LowtherCastle
Deity
- Joined
- May 18, 2005
- Messages
- 23,756
Short Answer
GLH+Pyramids
Wine City asap.
Discussion of Grand Strategy
Decathlon Critical Path -- What limits the fastest victory?
Decatholon items: (#4 Humbaba,) #5 AP resident, #6 2 LCs, #7 3 shrines, #8 3 corps, #9 FT1
This boils down to
* fast research,
* lots of GPs,
* lots of culture in LCs.
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Question: Has anyone finished testing on whether FT1 occurs before 2 LCs with max science slider?
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Where's the optimal synergy? Since we are industrious with half-priced libraries, I would say: GLH+Pyramids.
1a. GLH = Massive coastal REX for seafood for Sushi, without going over the Dom Limit.
1b. Pyramids/Early Rep + spammed libraries + SE = beakers and GPs.
Danger: Failing to build Mids and/or GLH.
Still needed:
1. Marble
2. Exploration for seafood resources, meeting AIs, circumnavigation, deciding whether we need Astronomy.
The Pyramids
We have choices for getting the Pyramids, although we clearly don't have unlimited time.
1. Asap with OR, for a 1.75 multiplier, chopping like mad.
2. Asap with OR and forge (Oracle/MC or tech by hand), for a 2.00 multiplier, chopping like mad.
3. Much slower with Bureau and OR, for a 2.25 multiplier.
4. Slower with stone and OR, for a 2.75 multiplier.
5. Slower with stone, OR, and forge, for a 3.00 mulitplier.
Here's a table of hammer costs, based on various hammer multipliers. Note the diminishing returns from each added 25% multiplier.
Code:
Pyramids(500h)
base-h
30hChops base-h mult saved requirements
-------- ------ ---- ------ ------------
11 + 4h 334 1.50 none
9 + 16h 286 1.75 48h forge or OR
8 + 10h 250 2.00 36h Bureau or forge+OR
7 + 13h 223 2.25 27h Bureau + (forge or OR)
6 + 20h 200 2.50 23h stone
6 + 2h 182 2.75 18h stone + (forge or OR)
5 + 17h 167 3.00 15h stone + (Bureau or forge+OR)
5 + 4h 154 3.25 13h stone + Bureau + (forge or OR)
4 + 23h 143 3.50 11h stone + Bureau + forge + OR1. GLH + Pyramids asap.
2. CS-->Pyramids, focus on GLH and add one or two commerce cities.
3. GLH + Conquer Brennus + stone -->Pyramids.
Paris
Paris will be our Oxford city, but also build as many wonders as possible. At pop 10 it can work 5 fp cottages, silk, wheat, +3 plainshill mines. Those mines give 12hpt. Hence, every 2.5 turns sooner Paris starts working those mines = 1 forest chop. Hence, the sooner we build the Pyramids and switch to Rep, the sooner we get to pop10 and work those mines.
Paris has four plains river tiles that could become towns for Oxford beakers. Here is a Cottage Spam City that at pop4 could grow three of these cottages plus the fp cottage while Paris works mines to build wonders. This city would produce a lot of beakers while working these tiles. Later we could possibly gift it to some AI to use for espionage tech stealing. We wouldn't want to settle this city before we chop all that lumber into Paris. I mention this idea now, because I think we'd be smart to chop these forests first.
GS/Academy
Agree with Shulec and others. Our to now has been asap Math. I would prioritize the settler, then the GS, but not chop in Paris, especially because we don't have the worker-turns for the chop. We need horses connected and Orleans improved asap.
Orleans
Orleans only needs one mine before connecting the horses, imo (Orleans-1W immediately after the chop is completed). We should be whipping at pop5, so four workable tiles, including the fish. The sheep and horses need to be roaded and the horses pastured. That's it. The second mine can come later, when worker turns are available.
After the Oracle, I would 2poprush the granary at the optimal time to refill the granary, plus max hammers straight into a wb that nets the fish to accelerate filling the granary. Then build a chariot and exploring wb or vice versa. The next whip is the lighthouse, with max OF into the GLH. A couple of chops plus city hammers into the GLH should finish it quickly.
Wine City
Wine City will produce a lot of coins fairly rapidly. It will require 4+5+5+2(travel) = 21 wkr-turns to improve. It requires two fogbusters, plus a chariot garrison. It should build a granary first, then according to our strategy.
If we build the settler on T68, per Shulec' calcs, then the first worker free from pasturing the horses on T71 goes straight to the Wine City Pigs and can pasture the same turn the borders expand. It then chops the river forest next to the fps, so Wine City can 1poprush the granary at the optimal time (~T76), then cottages. This should optimize our worker-turns nicely, so I would agree with asap settler, unless someone thinks up a better solution for worker actions.
Fogbusting
Good idea, Sun Tzu Wu, to fogbust to the east with the missionary. After the Oracle, I would send the Orleans warrior to the SW because Adam needs a partner to adequately defend that area. This will be tricky because there are likely to be barb archers there already, so probably Adam should lead the way. Then we somehow need a chariot garrison for Wine City asap, I think, in case a barb archer breaks through our defenses.
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As Shulec mentioned, we only really need to focus on the turns up to the Oracle, because there are no guarantees...
on epps to steal IW in Tolosa. That's many turns. We have alternatives. We could capture Tolosa, put Confucianism in it and safely put the spy there for 5 turns, but leave it unguarded, drawing Brennus troops for a re-capture. This would give us IW for about 177 epps, about 90epps cheaper.
