SGOTM 02 - Murky Waters

[johnpaulcain]

Hey, when are you allowed to look at the other teams spoilers? When you are finished?

 

[Big Pig]

I vote for Big Pig.

He seems to be the more constant player and his synthesis was usually excelent for next-to-play of us.

That's very kind. To be honest I'm not sure the role of captain is as important in our team as in some of the others as everyone was very good about playing, sticking to the rota, and contributing to the discussion. But I'd be happy to have such an easy job!!

 

[Murky]

Fantastic stuff!!

Now be honest - who always thought we would manage a conquest victory? I certainly thought at several points in the game that we didn't have a prayer!

I guess we can read the other threads now to see how the experts did it!

Might be useful to discuss (in a constructive way!) what parts of the game we think could have gone better so we emerge stronger leaner and fitter for SGOTM3.....

I think we can learn from our mistakes.

Tech trading seems to be key in the more advanced play. We should always make beneficial trades whenever possible even if the deal is slightly in their favor. I've learned this playing my own games and the GOTMs.

Mastering the early part of the game is just as essential. If you look at the spoilers you can see a good example of a game that was played optimally from the start. They settled in a good spot early on, got only what techs they considered as essential and planned their first conquest well.

I see the early game vs. the raging barbs as kind of a chess match. One false move during that time can have a huge effect on the rest of the game.

 

[johnpaulcain]

I think the mistake we made was not moving the palace, but it was such an unusual start and we can't expect that again.

I also agree with Murky about the early tech path. Only research the ones we need.

I also agree with BPs comments a while back about rushing the games a little, I think we should definately have a 24 hour gap between a "got it" post and starting your turns to give everyone a fair chance for input.

Also Murky was a RUBBISH leader, otherwise I think we would have got the Golden Laurel quite easily! (JOKE!)

 

[nfora]

Yay we're done! Not that I did all that much

I think our one greatest mistake was not having a concrete plan from the begining. We had a few ideas, but we mucked around quite a bit early on. More general strategizing early on would help us more, as well as a much slower early game. Perhaps taking it one turn at a time during the critical opening and discussing the merits of every move.

Personally, I need to try to keep involved in the discussions through the late game, even though I have less experience there.

 

[Murky]

I think the mistake we made was not moving the palace, but it was such an unusual start and we can't expect that again.

Very true. This game was a good candidate for a place jump for certain.

I also agree with Murky about the early tech path. Only research the ones we need.

It is sometimes difficult to anticipate the perfect path to take for each game unless you can make some good guesses in advance where resources will be located, where the enemy AI will be and what their plans initial plans are. This primarily comes from experience with playing the game.

I also agree with BPs comments a while back about rushing the games a little, I think we should definately have a 24 hour gap between a "got it" post and starting your turns to give everyone a fair chance for input.

I agree that there should be be sometime for discussion and there's no real reason to rush it since SGOTMs have rather lax deadlines.

Sometimes, you do get inspired or your schedule only permits playing at a specific time.

Also Murky was a RUBBISH leader, otherwise I think we would have got the Golden Laurel quite easily! (JOKE!)

 

[Big Pig]

I think the mistake we made was not moving the palace, but it was such an unusual start and we can't expect that again.

Umm - I think we did move the palace to Osaka didn't we?

 

[Gyathaar]

Congrats on finishing

 

[Mîtiu Ioan]

IMHO our biggest mistake was to not have until ( very ) late a really productive city - or better a couple of them.

Of course - just an opinion. Anyway - was good that we finished taht game via a conquest !

 

[johnpaulcain]

Umm - I think we did move the palace to Osaka didn't we?

Ooops, we might have done, not sure?

Anyway we should have built FP and Palace on the mainland and only built cities near Kyoto if they could paid for themselves.

 

[AlanH]

Well done, Guys

 

[Murky]

Thanks to the GOTM staff for providing us with an excellent challenge. I'm looking forward to the next one.

Does anyone want to write up something for the Final Spoiler?

 

[johnpaulcain]

Pleasure is all yours Murky! It can be your "Being captain" present!

 

[Big Pig]

I think our one greatest mistake was not having a concrete plan from the begining. We had a few ideas, but we mucked around quite a bit early on. More general strategizing early on would help us more, as well as a much slower early game. Perhaps taking it one turn at a time during the critical opening and discussing the merits of every move.

I agree we should be very clear about our opening strategy - and take it slow with discussion whenever things crop up that may affect the plan in the critical opening period.

Wars seem to be another period that it is easy to rush through - maybe we need to take these 1 or 2 turns at a time with discussion on how to maximise our advantage - often after 10 to 15 turns it is too late

Personally, I need to try to keep involved in the discussions through the late game, even though I have less experience there.

I think everyone was pretty good at that, but maybe more suggestions for tactics etc would be good from everyone in the next SGOTM

The opening strat of going walk-about and settling late was a mistake with the benefit of hindsight - although (in my defense as I think I suggested it...) if Gyathaar had not put that fantastic city location where he did, it would have put us in a stronger position relative to teams who settled there quickly

EDIT: I think we also overestimated the threat posed by raging barbs (they seemed a lot worse in the test games) Apparently Gyathaar started Isa with 3 scouts to help fog-bust our continent and keep the barb count down.

We got alphabet late - although in this particularly game that wasn't too big a problem as everyone had alphabet when we met the other civs and so we could still tech trade. But next time we should think about getting it much quicker

We've done better than FUBAR and (I think) VQ Red and possibly X-team and Chaos- but we have a ways to go before we are challenging for those laurels!
Many teams got conquests before the 1700s.

X-team's thread is interesting - they had a similar starting strat to us and even put Osaka by the southern copper rather than where we (and everyone else) did. And of course CFR and Peanut's threads are highly educational!

Look forward to SGOTM3 with you all!

BP

 

[Murky]

Pleasure is all yours Murky! It can be your "Being captain" present!

I'll work on something this weekend. The captain torch is probably going to pass to BP. He seems better suited.

We could start a regular succession game to practice until the next SGOTM.

 

[Big Pig]

We could start a regular succession game to practice until the next SGOTM.

That sounds a great idea - I'd be up for that.

The captain torch is probably going to pass to BP

We'd better stick with the same name - Piggy Waters doesn't have quite the same ring to it..... Or, there's always this suggestion from the ever charming Real Ms. Beyond

 

[Murky]

That sounds a great idea - I'd be up for that.

What version do you guys want to play, Warlords or Vanilla. Any preferences on leader, map settings and difficulty level?

We'd better stick with the same name - Piggy Waters doesn't have quite the same ring to it..... Or, there's always this suggestion from the ever charming Real Ms. Beyond

Ok with me. The Captain's chair is more of a symbolic thing tham a real position of power over the team. I think Ms. Beyond was refering to our post count when they said that.

 

[nfora]

What version do you guys want to play, Warlords or Vanilla. Any preferences on leader, map settings and difficulty level?

Anything is fine with me.

 

[johnpaulcain]

Vanilla is cool for me, don't mind Warlords too much though!

 

[Mîtiu Ioan]

I suggest an Emperor game ...

Prefer Vanilla - nothing else bother me.

Regards