[Mjmd #52 no players] Working on the Homestead

[Mjmd]

Thoughts on tech path? I was going to go writing, but I dont think I'll have the production or pop to make a library worth it immediately. Especially if I need some military for a pink dot. Poly? Should be noted it would be unlikely to naturally spread far with how far apart cities are?

[Mjmd]

Went with Poly. I would be happy with it showing up in either Pancakes or French Toast. Pancakes the extra happy would mean I probably wouldn't need a garrison for a while. French Toast would also mean I don't need to finish the monument. Switched it to granary. Maple Syrup finishes a warrior in 1 turn and will build a granary until size 4. Pancakes mine finished and 3rd worker is due next turn.

[El Grillo]

Passive spreads, especially without a shrine, are unlikely enough that your cities being a little farther apart doesn’t really impact planning, you can’t really rely on them to supply a source of culture in a timely manner. That said, you could go on to Monotheism and Monarchy as well for an early revolt into HR/OR. Then you can build missionaries to spread culture instead of monuments, and use HR to grow the capital nice and tall on FIN tiles.

[Mjmd]

I previously looked up the percentages. Basically its a declining percent of spread each turn depending on what ring away from holy city it is. Shrine doubles it, but since it drops off pretty fast meh. I would expect a free spread to the capital in a timely manner from either city which is nice. I obviously won't be converting to it until both settlers are in transit.

BTW you win. If I'm ever hoping to do something early game just ask me "do you have the worker labor for that" and I'll sheepishly say "nooo"  I'm actually going to chop out a 4th worker before whipping the settler in Maple Syrup. Means less overflow for granary but workers are important. Going to go settle the grassland pigs first as is smart. Backup 5th city spot still isn't bad and still seals off the grassland sheep down there thanks to that mountain range. I'm thinking of building a 2nd scout for the west, but I'm afraid the days of the scout might be over too soon for that to be worth the hammer investment. BTW you'll note a workboat scouting. With the buff to circumnavigation plus the chance to meet people for known tech bonuses I thought that might be an efficient thing to do.  Note that both east and west have jungle above them. Too early to make good guesses about map shape but maybe 4 on top 4 on bottom jungle and lakes between?

[El Grillo]

I like scouting, but I agree that actual Scouts are much too fragile. I'll be curious if this is a small inland sea or the actual ocean. Another neighbor starting to the north would also make things interesting. Too bad Chariots won't be accessible for a while, I like to send a couple of them to get my bearings and meet the other players. Fogbusting Warriors are also sweet (mostly because I hate having my plans disrupted by barbs), but putting production into Stonehenge is a fine alternative.

[Mjmd]

If I had played this game perfectly I would have had the choice between workboat or a scout. Probably would have built a second scout as I don't mind building second one early. HOWEVER, I had started workboat in Maple Syrup originally without fulling simming because of the pace and involvement in PB51. Did some sim work the turn I founded Pancakes and discovered that building a workboat in Pancakes was superior by 3-4 turns for its development (while slowing down Stonehenge). Went with MORE FOOD obvioiusly. Decided to let workboat in Maple Syrup finish later for scouting purposes. Will leave me blind a bit in the west. As that area isn't packed with floodplains I'm ok with that for a second. I'm assuming Mr. Cairo is quite far from me and like Cairru has other directions to expand.

Looking at the leaders, starting techs, ect I think most people would assume I'm building Stonehenge which is why I thought building slow was fine. I still expect Gira to snipe as they have been slow for some reason or other. Would save me a lot of production down the line. Plus at some point prophet for religion.

I agree super interesting map. I'm kind of glad it doesn't look like a donut? (could still some huge one I guess)

[Mjmd]

Played turns 49, 50, 51, and 52 all in one day! Is there a speed record for an 8 man pitboss, because I bet we are crushing it. I guess chalk one good thing up to covid. Going to do 2 posts. 

Turn 50:




Demos: Only have graphs on Chairru and its early. Looking good. Food should explode with 4th and 5th cities.

-Got Hinduism! in French Toast which is nice for barb busting and culture for gold. Instant spread to capital. Buddhism fell turn 52 to either Pindicator, Giraflorens, or Mr. Cairo. I'll switch turn 54 probably assuming bolded below happens.
-As you can see decided to go with worker before settler. There just isn't another time to fit one in for a bit. I also decided to put a chop into both settlers for some serious overflow especially in Maple Syrup. Speed speed speed. I 2 pop whipped both settlers turn 52. I'm probably going to overflow the capital into an axe (El Grillo opinion requested) to help defend my wayward cities. Chairru is also I believe on 2 warriors and 4 cities, but his are probably closer together. I could put that overflow into granary which would finish a turn before it grew which would really vault my growth, but I'm pretty weak to barbs or Chairru. And sadly there isn't another good opportunity for a fast unit. I do have an emergency axe in queue in French Toast in case I need for capital or itself. I should note that doing that workboat in capital early cost me an extra warrior. Mind when I get an early circumnavigation I will be happy.
- Scout was almost done healing when that bear had appeared so moved across river into the forest. Won turn 52 vs the bear at .5 health left. So healing again...... Really want to find one more barb animal for woodsmen II.
-Barb warrior shown above actually wandered off for the second time. However, another came from the north. Moved warrior so it had to attack across the river. Mine won flawlessly (barb had 25%). Did delay my roading as I wasn't willing to put the worker there. Frustrating as that roading is already slow.

-Only other news worth sharing is that Pindicator is at war with I believe Gira based on turn play pattern. Yes we rolled 4 turns in a day with a war going on; crazy. Poor green Gira. Some kind of choke probably, but Gira appears to still have settled his 3rd. Probably like 1 warrior on a food resource or something.
- Also as mentioned above Chairru beat me to 4 cities because I built the extra worker. Scout will be going back up that way soonish. Assuming no barb issues should easily get to 5 first.

[Mjmd]

My Cairo is NOT our western neighbor. Instead he is actually north of that jungle, which he did what I did and sent his scout along coast assuming donut, but unlike me He evidently didn't feel like he needed to scout around his capital because he came all the way down. This is interesting because it opens up early international trade in my planned 4 coastal cities, which is pretty nice. I'll have 3 soon and I could go sailing after writing. Would pay for itself. Now Mr Cairo is Protective which in this mod gives him bonus to trade income so it is better for him than me. This is why I wanted to do 2 posts. Here is some game theory I'm going to pull from a card game called Magic the Gathering. Not sure if it is 100% applicable, but thought it was worth a post.

Simplified:
-In this game there is a format called draft where each player gets a pack, picks 1 card, passes the pack to the player next to them and this process continues for 3 packs. Usually 8 players. You then have to build a deck out of the cards you have picked. There are 5 different colors and generally you want your deck to be 2-3 of them.

-There is something called hate picking. Basically picking a card not in your colors so other players can't pick it even though you are not going to run it.

Now in Magic, hate picking especially early in the draft is usually very bad. It's better to improve your own deck by picking in your colors even if that card isn't as good as a different card you are passing. There are a lot of factors why it is bad: you aren't guaranteed to play the player your hate picking from, you only play them 1 of 3 rounds if you did play them, they aren't guaranteed to draw that card, plus because you know about it you can play around it.

This is a little different as I am probably guaranteed to border him for the whole game. I don't think the buff to him is as bad as for instance GLH is in base where no one should trade with player who built. Also, I don't have any other options for international trade. It would be something that would benefit me, my instinct based upon my experience with MtG is to research sailing after writing and open borders.

[El Grillo]

I like a real defender for the northeast so feel free to overflow into the Axe at the capital. You have enough cultural visibility to the south that you might be able to cover French Toast in time, but it could get tricky if multiple barb Archers or Axes decide to show up.

Trade routes seem like a good idea even with the asymmetry for the reasons you say, and also because there are probably ways for Cairo to settle an island for 3c routes all by himself, so it’s mostly just upside for you.

[Mjmd]

SOOOO I messed up last turn. I forgot to assign the hill chop to Pancakes. Therefore Maple Syrup actually has a crap ton of overflow. I'm actually going to complete the granary in one turn. Doing granary before axe as axe would waste overflow if my memory of the mechanic is right (you can only overflow max of hammers of what is being produced correct?). I should still 1 turn the axe next turn.

The whole point of doing the chop for pancakes was that when I whipped it the overflow would go to Stonehenge and actually not impact the completion time at all even though it wouldn't be working the copper. Now..... I am going to work the copper instead of the wheat, as I don't want it stolen.

Again for all the green players just roll with it baby. At least Maple Syrup will get its granary before it grows. Maybe this was better? It's probably about net even on food honestly.

I also made another mistake. I should have switched tech to sailing a while ago (mind I wasn't sure I wanted until now so maybe not a mistake). With the barb delaying my road network the floodplain pig city will not only be unhealthy for a couple of turns but won't have trade network. Couple of food lost, couple of commerce lost, not big, but all the little things. Switched to it this turn, sadly don't have the gold to fully fund, but want to improve the pigs asap vs road so still worth a couple of commerce more.

EDIT: this is definitely looking like a lake. Will do some updated screenshots at some point. Hoping to meet someone on other side of the lake. Would be nice because would still get international trade, but not with someone protective (assuming).