SGOTM 08 - Geezers

[Harbourboy]

Random question: does anyone know why I only get that 'once every 24 hour' civfanatics advertisment screen on my work computer? I never ever get it on my home computer.

 

[Sam_Yeager]

Random question: does anyone know why I only get that 'once every 24 hour' civfanatics advertisment screen on my work computer? I never ever get it on my home computer.

Perhaps you've got an ad blocker on your home PC? I think the 24 hour advertisment may depend on flash/java so maybe you don't have the s/w to display them?

 

[AgedOne]

Ello.
Looks like I've missed an entertaining afternoon's discussions.
(I did pop in once, as The-Hawk noticed , but I'm not sure I was on this thread. Might have been looking for strategy tips on BTS deity )

@Misotu
I'm safely beyond Basingstoke, so unlikely to be menaced by the crack military that come out on Saturday nights.

I'm willing to step in after Hawk with my own brand of 'peacemaking', though.

(Where is Thrallia? There'll be a single out soon: "I'm starting to worry about Thrallia" - except it doesn't scan)

 

[The-Hawk]

OK, I have not completed my turnset yet, but I wanted to pause for advice. Pottery finishes next turn, we need to make a tech decision. Also, we just met Joao, need to decide if we want OB.

Decision 1. Next tech possibilities:

1. Currency (might be nice given we are going to be acquiring more cities)
2. Poly (then Aestetics-Lit for GLib).
3. Alpha (has some value now that we've met Joao).
4. Iron Working (to prepare for cow city)
5. Monotheism (for OR)

I think IW and Mono can wait. We are not ready to build a settler for cow city. Same for missionaries. I'm leaning towards Currency next.

Decision 2. Should we OB with Joao?

I don't see why not? Maybe confus will spread to him.

By the way, here is a screenie of the exploration to date. We appear to be on a rather large continent. Both of Shaka's cities look like keepers to me. Joao is way to the south near the fish and marble, haven't found any of his cities yet.



I still have the save, once we have consensus on next tech, I will play some more.

 

[Misotu]

How many turns for currency? And how many for alphabet?

 

[Misotu]

I think we should have open borders with Joao. Can't think of any reason why not.

 

[Misotu]

Oh blimey, sorry, it's late here and I know you're on-line so trying to respond quickly We can probably get polytheism through alpha, and maybe more, if we can trade techs with Joao. Currency will be good, and we should do it soon I agree, so I'm just wondering if we can sneak in a few quick trades first.

 

[The-Hawk]

Assuming the 2 sci specs in Hari work mines (and I think they should), our tech time is:

Poly 4
Alpha 12
Currency 16

As we build more units, these will stretch out (we will need to drop research rate).

 

[Misotu]

Longish times then But the 2 dropped specialists in Hari (agreed they should work the mines) will be at least balanced, maybe more, by the Academy in Yas, especially if we maximise pop growth there to the happiness cap.

I think ... given that we have yet to start our military campaign, given that we probably can't get trade routes with Joao yet and so currency will take a little while longer to kick in with real value ... I think I would go for alphabet. Let's see what techs Joao has and hope to come across other civs soon. This will be valuable information in terms of deciding what wonders we should aim for once the military campaign is done. Now we've met Joao and we can see the lay of the land, we will meet others. This kind of intelligence is invaluable - there are a few Wonders available - no point in building 90% of a wonder only to get beaten to it. The intelligence from alphabet will help us to make good decisions on next Wonder build(s). But afterwards, definitely currency.

 

[The-Hawk]

Good point, GS just popped. We will have academy next turn. That should knock those times back.

I'm OK with Alpha next. If we keep Joao advanced from a tech perspective, maybe he will be nice enough to build some wonders for us.

 

[AgedOne]

I would like Alpha in this situation, too.

And I see no reason to refuse OB with Joao.

(ps. Is Joao on the main large land-mass? I can't tell from the screenshot]

 

[Misotu]

Course (and still thinking about this) making a good decision relies on all the information. What do Shaka's cities look like, defense-wise, now you're scouting? I agree the cities on the screen look like keepers. How quickly do you think we can take him, given what you've seen? Yas is a military factory-and-a-half - maybe we can keep the scientists in Hari going? Maybe we don't need the single catapult it will produce at the loss of a load of science output?

Edited to add: Cross-posts with both of you ... do we have a sufficient consensus here to keep going? I think alphabet is probably the obvious, we can keep the research up if we keep Yas growing and keep it building military.

 

[Misotu]

How long for a monastery in Yas for the extra 10% research? If only a couple of turns or so ... maybe worth it for the loss of a catapult or 2? Depends on Shaka's military situation ...

 

[Sam_Yeager]

Bear in mind that Alpha may not be too much use if we only know one civ (post Shaka that is). I also have to say that I don't want to delay GLib for too long.

 

[The-Hawk]

(ps. Is Joao on the main large land-mass? I can't tell from the screenshot]

Joao is on our landmass. I found his archers near the marble due south of Shaka's cities. (By the way, this means we might be racing him for the stone on the island between us).

What do Shaka's cities look like, defense-wise, now you're scouting?

Shaka has some substantial military. Nobamba was defended by 5 units, with 2 others nearby. Ulundi was defended by 3. I think Yaso will need to build military for a while.

PS. We also need to remember that in BtS, seige units can't kill. We will need some extra axemen to finish off Shaka's large numbers.

 

[Misotu]

(By the way, this means we might be racing him for the stone on the island between us).

Yes, I was thinking this. Maybe Stone City next, before Marble City.

PS. We also need to remember that in BtS, seige units can't kill. We will need some extra axemen to finish off Shaka's large numbers.

Didn't know this. That makes a big difference. Well ... we have to stick to one objective at a time. Right now, we're destroying Shaka. Which means we can't even think about building a Wonder just yet, notwithstanding the tremendous attractiveness of the Great Library &c. Hear what you're saying Sam, but we have to go for one objective, finish it, and then set the next. So I definitely still think Alphabet and then probably currency (alpha reduces the number of beakers for currency). By that time, maybe we will have met a few more civs, have more of a feel for where we are tech-wise. This isn't deity level after all - they research more slowly.

 

[Harbourboy]

In my games I can never manage to properly balance war and growth. I will be interested to see how we can knock off Shaka without derailing our progress towards needed techs and wonders.

Yeah, whenever I go back and play vanilla, I am stunned at just how overpowered siege weapons are. Catapults can lay waste to everything in vanilla. They are much more balanced in BtS, especially as you can't give them Combat 1 either in the latest patch, so they have to be pure city softeners now.

 

[Sam_Yeager]

Right now, we're destroying Shaka. Which means we can't even think about building a Wonder just yet, notwithstanding the tremendous attractiveness of the Great Library &c. Hear what you're saying Sam, but we have to go for one objective, finish it, and then set the next.

Oh I wasn't suggesting we should start building any wonder until we have sorted out Shaka. However choosing techs that will allow the wonder building is another matter.

Wrt the discussion about Shaka's military would this be a reason to head for IW to hopefully get some swords? Just thinking out aloud here.

 

[The-Hawk]

Wrt the discussion about Shaka's military would this be a reason to head for IW to hopefully get some swords? Just thinking out aloud here.

I think our axemen will be sufficient. We can suicide a couple of cats on his stack(s), then clean the wounded up with axes. I think IW can be had in a trade.

 

[Misotu]

In my games I can never manage to properly balance war and growth. I will be interested to see how we can knock off Shaka without derailing our progress towards needed techs and wonders.

We will knock off Shaka without derailing anything. Don't forget that this is going to be a lo-o-o-ng game. The-Hawk already worked that out. We don't need to finish any time soon, and we can take the Wonders we don't build, within reason. So this means, more than ever, that our nasty aggressive neighbour needs to be dealt with before we move on. As The-Hawk says, if we feed techs to our near neighbours, maybe they will build the odd Wonder for us No problem with that ...

What's your vote on the next tech HB?