Turn Players' Thread #1

[sooooo]

Yep, no iron working for me too. We need archery to fight the barbs and some worker techs (wheel, pottery, agriculture) to compete economically. If we'll be building a settler soon then we want archery to come in after the settler is built. That suggests to me a tech order of wheel -> archery.

[Zeviz]

I agree with Sulla. Telling Templars about horses was a great bluff, because "nobody would give their neighbors a weapon against which they have no defense".

We should thoroughly scout our south, and hope that there is a military resource there.

Once we see the power graph, we might want to delay Archery a little. It's good to look intimidating, but not good to look so intimidating that Templars start building an army for defense.

EDIT: In fact, I'd suggest Wheel->Pottery to get a couple early cottages going. Archers will not help against Templars and our power rating is too high, rather than too low.

[sunrise089]

Anyone with MP experience will know that the power graph doesn't mean much this early - and Sullla has detailed the reasons why. If we assume that the Templars will be fooled however, than the plan above seems OK. I'm personally in favor of researching Archery->Iron Working and placing a pair of chopped archers in the new city...but against so many opponents it's probably a mistake to slow down growth too much to defend against one.

We're running an awfully big bluff overall really - no metal, no horse vs. metal and horse, and our best military unit in the near future is countered by their UU. If nothing else, if thankful that no Templar scouts have seen our capital's land, right? Because it's in our best interest to make sure they don't.

[mostly-harmless]

I agree with soooo with going Archery next and with the general idea of getting that settler out soonest.
Archers are not too bad against Quechas when on the defense.
Our second city is planned to be on a hill, iirc. Together with fortify, city defense & culture should make for some descent defense.

I would not assume that the Templars will get fooled by the power graph as getting BW is equal to producing 8 warriors. Even if people don't know the specific values, experienced player will have developed a feel for it. But I agree with Sullla, that it is the best bet to rely on the Templars staying peaceful for a while.
Also, as far as the Ministry of Truth is aware, the Templars are still lacking BW.

Regarding finding copper somewhere else:
From what the Ministry of Truth guesses, the continent is pretty much finished in the south. Keep in mind that the Templars have a coastal capital.
Furthermore any copper in the east will be quite a long stretch for a third city.
For the eagle-eyed: Any chance there is a copper resource bleeding out of the fog of the handful of tiles remaining uncovered around our capital?

About the bluff:
If we go for IW now we might end up not enjoying the rest of the game for having been forced into a unwanted opening strategy and getting behind.
However, running the bluff keeps us on our toes and is, at least for me, much more fun.

mh

[Sullla]

Originally posted by sunrise089 We're running an awfully big bluff overall really - no metal, no horse vs. metal and horse, and our best military unit in the near future is countered by their UU. If nothing else, if thankful that no Templar scouts have seen our capital's land, right? Because it's in our best interest to make sure they don't.

Oh, I absolutely concur, sunrise. That's why I referred to it as a bluff. And I've been profoundly umimpressed by the play of the Templars so far. They're probably so busy voting in stupid polls, they can't even be bothered to respond to our emails.

How many people used to SP are actually familiar with the inner workings of the Solider count statistic? Outside of Realms Beyond, I've almost never seen anyone who really knew what those numbers meant. Hopefully that is the case here as well.

I like going Wheel -> Archery myself next; we won't be building an archer until after the settler finishes, so we can safely delay that tech for the 7 turns listed. It would be nice to get some roads up sooner rather than later; we will probably want to start a road to our second city early on, both for trade route purposes and military security.

[Kylearan]

Hi,

I agree with Sulla's bluff - that's how I would haved played as well. No risk, no fun! It's a bit dangerous to rely on the Templar's being rational though - I don't think they are. All this musing about how strong we appear to be, what giving them info of horses probably tells them etc. is all fine and good, but somehow I don't think the Templar's think and act that way. I think they're more into roleplaying religious fanatics (which would explain their obsession with Stonehenge as well), and we can only hope they won't decide to attack their heathen neighbors even if that decision wouldn't be rational.

The strongest argument to me for Sulla's plan is that if they are indeed building Stonehenge, we have time enough until they manage to connect their resources and build an army.

I caution not to count on their rationality though.

-Kylearan

[sooooo]

OK, it seems that 4 people (Sullla, Zeviz, m_h and myself) like Wheel as the next tech. Sunrise prefers archery.

Any more input before I play the turn?

[Kylearan]

Hi,

Originally posted by sooooo
OK, it seems that 4 people (Sullla, Zeviz, m_h and myself) like Wheel as the next tech. Sunrise prefers archery.

Any more input before I play the turn?

I'm for The Wheel next as well, although I'm not sure to follow up with Archery or Pottery (leaning towards the latter at the moment).

-Kylearan

[darrelljs]

I guess on Prince the barbarian threat is less so I would go The Wheel next. I can't recall, did we by any chance tell the Templars we were on a penninsula? I guess that would delay their scouting our area, although they don't seem too keen on making contact.

Darrell

[Zeviz]

Originally posted by Kylearan
Hi,


I'm for The Wheel next as well, although I'm not sure to follow up with Archery or Pottery (leaning towards the latter at the moment).

-Kylearan

It's good to see I am not the only one considering The Wheel -> Pottery tech order.

A note on unit movement:
I think our Warrior(s) for garrisoning new city should arrive on the spot exactly 4 turns before the Settler. This way he'll have the maximum 25% fortify bonus the turn the city is founded, but we will not give away our plans too early either. (If there are no Templar quechas nearby, I'd suggest arriving at the site even later, because even if Templars declare war right away, it will take them at least 1 turn to get through our culture.)

[sooooo]

Turn 26 played.



Research into The Wheel.

Tracy has yet to find yellow civ and will meet some kind of water next turn.

[sooooo]

The turn started very sadly as I learnt that Doreen had been savaged to death by lions (see orbituary thread).

But then Tracy found Imperio! They are Mayans. She also found the border of yellow civ and will meet them next turn.



Winston started chopping his forest. He plans to cancel that order at the end of next turn in order to put the chop into a settler.

Our warrior was born and named Gogo.

[mostly-harmless]

Bad luck about Doreen. It was a very close fight judging from the combat log.

Imperios Tarzan (2move woodsmanII) seems to have come along way from the NE. Check Imperios info and contact thread for more info from the MoT.

It seems that Inperio and Templars are going to meet next turn.

I assume you are going to move the scout 1SE next turn to contact yellow civ? I still cannot judge from the color whether it is PAL or the Rabbits. It is safe to assume they sit on the other continent, though.

Looking at the river bend NE of the Stones in your screenshots, it looks like the map was edited in that region, I never saw a "natural" river bending away from the coast that closely. Could be the map creator had to ensure there is enough water between the two continents.

So who is Gogo?

mh

[Sullla]

I set up a Worldbuilder test to double-check that moving east will put us in contact with the yellow civ, and indeed it will. Definitely worth the move, in other words. After squinting at the colors, I'm pretty sure that the civ is the Rabbits; the color is just slightly darker than the yellow of Egypt (PAL). We'll find out in a little bit one way or the other.

Knowing three other civs will slightly help our research on widely known techs. For example, we pick up an extra beaker per turn (from 11 to 12) on techs known by two or more other civs. This will naturally increase further as our own beaker count increases.

There are indeed some very obvious map edits, to the point where CyberShy was pretty darn sloppy. The stone and marble in the JUNGLE just west of the Templars are the prime example. Apparently, he decided to put the two wonder resources within range of every civ. Of course, the Templars can turn that jungle into an amazing city long term, while our own stone are marble are locked into terrible tundra and desert regions, respectively.

[sooooo]

Would we not be able to see the yellow civ by standing on the hill 1E?