Sigh.
Summary: I just didn't "get it", discovered I was floundering, and eventually abandoned the game because I wasn't able to find a way to make progress.
If you take Sullla's report, and reverse pretty much every detail, you get a good description of my game. But to touch on the high points
This was my first attempt at Epic speed - so my instincts here were not of any help at all.
I haven't touched an Archipelago map in I don't know how long. (Prior to Frozen Jungle, I believe, from which I date actually starting to understand this game at all; prior to that time I was collecting tokens rather than attempting any sort of a plan).
And I felt completely boxed in by the rules. I probably should have isolated my doubts and asked about them in the game thread, but the whole "must trade gems if there is a buyer" thing (a) felt like it was cutting into my options, since I didn't feel like I could act against a civ that I was selling to (b) the novelty of checking the resource screen each turn to see if a new buyer was available got old very quickly, not to mention hoping for a chance to renegotiate a slightly better deal for myself © as relations decayed, the deals kept getting more and more lopsided (gems + gold + clam for ivory + 2gpt)?
I ran the game out to 1382 AD, but had no idea where I was going, or how to get there, or what was the right approach to my immediate problems. So, I took a break at that point, hoping to find my way, and never did. So that's where I left it.
So five gems connected and traded by 1382. The sixth (near the mountain, directly east of Delhi) had a settler and garrison parked next to it, ready to go as soon as I wanted it, but since I didn't figure I was in the running for firsts I was waiting until settling that city made sense - Toku was too poor to buy gems anyway. Five points for trashing cities to score gems. Four points for Magellan's voyage. Another 9 points for seafood.
Most of the traps Sullla alluded to, I think I fell for. I was figuring that Mining would be enough to keep an initial worker busy for a bit, so I started with a worker build while researching Bronzeworking, Fishing Hunting Sailing Animal Loving. Gotta figure I was a bit slow to be growing on that start.
I ended up building Stonehenge (before the stone was hooked up), so you know I killed production in Delhi. I also grabbed Pyramids - pyramids and spiritual go together nicely, and it's another way to get hammers on a map that doesn't have many, but I don't believe I had either of those ideas in mind. I simply collected the token, parked myself in Representation, and sat there - a completely non spiritual lump.
I also landed the Colossus (another set of handcuffs, since I never want to get Astronomy), but missed the scoring goodies (Gardens,Lighthouse) - a deadly lack of production, I believe (or a lack of planning my cash flow so I could buy rush it).
Brief war with China to liberate the gems (the same city pair everybody else faced). I decided to keep Guangzhou for the fish, and since I had an artist on hand I promptly culture bombed the whole mess).
The useful city to the south with the wheat was settled by Julius, who was ahead of me by a small margin for most of the game.
What really did me in was that I kept slamming into health limitations (I've been taking that part of granaries for granted for a long time). I never did work out that yes, I was supposed to plant cities just to claim a single resource. And I don't think it ever sunk in that, since I was Organized, this would be ok.
Which is weird - my signature pre-game analysis would normally tip me off to this sort of thing. As far as I can tell, I didn't do one for this game, aside from a bunch of scribbling to work out how long each improvement would take.
Pebkac.
On to the next, hopefully a better player than when I started this one.
Summary: I just didn't "get it", discovered I was floundering, and eventually abandoned the game because I wasn't able to find a way to make progress.
If you take Sullla's report, and reverse pretty much every detail, you get a good description of my game. But to touch on the high points
This was my first attempt at Epic speed - so my instincts here were not of any help at all.
I haven't touched an Archipelago map in I don't know how long. (Prior to Frozen Jungle, I believe, from which I date actually starting to understand this game at all; prior to that time I was collecting tokens rather than attempting any sort of a plan).
And I felt completely boxed in by the rules. I probably should have isolated my doubts and asked about them in the game thread, but the whole "must trade gems if there is a buyer" thing (a) felt like it was cutting into my options, since I didn't feel like I could act against a civ that I was selling to (b) the novelty of checking the resource screen each turn to see if a new buyer was available got old very quickly, not to mention hoping for a chance to renegotiate a slightly better deal for myself © as relations decayed, the deals kept getting more and more lopsided (gems + gold + clam for ivory + 2gpt)?
I ran the game out to 1382 AD, but had no idea where I was going, or how to get there, or what was the right approach to my immediate problems. So, I took a break at that point, hoping to find my way, and never did. So that's where I left it.
So five gems connected and traded by 1382. The sixth (near the mountain, directly east of Delhi) had a settler and garrison parked next to it, ready to go as soon as I wanted it, but since I didn't figure I was in the running for firsts I was waiting until settling that city made sense - Toku was too poor to buy gems anyway. Five points for trashing cities to score gems. Four points for Magellan's voyage. Another 9 points for seafood.
Most of the traps Sullla alluded to, I think I fell for. I was figuring that Mining would be enough to keep an initial worker busy for a bit, so I started with a worker build while researching Bronzeworking, Fishing Hunting Sailing Animal Loving. Gotta figure I was a bit slow to be growing on that start.
I ended up building Stonehenge (before the stone was hooked up), so you know I killed production in Delhi. I also grabbed Pyramids - pyramids and spiritual go together nicely, and it's another way to get hammers on a map that doesn't have many, but I don't believe I had either of those ideas in mind. I simply collected the token, parked myself in Representation, and sat there - a completely non spiritual lump.
I also landed the Colossus (another set of handcuffs, since I never want to get Astronomy), but missed the scoring goodies (Gardens,Lighthouse) - a deadly lack of production, I believe (or a lack of planning my cash flow so I could buy rush it).
Brief war with China to liberate the gems (the same city pair everybody else faced). I decided to keep Guangzhou for the fish, and since I had an artist on hand I promptly culture bombed the whole mess).
The useful city to the south with the wheat was settled by Julius, who was ahead of me by a small margin for most of the game.
What really did me in was that I kept slamming into health limitations (I've been taking that part of granaries for granted for a long time). I never did work out that yes, I was supposed to plant cities just to claim a single resource. And I don't think it ever sunk in that, since I was Organized, this would be ok.
Which is weird - my signature pre-game analysis would normally tip me off to this sort of thing. As far as I can tell, I didn't do one for this game, aside from a bunch of scribbling to work out how long each improvement would take.
Pebkac.
On to the next, hopefully a better player than when I started this one.
