March 29th, 2020, 19:09
(This post was last modified: March 29th, 2020, 19:15 by Cornflakes.)
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Here we go! Slow to post a thread since I was working on finishing the map. I’ll put more thought later but for starters ...
Why pick location first? Biggest reason is one start has bacon while the others have cereal. I want to know my start first before locking in Civ. Why start 2? I think that production is going to play a more deciding role than Commerce on such a small map. The two northern starts have more hills, while the southern starts have flood plains. I was actually leaning towards start 1 since it has 2 early luxuries, and also more islands. But since Yuri snapped that up quick that reinforced my decision to pick starting location first and lock in #2. I’m aiming for Babylon with my 2nd pick. Undecided on the leader, probably CHA/something for the boosted happy cap for larger early capital. Maybe CHA/PHI since bulbs are comparatively more powerful in a weak commerce situation.
Scooter’s Pericles (PHI/CRE) I think is a double mistake. First I think taking a leader with then #1 overall pick was the wrong. I think Scooter should have locked in either start or best overall Civ, and taken the other with his 2nd (5th overall), then fill in leader at the end. [edit: as-is if Superdeath doesn't pick a start, then Scooter will either pick a civ without knowing whether his food will be grain or meat]. I feel like traits are the most balanced and therefore the dropoff from #1 to #4 leader is the least. I think CRE is overrated on a tight setup, especially in a One City Challenge situation with most of the center tiles worthless desert.
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I retract my opinion that Scooter made a mistake picking leader first. Now that all starting locations are claimed, he gets first pick of both leader AND Civ, and leader first was correct if that is what he was aiming for. In fact leader first was probably the safest unless he has a strong opinion about where he wants to start (which obviously he doesn’t or he would have picked start first.
Some more reasoning on why 432143211234 and not some of the other combinations. I felt that two first picks for 4 would balance out their last overall pick better. 1 gets 2 last picks, but can select starting position first (as Superdeath did) and get a synergistic pick later. 2 and 3 are in the middle either way.
432112341234 gives more unbalanced combos. 4 gets the clear worst combo, 3 worse than above, 2 better than above, and 1 the clear best.
432112344321 I like a little better ... except that 1 is a tier worse than the rest, no compensation for last pick.
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Scooter took Rome and Yuri took Egypt, and both of them are my neighbors. I was leaning towards Babylon for the extra security in the Bowman's +50% vs. melee ... and leveraging the security into development. But given Egypt's war chariots are NOT melee, and Rome's Legion likely tear apart Bowmen anyway I decided to hold off on the civ selection and locked in Lincoln (CHA/PHI). Hopefully I'll have time tonight to load a quick test and see just how much less ineffective Bowmen are compared to standard archers vs. Legion. In the mean time I'm happy locking in my #1 leader pick while exploring other civ options.
March 31st, 2020, 07:24
(This post was last modified: March 31st, 2020, 07:31 by Cornflakes.)
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Contrary to my expectation, when I tested combat between Legion Praetorian vs. Bowman compared to Archer, the Bowman actually withstood significantly better. Praetorian have 70% odds on full-fortify archer of equal promotion rank, while vs. Bowmen the Praetorian of equal promotion has about 30% odds. That plus the hammer cost differential is enough to ensure siege will be necessary to prosecute an attack. Spears can handle War Chariots, but also given the -25% vs archers even spears aren't necessary when defending cities. War Chariot gets <20% odds vs un-fortified archer in 0 culture flatland city. I'll be playing the longer game, defensively early.
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Some thoughts on the picks:
Superdeath - Boudicca/America/Start 4
Dare I say, "Classic Superdeath"  But seriously, I like the Charismatic trait a lot here allowing growth of the capital early  I considered pairing with Aggressive, but ultimately I don't think that brings the winning oomph that's needed. Sure AGG will allow stronger melee units, but will that be the deciding factor in the game? I feel like start 4 has the most mainland expansion prospects so maybe AGG will help Superdeath muscle out an additional claim? Or maybe he will over extend and anger his neighbors.
Cornflakes - Lincoln/Babylon/Start 2
 the obvious winner of the snake pick. I got the civ/leader pair I was aiming for, with a grain start for my Agriculture tech. I'll need to leverage the early security from Bowmen into an economic advantage ... which I plan to achieve through bulbs powered by boosted CHA happy caps.
Yuris - Hannibal/Egypt/Start 1
I like Hannibal a lot, especially for start 1. I considered that exact pairing if I had landed start 1. CHA is gets a and FIN's boosting of water tiles pairs nicely with the [comparative] abundance of tiny islands available to Start 1. I'm not keen on Egypt in RtR but the war chariots are still a force to be reckoned with. I'm not planning to go on the offense in the axes age so I shouldn't have much to fear sitting back with bowmen in cities.
Scooter - Pericles/Rome/Start 3
CRE isn't as bad as my initial comments made it out to be. In his start 3 position it actually could give him more value than the other locations, allowing him to push for additional mainland against Superdeath and me. I'll have to watch for an attempt to steal my sheep early! But CRE still wouldn't have been my overall first-pick choice. Scooter may be planning something like an Iron Working bulb to get Praetorian on the map very early? But given Superdeath's warlike combo and my Bowmen I don't think that Pretorian will have quite the decisive impact that Scooter was hoping for  Let's see what he has up his sleeve!
How do I see this playing out?
Superdeath and Yuris get emboriled in early conflict when Superdeath interprets "always war" as "take every opportunity to poke your neighbor in the eye". Scooter is safe since the better land lies to the north of Superdeath. Their conflict goes ultimately nowhere but allows Scooter an opening to sweep west, while I gobble up the islands to the north. Scooter and I maintain an uneasy-but-respectful border, and ultimately clash in a final battle when Scooter pushes north into Yuri's territory after eating Superdeath. I ultimately pull off the victory as my CHA/PHI combo allows me to reach the "next generation" of military tech a hair ahead of Scooter's CRE/PHI.
Final Rankings
Cornflakes > Scooter > Yuris > Superdeath
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Here are a couple screenshots from the start of the game. No new map knowledge (  ) but we have met a couple rivals who immediately declared their less-than-peaceful intentions.
Scooter's Rome is to the south. Superdeath's America is to the southwest. Yuri's yet-unmet Egypt is to the west. I intend to avoid entering scooter's borders in a gesture of goodwill. My scout will most likely return to wines next turn, and then sit on my corn to prevent someone from camping their scout on my corn and throwing a major wrench in my early development.
Here is the Capital Alas, Babylon. Named for one of my favorite books, and appropriately apocalyptic given the impetus for this game. I'm not quite sure how I'll continue the naming theme yet, but this is a tiny map so surely I'll be able to figure something out that makes sense.
And finally, the Top 5 Cities which shows the names of our met rivals' capitals:
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Early turns rolling along nicely with just 4 players. Worker completed end of current turn and will start to farm the corn next turn. Mining is completed and I'm halfway through Bronze Working now.
Biggest question now is whether I rush out an early 2nd city or sit back and tech away on one city. With the sheep as a land-based food and Bowmen to back up my brave settlers I'm leaning about 90/10 towards immediately cramming a city towards Rome. Rome's creative culture expansion at T25 will claim the row of tiles 2S of sheep, meaning my 2nd city will not control all of its first ring borders. I'm currently exploring the feasibility/practicality of landing a religion in the 2nd city the turn it is founded. I *think* Rome would be the only competition for religion due to their gold-powered researching. Downside is that religion detour delays Writing for scientist specialist slots. Upside is that I could continue to Monotheism for Organized Religion.
Another interesting question is when is the optimum time to build Oracle? My current thought is right after I bulb something, in order to leverage deeper into the tech tree for a more expensive tech. On such a tight map, wonders become comparatively more valuable since settlers and workers are less valuable. I'm almost wishing I took IND rather than PHI (the culture from wonders will be important too in pushing out borders).
April 12th, 2020, 13:53
(This post was last modified: April 12th, 2020, 13:53 by Cornflakes.)
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T20: garden completes with the game’s first whip. I’m going Axe next, probably followed by T30 settler with enough overflow to complete a Bowman the following turn.
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Scooter messed up my micro by moving his scout onto the riverside grass hill 1W of sheep on the exact turn I was planning to move the worker there and start the mine  I decided to build a road on the gems. That road will shorten the movement time for reinforcements to the city I'm planning to build between us and Scooter (penciled in 1S of sheep as a less aggressive location compared to further west).
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I returned the favor to Scooter by moving my scout to threaten his pigs. Scooter's scout was behind mine and unable to reach the pigs, so his worker had to lose a turn of floodplain farming in order to cover the pig. This was not a friendly gesture on my part. But hopefully it sends a message than I am not to be pushed around. I can whip an axe at any moment now and I just completed Archery this turn so I'm not in any danger at all.
Actually my move was helpful to Scooter. Superdeath moved his scout in aggressively and was in position to block pigs as well ... but Superdeath's scout was also in range of Scooter's gold. My scout blocked Superdeath from reaching the gold and bought a turn for Scooter's scout to reach the gold. My scout retreated rather than block Scooter's gold. Hopefully that is received as a gesture of goodwill to counterbalance the unfriendly movement towards his pigs. My scout this turn retreated such that it is now out of range of both the pigs and gold, but Superdeath is still within range of both resources.
Sorry for no screenshot, played in a rush.
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