SGOTM 13 - Plastic Ducks

[BornInCantaloup]

Hi !
The plan looks good to me.


Regarding the scouting workboat, sending it to the south where are the large landmasses would make sense.
However, we shouldn't delay the scouting of the immediate surroundings. When would we have other scouting ships ? I figure it could take a while.
So I think we should invest a few turns checking the really nearby (and tiny) islands for seafood. For that matter, the western island is a contender since :
- it already has 1 clam ;
- it has an unforested hill in its first ring that would have been in the capital's BFC if we didn't move. There is a real possibility copper is on that hill.

Exploring further south once we have spotted a first city spot.


@ Duckweed :
If Bronze Working reveals copper around Paris... the settler will be built faster, which could mess with your timings. From T44 to T60 a copper mine would add 32 hammers.
I'm not sure what the real implications are.
Maybe we should swap some tiles to maximize commerce.
Or start the settler at size 4.

 

[Duckweed]

Hi !
The plan looks good to me.


Regarding the scouting workboat, sending it to the south where are the large landmasses would make sense.
However, we shouldn't delay the scouting of the immediate surroundings. When would we have other scouting ships ? I figure it could take a while.
So I think we should invest a few turns checking the really nearby (and tiny) islands for seafood. For that matter, the western island is a contender since :
- it already has 1 clam ;
- it has an unforested hill in its first ring that would have been in the capital's BFC if we didn't move. There is a real possibility copper is on that hill.

Exploring further south once we have spotted a first city spot.

As I explained in post# 60. The capital will be unhealthy at size 5. Therefore 2nd city with a new health resource is preferred. Scouting WB will be ready to sail on T53 and 2nd city could be settled ~T63, so there's 5~8 turns of free sail. I can stop on T53 so that we have a careful thought about which direction to scout.

@ Duckweed :
If Bronze Working reveals copper around Paris... the settler will be built faster, which could mess with your timings. From T44 to T60 a copper mine would add 32 hammers.
I'm not sure what the real implications are.
Maybe we should swap some tiles to maximize commerce.
Or start the settler at size 4.

That's a good assumption, in that case, I'll end my session when BW is done.

Replies in BOLD

 

[kossin]

Stopping after BW sounds good to me as well. I can try re-evaluating the land layout once more fog is uncovered as well, which will help us decide which direction is best to send the wb (I'm inclined to say SE-E atm).

 

[Snaaty]

Stopping after BW sounds good to me as well. I can try re-evaluating the land layout once more fog is uncovered as well, which will help us decide which direction is best to send the wb (I'm inclined to say SE-E atm).

i second this. playing shorter sets doesnt do no harm, no?

concerning the testing:
tomorrow i can play the first 60 turns also, so if you could wait a day more with playing it would be great...

edith adds:
could you then move the warrior on 7 before settling when starting your turnset? if we could grab another seafood by moving 1 turn more, i would vote for another break to do some more testing (in case our warrior finds something that is)

 

[Snaaty]

i did some testing... ...cant beat your date duckw (cant even recreate it, maybe im missing something? even with heavy tile juggling im missing 5 hammers for the galley in turn 61)

here my test starts to vary from yours:

t54 wb 3 is finished (without tile juggling), not t53.
t61 i have to whip the galley for pop 1, capital is down to pop 2

if i do some tile juggling (2nd clams and 2nd mine), wb is done in t53, but still 5 hammers are missing somehow for the galley in turn 61

 

[kossin]

@Snaaty

Timing of revolt to Slavery might be the difference with your test (it's the turn after you discover BW). I have followed Duckweed's micro and got the same things going up to turn 61.

@all

I will try to fill in the opening posts in the coming week. I am a bit busy still atm so it might take a few days.

 

[Duckweed]

Stopping after BW sounds good to me as well. I can try re-evaluating the land layout once more fog is uncovered as well, which will help us decide which direction is best to send the wb (I'm inclined to say SE-E atm).

If copper is found on any of the hill, I'll stop after BW since the extra hammers might mess up the timing as BIC pointed out. Otherwise no need to stop then. I will stop on T53 when the scouting WB is up.

edith adds:
could you then move the warrior on 7 before settling when starting your turnset? if we could grab another seafood by moving 1 turn more, i would vote for another break to do some more testing (in case our warrior finds something that is)

If moving another turn gives another seafood, then SIP is better. The advantage of moving to PH is from the extra hammer from PH and therefore the faster capital setup and the faster 3rd and 4th city and very likely faster Oracle. SIP in fact has 1 extra clam and also enables faster 2nd city.

 

[Compromise]

Hello Plastic Ducks,

I've requested to be a dedicated lurker for your team. I like your style(s).

Good luck!

Compromise

 

[kossin]

@Duckweed

Sounds fine. Looking forward to the next save.

@Compromise
Welcome aboard!

 

[Snaaty]

ok, all questions i had are answered then for playing your set duckweed

hi compromise

 

[srad]

Good luck Duckweed! (if you meet the AI just load the warrior on the galley a capture one or two cities )

Welcome Compromise!

 

[Compromise]

Onward ducks...to glory!

 

[Duckweed]

Welcome, Compromise.

Played to T53 as planned. I noticed that culture chart is on from beginning, so I did not upload the save to the result page. Be careful, attached is the real save.

Culture pop revealed 3 new resources -- Fish, Crab and Stone. We are near the North pole, so the crab site might have Silver and/or Fur. It seems to me the Fish site is the choice for 2nd city simply because the 1 more food. Time to determine the scouting direction.

Spoiler :

 

[kossin]

Well done! Stone is great news for Moai. Pyramids would be nice but with the lack of tree apparent, I don't really think we can afford to do so. Strange that tundra is close and jungle as well... I smell the hand of the mapmaker.

The only hill (without trees) I was able to spot in our north region is somewhat W.

OTOH, with vassals off, we don't have to worry about colonial maintenance and can settle pretty much everywhere we want.

There are 2 really important directions to scout for meeting AIs: southeast and southwest, where there is also more land available. I can use the flying camera trick a bit more to see where there seems to be more land but obviously we'll want to get 2 wbs and send them on their way quickly for the +1 movement and research discounts.

Next short term objectives:
-where to scout with wb and how long?
-where to settle?
-what tech after Sailing?

Medium term objectives:
-Oracle... what do we take?
-find the GLH and take it... ? This would give us a guaranteed economy for the rest of the game. Earlier we find it, earlier we can plan on taking it.

 

[madviking]

Is the fact that no AI has contacted us after 50 turns is a bit disconcerting?

 

[AlanH]

Welcome, Compromise.

Played to T53 as planned. I noticed that culture chart is on from beginning, so I did not upload the save to the result page. Be careful, attached is the real save.

Culture pop revealed 3 new resources -- Fish, Crab and Stone. We are near the North pole, so the crab site might have Silver and/or Fur. It seems to me the Fish site is the choice for 2nd city simply because the 1 more food. Time to determine the scouting direction.

Spoiler :

Ahem! The rules state that you should upload end-of-turn files to the server.

[PS] If you don't, I will!

 

[Duckweed]

Ahem! The rules state that you should upload end-of-turn files to the server.

[PS] If you don't, I will!

IIRC, there's no need to upload the intermediate save to the server and many teams upload their saves to the team thread. I'm in the middle of my session, please refer to post#55. Of course, if the rule does not allow to upload save to team thread, then I'll delete it!

 

[kossin]

Indeed, the plan is to complete until the end of Sailing (at least).

 

[AlanH]

A 60 turn turnset seems excessive to me. Can I assume your next ploy will be to play the entire game as a single turnset? Hardly in the spirit of a SUCCESSION game contest!

I'm sorry you feel you have to push the rules to their elastic limit. I would have thought the Plastic Ducks were above that sort of thing.

 

[madviking]

Well, if you consider moving a worker around, exploring with a dinghy, and mashing 'enter' 10 times a turnset, then let me be the first to apologize.