MP: Standards - MA Game (running)

[chrispedersen]

See, I think the program hashes all sites, and ranks them.
It then goes through and assigns the best sites to the the players with the best scales.

I *think* this to be true - it does seem to have variability.
Also, player created starting locations seem to remove some of the benefit of positive scales, by creating more or less equal starting positions (which I don't think is actually intended).

It would be interesting to take a map with 3 sites in wastes, 3 neutral sites, and 3 positive sites - and then take 3 players with +3 +3 +3 scales, 0 0 0 scales and -3 -3 -3 scales

And see where the computer assigned them. I *don't* think its luck.

[JimMorrison]

Originally Posted by konming

There are 12 placement clusters, other than R'lyeh, each cluster is only 2 or 3 provinces. Everyone is guaranteed some plains and some forest/mountain next to his capital.

Well, I am just glad that my strat doesn't rely on capital only troops for anything. 5 neighbors, 9/11/16/17/19 resources. One is grass, the other 4 are plains - that's it. :S (Edit - If I had taken Sloth it would be even worse, I'd be buried without being able to build mammoths. It barely works here, so I'm not really complaining, just something you might be wary of next time you do starting positions.)


Oh and last time I played Caelum, it started me in the mountains. I don't think I've noticed too rigid a guideline with that, but it does seem to have a strong tendency towards certain terrain types, with certain nations/scales.

[PsiSoldier]

Eh well I do have turmoil but it seems I have even less income than the 25% or whatever penalty would give me from the normal ammount. That and I got hit with a random event that gave me unrest in my capital.. Which sucks even more considering I have luck 3.. just bad bad luck.

[konming]

Originally Posted by PsiSoldier

Eh well I do have turmoil but it seems I have even less income than the 25% or whatever penalty would give me from the normal ammount. That and I got hit with a random event that gave me unrest in my capital.. Which sucks even more considering I have luck 3.. just bad bad luck.

I think luck is seriously screwed. In all the games I take turmoil/luck, I get hit by way more bad events than good.

If you go turmoil 3, and other people go order 3, that's already 40% difference in gold. And Pan starts with woodland citadel, which has only 30 admin, so you lose another 10% compared to a fortified city.

Still, you get all those free menads, so it cannot be that bad.

[konming]

Originally Posted by PsiSoldier

Well so far this sucks.. My home province is a wasteland and my income is pathetic.

It looks like you took turmoil 3, which reduce income by 21%, as opposed to most people who took order 3.

[konming]

Income = Population/100*(1+domain income bonus)*(1+castle admin/200)

[AreaOfEffect]

Assuming you have turmoil 3 and everyone else has order 3, then you have should have 34.7% less gold then everyone else (given that all other things are equal of course). It sounds worse if you compare gold income in the other direction. Those with order 3 should have about 53.2% more gold then you.

However, as noted their are several advantages that tip the balance in the other direction. First of all is the design points. Taking turmoil 3 nets you 240 design points more then taking order 3. Even with luck 3 you are still above by 120 points, which could go to growth and production in order to overcome the income gap, or to your god in order to improve your sacreds. The second advantage is, as already mentioned, maenads. Though you only reap this advantage with the recruitment of Pans. If your not buying pans then there was never a point in taking turmoil, aside from the sweet turmoil luck combo (which I have had much better "luck" with apparently). I personally start my Pangaea games by hiring only the hoplites and Pans if I can afford them. If I can't afford a Pan then I generally don't buy a commander at all and horde the cash until next turn. I might also by the cheapest commander in order to move around my freespawn. I generally do this until my income is more sustainable.

For expansion put the hoplites up front to take arrow fire and use the maenads as flankers. It sounds backwards but I find it works out the best this way.

[PsiSoldier]

Hrrm thanks for the tips. Hoplites probably are a much better choice than the cataphracts I was trying to buy when gold is low.

Cataphracts may be better and rarely die but gold for gold they are not nearly as good a value as hoplites.

[46852]

Question:

Does NAP3 mean by definiton a lasting non-aggression pact that won't end until either of the nations declares so, and after that declaration you can only attack after 3 turns?

Just a bit mixed up with the terms, when there's NAP3 or a 3t NAP and someone mentioned a NAP +3 ...

[chrispedersen]

There are two different things..

A nap of a certain duration, or a nap of infinite duration, which only expires a number of turns after notification.

So for example, when I say nap + 3, it means a nap that continues indefinitely until the 3rd turn after either party notifies.