SGOTM 17 - The Shawshank Redemption

[chopster]

OK moving the Scout 1 move NW now.

New Screenshot:

Spoiler :

I think all that this shows is that the tile 1NW of the scout is potentially the most revealing due to being next to other grass squares.
I also think that by the looks of it, moving the Archer NW wouldn't reveal anything moving the Scout NW again won't, so I'm still in favour of moving the Scout NW again and the Archer SW.

 

[Jastrow]

I am OK with making the first archer move (1SW) as discussed above.

I cannot open the game right now. Any chance I could get a screen shot hovering over our score, so that I can see out score breakdown?

 

[Jastrow]

Also, I vote for moving the scout NW for a second time.

 

[chopster]

Your wish Jastrow...

EDIT: It seemed not to show up - maybe because I have to move my mouse to name the screenshot in the window?

Anyway, the breakdown is as follows:

0 from population (0/1175)
0 from land (0/1405)
83 from technology (14/334)
0 from wonders (0/310)

Total Score = 83
Score by winning this turn = 2208

 

[Jastrow]

Am I missing something... I dont see the score breakdown (How much we are getting for pop/land/tech in that screenshot). Are you hovering the mouse over the score (or does it not work when the game is posed)?

I am just trying to get a feel from how much land is on the map, and how much of it is artificial wasteland.

 

[Jastrow]

Cross-posted...

OK, so there are 1405 land tiles on this map. AlanH told us in the pregame thread that there are about 1600 total tiles on the map. Given some lakes and coast, that leaves under 150 for ocean squares. It is hard to imagine that Astronomy is going to be an important tech, so we can likely abandon any ideas in that direction (We might still need it to hunt down a final artificially isolated AI, but certainly not for the trade routes or the like.)

There are also 2350 natural (i.e. before worker improovements.) slices of bread on the map. This looks like a lush map, and we where thinking something like rainforeest, which is pretty much all green. 1405 green tiles, inclusing some bananas and the like, probably yeilds about 2850 slices, to there are like 500 missing. This could be a big brown patch, but more likely given the situation, I think, is that we are looking at 200+ mountains (or snow, or desert, but montains make sense as obstacles.)

 

[ingentingg]

Cross-posted...

OK, so there are 1405 land tiles on this map. AlanH told us in the pregame thread that there are about 1600 total tiles on the map. Given some lakes and coast, that leaves under 150 for ocean squares. It is hard to imagine that Astronomy is going to be an important tech, so we can likely abandon any ideas in that direction (We might still need it to hunt down a final artificially isolated AI, but certainly not for the trade routes or the like.)

There are also 2350 natural (i.e. before worker improovements.) slices of bread on the map. This looks like a lush map, and we where thinking something like rainforeest, which is pretty much all green. 1405 green tiles, inclusing some bananas and the like, probably yeilds about 2850 slices, to there are like 500 missing. This could be a big brown patch, but more likely given the situation, I think, is that we are looking at 200+ mountains (or snow, or desert, but montains make sense as obstacles.)

Does the 2350 natural slices of bread include rainforests and forests? Or is it the underlying tile that counts? If rainforests counts, they only give 1 food. There is a lot of mountains, and occasionally some desert on rainforest maps. How does floodplains contribute to the "natural slices"?

 

[LowtherCastle]

Foggazing (without the save) appears to tell us that there are three more non-jungle tiles to the northwest. So far not too jungly. I don't see any better move at this point than scout NW.

One AI has a power of 42, the others all have 38. That might tell us something.

 

[ingentingg]

There is also another hill to the west, giving us some production. I also think moving the archer SW and the scout NW is a no-brainer.

 

[ingentingg]

About revolting to slavery. If we settle on turn 0, and we want to whip the settler, the optimal time to revolt to slavery is on the turn the work boat is completed, since it allows us to move the workboat while in anarchy.

 

[ZPV]

Does the 2350 natural slices of bread include rainforests and forests? Or is it the underlying tile that counts? If rainforests counts, they only give 1 food. There is a lot of mountains, and occasionally some desert on rainforest maps. How does floodplains contribute to the "natural slices"?

Rainforests count as 2 food, for the underlying grassland.
Desert-floodplains however count as 3 food.
Forests count as the base food underneath.

 

[ZPV]

Judging by the unit health bars, there's a unit with about 5 strength, somewhere in the world.
Our opponents power ratings are 38, 38, 38, 38, 38 and 42. The simplest explanation would be one opponent is Mali or Babylon.
There isn't quite as much land as a normal rainforest map - 150 or so water tiles have been added.

edit: I don't see any reason yet to deviate from scout NW (again) and then archer SW.

 

[chopster]

I'm yet to hear any objections to the proposed moves. (Scout NW, Archer SW)
I would do them separately in case something interesting/significant was revealed, starting with the scout.

It's 11pm here - I can move one or both of these units some time in the next hour or not for another 8 hours.

 

[ingentingg]

I approve the moves.

 

[mscellaneous]

I also agree with the moves.

You might want to consider moving the archer first, since his move is certain.

For the scout we might also consider moving it NE. This will free up the worker from exploring N.

 

[chopster]

OK I bit the bullet and started with the scout - bare grassland and some more forest but to me it appears no sign of jungle in that direction.

The archer however may change things somewhat:

Spoiler :

I smell bacon!

Settling where the archer stands now feels like a better capital at first glance, though short the commerce of working the crabs, it's more central and the pig tile and the two hills give more flexibility for production without the whip.

I think this opens a whole new realm of discussion on settling and potential for exploration with the remaining units.

 

[ingentingg]

Great. Does anyone know if we can get random spread of jungle to a pig tile?

 

[ZPV]

That pig is good news. A 6 food worker-improvable tile is a godsend. Yes, jungle can spread onto pigs.

 

[ingentingg]

An aside: Does anyone know why there is "New seed on reload" in the settings?
This means that if the computer crashes, you can't "replay your moves" if it involves anything random, like war or ending your turn. Is this always enabled on SGOTM, and I have just not noticed it before?

 

[ZPV]

My first impression is we'll probably want to send the archer down the peninsula, the scout down to the southwest, and then the worker needs to loop around to the northwest.

The settler then would have a couple of turns to get into position, so we'd uncover as many tiles with it as possible.