The Wise Men

[Hot Mustard]

LzPrst, to date, our Wise Men have studied or acquired:

Ceremonial Burial (Starting Tech, 4000BC)
Alphabet (Starting Tech, 4000BC)
Bronze Working (Researched, ? BC)
Masonry (Trade, ? BC) (From ND, for Alphabet)
Pottery (Trade, ? BC) (From ND, for Alphabet)
The Wheel (Trade, ? BC) (From GoW, for Alphabet)
Warrior Code (Trade, ? BC) (From GoW, for Alphabet)
Mysticism (Goodie Hut, 2510 BC)
Iron Working (Trade, 2470 BC) (From Lux, for Alphabet + 25 Gold)
Writing (Researched, 1990 BC)

This thread was intended as a place to discuss directions for further studies.

[Togas]

Next turn we will finish our mastery of writing, being the first known civilization to create such a system of putting thoughts and ideas down into permanent form. We must celebrate this acomplishment and discuss how it can be put to use.

We must also decide what next to learn.

Shall we learn mapmaking, as has been our plan for ages, or shall we change gears and go for Polytheism thereby beating Lux Invicta to this seminal knowledge?

--Togas

[Arnelos]

My personal vote is for Polytheism (let Lux go for Literacy), but it doesn't really matter.

[LzPrst]

It seems it would be wise to seek the further approval of the gods. Especially for our ruler Togas. If that means contacting more of them, then so be it.
The great temple we're building in Madrid will cause more gods to flock to our support and strengthen our people. Surely it can be the only path to choose.
Why would we want to map the ocean sea anyway, there cant possibly be anything out there...

[OliverFA]

I wont repeat myself again (you can see what I said about that in the top of page 2 ) just want to remember that I recomend to investigate Polytheism and then Monarchy.

[astrologix]

Great Despot Togas,

If we want to have the possibility of building ships, Map Making is necessary.

We assume that other lands are near to our East and that with sailing ships we could discover paths to find other peoples and to trade with them.

If we were knowing the Map Making secret we could in addition try to build a great Wonder, perhaps the first in our World, as my grandparent Astronicus was projecting : The Great Lighthouse.

With this wonder in our coastal city, Barcelona, we could traverse the seas more easily, faster than all the other tribes could do, and we could trade squid, other spanish products and maps with our still unknown neighbours.

Other researchs, like Polyteism or Monarchy could be too long to discover from now, and we could possibly never take the mentioned advantage over the other civs if we choose to go for these other secrets.

Could the spirits be favorable to my request !

Martin Astronicus the Younger
Chief Architect of Spain
Governor of Barcelona

[E_T]

With this "Tech Alliance", we might be asked to start to research something else. I say that we go for Monarchy, as that will help the reduction of the corruption that is felt throughout our Nation. We can also have the extra food and trade from this change.

Eta Tamali

[Hot Mustard]

We know Legoland is bee-lining for Map Making. Since they are all on their own, they do not have to devote early resources to defense. At the pace they are REXing at, I would be surprised if they don't create a couple of wonder cities. I don't think anyone is likely to beat them to the Great Lighthouse. Map Making itself won't be needed immediately either - we will get contact with Vox and GS via Lux, and Lego will be sending boats over before anyone else could.

I think the debate should be between Literature (Great Library) and Polytheism/Monarcy.

While Monarcy is tempting, I think we would benefit from an analysis of our chances of getting the Great Library. How long would each of our cities take to complete it? How likely are the others to start it, and beat us to it? I think ND is the only credible threat to beating us to it right now. How could we manage that risk? Diplomacy? Distractions?

[OliverFA]

Of course, if we can get the Great Library before anyone else then it would be far more useful to go for literature than for monarchy. The problem that annoys me is that big "if"... Does Literature has enough value in adition to the Great Library? Or do we have reasonably high chances of getting the Great Library? I confess that I don't know the answer to these questions.

And about the Great Lighthouse... No ofense, but I've always considered it a very low value wonder. Of course this can be caused just because my way of playing. But if we were going to go for a wonder I would recommend a different one.

[Togas]

We know that Lux is working on Monarchy by first going for Polytheism ... GoW claims that they want Mapmaking. Lego and GS also are working towards Mapmaking.

ND is working Mathematics and may go Currency next.

We could have the entire Writing tech tree to ourselves for a while. And at the rate that everyone else is trading techs, we could do very well with the Great Library.

To fully appreciate it's benefit we would go 10% science and would hopefully switch to Monarchy soon so that we can rush-build with gold.

However, I do agree that Legoland will likely focus on building wonders. Should we research Literature we will need to pre-build the GL and hold off the trade of this knowledge for quite some time to ensure that no one else can rob us of this fantastic development.

--Togas

[OliverFA]

Originally posted by Togas
We could have the entire Writing tech tree to ourselves for a while.

That could be interpreted as "a highly reasonable chance of getting the Great Library"

In that case, I would agree to go for Literature instead of Politeism/Monarchy. But we should pick a city and design it as the GL builder, starting to build a Palace (unless the city selected is Madrid) as soon as posible so we can start to build the GL even before discovering Literature. With 4 cities I think we can devote one to build that wonder...

[Togas]

We can pre-build with the Pyramids or Oracle in Madrid.

--Togas

[OliverFA]

That's true, but I would prefer if we built a palace because that wouldn't give the other civs a clue about what we are doing.

If I'm not wrong, every time a civ starts a wonder every other civ gets a pop up telling them about that. Isn't it?

[Hot Mustard]

True. It will depend more on the production capabilities though. If Madrid (with no corruption) has a distinct advantage over our other cities...

[astrologix]

After reading the Togas analysis, I agree that we should go for Literature.

When it reaches a reasonable size, Barcelona could start building a Wonder (Pyramids for exemple), and switch to another Wonder later, maybe the Lighthouse or the GL. We can decide it later. If we fail in the race of an Ancient Times Wonder, we could switch to Palace and use it as a shieldbank until another wonder became available.

EDIT : oops ! crossing posts !

I think that Barcelona IS the city, because here it is possible to start with a palace. Madrid can't.