[SPOILERS] Cornflakes PB53

[Cornflakes]

The more I think about the Wheel script, the more I’m convinced the game will be decided on the sea. In re-evaluating the Dutch I realized that the Fishing/Agriculture starting techs are slightly more expensive,l compared to Zulu, meaning I’ll have slightly more left in the budget. Probably an extra scout or warrior. In any case:

LOCK Nebuchadnezzar of the Dutch!

Mid-game edit: I did not realize when selecting Dutch that the Astronomy bulb has been nerfed out of existence, putting the EIM UU a lot further away

[Cornflakes]

Picks are public! Short story: Competition is tough!

TBS - Mao (EXP/PRO) of Carthage (Fishing/Mining - Numidian Cavalry/Cothon)
I hear TBS listed among the strongest players. I haven't seen much Civ 4 reporting, but I played against in the Civ 6 PBEM 17 and you can read Sullla's recent write-up of his excellent performance there EXP will save a pop when granaries are whipped (or maybe hit pottery first and slow build while researching BW?), while PRO will be an immediate +2 commerce/turn from T0, assuming he also gets 2 cities connected by rivers. That is more than 10% advantage over non-PRO and will add up quick in the early game. However I am counting on PHI for later lump sum bulbs rather than steady trickle. Numidian Cavalry are scary simply because they counter the standard Spear defensive unit. The only way to right them seems to be strength 6 units. If I neighbor Carthage I'll need to carefully consider heading to HBR myself to ensure I'm not a tasty target.

Cornflakes - Nebuchadnezzar II (IND/PHI) of the Dutch (Fishing/Agriculture - East Indiaman/Dike)
I really like the leader and look forward to playing IND/PHI combo. Cheap forges erected early are enough IMO to make Industrious pay off. Generally I don't like chasing wonders until after all land is claimed, but on a smaller map I expect to begin wonder construction earlier rather than later. Likewise I expect PHI to massively accelerate the mid game. The civ selection was somewhat mediocre. Nothing really stood out to me (see my waffling through nearly every option at the last minute). Ultimately I'm looking to make a decisive move via sea, and PHI can help me reach that target early. I'll have an entire era of naval dominance, where my enemies will have to defend entire coastlines without any viable counter on the seas. The challenge will be remaining competitive early without much of a development boost. However Forges can help close that gap. I intend to get forges online ASAP and thereby achieve 25% production bonus towards all builds. Also, Pyramids will power the economy in the short term while filling up the GPP bars for super-charged mid-game . Unlike PB43, the win condition this game IS building all the wonders

Mr. Cairo - Catherine (CRE/IMP) of Khmer (Hunting/Mining - Ballista Elephant/Baray
Catherine is a fine choice however not my first choice for this advanced start setup. I feel like the expansion-oriented traits are devalued and therefore prefer economic traits for this setup. Khmer keeps full strength Ballistaphants which target mounted outside of cities. That is a strong scary unit which can't even be countered by my own war elephants. Pikes are really the only counter, but the Ballistaphants are still deadly to a combined arms stack since they will target knights instead of the pikes. Good think I can bypass and attack via sea! Mr. Cairo does not strike me as an aggressive player, rather more likely to take a slow and steady approach.

Commodore - Washington (EXP/CHA) of Ottomans (Wheel/Agriculture - Janissary/Hammam)
Commodore, on the other hand, is the opposite of Mr. Cairo. There is no slow and steady. Any immediate advantage or perceived future disadvantage is impetus for action! Synergy in the pick for boosted UU, lots of happiness (which looks good, given the apparently sparse resources). Commodore is a big fan of CHA and in RtR I completely agree due to the +1 XP from colosseums. However that didn't carry over to CTH. Happiness is key though to maintain growth (and whip capacity!). With Ottomans he's looking at a later power spike which bodes well for neighboring early.

AutomatedTeller - Stalin (IND/AGG) of Japan (Fishing/Wheel - Samurai/Tatara)
Another IND leader Now I have to look over my shoulder for wonder competition. Good news is that PHI gives me a leg up on Pyramids, and later game AGG doesn't do anything for the economy. Therefore I'm likely to have a lead in chasing later wonders simply by unlocking them earlier. AT rolled about half of the remaining IND leaders and chose the least economic of his options. Japanese UU got a makeover and now provides +2XP to melee. AT doubled down taking AGG for a warlike combo. However this combo looks like it will fizzle out in the later game. Not a good neighbor early, but hopefully my neighbor's neighbor I don't know much about AT as a player. We faced off in PB9 where he developed well, but quit after I took out his capital and another wonder-city with a commando strike (hmmm ... seems to be my signature move?).

Scooter - Wang Kon (FIN/PRO) of China (Agriculture/Mining - Cho-Ko-Nu/Pavilion)
Scooter knocked off the rust with PB50 and is ready to come back with a vengeance Unable to decide whether PRO or FIN provides the best economic boost, he decided to claim both! This will provide a steady trickle stream of commerce in the early game, growing into a raging river if allowed to develop unchecked. Unhappy with the Crossbow change from the PB50 version of RtR granting Cho-Ko-Nu to everyone, scooter decided to claim the monopoly on collateral-crossbows. CKN are a nice bonus on a map which I believe will be decided via naval assaults. I need to mobilize my East Indiamen earlier rather than later. This is another slow-starter combo benefiting from Advanced Start, which will become an economic powerhouse late game. I suspect that I may have to prosecute a similar decapitation strike if I see Scooter running away economically.

[Cornflakes]

Here's my starting dotmap:

   

Based on Wheel script I should be located in the northwest corner, with neighbors south of Green and east of Orange. Center connection should be south/east of Yellow. I've overlapped these first 3 cities in order to share food resources around as needed. Capital will be Yellow for the free border pop, but Red will get the extra love at the start with a 2nd pop, and deer camp at a minimum. Now that I've locked in Dutch I'm finalizing the starting budget:

• 2 cities (200) Yellow + Red
  
• 1 pop (33) @ Red
  
• Mining (68) + Hunting (55)
  
• Border pop (25) @ Red
  
• Fish nets (30) + Deer camp (24) @ Red
  
• Remaining budget: 65
  

Do I use the remaining budget for a worker? Or Ivory camp + (2) warrior/scout? I'm leaning towards the latter with 2 scouts to locate and identify my neighbors, one doubles back to guard the first settler from animals (along with a built warrior) while the other circles back through the center.

[Cornflakes]

So a quick sim suggests that it's much better to purchase a 2nd pop in both cities with the starting budget because that fills the food bar halfway to the 3rd pop. I'm also swimming in early hammers with nothing but warriors/scouts/barracks to build while growing. I also expect to have -2 gpt expenses while researching to Bronze Working. I believe I can get to BW in 8 turns of 100% but I'll have to save gold for a turn so that will be 9 turns. I have plenty of early production while growing to crank out a few scouts and/or warriors (and nothing better for hammers while growing) so here is the revised budget:

• 2 cities (200) Yellow + Red
  
• 2 pop (66) @ Yellow + Red
  
• Mining (68) + Hunting (55)
  
• Border pop (25) @ Red
  
• Fish nets (30) + Deer camp (24) + Ivory camp (24) @ Red
  
• Remaining budget: 8
  

[Cornflakes]

For folks following along at home, you may be wondering why I'm so enthusiastic about the 2c from trade routes over river when Red and Yellow aren't actually on the same river. Turns out the developers used a shortcut in determining trade connections (thanks Pindicator for raising the question in PB52). If two tiles are adjacent to any river, they are considered to have a trade connection. On this start, the trade connection will pass from Red > forest 1E > Ivory 1S > grass 1S > forest 1S > Yellow. The two underlined tiles get a trade connection even though they are adjacent to different rivers.

A trade route would also connect Red to Orange via Red > forest 1E > Ivory 1S > forest 1E > grass 1E > Orange, even if yellow was not planted to pass trade through the river mouths via sea.

[Charriu]

Can I use that screenshot and explanation for the mapmaking tutorial after the game has ended? It's a great example of this behaviour.

[Cornflakes]

Can I use that screenshot and explanation for the mapmaking tutorial after the game has ended? It's a great example of this behaviour.

Sure, you can use them after the game (assuming it actually works as expected in the game )

[Cornflakes]

• 2 cities (200) Yellow + Red
  
• 2 pop (66) @ Yellow + Red
  
• Mining (68) + Hunting (55)
  
• Border pop (25) @ Red
  
• Fish nets (30) + Deer camp (24) + Ivory camp (24) @ Red
  
• Remaining budget: 8
  

Given the above advanced start, I'm projecting the following:

• EOT2 - First scout @ Red
  
• EOT5 - 2nd scout @ Yellow + 1st Warrior @ Red
  
• EOT9 - Bronze Working
  
• EOT10 - 1st Worker 2-whipped @ Yellow
  
• EOT11 - Settler 2-whipped @ Red ... 3rd city planted for Bronze if not in borders already
  
• EOT12 - 2nd Worker 1-whipped @ Yellow
  

Given my poor production terrain overall I would like to double/triple whip as much as possible, rather than 1-whipping as in RtR. However I think it makes sense in the above to 1-whip the 2nd worker immediately in order to accelerate the growth curve. Yellow needs an ivory camp, rice chop + farm, probably floodplain farm (ouch, 7 worker-turns!). I'll want Bronze mined and connected soon for security. Then cottages (Pottery projected around T20).

[Cornflakes]

World size is actually Tiny, which means the tech costs are less than the sim. I ended up with 19 remaining in the starting budget instead of 8. I decided to purchase a Scout to start, and the coastal capital will grown on a warrior from the start. 520 land tiles => 83/player (slightly larger than PB49). 48 land tiles visible, plus 12 land tiles in the first ring of fog for about 3/4 of my total "fair share".

   

I was concerned about orphaning seafood with my starting cities. Fortunately that didn't happen ... unfortunately Amsterdam ended up with 2 fish in the 3rd ring   But the ability to share the starting fish and strategic value of a canal city make Amsterdam a valuable city as located. The trade route commerce appeared as expected. I'll have to re-run the sim with cheaper tech costs from the tiny map and see where that puts me.

My biggest concern is that copper is awkwardly placed and can't be hooked up in time before one of my neighbors rushes me. Hopefully my neighbors will see my wonder-chasing traits as a future juicy prize rather than an immediate powerhouse threat to choke from the start. I'm taking a little risk with double scout start. Part of my motivation is to identify my neighbors (and potential border sites) early. But another motivation is the allure of Circumnavigation providing +1 trade route per city in this mod. That is the equivalent of Great Lighthouse bonus! On a flat map I believe that requires defogging an east-west and north-south path to the edges of the map. Actually I should be able to test that in the sim to be certain. ... wait, I should confirm circumnavigation is active based on water percentage first (can you even circumnavigate a flat map?).

Can a kind lurker (or Charriu digging into the code) confirm that circumnavigation is available on a flat map, and the minimum water percentage for circumnavigation to be active?

[mackoti]

On standard BTS there is no  Magelan,on  flat maps.