quick program to confirm ICS

freshman · June 26, 2001, 14:50

Anyone who isn't convinced yet of the power of ICS (Infinite City Strategy) should of course read DaveV's thread in the Great Library on resource management (under R?) I wanted to double check his numbers so I wrote a quick 5 minute program to verify his numbers. The flavor of his reportings are correct (high food size 1, high prod size 2 = really good), but the exact numbers differ.
To use, just compile it and enter
java Settler 4 2 2 4 5 1
the arguments represent food/production/trade of 1pop/2pop

I get:
50 turns: 3 cities / 148 trade
100 turns: 21 cities / 1002 trade
150 turns: 143 cities /6018 trade (DaveV reported 129/5750)

either DaveV's analysis is wrong or I've modeled the problem incorrectly in my program.

The assumptions appear as static constants at the beginning of the program.

I may repost a modified version of this program in which you can feed in a distribution of city numbers (with % of how often that situation occurs) instead of just having one choice, to better model your growth. How 'bout good hut modeling too - an extra advanced civ/nomad can boost growth too.

I am trying to weigh the benefits of choosing a Gold square as a city site early - or how many cities should you have before making this choice.

PS I changed the filename extension from java to txt because I wasn't sure if java was a valid extension to attach in this forum. So before compiling - you'll have to rename to Settler.java

freshman · June 26, 2001, 16:37

Just for curiosity I tried to see how much a gold square city pays off:
I start with 2 cities (2 settlers)
Assume a 4/2/2 food/prod/trade for size 1 and 4/5/1 size 2
For a gold, assume a 3/2/8 size 1 and 4/4/8 size 2
At the end of 80 turns after making the Cth city a gold
C____cities__trade
1 or 2___13__1110
3 or 4___20__1202
5 or 6___22__1166
7 or 8___23__1112
9 or 10__24__1028
no gold__24__940

So making your first or second city a gold is a bad idea, but thereafter, your expansion is not really hampered too much and the extra trade could put you a few turns closer to conquer stage.

rah · June 27, 2001, 09:07

Freshman,
I like my first or second city to placed on gold. What you equation does not take into account is that by using the trade, you can get to monarchy much much quicker, and once there, the increased production/food/trade will make up the what you lost in terms of expansion. Being in Monarchy 8 turns before an opponent can make a big difference.

RAH

Rasputin · July 3, 2001, 02:59

so rah do you just wonder till you find a gold square to build on or do you build a city within so many turns any way ???

rah · July 3, 2001, 08:21

Gold is prefered but any trade special will do, (but fish)
Sometimes you wander too long and still don't find it. Those are the long games. Then the best you can hope for is a high production and try ICS to get to 5 beakers a turn as quickly as possible. Just plopping down for only 2 beakers out of your capital makes for a long trip to Monarchy.

RAH