Worker placings for our first base

[Vlad Antlerkov]

Here's our start site.

Assuming we start right here, we have a patch of good terrain-- a mineral resource close by, lots of moist/rolling land.

Which square should we first work?

(I've noted my two suggestions. 1 is the mineral resource square; it's 0/3/0 with no mine, 0/7/0 with. 2 is a rolling moist square 1000 m above sea level; it's 1/1/0 now.)

[Maniac]

How many tuns would it take the base to grow in your two scenarios?

[Vlad Antlerkov]

The base square is 2/1/2, so:

Scenario 1:

2 nutrients, 4 minerals, 2 energy. No growth.
Scout patrols done in 3 turns, formers in 5, CPs in 8.

Scenario 2:

3 nutrients, 2 minerals, 2 energy. 21 turns to grow. Scout patrols in 5, formers in 10, CPs in 15.

Edit: fixed growth projections
Edit: fixed base energy production

[Maniac]

I did my own research:

scenario1: the rocky tile:
nutrient surplus: 0 -> growth stagnant
mineral surplus: 4
energy surplus: 2

scenario2: the rollin and moist tile:
nutrient: surplus: 1 -> growth in 21 turns
mineral surplus: 2
energy surplus: 2

Because we need to grow, I would suggest applying scenario 2, despite the drop in mineral production it would result in.

[Vlad Antlerkov]

D'oh, forgot to include the fact that workers need food, and I got the base energy production wrong...

/me hits himself in the head. Many times. With a hammer.

[Maniac]

Man that must hurt.

[Archaic]

If we had formers to start, I'd suggest I simply to build that former quicker then get it onto a 1/1/0 and farm it. We don't however, so a 1/1/0 square it'll have to be. Hopefully our second base (PLEASE build it 2-3 squares west on the diagonal whoever is in charge of this) will be in a slightly better position.

[Maniac]

Why west? I won't explore in the western direction as it's forbidden to play ahead. But as far as I know there is a Unity Wreckage there in the SMAX Planet map with arid and flat tiles. I don't know what was there in SMAC, but I doubt it would be rainy tiles. Go east! Towards the sea!

Edit: Besides, west is fungus. It will take us precious turns to cross that patch.

[MrWhereItsAt]

Whoa! Hey, what the.... Son of a.... When and how and who started? Where is the save? WTF?

[Archaic]

Oh, my apologies. I wasn't aware of the exact starting location.

In that case then, 2 squares east is perfect. That's the square which should connect the freshwater sea and the ocean if a base is built there, correct?

[Vlad Antlerkov]

MWIA: Darkness' Edge started. We haven't founded a base yet, though.

Save is here:

http://apolyton.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=60650

IMHO, I reckon we're north of the freshwater sea.

We're playing SMAC, so no unity wreckage. Not sure about the raininess of where the unity wreckage would be in SMAC, though.

Archaic: Correct. And we'd still get access to the mineral resource (and a few more in that area, IIRC).

[Method]

i think we're south of the sea. if memory serves me correctly, another faction should be started north of it around pholus ridge.

Pand, vlad, MWIA: i'm going to do my best to get to industrial automation as soon as i can, but i need all 3 of you to make sure we get that rocky tile mined, roaded, and crawled ASAP

[Vlad Antlerkov]

TKG: There are only two points where land between the FW Sea and the ocean is one tile wide, and both are NE of the FW Sea. We can see one of them to the east.

In other words, we're that faction.

And I'll ask for crawlers when we can build them. Just wait.

[Method]

hmm. now i see what you mean. i was thinking we were south of it, and those 2 sea tiles were both ocean. if the sea is directly south, then there's rainy tiles to the north

[AdamTG02]

Hmm, since Pandemoniak hasn't started a base placement thread I'll post my 2 cents here...

Do we want to move around to start our first base? On the one hand, we lose several turns of production by doing that. On the other hand, our production at this base site will not be very good, so finding a new site might be in our best interest.

There are two possibilities, in my mind, should we decide to move: Two squares east (if I have my bearings right) is the first of the isthmus squares where we could build a canal base connecting the ocean with the freshwater sea. And, going by TKG's statements, there are rainy squares to the north.

Future expansion sites to consider are the river northwest of the sea, for crucial energy for research (Centauri Ecology anyone?), and the canal squares. The river, though, is far enough away that I don't think it would be cost-effective to try and place our first base there.

In my mind, finding a base with rainy/rolling squares to allow sustained growth is more important than starting right away, as we would only be harvesting a single mineral on top of what we get from the base square anyway. With that in mind, I'd endorse TKG's idea of the rainy squares to the north -- if people decide that using previous knowledge of the map to decide our base location is legitimate.

If we start right here, much as I hate to lose the two minerals, I'd have to agree with the sentiments so far -- stagnant growth is just too harsh to allow. Recycling tanks should be an early priority, in that case -- but not so early as to impinge on Former production, once we have developed CentEco.

Thoughts?