How Do You Balance Growth?

[incognito]

In reading some of the Posts about early game progress from some of the more experienced players, I am always amazed at how quickly they are able to make progress against their strategies.

One person posted the ability to build 20 castles by turn 21. Still others are fielding at least a SC or 2 by that same stage. Still others have completed significant research in several fields. In most of these cases, I get the strong sense that they are not horribly unbalanced at these stages ie they did not sacrifice any hope of winning the game to accomplish these objectives.

While one could write this off to luck/initial placement/availability of magic sites/etc, I suspect it is a question of balance. When a beginner plays a game following some of the strategies detailed on this board, they usually don't start with a perspective for how they balance the mix of each element for maximum success. As a result, they generate too much gold and not enough resources; lots of early gem income without research in spells; mass territory expansion with poor defenses; etc. The chances for imbalance are numerous and can often result in waste/outright loss when another player attacks and exposes this imbalance. It's almost the equivalent of knowing the ingredients for a good recipe, but not knowing the proportions of each ingredient and the timing of when to add for maximum effect.

While the specifics of any one game will cause good players to adjust their strategies, I would appreciate it if people can share their basic formulas for early game balance. If you are a player that likes to risk imbalance for a grab at power, share that too. (intentional imbalance is different from unintentional imbalance).

Thanks in advance for the good feedback. This board is consistently a source of great insights.

[ July 27, 2004, 12:20: Message edited by: incognito ]