BRC's game

[BRC]

Thanks Theseus. It makes a little more sense to me now.

[BRC]

All right fellas!! I need a little help. Here is my Emperor game. Things started out well, as I rexed my initial land. I then turned on the Persians, who were outpacing everyone. I trimmed them back severely, in a series of wars, and then have been filling in the area.

Here's the problem. I have taken over the lead in score and power, but have started to lose momentum. I need a little help getting back on track. Any feedback would be appreciated.

Here's a map of the world and my military advisor screen.

Note: Zululand just entered a GA.

[BRC]

Sorry for the quality of the map.

Here is the latest sav, coupled with the 4000 B.C.

[BRC]

Nevermind guys. Back on a roll. A well placed FP will do that for you, via leader. Write up in a few weeks. !!!

[Theseus]

Originally posted by BRC
I then turned on the Persians, who were outpacing everyone. I trimmed them back severely...

Can we spell "cut Jerxes into small pieces and threw them to wind"?

If my barber defined "trim" the way you do...

I can't quite tell... do I see 71 Horsemen?! And what's the question about momentum?

[Jaybe]

Theseus,
TWENTY-one horse, I would wager.

[BRC]

Jaybe is correct. I'm so embarrassed.

While I have your guys' attention:

1) I didn't get a single leader, even with all the elite battles I've fought, until a few turns after I posted the game.

2) I wanted to build my FP about 10 squares directly east of my Palace, but it took a lot more effort to get it to produce any shields. I believe this was caused by the large number of cities that I control (due to tighter spacing). I finally rushed it with the leader, as I still had about 30 turns left, with little hopes of speeding it. My question is: Have you ever not been able to build your FP because of too many cities? What do you do to help combat this? I have the city in WLTKD and with a courthouse, and it still would have taken forever. If I didn't get that Leader when I did, the game might have taken a turn for the worse.

When this game is over, I'm gonna make a thread based on what I have learned over the past few months. We'll make it nice and neat so that other new players can look at it.

Thanks errryone. (bonus points for those who know where I live)

[BRC]

Bump for Sorvino Backhand.

I know you said that it is a problem that we can't compare games. My play style has been pretty well documented here, and has evolved over the last 6 months. This is just so you can see what I'm about.

Also, the AU "classes" try to fill this purpose of comparing games without competition. It's a pretty good thing.

Anybody with a comment is welcome to place their opinion as well.

[badman]

In the first post, dominae said that you irrigated too many grassland tiles.
I don't agree with that, I always irrigate a few, unless every single tile surrounding the city is grassland.
I think you irrigated as many tiles as I consider adequate.

[BRC]

Originally posted by badman
In the first post, dominae said that you irrigated too many grassland tiles.
I don't agree with that, I always irrigate a few, unless every single tile surrounding the city is grassland.
I think you irrigated as many tiles as I consider adequate.

I have talked about it with Dom and others and have come to the conclusion that it is best to mine them in the early game (barring unusual city sites), and go irrigate around the time of RR.
I really don't think that the net effect of our approaches is much different.

thanks for the input.

[Dominae]

I still disagree badman. Early on you cannot get more than 2 Food out of tiles unless they're bonus, so irrigating Grasslands is useless until Monarchy or The Republic. But by then your population will be high enough not to need the extra Food from irrigation. And even if it is not, the faster growth you'll get from irrigation will be useless once you hit size 12. In general, two Food per tile achieves sufficient growth (do not forget Granaries!), which is why I almost exlusively irrigate Plains and mine Grasslands.

There are some exceptional cases. If a Grassland needs to be irrigated to get water through to a dry area, I will not hesitate. Also, if a city has an inordinate number of Hills in its radius, irrigated Grasslands may be a necessity. Finally, once all tiles are worked and most cities are approaching size 12, I will sometimes irrigate a Grassland here and there in order to ensure all level of Food "equilibrium" in all my cities.

Edit: Also do not forget that mining Grasslands is a lot less expensive time-wise than mining Hills or Mountains. So if you're not getting your production out of Grasslands, you're either 1) relying on Plains, or 2) relying on Hills and Mountains. In the first case you'll find your cities big but very unproductive, while in the second case you'll be left way behind in production because your mines appear significantly later (twice as slow, for Hils).


Dominae

[BRC]

Well, he explains it better than me.

[badman]

Like Arrian, I prefer a rather loose city-spacing, so I will always have some tiles that my citizens don't use around size 12 cities.
Thus I can tell the workers (of a city) to work only on the mined grasslands when the city hit size 12.
I also think that your population simply cannot be high enough (not so much because of the production but the extra beakers are significant) and my cities almost never reach size 12 before I'm a republic or a monarchy.

I personally feel that 2 extra food are not enough for an optimal city growth, I prefer 3-4 (it's not that more but BRC didn't irrigate any more than that if you also take account of hills).

Plains are also pretty effective because they produce as much shields+food as unshielded grassland.
Of course I know that grassland is way better, especially in the early game (when you can work shielded grasslands because your cities are still small) but you shouldn't underestimate plains.

In most of my games, the extra turns that it takes to mine a hill, aren't a problem because I like having a large worker force. Actually I really like hills and like building cities next to them.
A city surrounded by 50% hills and 50% grassland is better than a city surrounded by grassland only, IMHO.

I agree with you on all the points you've made, but I can't see that BRC irrigated to much in his game.
I do get most of my production out of grasslands but I nearly always irrigate one or two of them.
Once a city reaches size 20 I remine tiles so it will not grow any larger.
I also think that our strategies are very similar, I just don't like just 2 extra food as along as my city can still grow.