The scratching post

[Lewwyn]

Well, assuming it's game mechanics - if you ask something like 'should I invade Pegasus' there's no way to answer it fairly.

Unless you ask me, and thus the answer is always yes.

[Jkaen]

1) Am I correct in assuming I won't be able to send a work boat into that lake? I hope I'm wrong

You can send a work boat in but not a 'combat' boat i.e. galley

2) Am I correct in assuming that upkeep costs will be high because of the toroidal map? If so, any idea how much higher?

Yes its a fair bit higher, a vet will have to tell you by how much

3) 30x30 sounds pretty small, which standard map size does this correspond to? If we're evenly distributed, what distance should I expect to find my enemies at? I'm guessing 8-10.

I would suggest you try and map things out. Given he will have everybody an equal distance from eachother, you should be able to work out what that spread is (8-10 sounds about right to me thoguh)

4) Correct me if this is wrong (about visibility):
- You can see hills and peaks 2 tiles away if not blocked by forests
- From hills you can see grassland 2 tiles away if not blocked by forests
- You can always see water 2 tiles away if you're standing on the coast and no land is in between

I believe this to be correct

[novice]

Time to start nerding! *puts on tin foil hat and dons paper armour*

Also time to start the lurker advice asking session:
1) Am I correct in assuming I won't be able to send a work boat into that lake? I hope I'm wrong
2) Am I correct in assuming that upkeep costs will be high because of the toroidal map? If so, any idea how much higher?
3) 30x30 sounds pretty small, which standard map size does this correspond to? If we're evenly distributed, what distance should I expect to find my enemies at? I'm guessing 8-10.
4) Correct me if this is wrong (about visibility):
- You can see hills and peaks 2 tiles away if not blocked by forests
- From hills you can see grassland 2 tiles away if not blocked by forests
- You can always see water 2 tiles away if you're standing on the coast and no land is in between

Many thanks to all the cat lovers that are rummaging about, the support is much appreciated! City naming theme will, unsurprisingly, be all about cats. Please cast a vote for capital name (feel free to suggest your own):
A. Furry Town
B. Catnipville

1) You're wrong, you can always build a work boat on lakes that contain seafood.
2) Yes, the distance part of city maintenance will be high. Distance maintenance will be as high as in a 15x15 tile flat map.
3) I don't know what map script/size it corresponds to, probably Duel? It's quite small. 30x30 = 900 tiles, = 180 tiles per player, = a 13x13 square per player (although the map can't consist of five 13x13 squares).
4) Sounds about right. See http://realmsbeyond.net/forums/showthrea...#post50117 though.

Nice thread title, btw.

[Catwalk]

Awesome, then I'm quite happy with my starting location and expect to be putting down the first city where my settler is at now. An earlyish lighthouse . I kind of wish I'd picked a civ with Fishing instead, although common knowledge dictates prioritizing workers and chopping first. Not sure which leader I'll be going for, most likely one with Expansive and whatever else is available. Philosophical, Organized and Industrious are top priorities in that order. Also considering Imperialistic and Charismatic (since I'll be needing the monuments anyway).

[novice]

Lighthouses require salt water, though.

[Catwalk]

That's no fun. I suppose I should be happy that the lake counts as a lighthouse.

I read that posting pictures is important, so I added a picture of my settler in the original post. Much more to come!

[Catwalk]

If I'm allowed to, I decided to switch to Rome instead of Byzantium. I think they're fairly comparable, both have strong units and a decent building. Rome seems to have much better starting techs, allowing for an early work boat and early bronze working. If I have to stick with Byzantium I'm happy with that choice too, just didn't like the starting techs much. Fishing and Mining will both be immediately useful, neither Wheel nor Mysticism will be immediately useful.

I imagine my starting plan will look something like this:

Production: Workboat => Worker => Warrior
Research: Bronze working => Agriculture => Animal Husbandry => The Wheel => Pottery

Waiting that long with a warrior at close proximity to enemies might be kind of risky, so I'll do limited exploration with the first warrior and circle back to my capital. Then resume exploration in earnest when the second warrior is done and train a third one a little later.

[SevenSpirits]

3) I don't know what map script/size it corresponds to, probably Duel? It's quite small. 30x30 = 900 tiles, = 180 tiles per player, = a 13x13 square per player (although the map can't consist of five 13x13 squares).

30x30 is about the same size as a "small" map on one of the mostly-land scripts like Oasis or Rainforest.

[Catwalk]

Trying to run some early math on worker vs workboat, and it seems to me that workboat first is an amazing choice in this location. That's part of the reason I switched to Rome from Byzantium, and I hope it'll pay off.

Worker first, working fish:
- 2 hammers and 3 food = 5 production
- Worker T8
- no food stored, +16 commerce

Workboat first, working 1/2 first:
- WB T5 => warrior
- work 6/0/2 fish for 2 turns, then grow on T7
- one turn of flood plains then one turn of 1/2 for warrior T9 => worker
- use fish + 1/2 for worker for total production of 5 surplus food + 5 hammers, complete T13
- size 2 with no food stored, +17 commerce

Workboat first, working fish first:
- growth T5
- WB T7
- worker T11
- size 2 with 1 food stored, +20 commerce

Working the fish first seems like the much stronger option, unless I really want the 2nd warrior earlier.

EDIT: Corrected the worker scenario, had it at T14 instead of T8.

[novice]

Your comparisons are probably good, but the numbers are for normal speed, I think. The game will be on quick speed (everything has roughly 2/3rds the cost of normal speed).