SGOTM 22 - Lurker thread

BSPollux said:
The way I actually design the maps seems to be quite different from the way most players imagine it to be. Hardly ever someone is right with the mind reading. Obviously going into details would mean spoilers at this point. Maybe the reason for that difference is that I didn't play many SGOTMs.
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I've leaned towards thinking the GW wasn't possible to get, but maybe I was wrong. Still just speculation of course, but perhaps specifically mentioning Priesthood was meant to not make teams choose between GW and Oracle, and point them more towards GW, so that the challenge in this game isn't the barbs, but the other requirements for city defenders and city count.

I thought the initial description was meant so that to indicate early wonders would not be realistic to get, and I kind of hope that is the case, as a difference between the teams on GW and/or Oracle can be a pretty huge factor. I like the notion of teams being on a more level footing past the first big decisions.

It would also be fun with a loose connection to history, where Rome had some "barb" issues to deal with themselves, hence putting the GW out of reach.
 
I haven't played the game yet, but I hope TSR skips GW. Looks like everyone else is gonna give it a go. I put 20 barb kills as my wager if they skip GW.
 
Okay. I downloaded one of the starting saves and played very quick and dirty to about turn 55.

BSPollux said:
Please don't post anything that points at something no team has yet seen. Basically: No spoilers.
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Due to this I can't say much. The RNG also was in its usual evil mood and ate two early warriors so exploring was less than it could have been. However, I did notice some interesting things, and have landed on a side in the big TSR discussion :cool:

Should be an interesting game.
 
The coastal Rome has a slight advantage in the wonder requirement having GLH and colossus available to build. You probably can't answer now but was giving ai masonry to offset that advantage (needing it for GLH)?
 
Don't know a great deal either as I only played quickly to turn 55 or so (IW, which I obviously wouldn't do if playing seriously). However, Xteam has played to T27 now, so maybe fine to lift the curtain a little.

There are heaps of stone and ivory around. And lots of empty space. Looks like all teams are, or will, go for the GW. Not doing so could be a real tussle with barbs given all the empty space. I lost two warriors very early to the RNG, so teams have actually for the most part explored better than I managed. I only located Hannibal up north when he had 3 cities, so couldn't get a view into his capital, nor know that it was settled on marble with pre-placed spear and archer.

At least for those that SIP, 2nd city will probably be the horse-corn. But there can be some interesting settling decisions on where to go from there, based on what I saw at least. Some nice resources in the south, but is it better to settle in other directions instead? Obviously jungle is a no-go early, but there are other options, and given the city restrictions due to the special rules in this game, maybe teams need to go a bit farther than in normal circumstances. All that stone must be tempting in any case, when going for the Mids.

Initial instinct is that SIP is better than the coast, despite access to Colossus and GLH. The fish is definitely nice, but it also includes 4 sea tiles that can't become farms, so it's sort of even there, and there is the banana for later with SIP. Plus more hills.

Noticed the Oracle went somewhere in turn 18-19 (TSR IIRC). In my brief test it was turn 30 I believe, but in any case, the Oracle as expected is out of bounds for all teams.
 
WillowBrook said:
I see three guesses so far:
Sam Yeager - 30
WillowBrook - 15
Jastrow - 3

Any other bets?
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I strongly suspect my guess is WAY over the top. :D
 
BSPollux said:
Insolita Suspicatur post#105

The barb situation gets pretty dangerous
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Interesting. They should be fine, but if the RNG is naughty it will be rough. Early barb invasion though, so guess they were a little unlucky.

I look forward to things progressing a bit. Always very sllooooowwwwww in the beginning.
 
Well so far raging barbs seem to have been a damp squib although it has forced teams to concentrate on the GW early on rather than attacking the AI. Was that your intent BSP?
 
I've been gone for awhile so i just noticed this game today. The constraints on founding/capturing new cities is the most interesting aspect of this game for me. Raging barbs would be a much bigger deal if the Great Wall wasn't available and/or the game wasn't on Monarch.

Conquest is going to be vastly superior to space here barring something preventing the players from reaching all of the AI. I would think there almost has to be some kind of obstacle like that though, otherwise a strong team could win this game extremely early - probably with HAs/Praets/Cats.

Early exploration is always crucial in these games, but maybe even more so than usual here because this game is potentially winnable in the early ADs with almost no teching required if all AI are accessible early. GW + tech stealing looks strong given the no tech trading an the potential for a short game. Also because Rome would be much better if focused on production and farms rather than commerce to allow for faster wonders, buildings, and units. FWIW i also like SIP Rome more than coastal Rome since it has considerably higher hammer potential.
 
Sam_Yeager said:
Well so far raging barbs seem to have been a damp squib although it has forced teams to concentrate on the GW early on rather than attacking the AI. Was that your intent BSP?
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I wont comment on my goals while the game is still running. AT least not this early.
 
Hmm, so has Anti-TSR had really bad luck with their spies, did they somehow mis-calculate their odds, or did BSP somehow mess with the odds. :hmm:
 
The most interesting effect of the raging barbs so far seems to be the highly promoted AI units.
 
Yeah and the inability to keep many cities is probably going to make for slower warring, especially given the need to completely eradicate civs in order to achieve conquest. I believe this game is going to take a good bit longer than i initially thought after just reading through the rules.
 
FE's decision to settle a 2nd city first has made them realllly late on the GW. They are already on T53 and still 7T from completing the wonder unless they are able to get a chop in, but there are already 3 barb warriors in their territory to navigate around, so that may be difficult.

Compare their T60 (T57ish maybe if they can chop) GW date to the other teams...

ATSR - T41 (2360 BC)
IS - T42* (2320 BC)
TTfkapr - T41 (2360 BC)
Xteam - T46 (2160 BC)

*projected

They are fortunate that this is only Monarch or losing the wonder would be quite likely. I honestly don't know if that's a real possibility here or not, but they are going to have a nice little barb headache to deal with until they finish it at the very least.

I also don't know why they built a 3rd worker after stealing a 2nd. Getting that 2nd worker was really nice, and more than adequate to cover their cities for awhile (the other teams still had just 1 at this point), but now they have 3 workers that are pinned down in their cities due to the slow GW.

Hopefully they can dig themselves out of this early hole.
 
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