Turn 1, 3960 BC

[Ginger_Ale]

Welcome to the Start of the Civ4 MTDG!

The following includes instructions on playing this turn (3960 BC - 4000 BC was needed for password reasons) as well as for all turns in this game.

Here is the turn sending order (note: it is different than the roster sign-up order!):
Loco
Piffle
Aloha
Innovia
Epsilon

So Team Innovia, you will be receiving the save from Team Aloha (cfcaloha AT gmail DOT com), and you will send it to Team Epsilon (team.epsilon AT gmail DOT com). Also send a copy to the admins! (emails are in the Team Info thread in the main forum). Please remember that you have 24 hours to play the save once you receive it unless you request an extension. Also, keep in mind that once you have played the save, to record it in the Turn Tracker / Save Info thread in the main MTDG forum.

When saving the turn, please use the default saving convention in game.

Without more talk, your starting location in the map courtesy by Sirian (be sure to thank him!) is attached.

Your password for the save is: nova

You are free to discuss this, as well as where you should explore, research, settle, etc., but remember: we will not send the starting save to Team Loco until the current Ruleset poll in the main forum is done, so that's a bit of an incentive!

Enjoy the game!

by RegentMan and Ginger_Ale, Administrators, with thanks to Sirian, Map Maker

 

[Theoden]

Woohoo Thanks Sirian and admins.

The start sure looks interesting. Three food bonuses if we settle in place, but only one hill. And not too much forest, so production seems limited. The water to the left is salty, right? Or can civ4 have fresh water lakes up to 22 tiles like civ3?

So Team Aloha, you will be receiving the save from Team Piffle (TeamPiffle AT gmail DOT com), and you will send it to Team Innovia (team.innovia AT gmail DOT com).

I think that would be Aloha>Innovia>Epsilon for us . I guess you forgot to edit it after copying from the post to Aloha.

 

[Ginger_Ale]

Woops! At least I didn't copy and paste Aloha's save password.

Btw, you can now just use the default saving convention name in game instead.

 

[DaveShack]

This start location prompts a bunch of strategy questions. The fresh water question is a biggie. Perhaps we should consider moving the settler to the SW, to allow use of a lot more hills and give room on the penninsula, if it is one, for a 2nd city. Producing anything from the start location will take an eternity until workshops are available, then a stipple of irrigation and workshops will give decent but not spectacular production. Irrigating the heck out of the area and specializing to a GPP farm is another possibility. Cottage all those grasslands and it will generate loads of gold, but how do we get the buildings to use it properly?

Yep, interesting times are ahead!

 

[Nomad Bryce]

I agree daveshack, Perhaps just move ONE space South, so that we may still have access between bodies of water, and hey, Sirian did put us where we are for a reason, perhaps we are in a nice position already. But you are right about production, and that might be more important then sirians mindset.

 

[Theoden]

If we settle on the spot we'll have three food bonuses within the city radius and the city will make a good early settler/worker pump, despite its low production. And later in the game it could make an excellent great people farm. Actually I don't think settling on the spot would be that bad.

 

[Mauer]

Just a reminder that I am not all that great at Civ4, but I'll throw my 2 cents in none the less. I personally like the spot to the SW that Dave spoke of. Merely for the better production values. Also, would we want to move the warrior to the NW on that hill for a quick look over the mound?

 

[DaveShack]

I wouldn't put it past Sirian for this to be a challenge in the form of seeing if we understand the city specialization concept. As Theoden pointed out, if we go for a really high food city, we can run with lots of specialists and make a city. Or we could put the city elsewhere and try for or in this one, in which case we should move.

We have a day or two before we must decide, let's hear from as many people as possible.

 

[Veera Anlai]

I would like to see what the warriors will uncover in the fog before we decide *exactly* where our settlers will go. Maybe we should move those warriors SW to uncover a couple tiles, then decide?
And I have to ask, just how useful are great leaders going to be? I haven't played CivIV online yet, so I can't offer much opinion myself, but unless they're going to be of utmost importance, I lean towards making this city a city, in which case, the tile SW would be best.

That's the big question actually we need to answer before we decide where to settle: , , or ?

 

[DaveShack]

After a bit more thought on this, I'm now thinking we can't decide whether to move or not until we find out if the water is fresh.

 

[DaveShack]

We have received the save and are now on the clock.

Am I remembering right that I'm playing? I'm looking at maybe 10pm tonight MST (GMT-7), please post any more input you have on the first turn before then. Also please contribute to the various strategy threads.

 

[Mauer]

So we're planning on moving if it isn't fresh water, possibly settling SW of the current? Then once we're settled warrior and poly? Just double checking.

 

[Nomad Bryce]

I like how our leader name is much longer then the others =D Ours is all serious, I like it.

 

[Mauer]

Great! We're strategising the dawn of our civilization, and Nomad Bryce's 2 cents is.... "name...longer...me like..*burp*"

 

[DaveShack]

Did someone clear out the gmail account? There's nothing in the inbox!

 

[DaveShack]

Found out from the turn tracker thread that the save wasn't there due to a bad email address, so received it and played:

The water to the NW is fresh. This gives a nice bonus in that each freshwater lake tile starts out 2f+2g. A capitol settled in place will be able to grow to a very large max size. We can leave the forests and mine the one hill, and with a pasture on the pigs will get mediocre but not spectacular results. This will be a good place to pop rush though, which might be our best way to get the early buildings.

So... Moved the warrior SW and found that there is saltwater coast to the W. This means we're either at an isthmus or near the northern tip of our landmass, given that the pattern of land W->E is salt water, land, lake, land, salt water all within our field of view.

Settled in place.


Set production to warrior (8), and research to polytheism (12).

There is room for a town to the NE and one to the NW, possibly another straight N but no way to tell until its explored.

After the warrior borders will be expanded, and we can build a worker while working the pigs, then improve the pigs and get a big food surplus.

 

[Theoden]

The "isthmus" theory sounds most plausible to me. As we have jungle to the south and some desert to the north, this looks like somewhere in the middle to me. We should maximise the number of cities we found by the lake, as the land doesn't seem to have an abundance of rivers.

I'm not sure we should build a worker after our first warrior though. The only thing we can build right now is roads, and as we are going for a religion it'll take a while before we get access to the improvements we need (farm and pasture). Waiting until the city is size two will also let us produce the worker faster.

 

[DaveShack]

As the next 4 or more turns will be exploring only, I plan to just move, post screenie, send. We can discuss developments along the way on the other teams time. One thing for input will be MM once borders expand.

I've forgotten the tech screen overnight, we don't have anything for a worker to do? Another warrior would come up next, I guess. Don't want to build too many though, so hope archery comes quickly.

 

[DaveShack]

Turn 2:

Warrior entered the tribal village, and the villagers provided us with a map.



This changes a lot! We're either on an island with a large lake, or on the southern tip of something bigger. There is more land just visible to the far SE.

So, we might need to consider a boat as an early option in order to be the ones at an advantage of making contact with others without them knowing where we came from.

That's all for now.

 

[Rik Meleet]

lurker's comment: No updates for 4 days ????