Early Landing Comparison Game #1

[rjmatsleepers]

Re: 1335 AC logs

Originally posted by Bloody Monk


First Early Landing Comparison Game Log

Explore a bit first. I like to have the SSC further down the list so its beakers will carry over after an advance is learned.

A magnificent early landing and a very instructive log - thanks (particularly since you had to reconstruct it)

I am interested in your observation on when to found the SSC. I have been playing in the belief that cities are processed in the reverse order of foundation - ie newer ones before older ones. I therefore assumed that the best chance of getting beakers carried over was to achieve the advance before reaching the SSC. I interpreted this as meaning that I wanted my SSC processed as late as possible - ie I wanted it founded as early as possible. Where did I go wrong? Is there a link in the Great Library that will throw some light on this?

RJM at Sleepers

[Bloody Monk]

@rjm

Yes, it is a LIFO order, last in, first out.

Having a newer city to fill the beaker box to trigger an advance, after many deliveries, early in the processing allows for a second advance in that turn from the SSC contribution. If the SSC is your first city, then any excess over that needed to trigger the second advance is lost. If your SSC is further down the list, those extra beakers, and the beakers contributed by, in this example, the first and second cities, get carried over toward the next advance.

Possibly, you are not thinking big enough. It sounds like you are focusing on the second advance in a turn, whereas, I am planning to get the third--if not his time, then sooner. Whatever, I have found it more efficient not to have the first city be the SSC.

I am glad you found the log informative and instructive. It was my hope that others might catch the bug, so to speak. So I tried to describe the "why" behind the moves. The focus and mindset needed in an early landing is different from the usual gameplay and I tried to show that. I hope you are enjoying playing the Early Landing Game.

Monk

[Bloody Monk]

Addendum to log

On Rush buying

One thing I didn't mention is my philosopy on using your gold to speed the build process. In the early part of the game there isn't enough gold around to matter; but, after deliveries start, I try to build things quickly.

Either, fill-out-the-row buying; or one turn and buy the rest, line by line, the second turn; or, in the case of the SSC, a hard rush buying in one turn (start by buying a barracks for 160, then switching to dip, 25g, and switching to settler, 25g, and letting the 10+ shields in the SSC finish the build.)

I follow the plan SG(2) described previously for white goods. Improvements should be started one turn and paid in full the next, where possible. When gold is abundant, use it.

The general rule is, "Gold in the bank represents TIME lost." Early Landing is above all about Time.

Monk

[SlowThinker]

Originally posted by BM
540 Bribe Aztec camel,

Why do you bribe a camel? Did it block you?

Originally posted by BM
2750 A note about city placement. Solo has shown the advantage of placing cities on the coast. They can build boats and harbors; boats because this is essentially a trade based game, and harbors to reduce the need for irrigating.

I agree but I think you could wait with the coast cities. They are essential later when they can be easily grown by WLTxD but now you needn't them. I suggest to play first 4-8 cities as ICS to get a shield/arrow power.

place embargo on Monarchy as gift until Republic can be learned and gifted--I want a Mong Republic

Do you want to say they wouldn't switch from Monarchy to Rep?

Coal(d)... Salt(x-d)...

What's that?

When I planned my game I supposed I would found cities very far from my SSC . I downloaded your .sav file and noticed that you didn't do it. Is it too dangerous or too slow?

[Bloody Monk]

Hello Slow,

1) Bribing the camel was a gamble. I didn't want the slot to be taken ( by an Aztec delivery) and me not receive the bonus, especially the beakers. Allowing it to deliver for the Aztec would have stolen a supply slot from me. Just about any commodity would deliver with enough gold to pay for itself; at least, that was my hope.

2) That may work in a regular game, but in an Early Landing game, you need to get explorations going quickly. Also, too many cities can slow you down. The game was won handily by Solo with ONLY nine cities total. While you are sleazing 8 cities, he has raced ahead. This style of play revolves around the idea, " Do less and accomplish more."

3) I didn't want them to have an option about going to a Monarchy. Making sure they became a Republic, now, was the aim.

4) Others have used this convention. I am sorry it caused some confusion for you. Coming immediately (without a space) after the commodity, (d) means demanded, while (xd) means not demanded.

5) I waited too late to start the offshore colonies and decided to go with two beside each other. This way they could work from the same boat when sending out their freights. Another possible site could have been the land south of and across the Aztec Sea, as the boats going to Aztlan could have continued on to that site w/out much delay. The thought of danger did not enter my mind. You have to assume some risk--from Barbs--where ever you build.

Hope this makes things more clear, SlowT.

Monk

[solo]

Monk,

The game was won handily by Solo with

Whoa!!! There's still another week, because I extended the deadline. Many talented players are still lurking out there.

I enjoyed reading your log which gave me a few new ideas. I am getting the impression you want to win the next game, and welcome the challenge!

I don't want to hear any more lame excuses like "I was sick", either!

[Bloody Monk]

Hey Solo,

I did mean, "won the game." Someone else may yet win the challenge, but, you did have a Landing.

I'm guessing that, "the dog ate my hard drive," won't fly either.

Seriously, I will play again; but my typing, especially from notes, really sucks, and I can't see spending four days composing a log again. It's a burn-out.

Monk

[solo]

Monk,

Reconstructing a log from saves is a real pain. I write my own down on paper while playing just to make sure this record won't evaporate in cyberspace. Typing it up later is a chore, though, and the game might have been perfected if there had been an option to "keep a written log." Such a feature could have been easily implemented.

[SlowThinker]

Originally posted by Bloody Monk
Seriously, I will play again; but my typing, especially from notes, really sucks, and I can't see spending four days composing a log again.

I found out the only way is to write the log carefully when playing.

[SCG]

Originally posted by SlowThinker
I found out the only way is to write the log carefully when playing.

Thats what i do as well. keeping your thoughts in the notepad also can sometimes remind you of what you are trying to do. Anyway, I save my notes every turn or 2 along with the save file. In the past when i was worried about a crash, i would sometimes back up every few turns onto a different drive as well (both save and log)

[Bloody Monk]

Is there a way to make the bold/underlined elements transfer from Wordpad when you paste over here??

If you brought the file over as an attachment, would that work??

Monk

[SlowThinker]

Monk,
1. I suppose the attachment must work.

2. You can load a WordPad text in Word, then save it as a html. The html source code may be posted in Apolyton forums, but you have to delete (or better replace by spaces) all end-of-line markers. So rename the html as txt, then load again in Word as a plain text, then 'find and replace' end-of-line markers by spaces (I have made a Word macro for this purpose, so that I only need to press Ctrl-F12).

[SCG]

Originally posted by Bloody Monk
Is there a way to make the bold/underlined elements transfer from Wordpad when you paste over here??

If you brought the file over as an attachment, would that work??

Monk

i just type it into the text. for [ b ]bold[ / b ], for [ i ]italics[ / i ], and [ u ]underline[ / u ], its pretty straight forward, as is < s >slash through< / s >. just remove the spaces . other html text can be inserted as desired And all it do is type it as is in notepad, then copy/paste into my post

[SCG]

Originally posted by SlowThinker
Monk,
1. I suppose the attachment must work.

2. You can load a WordPad text in Word, then save it as a html. The html source code may be posted in Apolyton forums, but you have to delete (or better replace by spaces) all end-of-line markers. So rename the html as txt, then load again in Word as a plain text, then 'find and replace' end-of-line markers by spaces (I have made a Word macro for this purpose, so that I only need to press Ctrl-F12).

one danger of saving a word document as html is that word may use up your entire character quota (see "check message length" for current max). I tried that once and i wound up about 5x over the limit (it was all hidden, unnecessary formatting, header info, etc)

[Bloody Monk]

Thanks, fellows. I am looking for a shortcut to adding in all the vb coding by hand. It may sound lame to some, but extented typing and editing is very hard, even painful, for me.

The log is readable without the bold, etc, effects. That may have to suffice.

Monk