[SPOILERS] Seven Russias Into the Periclous Fray

[SevenSpirits]

Nothing too fancy.

Silly-sounding words that start with a certain letter of the alphabet. When I got to the second time through the alphabet I relaxed the silly-sounding requirement as needed but added a requirement that the letter repeat at least one more time later in the word, ideally more.

[Boldly Going Nowhere]

Thanks for the million pictures. Your general build priority seems to be food-->discount research buildings--> hammers--> etc. How do you compare the value of CRE in ToW vs. RtR where libraries do not (to my eternal consternation) receive the 50% discount due to CRE?

Non-mod question: How do you value the potential of your empire (food heavy, more land) compared to mackoti's (hammer heavy) in the next 25, 50, and 100 turns? I have no idea how long this game will go, so this question is not intended to be related to the specifics of this game, but rather as a comparison of play styles and empire management. Thanks.

[SevenSpirits]

1. Looks like RtR CRE gives a discount to observatories and retains the +2 culture per turn in exchange for losing the library discount. I think that version of CRE is slightly weaker. I've built a LOT of libraries. (And, aside from the fact that observatories come a lot later than libraries, it's better to have a 45h building and a 150h building that each give 25% beakers, rather than a 75h building and a 90h building that do, because in the first case you can just skip the more expensive one in most cities. And libraries also give culture and twice as many specialist slots of course, and they're needed for universities.) I mean, eh, this version of the trait is a bit stronger and I prefer its dynamic, that's why it is like it is.

2. I'm going to make sweeping statements and ignore a lot of details in answering this question.

Land leads to food, food leads to pop, pop leads to hammers (and beakers), hammers leads to military, and military leads to land. To some extent we are each just in different places in this endless cycle. One other difference is that mackoti has super-duper workshops that are good at everything, while I have a more balanced improvement setup and am using specialists a lot too.

A food advantage is easier to use, you just grow your empire. A production advantage requires you to successfully conquer land to pay back. At this stage of the game, I would say that all the really weak targets are gone and the remaining players will require a big enough investment to conquer that, to the extent that it's possible, growing your empire via food is just way more efficient. As such I definitely prefer my position in this game.

I think mackoti tends to prefer hammers more while I prefer food more in general. I see a hammer focus as more reliant on other players sucking. I think food is usually the best focus while it's an option (i.e. until the map fills up / you hit your happy cap).

All that said, if you look at the production graph, I have been ramping up the hammers like crazy as I grow my pop onto all available tiles. It's just the next stage of the cycle.

[GermanJoey]

How do you feel about Cre libraries vs Imp markets?

[SevenSpirits]

I really don't know how much I like IMP markets without playing with them. There is a really big difference, which is that you don't normally build markets in most of your cities, but only in 1-4, because they are not very efficient. Libraries you want much more. So the question is, with the discount on markets, how many more markets do you want to build?

[Krill]

Depends on resources, city density and the general efficiency (ie is it more efficient in that specific case) of larger cities compared to multiple smaller ones requiring fewer city improvements, right? Which comes down to the ease of popping borders in the early game...

[SevenSpirits]

Wall Street is almost done in the shrine city. Ironworks is almost done in a fine grassland river city with a levee in former HAKland. Unfortunately, mackoti did an apparently 1t detour to Democracy in the middle of researching assembly line, so we're SOL in that regard. (I needed ironworks operational to build it in a reasonable timeframe. Mackoti already has his IW up, I can only assume, and of course he has the inherent +1h from productive.) Therefore, my next tech after comboustion will be electricity, which immediately gives some commerce from all my windmills.

GLOBAL FREAKING WARMING destroyed one of my tiles. It's 1510 AD. Come on, game. Just because there are almost no trees left on the entire planet, and people have built a lot of forges and drydocks, doesn't mean there will be environmental problems. That's no fun at all, so I popped my golden age to accelerate things a bit. Also in the "not fun at all" category, wetbandit's cultural borders are really irritating and don't really help anyone.

Edit: Oh hey, Krill, I missed your post. And... I actually don't know what it means or who you're responding to.

[Ceiliazul]

so we're SOL in that regard.

Wordplay!

[Krill]

Edit: Oh hey, Krill, I missed your post. And... I actually don't know what it means or who you're responding to.

So the question is, with the discount on markets, how many more markets do you want to build?

Depends on resources, city density and the general efficiency (ie is it more efficient in that specific case) of larger cities compared to multiple smaller ones requiring fewer city improvements, right? Which comes down to the ease of popping borders in the early game...

tl;dr still fewer than the number of libraries you want to build.

[NobleHelium]

I do think Global Warming should be modded out of the game, yes. Or at least make it an option to disable. It adds absolutely no strategy to the game since I don't think you can reduce your chances of getting hit by it by improving your health (just the global chance, if that). And nobody would miss it.