Wonders Strategy Article: Oracle

[Meatbuster]

anyone try slingshot Computer with Oracle ?

I recall reading a HOF game summary where Computer was taken as free tech on Settler... oh wait, that's from Liberalism, never mind.

 

[VoiceOfUnreason]

Is there a worthwhile discussion to be had of which tech to self research and which to take from the oracle? Assuming the necessary prerequisites have already been researched, are there ever circumstances where you self research the expensive tech and oracle the cheap one?

 

[slobberinbear]

Is there a worthwhile discussion to be had of which tech to self research and which to take from the oracle? Assuming the necessary prerequisites have already been researched, are there ever circumstances where you self research the expensive tech and oracle the cheap one?

Taking Monarchy (instead of, say, the more expensive Metal Casting or Code of Laws) is a viable option simply because it delivers a better short term benefit. In most cities, Hereditary Rule will allow you to roughly double your size up to the health cap, assuming you have sufficient food to get there. This essentially doubles your production potential without any increase in maintenance costs.

Your ~doubled production then makes much shorter work of the more expensive techs and makes everything easier.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

I suppose I would like to see more discussion of the planning and preparation of an oracle opening.

That is to say, in my mind the right frame of reference for discussing Oracle, and the tech you intend to harvest, is the start of the research climb to Priesthood, and the projected position if you win the race, rather than looking at the end. What are the telltails to watch as you make the decision.

I think they fall into two categories. One collection (alluded to several times, but I think they should be gathered into a convenient section) is the utility of the main research line (Myst-Wildcard-Priesthood) given the local circumstances - are there religions near by to make Temples useful? Do we have militant neighbors? Are we near land hogs? How soon can we trade the tech? Do we have the pieces to leverage the wildcard tech (Meditation needs religions, or gold for Aesthetics->Shadowan, or an early attack on Philo; Poly wants marble/early Literature). Do the GP points fit with our long term prospects.

The second collection would be more tied to the technology you hope to grab, and the prerequisites. So for Metal Casting, we'd be talking about the utility of forges (luxury metals near by), the possibility of the colossus, the implications of the pottery (therefore Wheel) requirement.

Other than the other "must be prioritized to get" wonder, stonehenge, the oracle is the lowest hammer-sink early wonder, and the returns are pretty good. So when does one go for it? I look at a few things:

1. How strong is the commerce around the capitol. Do I have a river? Seafood? gold/gems/silver? These things make oracle more realistic.

2. Is the BTS forest bug in play? If so we'll want BW. If not, we can actually delay BW (!), going worker techs for the special tiles, mining, then straight to priesthood. Doing this allows one to oracle code of laws around 1800-1600 BC (you can still get a 2nd city out first usually) ---> if you're not on deity, you're very likely to succeed.

3. Now, are we losing land to this? Well, if you meet someone on turn 3-5, it's probably a good bet that you want something other than oracle, or might not want to delay BW (or our rush). City capture gold can allow an oracle-like tech jump anyway .

If you get BFC horses after researching AH for livestock, no oracle if you meet someone other than maya. You get to pretend you're persia . I've double-rushed (mehmed and cyrus, not super strong or weak targets) with stock chariots on immortal that way, and both had metal...or would have had metal anyway.

Obviously stone makes Gwall and mids more attractive, too. If you have marble aesthetics doesn't seem like a bad draw from oracle since you can get a very early great library/national epic going.

 

[harry_flashman]

I tend to forgo the oracle. mainly because i'll delay building it to get the prerequisites for some fancy tech, and some crapweasel will beat me to it by one chop.

I got the idea into my head of getting stonehenge and oracle as Sitting Bull, with the free tech being feudalism. lots and lots of chopping. The plan was to create early superpowered Longbows, with extra drill and city garrison given to you by the totem pole xp bonus and the protective trait. Then conquer the world with a longbow/dogsoldier rush. If I got feudalism early enough, i'd be gving some archers severe bow envy.

The nearest I got was 2 turns to go, before someone beat me to it, with the oracle one turn from completion and me waiting on the final tech to come in.

It would be handy if someone had a rough set of times for when you can expect the oracle to be built. You can pretty much guess when someone is going to build a later wonder, as you can figure out who you're up against, in terms of who's got what tech, access to marble, is industrious etc. but with the early one's your just going by the timeframe.

 

[Ghpstage]

I got the idea into my head of getting stonehenge and oracle as Sitting Bull, with the free tech being feudalism. lots and lots of chopping. The plan was to create early superpowered Longbows, with extra drill and city garrison given to you by the totem pole xp bonus and the protective trait. Then conquer the world with a longbow/dogsoldier rush. If I got feudalism early enough, i'd be gving some archers severe bow envy.

Add a bulb to Theology with the Great Prophet you will get and run Vassalage and Theocracy for CG 1, Drill 4 Longbows

 

[mirthadir]

The feudalism slingshot tends to require a special cap location on immort and up. Gems or gold being very handy for it.

Even with SB, LB rushing is situational. Personally I like to go for a mix of chariots and LBs, flanking chariots to weaken the defenders and Drill Lbs to kill the bastards.

 

[mike p]

In most cities, Hereditary Rule will allow you to roughly double your size up to the health cap, assuming you have sufficient food to get there. This essentially doubles your production potential without any increase in maintenance costs.

Your ~doubled production then makes much shorter work of the more expensive techs and makes everything easier.

Just a quibble, maintenance increases in relation to the size of the city, so maintenance costs will increase, but higher population can allow you to net out higher by working more commerce so it's generally a good trade off. This is why whipping infrastructure can help you get out of a REX economy crash - less population means less maintenance.

 

[Crusher1]

2. Is the BTS forest bug in play? If so we'll want BW. If not, we can actually delay BW (!), going worker techs for the special tiles, mining, then straight to priesthood. Doing this allows one to oracle code of laws around 1800-1600 BC (you can still get a 2nd city out first usually) ---> if you're not on deity, you're very likely to succeed.

You should be able to get 3 settlers out before you start the Oracle - around 1640-1500 BC, then chop chop!

 

[TheMeInTeam]

You should be able to get 3 settlers out before you start the Oracle - around 1640-1500 BC, then chop chop!

It depends on the start whether there's time to go that route first, and whether it's worth not going that route first at risk of losing the wonder.