check the area out.

That said, we probably should just heed the advisor and settle the blue circle : it's the only tile apparently which would allow us to turn that lake into a 3-food tile. Good thinking there, advisor!

 

[chinemol]

SIP doesn't look enticing. That being said, warrior 1W will tell us if we are moving away from sth else. Settling on the hill 1W gives deffensive bonus, keeps the production cow and still allows to work western either FP or oasis, but looses a turn. Will give it a go this week!

 

[sampsa]

Likely SIP even though it's not great. Probably it's the best bet to claim an extra resource and doesn't lose a turn for a small gain.

Maybe warrior W to unfog a lot of tiles?

 

[notslin]

The irregular green splotches in the fog of war show 4 FPs (I loaded it and zoomed in to confirm this): 2E and 1N2E of the warrior, and 2W and 1N2W of the settler.

Moving the warrior NE would reveal coast, while moving warrior SE would reveal the tile 2E of the settler.

One problem with moving the settler to either of the rivers is that the tiles to the south (2S1W, 2S, 2S1E) may have something nice you risk losing. There may not be another food resource, but there could be something else nice in SIP BFC, given the relatively underwhelming land around the capital?

SIP seems playable enough: decent place to cottage until Steel/Rifling.

Moving the settler to one of the rivers could pay off (e.g., easier trade routes), but I don't know how it would be worth the risk.

 

[Henrik75]

Look for 2nd food otherwise approach the PH for me.
1.Move warrior on hill to the left
2. If nothing move settler 2NE
3. If nothing move warrior SW
4. If nothing again move settler on PH and settle for cow and flood plain and quick early units. Size 2 worker while teching hunting AH for 18 turn worker that way.