Here's the Bedeian algebra:
Scout to the mountain for the look out potential.
Settle NE looks best to me. We don't start with Alphabet and it is known to only two of our neighbors (who may not be on our continent) so an early dinghy isn't in the cards and a coastal location is not of much use right now. And even were it a lake the 2f2g are the same as roaded riverside grass and you can't mine the water. And at this stage with this nation I would go food, shields, gold as my priorities. Food always come first, and since we are not researching the odd extra gold piece is of less value right now than the extra shield from a mine.
I would build two scouts then a warrior then a worker as the more territory we can cover the better off we will be.
Then the granary after the 2nd worker but only if we have a food bonus visible after the move northeast. If no food bonus I think using the forest chop for our first settler makes better sense.
Making friends is Job 1. The scouts should box the compass using double axis moves, e.g. W then N, or E then S, etc, as that exposes more territory than a diagonal (SE or NW) move. Head to coastlines first then explore along them one tile inland. Visit every barbarian village but avoid the armed camps.
Expansionist nations never get angry yokels from villages.
Always set the tech path to the cheapest available as you are about to pay a call. That way if the village gifts a tech it will be the next most expensive. If you have a settler in production or on the ground you won't get a settler and the last thing we want is a settler halfway across the continent. We stand a good chance of getting Bronze Working from the friendly tribes as it is known to almost all the opponents (tech has to be known by four for the barbarians to know it).
First trading rule: Do not make any trade until we know at least two other neighbors. You will have no opportunity to broker any new knowledge and any shared knowledge will be more expensive until you know the second owner. Our objective here is to buy @third price and sell @first. In other words if two nations know Alphabet but don't know Pottery and don't know each other, then we can buy Alphabet for less and sell Pottery for more.
Second rule: Don't hoard techs if the neighbors have met each other, or are likely to. Because as soon as they meet they will trade.
And here's the list of the opponents and what they know:
As you consider a deal think about Bede's Three Trading Tenets:
1) Do we need it?
2) Can we afford it?
3) Can we broker it for new knowledge or gold?
If a deal meets only one of the above criteria, pass, unless #1 is survival or victory. If it meets two of the criteria, then review the timing with emphasis on #1 and #2. If it meets all three, do it now.
Smoke will pour from my nose and I will belch flames if anybody buys a monopoly tech and there is no potential for brokering it to another nation and we don't need for survival or victory.
A special request: When a trading opportunity opens, save the game and post the save with your log. Then go ahead and make whatever deal(s) you think appropriate. That will give me the opportunity to do a shadow of the trading round for analysis. I will be reviewing the timing, the partner(s) chosen, the deal(s) and the outcome.
Rota:
namliaM - I know your time is limited during the week so if you can kick it off today that would be great. First player takes a set of twenty turns.
Methos - on deck for ten
soul
S'ven
Bede
24 hours to post a got it, 48 from got it to play and post. Skips are automatic. Requests for extension honored and appreciated.
ing going around.
, ainwood [worship])
