SGOTM 11 - Fifth Element

[Mitchum]

... the "ao" sounds like the noise that you make when you hit your thumb with a hammer.

Hmmm... Does it rhyme with truck?

 

[Dhoomstriker]

Should we really build more units after those in the queue? Will they ever see action? If so, will it really matter if we only have 22 turns left? Will the increased maintenance cost be worth it?

I think we should put a stake in the ground. Any units that would be completed after turn TXXX should not be built (this could include some units in our city queues right now...). We may be able to build airships a bit later since they can get into the action faster and serve a very good purpose. I think turn TXXX is some time during UT's turnset, so I should not be building any units. We can build either science or gold instead, right?

Having more Galleons can help up until the last few turns.

Also, if we form a bit of a Galleon chain partway through UT's turnset, then the date that we stop building units can be pushed back into your turnset, instead of during UT's turnset, as new units will be able to make it to the warzone within a reasonable timeframe then.


If you want to spend the time to come up with the exact math by predicting the amount of Hammers, etc, go nuts and let us know! Otherwise, if you don't want to do so, I think that we can wait until your turnset to decide.

A third option is to say to UT: "if you complete a build item and if the next unit, even the cheapest kind (Catapult or Longbowman), will take more than 10 turns to complete, build Wealth in that City instead of building a new unit."

 

[Dhoomstriker]

Hmmm... Does it rhyme with truck?

Perhaps I should have said "what a civilized person" might say when they hit themselves with a hammer (and which looks like the text that I was originally referring to--there was no "uck" sound there), instead of what a "city-slumming reneck-wannabe" would say. Just kidding.

 

[Dhoomstriker]

No other city gets its own galley.

What are you smoking? We have a Shuttle Galley between almost every continent reachable before Astronomy!

We have one that connects Trebizond to DevilsGate. We have one that connects Crabs to Goldfish and which also doubles as a temporary ferry from Sugar Daddy. We have one that connects Ivory Towers to Seville.

The only one that we are missing is one that connects Ivory towers to Zara's lands, but we only didn't have one of those because we'd had Closed Borders with Zara for so long, thus one wasn't needed.

We don't have the cash to upgrade they Galleys now, but after Mass Media comes in, you can consider upgrading any Galley that is near our Cultural Borders, such as the one by Ivory Towers (which would actually be in a good position, as it would be near our Great Person Galleon Chain location) or the one by Crabs, although it would have to sail for a few turns to become useful.

Could it be better used as part of a galley chain to get our great people to the Fur?

What? Dude, you're going the long way around if you do so!

We want to send Great People through Zara's lands to the east, using Galleons, not the long way from Crabs all the way past Trebizond.

Please upgrade your mindset of the world's spacial dimensions to include the invention of Astronomy!


Now, if you meant from the square E + E of Aksum, then okay, we can consider it. BUT, if we put the Galley there, then the BEST SPOT for the Galley during UT's turnset is just north of Ivory Towers! That way, it can easily get to the square E + E of Aksum with plenty of time to spare during your turnset.


However, we'll more preferably have a Galleon chain that stretches along our main continent's southern Coast, to reduce the amount of walking time that our last Great Person will have to do.

Can we afford to upgrade it (I think not since I'd rather spend our gold on science, but it's worth asking)?

UT can't, but maybe you can after we've learned Mass Media.


For now, Ivory Towers' Galley will get us at least 1 War Elephant to Cordoba from Ivory Towers. After that, I don't care what it does, but if Ivory Towers builds another land unit, it's probably best to have the Galley hang out next to Ivory Towers, so as to be able to make that land unit useful.

This way, we don't have to divert a Galleon to Ivory Towers.

In any event, a personal yacht for the duchess of Ivory Towers should not be in our plans...

It should be if she'll ride on the back of an elephant into war for us!

Besides, the Duchess and I go way back...

Plus, then there's the notion of a "Watergate" scandal...

 

[Dhoomstriker]

Spreadsheet Math: Golden Age?
Maybe someone can run the spreadsheet math to see if this plan saves us much on generating our Great Person in Crabs.

What do you think? Once we get Nationalism from Justinian, should we spawn a Golden Age by building The Taj Mahal in Crabs?

Doing so would get us 2 more base GPP in Crabs, plus the bonus GPP from the Golden Age.

We'd get a ton more Hammers, meaning that we could field a couple of more Galleons and land units to go in them.

With 1 Great Engineer building The UN in Riverdale, we'd have:
1 Great Scientist
1 Great Person from Delhi
1 Sped-up Great Person from Crabs
1 Great General from the extra military unit production

We'd also get to Mass Media faster, perhaps shaving an entire voting cycle off of our finishing date.


How's that for a plan?

 

[Dhoomstriker]

Hmmm... Does it rhyme with truck?

Actually, it turns out that it's pleasurable for kids (and probably adults, too), to say words with an "f" sound or an "sh" sound.

Of course, you can teach your kids to appreciate slightly more acceptable words, such as "fake" or "sheep." Those words could also potentially be used creatively for similar purposes as the words that they are meant to replace, when insulting someone.


"You're full of sheep" still gives the intended effect without sounding as uncultured. And, if they ask what you said in that fake upper-class accent, asking "What did you say?," as if you'd said a bad word, you can "MAHHHHHH" back at them in a loud voice for them having foolishly tried to call you out for doing something that you weren't guilty of doing.

 

[Mitchum]

What are you smoking? We have a Shuttle Galley between almost every continent reachable before Astronomy!

Sure. Every continent has a galley, not every city. Using a whole galley to shutte one unit every 8 turns seem excessive. Sure, without OB with Zara, it was stuck. But those days are over. I think once the elephant with the duchess on it's back reaches Spain, we can re-purpose this galley, right?

We have one that connects Trebizond to DevilsGate. We have one that connects Crabs to Goldfish and which also doubles as a temporary ferry from Sugar Daddy.

Do we still need a galley between Tebizonod and DevilsGate after the final 2 warriors are shuttled over? As a galley, it will take a long time for this unit to get anywhere that it can be helpful...

Do we still need a shuttle between Crabs and Goldfish? Can this be re-purposed as well?

What? Dude, you're going the long way around if you do so!

Of course they would go east, not west. I didn't realize I said anything about sailing around the long way... As you said, the shortest way is to go east. If our starting point is down by Whales, then a galley could be used for the first or second leg. If it starts from one of Zara's cities, it would need to be a galleon as you said.

However, we'll more preferably have a Galleon chain that stretches along our main continent's southern Coast, to reduce the amount of walking time that our last Great Person will have to do.

If research is on our critical path, we may not need to go crazy shaving a turn or two from the journey. It's entirely possible that the great person jumping on a galleon in Addis Ababa could take a leisurely 3 turn voyage to Barb Island with time to spare. The logistics still need to be worked out.

 

[Dhoomstriker]

Sure. Every continent has a galley, not every city. Using a whole galley to shutte one unit every 8 turns seem excessive. Sure, without OB with Zara, it was stuck. But those days are over. I think once the elephant with the duchess on it's back reaches Spain, we can re-purpose this galley, right?

What would you have it do? A Galley is so SLOW for travelling the distance between our main continent and Isabella's area.

If you'd just use it off of the eastern edge of Zara's lands to start off a boat chain towards the Barb area, then leaving it near Ivory Towers would be the approach to use, anyway.

Do we still need a galley between Trebizond and DevilsGate after the final 2 warriors are shuttled over? As a galley, it will take a long time for this unit to get anywhere that it can be helpful...

Who knows? We might, we might not. Unless you plan to scuttle (delete) the boat, it's probably best staying around Trebizond. We'd never be able to build a new boat and get it there in time, should we need to transfer units back and forth.

It'll take too long (14 turns) to be practical to get to the east so that it could be ugpraded to a Galleon. I'd say leave it where it is, on the off chance that we'll need it.

Do we still need a shuttle between Crabs and Goldfish? Can this be re-purposed as well?

Aren't we currently building a unit in Goldfish? Would you rather divert a precious Galleon just to collect this unit when it is built?

Of course they would go east, not west. I didn't realize I said anything about sailing around the long way... As you said, the shortest way is to go east. If our starting point is down by Whales, then a galley could be used for the first or second leg. If it starts from one of Zara's cities, it would need to be a galleon as you said.

Okay, so in that case, the Galley can stay near Ivory Towers for UT's turnset and can potentially move to E + E of Aksum later, when we have a Great Person to shuttle.

However, I would only ever suggest using a Galley (at this last stage of the game) to transfer a Great Person if we can get it onto a Galleon within the same turn--leaving a Great Person on a weak boat like a Galley at the end of a turn is just begging for trouble.

If research is on our critical path, we may not need to go crazy shaving a turn or two from the journey. It's entirely possible that the great person jumping on a galleon in Addis Ababa could take a leisurely 3 turn voyage to Barb Island with time to spare. The logistics still need to be worked out.

While research is PART of our critical path, your "if" statement makes it clear that you believe that other factors could also be a part of our critical path, such as Great Person spawning + logistics.

The faster that we'll get to Mass Media, the more pressure we'll have to get a Great Person to the Fur that much faster, increasing the Great Person's effect on our "critial path."

 

[Mitchum]

Spreadsheet Math: Golden Age?
Maybe someone can run the spreadsheet math to see if this plan saves us much on generating our Great Person in Crabs.

What do you think? Once we get Nationalism from Justinian, should we spawn a Golden Age by building The Taj Mahal in Crabs?

Doing so would get us 2 more base GPP in Crabs, plus the bonus GPP from the Golden Age.

We'd get a ton more Hammers, meaning that we could field a couple of more Galleons and land units to go in them.

With 1 Great Engineer building The UN in Riverdale, we'd have:
1 Great Scientist
1 Great Person from Delhi
1 Sped-up Great Person from Crabs
1 Great General from the extra military unit production

We'd also get to Mass Media faster, perhaps shaving an entire voting cycle off of our finishing date.


How's that for a plan?

Sounds interesting and I like thinking outside the box. However, I'm not crazy about a plan that relies on a Great General, which is a bit out of our control (unlike generating a great person via GPP, which is a lot easier to control). It is entirely possible that Mehmed has minimal units due to having been at war for so long. We'd have to go through his lands hunting for units to kill just to get the much needed GG we've banked on.

It could work, but I put it in the class of a gambit... an unnecessary risk that may or may not pay off. We know for sure when we can generate our needed fourth great person with our current plan. This plan puts us into the realm of the unknown.

I'm not saying no way. If you feel strongly about this plan, tell us more.

Let me do the math... Crabs would get its great person 5 turns sooner or 11 turns from now!! This assumes you followed your GPP plan as we discussed before you played. We would likely get Mass Media about 3 to 5 turns sooner as well.

So, if we really think there are enough units close by to get the Great General quickly, this may be the way to go... Although, can we pull off the other things we have to do in 17 turns (my original goal of 22 turns - 5 turns)?

Hmm....

 

[Dhoomstriker]

Let me do the math... Crabs would get its great person 5 turns sooner or 11 turns from now!! This assumes you followed your GPP plan as we discussed before you played.

I tried to follow the plan, but just in case I messed up or in case the spreadsheet math was wrong, here's the relevant info:
Crabs has 1826 GPP.
Crabs has 6 Scientists hired and is stagnant, making 36 GPP per turn (more per turn with Taj Mahal and a Golden Age's +100% GPP production).

We'd also get our Grt Person Farm Great Person sooner.

In fact, if you are TRULY WORRIED about getting a Great General, then put The Taj Mahal in Grt Person Farm.

See how that math would work out for both Crabs and Grt Person Farm and let us know (don't forget to delete the extra 2 GPP from Crabs for not having The Taj Mahal in your spreadsheet).


Oh yeah... you'll probably want to know that Grt Person Farm has 1014 GPP.
It is stagnant with 7 Scientists Hired plus it has the National Epic's 1GPP and the National Epic's +100% GPP, for a non-Golden-Age GPP rate of 66 GPP per turn.

 

[Mitchum]

What would you have it do? A Galley is so SLOW for travelling the distance between our main continent and Isabella's area.

If you'd just use it off of the eastern edge of Zara's lands to start off a boat chain towards the Barb area, then leaving it near Ivory Towers would be the approach to use, anyway.

OK. This makes sense. I'm just pushing to make sure that every unit has a purpose and that we don't waste a valuable boat.

Aren't we currently building a unit in Goldfish? Would you rather divert a precious Galleon just to collect this unit when it is built?

A Horse Archer in 7 turns? By the time this unit boards said galley, unloads on our continent, marches across our continent to the rally point, hops onto another galley (assuming one is waiting for him), ships out to Spain, unloads and then rushes into Mehmed's territory, he should make it just in time for the victory party. I think this is one of those builds in the queue that we should consider deleting.

While research is PART of our critical path, your "if" statement makes it clear that you believe that other factors could also be a part of our critical path, such as Great Person spawning + logistics.

The faster that we'll get to Mass Media, the more pressure we'll have to get a Great Person to the Fur that much faster, increasing the Great Person's effect on our "critial path."

I'm not sure I get this. There can only be one critical path (unless two things take the exact same amount of time). So, something can't have an effect on our critical path unless it is on our critical path. Under the current plan great people are not on the critical path. However, if we spawn a Golden Age (I suggest we do so on this turn to get the maximum benefit), then great people could become the critical path.

My intent of my comment was that unless getting Great People to the Fur is on our critical path, we shouldn't have to jump through any excessive hoops.

Now, with this new plan, we'll have to recalculate our critical path. It will be hard to do so unless we spawn a Golden Age now and stop playing just to reasses how long it will take us to research Mass Media.

 

[Mitchum]

I tried to follow the plan, but just in case I messed up or in case the spreadsheet math was wrong, here's the relevant info:
Crabs has 1826 GPP.
Crabs has 6 Scientists hired and is stagnant, making 36 GPP per turn (more per turn with Taj Mahal and a Golden Age's +100% GPP production).

We'd also get our Grt Person Farm Great Person sooner.

In fact, if you are TRULY WORRIED about getting a Great General, then put The Taj Mahal in Grt Person Farm.

See how that math would work out for both Crabs and Grt Person Farm and let us know (don't forget to delete the extra 2 GPP from Crabs for not having The Taj Mahal in your spreadsheet).


Oh yeah... you'll probably want to know that Grt Person Farm has 1014 GPP.
It is stagnant with 7 Scientists Hired plus it has the National Epic's 1GPP and the National Epic's +100% GPP, for a non-Golden-Age GPP rate of 66 GPP per turn.

OK. The numbers don't match, which could mean there is a flaw in the spreadsheet, which could throw off all of our calculations. The spreadsheet says that Crabs should have 1838 GPP (not 1826) and GP Farm should have 1028 (not 1014).

So, did you record the number of GPP on each turn and notice when the discrepancy first started? This would help me fix the spreadsheet.

Or, was your rate of hiring/firing scientists a bit different than the original plan?

I don't want to use the spreadsheet for any more planning until we know if it can be trusted.

EDIT: Issue solved. The plan was that the GLib and Parthenon would be good for 4 more turns. It was actually only for 3 more turns. Life is good. The spreadsheet is still valid. Whew!!

 

[Mitchum]

Here is a look behind the numbers for the Secretary General vote should we go up against Tokugawa:

The items in green should go up +1 every 10 turns until they max out according to Dhoomstriker. Presumably, Tokugawa has already maxed these out, so we should gain on him for these items.

So, assuming that only Mehmed abstains, we should easily get votes from Isabella and Zara. Justinian may be close depending on the hidden modifiers and we should be able to win Saladin's vote if we can get the +4 fair trade bonus and his hidden modifiers are not way out of whack.

 

[Dhoomstriker]

A Horse Archer in 7 turns? By the time this unit boards said galley, unloads on our continent, marches across our continent to the rally point, hops onto another galley (assuming one is waiting for him), ships out to Spain, unloads and then rushes into Mehmed's territory, he should make it just in time for the victory party. I think this is one of those builds in the queue that we should consider deleting.

A Horse Archer will also soon convert to a Knight, so that unit will likely never be completed, as it will go from being a cost of 75 Hammers to 135 Hammers, our most expensive unit type, in a far-away City that only produces 7 Hammers per turn.

So, UT should switch to building Wealth in Goldfish on his first turn of play, right? Even if we're going to run a Golden Age, which would only provide 3 more Hammers per turn there, which would not be enough Hammers to complete a Knight in time, right?

What other Cities, if any, should he switch to building Wealth in immediately?

I'm not sure I get this. There can only be one critical path (unless two things take the exact same amount of time). So, something can't have an effect on our critical path unless it is on our critical path.

Civ 4 is complex.

To use an example that we previously discussed, if you claim that "growing our population" is the critical path and that "there can only be one item that appears on the critial path," then we should fire all of our Scientists. However, it's clear that we do not want to fire the Scientists, as learning Mass Media is also "on the critical path."

I think that maybe you simply have a different definition when you talk about the words "critical path" than when I talk about it. Actually, I will be honest and will claim that I really have no clue what you are talking about when you say "critical path."

Maybe we can just call it what it is--for example "here are the factors that we have to focus on and must balance against one another in order to achieve victory." Or maybe you mean something else, so please say what you mean. More words are better than less words if the message is not clear. I'm not a fan of using buzzwords like "critical path" because such terminology can mean a very different thing to each reader, so communication breaks down in the face of ambiguity.

Under the current plan great people are not on the critical path.

For example, I have no precise idea of what that sentence means. I have a few guesses, by apparently my first guess was wrong, as you are challenging what I said.

So, if you can kindly find a different way of saying what you mean by "critical path" and then in the future, instead of using this defined buzzword of "critical path" you spell out the idea each time, it would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Mitchum]

So, if you can kindly find a different way of saying what you mean by "critical path" and then in the future, instead of using this defined buzzword of "critical path" you spell out the idea each time, it would be greatly appreciated.

Critical path is a common term used in project management. Let's simplify things and say that we only have 3 things left to do. Task A (get the great people to the fur) takes 6 turns. Task B (research MM) takes 8 turns. Task C (build the UN) takes 2 turns. In this example, Task C (UN) cannot start until Task B (MM) is completed. Let's also assume that the game is over when all three tasks have been completed, which is not true in our game, but it simplifies our example.

So, Task A takes 6 turns and Tasks B + C take 10 turns. Therefore, our game would be over in 10 turns and Tasks B + C are on the critical path.

What does that mean? Funny you should ask. Let me tell you.

If we jump through hoops and complete Task A (Fur) in 3 turns instead of 6, the game will still take 10 turns to complete. Why? Because the task we shortened (Task A) is not on the critical path. Jumping through hoops to shorten Task A (Fur) is wasted energy and may actually use up resources (i.e. hammers on galleons for a full galleon chain, gold to upgrade galleys to galleons, etc.) that could have otherwise been used to shorten our critical path (i.e. one extra turn at 100% research, build beakers instead of Galleons, etc.).

The only way to shorten the game is to focus on shortening the critical path: Task B and/or Task C in this example.

Let's say we come up with a way to shorten Task B (MM) by 4 turns. Now, Task A (Fur) takes 6 turns and Tasks B + C take 6 turns. So, both items are now on our critical path. In order to speed up the game now, we'd have to shorten the time it takes to complete Task A AND Tasks B + C.

If we then find out how to reduce Task C (UN) by 1 turn, our new critical path becomes Task A (Fur).

What does this mean to our game? Well, we should come up with an estimate for how long it will take to complete each of the actions that still need to be done (e.g. secure Silk, generate 4 great people, research MM, build UN, etc.) and use these to calculate our critical path. Then, we can focus our energy on shortening the critical path rather than trying to shorten everything.

As you said, Civ is complex. So, we may find a way to shorten Task B while at the same time increasing Task A. This would all have to be included in our analysis of the new critical path once we've shortened Task B.

If we do NOT trigger a Golden Age, I would contend that our critical path is:

Research MM -> Build UN -> Win Sec Gen vote -> Wait for Diplo vote option -> Win Diplo vote.

All of these things are fixed except the time it takes to research Mass Media (assuming we only want to burn one GE on the UN and can in fact complete it in 2 turns). That is why I was pushing to spend every last dime on research to speed up this task that is on what I think is the critical path.

Now, if we trigger a Golden Age, all bets are off. We don't have a clear picture of what our research rate will be unless you happen to know about what it would be based on the GA that just ended a turn ago. My guess is that research will be sped up by 3 to 5 turns, but this is just a guess. Also, since we'd be using up one of our great people to trigger said GA, getting a Great General could become the new critical path.

 

[Dhoomstriker]

Galleon Chaining Immediately
I'm actually going to suggest that we set up a Galleon Chain from UT's first turn of play.

We have enough Galleons to start doing so and not enough land units being produced to make it worthwhile to just arbitrarily send our Galleons back to a rally point.

So, I'm afraid that you're going to have to do some planning, instead of just blindly sending Galleons to pre-assigned locations.

Let's see what we can do to help you get on the right track, though.



T269
Galleon 5 from Sugar Daddy gets a Combat 1 promotion
Galleon 5 moves towards the Coastal square NE + NE + N of Wheaties (NE + E of the PWheat). He can be there on T270 and can skip its turn on T270.
Galleon 3, which is already close to the PWheat, can be the "next link" in the Galleon Chain between our continent and Mehmed's lands, so we'd want to move it to a location that will be 5 squares to the NE of where we're sending Galleon 5 to. Again, it should be able to arrive there on T270 and can skip its turn on T270. You should probably add a sign to the map (feel free to do so in the real saved game now and then save the saved game as a new name, or else just remember to do so later).
Galleon 4 can then move to be 5 turns further away from there. I'm pretty certain that this would mean moving Galleon 4 to the square NW of the GUranium (5 squares south of Izmir), but you can double-check for yourself. Skip your Turn there.

T270
Galleon 5 arrives at the Coastal square NE + NE + N of Wheaties (NE + E of the PWheat) and Skips the rest of its Turn.
Galleon 3 arrives at the square that is 5 squares to the NE of where Galleon 5 will be and Skips the rest of its Turn.
Galleon 4 was already in place last turn, so it just Skips its Turn again.
Maceman 6 and Maceman 7 are almost in place to load onto a Galleon, but won't have sufficient movement points to be loaded onto a Galleon until the next turn.
Galleon 2 moves NE and then drops off War Elephant 3, Maceman 5, and Trebuchet 2 onto the GRiv Jungle square to the NE, where they will join up with War Elephant 2, Horse Archer 1, and Pikeman 1, who have already landed.
Galleon 2 will then move to the NW towards Galleon 4's location. The idea here is that we will "double up" the last link in our Galleon Chain. That way, we're unlikely to have our Galleon with its unit inside get sunk by Saladin. Now that Galleon 2 and Galleon 4 are on the same square as each other, you need to figure out which Galleon will be the "stack defender." The "stack defender" will be the boat that is listed to the left of the other boat. We will load units onto the Galleon that is NOT the "stack defender," so that if Mehmed attacks our boats and beats a Galleon, our army won't get sunk.

T271
Maceman 6, Maceman 7, and Horse Archer 2get onto Galleon 5 at the Coastal square NE + NE + N of Wheaties (NE + E of the PWheat).
Next, Galleon 5 moves 5 squares NE to meet up with Galleon 3.
Each of Maceman 6, Maceman 7, and Horse Archer 2 are individually transfered from Galleon 5 to Galleon 3. Make sure that they end up on the correct boat (the one with 5 movement points remaining).
Next, send Galleon 3 and the 3 land units onboard to the square NW of the GUranium, to meet up with Galleons 4 and 2. The tricky part here is to load the units onto the Galleon that is not the "stack defender." Load the 2 Macemen and the Horse Archer onto the Galleon that is not the stack defender.

If at any point you get confused with my complicated explanation or are uncertain while playing, feel free to save the game, upload it to the server, and ask if what you did matches what's being described.

Next, after making sure that the non-stack-defender out of Galleons 2 and 4 (likely Galleon 4, based on the system of earlier-built units that have equal promotions usually acting as the stack defender) has the 2 Macemen and Horse Archer aboard, then you can move 4 to 5 squares towards Chinook. Note that we don't want to attack Mehmed's boats if we see them. So, ideally, we'd move 5 squares to the Coast square 1W of Izmir. However, if Mehmed already has a boat there, then just move 4 squares to the Coast square 1SW of Izmir.

T272
Our Galleons that formed the first part of the chain can get "back into place."
So, Galleon 3 will sail to the square that Galleon 5 is now sitting on.
Galleon 5 can then sail back to the square that is NE + NE + N of Wheaties (NE + E of the PWheat).

Galleons 2 and 4 can then sail northward, dropping off the 2 Macemen and 1 Horse Archer onto a defensible position. The idea is that we just want to "make a stand" in Mehmed's lands, so that he will throw units at us. A Horse Archer will defend well against Catapults, while Macemen standing in a Forest will defend at strength 12, being good defenders for just about any unit thrown at them.

I'm going to recommend that we unload our 3 land units on the GFor to the S + S of Chinook. They can stay there defending from attacks until reinforcements arrive.

If things get hot and heavy, the land units may need to load back onto a Galleon in order to heal. It really depends upon whether or not Mehmed attacks your mini-stack there and how much damage he does in the attack.



From here onwards, things get tricky, as whether or not you build The Taj Mahal with a Great Engineer will affect the timing of when our other units get completed.
It might also make sense to "move our Galleon chain back a bit."

The idea would be that it takes a while for freshly-built units to walk to the loading point.

So, a Galleon built out of Three Clams (which is scheduled to be built on T273 but it might get built earlier if we launch a Golden Age before then), can "pick up" Risaia's Longbowman and Bedrock's Trebuchet, then it can transfer those units to the next link in the Galleon chain.

Feasibly, this newly-built Galleon could move to the square that is E + E of Three Clams and Skip its Turn. Once one or both of the Longbowman or Trebuchet are built, that land unit can move onto this Galleon. If we've "moved back" our Galleon chain by 5 movement points, then this Galleon can sail 5 squares to the east and transfer its unit or units to Galleon 5, which has moved 5 squares west of where it previously was located.

Then, Galleon 5 can sail to the location where it was previously located, the Coastal square NE + NE + N of Wheaties (NE + E of the PWheat) square, where Galleon 3 will be sitting. Then, Galleon 3 can move towards Mehmed's lands, where potentially, it will meet with one of Galleons 2 or 4 within 1 to 2 turns, to be able to transfer the unit or units.

It sounds more complicated than it is, but it's an important way of getting our land units to the front lines, where it really matters that they be ASAP.


Another Worker Action
We should also send a Worker to build a Road on the PH mine 1NW of Wheaties. Doing so could speed up our loading of ground troops onto Galleons.

Essentially, there are so many Worker actions left to be done that you should have zero idle Workers on our main continent during your turnset.

IN FACT, you should plan out Worker actions based on individual Worker numbers before you play, so that you'll remember to send a unit to take care of each task and so that you won't accidentally send 2 Workers where the job only requires 1 of them.

 

[unclethrill]

Well, due to real world constraints, I have only a small window of time left. There is no way that I can completely comprehend the galley chain directions and map out all the worker turns in a timely fashion. I did not see that there was really anything in particular to do with the workers after the forests are taken care of so I'm obviously not nearly familiar enough with what is going on.

For me, it is play tomorrow night or not at all. So with this much work still needing to be done and there being no way in my schedule to make all the modifications, post a new PPP, wait for all the revisions and discussions to be completed and then make more PPPs and still be able to play tomorrow night, I have to respectfully pass on my TS again. Either Mitchum can pick up my PPP, complete it, and play mine and his TS or some other permutation.

Sorry about this but I just spent two nights making a PPP and it is obviously not nearly good enough so I don't want to sabotage our game at this point or delay (since we don't have the time) so please run with it Mitchum.

 

[Mitchum]

@ Unclethrill

Please don't play yet. We still need to decide whether or not we want to trigger a Golden Age via the Taj Mahal and if so, when to do it.

 

[Mitchum]

Well, due to real world constraints, I have only a small window of time left. There is no way that I can completely comprehend the galley chain directions and map out all the worker turns in a timely fashion. I did not see that there was really anything in particular to do with the workers after the forests are taken care of so I'm obviously not nearly familiar enough with what is going on.

For me, it is play tomorrow night or not at all. So with this much work still needing to be done and there being no way in my schedule to make all the modifications, post a new PPP, wait for all the revisions and discussions to be completed and then make more PPPs and still be able to play tomorrow night, I have to respectfully pass on my TS again. Either Mitchum can pick up my PPP, complete it, and play mine and his TS or some other permutation.

Sorry about this but I just spent two nights making a PPP and it is obviously not nearly good enough so I don't want to sabotage our game at this point or delay (since we don't have the time) so please run with it Mitchum.

UT, I think your PPP is pretty close. What has me wrapped around the axle is Dhoomstriker's new suggestion of using our GE to build the Taj Mahal and trigger a Golden Age. I need time to test this... I've been working on it for a few hours and I hope to finish today. You may still be able to play tomorrow night.

In any event, based on the fact that we're closer to victory than we thought, we have a bit of time to be sure that we get the next 20 turns right.

 

[Dhoomstriker]

Worker Actions

I did not see that there was really anything in particular to do with the workers after the forests are taken care of so I'm obviously not nearly familiar enough with what is going on.

Okay, but didn't I give you the suggestions already? I mean, just pick a Worker, say, Worker 1, then assign him to a task. Then, pick another worker, say, Worker 2, and assign him to a task. We have Workers 1 through 3 and 5 through 8 (7 Workers) available to be assigned.

Here are the tasks, off of the top of my head:
1. Build a Road on the PH Mine NW of Wheaties
2. Build a Fort on the indicated square to the SE + S of Silverado
3. Potentially partially-build some Workshops near Riverdale. Mitchum still needs to get back to us on this point, and if it's required, more than 1 Worker could get assigned to this task
4. Chop the 3 Forests
5. Put down some Forest Preserves


Probably the tasks to double-up on would be task 3, if it is even required, or else task 5.

That's pretty easy to do, right?

I mean, all of the Workers are even in about the same location, so which Worker you pick for which task can be relatively arbitrary.

When a Worker is done, it can join the others in doing task 5.

That's pretty straight-forward, right?