Play for free on Rainforest (IMM)

[BornInCantaloup]

Seeing the number of demands for playable, interesting maps,
I've regenerated a number of starts under the Rainforest template, giving each of them a quick worldbuilder peek.

If you don't know about Rainforest, it's all about tons of pigs, rice tiles and rivers longer than the Amazon crossing a jungle galore. And then there are bananas.
(Get higher tech, get workers, gobble up land and get workers again.)

Handpicked leader is Lincoln (PHI/CHA ; Mall/Marine).
Random crew is random but there are 7 of them (1 extra).
No huts, no events.

Start is a nice central position on this flat map. Not the richest I've seen but a well-balanced one, if I can recognize one :

Spoiler :

Have fun !

 

[Pangaea]

Not started on this map, but settling on Rainforest is a bit tricky due to the need for IW to do just about anything past the first ~3 cities. Being able to conquer an early capital helps, but that may of course not always be possible.

Starting area doesn't look great. Unless the warrior to hill reveals anything good north, I guess it's better to move south. Often a problem on Rainforest is lack of hills too, so I hope there are more nearby.

 

[Gumbolt]

Sounds an interesting challenge. How to reach IW and have an economy too by the quickest date. Hmmm.

 

[Gumbolt]

Hmmm that is a challenging start. AH looks a strong early tech. Cottages will be tough with minimal grassland commerce tile. It may even be worth building up some gold at start if unsure on tech routes. Plus the complication of what the worker can actually do.

Does settling in place actually grab you the river?

 

[Gumbolt]

I think the strategy here is clear techwise for me. Won't say anything yet. See what others do.

 

[MegaLurker]

Hopefully the Vorpal blade goes snicker-snack.

 

[Gumbolt]

Spoiler :

Oh I backed filled most techs. I agree about lakes. Getting commerce here will be tough. I plan to beeline calendar.

 

[MegaLurker]

Our starting position...

Spoiler :

...kind of sucks. Who wants to work a lake tile when there are visible un-jungled riverside tiles anyway? I went wandering south with the settler, once moving onto the hill with the warrior revealed nothing exciting. Found a much better spot 3S2E, which gives us 3 precious hills, 2x un-jungled pigs, wet rice that will require IW to unlock, and one suspiciously un-jungled tile that turns out to be horses. Not to mention 8 further green riverside tiles. It's a no-brainer, I think. Also leaves open the option of settling a good second city near the starting position that won't even need IW to get off the ground. I think finding and settling the capital here makes the game a lot easier. More riverside for cottaging, more hammer tiles for the bureau bonus as well, faster expansion.

 

[Gumbolt]

@ Bic

Spoiler :

I pretty much went Ah and beelined alphabet too. Going for IW seemed crazy as I predicted the AI would go for IW early on. I was slower on the expansion as I wasn't sure what the barbs would do. Probably a mistake. I should of settled 1S really.

I did manage to trade alphabet and writing for mining, BW, archery, IW, Masonry, myst, poly and hunting.

Not sure how worker stealing here might of worked as you would struggle to fight off any serious Ai threats

The AI seem somewhat staunted growth by the jungle.

 

[Gumbolt]

Spoiler :

yes I put a road on the southern pigs. Not settled the fur yet. Probably should of. Yes I went horse pigs for 2nd city.

I got alphabet 1400bc. Delayed third city for this. Spent too much time building warriors really. I may have just lost a good site to a barb city.

 

[MegaLurker]

Spoiler :

Wherever you settle there are actually 3 further spots that can contribute without IW. So self-teching IW is definitely a no-no. Scouting as ever is oh-so-important, to reveal the cows spot to the south-west, which also has an un-jungled riverside tile. I don't think I've ever seen a strategic resource directly next to a food special? So I don't think it can be metal. In any case I cottaged it ASAP, and those cows are a very nice early health bonus.

Beelining Alpha is probably what I'll do as well. I considered an HA rush on Mansa instead.

Pros: good chance of extorting Alpha from him, he's close.
Cons: he founded a religion, he's the best tech trading partner in the game, too much jungle to road through, SKIRMISHERS

I decided that's a big fat no.

 

[cseanny]

AIs tech slower than slow on this mapscript so any choice will be fine imo. An Alpha beeline via AH > Min > Wrt > Alpha screams some sort of very early rush. I'd probably opt to open towards pottery and use 2-3 cities to help grow 7-9 cottages while getting to Alpha a bit slower > AH > Whl > Pot > Min > Wrt > Alpha.

Let the AI settle and improve as many crappy jungle cities/tiles as possible. For this reason a later war is attractive too. No point in conquering early cities if they have no improvements and surrounded by jungle.

 

[Gumbolt]

Main issue with this game is the AI will settle poor jungle cities. Where the player will have tech lead and know they need more workers. Will the Ai be clever enough to build more workers due to the jungle??

 

[MegaLurker]

Confirmed that the AIs are semi-crippled on this map, although they do manage to expand fairly fast. I got declared on by a curmudgeonly neighbour right in the heat of the Lib race. Totally unprepared, normally I'd just re-start but I kept going. Fended off the attack, slapped together a stack of my own, actually started taking cities, and still won Lib.

This map is a lot of fun. Raging barbs definitely kept things....interesting, as well.

 

[MegaLurker]

Fun game, I encourage people to give it a try especially if you find Immortal difficulty uh....difficult. Well, maybe not with the raging barbarians, but the AI tech pace is slowed down considerably.

I wrapped this up in 1545AD with a conquest:

Spoiler :

This is maybe the first time I've been attacked on Immortal totally unprepared and not quit or re-loaded out of frustration. I think it's because of the gimped AI, but a bit of whipping and the tables were immediately turned:

Spoiler :

Fended off his small stack and then went on the offensive, capturing several cities and then taking techs for peace while I continued on with the original strategy. Still won Lib:

Spoiler :

Had to play it safe with you-know-who in the race. I also managed to be first to Music, by accident, having researched it this late to unlock Military Tradition Unexpected free Golden Age is always nice. Definitely a product of the map type.

Which also produces such ridiculous cities as:

Spoiler :

3x bananas, 2x pigs, and rice. These cities were fairly common, it made slavery incredibly powerful.