SGOTM 07 - Fifth Element

[Merum]

I agree that a war would probably distract Liz from the spaceship and we shouldn't do it.

Has Cathy completed any parts? If she has, maybe we do want to bribe her into a war with somebody to distract her from building her spaceship.

Blub, I have no access to civ and am basically a spectator for the rest of the game. Put me on the bench, please.

 

[WastinTime]

EDIT #1: Hey, why is the Plains-Hill-Forest South of London labeled "pre-chopped-->London?" It looks like the chop will go to York, won't it?

I was guessing York too, but that's why I labeled it London, cus I checked when I chopped it. It's based on culture in the square not distance I guess.

 

[WastinTime]

Wow. Look at that score graph.

It's time for me to say it. I had my doubts about this strategy and I'm still a bit worried that we won't be fast enough but I have to say that I'm very impressed. Things are coming out just about the way you said they would WT, and I've learned quite a bit from this game. Old warmongering habits are hard to break but this is quite an interesting way to go, especially on this level. Way to go! I think you deserve to launch the ship.

Also, thank goodness we have aluminum.

I'm so glad to see an up-beat message, Merum. Some recent ones seemed a little grumpy. I was afraid I was ruining this SG for you. I wish we could do it all over again as an OCC-PA-Domination. That would be very educational too, and you could run the show.

Let's bring it home guys!

 

[MacBalt]

Way to go! I think you deserve to launch the ship.

Well said, and noble-ly done. I agree that WastinTime should launch the ship.

EDIT/ADD:

I was guessing York too, but that's why I labeled it London, cus I checked when I chopped it. It's based on culture in the square not distance I guess.

This is good to know (or find out?) too. Honestly, I've learned so much in this thread I'm starting to feel like I've really got the beginnings of a good civ edumacation. Can't thank you enough for inviting me, BLubmuz!

 

[Merum]

I'm so glad to see an up-beat message, Merum. Some recent ones seemed a little grumpy. I was afraid I was ruining this SG for you. I wish we could do it all over again as an OCC-PA-Domination. That would be very educational too, and you could run the show.

Let's bring it home guys!

I'm always grumpy, don't take it personally. It doesn't mean I'm not enjoying the game, it just mostly means that I have no idea what time zone I'm in. Looking forward to the next game, we gots a good team.

 

[Sweetacshon]

Hey! Looking good peops!! Excellent progress and we did well to hold nerve until the other continent exploded (I'm feeling better about that now).

The chop recipient does indeed depend on cultural value, and it would read as much when you mouse over, as WT said.

Turn 221, 1555 AD: Catherine has completed SS Casing!
Turn 221, 1555 AD: Catherine has completed SS Casing!
Turn 222, 1560 AD: Catherine has completed SS Casing!

I noticed this - shouldn't be a problem without a PA for her (or even with), I'd say. So what's the final tech plan?

Btw, I am still on the bench as well, unfortunately.

 

[WastinTime]

fiber - fusion - plastics - robotics - ecol
I think that's all we have left.

Fiber is 7 turns out. That's the copper part and we have copper, so that's our build.
Time to finish factory and nuc plant during the next 7 turns. That means put a mine on the uranium again. I think we can afford this -1 health. IIRC it will be 17 turns before we would starve. Maybe something will happen (like getting the cow) before then. If not, we could take Liz's corn, but I don't want to do that. Another option to stablize food is to finish the 2 windmills(converting our lumbermills). We lose 1 health for the forest loss, but gain 2 food. I was hoping to save the forests in case we build the final space part. The most turn savings can be achieved the moment Ecology is discovered--chopping out that last part ASAP. It'd be best if Liz could do that last part in her capitol with all her forests, but she may have the Robotics/dockingBay to finish. Worst case, we just starve -1 pop. Having factory+power is better than being short 1 citizen.

 

[MacBalt]

Time to finish factory and nuc plant during the next 7 turns. That means put a mine on the uranium again.

So, dump the Iron Works, finish the factory, build a nuclear plant, and be ready for the cockpit? Looks like the nuclear plant will take 4 turns. Factory is ready in one. That leaves 2 turns before Fiber is ready. Back to IW, or something else? (or does it even matter?)

EDIT: Hmm... It's going to take our workers a turn or two to mine the uranium again too tho, I suppose...

 

[WastinTime]

Yea, the uranium should be back in long before the nuc plant. I think it might be a good idea to have IW 1 turn from completion (ideally just 1 hammer from completion for max overflow!). That way we have it if we need it and we can ask for Liz's coal after she finishes railroading (and we can get a couple railroads ourselves.)

 

[BLubmuz]

Why a Nuc Plant and not a Hydro plant? The output is not the same?

 

[MacBalt]

Doesn't hydro require plastics?

 

[BLubmuz]

Doesn't hydro require plastics?

Sure, but we need it, so we can prioritize it in our research path. Who is researching faster between us and Liz? We can decide which techs have the priority and assign the research to the faster one, while the other goes for another tech.

 

[culdeus]

Wow. Look at that score graph.

It's time for me to say it. I had my doubts about this strategy and I'm still a bit worried that we won't be fast enough but I have to say that I'm very impressed. Things are coming out just about the way you said they would WT, and I've learned quite a bit from this game. Old warmongering habits are hard to break but this is quite an interesting way to go, especially on this level. Way to go! I think you deserve to launch the ship.

Also, thank goodness we have aluminum.

It's obvious at least 4 teams and maybe more are taking a crack at a partner-domination victory. (XTeam, murky, misfits, and OSS) I did some quick tile counting and unless I'm off it certainly looks like you can NOT get the land limit on the continent we are own alone and this is by just perhaps 1-2 tiles. It's so close I just don't know. Plus you can't settler spam to fill in so 100% coverage may not be possible anyways.

I do think the gold will be in the 1300-1400AD range anyways. Perhaps sooner if there are in fact enough tiles to pull it off on the home conty.

I would think the way to have gone about that would perhaps have been rushing to communism without all the tech gifting and rush the AI with cannons and grens primarily. I'm working on a restart with that just to see.

 

[MacBalt]

It may be possible, but 1300-1400? Xteam has some fantastically talented players and was well in the lead on points for much of the game, but they are already at 1516 1440 now. [EDIT: oops. I read their score instead of the date -- still 1440 tho.]

I got to thinking about their recent power drop tho. What if they gifted away a huge army to a prospective PA partner, hoping to hook-up later after encouraging some significant pre-PA turf grabbing? Then the gift might show up in the charts as a power drop, right?

The problems with that approach are huge though. For one, you'd have to depend on the vanilla AI to conquest effectively. For another, you'd have to be careful not to get eaten by your own monster.

@ BLub: I think we should research together on the same tech with Liz at the same time. This will shorten the time it takes to get each individual tech. That way we will get each new space part to build one at a time, and have the best chance at letting Liz building it her most productive city. (We'll also avoid getting two techs at once and having multiple parts to start building at the same time -- possibly having to use inferior cities for expensive parts.) I also recommend researching to Fusion next because we'll want to get the most expensive space ship parts started as soon as possible. Why bother delaying for a hydro when we can do a nuke plant right now anyway?

 

[BLubmuz]

I do NOT like much nuke plants 'cause the risk of meltdown.
I'll wait to post a plan 'til we'll decide on this.

 

[Merum]

I don't much like the meltdown risk either but I think we should take the path that takes us to finish the fastest.

 

[WastinTime]

I built a Nuc plant once and swore I wouldn't do it again. But we only have to have it for around 30 turns. Seems like an ok risk, but my experience with these plants is limited. How often is there a negative effect?

 

[Sweetacshon]

I'm in the same boat. 1 build and 1 failure. As for the % chance, does anyone feel like code delving or thread trawling?
edit:

But we only have to have it for around 30 turns. Seems like an ok risk

Does it, tho? Having only one city, perhaps it's a huge risk. /edit

Winning by dom earlier than SR is certainly possible, and expected in this comp. Damn, it'd be tough to control the vanilla AI, and pretty stressful. We probably took the easier option which cost ~200 years from an ideal win, but who knows what trials the teams went thru - I look forward to reading about it.

 

[BLubmuz]

We need the power to help complete some expensive part, so no reason to take a risk with an OCC. We can research plastics, then build a Hydro.

 

[MacBalt]

Having only one city, perhaps it's a huge risk.

Maybe, but what really happens in a meltdown? If it doesn't destroy the city and make us lose the game (which I don't know -- does it???), then is it really that much of a risk? What have we got left to do with our city except maybe build one more part? Liz could build the whole ship and I don't think it would delay us by much.

Of course, I guess the same logic could be used to pose the question of whether we really need any kind of power plant at all.

EDIT: I really think we should research fusion before plastics tho, in order to make the most expensive part build-able.