[PB56] Amicalola and Tarkeel are Feeling Spicy

[Amicalola]

Thanks Tarkeel; that's all really great stuff! That's smaller than I thought the map would be actually, but not by a huge amount. Kind of depends how many islands there are.

I was surprised by the lack of forests for this start too; I thought RB went nuts for them. It's actually the main reason I was so set on IMP, imagine trying to get settlers out without chops this game. Would have been really horrible. It is interesting that we have the least forests and the most ocean, and I hope we have extra resources or something to compensate. If not, again it's lucky we're IMP.

That also makes me more inclined to go Moai in the capital pretty early if we find stone. I'll be back properly tomorrow, although I might need you to sub one or two turns between the 17--18th, if you have the time? Should just be logging in and that's about it.

[Tarkeel]

I should be able to cover for you as needed, you've left me a good micro plan.

I just realized that my health/forests thinking is off, as MrCairo is expansive. It still means that someone has more forests than us, but nobody has 4 in the inner ring.

When you're playing these fast early turns it would be nice if you could check the demographics to see if any has changed. Especially the next few turns when the first techs and border expansions will hit. I just logged in and saw that the creative civs have had their first border pop, and the largest one has 14 tiles in their BFC, which means they are probably coastal.




Suggest moving the scout SW-NW, and then start circling around. Hopefull the eastern river will yield some good city spots.

[Lewwyn]

FWIW I think your pick is one of the strongest if not the strongest in the game. Looking forward to following the game as a global lurker.

I think the hype train on Noble is a bit high. Civ is still Civ and he can't magically do things other people can't. He has good to great micro, but can at times make a good play instead of a great play because he's very risk averse. Now him and I playing together is different because we are pretty complementary. But you don't have to worry about that as much here I think. 

Glad to see the Amica and tarkeel pairing! Very interesting.

Just based on the map, I highly recommend early sailing and maybe an early Oracle!

[Amicalola]

I should be able to cover for you as needed, you've left me a good micro plan.

I just realized that my health/forests thinking is off, as MrCairo is expansive. It still means that someone has more forests than us, but nobody has 4 in the inner ring.

When you're playing these fast early turns it would be nice if you could check the demographics to see if any has changed. Especially the next few turns when the first techs and border expansions will hit. I just logged in and saw that the creative civs have had their first border pop, and the largest one has 14 tiles in their BFC, which means they are probably coastal.




Suggest moving the scout SW-NW, and then start circling around. Hopefull the eastern river will yield some good city spots.

THanks Tarkeel, it's appreciated. 

Yep, I'll have a look at the demos every turn, thanks for reminding me. 

The west sure looks pretty unappealing for settling right now. Let's try to find out what's in the east, yeah. Perhaps the map is just not very lush? I would actually greatly enjoy that, I think it makes the decision making better.  

FWIW I think your pick is one of the strongest if not the strongest in the game. Looking forward to following the game as a global lurker.

I think the hype train on Noble is a bit high. Civ is still Civ and he can't magically do things other people can't. He has good to great micro, but can at times make a good play instead of a great play because he's very risk averse. Now him and I playing together is different because we are pretty complementary. But you don't have to worry about that as much here I think.   

Glad to see the Amica and tarkeel pairing! Very interesting.

Just based on the map, I highly recommend early sailing and maybe an early Oracle!

Hey, Lewwyn, glad to see all your posts in threads! I hope you enjoy watching. I think the game is more fun for everyone when there are active global lurkers.

About my pick, I think so too.  FIN/CHA would have been fun again, but I wanted to try something new. I'm mostly worried about Noble depending on how many vets ded-lurk him, but I also can't really blame him/them for it. I also probably wouldn't want to dedlurk someone new if my friend was playing, y'know? I should change the thread title to include Tarkeel actually, since he's already contributing a lot. 

Hmm, early sailing is looking good for our silver island. An early Moai on that island instead of the capital could be amazing. It kinda depends on if there is many other seafood in the fog, but building Moai with 2-whip overflows from workers could be quite strong. Oracle for Metal Casting into an early colossus could be really strong here with all the water! I'll definitely need to consider that. The marble makes oracle more attractive for sure.

[Amicalola]

New Turn: Demos. The main thing I notice is that there is a landlocked creative civ.




We also met Ruff this turn, you can see his first-ring borders behind the fog. 



To be honest I'm not thrilled: I mean, what exactly are we supposed to do here? Just let him have everything West of our capital? There's a perfect second or third city for him here, with TRIPLE food bonuses, while we quite literally have jack this direction. Not even a decent buffer city is possible. We could try forward settling him with our second city, but that feels much too risky. 

I don't mean to be negative so early, but I seriously do not know what to do about this.

[Tarkeel]

Thanks for the kind words Lewwyn.

The lack of food towards Ruff is troubling, but I'd hold off on planning cities before we have scouted more and revealed copper.

Edit: I had a look around in-game, and Ruff has only put 2 EPs on us, which means he's met someone else. Remember to try to hit exactly 43 EP against him if possible. We can also use the known-tech-bonus indicator on the research screen to keep track of exactly which techs he researches in the beginning.

I think the best way to handle him is to settle on the grass hill, which can take some food from the capital to grow up. That should claim our share in his direction, which I think is what we should aim for. Trying to steal "his" cows would probably lead to forever war, and that's not in our best interest.

Edit 2: Should we try to get visibility on his capital before circling back? Could be very helpful later on.

[Amicalola]

Another turn, another demos. No one else finished a tech this turn.



Grass hill is an option. Crazier option is to try to take those cows. Oh, and we also revealed a wet corn just up his river too. Maybe we just HAVE to try to take it from him. I dunno. You're right about scouting more first before any decision. But maybe this is the game where I try a rush.

We also found fish for the Island with our border pop, so an early city there into Moai is 100% the go. Plainshill + silver + fish + financial + like 15 coast tiles = absurd.

I thought about getting visibility on his capital, but I didn't think it was worth the risk. Then after I moved, I realised it's on a hill, so it was a 100% chance. I am dumb. We could move back but I don't think it's worth it. If we rush him, we know where the capital is anyway, and it would be VERY early (something like T40), so he might not be able to whip. Perhaps we go for AH instead of BW and find chariots?

[Amicalola]

THIS IS NOT A DRILL! THIS IS NOT A DRILL!

El Grillo found us last turn. That was T5, if anyone was counting. Then, this turn, T6, we found Vanrober. 

That's right, by T6, we know 3(!!) of our opponents. So are we rushing or what. Or just REXing out the competition. Both viable depending on the fog.




In this one shot, you can see our, Ruff's and Vanrobers borders as well as Grillo's scout.

[Tarkeel]

Well, people did want a tight map. Give me some hours to wake up and think about it.

[Amicalola]

I'm not even sure that a rush will work. With this many people if we spend the hammers on units someone else will just settle our other land. I'm guessing El Grillo is to the north-east based on his scout direction, which means we probably have a bigger land space to the south. Maybe we can just head that way. This map IS 110 tiles per player; those tiles have to be somewhere...

Edit: I think we need to either rush Ruff, or just forget about ever going west. That land is just awful unless we really pink dot him.