Looks like we're going for the sling, in which case I really think we need to give it our absolute best shot.
Misotu, from your tests, what is the critical path for CS-sling? I'm assuming the limiting factor is how fast we tech (since we can chop if we need to)?
You are correct - tech is the limiting factor, not production. OK, from my tests, here's what we need to do to have a chance of the sling:
- Switch away from copper in Yas and work max food (ie clams and cows, plus the gold) to grow surplus pop for scientists. Chopping the forest for the library is essential.
- As soon as Yas grows, we should run a scientist (even though this will slow availability of second scientist) because getting to priesthood asap is critical*.
- Change from workboat to library in Harikari and chop that library too. Suggest capital worker chops library in capital then goes to chop forest at Hari. Second worker goes to the pigs, and should be moving unescorted as soon as it is safe to do so otherwise we lose valuable time. (Panthers don't move 2 squares in jungle, do they? In which case, if we separate worker/warrior immediately, move warrior to jungle due east, does that not break FoW and allow worker to move separately and safely 2 squares towards Hari via SE plains square? Only remaining FoW would be one square of fresh water lake I think?)
- Go Myst, Med, Priesthood as fast as possible, so we can start the Oracle.
PLUS - and this is
The Tricky Bit:
We are currently running 80% science, which gives +1 economy and we have 5 gold in the treasury as a result. Unfortunately, the cities will not trade from border expansion any time soon. However, we can manually keep adjusting to 90% - for example, if we do this now it takes 1 turn off the time for Myst.
But there's much more we can do. We need to micro-manage research *heavily*, turn-by-turn. Here's the deal:
We are currently researching at 13 beakers/turn.
- Switching from copper to clams in Yas = +2 beakers
- Switching from pig to coast in Har gives +1 beaker
AND THEN
- We can increase the research rate to 90% indefinitely for a further 2 beakers, giving a grand total of 18 beakers/turn, a highly significant improvement
However, I recommend:
- Switching from copper to clams in Yas = +2 beakers
- Increasing the research rate to 90% manually
- Continuing to work the pigs in Har, giving a grand total of 17 beakers/turn
because we can run 90% for
5 turns before the research rate then drops to 80%. The upside of this is that, if we work the pig, Har will grow in
6 turns. In other words, we may only be running 80% for one turn and in exchange we get 1 extra pop in Har (which can work a coastal tile if that's the best research option) plus we get quite a few hammers towards that library.
Finally, we absolutely must consider what we do with that scientist when he arrives. You know what I think
But given our worries with Shaka, a really early sling seems like such a good idea. However, I'm bringing it up for another reason ... if we intend to bulb then we *must* pre-chop forests, otherwise we end up without the production to build the Oracle in time ...
I assume that once we have the library up in Yaso-whatev, then wheel will only take 4-5 turns to research
Correct. Without any libraries we could do wheel right now in 5 running 90%. With library/scientists 4 should be a breeze.
The problem is that, if we go for the sling, we can't deviate from the max growth/research approach. We could work the copper, research wheel, build a barracks & a few axes. Or we could really go for the sling. But we can't do both
PS * We run the first scientist provided that this gives us sufficient extra beakers to make it worth losing 2 food + 2 gold of course! We'll have to look at both options when it comes to it.
What do you mean by 'this lot are researching faster'?
Lucky for us. He doesn't sound so worrying when you put it like this ...
) for testing based on the current save or is that too much work? 
