Game mechanics thread

[Shiber]

Thinking out loud, wouldn't it be great if we had a thread about game mechanics? It'll be sort of like the C3DG directory, only with links to posts and FAQs in Apolyton and CivFanatics that concern game mechanics, such as how corruption is calculated, how culture flipping is calculated, links to online combat chances calculators and corruption calculators, tables showing how long it takes a native worker and a slave to perform each task, tables showing the shields/food/gold output of each terrain type etc'.
I'd like to volunteer to be the admin of such a thread if the people approve.

[alva]

I wanted to that, but it just proved to be too much work

Good luck

[Harovan]

Go ahead, but be warned, there is already such a thread:

http://apolyton.net/forums/showthread.php?threadid=59216

[DeepO]

Yes indeed... if such threads are created, I think they should be in a publicly available forum, and not for our own, personal use. I suspect that once this game, and other PBEM games are rolling, a lot of our members want to publicly write and discuss about new MP strats. It might be counterproductive to our game, but you can't keep all the strat writers in our team from doing it... So, IMHO, no special thread in here, or it should relate to specific tactics we are using. All other, more general, knowledge should go into the public fora.

DeepO

[Shiber]

Sir Ralph: that thread is great! Seems like any attempts to do what I meant to do would simply be an unnecessary effort.

DeepO: I agree. Universal strategies and other thoughts should be made public, but ideas relating specifically to our game must be kept a secret, at least until we use them. I'm sure the enemy has spies that monitor the Civ3 Strategy forum, and if they spot a gathering member post a new strategy thread they might get good ideas on what's going on inside the team...
Then again, we could abuse this in our favor. We could post in plain sight about a strategy which we want our enemies to think that we're going to use and then surprise them. This idea should be discussed (if it wasn't discussed already; again, please excuse the newb), but this thread is not the place.

[DeepO]

Of course, no revealing of specific strats we're about to use... that would be a sure way of losing the game. Plus, the other way is also not possible: we can't start a thread in which we explain a given situation, and ask what we should do in such a position, and if there would be any alternatives. So, we can't post a strat that we think another team is playing on us either.

As to abusing strat threads: every deception is allowed, as long as it stays honorable. However, setting up a decent decoy strat thread will require time, and a good strat to write about... not at this moment. But maybe later in the game, we could think on it.

DeepO

[Theseus]

Very devious.

[Arrian]

I have a game mechanic question.

Let's say you just discovered a tech, and are choosing new research. Let's also say you have a warrior or two, even, ready to pop huts. If you get tech from a hut, you always get the cheapest tech you don't have and are not researching, right?

Well, would it make sense then to go 100% Tax, select the cheapest tech (say, pottery), and pop the huts? That way, you would get the next cheapest tech you don't have if you get tech from one of the huts (bronze working?). Then you could crank up research again, and either proceed with pottery or switch to something else.

EDIT: This is most relevant if you don't want pottery, and will change to something else. Otherwise, no need to go 100% tax - just research it.

Or am I nuts? Discuss.

-Arrian

[FrustratedPoet]

That's devilishly clever Arrian, I hope it will actually work.

Of course, this strategy would make Expansionist Civs more attractive because they could pop more huts faster and never get negative results. The boost to Gold would be useful too.

Question: would you re-assign your slider and research just immediately before you pop the hut? or leave it at 100% Tax and Pottery for the as long as possible?

[Arrian]

Well, as an expansionist civ, on a map that favors such civs, I would probably copy Aeson and get the Wheel, choose Horseback Riding, and shut research off for a very long time. As a non-expansionist civ, I typically research what I want to research without giving any thought to tech from huts.

Bear in mind that my example is a very specific circumstance: only if you have just completed research on a tech and have 1 or more huts you can pop next turn. A little bit of planning *may* be able to set this situation up, but I don't expect it to happen. I'd just like to know the answer in case it does.

-Arrian

[Arrian]

Oh, to actually answer your question I would immediately turn research back on. This was just for the 1 turn it takes to pop the hut(s).

-Arrian

[nbarclay]

I've never checked whether it's always the cheapest. Depending on the circumstances, after finishing a research project, it may make sense to switch to an unwanted or cheaper tech and zero research briefly before popping huts (especially once we have a building or two and thus bleed gold at 100% research), but I wouldn't be inclined to do it for very long, and I wouldn't mess up exploration patterns much to wait to pop huts unless the possibility of a free settler is also at stake. Note also that you can switch to something you don't want at the beginning of the turn after you discover a tech, pop a hut or two, and then switch research to the tech you want before the end of the turn. (My confirmation is that with minimum research, the time stays 40 turns regardless of whether you stick to your initial choice or change it during the turn.)

[Arrian]

I agree we shouldn't go too far out of our way to set it up, but it may be something to bear in mind as we uncover the map, and near discovery of The Wheel.

Most likely we'll end up popping some angry barbs, 25 gold, and a map of stuff we're about to explore anyway

-Arrian

[Theseus]

Risky strategy, and getting maps whould probably result in the destruction of my monitor.

[Arrian]

Actually, if we are about to start researching a given tech, and spend only the one turn at 100% tax, it isn't really risky at all. But I doubt it will come into play, so don't worry.

-Arrian