Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[cerapa]

I am also fine with you playing.
And holy shit I should have taken builders with the new change.

Did some thinking on openings(first year). Might as well share them. These are all assuming that there is enough 1 action favoured terrain/plains.

Species

Standard

Spoiler:  2 Tile / 2 City / 3 Pop (click to show/hide)

Expand -> City -> 2 ? -> City + ?

Standard opener for everyone without special city making or expansion actions.
Growing a field in the first turn has the same result, but has no actions in the fall, and must spend both actions in the winter on building cities.

Spiders, Letterbeasts and Humans

Spoiler:  3(4) Tile / 3 City / 4 Pop (click to show/hide)

Spider:
City -> 2 Expand -> 2 City -> 4 ?

Letterbeast:
Expand -> City -> 2 Expand -> 2 City

Humans:
2 Expand -> Expand + City -> 2 ? -> 2 City

Letterbeasts gain 1 tile more, but sacrifice 4 winter actions for it, which could be used for heresy actions, or forting. Humans should not be chosen over Letterbeasts barring circumstances I have not thought of.

Heresies:

Only heresy which affects the opening beyond use for leftover actions are the Builders and/or Apostates with Builder abilities. Heterodox could do some funky stuff too actually, but I think that depends highly on the races and heresies of all the others.

Standard Builders

Spoiler:  3 Tile / 3 City / 4 Pop (click to show/hide)

Tower -> 2 Expand + f_City -> Tower + 2 ? -> 4 ? + f_Improve

Way more actions than anyone else.

Builders + Humans

Spoiler:  4 Tile / 4 City / 5 Pop (click to show/hide)

Tower + Expand -> 2 Expand + f_City -> Tower + ? -> 4 ? + f_City

Overshadowed by Letterbeasts

Builders + Letterbeasts

Spoiler:  5 Tile / 5 City / 6 Pop (click to show/hide)

Tower -> 2 Expand + f_City -> 3 Expand -> Tower + City + f_City + 1 ?

By far the best start. Ends up with double the population of standard, and can use fall actions for expanding even more with their ludicrous amount of actions. Even the lack of favoured terrain doesn't matter because of Towers. They just need a starting location with 3 plains tiles, the embarkation tile can be absolutely anything, and a tile that may be a desert or plains.

Obviously this only matters for the first turn, before everyone really gets into the hang of things, but an early advantage like Letterbeast Builders versus say Ent Bountifuls is a scary idea. Letterbeast Builders would just be straight up op, and I am glad noone took it, and sad that I didn't. They could expand a lot, build enough to fill everything they can expand into with cities, and even Tower non-favoured terrain.

[notquitethere]

I thought you were going to play too?

I am:

Spoiler: 1. The Accord - NQT (click to show/hide)

Civilisation Name: The Accord
Colour: Black
Heresy: Heterodox
Species : Humans
Population: 2
Population Range: 1-2

Embark 154
Expand 141
Grow 141

I'll just end the season now. I've given DarkPaladin Embark 79, Expand 78 as that seemed closest to what he wanted to do.

Cerapa, keen analysis: the Letterbeast/Builder build would only work out if there were sufficient plains to build the cities on, and a city can only increase population, giving them a disadvantage compared to fields in the later game. But maybe it's a bit OP. This game is always a constant revision...

[cerapa]

Cerapa, keen analysis: the Letterbeast/Builder build would only work out if there were sufficient plains to build the cities on, and a city can only increase population, giving them a disadvantage compared to fields in the later game. But maybe it's a bit OP. This game is always a constant revision...

Builders can make 4 cities a year on non-favoured terrain, and get 2 free improve actions. Meaning they can turn deserts into plains for free and fill the mountains with cities.

[notquitethere]

Year One - Summer

Throughout the spring, heretics landed across the island, throwing up huts, plowing fields and, in at least one case, burrowing out the first mountain halls. The heretics were followed onto the island by The Accord, a band of monks sent to foster harmony and avoid the slaughter concomitant with colonisation.

Spoiler: Year 1 - Summer (click to show/hide)

In Summer you can: Expand, Improve, Raze, Raid, Improve, Dismantle, as well as doing a heresy-specific action. as far as I can tell, only DarkPaladin and Dariush can contest the same tile this turn, so everyone else feel free to submit your turns out of order. I'm just updating everyone's Civ sheets with their new stats now.

Turn order:
cerapa [pop.1]
DarkPaladin [pop.1]
GreatWyrmGold [pop.1]
Dariush [pop.1]
a1s [pop.1]
Monk12 [pop.2]
NQT [pop.2]

Players

Spoiler: 1. The Accord - NQT (click to show/hide)

Civilisation Name: The Council Of Trees
Colour: Black
Heresy: Heterodox
Species : Humans
Population: 2
Population Range: 1-2
Territory: 2
Cities: 0

Spoiler: 2. The Council Of Trees - cerapa (click to show/hide)

Civilisation Name: The Council Of Trees
Colour: Lime Green
Heresy: Bountiful
Species : Ents
Population: 1
Population Range: 1-1
Territory: 2
Cities: 0

Spoiler: 3. The Internet Trolls - DarkPaladin (click to show/hide)

Civilisation Name: Internet Trolls
Colour: Eye searing yellow
Heresy: Shaker
Species : Trolls
Population: 1
Population Range: 1-1
Territory: 2
Cities: 0

Spoiler: 4. The Lakers - GreatWyrmGold (click to show/hide)

Color: Blue
Heresy: Aquatic
Species: Merfolk
Population: 1/(1-1)
Territory: 1
Cities: 0

Spoiler: 5. The Sand Empire - Dariush (click to show/hide)

Civilisation Name: The Sand Empire;
Colour: Orange;
Heresy: Levellers;
Species: Djinn;
Population: 1/(1-1)
Territory: 1
Cities: 0

Spoiler: 6. The Republic of Babelon - Monk12 (click to show/hide)

Colour: Purple
Heresy: Builder
Species : Swine
Population: 2
Population Range: 2-2
Territory: 1
Cities: 1

Spoiler: 7. Pearly Swine - a1s (click to show/hide)

Civilisation Name: Pearly Swine
Colour: Pink
Heresy: Bountiful
Species : Swine
Population: 1
Population Range: 1-1
Territory: 2
Cities: 0

Cerapa

Builders can make 4 cities a turn on non-favoured terrain, and get 2 free improve actions. Meaning they can turn deserts into plains for free and fill the mountains with cities.

Expanding into mountains, forests, lakes and oceans is still costly for them, which slows their expansion a little. But yeah, this probably will want changing.

[cerapa]

City 33

[notquitethere]

The Accord spread northeast, eager to intervene in the affairs of the other settlers...

Expand 128

[GreatWyrmGold]

Am I correct that building a city to start will raise my base population to 2 (giving me 2 actions next turn?)

...Huh.

RE: Oceans and pop cap, I imagine staking a claim to an Ocean tile involves sending out many patrol ships to combat the horrible monsters living there, making it safe to traverse (since really, why would you claim Ocean if there's an easier way to the land on the other side?) That's why it's such a population sink to claim in the first place, unless you're Merfolk, and if you're Merfolk then you are perfectly justified in having underwater villages/cities.

So, are you suggesting that oceans only give popcap to merfolk?

As far as Aquatic Channel being underpowered, GWG, as far as I can see there's nothing in the action description saying you have to be adjacent to the border you want to channel; it's already a potent offensive power that reaches across the map. This also suggests that the non-Aquatic equivalent should specifically require you to be adjacent to the border you want to Canal, making it mostly useful for extending irrigation instead of terrain destro. I'm also assuming that turning a tile with a city on it into a lake would destroy the city unless that's your favored terrain; if that's the case, are Towers immune (since they can be built anywhere?)

...Is that an intended consequence?

Merfolk don't ignore lake movement penalties, just ocean, so it's not like they can cheaply Deluge their way into the heart of your civ and wreck everything.

Which is odd but understandable.

Build Centennial City on 100. Assuming that won't wipe out the fields, otherwise expand to 101.

[notquitethere]

As far as Aquatic Channel being underpowered, GWG, as far as I can see there's nothing in the action description saying you have to be adjacent to the border you want to channel; it's already a potent offensive power that reaches across the map. This also suggests that the non-Aquatic equivalent should specifically require you to be adjacent to the border you want to Canal, making it mostly useful for extending irrigation instead of terrain destro. I'm also assuming that turning a tile with a city on it into a lake would destroy the city unless that's your favored terrain; if that's the case, are Towers immune (since they can be built anywhere?)

...Is that an intended consequence?

Lakes don't destroy cities, you can have cities in non-favoured terrains, you just can't build them. The global reach of Channel was unintended but tolerable for this game.

Build Centennial City on 100. Assuming that won't wipe out the fields, otherwise expand to 101.

You can't build and farm on the same tile (it says so under 'grow' but it could be clearer).

[Dariush]

I just thought of something. Heterodox Impossibulls who quit on the first turn will get more or at least as many VP as any other Heterodox combo. Does this seem a good thing to have in the game?
Also, proposal: post everyone's sheet every time a new season rolls around.

Expand 135

[notquitethere]

I just thought of something. Heterodox Impossibulls who quit on the first turn will get more or at least as many VP as any other Heterodox combo. Does this seem a good thing to have in the game?

Territories give you VP as well, so that's probable not a great strategy. They could get, in an eight player game, at most 17 points from quitting on their first turn. This would give the other players 19 more turns to conquer and hold 9 favoured tiles.

Also, proposal: post everyone's sheet every time a new season rolls around.

Yeah, not a bad plan.

[notquitethere]

GWG

Build Centennial City on 100. Assuming that won't wipe out the fields, otherwise expand to 101.

Ah, Merfolk only get expansion-into-ocean benefits, so expanding into 101 won't work. 86, 99, and 113 would all be OK for you to expand into.

[Dariush]

You know, it's kinda stupid that those who build a city get a second pop on the first season while those who choose to grow stuff only get one on the third season. I propose to make it so that cities increase minimum pop, but don't give population itself. Thus, it would be possible to have population under minimum if it has never been above the current level.

[GreatWyrmGold]

You know, it's kinda stupid that those who build a city get a second pop on the first season while those who choose to grow stuff only get one on the third season. I propose to make it so that cities increase minimum pop, but don't give population itself. Thus, it would be possible to have population under minimum if it has never been above the current level.

That makes sense. Or, you can only build a city if your population isn't below your new minimum population.

Expand to 86.

[darkpaladin109]

Expand to 64.

[monk12]

Our cities attract scattered refugees to our welcoming slums homes, and therefore into our workforce, I assume. This is a tricky action for me since I'll only have one action to perform during the Fall...


Babe, Swine in the City looks down on the huddled masses of Babelon. Wretched outcasts, sentient flotsam, people whose only remaining hope is that Babe might build them a better life. He adjusts his toga, then steps onto the balcony. They are his to command, and he will lead them to glory. Babe lifts one hand dramatically, issuing his proclamation.

Expand 40
Expand 52
Industrious Improve: Fortification 52