2019-04-11 (c) Brett Paufler # # # # # # Sea Bandits # # # # # # Joao II of Portugal Custom Continents Standard Tropical Medium (sea) Ancient Cylindrical Monarch Marathon Permanent Alliances Aggressive AI No Events No Reboots Only Once # # # # # # 25 Choices after the Seed # # # # # # The Map Rolls 00 (The Seed): Good enough if one is a Monarch Level Player. I am not. I will cycle through my 25 maps and choose the best. 01: Pass. 02: Corn. Cow. Pass. 03: Crab. Fish. Sheep. Tundra. Pass. 04 (Rayden): Two Clam. Fish. Corn. Elephant. Three Floodplains. Three Hills. Lots of Forest. Cow and Stone in sight. It's a very lush spot. Desert and Plains are nearby. This one is getting a name. And if I had not pre-decided upon 25 Rolls, this would be the one. Ironically, for some bizarre reason, the Settler wants to move to the east, over by the Cow. So, there's probably a pretty sweet spot there, as well. I'd lay money on this one. But we shall see. 05: Two Corn. Tundra. Pass. 06: Pass. 07: Pass. 08 (Stone Cow): Double Cow. Stone. Normally, this would be a pretty good choice. But I was prescient enough to save a screenshot of Rayden. So, I can just look at it. It's better. I won't even bother to save this one. 09: Sheep. Marble. Not a bloody chance. 10: Pass. 11 (Spice Lands): I do not care for Calendar Resources in my starting location. It's got a goodly number of Resources (five). But once again, Rayden is much-much better. 12 (Sugar Lands): Two Clam. Rice. Five Sugar. I have to move the Settler a square for the Second Clam. But then, I'd get four Hills. It's not as strong as Rayden, due to the Calendar Resources. But all that Sugar is tempting. On the other hand, the Three Floodplains in Rayden are more powerful... versatile. I've, actually, saved this one. But it seems unlikely I will ever come back to it. Rayden is better. {I'm keeping it in the Save File Zip.} 13: Hard Pass. So Hard. 14: Pass. 15: Nice. But Rayden is better. A Two Hammer Hill Start would be it's principal advantage. 16: Calendar Resources. Pass. 17: Pass. 18: Nope. I got sick of saying Pass. 19: Hard Pass. 20: Ha! No! Come on, guys. Take another look at Rayden. That is what you are trying to beat. 21: Maybe the worst one, yet. 22: Pass. 23: First Gold I've seen. Still, pass. Though I will say, I was thinking the Sugar Hills Save with Gems instead of Sugar would be quite awesome. 24: Wine. Not good enough. Rayden it is. # # # # # # Sea Bandits # # # # # # 2019-04-19 4000BC T0 I can build Fishing Boats and I have Mining, so I am going to start off by Researching Bronze Working. It's a bit of a delay, but by the time I get it, I will know how the early game is going to play out. # # # 3895BC: The continent loops around. I'm on a bay of sorts... or by one. This continent is much too large for me to be isolated. # # # 3805BC: I lost my Warrior to a Lion. There are lots of animals on this map. # # # 2019-04-11 1710BC T179 I think I will stop here on the night. I am on a medium sized continent with Roosevelt. He seems friendly and inclined towards peace. Hey, I've got a cheat sheet somewhere. I should look. It turns out Roosevelt is mostly peaceful, but will accept bribes to attack more readily than the base... or something like that. I am going to have to dig deeper. The big question is whether to kill him or plan to be a War Ally all game? Will my warring bother him? And if I am to kill him, when should I remove him from the game? I'll get back to you on all that. The land is incredible. Rayden (the capitol) has five Resources. Brass Ewe (my second city, which I Settled for Copper) has fish and sheep in addition to the Copper... and Wine, once its border's pop and I get to Calender. Iron Shore (or whatever I decide to call it) will be my next Settled City, which comes with Iron, Rice, and Elephants... and after a million turns, Stone. While Sandy Bottom (or whatever) looks to be my fourth (and final) planted City, whose main appeal is a whole slew of Floodplains (six) plus four Hills. Of course, the rest is Desert. I've uncovered a good half of the continent and have discovered: 1 Bronze 4 Iron 3 Rice 6 Seafood Plus Roosevelt has 2 Rice available for Trade (but no metals). Thus, both of my favourite Corporations look promising. Yeah, there are some really nice City Sites on this map. South of Roosevelt, there's a peninsula: Grassland (Jungle) with at least two Hills, Cows, Rice, and two Elephants. It's nice. After Animal Husbandry, I will skip Pottery (eh, I just decided not to) and Research Writing. So, Researching: Animal Husbandry -> Pottery -> Writing -> Alphabet With the Alphabet at the end there pencilled in. And now, I am going: Animal Husbandry -> Masonry {So, things change quickly.} But since I don't need Animal Husbandry until after I get Writing (as no Resources are within reach), I'm thinking about building The Great Lighthouse. At 600H, it will take me 37 Turns to Build. After that, if I go Pyramids, that would take 100 Turns, so I'm not doing that. If I look at The Great Lighthouse, it will pay back (at least) 6 Gold a Turn, as I have three coastal Cities. That makes the payback time 100 Turns. I think it is a moot point. I just loaded my previous game and looked at completion dates. I do not think I am getting The Great Lighthouse unless Roosevelt builds it for me. So, I am back to Animal Husbandry. And I will play the rest by ear. I just traded Clam and Fish for Cow and Rice {to Roosevelt, the only one I have met}. I do not need either, as my Health is at 12. But let's see how our relations develop. I see three more Cities I want to Settle... and who knows how many more if I can beat Roosevelt to the good spots. After all, we are going to be friends... for now. # # # 2019-04-12 1280BC T224 Yeah, maybe next time I will play without either Barbarians or Goodie Huts. I like that Barbarians force one to create an Army. But I have a feeling it is amazingly lopsided in who gets attacked. Same with Goodie Huts. So, it seems like both are just needless gifts to the AI. On the last map, I explored fast (during my first game out of six) and got 600+ Gold from Goodie Huts. And when the time for the Survey came around, I still was not the Wealthiest Person in the World. I have a feeling enabling Goodie Huts is equivalent to giving one or two AI's a 1000 Gold (which means 1000 Beaker) Bonus. I am struggling enough as it is. I bring this all up at this time, as a marauding Barbarian Galley destroyed my Fishing Boats. It's a load of crap. It's a small set back in many ways... and then, not in others. I am highly tempted to reload, go into the script and remove Barbarians, as I like this map. But then, I don't like it that much. And I cannot do the Rolling War Monger Strategy that I would like. Turns out, I am probably using the wrong Map Script for that. Ah, part of my Barbarian problems stem from Roosevelt having built The Great Wall. So, all of his Barbarians are headed my way. Um, I doubt we will be friends for that much longer. I will found one more City... and will capture the rest. # # # 1230BC: Barbarians have plopped a City in that nice Elephant site (the leading contender for my fifth City). I will be waging War soon. # # # 1000BC: I feel like I am failing. # # # # # # I am calling it a day. # # # # # # I was unable to do a rolling attack... and likely will be unable to do so on a standard map. Given the limitations of the game, I cannot REX. And doing anything other than playing a Psuedo One City Challenge seems to be a mistake. I will be returning to my regular habits. On the other hand, Roosevelt would have made a wonderful neighbour. Still, it's either reloading this map... or admitting defeat. I will admit defeat. # # # 2019-04-12 (c) Brett Paufler